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The Inner Circle special - Xbox One Exclusives talk with Ken Lobb

Creating spinoffs in addition to mainline entries wouldn't be so bad, but creating a spinoff to replace the main series? No thanks. I want a real next gen Perfect Dark.

They don't want to make an FPS to compete with Halo and also the likes the COD and I think that would be a smart business decision. They could keep it first person and make it like Deus Ex HR.
 
Creating spinoffs in addition to mainline entries wouldn't be so bad, but creating a spinoff to replace the main series? No thanks. I want a real next gen Perfect Dark.
But MS already has 2 vastly more popular sci-fi shooter series though. I know PD is pretty different from Halo and Gears but IMO it would be better to use PD differently to diversify their lineup.
 
I hope you watched that Blues and Bullets trailer btw, it looks seriously cool.
I did. Looks fantastic. I'm loving the resurgence in adventure games.

It's been a long time coming. Brings a year to my eye that it's finally happening.

2015 is officially shaping up up to be the year both the horror and adventure genres made a long overdue comeback.
 
It won't make 2015. It was one of three announcements made last E3 that were solely there to get a bit of positive buzz about Xbox One going. Crackdown, Phantom Dust and Scalebound will be 2016 at the earliest IMO. Gears of War might be then too.

Microsoft initially had:

Halo
Forza 6
Fable

For 2015 and purchased exclusivity for Tomb Raider to fill things out a bit. Quantum Break was delayed past initial projections so they have that as a positive aspect to 2015 too.

They have 4 exclusive big franchises for 2015 and an exclusive new IP. More than enough IMO.

Just waiting for some games to be released so I can buy an Xbox One. Ryse: Son of Rome is the ONLY game that I have any interest in playing for the console right now. And even later this year, it's only 40% interest for me.

Fable - no interest
Forza 6 - no interest
Halo 5 - no interest
Quantum Break - definitely hoping for a 2015 release as I would buy this on release day
Rise of the Tomb Raider - while it's timed exclusive, will still buy on release day...should be interesting to see what happens between Raider and Uncharted 4.

Not expecting Scalebound, Phantom Dust or Crackdown until Holiday 2016. Gears of War collection in 2016 with the new Gears of War game being Holiday 2017. That's my guess anyway. Either way, it's simply just a waiting game.
 
Is Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 officially announced? I wouldn't be surprised if that came out before summer.

I hope it's coming soon ! I know people shit on kinect a lot but games like Fruit Ninja, while simple in concept, is super fun with people, easy to get into and a blast party game.

Great interview with Ken Lobb, always loved the guy, one of the best at Xbox imo !

Now Scalebound can't come soon enough, i'm freakin hyped for this bad boy !
 
They don't want to make an FPS to compete with Halo and also the likes the COD and I think that would be a smart business decision. They could keep it first person and make it like Deus Ex HR.

As long as they don't release at the same time I don't see how they're competing. Nintendo doesn't just make Mario games. They also have other platformers like Donkey Kong, Kirby, Yoshi etc. Microsoft doesn't release a new Halo every year so alternate them. Halo one year, PD the next.

Though a PD in the vein of Deus Ex HR does sound pretty cool :p
 
If you have the game you could unlock new cards by progresing, if you don't you can get a bit for free but, without buying the game, you could also purchase more card via microtransactions.

The guys paid for SP will have to progress in the game (grinding) to unlock new cards however the guys who didn't pay for the game can unlock new cards without any grinding? That's the definition of pay 2 win; still a bad model.
 
The guys paid for SP will have to progress in the game (grinding) to unlock new cards however the guys who didn't pay for the game can unlock new cards without any grinding? That's the definition of pay 2 win; still a bad model.

Booster packs. Make card buying completely random and not based on how much money you put in.
 
The guys paid for SP will have to progress in the game (grinding) to unlock new cards however the guys who didn't pay for the game can unlock new cards without any grinding? That's the definition of pay 2 win; still a bad model.
ok, I don't know how PD is beyond that is a card based action RPG. For this purpose I asume that the cards you find at the begining of the game won't bear useless by the end of it, instead, your character grows and as the game progreses you adquire different cards that to play differently.
I was thinking on two ways to adquire cards for owners of the game: by progresing on the campaign or by progresing on the MP. After you beat certain goal in the campaign you obtain more cards. In the MP you are given tokens to adquire new cards and those cards cpuld be uaed on the SP too.
Players who don't have the game will only have access to a basic deck and maybe a limited numbers of cards to obtain by in game curency. Other option is to adquire in game curency by microtransactions.
Maybe in SP you are rewarded with token and most of the cards are obtained in the campaign by in game purchases too.
I think that may work but it depens on the asumption I mentioned or that its implementation won't break the game.
 
Good interview. I had listened to the interview with Phil Spencer when they did it and they asked good questions then as well. They try to get as much information as they can knowing that there is a limit to what they will say on a podcast.

I was a bit surprised at how much Ken was excited about Scalebound, sounds like it's a bigger game than I thought. Really interesting how he mentioned Platinum is aware that despite making great games they have trouble selling in the west. I loved Bayo 1 and almost bought a Wii-U for Bayo 2 (I may still) so I'm really excited for this even more now.
 
Good interview. I had listened to the interview with Phil Spencer when they did it and they asked good questions then as well. They try to get as much information as they can knowing that there is a limit to what they will say on a podcast.

I was a bit surprised at how much Ken was excited about Scalebound, sounds like it's a bigger game than I thought. Really interesting how he mentioned Platinum is aware that despite making great games they have trouble selling in the west. I loved Bayo 1 and almost bought a Wii-U for Bayo 2 (I may still) so I'm really excited for this even more now.

Yeah. It must be really hard to have such great games, but then they don't sell.
 
Hype for Phantom Dust and Scalebound greatly increased.

The Rare part makes me think they're working on a new IP only. A classic reboot of either Banjo or Battletoads is a given, but I don't think it will come from Rare. It's probably one of the unannounced games coming in 2015.

The interview was great, but his justification for no Perfect Dark was pretty lame. I hear it all the time and it's complete bullshit. Perfect Dark was born and meant to be a methodical, open-ended, objective-based, sophisticated, stealthy, sci-fi, espionage shooter. The setting and gameplay style are completely different than Halo and Gears, there's absolutely no reason all three of them can't coexist in the same ecosystem.

But it's nice to know that they discuss that possibility often, I guess.
 
Holy shit hype!

Scalebound of my gawd, Forza 6 oh my gawd, Quantum break oh my gawd.

Oh my gawd this year is going to be DELICIOUS.
 
Really coming across like they have virtually nothing for 2015, as has been long suspected at this point.

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not sure how to take his comments about platinum asking microsoft for guidance on how to appeal to western audiences and help focus test ideas in that market. kinda feels like the opposite of sunset overdrive where ms let insomniac make an insomniac game unlike ea, but it could just be very innocent stuff (like maybe making the story comprehensible, as much as i love the weird nonsense in platinum games) instead of big picture.

i am very excited for scalebound, but also curious to see how platinum partnering with microsoft differs from platinum partnering with nintendo. interesting test case.

It's likely this, especially to boost sales, as their titles don't tend to sell much. Their gameplay also seems to go over peoples head sometimes, W101 and Vanquish being the ones a lot of people don't get.
 
I agree with the MS guys on perfect dark. I think the idea of a new game, a first person shooter competing with the other big name fps games out there would be a bad idea. It wouldn't bring anything new to the table that other fps games already have. Imo one of the reasons it was popular was due to fps games being unheard of on console. At least not good ones.

Anyway if I see another perfect dark game it needs to not be any fps. I'm kinda getting sick of the genre a little. I usually keep my interest to 3 or 4 a year.
 
I agree with the MS guys on perfect dark. I think the idea of a new game, a first person shooter competing with the other big name fps games out there would be a bad idea. It wouldn't bring anything new to the table that other fps games already have. Imo one of the reasons it was popular was due to fps games being unheard of on console. At least not good ones.

Anyway if I see another perfect dark game it needs to not be any fps. I'm kinda getting sick of the genre a little. I usually keep my interest to 3 or 4 a year.

I think Salty put it best:

. I hear it all the time and it's complete bullshit. Perfect Dark was born and meant to be a methodical, open-ended, objective-based, sophisticated, stealthy, sci-fi, espionage shooter. The setting and gameplay style are completely different than Halo and Gears, there's absolutely no reason all three of them can't coexist in the same ecosystem.

Perfect Dark while an FPS is nothing at all like Halo or Gears, it was it's own thing. That said i wouldn't be against it being third person or some combo of first and third person gameplay.

Yeah. It must be really hard to have such great games, but then they don't sell.

Something that never fails to annoy me, back in the 90's and early 2000's games like Bayonetta, Vanquish etc would be huge sellers. MS will put a shitload of Marketing muscle behind this game at least.
 
Just finished listening. I don't really see it as a JRPG but that's just me, I guess... It was nice to hear a bit more about Phantom Dust and I honestly can't wait to have more info and to see some stuff from the game. It's great Ken and people at Microsoft see the potential in that game. It's an awesome one!
 
He seems really excited about Scalebound. My only worry is that it'll be multiplayer-focused. As someone who loves Platinum for their great single-player games, that would be hugely disappointing for me.
 
Scalebound appears to be a "prestige" project, and with Kamiya's named attached to it. I think MS knows exactly what its buying.

I'm skeptical of MS but I feel Scalebound is in the right hands with the right intentions.

And I reckon I'll buy an Xbone for it.
 
Perfect Dark's cyberpunk sci-fi could be very different from Gear's post-apocalyptic sci-fi and Halo's mythological/military sci-fi. I like the Deus Ex idea, or you could even go total espionage like Alpha Protocol, or more stealth like Metal Gear/Splinter Cell, or even something like Hitman in first person. Lots of options with what is essentially a futuristic version of the James Bond IP.

Scalebound sounds awesome.
 
Hype rising for Scalebound and Phantom Dust, upset that Perfect Dark could be years away though. Was hoping for a big budget reboot of the franchise in the mold of Deus Ex, hopefully happens at some point. Will be content to wait if Rare do deliver Banjo Threeie soon.
 
If Scalebound turns out better than Bayonetta 2 I will be insanely impressed. Hoping after TW101 (which isn't bad, just not Kamiya's best) that Scalebound ends up fantastic.
 
So how do we think the line up should look this year?

August: Fable Legends
September: Halo 5
October: Forza 6
November: Tomb Raider

Quantum Break?

Possibles:

Rare game - A big year for Rare suggests its releasing this year, not just being announced.
Rare game #2 - Old IP? Banjo has been teased but will it release? New/current non rare team on rare IP?
Gears of War Collection - If this is coming would they really want to release early 2016 with Gears 4 (probably) coming late 2016?
Lift London - We've seen artwork of their game but they've been teasing for a long time.
Twisted Pixel - Should be debuting something soon.
Press Play - Get out a game per year it seems (On XB1 alone)

Shame the next few months are quiet, looking forward to Screamride and Ori tho.
 
So how do we think the line up should look this year?

August: Fable Legends
September: Halo 5
October: Forza 6
November: Tomb Raider

Quantum Break?

Possibles:

Rare game - A big year for Rare suggests its releasing this year, not just being announced.
Rare game #2 - Old IP? Banjo has been teased but will it release? New/current non rare team on rare IP?
Gears of War Collection - If this is coming would they really want to release early 2016 with Gears 4 (probably) coming late 2016?
Lift London - We've seen artwork of their game but they've been teasing for a long time.
Twisted Pixel - Should be debuting something soon.
Press Play - Get out a game per year it seems (On XB1 alone)

Shame the next few months are quiet, looking forward to Screamride and Ori tho.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT CUPHEAD OR BELOW, YO.

As for Fable Legends, not excited for that at all unless it's undergone a major overhaul to resemble a proper Fable game and not one that resembles a bigger budget version of Fable Heroes.

Who are they trying to appeal to with it exactly? No-one I know liked Heroes and yet that's what their new game looks exactly like...
 
DON'T FORGET ABOUT CUPHEAD OR BELOW, YO.

As for Fable Legends, not excited for that at all unless it's undergone a major overhaul to resemble a proper Fable game and not one that resembles a bigger budget version of Fable Heroes.

Who are they trying to appeal to with it exactly? No-one I know liked Heroes and yet that's what their new game looks exactly like...

I think it ended up like that since MS doesn't want to make a open world Fable(hence that new ip brewing in Lionhead) but still want to use the Fable IP as something. Maybe use it to help UE4, to see if odd MP styles can work. They also say on the website that this game is planned to have a lifecycle of 5-10 years so maybe they want this to be how Fable lives this generation.
As for the game actually getting any fans, idk. Uphill battle. Want to try it myself before passing judgement.
 
DON'T FORGET ABOUT CUPHEAD OR BELOW, YO.

As for Fable Legends, not excited for that at all unless it's undergone a major overhaul to resemble a proper Fable game and not one that resembles a bigger budget version of Fable Heroes.

Who are they trying to appeal to with it exactly? No-one I know liked Heroes and yet that's what their new game looks exactly like...
Wasn't fable heroes just a beat em up game? Heroes looks a bit different than that. I'd rather a normal fable though
 
This dude is the real deal. I mean I can understand one having doubts about Spencer or feel that he is insincere( I don't) but Ken Lobb definitely comes off genuine by bringing great content to XB1 to diversify the library.
 
I think it ended up like that since MS doesn't want to make a open world Fable(hence that new ip brewing in Lionhead) but still want to use the Fable IP as something. Maybe use it to help UE4, to see if odd MP styles can work. They also say on the website that this game is planned to have a lifecycle of 5-10 years so maybe they want this to be how Fable lives this generation.
As for the game actually getting any fans, idk. Uphill battle. Want to try it myself before passing judgement.

That would be a stupid reason not to develop a traditional Fable game.

I'm personally worried about the future of Fable after Legends fails to make a splash. MS rarely give an IP a third chance and with the bomb that is The Journey behind it, Legends feels like the last attempt Lionhead have to make Fable somewhat relevant again and they've seemingly squandered it on a bigger budget remake of Heroes with some twists.

Should have just made Fable 4 and then tried something else with the IP.

Wasn't fable heroes just a beat em up game? Heroes looks a bit different than that. I'd rather a normal fable though

It was. The only real differences in Legends are the villain gameplay, setting traps, etc. Everything else looks exactly like Heroes.
 
That would be a stupid reason not to develop a traditional Fable game.

I'm personally worried about the future of Fable after Legends fails to make a splash. MS rarely give an IP a third chance and with the bomb that is The Journey behind it, Legends feels like the last attempt Lionhead have to make Fable somewhat relevant again and they've seemingly squandered it on a bigger budget remake of Heroes with some twists.

Should have just made Fable 4 and then tried something else with the IP.



It was. The only real differences in Legends are the villain gameplay, setting traps, etc. Everything else looks exactly like Heroes.

I'd imagine a 4th entry would be more expensive than Legends, as RPGs tend to be on the wallet and time. I think MS wants a RPG title and they think Lionhead can make it but don't think Fable can be the IP do to many reasons.
 
With Molyneux gone, maybe who's left at Lionhead isn't really interested in championing his vision of Fable?

Honestly, everything about Fable in recent years just looked like they're just different games that's utilising the IP. Maybe they're just making said games to keep the lights on while they work on their next IP.
 
So how do we think the line up should look this year?

August: Fable Legends
September: Halo 5
October: Forza 6
November: Tomb Raider

Quantum Break?

Possibles:

Rare game - A big year for Rare suggests its releasing this year, not just being announced.
Rare game #2 - Old IP? Banjo has been teased but will it release? New/current non rare team on rare IP?
Gears of War Collection - If this is coming would they really want to release early 2016 with Gears 4 (probably) coming late 2016?
Lift London - We've seen artwork of their game but they've been teasing for a long time.
Twisted Pixel - Should be debuting something soon.
Press Play - Get out a game per year it seems (On XB1 alone)

Shame the next few months are quiet, looking forward to Screamride and Ori tho.

Sounds about right, I'd expect 1 or 2 surprise announcement at E3 too. When it comes to Rare nobody can know what to expect. Could be great, could be mediocre, obviously hoping for the former.
 
I learned a few days ago that Ken Lobb had a hand in the western versions of Splatterhouse 2, a nice fact.

You get me that HD collection of Splatterhouse games, you hear me, Microsoft? You could do it, wouldn't be hard.
 
Great podcast - excited for this year :D

Also, Low G Man :O I loved that game!

Any chance that Rare are working on Phantom Dust?
 
Lack of Perfect Dark because of Gears and Halo is odd. Cyberpunk, 3rd/1st person, espionage, Splinter Cell, Deus Ex, Female lead. Sounds awesome. You don't need to shoehorn it into an Uncharted action adventure.

You know, don't release Halo every year. Give IP breathing room, let Fable cool off, grow another community.
 
Just listened to the whole thing, great stuff. Ken has so many great stories and seems just as passionate today as he was in the 80's.

I didn't realize Iron Galaxy was MS first choice for KI, I thought they were just one of the devs on the list that happened to be too busy at the time. Very interesting...and you could say KI actually benefits from getting the full effort of two entirely separate (and clearly talented) studios in one game.
 
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