Category: Xbox News

I am super excited to finally see Albert & Otto make it on Xbox One. This game was my first entry into the world of video game development, so the mechanics and puzzles evolved over time rather than being designed from the start by an experienced developer, which I think gives it a unique feel. Originally a filmmaker, I was always fond of telling stories and I continue to be surprised at how similarly powerful the two mediums are when it comes to storytelling.

Albert & Otto is a puzzle platformer that is mechanically quite simple: run, jump, shoot, solve puzzles, burn sheep (more on that later), but has a complex and deep underlying story. It takes a lot of inspiration from films such as “Schindler’s List” and some of Tim Burton’s early black and white animated shorts.

The player must use both Albert and his magical bunny Otto in creative ways to solve puzzles and defeat scary monsters with the goal of finding his abducted sister, Anna, and discovering that not all is as it first seems. When the game begins the player can only jump and shoot, but this all changes when you find Otto who grants the player the ability to double jump and levitate objects. Furthermore, players can throw Otto into tight gaps and activate power switches to access previously unreachable areas.

The overall relaxed mood of the game and puzzles are punctuated by the occasional enemy and the larger than life boss battles that require the player to use all the skills they have learnt until that point.

Set in Nazi Germany, Albert & Otto deals with rather dark subject matter as you can imagine. I tried to offset that by adding funny moments into the game, such as when you throw a sheep around and use it as wolf bait or use it to set things on fire (some would argue that this had quite the opposite effect).

Since its original launch on PC, the game has been improved and streamlined based on community feedback, and it features some sweet collectible art that was not available previously, so it’s safe to say that this is a definitive version of the game and I am excited that it is finally coming to console, the place I feel that all platformers belong.

Making Albert & Otto was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life and I look forward to a whole new audience experiencing the game on Xbox One.

Happy New Year, everyone! We’re back working hard on Sea of Thieves after the holidays and a December chock-full of announcements. We revealed March 20 as our launch date and made a star of an unsuspecting chicken with a swashbuckling trailer, kicked off pre-orders, revealed how you progress through the world of Sea of Thieves, and showed off our haunting Limited Edition controller. All that and we hosted our biggest ever Technical Alpha play session last month.

All hands are now back on deck here at Rare as we sail toward launch. We’ll have plenty to share, show off and celebrate before then, but we’re beginning 2018 with the announcement of our upcoming Closed Beta dates.

The Sea of Thieves Closed Beta will run from 12 p.m. GMT on January 24 to 8 a.m. GMT on January 29 (4 a.m. PST on January 24 to 12 a.m. PST on January 29), which gives pirates a full five days of sailing, shanties and shenanigans. We’ve crafted a bespoke experience for Closed Beta players that offers a true taste of the pirate life and a great chance to get your sea legs ahead of March 20! We won’t be testing the full game during this Closed Beta phase: we want to keep a good selection of things up our sleeves for players to discover at launch. So get your calendars out and get those dates pencilled in!

The Sea of Thieves Closed Beta will be accessible to anyone who joined the Sea of Thieves Insider Programme before December 1, 2017, and anyone who pre-orders the game. If you’ve already pre-ordered the game and want to find out how to download the Closed Beta client, visit our website.

One final thing: the Closed Beta will not be covered by an NDA, so players can stream, create videos, share clips, take screenshots or do anything else that their wonderful minds can come up with. Some of our favourites will no doubt be shared on Sea of Thieves’ social channels and website. I know a lot of players will be excited by this announcement – I am too! If you missed out on the Insider Programme, pre-order now to ensure access to the Closed Beta!

Want to be among the first to know when we have more news to share? Make sure you follow us on social media and keep an eye on Xbox Wire and the official Sea of Thieves site.

Happy New Year, Xbox fans! We’re excited to kick off the year with a new episode of Xbox Live Sessions, where multi-platinum, award-winning Latin music superstar Prince Royce will be joining us to play Rocket League! He’ll join the interactive livestream hosted on the Mixer Xbox Channel on Wednesday, January 3 at 6 p.m. PT.

Prince Royce, who has scored 15 number one hits, 22 Latin Billboard Awards and 11 Latin Grammy nominations, will play the award-winning Rocket League on January 3 to help kick off the celebration of El Día de los Reyes, also known as Three Kings Day, on Saturday, January 6. Families and fans gathering during this special holiday can have the same exciting experience with Rocket League. Thanks to its wide variety of split-screen multiplayer modes, it’s sure to provide some excellent family gaming fun this holiday.

Rocket League combines soccer with driving in an unbelievable physics-based multiplayer-focused world. Fans may choose from a variety of high-flying vehicles equipped with huge rocket boosters to score amazing aerial goals and pull off incredible, game-changing saves!

Be sure to tune in to the Xbox Live Sessions livestream on Wednesday, January 3 at 6 p.m. PT for the chance to submit questions to Prince Royce as well as win special prizes. This episode of Xbox Live Sessions will be hosted by Microsoft Studios Community Manager, Rukari Austin.

Stay tuned to Xbox Wire for future episodes of Xbox Live Sessions and have a happy 2018!

As a member of the Xbox Insider Team, I can say with certainty that we’re looking forward to 2018 and all the content we hope to share here and in the Xbox Insider Hub in the coming months. But we also think it’s important to look back on last year’s successes, which were pretty exciting from our point-of-view. To better celebrate together, we’ve compiled a “Best of 2017” list so you can see the changes we made last year, the content we shared in our app and everything you, as Xbox Insiders, helped us accomplish!

New Features Guided by Xbox Insider Feedback 

This year, Team Xbox introduced a ton of new features to the Xbox One with the help of our Xbox Insider community. Throughout the summer and fall of 2017, we received feedback from you on features like the new Home, an updated Guide, Light Theme, Arena and more – all of which contributed to some of our biggest updates this year.

Not only did our community try out and impact new system features, but Xbox Insiders also took part in the Xbox Game Pass Beta and helped Team Xbox successfully launch both Xbox Game Pass and new Store features like Digital Gifting.

More Game Content Offered Than Ever Before

We want to make sure our Xbox Insiders have early access to and the ability to provide feedback on all things Xbox, so we’ve spent the past year partnering with game studios to offer our community early playtests and content updates. In 2017 alone, we brought you the Minecraft Better Together Beta on Xbox One and Windows 10, which became our largest playtest ever, as well as early access to Paladins, Dragon Ball FighterZ and more.

Improvements to Xbox Insider Hub Give You More Choices

2017 saw many improvements made to the Xbox Insider Hub, all focused around giving our community more options. Last August, we expanded our Xbox One Update Preview Rings and clearly defined how Xbox Insiders gain access to each. Alongside these changes, we improved our tools to ensure that enrolling in and switching between the various Preview Rings available to you is a nearly instantaneous process.

We didn’t stop at simplifying our Xbox One Update Preview Rings, however. We also fine-tuned console management to allow Xbox Insiders to unenroll a console previously enrolled in “Insider content” (like the Xbox One Update Preview or game-related content) by another user without contacting support.

Xbox Insider XP Rewarded for Bug Reports

This summer, we started rewarding XP to Xbox Insiders who told us about a bug that was later fixed by Team Xbox. We plan to continue this effort in 2018 and would invite you to continue letting us know about any unexpected behavior you encounter via the “Report a problem” tool. We’ll let you know by Xbox One system message if you receive XP for your reports.

Xbox Insider Program Appears in New Places

Another big goal for us this year was to create more opportunities and visibility across our program. To achieve this, we expanded the Xbox Insider Hub to PC so you can complete Quests and Surveys for PC-specific games and features on your Windows 10 device. We also launched our Xbox Insider Blog, partnered with the Windows team to include “Gaming and Xbox” as a category in the Windows Feedback Hub and appeared on “Tips & Tricks.”

Welcome to Next Week on Xbox where we bring you the latest details on upcoming games coming soon to Xbox One! This coming week we have two new games coming to Xbox: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III — available as a Games with Gold title — and the survival horror game Outbreak: The New Nightmare. Read on below for more details on these games and we’ll see you back here on Next Week on Xbox.

Games

January 01, 2018

Games with Gold Title Return as the legendary monster hunter one last time in The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III. This time, Van Helsing will take up arms against his most dangerous foe yet in this explosive final chapter in this classic gothic horror third-person ARPG.

Games

January 03, 2018

Trapped in a dying city with only a few remaining survivors after a deadly virus outbreak, you’ll have to scavenge the environment for supplies, fight off the undead, and do whatever it takes to survive in this unforgiving survival horror experience.

We know you’re busy and might miss out on all the exciting things we’re talking about on Xbox Wire every week. If you’ve got a few minutes, we can help remedy that. We’ve pared down the past week’s news into one easy-to-digest article for all things Xbox! Or, if you’d rather watch than read, you can feast your eyes on our weekly video show above. Be sure to come back every Friday to find out what’s happening This Week on Xbox!

Preparing Yourself for Xbox One X
The Xbox One X is launching next week, ushering in a brand-new era of 4K console gaming. In the video above, Major Nelson shares several great new features that you can take advantage of right now to help you get up and running as quickly as possible with the games, content, and settings you want on Xbox One X. We’re here to break each of those features down… Read more

Getting the Best 4K, HDR Experience with Xbox One S and Xbox One X
With Xbox One X officially out in the wild, we imagine many of you are eyeing a fancy new 4K television, like the Samsung QLED 4K TV, to grace your living room. So we’d like to give you a quick overview of how to enable 4K and HDR output settings from your Xbox One X and Xbox One S… Read more

Xbox One X: Explaining 4K, HDR, Supersampling and More
As we continue to roll up to the release date of Xbox One X on November 7, you’ve no doubt heard us talking a lot about feature terminology: 4K, High Dynamic Range (HDR), supersampling and others. Just a few weeks ago, Major Nelson sat down with Albert Penello to cover many of your questions about Xbox One Enhanced, what that means, and how game developers look to harness the power of Xbox One X. It’s a great piece and we highly recommend you check it out… Read more

Experience HDR and 4K with the Insects Demo Experience on Xbox One X
When you pick up your Xbox One X on November 7, you’ll experience many of the latest cutting-edge technology features that will be focused in gaming for years to come like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range, or HDR as it’s better known, as well as Spatial Audio. To help showcase these new features to you, even if you may not have the 4K display to run, we developed an interactive demo known as “Insects”… Read more

Star Wars Battlefront II Tips and Tricks
Hey, Xbox gamers! The Tips & Tricks team is back with five tips for Star Wars Battlefront II. Star Wars Battlefront II offers an epic multiplayer experience and an engaging single-player campaign, one that follows the events surrounding Inferno Squad as the Empire preps for their next mission: Operation Cinder. In addition to Star Wars Battlefront II’s story-based campaign, you’ll also get to experience expansive multiplayer modes that will have you playing across the galaxy against… Read more

Join Microsoft Store’s Madden NFL 18 Events for a Chance to Go to Minneapolis
As football season nears the final weeks of games before the Big Game, visit a Microsoft Store near you to compete in the Madden NFL 18 community series tournament for a chance to win tickets to the Big Game in Minneapolis, or just to watch the competition in action. With events taking place around the country and the grand prize trip up for grabs, there’s never been a better time to jump in and put your skills to the test! Join the… Read more

Hey, Xbox gamers! The Tips & Tricks team is back with five tips for Star Wars Battlefront II.

Star Wars Battlefront II offers an epic multiplayer experience and an engaging single-player campaign, one that follows the events surrounding Inferno Squad as the Empire preps for their next mission: Operation Cinder. In addition to Star Wars Battlefront II‘s story-based campaign, you’ll also get to experience expansive multiplayer modes that will have you playing across the galaxy against players from all over the world. And with our five tips, you’ll be prepared to take out the Empire, the First Order, or Rebel scum!

For even more strategies and tactics on today’s hottest games, plus plenty of other gaming-related fun, tune in to Tips and Tricks every Tuesday at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET on Mixer.com/TipsAndTricks!

As football season nears the final weeks of games before the Big Game, visit a Microsoft Store near you to compete in the Madden NFL 18 community series tournament for a chance to win tickets to the Big Game in Minneapolis, or just to watch the competition in action. With events taking place around the country and the grand prize trip up for grabs, there’s never been a better time to jump in and put your skills to the test!

Join the action on Saturday, January 6, at Microsoft Store locations across the U.S., and select stores in Canada, hosting last chance qualifiers. These events will be single elimination tournaments open to 64 players maximum – the competition will be fierce, but those who make it through the gauntlet will qualify for Regional Championships on Saturday, January 13.

If you make it to Regionals, you’ll face some of the game’s elite players in a single elimination bracket featuring winners from each store. The stores will be separated into four regional brackets, and one finalist from each bracket will qualify for a high-stakes, winner-takes-all showdown in Minneapolis.

To finish off the competition, the four regional finalists will be flown to Minneapolis to take part in the Grand Finals on Friday, February 2, squaring off for bragging rights and the ultimate prize: tickets to the Big Game.

In addition to the Madden NFL 18 community series, Microsoft Store is also celebrating with tournaments on the morning of the Big Game. Everyone is welcome to join the game day events happening at all U.S. Microsoft Store locations on Sunday, February 4.

Tournament rules require participants to be 13 years of age for all events, and minors (13-17) must have the permission of their parent or legal guardian to enter. You can also watch Microsoft Store’s Madden NFL 18 competitions online at www.mixer.com/microsoftstore.

We’re looking forward to all of the great tournaments taking place over the coming months, and we hope to see you there!

We know you’re busy and might miss out on all the exciting things we’re talking about on Xbox Wire every week. If you’ve got a few minutes, we can help remedy that. We’ve pared down the past week’s news into one easy-to-digest article for all things Xbox! Or, if you’d rather watch than read, you can feast your eyes on our weekly video show above. Be sure to come back every Friday to find out what’s happening This Week on Xbox!

New Games with Gold for January 2018
We’re counting down the days to the new year and preparing to celebrate with a great collection of games coming to the Games with Gold program in January 2018. On Xbox One, start your journey with the final chapter of the Van Helsing trilogy with The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III launching with Games with Gold on January 1, 2018. Then later in the month… Read more

Xbox Game Pass: NBA Playgrounds, Injustice, Devil May Cry 4 and $1 Game Pass for Limited Time
Hello, fellow gamers! Welcome to your January Xbox Game Pass update. With the New Year just around the corner, we’re excited to share the latest catalog additions coming to Xbox Game Pass starting on January 1. At Xbox Game Pass, more is better, and to that note, we’re kicking off 2018 by adding 10 titles to the catalog! In addition to the over 100 great games… Read more

Celebrate the Season of Giving with Xbox
This holiday season is all about giving. Whether you’re giving time to loved ones, giving gifts to family and friends, or giving your stomach more food than it can handle, Xbox wants to make it easy to play together and give together. From December 21 to January 4, you can join Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold for $1 each! Also, you can share your love of gaming by gifting… Read more

Countdown to 2018 with the Biggest Deals of 2017
The countdown to 2018 officially starts today with the biggest sale of 2017. Microsoft Store online and Xbox.com has more than 650 deals for fans including savings of up to 65 percent on select Xbox One and Xbox 360 digital games, discounts on select Xbox consoles and accessories, up to 50 percent off select movies and TV shows, savings on select apps for Xbox up to 50 percent off… Read more

Life is Strange Before the Storm Season Finale Available Now
The season finale of Before the Storm is out now on Xbox One! In this third episode, the proverbial ravens come home to roost as the consequences of all your choices so far begin to come to a head. Chloe continues to struggle to deal with the difficult changes in her own life, while still needing to support her friend as Rachel’s world continues to be rocked and shaken… Read more

An Introduction to Vermintide 2
When making a sequel, you will eventually have to answer the question of how much to add and what to keep from the first game. Some improvements were easy to decide upon. More content being the most obvious one. The Warhammer world is immense and multifaceted and we have still only scratched the surface of all the places and creatures you may encounter in it… Read more

The Xbox Community Checks in with the Original PlayerUnknown
Last month, in the lead up to the Xbox Game Preview launch of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) on Xbox One, we paid a visit to the game’s Creative Director, PlayerUnknown himself, Brendan Greene at the PUBG Corp. studios in Seoul, South Korea for a quick chat powered by you – the Xbox Community – to find out more about the world’s most played… Read more

Modern Family’s Nolan Gould Joins Xbox Live Sessions to Play Fortnite Battle Royale on December 21
Hope everyone is getting ready for the upcoming holidays and has a great list of Xbox games they hope to receive! Xbox Live Sessions is back this week with Nolan Gould, widely recognized for his role as Luke Dunphy on “Modern Family.” He’ll join the interactive livestream hosted on the Mixer Xbox Channel on Thursday, December 21 at 7 p.m. PT to take on Fortnite Battle Royale… Read more

Xbox Play Anywhere and Cross-Play Support Comes to Ark: Survival Evolved on Xbox One and Windows 10
The wait is finally over, survivors. Ark: Survival Evolved has officially launched in the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 and is available for download right now if you already own the Xbox One version! Or, if you haven’t yet set foot in the world of Ark, now’s the perfect time to join in on the fun with all of your Xbox friends via Xbox Play Anywhere and cross play… Read more

Killing Floor 2: Krampus Christmas Seasonal Update Arrives on Xbox
Hi, I’m the new game director at Tripwire Interactive on Killing Floor 2. I’ve worked closely on this project from the very beginning as the creative director, so I’m excited to be heading up Killing Floor 2 content updates for the foreseeable future. Enough about me though — let’s talk about this amazing update arriving just in time for the holidays on the Xbox One family of devices… Read more

Xbox Savings in Time for the Holidays
Join the Xbox family for only $199, just in time for some holiday gaming! Xbox One S offers the best value in games and entertainment, with 500GB bundles starting at $199 for a limited time this holiday through the end of December 2017. Drive, explore, and race all over Australia with the Xbox One S Forza Horizon 3 Hot Wheels Bundle (500GB), featuring… Read more

JRPG-Inspired Regalia: Royal Edition Coming Soon to Xbox One
We started our adventure with Regalia a long time ago, and some of you might remember us from the successful Kickstarter campaign we did in 2015. Now we’re excited to bring our Polish JRPG to Xbox One in Q1 of 2018. Although we’re from Poland, we’re sure we knew how to recall that classic JRPG feeling to deliver a whole new take on fantasy storytelling… Read more

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Xbox Want to Send You on an Island Adventure
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is now available on Xbox One as a console launch exclusive through the Xbox Game Preview program! We love seeing our Xbox community parachuting onto the remote island of Erangel and duking it out for that delicious chicken dinner. To celebrate the launch of PUBG on Xbox One, we want to send you and a friend on an island adventure… Read more

‘Tis the Season for Roblox’s Holiday Event, Now Available on Xbox One
Season’s greetings, Robloxians! Today we’re bringing some yuletide fun to the Xbox community with the Roblox holiday event, featuring three jingle-bell-rockin’ free-to-play games and awesome virtual prizes! This year’s event is extra special because you can now play a brand-new Roblox game filled with all kinds of hidden surprises and joyful holiday activities… Read more

The countdown to 2018 officially starts today with the biggest sale of 2017. Microsoft Store online and Xbox.com has more than 650 deals for fans including savings of up to 65 percent on select Xbox One and Xbox 360 digital games, discounts on select Xbox consoles and accessories, up to 50 percent off select movies and TV shows, savings on select apps for Xbox up to 50 percent off, and Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass each for $1 for the first month.

Save on Xbox Digital Games

Save up to 65 percent on 470 amazing games and add-ons including Call of Duty: WWII, Star Wars Battlefront II, Cuphead, Middle-earth: Shadow of War and more. There’s also plenty of deals on Xbox 360 fan favorites, playable on Xbox One via Backward Compatibility, like Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Red Dead Redemption, Skate 3, Fallout 3 and more. Don’t forget that Xbox Live Gold members save up to 10 percent more on most deals.

Save on Xbox Consoles and Accessories

Save on popular Apps, Movies & TV Shows

• Save up to 50 percent on select hit movies and TV Shows including “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Shannara Chronicles,” and more.
• Save up to 50 percent on popular apps for Xbox including Nitrado, VUDU, Dolby Access, Karaoke One, and FandangoNOW.

Save on Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass

• Join Xbox Live Gold for $1: This holiday season, you can get your first month of Xbox Live Gold for $1. Go Gold for exclusive savings and join the best community of gamers on the most advanced multiplayer network.
• Get Xbox Game Pass, Play 100+ Games for $1: Get your first month of Xbox Game Pass for $1 and spend your holiday with unlimited access to over 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games on Xbox One. With new games added every month, there is always a new adventure waiting for you.

For every Xbox Game Pass or Xbox Live Gold membership you buy or gift, Xbox will donate $10 of Game Pass to hospitals around the world with our partners at GameChanger. Learn more about the Season of Giving with Xbox.

All of these deals are available on console and online at Microsoft Store and Xbox.com starting today, so take advantage of the great deals before they end on January 4, 2018 (or as otherwise noted above). Availability and pricing vary by location. May not be combinable with other offers. Other limitations may apply. Not valid on prior orders or purchases. See webpage for each offer’s specific details.