Xbox Addict

Crimson Dragon lets you rent out your dragons in other players' games

Xbox One game Crimson Dragon, the long-in-development on rails shooter from former Panzer Dragoon series creators, will use Microsoft’s cloud computing tech to let players upload their custom dragons, then rent them out to other players to use in cooperative play.

Crimson Dragon game director Yukio Futatsugi discussed the dragon rental feature during a hands-off presentation at Tokyo Game Show this week, saying players can register their leveled up dragons on the game’s leaderboards. Other players can then download them and call them into battle — literally, by using Kinect voice commands — when they need some extra firepower. The developer showed an example of this during a gameplay demonstration, shouting "Assault!" at the Kinect microphone array, spawning a helper dragon.

Players who upload their dragons can be rewarded if their dragon is used by another player, earning in-game credits and other game items that can be used to further evolve their dragon steeds.

Crimson Dragon promises six different dragons that players can nurture and evolve using collectible items. The game will come with a special dragon available to those who purchase the game at (or near) launch, and Futatsugi teased a "secret dragon" that only highly skilled players will be able to unlock.

The Xbox One game will cost $19.99 and will be available at the next-gen console’s launch. After launch, developers Land Ho! and Grounding Inc. plan to release downloadable content and distribute weekly challenge missions to keep players enticed by Crimson Dragon’s old school shooting action.