Forza Horizon E3 Footage

Some real nice footage was shown at E3 this year in regards to an upcoming racing game, Forza Horizon.  This game takes you from the tracks and pits you onto the open highways and trails of the world.  It has been confirmed by other sources to run at at least 30 fps and turn10 will be sure to deliver the amazing reality we know fron the series.

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Tomb Raider E3 Gameplay Demo

The newest Tomb Raider gameplay demo came out at E3 during the Microsoft conference and it looks dissapointing! The game is nothing like how they said it would be in interviews and magazines like everyone had asked for. The game looks just like an Uncharted clone now (is that a bad thing). This game is very different then the traditional Tomb Raider games but hopefully it can pull through. Check out the video below:

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Halo 4 Campaign Gameplay Demo

Some Halo 4 gameplay was shown off at E3 today, and with that we also have some screenshots as well. This post is more of a directory for pictures and the video of the trailer as not much real information was actually announced. This game is being developed by 343 Studios and is set to release later this year!

Screenshots

Hooray for GIFs

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Gears of War: Judgment Debut Trailer

The latest game in the Gears of War franchise was showcased at Microsoft's E3 conference today. This game comes out in 2013 and while the trailer is short is does give you an idea of the the time and the story of the game. Check out the trailer below:

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Resident Evil 6 E3 Gameplay Demo

The newest footage for Resident Evil was shown today. Leon is here and the gameplay is shown down below. Some players are already complaining about this game though, here is what user Xpliskin on NeoGAF is saying:

To keep things short:

• Animation/Player programming is rough
• What is the point of having 3 different campaigns and promising "survival-horror" gameplay if they're all action packed ?
• Co-op: It seems the co-op NPC only appears in cutscenes (in-game and non-interactive ones)
• QTE everywhere

This game is very disappointing for what was promised with the game since the series began. I am not interested in this game because it doesn't even seem scary anymore!

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Union Jack Xbox 360 May 25th

Yes you've read the title right Microsoft said earlier today that there will be a Union Jack Xbox 360 coming out if your unfamiliar of what the Union Jack is picture down below. 

This Xbox will come with the Kinect, 3 Months of Xbox Gold and Kinect Adventures, Kinect Sports. It will be selling for £249.99 as of right now this console is only selling in the UK. My opinion on this is that the Xbox and Kinect look like utter trash. The controller is neat it but that is one ugly console!

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Why You Should Love Windows 8

Ever since Microsoft first showed Windows 8 with its 'Metro' style interface, press have been saying that it will 'not work' on desktop computers. Users say they are being 'forced' to use Metro, but even as someone who loves this new style, I can honestly say that is not really the case.

Including Metro on Windows 8 gives hardware manufacturers much more flexibility in making new devices. Other than touchscreen laptops (which makes my arm tired just thinking about it), there is of course Tablets. Being on a tablet does not mean that Windows 8 will not work well with the mouse and keyboard - it does. In the Developer Preview there are small issues related to scrolling in apps that have since been fixed. What being able to use a mouse and keyboard does is allow manufacturers to make incredible products such as the Asus Transformer does today with Android. Using a tablet the user can input mouse and keyboard in the metro interface as well as the traditional desktop with the click of a tile.

But wait. 'There's no desktop on ARM?!' - Yes there is. On ARM you will be able to to use the included Microsoft Office version that while it is a desktop app, it will be tablet optimized. However this should not be a problem as if you are creating text documents you will likely be using some sort of keyboard dock. 'Why can't you use other desktop apps on ARM?' - at launch ARM is intended for low power, mobile devices. You will only be able to use programs such as explorer and desktop IE. The Windows 8 app store is sure to have any software you will need as Microsoft still has the highest market share in operating systems. Running software on ARM that you normally run on Windows x86/x64 would require an entire rewrite.

Microsoft has solved this problem by updating it's extremely intuitive development environment with Visual Studio 11. Apps written for Metro using any of the multiple languages supported (C++, C#, Visual Basic, Javascript) will work cross-platform on Windows 8 on Intel and ARM, as well as Windows Phone. We will have to wait until the Consumer Preview on  February 29th to see just what kind of apps will be available on the store and how well they work.

'So, Windows 8 has a shiny "shell" over top of it, what really makes it better?'. Windows 8 is fast, really fast. I have to say that Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7 are the smoothest operating systems I have ever seen. They never slow down, they are beautiful, and very easy to use for anyone. Windows 8 can run smoothly even on Netbooks, and will actually only require the same or less RAM than Windows 7. Windows 8 also uses 'Hybrid Boot" technology. Even running on a very old Pentium 4 computer Windows 8 boots in 5-7 seconds, but you will likely never have to turn it off as it suspends any apps you are not currently using in the background to save resources.

'Windows 8 doesn't have multitasking.' What? Are you crazy? Of course Windows 8 has multitasking. You can view multiple Metro apps side by side, and even Metro apps aside the desktop. You can also adjust the size of the two windows as you wish (for instance if you wanted to keep a Twitter client on the side of the screen while you worked). Windows 8 will actually be the first mobile OS to allow real multi-tasking. This is now only just beginning to happen on Android with the amazing Cornerstone software.

Now before this posts rivals the length of that of Steven Sinofsky I would like to mention a new feature that has been recently announced. Microsoft will be integrating SkyDrive into the OS as a folder in your user directory - much like Dropbox. Users will be able to backup files directly to their SkyDrive folder. There is some disappointment with this feature however, that users will not be able to individually pick folders to be synced (as with Windows Live Mesh), but is essentially just a type of Dropbox clone. That is not too bad though, as it is now built in and offers more space than Dropbox.

Remember, the new Metro interface is called the 'start screen' for a reason. It is replacing the start menu, not your entire desktop. You can still search for programs at any time on the start screen just by typing, you can also search for files and settings. There is nothing stopping you from using the old desktop with all of its updated features (eg. ribbon bar), and at this time without the app store being opened the metro interface is best used as a secondary display. I am sure that this will change when some useful apps or fun games are released. Desktop OSes are becoming more and more like their mobile counterparts, as Apple is doing the same with OS X Mountain Lion.

* Opinions represented here are that of this author only, and not necessarily those of AnythingGeek.net. However, all writers who disagree with the information in this article will be terminated

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