In a chat that also featured him talking about handhelds for the many-th time this year, Xbox's Phil Spencer has had some thoughts on where the games industry's at in 2024. What's he said, you ask? Well, "We’re not going to grow the market with $1,000 consoles", a line that definitely doesn't seem like it might potentially be a bit of a cheeky jab at a certain rather expensive console that came out pretty recently.
]]>Another remaster of Halo: Combat Evolved looks to be in the works, and - close your eyes if you've attatched your happiness to a certain green brand in a rather unhealthy manner - could be in consideration for a release on PS5, in what would be a pretty noteworthy moment for a series that's long been considered one of Xbox's hallmark exclusives.
]]>Good news, fans of Geoff Keighley's beautiful eyes. The Summer Game Fest stream on June 7 will run at 4K and 60fps this year, because gaming, baby. Though, the announcement of that has spawned a lot of chuckling, for reasons you can probably imagine.
]]>In a devastating turn of events for those who’ve been hoping to play Pentiment at the absolute max performance settings possible, the game currently runs at 120 FPS on PlayStation, but only 60 on Xbox, thanks to a bug that should be solved soon.
]]>This week The Shiitake Show asks: what's the point of Xbox? That's not us being sarcastic or snide. It's a question that everyone in the industry, not least Microsoft themselves, needs to find an answer to. A conflicted, convoluted vision for the platform has left it struggling for an identity at the dawn of a future it is trying to forge for us all, one where the console itself no longer matters. And yet, Xbox still needs us to buy Xboxes. It's a tricky position to be in, compounded by the perception that Xbox doesn't have any compelling exclusives. Watch below.
]]>Have you been praying for a physical version of either Hi-Fi Rush or Pentiment? Maybe you're keen for both? Regardless of just how keen you are to spend some money on good ol' fashioned plastic game boxes, you won't have to wait long, as physical collectors editions of both games are going up for sale soon.
]]>Would you look at that, Dead Island 2 looks to have quietly rocked up on Xbox Game pass without an official announcement as of writing.
]]>The game, a lovingly-made narrative experience from Obsidian Entertainment, went down a treat on PC and Xbox where it first found a home thanks to publihser Xbox Game Studios. This comes following an official Xbox Podcast last week, in which head of Xbox Phil Spencer declared four Xbox-exclusive games would be headed to other consoles in due time. It looks like we finally have confirmation that Pentiment is one such game, even if it only had a short appearance in the Direct's highlight reel of upcoming titles.
]]>As confirmed at today's Nintendo Direct, Grounded is making the leap from Xbox to Nintendo Switch on April 16, 2024.
]]>Nintendo is putting on its first Nintendo Direct of the year today, February 21, and you can can watch it with us!
]]>Hello there. It’s now been announced that we’re set for a Nintendo Direct tomorrow, February 21, so naturally a lot of people have reacted to that by turning expectant gazes towards Microsoft. Well, aside from fans of Hollow Knight: Silksong, who’re just contemplating what Vaas said in Far Cry 3.
]]>Do you know why Obsidian’s latest obscure RPG is called Pentiment? The word (not a real one) comes from the term pentimento, which refers to a change an artist makes to their work as progress on the project continues. Pentimento, in turn, comes from the Italian pentirsi, which means to repent or change your mind. Given the game is about history, and what we do or do not believe in the recorded annals of our shared past, it’s a very fitting word to sit atop the whole thing.
]]>Update: In a official Xbox podcast featuring Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, and Sarah Bond, the trio stood by the companies' hardware, while stating that games built for Xbox will "also be able to be accessed any screen because of all the other investments we make."
]]>Following a bad week to be on Twitter if you’re not a fan of arguing with people about video game boxes, the big update on Xbox’s future plans that Phil Spencer mentioned now has a concrete time and date. It’s coming via a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast. Yes.
]]>The best story-based games are ageless. While gameplay can become clunky with the passing of time, an enthralling narrative is just as gripping whether it came out in 2004 or 2024.
]]>Elden Ring has won the game of the year award at the Game Developers Choice Awards, beating outseveral other heavy hitters.
]]>I had the pleasure of reviewing Pentiment for the site earlier this year and if you read that, it probably won’t be any surprise to you that it’s my GOTY. I’ve rarely been more enamoured with a game, and at first glance, it seemed so unlikely to click: its art style, painstakingly modelled on the manuscripts and frescos of the 16th century and thus being full of colour and figures drawn with thick black outlines, strikes modern eyes as distinctly unserious after a century of conditioning by saturday morning cartoons and Monty Python interludes. You’d be forgiven for playing the entire game constantly expecting to be interrupted by a giant foot.
]]>November is a rather miserable month, if you ask me. For a start, it’s chucking it down right now, and my flat is freezing. There are no longer any Halloween vibes lingering around, and it’s a tad too far from Christmas to feel festive yet. That said, Xbox Game Pass is certainly coming in clutch this month and keeping plenty of us busy.
]]>^Stay tuned for our video essay with some lovely 4K footage.
]]>The Cadfael game is finally upon us. It raised a sea of eyebrows upon its unveiling during this year’s joint Microsoft/Bethesda not-E3 presentation in June, despite being a sort of weird, cartoonish (emphasis on ‘ish’) ‘medieval whodunnit’. Sandwiched between the likes of RedFall and Starfield, you wouldn’t expect it to cause much excitement. And yet, for many of us watching, it struck a lutey chord as one of the most promising looking titles on the entire Xbox slate, and a perfect example of Game Pass’ appeal: something that looks interesting, but is potentially too weird and experimental a proposition to risk real money for.
]]>We’ve made it past the spooky months and into November, which means we’ve just gotten a look at the new line-up of games in the November Game Pass. Stars of the show include Vampire Survivors, Football Manager 2023, and Return to Monkey Island, although the whole spread looks pretty tasty.
]]>There are dozens of fantastic things to play on Game Pass, both on the family of Xbox consoles and PC.
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