Category: Xbox News

Hi everyone! Here at Snap Finger Click, we’re excited to tell you all about our brand-new trivia party game, It’s Quiz Time, which we’ve just released on Xbox One.

We recently celebrated our two-year anniversary as a studio that builds stream-friendly multiplayer games, and for the last 18 months, we’ve been working hard to bring you our most ambitious project yet! It’s Quiz Time tests you and your friends on your trivia skills with over 25,000 questions, 11 different multiplayer rounds, five different game modes, and a whole host of extra features to make it the biggest quiz game ever on console.

The team at Snap Finger Click is largely made up of former developers of the Buzz! quiz series. Our years of experience have taught us what it takes to make an awesome quiz game. When we first started out on It’s Quiz Time, we thought a lot about all the techniques we know work, the ideas we had and were never able to do before, and how we could we create a trivia game that feels familiar and brand new at the same time.

Things have changed a lot in last few years too. We’ve watched how popular streaming has become and we know how well that works for multiplayer games. After releasing our previous title, Act it Out! A Game of Charades, we added a unique live show mode that lets viewers play along via the chat. It’s Quiz Time also features a live show mode, made especially for streaming on platforms such as Mixer and Twitch.

With the use of a camera, you become the host of your own quiz, and up to 10,000 viewers can play along by typing their answers into the chat. The viewers work together to try and defeat the host, but we also keep track of individual viewer scores to make it a proper ‘co-opetition’ mode. We showed It’s Quiz Time’s live show mode off at TwitchCon in October, and the response was incredible.

The host of It’s Quiz Time is an AI supercomputer called Salli. She guides you through the game, offering you the questions, commenting on your performance and learning more about you with each play. Something we learned from Buzz! is how much players enjoy a personalized experience which is why Salli can address you by name and your chosen pronouns. And when viewers join in, Salli can even read out their comments!

It’s important that everyone can play without the need for extra controllers. Up to eight players can join in with It’s Quiz Time just by connecting their smartphone or tablet. And by using smartphones as controllers, it means we can do rounds in new ways: bluffing, swiping, guessing, secret information, and more! There’s a great mixture of classic and new, with some things you’ll have never seen before in a quiz game.

Want to hear more? There are loads of other features I haven’t mentioned yet. You can play the solo score attack mode with a controller or smartphone to try and top the leaderboards. You can also customize your own games with your favorite rounds. There’s even a topical event quiz that gets regularly updated to tie-in with real-world events such as the Oscars or the Olympics.

It’s Quiz Time is out now on Xbox One for a special introductory price of just $19.99 / £15.99 / €19.99. It’s available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish – with content specifically tailored for each region.

For development updates on the game, you can follow us on Twitter at @snapfingerclick or Facebook at /snapfingerclick. We can’t wait to hear what you think of #itsquiztime!

Hi, Xbox Wire readers! I’m here to tell you all about our new title Beholder Complete Edition, which lands on the Microsoft Store on January 19, 2018!

Beholder Complete Edition is a tactical strategy game set in a dystopian future, where you’ll play as a landlord in a totalitarian state. There are rules for everything, and any violation can see you put into prison, or beaten up by the police. For instance, are you wearing jeans right now? Well, in this state, wearing or owning jeans is against state rules, so a beating for you, or even worse, state prison!

To do your job, you’ll need to spy on your tenants, watch their every move, eavesdrop on their conversations, talk to their neighbours, even break in to their apartments to set cameras up and search through their belongings, all to ensure that the state is kept happy and you don’t end up like the last landlord that held the keys to the castle (we won’t say what happened to that landlord, but if you want to find out, all the DLC is included in the bundle — all of it!).

Once you’ve got all the details, you’ll need to report all your findings to the state, but what if you’re good friends with the tenant? Well, you don’t always have to tell the state everything, and you can blackmail your fellow neighbors for the courtesy of keeping their secrets safe. Be warned, however, blackmailing someone too much may cause them to snap, and you never know what someone under state oppression is capable of.

Whether you decide to keep someone’s secrets safe, help them in their time of dire need, or blackmail them for personal gain, keep in mind that your actions have consequences and all your tenants will react differently depending to the way you treat them. You never know when you may be the one in need, and if you’ve turned everyone against you, help may not come running so easily…

That’s it for now but be sure to check out the Microsoft Store on January 19, 2018 when Beholder Complete Edition launches, and find Curve Digital Twitter and Facebook here.

Hey! I’m Scott, part of the Night In The Woods team! I’ve been asked to give you some information on our game. We’re gonna hit some frequently asked questions! Let me pull up a few and see what we have. Hold on… Here we go.

What is Night In The Woods?

Night In The Woods is an adventure game where you explore a world and a story and a bunch of characters and people seem to like it. We hope you do too. It takes place in a town called Possum Springs, an Appalachian rust belt town full of secrets, citizens, and no shortage of closed storefronts. It concerns a woman named Mae who has just dropped out of college for reasons unknown and returned home. All she wants to do is rekindle her old life of petty vandalism and hanging out, but she finds things have changed while she was gone. The leaves are turning. The days are growing shorter, and the nights longer. And up past the burned-out basketball court at the edge of town, there’s something in the woods.

What kinds of things do you do in Night In The Woods?

Run, jump, chat with friends and family and strangers, break stuff, steal things, stab lots and lots of skeletons, chat some more, eat pizza, generally try to get by and have a decent time doing it. You’ll hang out with old friends and meet new ones. You’ll dance and run over rooftops. And you’ll feed rats. Did I mention the rats? There are rats. Hungry, hungry rats.

I heard there are extra games in this game?

Included in Night In The Woods for Xbox One are two smaller games we made during the development of NITW. They’re sort of tangents off of the main game, made as we went along to explore ideas and techniques, and they ended up being pretty cool in their own right. They are gathered here on console for the first time, and we’re excited for you all to play the whole thing as one package.

I heard this whole thing started on Twitter?

You heard right. In 2013, Alec Holowka, who you might remember as the co-creator of the award-winning game Aquaria and the composer on Towerfall, randomly tweeted at me asking if I’d like to make a game with him. We were originally thinking a small iPad-focused game. After a summer of kicking ideas back and forth on that, we weren’t super into what we had. One night I was watching “Return Of The Living Dead,” which is a masterpiece of cinema, and thinking about the punks I hung out with growing up, and also about the places my wife Bethany and I had lived. I quickly dashed out some character sketches and a basic idea of a game. I sent it to Alec, and he was really into it, and we sent it back and forth refining it and got to building it. Then we did a Kickstarter and that went well, and then three years and three months later, we released a game.

Who all made this game?

Well, there’s Alec, who I just talked about. He’s a super great developer, he co-directed the game, coded it, and did all the music. There’s a lot of music in the game. The soundtrack is three volumes. Bethany co-wrote the story and did lots and lots of research, as well as running a lot of behind-the-scenes things. I co-directed, co-wrote, did art and animation, lots of stuff. We all wore a lot of hats. Em Halberstadt did the sound design for the game, and it’s really something. Charles Huettner did additional art and animation here and there. And our publisher Finji kept things running and helped all over the place (Adam from Finji was the lead developer on Demontower). You’ll find out about Demontower once you play the game. We all live in different places, some in the United States, some in Canada, and the core team has only been in the same room together a half-dozen times or so.

Wait a sec, why are they all animal people?

Honestly, it’s because I can draw those pretty well.

Why didn’t you just learn how to draw regular people?

Uh, next question.

Why don’t the animal people have tails?

Why… what… ok, we’re done here.

Ok, is there anything else I should know?

Night In The Woods is a big weird heartfelt game that we poured ourselves into for 3 years. We really hope you dig it half as much as we loved making it.

Xbox fans, the day has finally come: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is available now as a console launch exclusive on Xbox One! Since we first announced PUBG would be coming to Xbox at E3 2017, it’s been amazing to see the excitement and anticipation fans have shared and on behalf of everyone at PUBG Corp., we want to thank you for your support.

Over 24 million PC gamers have played PUBG since it launched in Steam Early Access in March. Many Xbox fans may have heard of the game but not yet know what it’s about. PUBG is a battle royale-style game which puts up to 100 players on the remote island of Erangel for a winner-takes-all showdown. Each game starts the same – you jump out of an airplane over an island, look for a safe (or dangerous) place to land, scramble for armor, weapons and health kits, and try to stay alive as the safe zone becomes smaller and smaller, forcing players to keep moving to survive.

We chose to bring PUBG to console on Xbox One in the Xbox Game Preview program, as it’s the only console platform that gives us the opportunity to partner with the community and build the game together, much like we did with the PC version. The experience you have in PUBG on Xbox One today will be somewhat similar to what we shipped back in March on PC, but with a few updates. In addition, to support for third-person solo, duo, and squad gameplay on the current Erangel map, PUBG on Xbox One will also feature vaulting at its launch into the Xbox Game Preview program. On Xbox One X, the game will be enhanced to include HDR support and 4K resolution, with more details to come.  While in the Xbox Game Preview program, PUBG on Xbox One will continue to receive new content updates including the new desert map, “Miramar,” optimizations and more. Our goal is to unify the feature set and product roadmap of the PC and Xbox versions of the game as soon as possible.

There are also some very cool Xbox-exclusive things that I wanted to call out. The team at PUBG Corp. has been working closely with team Xbox, not just in bringing the game from PC to console; we also collaborated on creating some Xbox-exclusive, limited-edition cosmetic packs.

We first announced the limited-edition cosmetic packs at Paris Games Week and shared details on availability dates and pricing before The Game Awards. These cosmetic packs are exclusively available to Xbox players for a limited time and there are no plans to feature any in-game purchases in the Xbox Game Preview version of PUBG; these will be the only items that can be purchased during the preview period. There’s still time to pick up the Accessory Pack and Tracksuit pack, each available for $5.

Additionally, to help celebrate the launch of PUBG today, the Mixer team launched HypeZone, a brand-new Mixer channel dedicated to high-stakes PUBG streams that automatically switches between Mixer broadcasters closest to winning a coveted Chicken Dinner, resulting in a constant stream of the most exciting PUBG action on the platform. Catch HypeZone on Mixer at mixer.com/HypeZonePUBG.

Feedback and hearing from you as you drop onto the island in the coming week and months is key to helping us build the best PUBG experience, so please take time to let us know what you like and what can be improved in the PlayerUnknown’s Battleground’s Xbox One feedback forum here. There you’ll also find FAQs, troubleshooting info and update to date information on the game.  With the feedback we’ve already received from the PUBG community and a new chapter for the game on Xbox through the Xbox Game Preview program, it’s never been a better time to jump into the ultimate battle royale experience. See you on the battleground!

Everyone at Studio Wildcard is super stoked to finally get Ark’s second massive expansion pack, Ark: Aberration, into player’s hands tomorrow December 12.

This new world puts players on a malfunctioning Ark drifting in space, with a harsh sun-baked radioactive surface, and a massive internal underground network encompassing varied biomes and fantastical creatures.

A large stockpile of new items gives players powerful new options for traversing environments, such as wingsuits, zip lines, and climbing picks. And across Aberration, fantastical new creatures such as Rock Drakes and Basilisks make their home among the ruins of damaged Ark technology.

While unique environmental hazards including earthquakes, radiation sickness, and dangerous flora pose new challenges, an ever-present concern is the infestation of the Nameless. These mutated humanoids dig their way out of the porous ground and are relentless unless held at bay with Charge Energy — which survivors can store in battery packs and emit via powerful blasters or organic Lantern Pets. But perhaps the greatest threat comes from the Reapers, massive alien monstrosities which can impregnate foes to spawn offspring, and their horrifying master lurking in the deepest depths of Aberration.

Clearly, Ark: Aberration is a different kind of experience. This new expansion presents more mythos and world-building that we’ve done in the past, including its ending sequence which directly points the way to Ark’s future.

Aberration’s theme is more of a “hard sci-fi fantasy” than the Earth-like jungles and grasslands of The Island. And we think that’s fun, because a key goal for the dev team at Wildcard is to keep players on their toes. With each of Ark’s expansions, the intent is not simply “more content”, but also, “different content.”

Ever since we first conceived of Ark, we knew its universe was about more than simply living with Dinosaurs and extinct creatures. In a grander sense, Ark is about what it means to be a true survivor, as an individual, and as a species — and how far humanity might be willing to go to secure its ultimate future among the cosmos. These sci-fi elements, which you’ve probably noticed if you’ve progressed deep into Ark: Survival Evolved, is brought to the forefront in Aberration. We’re excited to see what players make of some of the crazy surprises we have in store for them, tomorrow in Aberration, and beyond!

And if you’re not interested in high-minded philosophical pretensions, you can always just tame a trusty Rock Drake, cloak yourself upon a wall, and pounce onto some unsuspecting noob as they take their first steps onto this new Ark. Welcome to Aberration, survivors!

Veteran players of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on PC are no doubt aware of the in-game inventory management and upgrades mixed with high-stakes gunplay that has made the game great. Translating these mechanics down to the Xbox One controller has been a challenge, but the team at PUBG Corp. — with support from the Xbox Advanced Technology Group and The Coalition, developers of the Gears of War franchise — believe they’ve found the right balance between giving players enough flexibility to survive in the hostile battleground and to effectively manage in-game equipment on the fly.

The first key thing to remember is that to see these controls, change look sensitivity, or invert the look axis simply hold the Menu button while in a match to bring up the in-game menu.

Basic

These will be your primary controls when navigating the world. Note that many of the buttons have a dual-purpose by either quickly pressing or holding down. For example, holding X will allow you to reload your weapon; tapping X will allow you to interact with objects. You’ll be interacting with a lot of objects in-game, quickly picking up items as fast as you can in the early going as you’re looking for weapons and equipment.

Notice that the DPAD directions can be used as quick action keys to cycle between for your grenades and healing items. For healing and boosts, tap the DPAD down button to cycle what you have and then hold briefly to start using that item without opening your inventory screen. Also, as is common in 3rd person action shooters, holding the Left Trigger will increase your accuracy while still in 3rd person view. Like the default on the PC, to aim down your weapon’s sights or scope for precision accuracy, tap the left trigger to enter the aiming mode and tap again to exit.

Aim

When in Aim mode, the controls shift to primarily cater to those who have found themselves a nice perch to look for opponents, with options to hold breath and the utilization of the DPAD to change modes of fire (e.g. single shot). Note how both the LT and RT will be working together for you to use grenades while in Aim mode.

Vehicle

The development team looked to keep this aspect as straight-forward as possible, modeling the controls after similar multiplayer shooters that have a driving component. Note that this is when you’re behind the wheel or in a vehicle — if you want to enter a vehicle, you’ll press X to interact with the vehicle’s doors. To quickly jump to the driver seat from any seat in the vehicle, briefly hold A button to get buckled in.

Swim

Swimming is a full body effort when you’re navigating the currents in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, so the ability to use your weapon while in water cannot be possible. You can, however, interact with any loot that you find while underwater for you to add to your inventory. Just remember to Dive (B button) to avoid being detected by enemies.

Map

One of the key elements of PUBG throughout the course of the match is the reduction of the Blue Zone throughout the game. This area is randomly chosen in every match, so consulting your map about where that location is for you to get to safety is vital for your long(er)-term survival. Also, consult the map to avoid Red Zones as those randomly appear as well. You don’t want to fall victim to napalm from the sky.

Inventory

Switching between columns in your inventory guide (RB/LB) will be a key component as you move through your equipment and supplies while in-game. Use the A button to pick up a weapon from the inventory UI, then select which highlighted slot you’d like to place it, then press A again. The key here is that pressing X picks up items into your bag like ammo and attachments, A swaps and equips items with your current loadout, and Y always drops the selected or highlighted item.

To easily strip all attachments from your weapons, simply highlight the weapon in your inventory and hold X. This will place all attachments back into your inventory bag. This keeps them available to place on your next weapon of choice. You can also hold Y to strip all the attachments to the ground if your bag is too full before grabbing your new weapon.

We hope you’ve liked this early look at the controls for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Note that while these are the controls for PUBG‘s launch to Xbox Game Preview, PUBG Corp. will be monitoring all community feedback and may adjust some of these as necessary and your feedback will be key.

We can’t wait to see you on the island starting on Tuesday, December 12!

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 the console launch exclusive PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds coming to Xbox Game Preview, the return of an iconic gaming character in Okami HD, and several ID@Xbox titles like It’s Quiz Time, Night in the Woods, and Hammerwatch. Read on below for more details on these games and more.

Games

December 12, 2017

Xbox One X Enhanced The critically acclaimed masterpiece returns in breathtaking high resolution. Take on the role of Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess, who inhabits the form of a legendary white wolf on a quest to defeat Orochi, an eight-headed demon and tyrannical monster responsible for turning the world of Nippon into a ruined wasteland.

Games

December 12, 2017

Xbox Game Preview / Console Launch Exclusive / Xbox One X Enhanced Parachute onto a massive remote island with nothing but your wits and the clothes on your back. Explore, loot and locate weapons or use vehicles to find supplies and gear-up for fast-paced combat. Go solo or team up with other players as you engage in a heart-racing fight to the be the last person left alive. Defeat every player on the map to earn your bragging rights as the last player left standing. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is Xbox One X Enhanced, with High Dynamic Range and 4K support to bring out the true visual depth of the battleground.

Games

December 13, 2017

Night in the Woods is an adventure game focused on exploration, story, and character, featuring dozens of characters to meet and lots to do across a lush, vibrant world. Play as college dropout Mae Borowski, who returns home to the crumbling former mining town of Possum Springs seeking to reconnect with the friends she left behind. But things aren’t the same. Home seems different now and her friends have grown and changed… and strange things are happening at night. There’s something in the woods.

Games

December 15, 2017

When Prince Fern goes missing just days before his coronation, only one person in the king’s court can find him. Step in the shoes of the teacher, spy and advisor of House Griff and embark on a dangerous adventure to find the heir and save him from the clutches of dark magic in this hidden object puzzle game from the creators of Enigmatis and Grim Legends.

Games

December 15, 2017

Circuits is a musical puzzle game that requires careful listening to complete each level where you must piece together the different parts of a song. Packed with beautifully designed minimal graphics and 25 different songs for the player to reconstruct.

Games

December 15, 2017

In this post-apocalyptic world full of zombies, mutants, and aliens, humans must fight for their survival. Take aim at massive enemy hordes, build turrets to drive them away, or drive war machines over this scum. Rescue the last survivors of humanity and retreat to safe havens away from the enemy in this isometric tactical shoot-em-up. Of course, countless monsters will ambush you on your journey and the only way to survive is to destroy them all.

Games

December 15, 2017

Journey to Castle Hammerwatch in this fantasy-based pixel art adventure either solo or local co-op with up to four friends. Battle hordes of enemies across unique environments with traps, hidden secrets, and puzzles. Master seven different classes, including the Sorcerer, a new class coming first to consoles, and unlock and upgrade their unique abilities. Also includes the Temple of the Sun campaign.

Games

December 15, 2017

Go head-to-head with the biggest trivia game on console… ever! Featuring a witty and devious AI, take on It’s Quiz Time’s catalog of over 25,000 questions. Face off against up to 8 players using your smartphone or grab your controller. You can also take advantage of the games Live Show mode to stream and play along with your audience, or share your results with friends directly from the companion app.

Games

December 15, 2017

Ultimate Chicken Horse is a party platformer game where you build the level as you play, placing traps and hazards to mess with your friends (be careful not to mess yourself up in the process). If you can make it to the end of the level, but your friends can’t, you score points! Each round, players add more to the level and it becomes increasingly interesting and dangerous.

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!

Xbox Takes Home Honors at The Game Awards
The Game Awards is designed to recognize the creative and technical excellence in the video game industry, bringing together a diverse group of players, developers, and culture to celebrate gaming as the most immersive and inspiring form of entertainment… Read more

Big Bundle Sale: Over 50% Off Great Indie Bundles
We here at ID@Xbox have taken over 35 of our favorite indie game bundles, pulled them together and discounted them by at least 50% in the Big Bundle Sale. Now’s a wonderful time to build that game catalog with fantastic critically acclaimed bundles like… Read more

Marshawn Lynch Lends a Hand for Xbox One X Enhanced Madden NFL 18
Madden NFL 18 on Xbox One X delivers the most detailed, highest resolution Madden NFL game available on any console. And to celebrate, today, in partnership with EA Sports, we’re excited to debut a new campaign featuring Oakland Raiders running back, Marshawn Lynch… Read more

The Surge’s Major Expansion, A Walk in the Park, is Now Available on Xbox One
Greetings from Deck13! Today we’re releasing The Surge’s DLC expansion, A Walk in the Park, and I wanted to take a minute to talk to you guys about it. Alongside the new DLC, we’re also going to have The Surge: Complete Edition, which has the base game and all the downloadable goodies in one giant package… Read more

Play The Division for Free with Xbox Live Gold This Weekend
In the nearly two years since players were introduced to the lawless, virus-stricken New York City of Tom Clancy’s The Division, the game has consistently posed new challenges, introduced new modes, and delivered new loot to the agents bold enough to roam its streets… Read more

Dead Rising 4: All New Content and Xbox One X Enhanced Updates
Having Dead Rising 3 launch alongside the Xbox One back in 2013 was exciting for the team here at Capcom Vancouver. To be able to work with cutting-edge hardware to bring the game’s vast open world of undead horrors to life allowed us to unlock our creativity in ways we never thought possible… Read more

Get Ready to Gear Up for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds With Limited-Edition Cosmetic Packs
Beginning tomorrow, December 7, in celebration of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ upcoming launch on Xbox One next Tuesday, December 12, the first of the three special, limited-edition cosmetic packs that we announced at Paris Games Week – the PUBG Warrior Pack – will become available to fans worldwide… Read more

Full Metal Furies is Coming to Xbox One January 17
It’s hard to believe that after nearly four long years, the opportunity to show off Full Metal Furies is fast approaching. It all started with the naïve idea that after making our first game, Rogue Legacy, the next one would be smooth sailing… Read more

GDC 2018: Save the Date for Gaming for Everyone Community Events
GDC 2018 is just a few months away and Xbox is excited to be back with a full week of community events, including the first ever Gaming & Disability mixer for everyone interested in meeting the people who are working to make gaming more accessible… Read more

Everspace: Free Hardcore Mode Now Available on Xbox One and Windows 10
As demanding as playing on the hard difficulty setting is, this stand-alone hardcore mode offers an entirely new level of challenge for veteran pilots, with the additional caveat of disallowing improvement in starting conditions. Each run begins with the same fixed set of pilot perks, with ship perk upgrades only allowed at the end of each sector, provided you have collected enough credits… Read more

New PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Trailer Unveiled at The Game Awards
Earlier tonight at The Game Awards we were treated to a brand-new trailer featuring footage of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the worldwide smash-hit coming to Xbox Game Preview on Tuesday, December 12. PUBG is a last-man-standing shooter in which players are dropped onto a realistic 8 x 8-kilometer island… Read more

Inside Xbox One X Enhanced: For Honor
Many of gaming’s most compelling stories come from those who’ve helped to create our favorite Xbox One games. In our Inside Xbox One X Enhanced series, these creators will share the behind-the-scenes accounts of the work involved in enhancing these epic games for Xbox One X, how they’ve helped chart the course of the world’s most powerful console… Read more

Sea of Thieves Arrives March 20, Pre-orders Available Now
At The Game Awards last night, we were thrilled to announce that Sea of Thieves’ shared-world adventure will be setting sail globally on the Xbox One family of devices and Windows 10 PCs on March 20, 2018 for $59.99/£49.99/€69.99. The game is now available for pre-order, and you can check out the trailer above for the latest taste of the daring adventures you’ll find in-game… Read more

All Aboard the Post-Apocalyptic Train in the New Metro Exodus Trailer
Inspired by the best-selling novel “Metro 2035” by Dmitry Glukhovsky, the world of Metro Exodus takes place in the wake of a nuclear apocalypse, where survivors try to eke out a daily existence in the metro system of Moscow, Russia. With its blend of RPG elements and tense shooter gameplay… Read more

Console Launch Exclusive and Xbox Play Anywhere Title Hello Neighbor Available Now
What an incredible journey this has been! Ever since we announced Hello Neighbor just over a year ago, we’ve seen thousands of YouTube videos, lots of fanart, cosplayers, and whole families checking the game out at conventions. It’s very rare that a game can appeal to both kids and their parents… Read more

OpTic Gaming Extends its Dominance by Winning the Gears Pro Circuit Dallas Open
Gears of War Esports kicked off Season 2 in a huge way last weekend at the Gears Pro Circuit Dallas Open. With more than 60 teams rolling into Dallas all with their eyes on the $300,000 prize pool, it was clear teams were eagerly anticipating the first major LAN event of the season… Read more

Many of gaming’s most compelling stories come from those who’ve helped to create our favorite Xbox One games. In our Inside Xbox One X Enhanced series, these creators will share the behind-the-scenes accounts of the work involved in enhancing these epic games for Xbox One X, how they’ve helped chart the course of the world’s most powerful console, and what that means for the future of gaming. Today, we’ll be chatting with both Ubisoft’s Micha Noordegraaf and Steeve Dallaire, Graphics Technical Director and Lead Engine Programmer, respectively, on the inventive, action-packed game For Honor.

What specifically is your development team doing to enhance For Honor for Xbox One X?

Micha: The update has made significant improvements on various graphics features: water reflections, distance LOD, shadow resolution, and improved texture filtering along with providing For Honor in 4K resolution. We improved the esthetics of water reflections by implementing an SSR (screen-space reflections) model, which gives us dynamic reflections.

As for Distance LOD, the increase in processing power of the Xbox One X enabled us to draw small objects over a greater distance allowing for more detail in the maps. For shadow resolution, we have increased shadow map resolution by 50% to increase overall image quality. The shadows are crisper and more defined on Xbox One X. Finally, to achieve 4K resolution, we used a temporal upscale technique to get the best 4K resolution image possible for For Honor.

How do these enhancements impact the gaming experience?

Micha: Overall, these improvements allow for a greater immersive experience for players. Even those without a 4K set up will benefit from the graphical enhancements from this update.

Why did your development team choose to focus on these enhancement areas?

Steeve: This dev team jumps on any opportunity that presents itself to improve our game. As gamers, the passionate and talented 3D programmers researched the latest techniques in implementing the newest technology and wanted to bring it to the For Honor engine.

How has the process been to get the game up and running on Xbox One X?

Steeve: Pretty easy to be honest. The Xbox One X is fully compatible with the Xbox One so with some changes here and there we were able to have the game up and running fairly quickly. This actually helped us have a greater focus on improving the quality of the features available in this update.

What enhancement were you most excited about to explore leveraging for For Honor on Xbox One X?

Micha: I think 4K resolution is the obvious answer here, the increased resolution combined with the improvements in Distance LOD and water reflections really make the For Honor world shine.

What does 4K and HDR mean for your game, games in the future and development at your studio?

Steeve: It opens a new window of opportunity in terms of providing the best immersion and graphical fidelity when developing games.

Thanks to Micha and Steeve for taking the time to chat with us about Xbox One X Enhanced. We’ll be bringing you more interviews with more developers in the future, so stay tuned to Xbox Wire!

As demanding as playing on the hard difficulty setting is, this stand-alone hardcore mode offers an entirely new level of challenge for veteran pilots, with the additional caveat of disallowing improvement in starting conditions. Each run begins with the same fixed set of pilot perks, with ship perk upgrades only allowed at the end of each sector, provided you have collected enough credits.

Hardcore mode also introduces another nasty twist. When entering a new sector, players must select from different handicap modifiers, each having an adverse effect on overall gameplay. Essentially, players choose between the frying pan or the fire. In short, if you’re a diehard rogue-like fan, this will be a hell of a challenge and a whole lot of fun.

You’re gonna be pulling your hair out. You’re welcome!

As hardcore mode is not connected to the primary story, we needed a new end sector with a new end battle. Lots of Everspace fans enjoyed the end level placeholder boss fight from Xbox Game Preview, so we decided to come up with a design that borrows from previous gameplay mechanics, with a few added twits. Of course, the level design was created from scratch and the all-new Sector 7 provides a completely different look and feel.

Pro Tips for Survival

Avoid being hit
Super obvious, sure, but in hardcore mode, it’s even more vital to evade enemy fire and make sure you have enough energy to fire weapons or boost away when things get too messy. We promise: things will get very messy, indeed! Remember, in addition to only getting one life, losing that life means saying goodbye to any ship upgrades you’ve accumulated. Keep moving and use Boost often to fly around quickly and get out of a sticky firefight that isn’t going in your favor.

TLDR – Try to stay in one piece.

Watch your energy consumption
Boosting, shooting and using devices drains energy; entering a fight with a depleted energy core spells almost certain doom. If you’re low on energy, find a spot to hide to quickly regenerate, or craft Energy Injectors and use them directly from the crafting menu.

Prioritize your targets
Drones need to die quickly, or they’ll harass you non-stop. They deal a lot of damage, but have just a few hit points, so take them out first! Keeping this mindset, look for targets that can be destroyed quickly to increase your likelihood of survival. Elite and Mk 2/3 enemies might be more dangerous, but spending precious time chewing through their higher defenses while letting their weaker support live could spell your doom.

Use your secondaries and devices
It’s wise to be frugal, but you can’t use either if you’re dead. If a fight is going poorly, use whatever is at your disposal to survive. You can still craft new secondary weapons and devices if you have the resources, or gather new ones when the opportunity presents itself.

Position yourself aggressively
Enemies can’t shoot behind themselves (though Outlaws are good at strafing). Take advantage of this by using circular dodging, approach enemies quickly and get positioned behind them. This puts you close enough to never miss a shot while keeping you in their blind spot. If facing a group, boost to the last target and try to take it out before the others circle around. Get used to repeating this until you’ve mastered it. It’ll be a lifesaver.

Seek allied assistance
The mining corporation G&B Prospects are almost constantly being attacked and raided by outlaws, which explains their investments in so much security. So, try to arrange a not-so-friendly introduction when you got too many outlaws on your tail. Due to the peace treaty between the alien Okkar and the human race G&B units will ignore Okkars unless alien firepower hits their precious mining facilities. Perhaps you’re floating near those large G&B gas canisters and some Okkar shots that missed you happen to blow them up. Angry G&B forces in the area are gonna want payback. This also works with trader ships as well, which are remarkably durable and well-armed. Use them to your advantage!

Keep some distance
Not the best dogfighter? Well, most enemies aren’t the best snipers, either. Pick up a shock rifle or flak cannon and pick off targets at long range while they try to close in. Shock rifles can hit targets up to 4km away (3.4km for Pro), while the flak cannon has a 1.9km range. Most enemies only really become dangerous within 1km.

Be ready to be move
Always have an escape plan. Have an energized boost, or a teleporter device handy. When you’re in a bad spot, use them to back off, giving yourself that sweet, limited breathing room to quickly decide what to do next.

Try a different ship
Some pilots just don’t do well with certain ships and find themselves making much better progress and having more fun when they choose one that better suits their skills. It might just be that the current ship you’re flying doesn’t mesh well with you (yet), so consider changing things up. You can always come back later and give the ship that’s giving you trouble another go.

Loot as much as possible
You also want to take your time in each sector. Kill all enemies to collect as many credits as possible and gather all the resources available for much need upgrades later in the run. Modding weapons and devices can be a real game changer! Before you enter the next sector, make sure to invest credits in energy core upgrades and more device slots before anything else. Trust us, you’ll thank us later.

You’ve been introduced to hardcore mode, you know what to expect, and we’ve pumped your brain full of tips to survive the onslaught waiting for you. Practice some runs at the hard difficulty to prepare yourselves for the ultimate challenge, or beast it up and jump directly into hardcore mode. Enjoy, and see you on the other side!