Microsoft's promise of unifying its disparate platforms with Windows 10 has even more going for it with some surprise announcements ahead of this week's Gamescom show in Germany. We knew that Xbox Live was coming to the desktop -- for free, even -- but that extends to HoloLens too. That's right: online multiplayer, friends lists and your achievements (anything tied to Redmond's gaming service, from the sounds of it) will be available on the augmented reality headset, according to VRFocus. The site also reports that HoloLens, Windows 10 and Xbox One will share a universal store for apps and the like "in time." Some purchases will also apparently be pay-once-play-anywhere affairs too. And similar to Microsoft's push to get Android and iOS developers to bring their apps to Windows 10, the ID@Xbox program will work to court indie game developers and extend across Redmond's latest operating system, HoloLens and Windows Phone.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft

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Source: VRFocus (1), (2), (3)

Tags: augmentedreality, gamescom, gamescom2015, gaming, gdceurope, hd, hdpostcross, hololens, id@xbox, microsoft, universalapps, vr, xbox, xboxlive, xboxone

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This October, prepare to bring the house down with wild guitar riffs and your mad karaoke skills in Guitar Hero Live. That's right, it's official: Guitar Hero Live brings singing back to the franchise, alongside the new guitar and all of the fresh online features, challenges and songs available in Guitar Hero TV. A behind-the-scenes video posted just before Gamescom kicks off this week in Cologne, Germany, provides an overview of online features in Guitar Hero Live and drops the mic on singing in the game.

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Source: GuitarHeroGames

Tags: Activision, FreeStyleGames, GuitarHero, guitarherolive, hdpostcross, singing

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This week season two of HBO's True Detective is coming to an end, plus a few oldies on Blu-ray with Innerspace and Free Willy. In gaming, there's a Rare Replay pack of oldies on Xbox One, Submerged on PC, PS4 and Xbox One and some new DLC for the latest Call of Duty -- including a new zombies pack -- on Xbox. ABC Family's Stitchers also has a season finale this week, while Melissa & Joey airs its last episode ever. For football addicts, preseason action is in full swing, so keep an eye on the rosters and get ready for those fantasy drafts.

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Tags: hdpostcross, listings, MustSeeHdtv, truedetective, video

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You're sitting in the pilot seat of a cutting-edge spacecraft outfitted with two heavy-duty turrets. The inky universe expands around you and begins to populate with enemy ships: You pull the triggers and shoot them down, gathering new ammunition for more coordinated, deadly attacks and powering up your craft. This is Gunjack, a new virtual reality game from Eve Online and Eve Valkyrie developer CCP, created specifically for the Samsung Gear VR. It's an arcade shooter (think more Star Wars Battle Pod than Space Invaders) set in the Eve universe, and it's due out in the fall.

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Via: Android Central

Tags: eve, EveOnline, evevalkyrie, gearvr, hdpostcross, samsung, samsunggearvr, video, VirtualReality, vr

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The latest trailer for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's "Exo Zombies" mode might not feature a megalodon-esque sea-borne monstrosity, but it does have John Malkovich doing his best Werner Herzog impression for the voice over. So there's that. This final episode takes place fathoms below the ocean surface with Rose McGowan, Bill Paxton (game over, man!), Joe Bernthal and the inimitable Bruce Campbell coming back to tie up the story. "Descent" hits Xbox Live tomorrow with other platforms to come in the future. If you're a PlayStation fan that's green with envy, just remember that your early exclusivity period starts with a Black Ops 3 beta and add-ons this fall -- there's even a mode where you murder the undead and chew gumballs in Rapture-esque, art-deco city streets as Jeff Goldblum.

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Source: Call of Duty

Tags: activision, advancedwarfare, BillPaxton, BruceCampbell, callofduty, descent, exozombies, hdpostcross, JohnMalkovich, RoseMcgowan, sledgehammergames, zombies

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If you've been itchin' to give PlayStation Now's streaming a go on your gaming handheld, the wait is over. The subscription service officially arrived on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV, delivering access to over 125 games on those two devices. PlayStation Now had been available on the Vita and PlayStation TV in beta form for months, but now it's making a proper debut after hitting the PS3 back in May. In addition to equipping two more gaming gadgets with the service, five new titles are being added this month. Joining the library of titles in August are Dynasty Warriors 8, MX vs. ATV Supercross, Bomberman Ultra, The Last Guy and, most importantly, God of War III. With new games being added on the regular and Sony offering newcomers a free one-week trial, there's really now excuse for PlayStation owners to take the service for a test drive.

[Image credit: Getty Images]

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Source: PlayStation Blog

Tags: gamestreaming, gaming, hdpostcross, playstationnow, playstationtv, playstationvita, psnow, psvita, sony, streaming, subscription, vita

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The International is back and bigger than ever. The 2015 championships for Dota 2, Valve's massively popular MOBA, take off today in the "main event" stage, beginning with three matches between LGD Gaming and Team Empire. In total, 16 teams have a shot at winning The International when it comes to a close on Saturday, August 8th. There's a total of $18 million up for grabs, with payouts ranging from $54,000 for 16th place and $6.5 million for first -- and these figures should rise before the end of the tournament, since it's funded via ongoing purchases of the Compendium, a package that offers players in-game goodies at $10 or $27 a pop. Twenty-five percent of all Compendium sales go straight to The International's prize pool. Watch The International's official, live coverage below (heads up, it autoplays).

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Source: Dota 2

Tags: championships, dota2, dota2championships, hdpostcross, TheInternational, TheInternational2015, TheInternationalDota2

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It's all well and good that Gears of War: Ultimate Edition lets you relive the original game in the series, but what about the other three titles? Don't worry -- you'll get those too. Microsoft and The Coalition have revealed that anyone who buys Ultimate Edition between its August 25th launch and the end of the year will also get access to all of the Xbox 360 Gears games through backward compatibility. They won't look nearly as polished as the remaster, of course, but you also won't have to dig out your old copies (or buy any games you don't have) just to follow humanity's fight against the Locust from start to finish. While it'd be nicer if this offer lasted so long as Ultimate Edition was available, this is still a big deal in an era when some studios are only interested in letting you replay one game from a much larger franchise.

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Source: Xbox Wire

Tags: gaming, gearsofwar, gearsofwarultimateedition, microsoft, thecoalition, videogames, xbox360, xboxone

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Autodesk finally has a game engine to go along with its design tools. The company has just launched Stingray, which it built around the Bitsquid engine it bought last year. Autodesk kept the basic guts of the program -- which has already been used on titles like Gauntlet from Warner Bros -- and revamped it with a new interface. The company told me the goal was to build an engine for smaller studios that can be customized without the need for a lot of complex programming. At the same time, it wanted Stingray to have all the bells and whistles of competing products like Unreal Engine 4 -- physical shading, post-processing effects, a high-performance reflection system and more.

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Tags: Autodesk, GameEngine, Gaming Engine, Stingray, unreal-engine, video

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