Morning DLC: Video Games News And Rumors 5/17/14
By Nick Tylwalk
"Iconic UK studio Rare’s most recent projects have been Kinect games like the recently released Kinect Sports Rivals for Xbox One, but Microsoft has never “forced” the company to make games for the camera technology, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer says.“I’ve also laughed when people have tried to use the word, what I ‘force’ them to do. If you’re around any independent studio, or like Rare a studio that’s independent-minded, you’ll know that forcing a studio to do something is never a successful equation,” Spencer told OXM.Spencer went on to say that Rare is, and always has been, free to look at “all kinds of different opportunities” when setting out to make a new game."
"A host of new graphics capabilities and hardware gimmicks have made the newest generation of games consoles the biggest power-sucks yet. An analysis from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that the Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Microsoft’s Xbox One consume two to three times more electricity than their predecessors. The Nintendo Wii U was the only one of the three major consoles found to actually use less power than the Wii that preceded it. With over 15 million of the three consoles sold in the U.S., they will use over a billion dollars worth of electricity a year, more than the city of Houston.One of the big drivers of the added energy waste was the Xbox One’s move to package every new console with the Kinect, the motion-and-voice sensor, that would be on 24 hours a day by default, listening for voice commands."
"Nintendo will shine the spotlight on a ‘new game for 3DS’ at E3 with its very own press eventThe platform holder has begun inviting press to two Q&A events to take place during E3. One will focus on the highly anticipate all-star brawler, Super Smash Bros., while the other will apparently spotlight “A new game for 3DS”."