GRcade

Don't call Crackdown on Xbox One Crackdown 3 - it's something of a reboot.

That's what Microsoft Studios creative director Ken Lobb, who is working on the new game, told Eurogamer at E3.

You might have noticed that when Microsoft announced Crackdown during its E3 press conference, it didn't call it Crackdown 3, despite it being the third game in the open world science-fiction series.

"You can blame me for 20 per cent of that," Lobb said.

"I don't like X game number seven. It's a good idea sometimes to have a game with a subtitle. But some games, and Crackdown is a perfect example, is it really 3? It is the future. This is a different place, long after the original game. But is it 2? Is it a different universe than 2? Yeah, it's kinda a sequel to 1.

"It's Crackdown."

It's still early days for the new Crackdown, and Microsoft is yet to reveal gameplay footage or who will be doing the heavy lifting of development. But we do know it features co-op, as fans of the series expect, as well as a new competitive experience.

According to Microsoft, Crackdown on Xbox One features "unrivaled verticality, cooperative mayhem and destruction".

"Whether you're playing the Campaign with friends or enjoying an entirely new competitive Crackdown experience powered by Xbox Live, you'll never look at an open-world game the same way again."

We also know that Dave Jones, who directed the first game for Xbox 360 at his now closed studio Realtime Worlds, is on board. Jones' latest company, Cloudgine, is working with Microsoft Studios on the game. Cloudgine specialises in cloud gaming technology and using data centres to boost computationally intensive game components such as physics and AI.

"Crackdown is my favourite game of all time," Lobb said. "I absolutely love Crackdown 1. I just love it. I've known Dave forever. I worked with him when I was at Nintendo. When I first came to Microsoft they'd already signed Crackdown. I was like, perfect, I know Dave. So, we took a while and made Crackdown 1. Crackdown 2 we kinda rushed. Sorry. I liked it. It wasn't Crackdown 1.

"He went off and did APB, did some other stuff, but we've always stayed in touch. We've always wanted to redo it, and he finally got together with these guys and we were like, okay, great, awesome. Then Phil [Spencer, Xbox boss] started Tweeting and wearing T-shirts."

Crackdown for Xbox One leans heavily on cloud computing to help the game simulate destruction in the open world.

This technique was shown off before E3 via a demo, below, created for Microsoft's developer-focused Build 2014 conference. It shows how the cloud can make the destruction of a building, for example, faster and smoother. The fancy Crackdown trailer, above, also features a building being destroyed. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed that the Build demo is early Crackdown work.

Will the new Crackdown feature the level of destruction suggested by the CGI trailer? For now, Microsoft is keeping its cards close to its chest. Microsoft Studios Europe boss Phil Harrison told Eurogamer more information on gameplay - and the team behind it - will be shared in the future.

"There had been speculation, which is always great," he said. "Phil Spencer had been dropping some pretty monumental hints about it for a while. He's been very clear, which is we wanted to bring that franchise up to the 21st Century with the right developer. I think having Dave with his hands on the steering is great. But he will be joined by a substantial team and organisation to bring that vision to life."

Slayerx » Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:10 pm wrote:Isn't this fancy talk for we are porting the first game adding in some stuff and selling you crackdown 1 again?

Slayerx » Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:10 pm wrote:Isn't this fancy talk for we are porting the first game adding in some stuff and selling you crackdown 1 again?

Codename 47 » Wed Jun 18, 2014 11:39 am wrote:

Slayerx » Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:10 pm wrote:Isn't this fancy talk for we are porting the first game adding in some stuff and selling you crackdown 1 again?

I wouldn't worry too much about that. I may be wrong but I THINK they've said this one takes place in a new City.

Guys, I could need a little help over here

If you have to describe your Crackdown experience in one single word - what would that be?

Thanks in advance agents and have a great weekend!

Thanks guys Maybe I can show u a small tech snippet within the next few weeks. Can't promise tho.

I expected much more "platforming" answers, so that's interesting. It helps to get a better understanding of expectations.

On another note, the latest installment is known to be heavily supported with the cloud(TM). Yayaya ... That stupid cloud talk again I know you can not hear it anymore. What I want to say though is: your local gaming mashine does not have enough calculation power to run our game engine. I think we always communicated it that way and there is no reason not to be honest here. If you want to deliver something that has never been done before in that kind of scale, then you can not make compromises. We totally know that there are huge risks involved. But this is the route we will take. We are super confident here and can't wait to get out of the dark.

There really arent that many advantages to having your game be always online.

Personally, I can totally understand that there are huge doubts. I'm not an idiot. Too many games did things wrong or communicated something wrong. People want to see what cloud computing can be used to in gaming. So give a chance at least on showing this. I think that would be fair.

It's up to us to deliver on your bolded sentence. Again - personally - I want to see you playing this game really thinking "holy gooseberry fool why doesn't my mashine burn already?". We want to achieve this. And we're working super hard to get to that point.

More later this year. Thanks again!

Are you ready to become a super-powered Agent of justice? Ready to explore the heights of a futuristic city, race through streets in a transforming vehicle, and use some amazing abilities to tear apart a ruthless criminal empire?

Well, you’d better get ready… Crackdown 3 has just been unveiled and it’s an Xbox One exclusive like no other – a sandbox of mayhem and destruction featuring an open-world campaign that you’ll be able to play cooperatively online, and a revolutionary new cloud-powered multiplayer mode where destruction is your ultimate weapon.

Honoring the classic, open-world Crackdown experience adored by fans, Crackdown 3 is bringing you a 4-person co-operative campaign enhanced with a new dynamic story, cutting-edge weapons and vehicles, enemies you’ll love to hate – and of course, tons of orbs to collect!

Crackdown 3 will also deliver a groundbreaking competitive multiplayer mode, where everything is physical thanks to the Microsoft Cloud. Harness 20 times the power of your Xbox One to unleash 100 percent destructible environments for the first time ever in gaming and create your own explosive stories in the process.

Developed by Dave Jones and his UK-based studio Reagent Games – the minds behind the original Crackdown and Grand Theft Auto – fans can begin their Agency Training in Crackdown 3 multiplayer in Summer of 2016.

Whether you play Crackdown 3 for its entirely new campaign or its revolutionary multiplayer, one thing is for sure: you’ll never look at an open-world experience the same way again!

TEARING DOWN THE WALLS OF THE PAST

Open World gaming has always been synonymous with “go anywhere, do anything” – and while the campaign for Crackdown 3 is set to deliver a massive new city for you to play in and explore, it’s our groundbreaking multiplayer mode that truly embraces the “do anything” part of the open world promise.


► Link

Envision a wall.

For decades, walls have existed in games – and they’ve remained largely unchanged over time. From the humble wall in a 3D monster maze, to any wall in current gen games, these barriers tend to exhibit two common characteristics: they are there to constrict you, and they are fake. You shoot them with an assault rifle and a game designer tells the game to stick a “bullet hole” decal at the point of impact. Shoot it with a rocket launcher, you get a bigger “scorch mark.” Even colossal mechs find walls in most video games to be immovable objects with infinite health.

Why can’t you shoot a hole in the wall?

Why can’t you blast an opening and step through it?

Why can’t you make the wall collapse, crushing the enemy that was hiding behind it?

The answer is simple, and it’s the same answer that has historically held back how rich and detailed game developers can make their worlds: Compute power and memory.

The walls in Crackdown 3 Multiplayer are not inhibited by such things. Our walls are connected to the Microsoft Cloud, which provides compute power and memory on demand.

Every bullet you fire at a wall in Crackdown 3 Multiplayer removes a piece of it. Barriers act as you would expect when being peppered by projectiles…


► Link

Now imagine an entire city.
Buildings, bridges, tunnels – everything is physical.

No doors around? Not a problem, create one. Want to slice off the top of a skyscraper and have it crush your enemies below? Go ahead. Want to bring the whole building crashing down in the direction of your choice? You can make it happen in Crackdown 3 Multiplayer.







While most multiplayer games today run entirely on a single server, we are enabling multiple server cloud connections just to manage the structures in our world – arming each of our players with 20x the power of a single Xbox One to unleash 100% destruction.

All this adds up to more unlimited possibilities. Play the game how you want to play it.

“Do anything”…



Dave Jones, Founder & Creative Director
Reagent Games

Lotus wrote:So is there a single-player mode in this? And if there is, it doesn't have the 100% destructible environments?

Lotus wrote:So is there a single-player mode in this? And if there is, it doesn't have the 100% destructible environments?