Xbox One Special Edition “Sunset Overdrive” Bundle, featuring a sleek white console and wireless controller, a digital copy of the game, and special Day One edition in-game items.
Holy Xbox One news Batman! The second-place next-gen console rolled out a bunch of interesting tidbits at Europe's annual Gamescom conference on Tuesday, all designed to gin up pre-holiday excitement for Microsoft Corp.'s living room games machine.
For its part, Sony Corp. broke less news, but it did go ahead and announce that it has sold 10 million PlayStation 4's, keeping its lead over rival Xbox (which in April reported just 5 million units sold).
So, given that the Xbox One team has responded with a large volume of announcements, here's a bulletted list to catch you up:
Custom console game bundles:
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare edition gets a mega-size 1 terabyte hard drive and miltary-style case ($499)
- Slick white console for the Sunset Overdrive bundle ($399)
- And a Europe-only FIFA 15 bundle that comes with a headset and some digital extras (€399.99)
Exclusive Games:
- Rise of the Tomb Raider, a sequel in the “young Lara Croft” reboot, will now be Xbox-only
- They also showed off more details for Quantum Break and Fable Legends and roller-coaster sim ScreamRide
- As was previously announced, Canadian indie developer Capybara’s Below adventure game will be coming to the ID@Xbox program, as will free-to-play MOBA Smite, 16-bit prison sim The Escapists and trippy first-person-shooter Superhot
Xbox Television stuff:
- Soon, you will be able to stream TV to your mobile with Xbox Smartglass. Coming in the fall, Xbox One’s digital tuner will be able to beam signal to your mobile device using Xbox Smartglass. That way the dude stuck on the couch next to you watch football on the phone or tablet while you play your games on the big screen.
- More media and Internet video playback options are coming, too, including USB and DLNA support
- A Halo Channel will be coming, and an original digital amiation series too, called Halo: Nightfall. Oh, and the Halo: Guardians beta begins Dec. 29
This last bit this needs no bullet points, but we agree with The Verge: Xbox boss Phil Spencer seems positively gleeful about killing off the console's formerly mandatory Kinect peripheral.
Shane Dingman