Xbox One June Update to Add External Storage

Xbox Live’s Major Nelson announced on his blog today that external storage capabilities will be added to the Xbox One in a June update. From the announcement:

Easily Increase Games Capacity with External Storage Support

“It couldn’t be easier to increase your storage capacity of games and apps with the external storage support features we’re bringing in June. Your Xbox One system will soon support up to two external hard drives at once. Simply plug in your 256 GB or larger USB 3.0 external hard drive and once formatted, copy and move games, apps and game add-ons to increase your storage capacity at home.

This is also a great way to take your content to a friend’s house and get straight into a game directly from an external drive. You’ll need to sign in to Xbox Live if you’ve purchased your content digitally or insert a disc to verify your game ownership when you take your content on the road. The great benefit here is there’s no need to wait to re-download your game and all the DLC. With external storage support in June, you can also choose to copy full games and all of the associated content in one easy step.”

With a growing library of Xbox One games available to play at eBash, several of the Xbox One hard drives are already full or nearly at full capacity. Having external storage options will be very welcome.

Another feature included in the update is an option to set one profile to sign in automatically. Both features will be very welcome at eBash Video Game Centers. One of the conveniences that eBash offers is an Xbox Live Gold account on every Xbox console. Manually signing into those accounts every time a customer wants to use an Xbox One gets a little tedious. Thank you, Microsoft!

eBash Memorial Day 48 Straight

Summer is almost here, and that means it’s time for the annual Memorial Day 48-Straight at eBash!

This is a special Lock-In event that runs 48 hours straight at your favorite eBash Video Game Center. Don’t worry, you do not HAVE to stay the entire time, and MOST players head home during the first night to sleep and recover for the second night. Players also have the option to buy a 24 hour pass for one day or the other.

Official times are going to be Friday May 23rd at 8 AM until Sunday May 25th at 8 AM.

Costs and Details:

48 Hour Pass VIP – $45
48 Hour Pass Regular – $55
$5 discount for reserving your spot before May 20th with $10 down

48 Hour Pass Includes:

• 48 Hours of gaming between 8 AM Friday and 8 AM Sunday
• Pizza and drink both nights
• Donuts and Milk/Juice both mornings
• Special Edition 2014 Memorial Day 48 Straight T-shirt

24 Hour Pass VIP – $25
24 Hour Pass Regular – $30

24 Hour Pass Includes:

• 24 Hours of gaming between 8 AM Friday and 8 AM Saturday
• OR from 8 AM Saturday until 8 AM Sunday
• Pizza and drink
• Donuts and Milk/Juice
• Special Edition 2014 Memorial Day 48 Straight T-shirt

Halo 5: Guardians Announced

343 Industries announced that Halo 5: Guardians will launch for Xbox One in the fall of 2015.

But they have lots of plans for Halo, and we’ll hear more about them at E3 in just a few weeks. Bonnie Ross, general manager of 343 Industries, said in the announcement: “Halo 5: Guardians is a bigger effort than Halo 4. That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand new and more powerful engine. Certainly there are some core elements carried over from prior games, but we’ve invested a huge effort in retooling our tech to take full advantage of the Xbox One’s hardware and ecosystem to create worlds and experiences worthy of next-gen.” The game will run “at 60 frames per second, on dedicated servers, with the scope, features and scale we’ve been dreaming of for more than a decade.

“Many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year. I spoke about a ‘journey,’ rather than a destination – and that journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather than one small step. We’ll give you much more information about our plans for this year at the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing on June 9, and we’re confident that Halo fans will be pretty excited [about] the special plans we have in store.”

If they’re teasing this announcement now, what else will they reveal at E3?? Could the “giant leap” that “begins in 2014” be that brand new game engine – running a Halo 2: 10 Year Anniversary Edition?!

More Bits Before E3

It appears Microsoft isn’t the only big company revealing new game information before E3. Ubisoft announced they will be releasing “Far Cry 4” this November, but their ambitious single/multi-player emergent survival shooting game “The Division” will be pushed back until next year.

Last year at E3, Ubisoft’s main stage presentation featured the best lineup of games, in my opinion, and they are sure to dazzle again this year. Announcing Far Cry 4 NOW, instead of during that show, makes me wonder what other secrets they might reveal? For the past two years, Ubisoft’s E3 presentation followed the same pattern: they showed off title after title, keeping their “best” titles for last, only to surprise the audience with ONE MORE game that shocked and amazed everyone. In 2011, the big shocker was “Watch_Dogs” an ambitious title that was supposed to be released late last year, only to be pushed back until the end of May. In 2012, “Watch_Dogs” was their “best” title saved for last, only to surprise everyone with something called “The Division.”

Far Cry 4’s development hasn’t been kept as a very good secret, so Ubisoft’s “out of the blue” announcement about it’s November release date is intriguing – but I can’t WAIT to see what secret title they reveal in just a few weeks!

Meanwhile, Microsoft keeps making announcements before THEIR big E3 presentation, with promises that their main show will be nothing but games, games, and more games. So, if they are already announcing games, now, how many MORE games will they announce at E3? I can’t wait to find out!

Xbox One Sold Without Kinect?

Microsoft announced today that, starting June 9th, the Xbox One will be available without the Kinect for only $399. The peripheral will be available to be purchased separately. This makes the Xbox One available for the same price as Sony’s PlayStation 4.

I imagine the option will also remain to buy it bundled with the system. Personally, I enjoy the Kinect and everything it offers, and I’m really surprised by this announcement.

With the sneak preview videos of the Xbox One exclusive game “Sunset Overdrive” already circulating the internet, followed by this HUGE announcement, I can’t WAIT to see what Microsoft is saving for their big stage at E3 in just a few weeks.

They must have a LOT of content planned, too much to fit in their one hour presentation. A quote from Phil Spencer, head of Xbox at Microsoft, confirms my assumptions: “We wanted to get this out of the way so that E3 could be about the games and the great platform lineup.”

Elder Scrolls Online Delayed on Consoles

Despite having one of the smoothest launches in MMO history on the PC, the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the Elder Scrolls Online game have been delayed for about six months. These console versions were scheduled to be released in June, so perhaps they’ll be ready by December.

Elder Scrolls Online is a fun hybrid of single player Elder Scrolls games, including a great amount of player freedom in character creation and exploration, and “normal” Massively-Multiplayer-Online games featuring huge PvP battlegrounds and challenging content designed for groups. The action is handled on PC capably with a mouse and keyboard, but I can tell that it will be really enjoyable for console controls.

The delay is unfortunate, but there is some good news: customers that buy and play the PC/Mac version before the end of June will have an option to transfer their characters and progress to either the Xbox One or PS4 version of their choice for only $20, including another 30 days of play time.

The PC version of ESO has been getting a decent amount of play by some of the regulars at eBash. I can only guess how many more people are waiting to try it on the Xbox One, but now they’ll have to wait.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfighter

Activision was going to reveal their new Call of Duty title on Sunday, but since it leaked on Destructoid and other sites, they’ve officially released their trailer:

Advanced Warfare is scheduled to be released on 11/4/14. It will be the first Call of Duty game developed exclusively by Sledgehammer Games. Sledgehammer pitched in with Modern Warfare 3, after the meltdown of Infinity Ward, back in 2011. Activision announced a few months ago that they are now giving Call of Duty titles THREE year development periods, by giving three studios alternating release schedules. Activision had been using a two year cycle with two studios, Infinity Ward and Treyarch, now Sledgehammer joins that cycle as the third studio.

As usual, the Xbox One and Xbox 360 will get timed exclusive content before it appears on PS3 and PS4. The Wii U has not been confirmed as receiving a version.

Warcraft Movie Almost Done Filming

Director Duncan Jones recently tweeted that the filming of the Warcraft movie is almost finished:

“For those counting down with me, we’re done shooting Warcraft in 3 weeks as of tomorrow! Holy shnikey…”

If that seems too quick, don’t be too worried;  the movie is still scheduled to be released March 11, 2016. That’s almost TWO YEARS of post-production work – probably to create lots and LOTS of CGI.

The film stars Dominic Cooper (Captain America: The First Avenger), Ben Foster (X-Men: The Last Stand), Travis Fimmel (Vikings), Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Toby Kebbell (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), Rob Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), and Clancy Brown (Starship Troopers). The script was written by Duncan Jones and Charles Leavitt, and is said to take place during the earlier wars on Azeroth, mostly between the Orcs and Humans.