Plans for a disc-free Xbox One? Halo 5 in 2015? A Halo 2 remake this fall?
A massive dump of rumours posted on NeoGAF last night hints at all that and more: a new Forza Horizon this fall; a game called Shangheist that was cancelled when the studio Black Tusk started development on a new Gears of War; a widespread white Xbox One launch later this year.
This all comes from someone with the handle ntkrnl, who hasn’t identified himself but has been posting details and tidbits about Microsoft’s future plans for the past 24 hours. Some of the info is vague — like an alleged deal between Microsoft and the cloud processing company Cloudgine — while other snippets are more specific, like details about the upcoming Xbox One game Sunset Overdrive. Ntkrnl adds that Halo 2: Anniversary is scheduled for November 11 and Fable Legends will be out in the summer of 2015.
So how valid is this stuff? Well, thanks to a reliable source, I’ve been able to confirm that ntkrnl is indeed connected to Microsoft, although I haven’t been able to verify any of the poster’s claims. Just because the leaker is in a position to know this information doesn’t mean this information is true. (When I reached out this morning, Microsoft declined to comment.)
But adding some veracity to ntkrnl’s posts is The Verge’s Tom Warren, who has a very good track record with Microsoft-related leaks and rumours. Warren says he’s been able to verify a few of ntkrnl’s claims, including the white Xbox One release and a major dashboard update scheduled for this March that will reportedly fix some of the system’s big interface and party chat issues. Warren also says he confirmed Microsoft is testing out builds of the Xbox One without a disc drive — floated by ntkrnl — although neither knows whether that version of the console will actually make it to the market.
On top of all that, according to one person familiar with the situation who spoke to me under condition of anonymity, Microsoft is currently trying to track down and identify ntkrnl. According to that person, Microsoft executives are looking to take legal action against ntkrnl, which, again, doesn’t mean that everything he says is true.
Ntkrnl also posted a mock-up of what appears to be a Titanfall-themed Xbox One bundle:
Two industry sources have told me that this bundle is real, although the image is not 100% accurate. UPDATE (5:37pm): It’s worth noting that just because the bundle is real doesn’t mean it will make its way to store shelves. Frequent NeoGAFfer Pete Dodd, who has been correct about some gaming rumours in the past, says he heard the bundle was cancelled.
Titanfall comes out for Xbox One, PC, and 360 on March 11.
That’s all we know at this point, and we’ve reached out to more sources and contacts in an attempt to verify more of this information.
For a full compilation of ntkrnl’s posts, check out NeoGAF.
To contact the author of this post, write to jason@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter at @jasonschreier.
Comments
36 responses to “Massive Xbox One Rumour Dump Is Filled With Juicy Details”
Well if there is such a bundle EB Games here won’t be getting it since after the February shipment of Xbox One’s they won’t be able to fill any more orders until at least June…
If the rumour was true about the disc less console I wonder if it would be noticeably cheaper. It seems like a straight downgrade you can only pay full price from the xbone store and won’t be able to play blu rays.
I’d see EB Games & JB Hi-Fi selling redeemable codes honestly, like they do with PSN, XBL & Minecraft codes.
I thought it might have been intended for the Chinese market (assuming the stories about consoles becoming legal there pan out) – maybe a way to cut down on rampant piracy by going digital only instead of having discs?
$50 gets you an entire stand-alone unit. The price won’t drop by more than $20, unless they decide to take a loss on it.
Microsoft have stated in the past they want to create a cheaper second screen Xbox, media only. Would love that for other screens in the house I don’t want to play games on, and don’t want to pay for a second XBL Gold for.
There’s definitely a market for it, and for them to not even be ‘testing’ a build is pretty unbelievable… the only thing that’s really certain is that despite there being demand, there’s also a production cost, and the only people who know if it’ll go ahead are the maths monkeys crunching the ROI to see if it matches what a few execs have in their heads.
The no XBOX till Feb is a fabricated rumour to help sales. My friend works at EB and said they just got told that the latest shipment will be 4 weeks late “due to demand”. While prior to this latest memo they were assured that stock will be there, and alot of stores still have stock anyway but arent selling them unless it is a paid in full pre order.
Whoot! Titanfall! I can’t wait to pay double the price for a multiplayer only game with no servers.
and really, Halo 2 Anniversary? I really don’t see the point. It was fine for Halo 1, since that was the first game to set it all off. It seems more like they asked if Halo 5 could come out this year and when they were told the deadline couldn’t be reached they quickly ordered another anniversary from Certain Affinity in order to avoid breaking their “Halo game every year” deal.
I’ve been waiting patiently for Halo 2 Anniversary, just because I wanted the whole collection of updated Halo games on 360 – I don’t have a xbox. Buuut, is Halo 2 anniversary still a 360 title? Another one of the rumours is that the Halo 2 Anniversary will come with a key for the Halo 5 beta, which is definitely a Xbox One game… so, now I just don’t know.
All I’m sure of is that I’m happy to plop down cash for Halo 2 Anniversary.
Oh yeah, I’ve always thought that the only reason why I would like a Halo 2 Anniversary game is so that all Bungie Halo games could be located on the 360. But I still own the game, I’m pretty sure that it can be played on 360. It really depends on what they’re planning to do with it. Update the graphics? Maybe. But Halo 1 Anniversary had a free map pack for Reach. What else can you offer with Halo 2? Can’t do a map pack for Halo 4, nobody was really interested in that game. A beta for Halo 5? Then wouldn’t it make more sense to release it on the Xbone? and betas are worthy of playing, at least open betas, for plenty of reasons. Too many people view it as playing the game early and getting their fill.
I can see arguments either way – remember that content-generation takes a pretty long time. If the engine for 5 has been in play long enough, upscaling from 2 wouldn’t be quite as challenging or time-consuming as an entirely new story/VA/map design/flow playtesting/etc,etc for all-new 5. It’s a safe bet that Microsoft would want SOME kind of Halo title on their console in the first year, and if the 2015 figure is right for 5, then I’m guessing Halo 2 would be that filler. Especially if it sells more xbones.
That said? Marketing gets a say in this too, and MAY be thinking the prestige of ‘first title on the box’ belongs to 5 and to avoid consumer confusion.
Certain Affinity make map packs.
Sabre Interactive are the people who made Halo:CE Anniversary.
I’d play the heck out of a Halo 2 remake.
Dual wielding was the bomb, seeing the Covenant side of the story… outside of ODST 2 is my favourite Halo game.
Well said. H2 is one of my favourite Halo games, seeing Arby’s story was awesome. Plus it’s got awesome vehicle sequences.
You don’t even have an Xbox One, hilarious that you want to act like you do for the sake of complaining.
News on Titanfall not having Australian servers has been conjecture so far. (Note all the articles related to it aren’t using absolute statements)
If Halo 5 isn’t ready to be released then we should be admiring their effort to work on it more and perfect it (like the response we saw with Watch Dogs), and not pull an EA/BF4 and rush out a broken unfinished games, good on them for releasing one of the most highly praised games of the franchise on their new console though, I have heard nothing but good things about Halo 2 and it gives my friends and I who have played a Halo game a good chance to experience it.
But like any of this matters to neo_kaiser, Microsoft could come out and say that they’re giving everyone free games and you’d still find a way to spin it negatively.
I don’t own Dead Space 3 either, doesn’t mean I can’t think that microtransactions are BS. What’s your point again?
If there’s even a hint that Titanfall will be a lag filled mess then yeah, I’m going to complain about it before they release it. Maybe the voices of everybody complaining will let them do a double take and quickly resolve that issue before it becomes one.
Are you seriously defending lag and the inability of Australians to play it?
Considering Halo 2 got its own hate site soon after release, then you haven’t been on the internet long enough to hear everybodys opinions on the game.
Funny how you’re suggesting that I’m biased against Microsoft despite the fact that the 360 was my prefered console. What, because I didn’t like their original Xbox ONE reveal and features that I have a personal vendatta? Please.
Maybe not, but you’re cynicism and sarcasm is draining.
I’m only cynical over bad publisher decisions. I actually feel bad for the developers that are forced to follow their orders.
You can absolutely have an opinion, but stop pretending like you’re the victim, and my issue is with you taking conjecture and using it as fact (anyone would look at your comment and assume that Titanfall is not going to have Australian servers). Those articles are based off the author coming to the conclusion that there’s no Azure datacenter in Australia right now therefore the nearest is in Singapore, and does not take into account Microsoft using their Azure datacenter (that has servers operational in it as of 3 months ago – http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/12/microsofts_australian_azure_data_centre_close_to_completion/ – ) or using third party servers.
Everything has a hate group against it, but are you really trying to take away from the overwhelming success Halo 2 was just because there are groups of people hate it? The game broke records and got 5 stars and 9 out of 10’s almost everywhere.
You say it sarcastically but I think there’s truth in that.
When I’ve been the victim in similar situations then I’m going to voice my opinion against it, especially when I’m sick of having to deal with it.
They haven’t stated that it will have servers either, that isn’t conclusive evidence that they will. They had to announce multiplayer only, nobody was under the impression that it was until they said so. Even if they do announce it I’m still going to voice against it to see how they’re dealing with the issue since merely adding in servers doesn’t really help if I still can’t play on them.
I never said Halo 2 sucked or that it was bad. I said that an anniversary edition sounds kinda pointless. Contrast to Halo 1 which was a celebration of a franchise being created and changing the games industry for a while. Other companies do the same, usually for just the first game. Tomb Raider got an anniversary edition (although that was re-created) to celebrate the first game and its success. Tomb Raider 2 didn’t get one.
and I still have no interest in an Xbox ONE because there’s no games for the system, all features don’t really appeal to me and until they change it I’m forced to buy a Kinect despite not ever wanting one. Yet, I’m an asshole for thinking that?
This is absolutely fine, but why continue to whine about it constantly on the net? Why not just get a PS4? The Xbox One suits my needs very well, and I don’t like the PS4 in comparison, but wouldn’t it be silly of me to go to PS4 articles all the time just to complain about how the console isn’t suited for me and how I don’t like it?
I have no interest in the PS4 for the same reasons minus the kinect. Not enough games and the streaming features will have trouble working with Australian internet. If Sony does something that I am against or I think hurts the industry then I will voice my opinion about it.
and if the lack of Australian servers really is Microsofts fault then I will complain about it until they change their policy. Because this sounds like something that affects all games and not just Titanfall. I’ll be happy once they do, I was ridiculously happy when Microsoft eventually removed their stupid patch price BS.
Is it going to hurt you to wait for some solid official information before you start bitching though?
Wait, Do you have a beef with Neo Kaiser or Kotaku? That seems to be Kotaku’s business model.
A little from column A, a little from column B.
Halo 2 is the only game that is really starting to look graphically dated. I’ve love to see it brought up to the same level as CE:A and 3.
I’ll agree with you when they do Halo 3 Anniversary, that would be stupid.
I’m sorry to say but even when Halo 2 was released it was dated (this is coming from someone who loves the franchise minus 4). It also didn’t help that the textures took a while to load in too. As for 3, it looked good at the time but it hasn’t aged that great. But mainly with character models and gameplay.
Halo 1, Anniversary and Reach all look great, mainly because they focused on the design rather then the graphics. Halo 1/Anniversary has a unique charm to it that hasn’t gotten old and Reach will look great for many years.
An anniversary for Halo 2 I kinda understand, as many view it as the true birth for multiplayer on consoles. Halo 3 will be stuck in a limbo where releasing it would be even more redundant, but needs to be released to make the trilogy anniversary release whole.
I actually thought that halo 3 was average and they had lost the plot. 4 kind of brought it back, changed it and made it fun. Anyway, that’s a different discussion for another time 🙂 halo is good
Wait, the original reveal slated the console to be disc-less (among other things) from the get-go, right!? Which then forced everyone to throw a big heap of fucking shit on M$ and thus the corporate mongrel threw back the bone and changed? Don’t need the full story as it’s just what I can remember, download only. Are people now embracing it as a step to being true next-gen or something? Oh yeah, a console that plays discs is so fucking 2013. Hmmm…
I think you’re mixed up, the thing that everyone hated was the constant internet connection requirement. The E3 shitstorm era xbone had a disc drive, they’ve said they thought about discless before but that was just brainstorming.
FFS bring back Deathrow!
wholeheartedly agree.
I Managed to grab a copy of the original Deathrow on ebay and love it.
It would make an amazing HD arcade title for 360/Xbone.
Hell yeah Deathrow……in my top ten of best games EVER 😀
Save money on a disc-less xbone. Spend way more than you would save on overpriced digital downloads.
It’s pretty obvious what piece or hardware they should cut out of the Xbone, and its not the disc drive.
Since the voice commands are the only feature that anyone uses on kinnect, a microphone on the console or controller would be sufficient to make an sku sans kinnect feasible.
*goes to comments; sees Sony fanboys posting “Xbone” everywhere; leaves*
God damn, that shit is old. Only Sonydrones could beat something to death as badly as this. I might as well bring back “PoS4”, “Gaystation” or “Wobblestation”.