Flagship Xbox One launch title Forza Motorsport 5 which will make extensive use of the consoles cloud capabilities and always-online functionality will also be playable offline now that Microsoft has changed its policies. However, it will require a one-time connection to Xbox Live before you can play.
In an interview with IGN, Dan Greenawalt, the studio head at Forza developer Turn 10 Studios, clarified how their day-one racing game will work if your Xbox One isnt connected to Xbox Live.
So when you first boot up the game, were going to ask you to log in, he explained. And when you log in youre going to get the Drivatars and youre also going to get a whole bunch of content: tracks and cars. Our production schedule is such that we are putting them in as late as possible and that means making them free as downloadable content on Day One.
Were not making a launch game. Were making Forza 5, at launch.
[But] that is required content to play the game. We basically have designed the game to work with all that content no matter how late is coming in, in order to make the biggest game possible.
In other words, because games have to be submitted to Microsoft testing, certified, and then pressed onto discs and shipped, Forza 5 has to be done much, much sooner than November. By requiring part of the game as a download on launch day, it gives Turn 10 extra time to finish everything. And so what you get on the disc you buy at the store wont be the entire game. Youll need to download the rest of it from Xbox Live (which should be possible to occur as you play, Greenawalt clarified).
After that, Greenawalt said, Forza 5 is like your refrigerator. You have to fill it up with food the first time, he explained. And from then on, you connect whenever you want when you want to update your food. The Drivatars are as fresh as they are. Its not like theyre going to degrade, but when youre looking for new stuff fresh stuffits going to keep evolving. Thats the nature of this Drivatar system.
When you first boot up the game, were going to ask you to log in.
Drivatar is Forza 5s attempt at next-generation AI in that there is no pre-programmed artificial intelligence. Instead, a ghost version of yourself races on your behalf, using your repeated behavior and tendencies to mimic how youd race if you were actually playing. Drivatars of random gamers all over the world are what you race against in your single-player campaign.
To that end, Greenawalt told us, You do have to connect the game in order to get the latest Drivatars, because we need as many people training them as possible. And so rather than having just a launch-day set that was created by us, every day that people race is going to make the Drivatar set that much more accurate, that much more diverse, that much more interesting.
All of the cloud and online features make the game far, far better, Greenawalt summed up. In fact Id even say revolutionary. The things were doing with opponents and Drivatar are not something that anyone can envision unless youve played it. But were trying to get as much of that into the unconnected, offline mode as well.
Were not making a launch game. Were making Forza 5, at launch.
This means that you only get part of the game when you buy the disc, and you have to download the rest in order for the game to play. So when you buy a disc version of Forza 5, you don`t own it. This is the future, people, atleast for Microsoft 1st party titles.
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