Category: Xbox News

Who doesn’t love a good brain boost? As a gamer, there’s no satisfaction that quite rivals completing a difficult puzzle. Whether your preferred paradox entails exploring the mysteries of long forgotten ruins or trying to figure out how to destroy the world with a deadly plague, there should be something for you in the Amazing Indie Puzzle Sale. The sale has some of the best ID@Xbox puzzle games discounted by up to 75%. With Spring around the corner now’s the perfect time to clean out those brain cobwebs and add to your gaming collection with puzzlers like:

The Sexy Brutale (50% off). Ever had to solve puzzles like your life depends on it…because now it does! The Sexy Brutale is a 3D Puzzle & Adventure game, a never-ending masked ball featuring intrigue, murder and quite possibly the occult. Players must unveil the secrets of The Sexy Brutale casino mansion and its inhabitants, as they relive the same mysterious and murderous masked ball. As the story unfolds in real-time, the player must find answers to every enigma and end the loop, to save all guests’ lives as well as his own.

Rime (40% off). A land of discovery stretches out before you. Explore the beautiful yet rugged world of Rime, a single-player puzzle adventure. In Rime, you play as a young boy who has awakened on a mysterious island after a torrential storm. You see wild animals, long-forgotten ruins and a massive tower that beckons you to come closer. Armed with your wits and a will to overcome—and the guidance of a helpful fox—you must explore the enigmatic island, reach the tower’s peak, and unlock its closely guarded secrets. Make your way through the ancient ruins and its hidden marvels by solving puzzles with sound, light and shadow projection, perspective, platforming, and even time manipulation.

Plague Inc: Evolved (50% off). It’s time to take over the world! Plague Inc: Evolved is a unique mix of high strategy and terrifyingly realistic simulation. Your pathogen has just infected ‘Patient Zero’ – now you must bring about the end of human history by evolving a deadly, global Plague whilst adapting against everything humanity can do to defend itself.

Soul Axiom (70% off). If puzzle solving wasn’t in your soul before, it will be after playing Soul Axiom. Take your first steps to paradise by uploading your soul to Elysia, the latest state of the art Digital Soul Provider. Elysia is a sprawling server where your memories and dreams become reality. In Elysia, death has no dominion and life has no boundaries. You will be taken on an intriguing voyage of discovery, through beautiful, haunting locations, facing challenges that will lead you into danger on your mission to unlock your identity, your story, your mystery. Choose your destiny and discover multiple endings as you unravel the mysteries of your digital afterlife.

Tumblestone (33% off). Not all puzzle games have to be solo experiences. Tumblestone is an action-packed puzzle game that will have you racing your friends in multiplayer or, if you prefer, challenging yourself in story mode. Solve progressively more difficult and creative puzzles, help a sausage make friends, and find out what happened to the Tumblecrown. Not responsible for broken controllers or friendships.

This is just a taste of all the great games included. The sale will run from today, March 13, all the way through to March 19, so grab one of these entertaining enigmas before time runs out!

See all Amazing Indie Puzzle Sale offers on Xbox.com

It’s that time again. The annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) is quickly approaching, and this year Microsoft is showing up in exciting new ways to inspire and enable game developers and gamers alike to achieve more.

GDC is the place to showcase the latest technical innovations across all of Microsoft’s gaming toolset to empower developers to create great games on any platform. It’s also a place where we get the opportunity to discuss valuable feedback from our development partners to help drive innovation forward in the gaming industry. This year’s event feels especially important to us.

Over the last several years, Microsoft has been working to introduce new technology to build games faster and make it easier to scale across platforms. This year, we’re taking things a step further by bringing together the best of Microsoft’s tools, platforms, services, and more than 20 years of gaming experience in one unified presence.

Start Your Visit at the Microsoft Azure Booth

We invite you to come to the South Hall Lower Lobby of the Moscone Center and stop by our dedicated Microsoft Azure booth to learn how you can create a gaming empire by building on the gaming cloud that has powered Xbox for years.

The Azure booth will have a wide range of activities for game developers:

• Come talk to experts about Azure, PlayFab, Visual Studio, App Center, Mixer, Xbox Live, Mixed Reality and more.
• Visit four stations to claim a custom, free Xbox controller, and enter to win an Xbox One X daily.
• Play our mixed reality game Pinball Lizard and take home the sample source code – and get the high score of the day to win an Xbox One X.
• Play Darwin Project, a 10-player battle royale game that offers audience interaction through Mixer, with a shoutcaster moderating and streaming the action live.
• Attend one of the many in-depth theater sessions or watch one-on-one interviews with product experts across a variety of topics, directly in the booth.

We will also host three Azure sponsored sessions at GDC that show how Next Games, Fluffy Fairy, and others build to scale with Azure and PlayFab. Come ask about our special offer of $2,500 worth of PlayFab, App Center and Azure services that are free for a year.

The entire Azure expo experience will show you what’s possible, while giving you the tools and code on how to build it.

Continue Your Learning of Our Cloud Offerings at the PlayFab Booth

Building on our efforts in the gaming cloud with Azure, in January we welcomed PlayFab to the growing slate of cloud offerings. PlayFab is a backend platform for games, delivering powerful real-time tools and services for LiveOps. With Azure and PlayFab services you concentrate on making a great game, not creating the backend. “You make it fun, we’ll make it run” we like to say.

While here, pick up a free copy of our brand new book “The PlayFab Definitive Guide to LiveOps” which gives an introduction to LiveOps, covers a detailed compendium of LiveOps techniques, and lists the LiveOps tools and services PlayFab offers.

Stop by the Xbox Lobby Bar to Check Out the Latest from ID@Xbox

ID@Xbox continues to have a significant presence at this year’s conference. At the Moscone Center, the Xbox Lobby Bar will feature hands-on gameplay with 28 highly anticipated ID@Xbox titles on Xbox One X. For a full rundown of the ID@Xbox titles available at GDC, stay tuned to Xbox Wire.

Chris Charla, Director of ID@Xbox, and the team will be onsite to talk with developers about how successful the program has been and how it continues to be a community effort, driven by passion, creativity, and the knowledge that success here unlocks huge opportunity for game studios of all sizes.

Join Us at Our Gaming for Everyone (G4E) Community Events at GDC

Gaming for Everyone is Microsoft’s commitment to make Xbox a place where everyone has fun. Each year at GDC, we host a number of important events to support these efforts.

This year we have a full week of community events.

• If you’re interested in meeting others working to make gaming more accessible, come join us at the first ever Gaming & Disability reception.
• We also unveiled that we are expanding the Women in Gaming (WiG) event at GDC from a luncheon to a full-day rally packed with workshops, discussions, and a reception on Tuesday, March 20. Held at the beautiful Contemporary Jewish Museum, just across the street from the Moscone Centre, we’ll host our biggest event yet in partnership with our friends from EA and Ubisoft – we expect to welcome over 800 people from the industry to this year’s WiG Rally.
• We’ll also have our annual Blacks in Gaming, Latinx in Gaming, and LGBTQIA+ in Gaming events.

More details on time and location can be found here. All of these events are free to attend, and registration is open to everyone, so we hope you’ll join us.

Complete Your Learning by Attending Our Sponsored Sessions

Microsoft will be hosting 12 sponsored sessions throughout the week. Developers can learn more about:

• Creating games through the ID@Xbox and Creators Programs;
• using artificial intelligence to support game developers;
• new APIs for developers that will give gamers higher fidelity visuals than ever before;
• how to leverage Mixer’s game streaming platform to attract and engage players into your experience;
• and more.

For a full list of sponsored sessions available to attend at GDC, check out the GDC Session Scheduler here.

If you are a developer and want to meet with someone from the ID@Xbox or Mixer teams, they will be on hand at their booths to schedule a meeting during the show.

GDC 2018 is gearing up to be an exciting time, and we can’t wait to share more with you at the show. Stay tuned to Xbox Wire for more details on the latest gaming news. See you at GDC.

Thanx,
Kareem

Earlier today, we launched our new monthly series Inside Xbox. This was the next step on a path we’ve been traveling for many years, one that pulls back the curtain on Team Xbox and celebrates our games, our features, and our fans like never before. The inaugural episode was jam-packed full of everything you could want from a show like this, including the latest on highly-anticipated games like Sea of Thieves and Far Cry 5, exciting news from our friends on the Xbox Game Pass team, the debut of new console features, and much more. So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest news coming out of this month’s episode of Inside Xbox.

Xbox Update News

The Xbox Engineering and marketing teams were on-hand to debut several brand-new features coming to Xbox later this Spring. Highlights of this segment included:

• Antal Tungler from AMD announced that Xbox One S and Xbox One X will support variable refresh rate on AMD Radeon FreeSync displays. Freesync technology helps get rid of tearing and stuttering while gaming, enabling the display and Xbox One to work together to create a smooth and seamless gaming experience. Freesync allows for a supported TV or monitor to synchronize its refresh rate with your console.
• ‘Share to Twitter’ will allow you to share clips and screenshots that will be viewable in-line, directly on your Twitter feed. This new feature will also automatically place that screenshot or video into your Twitter media library, as well as suggest hashtags, such as the game title.
• Xbox One will also begin supporting Auto Low Latency Mode on supported TVs later in 2018, including select models from Samsung. Auto Low Latency Mode will recognize when a game is being played and automatically switch your TV to a low-latency mode. This will enable you to continue using some of your TVs video processing options while you’re watching a movie or Mixer stream, but be comfortable that any post-processing will automatically be turned off when you switch back over to a game.
• The Microsoft Edge browser is also getting an update on Xbox One. The browser now looks and feels more like Microsoft Edge on Windows 10. You can also download and upload files, including pictures and videos, directly to your Xbox One or attached storage device. For example, if you find a great picture online that you’d like to use as your Xbox One background, you can download the image with Microsoft Edge and set it as your custom background.
• Share Controller on Mixer was announced. Mixer streamers on Xbox One will be able to share their controller directly with viewers on Mixer.com. Once shared, a viewer on their PC can help control the experience with either an on-screen virtual controller or with a physical controller connected to the PC. This is available now for testing on the Xbox Insider Alpha ring.

Sea of Thieves

Executive Producer Joe Neate confirmed two updates for Sea of Thieves based on fan feedback from the Closed Beta and Scale Tests.

• The respawn system has been updated based on player feedback. Now, if you perish after your ship is sunk you will respawn on a new ship, away from the scene of your watery demise.
• You can now favorite Pirate characters when selecting your pirate from the character carousel. This will allow you to refresh your options during character selection and still retain the option of choosing the Favorites character from before.

Larry Hryb and Lydia Ellery had the chance to talk with Rare Studio Head Craig Duncan and Sea of Thieves Executive Producer Joe Neate about the original inspiration for Sea of Thieves, how that has manifested itself in the final game, and how that purpose has bonded players together.

Larry and Lydia also spoke with lead designer Shelley Preston and art director Ryan Stevenson about the game’s design philosophy. The team went in-depth on the importance of natural design and the sense of discovery that permeates the game.

The Quest

The end of the episode marked a curious entry, with the forging golden bananas and mysterious URL. Adventure awaits on web and land, calling to all Sea of Thieves fans to band together to tackle the mysteries and challenges ahead. One thing is certain. Someone is going to walk away with that gold banana bunch.

PixArk Release Date

Navin Supphapholsiri from Studio Wildcard was on-hand to not only show off the vibrant, friendly and procedurally generated survival game PixArk, but also revealed the release date from the much-anticipated survival title. PixArk will be available on March 27.

Based on Studio Wildcard’s popular Ark: Survival Evolved, PixArk takes a more colorful, accessible approach to the survival genre, allowing you to not only harvest resources, hunt dinosaurs, and craft gear, but also build outlandishly creative bases. This includes a Creative Mode, which allows you to build freely, without restraint or worrying about the survival-based-gameplay.

Games, Games, and More Games

Jeff Rubenstein and Larry Hryb talked to Nico Bihary from Microsoft Studios for a full update on all things PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, including a recent major update to the game, where it’s going from here, and why Chicken Dinners are so darn tasty.

At a recent event for Far Cry 5, Larry got the chance to chat with Drew Holmes, the game’s lead writer, and actor Greg Byrke about bringing the franchise’s latest unsettling antagonist to life.

Xbox Game Pass

The team also revealed that Xbox Game Pass will bringing eight new games into the fold in April, including the critically acclaimed Cities: Skylines. This city-creation simulation puts the fate of your own dream metropolis in your hands, letting you manage the cities infrastructure, various districts, utilities, healthcare, emergency responders and much more. This is first of eight Xbox Game Pass reveals for April, so stay tuned to Xbox Wire for more info as it becomes available.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in! We hope you enjoyed the show and we can’t wait to tell you all about next month’s episode in a few weeks.

With Darwin Project, we’re taking the battle royale genre up north and into the Canadian Rockies. Ten prisoners turned hunters compete to be the last standing at sunrise using a bow and axe, as well as a variety of traps and scavenged tools. Meanwhile, an eleventh player in the Show Director drone can oversee the arena and unleash special powers like zone restriction, gravity storms, and more.

It’s been so incredible to watch Darwin Project come together over the last three years, and to celebrate its launch into Xbox Game Preview today, I thought I’d share some of the most epic ways to spend your time in the arena.

Feel Like the Predator
Tracking and manhunting are at the core of game, and the best way to hunt down your foes is to pick up clues in the arena. If other contestants have crafted an item, built a fire, or otherwise interacted with objects, picking up the resulting clues will help you track them to their current position. Follow the trail like a true Predator and look for an ambush opportunity!

Snowball Kills
What started as a joke eventually ended up becoming one of the most popular and fun features. Snowballs cost no resources to craft and don’t really do much…  except for cold damage. And since each fire reveals your location, some players might decide to wait until they are on the verge of freezing to death before building one. It’s the perfect time to strike with your snowballs!

Deflect Arrows with Your Axe
When a rival shoots at you, you can hit the incoming arrow with your axe if you’re quick enough. This little-known technique has been perfected by our Canadian lumberjack ancestors for centuries and we’re very proud to deliver it so faithfully in our game.

Follow Me if You Dare
Sometimes, when you’re caught in a showdown with another player and find yourself running out of arrows, it’s best to get a little more creative. The ol’ pretend-you’re-running-away-in-fear is always fun, especially if you happen to drop a Bear Trap on the way.

Saved by the Director
In Darwin Project, winning the favor of the Show Director is a totally valid strategy. And there’s nothing more satisfying than scoring the clutch heal, warm up, or speed up power you need to get out of a sticky situation.

Punish Cowardly Contestants
Some of the cabins have holographic screens in them (they’re easy to identify with their big antennas) where you can see the locations of all other players still alive. Notice a player that’s not moving around and potentially trying to avoid encounters? They might not be tempted to repeat that strategy when you come barging in with a set of nocked Fire Arrows.

Snowball… Tennis?
Just like arrows, snowballs can be bounced back with the axe. Snowball chain bouncing has become such a popular activity that we included an actual counter in the lobby. By the way, the current record is 16!

Darwin Project is available today in Xbox Game Preview for $14.99 USD. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest updates, and join our Discord to interact with our community. See you in the arena!

It seems like just yesterday that we launched the Insider Programme for Sea of Thieves. We felt that getting our game into player’s hands early, learning from their feedback and growing a community around this game was critical for a new, shared-world experience like Sea of Thieves. We started with our first 1,000 players in December 2016, and we have been steadily growing the player base and feature set throughout the last year.

Since we began we have seen our community grow and players adventure in our magical world. We have seen battles held, friends made, instruments played and quite a bit of overindulgence on our surprisingly strong grog. Most excitingly, we have seen many, many amazing stories from our players, and recently we allowed them to share these with the world during our Closed Beta. It was incredible to be able watch players live in Sea of Thieves for the first time, to see their adventures unfold first-hand and to hear the stories they had to share.

As we head towards launch on March 20, we have one Final Beta test to run. This gives us an opportunity to grow our scale testing to our largest number yet, it allows us to test a broader range of features than ever before and it also gives anyone that is interested a chance to play and experience Sea of Thieves first-hand.

With that in mind, we are announcing the Sea of Thieves Final Beta, available now and running through to 2 a.m. PST (10 a.m. GMT) on Sunday, March 11.

Who can take part in the Final Beta?

This is open to absolutely anyone to play, and can be downloaded now from the Store on Xbox One and Windows 10. To install, you will just need to search for and install the Sea of Thieves Final Beta. The Sea of Thieves Final Beta requires an Xbox LIVE account on both PC and Xbox One, with an Xbox LIVE Gold subscription required on Xbox One.

What will I be playing?

In the Final Beta, alongside the Gold Hoarders, we will be testing Merchant Alliance voyages for the first time, giving players an entirely new way to play. As well, we are now introducing an emergent, intense opportunity into the world, with the chance of a Skeleton Fort now being occupied. Watch out for that tell-tale Skull Cloud above a fort which indicates the chance of great rewards, but also great risk. Will other players have seen it? Or might they even be there already? Will you work together or against each other? We can’t wait to watch and find out.

In addition, we’re excited to announce that Sea of Thieves’ Xbox One X enhancements will be available during the Final Beta! We’re thrilled that players will be able to experience Sea of Thieves in 4K on the most powerful console ever made.

Can I share my stories?

Absolutely! Whether co-streaming on Mixer, sharing on Twitch, uploading to YouTube or sharing via Game DVR, we are thoroughly looking forward to seeing what our players get up to.

What can I expect?

This is our biggest test yet, and we are excited to see how many players turn up, but we also want to ensure a good experience for everyone that is in and playing. What this means is that as we hit peak times, we might have to temporarily put a hold on other players joining whilst we manage player load. If this happens, we will be sharing the latest news and status via the status page on Seaofthieves.com, and we will be sharing regular updates on Twitter from the official @SeaOfThieves handle.

Thanks to everyone that has helped us get to where we are so far. Everyone who has played in the Technical Alpha, Closed Beta or scale tests – anyone who has submitted ideas and feedback, filled out surveys, shared their stories or made friends in our world – we wouldn’t be where we are without you, and we cannot wait to see where this adventure takes us next.

Here’s to the next leg of the journey.

Sea of Thieves is now available for pre-order in the Xbox Store and Windows Store, and you can play the game at launch on March 20 as part of Xbox Game Pass. For the latest on Sea of Thieves, stay tuned to Xbox Wire and SeaOfThieves.com.

Two new Operators are dropping into Rainbow Six Siege on Xbox One, bringing new global abilities that will allow them to make their presence felt no matter where they are on the map. In addition to these potential game-changers, there’s a brand new co-op event that also launches today for free to Rainbow Six Siege owners. It’s called Outbreak, and it will pit the Operators against a deadly new threat in entirely new environments to test your skills in a whole new way. Year 3 of Rainbow Six Siege begins now, and it’s starting with a bang.

The new Operators are two attackers named Finka and Lion. Each of them is armed with a unique gadget that gives them the ability to support their team in a big way. Finka can trigger an Adrenal Surge that temporarily juices her teammates with reduced recoil, a health boost, and a few other benefits that make her great for supporting an assault. Lion can scan the entire map with his indestructible flying drone, revealing the silhouettes of any enemies that are moving when the scan is active. There are ways to counter or avoid these abilities, naturally, but you’re sure to notice whenever these attackers take the field.

In Outbreak, teams of up to three Operators must travel to New Mexico, where an extraterrestrial parasite has turned the local populace into hordes of mutated monsters. As you fight your way through expansive maps and endeavor to stop the infestation at its source, you’ll have to fight a variety of different enemy types and contend with sinister new abilities. Teamwork is paramount as you learn to use your tried-and-true Siege skills to take down this dangerous menace.

Outbreak is available for free to Rainbow Six Siege owners from March 6 through April 3. The two new Operators are now available for Year 3 Season Pass owners for a seven-day exclusive period, after which they will be available for anyone to unlock using Renown or R6 Credits.

We are Threye Interactive, an indie game studio from India (Threye is pronounced like the number three). We started off by making games of the war gaming genre with lots of explosions and shooting, but when we got an invite from ID@Xbox to bring one of our titles to Xbox One, we decided to go back to the basics – the classic puzzle platformer.

We were looking for a game that revolved around a character who everybody can relate to and thus was born the character of i, a little alphabet who had done something wrong (quite inadvertently) and needed to set things right. That was the theme of our game – a journey of self, from a small little i to a mature capable capital I. What he had done was quite harmless actually — he had become a bit of a snob, focused on me, myself, and I (easy to slip down that slope in today’s selfie-obsessed culture) — and didn’t realize that he had ended up alienating his friends. Now it’s up to you, the player, to win back those lost friends.

As I, an adorable little character, you jump and run and use all your platforming abilities to clear level after level, meeting old friends, and rediscovering the friendships, all backed with an exciting and groovy music track (totally made in-house, true indie style). But don’t let the deceptively cute graphics lower your guard! You need to be sharp on those controls or you will die spectacularly as a ball of exploding ink-blobs… and die you will.

The game has a total of 75 levels, set in five distinct worlds which mimic various stages of the evolution of type. Did we forget to mention our game had a lot of alphabets? There is a world of ancient Egypt with hieroglyphics and mummies, another that is full of electric lasers that try and zap you into oblivion. There is even a world of conflict and wars, where again, you’ll die trying, but try you must… because all the levels are full of puzzles that will tickle your brain, stories that will make you chuckle, all with ample re-playability. And one more thing: you will have to use a nifty switch mechanic to negotiate all those hurdles. For example, switching from a small i to a big I… or else… you will die trying.

The game has taken us about three years of our life and the development took a life of its own! What was meant to be a game about friendship, testing our own internal relationships. After two false starts of 6 months and 1 year, we finally got the development going on after 1.5 years, with a crucial team member leaving in the middle of development. But just like the game’s character, we never gave up… we kept trying… and finally… we’ve made it.

Switch-Or Die Trying is now live on Microsoft Store thanks to ID@Xbox. Please give it a try. We hope, while enjoying all the classical elements of a puzzle-platformer, you find it to be an equally uplifting journey of I and self. We certainly have enjoyed and evolved during the development of this game. So, grab those controls, and don’t forget to switch… or you will die trying.

Tesla vs Lovecraft is a rush of a twin-stick shooter, and everyone here at 10tons is abundantly delighted we now have a date for the Xbox One release: March 16! Launching a game is always exciting, but I’d like to take the opportunity to share some of the excitement during development as well.

You might think that after making top-down twin-stick shooters like Crimsonland, Neon Chrome, Jydge, and Time Recoil, we’d have solid routines to just put a plan together and know exactly what our next shooter would be like. While we certainly have plenty of genre expertise, things are rarely as simple as that.

Tesla vs Lovecraft started its life more than two years ago. We had finished the colossal project of upgrading our engine to 3D graphics, and the first game to use that capability was Neon Chrome. The idea was to make a simpler arena based twin stick shooter, something roughly along the lines of Crimsonland, but with the new tech. But as we weren’t making a Crimsonland sequel, we needed another theme.

The first concepts and prototypes of Tesla vs Lovecraft were in fact about wizards, even the internal work title was simply Magegame. With a skeleton crew of one developer, we tried all sorts of gameplay mechanics, the most notable one being the ability to teleport a short distance. It ended up in the final game as the Quantum Teleport.

Back then it also became apparent that making a great game wasn’t enough any longer, you also need a catchy marketing hook. We searched high and low for something with the right amount of uniqueness to stand out, but also with enough popular culture relevance for people to latch on to. We felt like being onto something by replacing wizards with a bunch of scientist from the golden age of scientific discovery, like Marie Curie, and by having the antagonists be some of the most iconic monsters of roughly the same period, like the Frankenstein’s monster.

Then, as almost a year had passed and the time to start production with a full team loomed, a revelation struck: What if we removed all the other scientists, and made Nikola Tesla the game’s hero. And maybe remove all the other monsters, and just leave H.P. Lovecraft the villain? We could call the game… Tesla vs Lovecraft. Heureka!

Not only does Tesla vs Lovecraft sound like a very cool shooter title, it practically paints the boxshot for us: H.P. Lovecraft riding something with lots of tentacles, eyes, and fangs, with Nikola Tesla riding something awesome equal in size, like… A Tesla-Mech? How cool is that! We didn’t have a battle robot mechanic in the game at that time, but we sure had room for another key feature in addition to the teleportation. And what a feature it turned out to be; pretty much every gamer reacts with at least a chuckle, some with maniacal cackle, when they call down the Tesla-Mech for the first time.

With that, we had the elements of Tesla vs Lovecraft in place. Fast forward a year, and the game is now heading for Xbox One. I hope you like it!

Starting at 6 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Update Alpha ring will begin receiving the latest Xbox One system update (1804.180301-1900). Read on to learn more about fixes and known issues in the latest system update.

Fixes:

Black Screens

• We have fixed this issue when resuming from connected standby (with the console in Instant-On mode) and you encountered a black screen.

System Update

• Users will no longer an E200 error at the last stage of the installation or when shutting down some games.

Known Issues:

System Update

• This build installation will take a bit longer than usual, as it will require the full update size of 3.5 GB. This update does not factory reset the console it is a large payload. Download times are dependent on your Internet speeds and can likely be improved by using a wired network connection.

Pins

• If Microsoft Edge was pinned prior to downloading the 1804 update, attempting to launch Microsoft Edge from the existing pin will fail.
• Workaround: Delete the old Microsoft Edge pin and re-pin Microsoft Edge.

Netflix

• If Netflix crashes when first launched, check for an app update on the Store or from My games & apps.  You may need to uninstall Netflix – perform a Hard reboot – aka pull power for 10 seconds and locate Netflix from the Store.

Settings

• When accessing the Language & location page in Settings, it may take a long time for the page to load.

Store

• When browsing Add-Ons in the Store, the Show All page may appear blank

Pi-Hole

• Pi-hole users may encounter issues signing in, creating, or recovering accounts upon downloading the 1804 update. This is due to a new configuration file which is downloaded from a URL Pi-hole blocks by default.
• Workaround: Add clientconfig.passport.net to the Pi-hole allowed IP address list.

Microsoft Edge

• Microsoft Edge may sometimes fail to show the cursor. Workaround is shutdown Microsoft Edge and relaunch.

Audio Issues

• We are aware that some Spatial Audio users will experience unexpected game volumes and are working on a fix.
• We are aware that the Mono output feature is not working as expected in latest builds. The team has identified a fix and is testing. Please turn off the feature if you are using an audio receiver with less than 7.1 audio channels.
• We have identified an issue with Dolby Atmos for Home Theater and certain AVR models that will result in random sound cut outs. If a sound cut out ever occurs you can change your audio format settings to something else and then back to reset it.

Now TV

• In the Now TV app some UI elements are disappearing during playback.

Settings – Accessory app

• Some users may experience a problem not being able to assign controller configurations in the Xbox Accessory app.

Wi-Fi Lag Issues

• We are aware of an issue in which your Wi-Fi connection may lag for 3-4 seconds and reoccur after 30 minutes. Workaround: The only known workaround at this point is to use wired networking

Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One! Every week, the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. This coming week we can enter the frozen battle royale world of Darwin Project, master spells with Nine Parchments, or learn what it’s like to guide tons of cargo on the backs of metal behemoths in Train Sim World: Founders Edition. These are just a few of the excellent games coming to Xbox One next week. Read more about these titles below and click on their profiles for pre-order details.

Games

March 06, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – Experience the legendary and deadly Snaefell Mountain Course in TT Isle of Man – Ride on the Edge. The epic 37-mile course has been painstakingly recreated, challenging you to stay focused through every turn as you challenge other riders to not only compete for the best time but survive. Pre-order TT Island of Man – Ride on the Edge to get the TT Legends Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade as a bonus.

Games

March 06, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced / Windows 10 – Prince Noctis, his crew, and a slew of new features invite you back to the world of Final Fantasy XV. Including all add-on content (with all Season Pass content), a new dungeon, first-person mode, more gear, and new bosses, Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition is the complete Final Fantasy experience for you to rejoin Noctis and his closest friends as they fight to take back their fallen kingdom.

Games

March 06, 2018

Go head-to-head in a new party-style Scribblenauts game. Combine more than 35,000 objects from the game’s dictionary to outwit your opponent across 25 minigames across a variety of modes. Support single-player against the AI or with up to four of your friends.

Games

March 06, 2018

Featuring stylish visuals and stealth-action gameplay, this newest entry in the Fear Effect series will have you commanding a special squad, utilizing each of their special abilities and unique weapons, to take down enemies and crack the toughest puzzles in a wild, engaging story full of dynamic characters.

Games

March 06, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – Taking place deep within a classic cyberpunk atmosphere and inspired by classic sci-fi films like “Blade Runner” as well as real-world events, you play as a man seeking asylum in a city full of strange creatures and even stranger customs. It’ll be up to you to figure out what tasks will need to be completed to be granted asylum in this narrative-driven adventure game.

Games

March 07, 2018

Outthink and outlast your enemies in this unique take on the brawler genre. Through parry’s, dodges, and dashes, utilize the Passive Fist technique and fight mutants and maniacs across the planet Zircon V that’s on the brink of destruction.

Games

March 07, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – Master spells, unlock wizard hats, and train your characters in the magical arts to do battle with strange creatures and epic bosses. Nine Parchments is a co-op “blast-em-up” from the creators of Trine where you and your friends take control of a group of runaway apprentice wizards who are in search of the legendary Nine Parchments.

Games

March 09, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – With a unique graphic art style and a mix of sci-fi and fairy tale fiction, One Eye Kutkh places you as a traveler on his way home who crashes on a mysterious planet. To complete his journey, he must get to the “ninth heaven” and defeat the Sun and Moon.

Games

March 09, 2018

Console Launch Exclusive – Battle royale on ice. Darwin Project takes gaming’s hottest genre and puts players in a battle arena on the cusp of a new ice age in a post-apocalyptic setting. 10 contestants must fight to the death on a twisted new reality show, all under the watchful eye of the Show Director.

Games

March 09, 2018

Console Launch Exclusive – One of the biggest train simulators on PC is coming to Xbox One. Interact with trains and their controls in fine detail across a wide variety of engines to learn what it’s like to guide tons of cargo traveling at 125 mph. Features in-depth tutorials for new engineers, a 24-hour service mode for professionals, and the option to take a seat and watch the world go by.