Microsoft has revealed the new limited edition Forza Motorsport 6 Xbox One game console. It features a blue livery with a stripe over the matte section with a special reflective logo on the side of the console celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Turn 10 Studios' Forza Motorsport series.
You can check out the brief promo video that's featured on the Xbox news wire.
The console comes with a digital copy of Forza Motorsport 6, a 1TB hard drive for extra storage, a special Forza 6 10 year anniversary DLC car pack (yes, they're already tempting you with DLC before the game is even out) and a specialized, blue livery controller.
The interesting thing about the controller is that it not only contains the new headphone jack so you have additional options when it comes to the listening experience you can gather through your wireless controller, but it also has some specially designed palm grips on the back of the controller.
As explained in the video, the grips are both a cosmetic and a utilitarian addition to the controller, adding a necessary bit of anti-slippage during your gaming sessions. This is an interesting addition to the controller because KontrolFreek recently announced that they're getting into the controller grip business. Annexing their offering of analog stick extenders, KontrolFreek added palm grips to their line-up considering that Microsoft seems to want to bud into the analog extender game with their new Elite Wireless Controller, which carries the hefty price tag of $150.
But getting back to the limited edition Xbox One for Forza 6... one of the other key changes to the console is that it has an engine sound for the start-up when you hit the power button. It also has an engine powering down sound when you turn it off.
I don't know how well the livery and new sound effects will help the console handle 1080p at 60fps but Turn 10 putting their efforts into play with the new game to not only increase the on-screen AI count but also attempt to improve the graphics is risky business. I imagine they'll have to optimize the crap out of this new Forza to avoid the pitfalls that Forza 5 ran into where audience members on the side of the track were 2D cardboard cutouts and the lighting was all pre-baked to help keep the game running as smooth as possible.
It's likely that the pre-baked shadows will make a return to the game because real-time dynamic lighting will murder the in-game performance, just look at Project CARS for an example of trying to really push the software technology beyond the limits of the hardware. It's a beautiful game but the Xbox One's GPU didn't really like agreeing with what Slightly Mad Studios was trying to do.
We'll find out just how well Turn 10 will manage Forza 6 when it drops on September 15th in North America and September 18th in Europe.
The controller will be a standalone accessory as well, launching alongside the game and the limited edition console. The console will be available for $399.99.
