Halo 5 delayed to 2015... and 5 other hot rumors this week
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This week in rumors
If you’re bouncing off the walls over a prospective Halo 5 release this year, you could be getting all bruised and battered for nothing. That is if the voice of Master Chief has truly let slip on to something he shouldn't have. Dry your eyes though--there are happier rumors this week, including something that might cheer up Halo hopefuls.
Plus, Microsoft looks to be preparing an alternative way for you to pause your movie without having to bark voice commands at a hard-of-hearing Kinect, PS4s are reportedly suffering from amnesia, Microsoft has apparently developed a keen interest in rapper NAS and one developer attempts to explain why so many Xbox One titles only manage native 720p. Yeah, we’re still talking about that. It's rumor round-up time.
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Hate voice controls? Here’s an Xbox One Media Remote
The Rumor: The image above is apparently the first ever glimpse of an unannounced Xbox One Media remote. According to a leak via Amazon Canada, it’ll hit shop shelves in North America on March 4 for $24.99CA (or around $22.74 US). The listing was swiftly removed, but the cat, it seems, is firmly out of the bag.
Our Take: Amazon makes a habit of prematurely leaking games and products, so we’d consider this leak a safe bet. The remote looks to only do basic functions for movie playback and menu navigation--presumably for those who don’t get along with the voice-operated Kinect system. And it’s good news for those who were disappointed in the Xbox 360 being incompatible with the new console.
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PS4 bug deletes digital games randomly
The Rumor: According to various Reddit accounts, a small number of PS4s are suffering from a bug that randomly deletes digitally-downloaded games from the console’s hard drive. One report suggests that the glitch, which deleted a copy of Killzone Shadow Fall from the system, occurs at random and leaves behind no error codes. Thankfully, save files are allegedly left intact.
Our Take: If this is a genuine issue it must be an extremely isolated one, since we’ve not encountered any such problem nor heard of it before recent online claims (if you have, let us know in the comments). The good news is, with save files allegedly unaffected and the ability to redownload PS Store purchases an unlimited number of times, such a bug would prove little more than a minor inconvenience.
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Halo 5 delayed to 2015, Halo 2 remake inbound
The Rumor: Halo 5 won’t make its 2014 release window, according to Master Chief voice actor Steve Downes, who may or may not be chained up in a Microsoft dungeon right now for speaking out of turn. "I think you may be ahead of yourself on Halo 5," he said to Gamezone. "I wouldn't expect anything until 2015. What you can look forward to this year is an anniversary edition of Halo 2." And bam... just like that he also corroborates the heavily tipped Halo 2 Anniversary rumor.
Our Take: Whoopsie, Mr. Downes. Whoopsie indeed. We’d have thought that, having been the voice of Microsoft’s biggest gaming icon since 2001, Downes would have had a firm grasp of such things as, y’know, honoring non-disclosure agreements and stuff. Anyhow, no Halo 5 this year is disappointing if true, but we’re actually excited to see Halo 2 make a return.
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Why Xbox One might struggle with 1080p...
The Rumor: Yes, it’s the ‘resolution wars’ again. According to Sniper Elite 3 senior producer Jean-Baptiste Bolcato, the Xbox One’s inability to match PS4 in the resolution depart is down to RAM--more specifically its small 32MBs of eSRAM. "Part of the problem is that it's just a little bit too small to output 1080p within that size. It's such a small size within there that we can't do everything in 1080p with that little buffer of super-fast RAM,” he told GamingBolt. "It means you have to do it in chunks or using tricks, tiling it and so on. PS3 was harder to program for than the Xbox 360. Now it seems like everything has reversed.”
Our Take: Xbox One has 8GBs of RAM just like PS4, but PS4’s RAM is super-fast GDDR5 memory, whereas Xbox One’s RAM is significantly slower DDR3. To remedy this, the Xbox contains an addition 32MB of super-fast eSRAM to act as a high-speed bridge or buffer. Let's be honest--we’re not programmers, but it seems the limited size of this fast eSRAM is proving a unique challenge for game makers. Still, developer Turn10 got a lush Forza 5 running in native 1080p at 60FPS. If they can do it...
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Rapper NAS the focus of new Xbox documentary
The Rumor: A Deadline report claims that Microsoft's Xbox Entertainment Studios arm is working on a new TV series, titled Street Dreams, that will focus on the story of rap superstar NAS. Jonathan Levine, whose previous works include the movies The Wackness, 50/50, Warm Bodies and All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, is said to be writing and directing the show.
Our Take: It’s perhaps not the first thing we expected to see coming from Xbox Entertainment Studios--an arm of Microsoft formed to create original television programming for the Xbox platform. It’ll be interesting to see what Microsoft makes of its new TV venture in the coming years. That is so long as it doesn’t become another endless stream of garbage ‘reality’ shows.
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God of War 2 director’s new game is a long way off
The Rumor: You won’t be seeing the latest work of God of War 2 director Cory Barlog for some time yet, according to fellow Sony Santa Monica staff member Shane Liesegang. Barlog quit Sony Santa Monica in 2007 after finishing God of War 2, only to rejoin the studio in August 2013 to work on a new unannounced project. Speaking via Twitter, Liesegang told Sony fans Barlog’s new project is “not even close to 75 per cent completion”.
Our Take: What Barlog is working on is anyone’s guess, but with promises of something big, we can’t help but be excited. "What am I working on, you ask? Good question," said Barlog when he rejoined Sony. "Sadly, I cannot tell you...yet. But I can say that it is freaking huge, and it will live up to the standards that I helped establish here at Santa Monica Studios." Bring it.
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What’s your take?
Does your PS4 just ‘forget’ games? Do you need a third way to control your Xbox One’s media playback? Are you excited for Halo 2 Anniversary or are you throwing your toys out of the cot over a possible Halo 5 delay? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Want more? GamesRadar's David Houghton ponders, “If Halo 5 misses 2014, will Titanfall really be enough?” And Henry Gilbert asks, “Does it matter that the PS4 outsold the Xbox One in January (by a lot)?”
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dillon-dunlap - February 16, 2014 9:06 p.m.
$23 for an Xbox One remote? No thanks. I'll stick to using my 360 remote. I'm really hoping they'll put out Halo 2 Anniversary after "Halo 5". Halo Anniversary already screwed the pooch when you couldn't play the game with the updated graphics because your bullets/grenades would get caught on invisible walls. -
qualopec_1 - February 16, 2014 8:05 p.m.
This definitely is not a deal breaker for me, so I own both consoles. It seems to me that for people to whom this is a major issue are the ones who do not actually own an Xbox One, those of us who own it, are aware of it and it doesn't seem to be a issue. -
Redeater - February 16, 2014 2:17 p.m.
I don't consider myself a tech whore but goddamn the XB1 is severely lacking in the ram department. 8 gigs of ddr3 might sound like a good amount now but these consoles are supposed to last for 8-10 years this generation. Seems like a poor choice on Microsoft's part. -
Swedish_Chef - February 17, 2014 5:13 a.m.
Honestly both the Xbox One and the PS4 are hillariously underpowered for what are supposed to be "next gen" systems, either this is going to be a much shorter console cycle than last or developers are going to be trying to squeeze blood out of a stone in an attempt to improve peak graphics for the systems as much as they can while fighting their limitations. -
Vonter - February 17, 2014 9:36 a.m.
I hope something comes out and redefines games. As of now the extra power only fixes the framerate, and that's mainly for PS4 games. (I also know resolution is better, but I don't care that much about it). Sadly it seems it'll take even more years to see a game that takes advantage of the extra power and visual flare. I mean some devs are discovering color now, hehe. Also I think a step back most games are having is not supporting local play. Even if it's minor, it is an advantage consoles have over PCs. Even more when PS is now charging for playing online. Still the most impressive looking game for me is FF XV, BUT it must be since it has had almost a fricking DECADE in the making. -
jamie-krukowski - February 17, 2014 12:46 p.m.
This is very much the case; it takes Devs quite some time to fully realise the power of the new consoles and firmly adapt to them or make them adapt to what they want to do. Hell, Rockstar managed to squeeze every iota of power from the PS3s and Xbox 360s to pull GTA V out of the bag, though throughout there were colossal increases in game scope that were incredibly far ahead of their predecessors. I can't wait to see what will be pulled out of the bag over the next couple of years and with games looking as great as they do now, (not just graphically, but with the onset of other factors that increase depth, immersion, general gameplay etc) I can't help but go a little bit '6-year old excited'-like over what's around the corner./
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Acerlux - February 17, 2014 4:51 a.m.