Disney has announced that starting in 2015, they plan to release a new ‘Star Wars’ film every year. Following the planned release of JJ Abrams’ as yet untitled ‘Episode VII,’ they plan on producing films every year, with core installments to come every other year, and the gaps to be filled with the announced spinoff films. No indication has been made as to how many years in a row we should expect new adventures into George Lucas’ universe. Hopefully they won’t let the quality suffer with so many new films.

Some on the Internet are already speculating that Microsoft’s new and upcoming Xbox will set the standard for next-gen gaming.  While no official specs have been announced for the tentatively titled Xbox 720, currently still under the standard Microsoft codename ‘Durango,’ we have heard from several developers that the specs for rival Sony’s announced PS4 are going to be impressive enough that even PC developers will have to have a catching up period.  As we know, the current generation of consoles were fairly evenly matched in terms of processing power, with the slight edge going to Sony’s PS3.  Will Microsoft reverse the situation in its new console? Or will Microsoft’s rumored focuses on being “always connected” and a “replacement for the cable box” hold it back from being the pure gaming machine that Sony hopes to release in the PS4?  We’ll have to wait for official announcements before any comparisons can be made.

RealGamerNewz takes a moment to compile some of the most reliable Xbox 720 news being reported on. At the moment, this is all to be considered “Rumors and Speculation” which major game companies like Microsoft will refuse to comment on so they don’t prematurely blow the load on their massive advertising campaigns. Highly demanded product however, requires a continuous stream of news to keep the public happy. This is how “leaks” happen, by becoming a mechanism of free word of mouth and experimentation. Through this type of underground news release, we have gotten a good hold on some interesting features that are speculated to be in the Xbox 720.

The “Always Online” Feature

“Always on” is a rumored feature that the Xbox 720 must stay connected to the internet at all time to play games, However these rumors have not been stamped as true. If this were true many people will question if new Xbox owners have to buy Xbox Live to stay tune to what’s happening like the current Xbox 360.

Kinect Included

Rumor has it the Xbox 720 will come with an updated version of the Kinect. Upon getting the new Xbox 720 the Kinect must be on when using the console. However the Kinect will be coming with upgraded features such as being able to identify 6 people instead of the normal 2 which means better and bigger party games to be enjoyed by all, the Kinect also now can recognize 25 points one each skeleton instead of the 20 points need on the current Kinect.

Multi-Tasking Ability

The Xbox 720 is speculated to have a new ability that lets you be able to switch from a game to the dashboard or another app, Possibly even another game then allows you to switch right back to your original game or process and continue from where you left off. This is a very handy ability that has not yet been featured and any other console.

Game Install Program

Each Xbox 720 is rumored to have a 500GB hard drive reports show that with this space games are needed to be installed just like you would install a game onto a computer, However you can play these games while they install so there is no long wait to play the game once you bought it.

Controllers and Peripherals

The new Xbox 720 controllers are rumored to a upgraded similar version of the Xbox 360 controllers but the old 360 controllers will not be able to work on the new Xbox. The controllers are said to be working with a new “Wireless technology”.

The controller was reported in Xbox World Magazine to have an “HD screen the is surrounded by the traditional 360 buttons and sticks” and it could be used as “a remote control for you TV”.

Leaks of new devices such as “Xbox Surface” which shows specs of a “Tablet device” and a separate “stationary computing device”. It has been reported that it will be like a touch screen 720 controller similar to the Wii U.

A patent by PatentlyApple was found that plans of a 360 degree 3D projector that would work with the Kinect to give the player a nice 360 environment that could be worked with.

Hardware/Software

A Reputable MS blogger has stated that Xbox 720 will be smaller the Xbox 360 and will be cheaper to the kinect adoption. He then went on to say “It will use a Zune HD-like hardware platform- a MAIN processor with multiple cores for graphics, AI, physics, sound, networking, encryption and sensors”.

The Xbox 720′s system chip began production towards the ending of December 2011 according to tech site fudzilla. It’s been reported that IBM and Global Foundries of Microsoft. Xbox 720 will be a PowerPC CPU.

VG247 reported that Xbox 720 will have a blu-ray player and will be powered by 2 GPUs “Its Like 2 PCs taped together”. the Graphics cards is like the AMD’s 7000 series. CVG reports that the devkits will be packing a 16-core CPU.

Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida, in an interview with EDGE magazine, has revealed his reasoning behind showcasing ‘Knack’ at the February 20th Playstation 4 reveal.

“Yeah, we hate to see all the PS4 games being FPS or action-adventure or very photorealistic… you know, big-budget blockbuster games.” He goes on to say, “We know that people like these games, but these are not the only kinds of games that people can have fun with.”

This is satisfying news, inasmuch as we can hopefully expect a fostering of a certain type of artistry at Sony. While we all enjoy looking at pretty graphics, and marvelling at how “real” something looks rendered in the newest, flashiest game engine, one of the advantages of telling stories in the gaming medium is the fact that the art style can help not only set the tone, but also tell the story. Just remember “Okami.” It’s good to hear that this new console will not just be used to push games deeper into the uncanny valley.

[Source: GamingBolt]

Reports have surfaced that ‘BioShock Infinite’ Product Director, Rod Fergusson, is leaving developer Irrational Games. Fergusson joined the team at Irrational to help finish the in-progress production of the latest ‘BioShock’ title following his departure from Epic Games where he worked on the ‘Gears of War’ series.

Of his departure from Irrational, Fergusson says “During my departure from Epic, I learned that Irrational was in need of a ‘closer’ to help finish ‘BioShock Infinite…’ I’ve been striving for better storytelling in the games I’ve worked on and I saw this as a great opportunity to learn from Ken and his team on how to build a truly story-driven game.” The Ken to which he refers is of course Ken Levine, Irrational’s creative lead. He goes on to say, “I am very proud of the work that I did and of the team and what they were able to accomplish on ‘Infinite.’  Now with the game shipped successfully, I’ve done what I set out to do here and now I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my life and career.”

He has not announced any future plans, though you can follow him on Twitter: @GearsViking

Every year the World of Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, Warcraft, and other Blizzard fans come together for an amazing event that people say is like no other experience in the Convention world, let alone gaming convention experience. If you are that guy that is like a video game historian and all of your friends keep on telling you how annoying you are, then this place is definitely somewhere you should be at least once in your life.

Blizzard Entertainment will be hosting the event Anaheim Convention Center this November 8 and 9 and you can expect lots of Cosplay Contests, Talk from Developers about the industry, and of course late-breaking news about the Blizzard franchises directly from the source.

“We look forward to delivering two full days of gaming, activities, and other entertainment, and we can’t wait to show some of the exciting projects we’ve been working on.” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment.

If you haven’t had a chance yet, read our StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Review and be sure to consider that you can see some of the most intense eSports in existence with the StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals taking place at this year’s BlizzCon 2013 as well.

In addition to all of this madness at the Anaheim Convention Center fans and press can also hope to look forward to hearing from the teams at Blizzard directly about their first-ever console release for Diablo III arriving on PlayStation 4 as well as PlayStation 3 later this year without the PC Version’s “always-online” DRM.

Here are the exact details on how to get your tickets to BlizzCon 2013 directly from Blizzard Entertainment’s Press Release, including when you can get them, where you can get them, and how much money you’ll be spending if you plan on going:

“Tickets to attend the convention will be priced at $175 USD each and will be available for purchase from the official BlizzCon website (www.blizzcon.com) in two separate batches. The first batch goes on sale Wednesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. Pacific time, and the second batch goes on sale Saturday, April 27 at 10 a.m. Pacific time.”

If you’re still on the fence about attending such an event, take a look at our browsable gallery below showing some past years at the BlizzCon event hosted by Blizzard Entertainment which can also be viewed as a slideshow by starting at the first image and clicking on the image repeatedly.

When Epic was asked if it would be on Wii U Mark Rein said “No”. They stated a went to say that the unreal engine 4 was targeted at next gen consoles which the Wii U is not considered  by them to be. They did say the unreal engine 3 and Unreal tech will be available to make games for the Wii U but unreal 4 is next gen only.

GameStop has announced today that for the business fiscal year of 2012 the corporation, which arguably makes most of their revenue through used game sales, has taken a loss of $269.7 million due to an expenditure of $680.7 million.

GameStop CEO Paul Raines made the following statement:

“While 2012 was a challenging year for console gaming, we focused on factors within our control. We expanded our market leadership position, maintained our financial strength and controlled our spending,” said CEO Paul Raines in a company statement. “Perhaps most importantly, we invested in our mobile and digital businesses to position the company for future success. These channels delivered as planned and significantly contributed to our highest ever gross margin and profitability.”

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RealGamerNewz brought you our thoughts on the Wii U in our latest RealGamerNewz Nex Gen Podcast titled “End the Wii U Hate” which spawned much controversy as well as good feedback. Recently the efforts of Nintendo and GTTV’s Geoff Keighley have not gone over so well and have also spawned such controversy. Kotaku accuses the following ad campaign of being “Absurd”, but we will refer you to our points on Why Wii U and let you form your own opinions where it comes to Geoff and Nintendo’s reasoning:

• RGN “End the Wii U Hate” Podcast
• “Why Wii U?” Ad Campaign Full Size

Gamers are getting sick of hearing that video games “cause” violence. Those people who make such claims obviously never studied psychology. First of all Mr. Wolf,  violence has been around since the beginning of time; long before video games were even at our grasps. Every species on earth acts out in violent manners because of their  psyche and what they’re feeling at the time.

Not all of it is because of instinct. Men tend to be more violent than women due to their aggressive nature and the chemical balance (or imbalance) including the hormone testosterone. But aggressiveness or violence does not determine ones sex. Violence could and does stem from multiple factors, each and every one of us are different and unique. A lot of violence is caused by someone being enraged. And some violent acts occur because one is mentally ill. Drugs also play a factor and may make one become violent.

Alcohol which is a legal substance is more than likely to make someone more irritated than usual, sending them off on a violent rage. But this also depends on the person. A bigger factor that causes violence may be poverty, because poverty may cause one to feel angry.

Bullying is a huge issue that caused the Columbine shooting in Colorado. It is said that the shooters played violent video games, but the truth is that they used the games as a “tool”, not a the reason to act violently. We should really leave it up to the parents to decide whether or not their son or daughter is becoming more violent from playing violent video games. At the same time parents should not let their son or daughter play a mature rated game if they feel that video games are making them violent.