Three new Xbox bundles, pre-loading feature announced at Gamescom

A trio of new retail bundles annouced for Xbox One will feature soccer game 'FIFA 15,' sci-fi shooter 'Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare' and oddball zombie action title 'Sunset Overdrive.'

Speaking as part of the Xbox Media Briefing in Cologne, Germany, prior to the opening of video game convention Gamescom, Microsoft representatives introduced three new console bundles designed to make it easier for consumers to choose an Xbox One this holiday season.

Both 'Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare' and 'FIFA 15,' though available on a multitude of consoles as well as on PC, will include exclusive hooks for Xbox owners: first admission to the optional expansions of 'COD: AW,' and the returning FIFA Ultimate Team Legends mode, itself a fork of the sports game's more widely available Ultimate Team player collection spin-off.

By contrast, 'Sunset Overdrive' is entirely exclusive to Xbox One, developed by long-time PlayStation contractor Insomniac Games ('Ratchet & Clank,' 'Resistance' franchises).

The vibrant, irreverent post-apocalyptic action game invites players to have a whale of a time while they're surviving a zombie onslaught caused by contaminated fizzy pop.

With the 'FIFA 15' bundle limited to European (read: football mad) territories, both it and the white Xbox One of the internationally available 'Sunset Overdrive' package are to retail for $399 / €399 / £349, while the 'Call of Duty' themed bundle, with its custom colored console and controller and cavernous 1TB hard drive, will go for $499 / €499 / £429.

Closing the conference, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer revealed that 'FIFA 15' and 'Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare' would be the first Xbox One titles to allow both pre-order and pre-load via Xbox Live, a feature that has already made its way onto PC and PS4; the mechanism allows players to get going as soon as release day hits, having already completed the hefty game data download.