--- The developer also revealed a new game coming to Xbox One called Sea of Thieves ; a new shared open-world pirate game. While Rare only provided a small sample of the game during the event, it's definitely enough to spark excitement in pirate and shared-world game f --- --- --- Some prospective Sea of Thieves players may question the decision to include microtransactions, but Neate has an explanation for the business model. "Ultimately I have to look at the reality of running a game-as-service as a business," says the executive producer, adding that "My goal and everyone else's goal here is to have as many people as possible working on this, and just keep giving people reasons to return, reasons to have fun. We have to run that like a business, you need revenue coming --- --- --- Today Rare delivered the fourth Sea of Thieves trailer in a series that has been dubbed "Short Hauls," or short developer diaries that describe aspects of the game's experience. Rare sees fit to design philosophy and goals in these Short Hauls, hoping to give potential players some perspective on what kind of game Sea of Thieves is shaping up to be . "Visual Effects" is the topic of this latest Short Haul trailer, or how Rare's focus on the details will better create a true pirate advent --- --- --- A few things found in the datamining process include the Kraken. The data has animations for a Kraken holding the player, eating them, and spitting them out, and another action called 'waterdunk'. These animations are written out, as opposed to being actually visible, but it could be a hint as to what we'll see in the fut --- --- --- "When we talk about visual effects in games, we normally mean particles. That's what we're using to create all of the cannon effects for example, like the different explosions. You want to give the player strong feelings when they're playing the game... You should just feel like you're really part of this beautiful wor --- --- --- A recent datamine of the game's files uncovered lots more Sea of Thieves content, including new enemies and animals such as parrots, pigs, and seagulls. The leak also pointed to lots of character and ship customization , from tattoos and eyepatches to a variety of ship hulls. With the game's microtransactions still a few months away, Rare is still working on the finer details but these datamined options do sound like the sort of cosmetic items that could be unlocked via microtransacti --- --- --- At E3, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer proudly declared 2015 as having the strongest lineup in Xbox history. With heavy hitters released such as Forza Motorsport 6 , Halo 5: Guardians , Rise of the Tomb Raider , and more, it's a claim that's hard to argue w --- --- --- After Microsoft acquired the rights to the Gears of War franchise , The Coalition (formerly known as Black Tusk Studios) quickly went to work on a fifth entry in the critically-acclaimed series. E3 2015 saw a stunning gameplay reveal of Gears of War 4 , which is looking to bring back the grimmer horror elements and 2-player co-op that helped make the original such a hit in the first pl --- --- --- [[https://seaofthievesfans.com/ Sea of Thieves weapons|https://seaofthievesfans.com/]] of Thieves looks to be the latest in the plethora of new and upcoming shared-world games. The shared world concept is still fairly new for console gamers, and seems to pull together the best of role playing games and massive multiplayer online games into a full online world that gives players the opportunity to interact with each other, work together, and fight one another in an epic wo --- --- --- Other honorable mentions include the mention of mermaids being listed as enemies although they appear to be benevolent in the beta, and other fruits joining the banana as food available to players. The full list of data below also features new maps, landmark locations, NPCs and Shops that have not been seen bef --- --- As is the case with Quantum Break , one of the biggest Xbox One exclusives coming next year is from a third-party studio. Platinum Games is developing a new action RPG called Scalebound , which will allow gamers to take the skies on the backs of dragons, and battle enemies with the help of friends in 4-player co-op. Scalebound 's Gamescom 2015 trailer impressed many, and hopefully Platinum Games can stick the landing when the game releases next y --- --- --- Rare's Short Haul trailers are just one way the developer is continuing to communicate with its audience, whether they're excited for Sea of Thieves or not. There are several other short video series that are ongoing, like the Inn-side Stories series or one-offs created for special events, like Talk Like a Pirate Day. Perhaps this extensive amount of developer-to-player communication is another strategy to help bring players closer to the experience that Sea of Thieves will provide . Perhaps in knowing Rare, players will better know their ga --- --- --- Specific examples of visual effects cited within Sea of Thieves ' trailer include cannon explosions and how cannon balls crash into ship hulls, as well as the spray of water as a ship parts the sea. Andreas Oberg, the VFX Lead at Rare, describes these effects in detail regarding how they're used to create a more visceral and engaging experience for players. Andreas describes it thusly within the trai ---