How Game Creators are Using the Power of Xbox One

Xbox One will usher in a new generation of games, and at Comic-Con International: San Diego, developers from some of the most celebrated gaming studios in the world gathered to show fans how they’re doing just that. Featuring talent from Rare, Ltd., Turn 10 Studios, Microsoft Studios and Capcom Vancouver, the panel focused on how teams are leveraging the unique abilities of the console to create experiences that enhance and evolve the way games are played.

Advanced Graphical Fidelity

A new generation console means new generation graphics fueled by faster, more powerful hardware.

Josh Bridge, Executive Producer on “Dead Rising 3,” used their vision of a nightmarish zombie apocalypse to demonstrate the level of visual fidelity that the Xbox One allows them to achieve. Zombies can be dismembered with anatomically gruesome realism. Each shard of broken glass is governed by its own set of physics and will react differently depending on how you smash through a window. The vast sandbox world of Los Perdidos is larger than “Dead Rising” and “Dead Rising 2” combined, and is populated with detailed buildings that can be fully explored.

And of course, “Dead Rising 3” is capable of supporting hordes of zombies on screen at a single time – a far cry from the handful that pushed the Xbox 360 to its limits last generation.

“One of the big things we wanted to do with the Xbox One’s increased horsepower was to push the reality of the world and make it more believable and tense,” said Bridge. “Zombies are the enemy this time, so why not make it look good?”

A More Powerful Kinect

According to Nick Burton, New Technology Development Lead at Rare, Ltd. working on “Kinect Sports Rivals,” Xbox One’s Kinect sensor has ten times the power of its predecessor. It can register a fingertip from three meters away, a feat that was impossible last generation, and its wider field of tracking means it can register more players and at closer distances.

“Kinect Sports Rivals” is using Kinect’s advanced technology to provide a new layer of precision and depth of mastery. No longer will vague gestures be enough to secure victory – every subtle movement is registered in-game and impacts performance. How hard you twist your wrist while revving the throttle of a jet ski affects its acceleration and your exact hand placement can mean the difference between success and failure in rock climbing.

Rare is also developing brand-new gameplay features, like “Kinect Sports Rivals’” Champions. If you stand or sit in front of the new Kinect sensor, it can capture your facial structure, hair, skin color, body composition and even expression, and build …read more