Video Game Chat

Microsoft has revealed 31 titles (some brand new and some a bit older) that have been fully optimized for the Series X and Series S will be available on day one. These are the 31 Xbox Series X|S optimized games that will be available on November 10th: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Smart Delivery) Borderlands 3 (Smart Delivery) Bright Memory 1.0 Cuisine Royale (Smart Delivery) Dead by Daylight (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery) Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition DIRT 5 (Smart Delivery) Enlisted Evergate The Falconeer (Smart Delivery) Fortnite Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery) Gears 5 (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery) Gears Tactics (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery) Grounded (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery) King Oddball (Smart Delivery) Maneater (Smart Delivery) Manifold Garden (Smart Delivery) NBA 2K21 Observer: System Redux Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery) Planet Coaster (Smart Delivery) Sea of Thieves (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery) Tetris Effect: Connected (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery) The Touryst (Xbox Game Pass + Smart Delivery) War Thunder (Smart Delivery) Warhammer: Chaosbane Slayer Edition Watch Dogs: Legion (Smart Delivery) WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship (Smart Delivery) Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Smart Delivery) Yes, Your Grace (Smart Delivery) Some of these, like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon are fall releases that will be playable on both current-gen and next-gen consoles. Others, such as Gears 5 and Sea of Thieves, have been out for months or years but will take full advantage of all the upgraded hardware when you play them on your new console

Double Fine Productions will release three classic Lucas Arts remasters on Xbox Game Pass later this month. Speaking during the Xbox Podcast today, Double Fine’s Tim Schafer announced Grim Fandango Remastered, Day of the Tentacle Remastered, and Full Throttle Remastered will come to Xbox Game Pass. Day of the Tentacle Remastered is a cartoon puzzle adventure. In it, three friends work together to prevent an “evil mutated purple tentacle” from taking over the world. You will take control of the trio and solve puzzles using time travel to explore different periods of history. Graphic adventure game Full Throttle Remastered tells the story of biker Ben Throttle who gets caught up in a tale of “Motorcycles, Mayhem, and Murder.” Then, there’s the rather awesome Grim Fandango Remastered which takes place in the afterlife. In the game, you play as Manny Calavera who is a “travel agent to the dead” who sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. The game combines elements of the Aztec belief of the afterlife with film noir style. You will be able to download and play the games starting October 29 for PC, Xbox One, and with Game Pass Ultimate on Android.

Xbox's Phil Spencer has said that the deal to acquire Bethesda wasn't done in order to "take games away from another player base." In light of Microsoft acquiring Bethesda Softworks and all of its studios only a few weeks back, ongoing discussions in the aftermath of the deal have largely centred around whether or not future titles from Bethesda would still come to other platforms outside of the Xbox ecosystem. After all, Microsoft spent a wild $7.5 billion on this acquisition, and considering how well titles like The Elder Scrolls VI would surely do on a platform like PS5 in terms of sales, the value proposition seems to be too much to pass up. According to Xbox head Phil Spencer, however, that’s not necessarily the case. Speaking to Kotaku in a new interview, Spencer was asked about the Bethesda deal and what it might mean in the future. Specifically, the notion of bringing Bethesda titles to platforms outside of Xbox was brought up. In terms of making back its investment, Spencer said very clearly that releasing Bethesda games on platforms other than those that Microsoft has at its disposal right now won’t be needed. “But I’ll also say in the model—I’m just answering directly the question that you had—when I think about where people are going to be playing and the number of devices that we had, and we have xCloud and PC and Game Pass and our console base, I don’t have to go ship those games on any other platform other than the platforms that we support in order to kind of make the deal work for us,” Spencer said. Even though it has previously been said that Bethesda games might come to other platforms on a case by case basis, Spencer’s comments here makes it sound as though it might not be a common occurrence. Additionally, Spencer noted that the Bethesda acquisition in the first place was not one that was made to keep players from playing certain games from the publisher. “This deal was not done to take games away from another player base like that. Nowhere in the documentation that we put together was: ‘How do we keep other players from playing these games?’ We want more people to be able to play games, not fewer people to be able to go play games,” he explained. The notion of growing the larger video game market has been something that Spencer has talked a lot about over the years.

Sony has revealed further information on PS5 backwards compatibility via its PlayStation support website. According to the support page, an "overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 games are playable on PS5 consoles", and select PS4 games will benefit from the PS5 console's "Game Boost", which may make PS4 games run with a higher or smoother frame rate. Furthermore, Sony points out that some functionalities that were available on PS4 might not be available when playing on PS5, and some games may exhibit "unexpected behaviour" when played on PS5. Strangely, Sony also warns users to test their PS4 games on PS5 before buying any add-ons to ensure "you are happy with the play experience". Finally, the support page recommends that users always update the PS5 with the latest version of the system software. While Sony has stated the majority of PS4 games are playable on PS5, it's also provided a small list of games that are only playable on PS4 below: DWVR Afro Samurai 2 Revenge of Kuma Volume One TT Isle of Man - Ride on the Edge 2 Just Deal With It! Shadow Complex Remastered Robinson: The Journey We Sing Hitman Go: Definitive Edition Shadwen Joe's Diner Sony also revealed a snippet of new information on what players can expect in an interview with Game Informer. Sony's senior vice president of platform planning and management Hideaki Nishino stressed the importance of backwards compatibility, and reiterated Sony’s promise that “approximately 99 per cent of the thousands of PS4 titles, both catalogue and newly published, will be playable on PS5”. While Nishino continued to repeat Sony’s mantra of pushing the importance of PS5 first and foremost, he also revealed some new information about backwards compatibility that we didn’t know. "When you sign in to PS5 with your account, you will automatically see your library of played PS4 content through the menu,” said Nishino. “...we’re excited about supporting our PlayStation community as they transition from PS4 to PS5 when they’re ready." Sony has continued to keep its cards close to its chest with more generalized statements of how the PS5 will handle PS4 games. PS4 games will be playable using the DualShock 4 controller on PS5, and that 99% of games will work, but there are already issues regarding save files transferring to PS4 in games like Yakuza: Like A Dragon and Dirt 5. It also isn’t clear exactly how PS5's extra power will benefit PS4 games. Sony has suggested we’ll see better frame rates and load times via the PS5's Game Boost.

Sony is reportedly launching an overhauled PlayStation Store ahead of the PS5 launch. According to a Push Square report, Sony is getting ready to launch a new PlayStation Store experience that will be available on the web and on mobile. Though it is very slim on specifics, the report says Sony alerted developers that the new store will be going live later this month. The new store’s library will only include PS4 and PS5 games. PS3, PSP and PS Vita games will continue to have their own stores. The new experience also won’t bring forward PS4 themes, avatars and apps. This should not affect the content you already own on these platforms, including the aforementioned PS4 themes, which will all continue to be accessible natively through these devices. The ability to wishlist will return, but your existing wishlist will not transfer over to the new system. The change isn’t particularly surprising. The PlayStation Store has long lagged behind Microsoft’s offering in terms of curation, design, and features. It is also slower to load, and more cumbersome to navigate across the PS4 and the web. Hopefully, unshackling the interface from having to cater to legacy consoles will do wonders to the experience.

Sony is changing up the PlayStation Trophy system which will begin rolling out today. Changes to the PlayStation Trophy system are coming today, and one of the main takeaways is Sony will increase the Trophy level range from the current 1-100 to 1-999. Following the update, you will find your Trophy level will automatically be remapped to a new level based on what you have currently earned. An example offered was that if you are at Trophy level 12, your new level will jump to somewhere in the low 200s. The exact level will depend on the number and grades of trophies you’ve acquired. Another big takeaway is the new level calculation structure, which is more “optimized and rewarding.” Here you will find the ability to progress more quickly through the early levels. Levels will also increase more consistently while Platinum trophies will count more toward your level progression. New Trophy level icons have also been updated, and for PlayStation 5, as well as PlayStation App at a later date. Currently, the Trophies icon is just a single gold star, but Sony is adding a few variants: Bronze: Levels 1 to 299 Silver: Levels 300 to 599 Gold: Levels 600 to 998 Platinum: Level 999 The icons will also have a “subtle distinction” which will provide a visual idea of how close you are to the next level. Sony also clarified that all Trophies earned on previous PlayStation systems will come with you to PlayStation 5 as with other generational transitions.

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A new Xbox Hall of Fame competition will commence in October, offering a chance to win a number of Xbox Series X consoles based on achieving a high Gamerscore or besting challenges. With its newly-introduced Hall of Fame, you could win an Xbox Series X, a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, an Xbox Hall of Fame hoodie, and a place for your name in that Xbox Hall of Fame and a physical trophy to go along with it, based on your Gamerscore, achievements, and Xbox Game Pass triumphs. There will be eight Hall of Fame winners in each participating country. To start with, there are three categories designed to celebrate your Xbox One history, all of which have a qualifying period running from November 22nd 2013 to October 19th 2020. First up is Achievement Conqueror. "You’ve unlocked hundreds, if not thousands of achievements, but you’re not at the finish line yet. You need to keep grinding – smashing through as many as you can – to ensure that you stand out from every player. Come out on top with the most achievements unlocked during the lifetime of Xbox One, and a place in the Xbox Hall of Fame is yours," reads the official description. Next is Game Pass Ruler. "You’ve explored Xbox Game Pass extensively over the years, but how many titles have you experienced in total? The player in each country who has played the most games to appear on the service will enter the Xbox Hall of Fame." The Xbox team points out that you don't need to have played the game specifically while it was on Xbox Game Pass: "if you played Halo 5 Guardians when it launched, for example, it is already counted towards your total!" Lastly, there's Gamerscore Legend. "Think you've earned more Gamerscore than anyone else this generation? Rack up more over the next few weeks to seal your Xbox Hall of Fame place... take everything you’ve achieved this generation and build on it by working through unplayed games and racking up as much Gamerscore as you can." There's also Xbox Trials, and its five categories offer "more chances" to win that coveted Hall of Fame spot. First up: from October 2nd to October 4th, if you're at rank 50 and a Pirate Legend, you can compete to earn the most Emissary Value in Athena's Fortune Emissary voyages. There's another Gamerscore-focused trial with Gamerscore Champion, running from October 1st to October 19th, and challenges you to earn as much Gamerscore as you can during that window. To be clear, any Gamerscore earned beforehand won't count: this is a challenge for how much you can earn during those 19 days, and it's only available to players with existing Gamertags. The Forza Horizon 4 trial, meanwhile, will challenge you to reach the fastest lap on the Hall of Fame Circuit while behind the wheel of the 2018 McLaren Senna. You'll have from September 22nd to October 11th to do this. From October 1st to October 19th, you can take part in the Achievement Defeater. Like Gamerscore Champion, this is only measuring the number of achievements you earn in that window, and the Xbox team advises you to go for "fast and simple unlocks" first. "Unlock as many as you can in the qualifying period, and you could go down in history." There's also a Zombie Slayer trial for State of Decay 2, which asks you to clear plague hearts in a new Standard Zone map as quickly as possible. You can't use multiplayer help either but will need to do this all on your lonesome. The elapsed time between the map start to the last plague heart kill will be measured, and you'll have from October 16th to October 18th to do it. To add to all this, you can also earn Microsoft Rewards points while fighting for your place in the Hall of Fame, via two Xbox Hall of Fame punch cards, between October 1st and October 19th. You can be richly rewarded for your Gamerscore triumphs, as the Xbox Hall of Fame Gamerscore punch card will earn you one Microsoft Reward point for every Gamerscore earned between October 1st and October 19th (with a maximum limit of 10,000.) Likewise, you can earn up to 500 Microsoft Reward points during the same window by earning achievements, with the Xbox Hall of Fame Achievement punch card. You won't be competing against every Xbox player in the world. Each participating country has its own Xbox Hall of Fame, so you'll be competing against players in your region. The eight winners for each country will be those players who came top in the three Lifetime Triumph challenges (Achievement Conqueror, Game Pass Ruler, and Gamerscore Legend), as well as those five Xbox Trials. Participating will also reward players, as ten from each country will win a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Head here for more information and to register to take part.

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EA Access and Origin Access Basic will be rebranded EA Play. Starting next week on August 18, the services will be rebranded as EA Play, and Origin Access Premier will be renamed EA Play Pro. Benefits will remain the same, but EA says it will be “adding even more in the coming months” such as exclusive in-game challenges and monthly reward drops on select titles. The move to the new name also means the EA Play event will be renamed EA Play Live, the first of which – under the new moniker – took place back in June.

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