Round 3 - A little more nugget for your noggin

• Forza Motorsport 6 is coming in 2015. Specifically Early-Mid October.

Completely revamped engine, 60fps, 1080p, no tearing and fully 3d crowds as expected. Forward rendering. 4 x MSAA in gameplay is the aim. Split-screen is in.

Set to feature 350-400 cars at launch. Weather (ice, snow (if appropriate to the region), rain, mist/fog) and night racing finally. It's not specified if there's a full day to night transition, but given the engine is built on the work done in Horizon 2, that will probably be the case.

Also team are hoping to bump the number of players over 20 cars, but this may not make it.

Graphically it's as big as a leap as F3 was over F2, perhaps more.

• Forza Horizon 2 is on a trajectory to hit 1 million copies soldby mid november. Approximately 700,000 copies sold so far with over 2/3rds of players online. Forza Horizon 3 is going forward for release around the same time in 2016.

•  Phantom Dust "Season 1" is due to arrive Q3 2015

• Blurs pre-rendered cinematics for Halo 2: Anniversary are using near 1:1 in-game assets as Halo 5

•  Quantum Break is going to be native 1080p unless the apocalypse starts.

• Gears of War 4 is set in Seras far future many hundreds of years after Gears of War 3. Split-screen co-op is in. 60fps is the new hotness.

• There is to be a new Halo videogame series with Jameson Locke as the lead and will co-exist alongside the mainline Halo series. As Halo and Gears of War are on 3 year rotations, this will be released in the gap year. It's going for a more ODST vibe and is due to integrate with the TV series in terms of canon. Basically Halo Chronicles as it was meant to be.

Round 2

10 Gaming industry titbits

1.  David Cage initially wasn't going to sign with Sony after completion of Heavy Rain to publish what became Beyond : Two Souls, hence why post release in numerous interviews he would tout Heavy Rains better than expected sales, he was trying to sell himself to other publishers. None of them were interested, Sony bit because they didn't have many exclusives and Quantic Dream had no choice. 
2. Microsoft uses Ryse as a performance benchmark internally. Presently - post SDK improvements -the game is topping at a variable 50-60fps at 900p, the team believes it could crack a"mostly locked" 60fps at 1080p by the middle of next year.
3. Evolution Studios is going to suffer significant layoffs in 4-5 months time. This is due to lukewarm reception and the extended troubled development of Driveclub (in addition to lack of direction with the last two motorstorm games). If the studio survives, it's likely going to be re-focused to small digital titles.
4. There is definitely going to be a Gears of War collection released in late 2015 similar to the Master Chief collection, though the visuals will merely be updated and tweaked, this won't be a full on remake (ala Anniversary), but will include a Beta to Gears of War 4 (due November 15th 2016) and a cross-game lobby of ALL Gears of War game maps. 
5.  Uncharted 4: A Thiefs End will no longer be shipping with split-screen campaign co-op due to technical issues.
6. Halo Wars is definitely coming back. Microsofts intention is for the series to act as bridges between mainline Halo games, effectively replacing/accompanying Spartan Ops type expansions. Full voice and Kinect support accompany controller based gameplay.
7.  Sony is planning PS4 games to release on Playstation Now, the initial intention is to give a 12-18 month exclusivity window for the native PS4 versions.
8. Microsoft have a similar timed exclusivity window with 2 as yet unannounced third party publisher(s?) as they have with The Rise of the Tomb Raider. One new IP, the other existing. The existing one is a much bigger deal than Tomb Raider.
9.   Scalebound has Online co-op along the lines of a multiplayer Shadow of the Collossus
10. Microsoft is monitoring Forza Horizons impact as an IP, in the event of franchise fatigue they have the option of reverting to a Project Gotham Title. 

Bonus Factoid: Microsoft has greenlit Sunset Overdrive 2 - mainly to keep Insomniacs main studio from making PS4 games. 

Updates 05/16/14

Ok.

To follow on from the last info with some Q & A.

Q: Why would Epic/Crytek etc. go exclusive when teh PS4?

A: Publishing reasons. Microsoft is extremely stable (no risks of liquidation or bankruptcy like THQ etc.), they also go all out with advertising. In Epics case, they learned the hard way that cross platform with the wrong publisher doesn't mean more success (Bulletstorm). In Cryteks case, Microsoft is the publisher for Ryse 2 because they own the IP...and yes, Project Grave and Ryse 2 are one and the same.


Q: The Division leads on Xbox One? Pull the other one!!

A: Yep, not just The Division but the next Assassins Creed (Unity) and The Crew. Ubisoft rebuilt their development pipeline for Snowdrop on Xbox One and development is just that much smoother, leading to the system acting as lead on several important Ubisoft games. This was to avoid the scaling back involved on other projects (Watchdogs downgradegate)

Q: Battletoads? Gimme a break.

A: Well...another Rare collaboration, I now know that the company working with Rare on this is....*drumroll*...............Ruffian Games.

Being UK based allows swift communication on the project and MS apparently liked their take on Streets of Rage Redux. BT will be out this holiday.

Q: Halo 5 Guardians. Spill it.

A: Chief goes renegade after *spoilers* he gets a brief message from Cortana post Halo 4 (no mention how she's still alive, only that she might yet be saved). She tells him he needs to go to the desert planet in the trailer. A Hyper Lethal Oni Agent (IT'S NOT PALMER) is dispatched to bring him in, with a platoon of Spartan IV's. They they discover a Didact-led master plan for evil and team up like Apollo on Rocky to take on MR T. 

Target Resolution= Ten. Eighty. Pea.

Q: Do you know CBOAT?

A: I know of the Neogaf Poster CBOAT. It's a shared account by a number of GAF members (including mods) that was jacked some time ago. The piss-poor spelling is a way to hide different grammer for different users. It's primarily used for click bait. 95% garbage, 5% genuine leak to maintain just enough credibility.

Q: OK, how can I get RugPuddle as my tag?
 A: This should suffice Hot Coldman

Q: You leaks must be BS because there's too much game!
A:  Microsoft realised long ago, you could lose BILLIONS on the hardware, or spend hundreds of millions on exclusives. The collapse of medium-sized publishers and enveloping of smaller development houses left a significant gap in the market.

Q: How come you didn't mention a price drop? 
A: It wasn't noted on the conference rundown. Evidently because it didn't make the shortlist.#

Q: Any news and info on the Sony conference?
 a: Plenty of info, not so much on the news.

LEAKED - Microsoft E3 2014

On the DL. This info comes from the highest source and contains near full details of Microsoft E3 2014 conference. I have had corroborations from a number of sources to its legitimacy:

• Ryse 2 is in development and will be announced at the show in a real-time in-game trailer. Gone is the Roman period, enter the medieval setting. The game will offer more freedom of exploration and a refined combat system. The main character is a sell-sword of sorts with a greater destiny. This game looks beyond belief. No release date (possibly late 2016)

•  Forza Horizon 2 will be announced for release in October 2014 vai Playground Games. It will once again be open world and set in Louisiana, Missisips, New Mexico, Texas and Arkansas. Full day/night cycle, real time weather. Estimated 80 hour single player.

• 343 Industries will unveil Halo 2: Anniversary. This is a full (multiplayer included) visual makeover of Halo 2, it will also include the same options as Halo Anniversary (Including both visual modes) skulls etc. It will include the E3 2003 mission as a bonus unlockable and the maps from the PC version.

• No Turn 10 this year except in supportive capacity of Playground.

• Halo 5 will get its release date. 

• Rare is prepping a re-boot of Battletoads and Perfect Dark. BT will initially be a download only title (see Killer Instinct) and is set to run at 60fps. Perfect Dark is looking to be rebooted into a Third Person Adventure game - Similar to Uncharted.

• Epic will be there to unveil their new game base on the Samaritan demo from 2012. This will be XBOX ONE EXCLUSIVE as Microsoft is the publisher. Possibly the best looking game of this generation.

• Good Science Studios will unveil their Kinect Only game "EchoBlack" - The game is controlled via the use of Kinect and the player plots through an adventure game drawn as by echolocation. The vibrancy of the world depicted alters depending on the pitch, loudness and location of the players voice. No release date.

• Twisted Pixel will reveal their next digital game which is set in a sci-fantasy planet of Dekelsus. Possibly a 2.5D platformer. 

• Black Tusk will have a CGI trailer for Gears of War : Lazurus which will show the direction the series is heading.

• Lift London will be showing 2 projects. They are small and digital based. No other details unfortunately. 

•  Lionhead will have a brief gameplay of Fable Legends and bow out with a teaser of their next project which is set in a post-cataclysmic Earth decimated by egg shaped objects (possibly aliens)

•  Frontier Development is working on a family friendly Kinect title for release in 2014

• Phantom Dust : Sacrifice is being worked on by Grounding Inc and will be a prequel to the original. The game will be episodic in nature.

• Quantum Break will be out November 2014 - There is a multiplayer mode - Part 1 of a trilogy. The game has had a significant graphical upgrade since last year. 

• Sunset Overdrive is aiming for release on the last weeks of August/Early September. Graphically it looks like the CG trailer and the Parkour element of the game is a mix of Sonic, Jet Set Radio and Ratchet and Clank. 

• The secret Japanese game is coming from Platinum Games and is a Viewtiful Joe like action- beat em up. Codename is "RugPuddle". This is part one of a multiple game deal with Microsoft to publish other titles in the future.

• Leap Experience Pioneers will announce their game which looks like a TPS/RPG hybrid set in a Sci-fi universe. Looks very Mass Effect inspired. COMING 2015

• Platform Next Games is a new studio. They will be presenting an unnamed tech demo based on an upcoming project (similar to Black Tusks demo last year) which appears to be set in either an ancient or fantasy setting.

• Games With Gold will be announced for Xbox One starting immediately. The aim is that it will be 1 retail game a month, 1 digital game per month of a choice of 2. This will evolve as time goes on.

• Microsoft will announce the date when retail units can be activated as development kits, it will be before October 2014.

• Crackdown: Skyline - Coming 2015 - No other info, not even the developer. Microsoft Studios.

• Multi-platforms are as follows:

The Division (Xbox One is now lead platform)
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Fallout 4
EA game (not specified here)

Exclusive/Timed DLC on all.

That's all.