As our way of saying thanks for being part of this community, we’re giving all qualifying Gold members two free Xbox 360 games each month for the rest of the year. Each specially selected, fan-favorite game will be available to download only for a limited time, so grab them before they’re gone and keep them no matter what. Tell a friend about this offer so they can go Gold and get free games too.

Fable III, released in 2010 for Xbox 360 and PC, tasks the player with becoming the ruler of the continent of Albion. It’s a big download, at over 5 gigs but that gets you the entire epic game. It’s important to note that the DLC packs are not included but are available for purchase.

From the description:

The Action packed critically acclaimed Xbox 360 exclusive franchise is back with Fable III. Fans new and old will now embark on an epic adventure, where the race for the crown is only the beginning of your spectacular journey. The story is set five decades after events of Fable II, and Albion has matured into an industrial revolution, but the fate of the kingdom is at peril.

[Via: Xbox]

Office for iPhone lets you access, view and edit your cloud Office documents from your iPhone. It’s a welcome addition for Office 365 customers who regularly use Word, PowerPoint and Excel and are always on the go. I doubt it will sway people away from Google Drive Documents or Apple’s new iWork from iCloud, though. It’s more a convenient add-on for Office 365 customers who use an iPhone as their primary movile device.

You can read more about Office Mobile for iPhone on Microsoft’s website and check out the promotional video below.

[Via Microsoft]

It’s important to note that Microsoft has assured gamers that its Kinect 2 sensor can be turned off and paused. Here’s an excerpt from its “Privacy by Design” page:

You are in control of when Kinect sensing is On, Off or Paused: If you don’t want the Kinect sensor on while playing games or enjoying your entertainment, you can pause Kinect. To turn off your Xbox One, just say “Xbox Off.” When the system is off, it’s only listening for the single voice command — “Xbox On,” and you can even turn that feature off too. Some apps and games may require Kinect functionality to operate, so you’ll need to turn it back on for these experiences.

Still, Black’s sentiment resonates, especially with all the recent revelations of wire tapping and surveillance. The Kinect 2 sensor is a powerful and very impressive piece of technology that opens the door to possibilities, both in gaming and otherwise, down the line. But it is a little creepy if you think about it.

[Via: Comedy Central, Microsoft]

“Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity. It’s called Xbox 360. If you have zero access to the internet, that is an offline device.”

Don, Don, Don. We thought you might have learned your lesson after your last flippant remark pissed off the very gamers you’re trying to win to your new console. But instead you seem intent on alienating what’s left of the Xbox One’s supporters with your anti gamer (and anti customer) attitude.

Sure, most of the issues taken with the Xbox One’s online requirement have to do with its (also unpopular) licensing DRM for its games. There are very few folks interested in the Xbox One (barring troops overseas, I guess) who don’t already have high-speed internet at home.

Also, nobody expects Microsoft to go back to the drawing board with the One. We recognize you have to soldier on with the hype and can’t second guess the less popular features of the new console.

But telling people who can’t or would prefer not to play online that they aren’t welcome in the Next Gen? You’re not making any points here, and Sony’s (wisely) ridden the backlash with its open used game policies and offline play on the PS4.

Mr. Mattrick, stop talking. Just be quiet and hope that some of your company’s big gambles with the Xbox One pay off in the end. Comments like this aren’t doing that hope any favors!

[Via: Techno Buffalo]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is the first  in Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade lineup. It’s one of three titles to come out of a multi-year deal between Nickelodeon and Activision. This new Turtles adventure is a 3rd-person brawler from RedFly studios.

Second is a remake of Flashback, the 1992  adventure platformer, being released by Ubisoft. This is pretty exciting news for fans of the cult classic original, since the new title’s being developed by its creator, Paul Cuisett. His new company, Vectorcell is in charge of bringing back Flashback more than 20 years later.

Rounding up the announcement are Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons from Starbreeze Studios and Charlie Murder, from The Dishwasher-developer Ska Studios and publisher Microsoft Studios.

The Summer of Arcade has been responsible for the rollout of some of the best XBLA titles over the years. Last summer’s line up included the beautiful action RPG, Dust. Previous years have included indie classics like Bastion, From Dust, and Limbo.

Check out the Summer of Arcade trailer below!

[Via: Polygon]

Now bear with me here, folks, it gets a little confusing. Both games are part of Square Enix’s “Fabula Nova Chrystalis”, the collection of games around Final Fantasy XIII first unveiled at E3 2006.

Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Returns is a sequel to XIII-2, which was kind of a spin off, really.

Final Fantasy XV is the new name for Final Fantasy Versus XIII, a long awaited game set in the same universe of FFXIII.

Do you got all that?

Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Returns

Final Fantasy XIII Lighting Returns brings back FFXIII hero, Lightning once more in a race against time to save the world. It looks more action oriented, giving you direct control of Lightning, not menus. The battling happens in real time, it’s not turn based. You can check out the trailer here. It will be out in November in Japan, and February 2014 in the United States.

Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XV also bucks the FF tradition, with a more action oriented, real time combat. Check out the trailer below to witness the beauty of the game footage, running on next gen c0nsoles. While there weren’t a whole lot of specifics announced, fans have been waiting since 2006 for more info on this game. Changing it to Final Fantasy XV is a surprising move, considering it’s still conneced to the FFXIII universe somehow (while spin offs have been released since FF X-2, the main numbered series titles have always been set in their own seperate universes).

Regardless, it looks incredible and the fighting system looks very fun. I love my menus and ATB from the old FFs, but both of these titles seem to be bringing an action focus to the series in a way that just might work (no judgment until I play them). Let us know what you think in the comments!

Get a load of the trailer for FF XV below!

[Via: Square]

DICE and EA are bringing Mirror’s Edge to next-gen consoles and the PC, “when it’s ready,” according to the trailer. It will run on the Frostbite 3 engine which is the same as Dice’s Battlefield 4 (seen looking great at EA’s event and Microsoft’s Xbox One press conference, earlier).

Later a few more details surfaced. The new Mirror’s edge game will be a reboot of the 2008 cult classic.  DICE Senior Producer, Sara Jansson said, ”We introduced Mirror’s Edge and Faith to gamers five years ago, and we’ve waited for the right moment to reunite them. Thanks to the Frostbite engine and a new generation of platforms, we are now able to deliver a richer world that players will be able to explore with a new level of freedom in both movement and action.”

EA released Mirror’s Edge in 2008 on the PS3 and  Xbox 360, and later on PC. Fans have been begging for a sequel ever since, hooked on the game’s unique first person parkour gameplay. Rumors have abounded over the years. Most recently, an EA help page for Mirror’s Edge 2 went live briefly a few weeks ago. Now it appears that it’s a reality and Mirror’s Edge 2 is in the works.

Check out the trailer below!

[Via: Joystiq]

Yes, Virginia, the Xbox One is a gaming console, and a fairly impressive one with some hot launch titles at that. So read on for my by no means exhaustive recap of Microsoft’s E3 presentation.

First Things First:

The Xbox One will be releasing in 21 markets and will have a price of $499 in the United State, €499 uros in Europe, and £429 pounds in the UK. The precise release date wasn’t given, however it will be released in November 2013. As expected, the new Xbox console will be out for the holidays.

Xbox Live purchases will now be made in the currency of the area you use your Xbox One in. So Microsoft Points are a thing of the past. Also, your friend list in Xbox Live is no longer capped at 100. There will no longer be any limit on the number of friends.

THE GAMES

Alright, the housekeeping’s done, let’s get down to business. After the backlash to its first Xbox One press conference, the folks at Microsoft must have realized this event needed to show some gaming content and a lot of it. The event was showing gameplay footage before anyone even spoke! Here’s a rundown of the titles:

Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain. The game follows Solid Snake to Afghanistan in an open world adventure that looks to continue the series’ signature stealth combat and bats**t insane characters and storylines. The in engine footage was really impressive as well. Afterward Xbox Chief, Don Mattrick and Metal Gear creator, Hideo Kojima briefly shared the stage to uproarious applause.

Ryse: Son of Rome. The trailer for this title was also made nearly completely of gameplay footage and showed the combination of hacking and slashing (and thrusting and stabbing and gutting) along with commanding a phalanx of centurions.

Killer Instinct. The beloved Rare arcade (and SNES) fighting title returns! It’s going to be an Xbox One exclusive and we got to see it in action, along with the Mad Katz Tournament Edition Fight Stick. The demonstration also showed off the Upload Video and Twitch (live broadcasting) sharing features built into the One.

Dead Rising 3. The new zombie survival title will feature Nick Ramos as its protagonist, and be set in an open world city reminiscent of Los Angeles. The developers promise no load times and an outbreak density comparable to the population of a real city. Anything can be used as a weapon and the popular weapon modification system returns.

Titan Fall. This new mech fighter / FPS from Respawn looks potentially incredible. It’s got futuristic style in spades and looks capable of delivering the hardcore death matching the Halo set craves. While yet another instance of “big dude in a powersuit”, this looks pretty cool.

Halo Tease. Microsoft teased with a CG trailer for a new Halo. But there was hardly any more info than that. Bonnie Ross of 343 Industries, who took the Halo reigns over from Bungie, said the new Halo would be out in 2014 and run at 60 frames per second.

There was a whole lot more and there are more (admittedly not great) screen grabs in the gallery below. The Sword and Sorcery EP crew is working on a new 2D title, Below. DICE braved a near demo fail to show some explosiony footage of Battlefield 4. Microsoft Studios showed off some more buttery smooth Forza 5 footage. Sega’s Panzer Dragoon team showed off a little footage from Crimson Dragon and CD Projekt showed The Witcher 3 running on the Xbox One.

An unexpected high point for me was Microsoft Studios’ unveiling of Project Spark a wide open game creating platform that uses all of Microsoft’s gimmicks (Kinect, Smart Glass, Voice control) to allow the user some pretty amazing game creation tools. Microsoft Studios’ Dan Mccarthey and Claude Jerome created a whole game world in the space of a few minutes. Think of it like Little Big Planet, but fully 3D and with more violence. Interesting stuff.

The focus of this event was the games and Microsoft showed them off with gusto. I’d rather MS took this approach from the get go, but at least the company finally busted out the gameplay footage!

Even the 360 Got Some Love:

Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment, briefly talked about Microsoft’s current console, the Xbox 360. The current gen console will get a next gen makeover, making it look like a little Xbox One. I’m perfectly happy with my slim Xbox 360 S, but maybe they’ll drum up some sales with this. Who knows?

Also, the aging console still has some new properties to carry into its twilight years. World of Tanks was shown, From Software’s Dark Souls II will bring some hardcore hack and slash gameplay, and Press Play’s Max: The Curse of Brotherhood looked like a fun  it of indy platforming. Mehdi also mentioned GTA V, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

It certainly wasn’t the focus, but it’s nice to see that they’ll continue to support the 360.

Final Thoughts:

Like a lot of folks, i was pretty nonplussed by the initial reveal of the Xbox One. Microsoft’s gone a long way toward regaining my interest with today’s event, but I’m not going to say they’ve gotten my $499 just yet. The Xbox One’s launch lineup is impressive and few of these titles really got me pumped, but Microsoft’s online and licensing requirements for used games really bother me. Also, while Microsoft has finally brought the games, their focus on TV and being a media center is just something that doesn’t hold a lot of interest for me and I know other gamers feel the same way.

Sony’s event is tonight at 6 PDT and IntoMobile will be covering it as well. Microsoft impressed, no doubt. Now the ball’s in Sony’s court. So stay tuned!

Please let us know what you think about the Xbox one, Microsoft’s event or anything else related in the comments and check out the screen grabs from the event below!

• Lens app integration.
• An improved tweet composition experience with photo filter support. Just tap the camera icon to capture an image from your phone’s viewfinder, or pull in a shot from your Camera Roll. Then apply one of 8 new filters (you can see them below).
• Play embedded Vine videos directly from within tweets.
• Save tweeted photos to your phone.
• Refresh lists on-demand.

The update started rolling out last night, so look for it to hit your device soon, if it hasn’t already. If you don’t have the official Twitter app, head here to download it.

[Via: Engadget , Windows Phone Blog]

“Played from a top-down (as opposed to first-person) perspective, Halo: Spartan Assault mines some rich storytelling territory. Set in the years between Halo 3 and Halo 4, it offers new insights into the first missions of the Spartan Ops program, the history of the Human-Covenant wars, and the rise of Commander Sarah Palmer”

One very interesting feature is cross screen support. Like Galactic Reign or Skulls of the Shogun, Halo: Spartan Assault is designed to work hand-in-hand with Windows 8, allowing you to start a game on your PC or Tablet and pick it up on your phone where you left off.

This is a major salvo by Microsoft, using one of its biggest franchises to highlight its mobile platform. Windows phone is lacking in the games department, but a title with this level of polish and the Halo name is sure to draw some interest to Microsoft devices.

Read the list of features and check out the announce trailer below! Also, you can find the announcement here and the game’s site here.

• Original “Halo” gameplay. An action-packed, single-player campaign spanning 25 missions in battles never before experienced in the Halo Universe, all played from a top-down camera view
• New and immersive storyline. An original story set between the events of “Halo 3″ and “Halo 4,” experience a new war with the Covenant, the first missions of the Spartan Ops program and the rise of Commander Sarah Palmer, all with best-in-class graphics and audio
• Built for simplicity. A unique fusion of touch and console like controls for easy pick-up-and-play gaming, with the added flexibility of keyboard and mouse controls on Windows 8 PCs and tablets
• Integration with “Halo 4.” Earn experience points (XP), all-new Achievements, and unlock emblems for your “Halo 4″ Spartan career, with additional integration features available after launch
• Nonstop competitive fun. Compete against friends in Leaderboards or hone your skills against an onslaught of Weekly Challenges while collecting more than 40 in-game Achievements and Medals
• In-app purchases. Grind to earn upgrades or speed up your training by purchasing credits for boosts, unique weapons or armor abilities
• Only on Windows. Available only on Windows 8 PCs and tablets and Windows Phone 8 devices.

[Via: Windows Phone Blog, Halo Waypoint]

Hirai told reporters at the D11 conference today:

“The most important thing we need to do is agree and understand that the PS4 is a great video game console that appeals to video gamers,” Hirai said. “If we miss that part, I don’t think we get the initial establishment of the console. That formula has worked for us with all our consoles, including the PS3.”

However, he did say that Sony would reveal more of the PS4′s other functions at the company’s E3 event on June 10th. “Providing other non-game content is an area we will reveal and talk about in the coming months, but its first and foremost a video game console.”

Sony focused on gaming in its reveal of the PS4 last February. Its main competitor, Microsoft, chose to focus on the Xbox One’s media center functionality. Microsoft has stated its upcoming E3 presentation will be gaming centric, owing at least somewhat to the gamer backlash over the lack of gaming content in its recent reveal. Perhaps Sony’s press conference will be the opposite, focusing on the PS4′s non gaming features?

We’ll have to wait and see. But Hirai’s comments are heartening to gamers who felt left out of Microsoft’s Xbox One plans (so far). A lot can happen in a press conference and both companies have fortunes riding on these systems.

[Via: The Verge]