Xbox

In a recent interview with Business Insider, Xbox’s Phil Spencer suggested that COVID-19’s impact on the game industry will be felt much worse in 2021 as opposed to 2020. The good news, however, is that delaying the Xbox Series X is still entirely out of the question for Microsoft. To understand why 2021 will be worse on game development than 2020, a period where just about everyone is working from home, you have to take into consideration what goes into creating a AAA video game – things like motion capture (MOCAP) and Audio composition, for example, can’t be done from home, Most of the games set to launch this year have already been through the majority of motion capturing. Games coming next year, however, are a completely different story. “Through the summer, early fall? I feel pretty good about those games. Games that were targeting a year from now or beyond? There'll be some impact, but they'll be able to react.” To explain...

In a statement to Eurogamer Portugal, Ubisoft has confirmed that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will run at a minimum of 30 FPS at 4K on the Xbox Series X. "Currently, we can guarantee that Assassin's Creed Valhalla will run at least 30 FPS. Assassin's Creed Valhalla will benefit from faster loading times, allowing players to immerse themselves in history and the world without friction. Finally, Assassin's Creed Valhalla will benefit from improved graphics made possible by the Xbox Series X, and we can't wait to see the beautiful world we're creating in stunning 4K resolution." Ubisoft went on to point out that this is just the current estimate. That means things could change between now and when the game is released. And, to be honest, chances are that Ubisoft is being very careful not to set expectations too high after that nonsense that was 3 seconds of gameplay during the May Inside Xbox live stream. That said, 30 FPS falls far short of the 4K60 targets that...

Following the misconception that the Xbox Series X games would (and be required to) run at 60 FPS as a standard, Xbox Games Marketing Head, Aaron Greenberg, has clarified that it isn’t the case. Long story short, Microsoft isn’t mandating game studios to develop their games to run standard at 60 FPS. In a statement to The Verge, Microsoft said, “It’s up to individual developers to determine how they leverage the power and speed of Xbox Series X.” Shortly Thereafter, Aaron Greenberg made a rebuttal tweet along the same lines, saying, “Developers always have flexibility in how they use the power, so a standard or common 60 FPS is not a mandate.” So, while the Series X is capable of running at 60 FPS and even 120 FPS without issue, game studios will be the one responsible for a game’s performance. If a studio doesn’t want to take advantage of what the Series X can do, they don’t have to. Of course, there’s...

In the last two years, Forza Horizon 4 has set the standard when it comes to providing fresh, free content for players. As Series 22 kicks off, things will continue as usual, and this time around, we’re getting access to a handful of Group A and B rally cars from the late 1980s and early 1990s!. Honestly, it’s not a bad cars list at all, and chances are that there’s something on the list that will fit you and your driving style like a glove: 1990 Nissan Pulsar GTI-R1999 Ford Racing Puma1990 Toyota Celica ST1851994 Toyota Celica ST2051991 Peugeot 205 Rallye1988 Mitsubishi Starion ESi-R Of course, you can’t just get them all right now. They are all spread across the rewards for the four seasonal championships or for reaching completion milestones from the seaons playlists. The update is now live, though, so you can get to work at claiming your new cars. And, in case...

The sheer size of games is starting to get ridiculous with current-gen consoles, and it’s only going to get worse when next-gen games start to gain traction. I’m not talking about the length of games, but the amount of storage space they take. Just think about the size of games like Red Dead Redemption or the recent update for Call of Duty Modern Warfare – the latter pushed the game beyond the 100GB mark. With next-gen games being more intense and graphically pleasing that what we have today, storage space will become an even larger problem. As things stand right now, the 1TB Xbox Series X may only be able to hold 8-10 games on internal storage, and that’s if you’re lucky. Unfortunately, there’s no magic trick to reduce the file size of games. Huge strides have been made in terms of hiding loading screens and making gameplay more seamless, and that will be even better with next-gen consoles. But, until some kind of new compression technology comes around...

Microsoft’s May edition of Inside Xbox might have been a big letdown in terms of gameplay presentation and, while we’ve already discussed why you shouldn’t be that disappointed, we can largely agree with everyone that there should have been more gameplay. Thankfully, IGN has managed to come up with 12 minutes of gameplay from The Ascent, one of the very games that was announced during the Inside Xbox stream. https://youtu.be/vcsBxA9Q2M0 The gameplay you see above backs up previous thoughts that The Ascent is an action-RPG set in cyberpunk world. It looks like a blend between Diablo and Judge Dredd while the city itself reminds a lot of Blade Runner (old and new.) The gameplay you see here is based on solo mode, but IGN has said that there will be a co-op mode so that you can play along with others. The Ascent is a launch title for the Xbox Series X, but it’s also set to be available for the...

The idea of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 expected having an entry-level price tag of between $500 and $600 isn’t surprising. However, industry analyst Michael Pachter says Microsoft might be willing to take a hit to win the next-gen console war, suggesting that the company could sell the Series X for $400 at launch. Pachter, who is a veteran industry analyst, I might add, during his appearance on Periscope with Geoff Keighley. During his appearance, he explained exactly why and how Microsoft would low-ball the Series X price. “From what I’ve seen, Sony’s going to have to charge $500 for their PS5, and Microsoft has a big balance sheet. if they want to cut the price by $100, just price below and subsidize the first ten million, they will.” The general idea is that, since Microsoft generates so much revenue from other sources, the Xbox division can take a hit without even stumbling. With the exception of the lackluster May Inside...

https://youtu.be/REwzQraW7K4 First off, the May Inside Xbox live stream was, based on set expectations a disappointment. I know a good majority of people watching were expecting to see some serious Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gameplay. I have to admit that Ubisoft should be ashamed of itself. We were promised gameplay, of which we got about three seconds mixed in with more cinematic trailer. That aside, I’ve seen a lot of complaining about graphics of the games shown off during the event, but nobody seemed to pay attention to the fine print. I understand that a lot of people were hoping to see some next-gen graphics during the event, and it didn’t happen. There’s a good chance that we’ll see exactly that in July when first-party titles are shown off, but the games that we saw during this month’s presentation were far from indicative of what the Xbox Series X is capable of. It was all in the fine print that, seemingly,...

If you looking to watch the Xbox Series X Gameplay Event today, then we’ve got good news for you – you can watch it right here via the stream above. It kicks off at 8am PDT 11am EDT 4pm BST. According to the various teasers we’ve seen so far, the show should showcase “next-gen gameplay, trailers, and sneak peeks from a wide variety of publishing partners and independent developers across the globe and industry.” So far, the only game we know that we’ll see for sure is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which is scheduled to launch pretty much alongside the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 this holiday season. Microsoft claims that it will confirm multiple games that will be available via its Smart Delivery System – a system that allows you to upgrade to the next-gen version for free when it’s available – so there will likely be a ton of cross-gen titles available. The titles that we’ll see today will be Xbox Series...

https://youtu.be/x993FRC4rXA Just one month after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign launched on the PlayStation 4, the remaster is now available on PC and Xbox. As was the case on the PlayStation 4, it’ll set you back $20. If you’re an Xbox player, you can head over to the Microsoft store on your computer or on your Xbox and download the remastered campaign. If you’re a PC player take note that the remastered campaign is only available on Battle.net. The original release is still on Steam, so don’t confuse the two. Regardless of your platform, the remastered version comes complete with 4K support, improved textures, improved animations, and remastered audio. PC players even get ultrawide monitor support. This is a stand-alone download for all platforms, so there’s no need for you to own Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. However, if you are a Modern Warfare or Warzone player, buying MW2 Remastered will get you the...