Steve Ballmer is the owner of the LA Clippers
The legal wrangling and lawsuits are done and it’s official, the NBA has announced that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is now the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. He paid a reported $2 billion for the team, the highest sale price for a franchise in league history, after tapes leaked of former owner Donald Sterling making racist remarks. So now that Ballmer has the team in-hand, what’s next? Players like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have spoken out in support of the new team owner (superfan Clipper Darrell has also chimed in), so we’re guessing he’s not going to make a Clippy-related logo change anytime soon. Ballmer told the LA Times he intends to build the team into a champion, which would be a far cry from the squad fans were used to under Sterling.
Official Release: Steve Ballmer completes purchase of Los Angeles Clippers ► http://t.co/xqAd4tBaLv #ItsANewDay pic.twitter.com/hau9xsUjcC
– Los Angeles Clippers (@LAClippers) August 12, 2014
Source: NBA
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Bungie’s first Destiny expansion pack arrives this December
We’ve still got a little under a month left before Destiny officially makes its way to consoles, but we already know a bit about Bungie’s expansion plans. At a Sony Gamescom event, the company announced that its first expansion pack for multiplayer, The Dark Below, will be available to everyone this December. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Sony-related event without some exclusive content, and Bungie didn’t disappoint there: The new expansion will come with a map called Blue Exodus that’s exclusive to PlayStation 4 users.
Additionally, Bungie also debuted a trailer showing off many of the game’s Crucible multiplayer modes that will be available at launch, which you can replay below. There’s Skirmish, which is a small-team (3v3) mode that encourages teamwork to survive; Rumble, which is you versus everyone; Salvage is a 3v3 mode in which you defend relics; Clash is similar to Skirmish, but each team is twice as large; Combined Arms is team warfare with vehicles; and Control is a zone defense mode. You can pre-order Destiny now or wait until September 9th, but these kinds of teasers aren’t making the wait any easier on us.
Stay up to date on our Gamescom news here!
Filed under: Gaming, Mobile, Sony, Microsoft
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‘Forza 5’ will be the first racing game with a Formula E electric racer
Turn 10 has just revealed that it’ll bring the hum of electric power to ‘Forza 5′ with the Spark-Renault SRT-01E racing car. That’d mark the first EV from the fledgeling Formula E racing series in any game — in fact, the real e-racing series won’t launch until September 13th in Beijing. The Spark-Renault SRT-01E was the first car to be homologated by the FIA for Formula E, and features a 200kW (270 bhp) motor and 888KG (2,000 pound) curb weight. In case you were wondering, it also produces about 80 decibels at full power — that’s more than your car, but far, far less than the 140 pedal-to-the-metal decibels of a Formula 1 vehicle. There’s no word on when the new racer will arrive to ‘Forza 5,’ but it would make sense to launch it next month along with the Formula E series in Beijing.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Source: Turn 10 (Twitter)
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Here’s a closer look at the white Xbox One and its Call of Duty-themed brother
Want to get really intimate with the two new Xbox Ones announced at Microsoft’s Gamescom 2014 press conference? Well, unless you’re here in Cologne, you probably can’t get that close quite yet, but we did find said consoles hanging out behind glass. Good news: the white Xbox One completely delivers on its promise. It’s got white plastic! As for the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare-themed Xbox One, well, it’s absolutely what it promises: Call of Duty symbols are plastered all over the outside. Of course, that COD-themed box also has a 1TB internal hard drive while the white Xbox One is simply bundled with Sunset Overdrive. Neither box was paired with a similarly-themed Kinect, which tells us not to expect a Kinect in the box when both arrive later this year.
Head into the gallery below for a closer look, and we’ve dropped a couple of Vines of both consoles after the break.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
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‘Goat Simulator’ is coming to Xbox One (yes, that’s a real game)
You may not have heard of Goat Simulator, but yes, it’s really a game. And hey, it’s apparently coming to Xbox One! The bizarre “game” has you piloting a goat, causing trouble all over town. Chris Charla, head of the Microsoft indie game program at Xbox, introduced the game among a lengthy list of other indies that are “coming to console first on Xbox One.” Among them is hit mobile game Threes, innovative and insane first-person shooter Super Hot, and Worms studio Team 17′s latest work, The Escapists.
But when will all these games arrive? It looks like at least a few will arrive this year, though no specific dates were given out at Microsoft’s Gamescom 2014 presser (which is where we are right now, in case that wasn’t clear). We’ll have more from Microsoft’s event as the day goes on!
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
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‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ is getting a custom Xbox One with 1TB of storage
The long-running relationship between Microsoft’s Xbox consoles and the Call of Duty brand is expanding into hardware: a custom Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Xbox One is in the works for this holiday. Better yet, it comes ready for all that downloadable content you’re going to buy, packing a one terabyte hard drive internally. And what about Kinect? No Kinect, sadly. We say “sadly” because the bundle costs $500. Which is to say, “It costs the same amount as an Xbox One with a 500GB hard drive and a Kinect.” Sure, you get Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and you get a custom Xbox One with a larger HDD, but will $500 still be too much for mainstream folks who haven’t picked up an Xbox One just yet? We’ll see when it arrives on November 4th.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft
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‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’ is a 2015 exclusive for Xbox One
Hoping for some Xbox One exclusives to be announced at Gamescom? You’re in the right place. Phil Harrison, corporate VP at Microsoft, just announced Rise of Tomb Raider will be coming to the platform some time “holiday” next year (though we’re not sure which). It’ll be the latest instalment of the legendary franchise, one that’s probably older than many of the people who will play it. Even if it isn’t the “definitive version.”
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
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The Xbox One is getting major media updates: here’s a breakdown
Microsoft has just kicked off Gamescom 2014 by announcing a plethora of new features coming to the Xbox One — some you may have known about, and some not. First up is a much anticipated feature: a new app will soon turn the Xbox One into a media player, letting you stream movie and audio files from a USB key or DLNA network. Microsoft’s Major Nelson has promised that the console will support many more media formats than the Xbox 360 did, including new file types like MPEG2 TS, animated GIF and MKV. A preview version of the app will arrive first with USB support, while DLNA and certain file formats like MKV won’t come until later. (For a list of compatible file formats, check the source.)
Still on the media front, Microsoft also announced some interesting TV-related features. You’ll soon be able to boot directly to your TV from standby mode, a big convenience if you use that app a lot. Another new feature coming is SmartGlass TV streaming: if you’re in another room, you can watch shows over your home network on a SmartGlass-equipped tablet or smartphone on Windows, iOS or Android. That’ll let you change channels and pause, play or rewind shows, all while still playing games on your Xbox One. The latter feature will arrive first to European countries receiving the new Xbox TV tuner by the end of the year. On a related note, regions with OneGuide will also get a mini guide that displays program information at the bottom of the screen.
For gaming, there’s some new but important features, especially for chat users or social types. The new Friends section that rolled out to early access members will now come to the general preview program. To remind you, the new features let you keep up with your friends’ activities at a glance, showing the games they’re playing and a Gamerscore leaderboard. There will also be a brand new Snap Center where you can see messages, parties, friends and achievements in one place without leaving a game — a feature that Xbox 360 users were sorely missing. And if you message a lot, you’ll now see full conversation threads without interrupting gameplay — including full discussion histories with embedded links and game clips.
Finally, Microsoft re-iterated that it’s hard at work readying the Xbox One launch for 29 new countries, up from the 26 it announced before. It said it’s still on track to release the console “in the coming weeks” to countries including Japan, Russia and Switzerland.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Source: Major Nelson
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There is a white Xbox One console and gamepad coming this October
The rumors are true: there is a white Xbox One game console on the way, and it’s arriving alongside Xbox One-exclusive Sunset Overdrive. And the console isn’t the only white bit, as there’s a white gamepad coming too. It’ll cost $400 when it arrives this October, and it comes with the standard 500GB of storage and the aforementioned gamepad. The bundle appears to come without Kinect, though we’ll be sure to ask Microsoft as soon as this Gamescom 2014 press conference is over.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft
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Xbox One gets new Halo Channel in November
As if Halo: The Master Chief Collection wasn’t a juicy enough feast of your favorite Xbox sci-fi military franchise. Today at Gamescom Bonnie Ross, GM at 343 Industries, revealed an new hub for fans of the game on Xbox One — The Halo Channel. It’ll coincide with the launch of the The Master Chief Collection in November, and you’ll be able to chat, catch news and, of course, dive right into your preferred edition of the game (we’re fans of the original if you’re asking). As you might expect, the channel also comes with the obligatory exclusive content and Twitch integration too.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
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