Xbox Cloud Gaming Is Now Available on PC and Apple devices
/
Xbox has confirmed that Xbox Cloud Gaming is now available on PC and Apple devices via web browser for all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
Announced via the Xbox Wire, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in 22 countries can now access the service by going to Xbox.com/play on the compatible browsers that include Microsoft Edge, Safari, and Chrome with a connected controller. Then you'll be able to access the library of cloud-compatible games like Yakuza Like A Dragon, Minecraft Dungeons, and much more.
Lastly, the company has also confirmed it’s made improvements to the Xbox Cloud Gaming servers which are now powered by custom Xbox Series X hardware. Sadly due to bandwidth constraints, streaming-only goes up to 1080p and 60FPS. However, Xbox promise “going forward we’ll continue to innovate and add more features to enhance your cloud gaming experience.”
I've yet to use the service but plan to in the near future when it's possible to travel, I spend a lot of time at home as of late and i own an Xbox Series X. So it's not something I currently use but it'll definitely will bea service i'll use eventually.
GTA 5 Release Date For PS5 And Xbox Series X|S Announced
/Rockstar has announced that Grand Theft Auto V is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 on November 11. also the standalone edition of GTA Online for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S will release the same day with PlayStation users are getting a special bonus.
As announced previously, GTA Online is free on PS5 for three months, ending in February 2022. PlayStation Plus users on PS4 will be able to claim GTA $1,000,000 every month until GTA Online comes to PS5.
The new versions of GTA V and GTA Online for next-gen have "new features and more," but Rockstar has yet to give many details on how it will take advantage of the next-gen hardware for the game.
Rockstar recently said the following while discussing the possibility of the new enhancements coming thanks to next-generation tech.
"The new generation versions of GTAV will feature a range of technical improvements, visual upgrades and performance enhancements to take full advantage of the latest hardware, making the game more beautiful and more responsive than ever,"
Lastly, Rockstar is celebrating the 20th anniversary of GTA III with "even more fun surprises," with some of them being specifically for GTA Online. Fingers crossed there'll also have something more like maybe a GTA III remaster or remake, that's how it works right? put it into the universe and then a mega-corporation will start developing it.
Here's the full quote from the Rockstar blog post: "In honor of the upcoming 20th anniversary of the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto III, we'll have even more fun surprises to share--including some specifically for GTA Online players."
Xbox Will Celebrate 20 Year Anniversary With Virtual Fanfest Event
/Xbox is celebrating its 20th anniversary and has announced it will be hosting a virtual Fanfest.
Announced via the Xbox Wire, the original Xbox was launched on November 15, 2001, in North America, so Xbox will be celebrating with the community via social media with the hashtag #Xbox20 and also launching a themed merch line.
Xbox Fanfest makes a return and will run between now and November but sadly details are a little slim. It'll probably include similar events and sweepstakes like last year which had chats with key Xbox members and developers, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S competitions and so much more.
In addition to this, Xbox has some Halo anniversary-themed wallpapers to download, a special 20 Year gamerpic, an Original Xbox Gamertag background, and The Original Xbox dynamic theme available in the Personalisation menu of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. Lastly there's a curated list of Xbox games called ‘20 Year Collection’ currently on the Xbox Store.
Xbox To Add Party Chat Transcription And Text-To-Speech
/Xbox has announced that it will be introducing more useful accessibility options in its next dashboard update that include Party Chat Speech Transcription and Synthesis.
Announced on the Xbox blog, the Xbox currently already has the ability to transcribe in-game speech to text and reading similar to a screen reader, however, they will be adding this functionality to Party Chats with the next update. This will allow words spoken in Parties to be written on-screen on an adjustable overlay that can be placed in various places to make it more usable during gameplay.
Speech synthesis will allow users to type into Party Text Chat, and have the written text read out to the rest of the party in a synthetic voice. It will also have multiple voices to choose from per language.
As a disabled gamer myself, I get pretty hyped about the addition of new accessibility options and it's something Xbox has been championing over the past few years. I do hope more companies will add more inclusive accessibility options in the future.
Knockout City Is Free At Launch But Only For 10 Days
/EA has announced that Knockout City will be going free for ten days from launch as a free trial their calling the Block Party.
the full game will be available on all formats for ten days starting from May 21, allowing players to check out all four of the game's launch modes that include Team KO, Diamond Dash, Party Team KO, and Face-Off. Additionally, every map will be playable and players will be able to start unlocking cosmetics for their character.
if you decide to purchase the game during the Block Party event, you'll get some bonus content and keep everything you've unlocked over the course of the event.
Knockout City Season 1 will launch on May 25, with the theme of "Welcome to Knockout City". It'll add a new location to the game, and a ton of Contracts for both Crew and Weekly Crew list. A new Playlists and League Play will also be unlocked where you can raise your Street Rank and unlock even more cosmetics.
Knockout City will be free for ten days from launch on May 21 until May 30 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC.
EA Teases Battlefield 6 reveal for June
/EA and DICE are seemingly teasing a reveal for Battlefield 6 coming next month according to the game's official Twitter account.
In an extremely brief teaser, they tweeted "Words that rhyme with Soon: June. Boom." My guess would be that the game will show up at E3 2021 and i think it'll be available on Xbox Game Pass. Notable the EA Play addition on Game Pass Ultimate shows on the app to claim by 02/06/2021 which could mean when EA Play leaves the service but that's speculation. Hopefully, I'm wrong on that one but it wouldn't surprise me if EA Play was removed from Game Pass Ultimate and then Ubisoft Plus is added.
Halo Infinite confirms multiplayer cross-play
/Xbox has announced that the upcoming Halo Infinite will have multiplayer cross-play and cross-progression on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.
in a post on the Xbox Wire which is titled 'Continuing Our PC Gaming in 2021 and Beyond', they announced that cross-progression will allow players to have access to their unlocks/customization regardless if you're playing on a console or on the PC. The PC version of Halo Infinite will also include support for ultrawide and super ultrawide screens, triple keyboards, a "wide variety of advanced graphics options" and more.
Later on in the post, Xbox's Matt Booty also confirmed that the company plans to bring several Xbox Series X|S enhancements to the PC, including DirectStorage technology which means games can load faster, and even the console's Auto HDR feature which has given developers the ability to bring graphical upgrades that weren't possible for "1000s" of older DirectX based titles.
Lastly, Microsoft announced it will be making changes to the developer revenue share for games sold in the Microsoft Store, and from August 1, the net revenue developers will earn from sales will increase from 70% to 88%.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to get dedicated Xbox Series X|S and PS5 releases
/
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is going to be getting a full Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 release later on in the year.
The news was announced on the official Star Wars website during the reveal for the annual Star Wars Day celebrations on May 4. Details on the game are planned to be revealed at a later date, it looks like that these versions will include a more improved upgrade to the previously released "optimisation" patch that the game recently recieved. The new versions will be a free upgrade to those that own the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions.
I personally hope that the game comes with something more than just a makeover, maybe a DLC expansion or the prospect of addtional content coming to the game at a later. It's a fantastic game that deserves some cool add-on content, so hopefully EA and Respawn Entertainment are on it.
Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout's Xbox And Switch Versions Delayed
/Mediatonic has announced that the upcoming release for Xbox and Nintendo Switch versions of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout will no longer launch in the Summer.
the announcement came from the game's official website, where the studio discussed its recent purchase by Epic Games by saying it offered "so many new opportunities" but also they said, "We've realized that our previously announced Summer 2021 Switch and Xbox release schedule is unfortunately just too soon for us to include all of the tasty new features we're working on."
on a positive note, the team confirmed that the delay will give them the chance to add additional features, which they promised would include crossplay so that Xbox and Nintendo Switch players can play with those on PlayStation 4 and PC.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 coming to Xbox Series X|S via Xbox Game Pass
/
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S according to a Microsoft Store listing.
The listing confirms that the Xbox version will come with all the DLC and will also be available via Xbox Game Pass on the console.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 launches for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One and will be available via Xbox Game Pass on May 4, 2021.
Apex Legends Season 9 Legend Is Called Valkyrie
/Apex Legends is mere weeks away from dropping season 9 to the game and Respawn entertainment is ramping to the release with the announcement of their next legend.
in a newly released episode of 'Stories from the Outlands' short, the developer introduced its next character Valkyrie, who has a strong connection to Titanfall.
Valkyrie is the daughter of Titanfall 2 character Viper, who's the pilot behind the NorthStar Titan. (Boss fight in Titanfall 2) In the short, titled 'Northstar' Valkyrie is out to take revenge against her father boss, and leader of the Apex Legends in the form of Kuban Blisk.
The short provides a great introduction to Valkyrie for players and adds some interesting lore and backstory to both Titanfall and Apex Legends. interestingly enough, the new season isn't numbered but instead is just called Legacy.
In regards to Valk abilities, it looks like she'll have some form of flight with the short showcasing Rampart taking apart NorthStar with a shadow engulfing Valkrie with the Jetpack wings of the titan.
Apex Legends Legacy (Season 9) will begin on May 4 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Additionally more details and announcements for the upcoming season will be available in the coming weeks.
Sonic Colours Could Possibly Be Getting A Remaster
/
Over the course of the weekend, a couple of listings were put online for a possible remaster of Sonic Colours.
originally reported by Gematsu, a German voiceover studio iksample listed a "Sonic Colors Remastered" in its portfolio on its website, which at the time of writing has since gone into maintenance mode. However, this was then later
backed up by a listing on French retailer Sogamely, which confirmed the title to be coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2021.
No official confirmation has come from SEGA as of writing but it would make sense since the 30th anniversary of Sonic is this year.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 Remaster is Coming To Nintendo Switch And Xbox Series X And PS5
/
Activision has finally announced that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 will be released on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch this year.
The next-generation versions will arrive on March 26, with the Switch edition currently not having a specific release date but is confirmed for 2021.
Activision has promised a "variety of upgrades," which includes 120FPS/1080p and 60FPS/4K visuals, spatial audio, and other enhancements coming for the next-gen versions. Sadly the Nintendo Switch edition won't have the same frame rates and graphics upgrades.
Players who already own a digital copy of the game for PS4 or Xbox One or the disc version on PS4 will be able to upgrade to the same console family with all of your progress at no cost, except for residents of Japan where this will cost 100 Yen. This apparently only applies to the deluxe edition of the game and the disc version on Xbox One is seemingly left out too.
Activision will also be selling a "Cross-Gen Deluxe Bundle" that costs $10 more. This will come with a new skater called Ripper, along with retro gear for the Create-A-Skater mode, along with retro skins for Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, and Rudney Mullen.
Xbox Game Pass Additions for February 2021
/
Xbox has announced a batch of games coming to Xbox Game Pass for the first half of February.
It's looking like a pretty great start to the month for Xbox Game Pass subscribers and I've personally still not gotten to the games from January. Fingers crossed, I'll magically find some time to play all these video games or you know maybe get some sleep. There's not a ton of that lying around The Ghostly household, especially with a newborn and a toddler.
Anyway here's the list of the announced games coming to Xbox Game Pass in February:
Ghost of a Tale (PC) ID@Xbox – February 4
Project Winter (Android, Console, and PC) ID@Xbox – February 4
The Falconeer (Android, Console, and PC) – February 4
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age (Console and PC) – February 11
Jurassic World Evolution (Android and Console) – February 11
Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones (Android and Console) ID@Xbox – February 11
Wolfenstein: Youngblood (Android) – February 11
Mass Effect Legendary Edition New Release Date is May 14
/
EA has announced that Mass Effect Legendary Edition will be launch on May 14 in a newly released trailer showing off some of the upgrades.
The collection will include all three games from the original trilogy, alongside 40 pieces of DLC content including weapons, armors, and packs which have all been remastered and "optimised" for 4K. The game will feature improved visual effects such as enhanced models, shaders, FX, lighting, and depth of field. There'll also be "targeted enhancements" for the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 that include full HDR across the trilogy and options for "Favor Quality" and "Favour Framerate" modes to boost resolution or FPS.
They also have added New customization options for your Shepard that include improved hair, makeup, eye colour, and skin tones. the character creator is confirmed to also allow all options across all three games in the trilogy. Lastly, there are also plans to make some gameplay enhancements specifically for the first game which is said to include "improved aiming and weapons balance, SFX, input/controls, squad behaviour, cover behaviour, and gameplay cameras."
Mass Effect Legendary Edition will be available for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC from May 14, 2021.
Second Batch Of Games Coming To Xbox Game Pass In January
/
Xbox has announced the next wave of games being added to Xbox Game Pass for the second half of January.
Here's the list of all the upcoming games coming to Xbox Game Pass in the coming weeks:
Control (PC) – January 21
Desperados III (Console, PC, and Android) – January 21
Donut County (Console, PC, and Android) ID@Xbox – January 21
Outer Wilds (Android) ID@Xbox – January 21
Cyber Shadow (Console, PC, and Android) ID@Xbox – January 26
The Medium (Xbox Series X|S and PC) ID@Xbox – January 28
Yakuza 3 Remastered (Console, PC, and Android) – January 28
Yakuza 4 Remastered (Console, PC, and Android) – January 28
Yakuza 5 Remastered (Console, PC, and Android) – January 28
It's looking like a pretty fantastic month of games on Xbox and I'm extremely excited to play some more Yakuza, I write this as I'm currently playing through Yakuza Like A Dragon.
Xbox also announced the games that will be leaving the service on January 29th, so here's that list of games:
Death Squared (Console)
Death’s Gambit (PC)
Final Fantasy XV (Console and PC)
Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour (Console and PC)
Gris (PC)
Indivisible (Console and PC)
Reigns: Game of Thrones (PC)
Sea Salt (Console and PC)
