As a child, Megan Shaw was always falling. She bruised easily, seemed to be accident-prone and fainted a lot. As a teenager, she found out she had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects connective tissue. But at 23, she focuses on what she can do, not what she can’t.
A native of Scotland, she loves “wild” (in other words non-pool) swimming in nearby lakes (including Loch Ness) with friends and family. In the winter, she uses a wetsuit, but she doesn’t need to wear braces or tape in the cold water, which soothes her joints. Mountain hikes are also part of her routine – though her backpack comes with a feeding tube. She’s also six months out of medical school, doing a vascular surgery rotation as a junior doctor (the equivalent of a medical residency program in the U.S.). She intends to pursue a career as a pediatric physician.
“In pediatrics it’s very much about helping children live with what they have,” she says. “It’s about getting their symptoms controlled to a point where they can do the things they want to do.”
This is a philosophy that also drives her own approach to the disease she lives with.
She has never met anyone in person who also has this rare disease – though she had perused some online support forums – but recently she connected with a teenager in the U.S. who is also living with Ehlers-Danlos. They star in “Beyond Xbox: A Player Like Me,” the next film in the Xbox “Beyond” series, which began with “Beyond Generations.”
“It was actually really easy to talk to him. It was almost like I was talking to myself a few years ago,” says Shaw, who chatted with Jordan Strong, 15, through a headset while the two played the auto racing game Forza Horizon 5. Shaw played from her home, while Strong used a GO Kart (Gamers Outreach Kart) system outfitted with an Xbox Series S at a facility where he does physical therapy every other week.
The two spent hours getting to know one another as they played the game.
“I’m not that much older than him, but I didn’t know whether we would have anything in common,” Shaw says. “But it turns out we have quite a lot in common.”
They share a love of music. She plays the piano; he sings in choirs. They both have siblings who are able to do things they wanted to do but couldn’t: baseball for him, diving for her.
There was good-natured ribbing too, as Strong joked about Shaw’s driving skills as they played the game. (In her defense, she notes that they do drive on the other side of the road where she lives.) They both spent time trying to find each other on the Forza map, too. Their conversation ebbed and flowed naturally, but in-between the fun chats, they also talked about some serious topics.
Jordan Strong playing Forza Horizon 5 while chatting with Megan Shaw
“We talked about how sometimes you get medical advice, but at the end of the day you know your own body. You’re the one who has to live with it,” Shaw says. “It’s just nice talking to someone who understands. I think at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter that they are a different age from you or they’re in a different country. My friends or family are really supportive, but it’s quite a difficult thing to understand if you’ve never experienced it.”
Strong, a high school freshman in a small town in Georgia, had never even talked to someone else who had Ehlers-Danlos. Though he and Shaw have different sub-types of the disease, he still found a lot of value in their conversation – and hoped to connect again.
“It was really cool to see beyond Ehlers-Danlos that we share common interests and understand each other, more than just what are you going through,” says Strong, who admired Shaw’s active and outgoing life. “That was surprising, how she could put aside the risks a little bit.”
The film emerged as the next in Xbox’s experimental storytelling series that focuses on how gaming can be an important medium for connecting to others, especially during the pandemic. “Beyond Generations,” which debuted in December 2020, showed how a U.K.-based grandfather and grandson separated by lockdowns kept in touch over their headsets and through games.
From dream to reality, a story of how a ‘Dad’ publishes a game on Xbox
An extra coat of polish goes a long way, even on a purple slimeball
When a child runs out of games to play, make one!
“Dad, I can’t find many games I can play…”
“Ok darling, what sort of game would you like to play? Should I make you one?”
And that’s how it started. Just over a year ago now, my five-year-old daughter told me most of our Xbox games were too hard for her to play. After some curation, we managed to gather a neat little group of games – but the idea of creating one for her and kids like her had stuck…
As a game developer, I never landed a gig with a studio developing for Xbox. I thought, oh how prestigious it would be, being part of a crew working on an Xbox title (a life-long dream mind you). A few months into development of BouncyBoi in Puzzleland, there was quite a bit of interest shown – so I gave my demo a coat of polish and sent it away to [email protected] for submission. I crossed all fingers and toes.
While busy at work on the game one day, my email notification popped up. It was from [email protected]…
My heart skipped a beat. I told myself “Here is the rejection letter”.
I read the first sentence…
“ Thank you for submitting your game concept to [email protected]! We wanted to reach out and let you know that BouncyBoi in Puzzle Land has been approved for release on Xbox. “
I cannot describe in words the excitement and exhilaration that shot through my body in that moment!
Wire guidelines tell us to avoid excessive exclamation marks, so let’s just say: “six exclamation marks!” This was my first introduction to the [email protected] team and just a taste of the unbelievably warm welcome and support they provided through this journey.Once the wave of chaos calmed, I had only one thought in my head. “Time to level up”.
It was my goal to make the visuals for the game pop and appear very polished. A lot of effort was spent in rendering tricks and post processing to ensure it was worthy of being on this console. I would tell myself, I am a sole developer working on a game for a console. Everything has to be on point.
When I look back to the first prototype, I can’t even recognize the game. It has grown and evolved into something I am truly proud of – and something definitely worthy of being a console game.
This amazing feat could only be accomplished by standing on the shoulders of giants.
Any and every question I had regarding the Xbox platform – the [email protected] team had my back. This game was created in the Unity engine and any time I needed assistance with something Xbox specific, a team member was there.
The [email protected] program has helped me achieve my dream of developing and publishing a game on my favorite console, something I was very close to calling an impossibility.
My daughter has had the time of her life playing through the game she helped make and is already planning out the next title (something about cats no doubt, ha!).
BouncyBoi In Puzzleland is available now!
BouncyBoi in Puzzle Land
Twin-Stick
☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★
Xbox One X Enhanced
Bounce into this colorful and cartoony world with BouncyBoi and adventure through various levels filled with challenging puzzles, cute graphics and funky beats! You are BouncyBoi. A purple bouncy slime who loves to jive and solve puzzles, making his way through Puzzle Land.That’s it… There’s no big epic back story. No campaign to follow. Just good music, great visuals and fun times! You will be presented with a game board and need to navigate BouncyBoi to the finish line, overcoming puzzles and characters which will be obscuring your path. As you progress through the worlds, you’ll meet new and interesting challenges to test your problem solving abilities.
Here at Microsoft, our mission is simple: we want to bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. Ultimately, we aspire to empower everyone to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want. While most people know about our gaming business in Xbox, not everyone knows about our offerings and technologies in the world of game development. In fact, game development is in Microsoft’s DNA, with over 40 years of experience building games for Windows and console, our open ecosystem reaches virtually every endpoint between console, PC, mobile, and the cloud.
As we see it, we must empower developers not just to create great games for our platform but for all platforms. We are committed to helping all developers in an effort to enrich the entire game-development ecosystem. Game development has always been on the cutting edge of technology, whether it’s pushing the boundary of graphics, creating massively multiplayer experiences, or combining the real-world with the digital – gaming is largely seen a vanguard for other industries.
This week, at the annual Game Developers Conference, we shared more of our vision for the future of game development, delivering 27 technical talks addressing topics spanning across Graphics, Performance optimization, Cloud development/production, Accessibility, and more. There’s also a fireside chat between CEO of Xbox Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond, Head of Xbox Creator Experience that is a must-watch for anyone interested in game development. Head over to the new and improved Microsoft game development website to watch it at aka.ms/GDC. Our own Major Nelson rounded out the week by interviewing Sarah Bond for the Official Xbox Podcast (which you can watch above).
Last but certainly not least, we also shared demonstrations of nine different solution areas using Microsoft technologies that support game creators at each stage of their game’s lifecycle – whether that’s building, running, or growing their game. Let’s take a closer look at those demos to see what we can offer game creators.
Forza Horizon 5 (Azure PlayFab Data Platform)
Playground Games and Turn 10 are deeply committed delighting fans of Forza Horizon 5. To best understand player behavior, the teams at Playground Games and Turn 10 leveraged the Azure PlayFab Data Platform to run integrated, self-service custom analytics for optimized performance.
As Satya Bobba, Senior Software Engineer at Turn 10 put it: “We love how PlayFab fully manages our data ingestion into Azure Data Lake so our engineers can focus on making the game better for our players rather than managing the pipeline.”
By using the Azure PlayFab Data Platform, the teams were able to take advantage of real-time actions, optimize performance by controlling which events to analyze, and open new avenues of integration between PlayFab and their pre-existing analytics solutions.
Halo Infinite (Simplygon)
While developing Halo Infinite, the developers at 343i knew that they needed to optimize and render the game’s vast world quickly, smoothly, and efficiently. To do that, 343i utilized Simplygon to optimize the massive environments in Halo Infinite to ensure the game renders the world perfectly, while running smoothly at the target frame rate on any platform.
“It’s hard to imagine how we could have built this game without Simplygon,” said Kurt Diegert, Environment Technical Art Lead at 343i. “Simplygon allowed us to focus our time and energy on building quality assets and gave us the tools we needed to reduce and optimize our content for our target platforms.”
Simplygon allowed the team to ensure more efficient content production by integrating into existing content production pipelines while also working quickly and iteratively, building content in less time and lowering the cost of making content changes. Finally, Simplygon let the developers at 343i scale Halo Infinite’s performance requirements and hit its performance goals on different target systems.
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Azure PlayFab UGC)
By actively incubating its creator community over the years, Microsoft Flight Simulator has made its mark by offering fans one of the world’s most engaged and vibrant marketplaces of user-generated content. With the release of the new Microsoft Flight Simulator last year, the team at Asobo and Xbox Game Studios Publishing helped grow creator revenue by integrating the Azure PlayFab UGC platform and supercharging the volume of assets creators had to work with.
“PlayFab supports our goals of offering a flexible, open and vibrant marketplace for creators that allows them to reach the entire Flight Simulator audience,” said Jorg Neumann, Head of Partner Production at Xbox Game Studios.
Using Azure Playfab UGC offered the teams an off-the-shelf solution to build a best-in-class creator marketplace, ultimately saving time, money, and resources. On the content front, a streamlined content management system allowed them to catalog to store and manage content while an easy-to-use content search let players quickly find interesting content to use in-game.
Psychonauts 2 (Visual Studio 2022)
Double Fine has always been known for its focus on innovation, creativity, and storytelling. The studio’s development team honed that focus more than ever while creating Psychonauts 2, a strategy that paid off with more than 60 industry awards. A big part of their success was the ability to move and iterate quickly using Visual Studio, which helped reduce the time spent on build iteration.
“As Tech Director, I switch between many of our game projects throughout the day to compile and review the latest code,” said Chad Dawson, Technical Director at Double Fine. “The improved project load times and faster link times in Visual Studio 2022 are exciting and will be a welcome improvement to my workflow.”
The benefits of embracing Visual Studio were clear to the team at Double Fine, including faster build iteration, stable and efficient debugging to elimination frequent debugger crashes and have a streamlined experience, and a much faster and smoother editing experience that reduced inefficiencies.
NBA Clash (Azure PlayFab Live Ops Services)
Launching a new game is tough, especially when you need to use data to make confident decisions about how to grow your game. When NBA Clash launched on mobile platforms, the developers at Nifty Games knew they needed to successfully release a new Starter Pack. To make that happen, they turned to Azure PlayFab Live Ops Services to help them easily configure and manage experiments to test the content against targeted player segments.
“PlayFab has made a big difference for us – it has driven measurable efficiencies around our experiment management and analysis,” said Jonathan Bach, Head of Central Product at Nifty Games. “PlayFab continues to improve, and we look forward to continued collaboration.”
Using Azure PlayFab Live Ops Services allowed Nifty Games to make confident, data-driven decisions based on insights into player behavior, run A/B tests and experiment with variable gameplay experiences, and deploy player-targeted experiments concurrently to optimize the rollout of new game flows.
No Man’s Sky (Azure PlayFab Multiplayer Services)
From the beginning of the game’s development, Hello Games set out to create an epic adventure in No Man’s Sky. They also strongly believed that the experience would be enriched by having all players – regardless of platform – enjoy the game together. Using Azure PlayFab Multiplayer Services allowed the team to have gamers on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC playing together. What’s more, the team’s insights into creating cross-platform games were highly valuable in shaping Azure PlayFab Matchmaking to include real-time notifications and a Lobby feature to group players across their user base.
Iain Brown, Server/Multiplayer Lead at Hello Games, summed it up best: “PlayFab allowed us to realise our vision of a single shared universe for all our players to explore together.”
Unify players across platforms with matchmaking allows developers to connect their communities, while allowing them to create, find, and join searchable lobbies offers the type of custom multiplayer experiences gamers have come to expect. All of this and more is available through the use of Azure PlayFab Multiplayer Services.
DOOM Eternal (Azure PlayFab Multiplayer Servers)
During the game’s development, id Software was laser-focused on making DOOM Eternal a unique experience for gamers all over the world. By taking advantage of Azure PlayFab Multiplayer Server features to save time and money, the team could reduce overhead and focus on what they do best: making a best-in-class shooter.
“The way Azure PlayFab delivers online features and functionality aligned with our ideas for next-generation game technology,” said Travis Bradshaw, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft and the former Lead Services Programmer at id Software. “That synergy gave us confidence.”
To ensure players get matched to the best, lowest latency servers around the world, id Software used Azure PlayFab Multiplayer Servers automated latency and QoS monitoring features. And because Azure has a multitude of regions for hosting servers, players are matched to their first-pick server regions quickly and frequently.
Rogue Company (Game Production in the Cloud with Azure)
The last few years have changed everything in the world of game development. While game production had always been a highly centralized activity, hybrid work models forced development teams like Hi-Rez Studios to pivot. The developers at Hi-Rez moved quickly to shift development of Rogue Company’s post-launch updates to the cloud. By using Perforce and Incredibuild in the cloud, the team was able to enact cloud-powered game production workflows, successfully operating remotely while keeping a tight, fast iteration loop.
“The speed and efficiency we gain by having the ability to spin up hardware through automation is a game-changer,” said Matt Smith, Lead Tools Engineer at Hi-Rez Studios.
Best of all, Azure offers more flexibility than ever before. Teams can control when and which pieces of the production pipeline migrate to the cloud, all based on a studio’s individual needs. A development team can move a single process, incrementally retool a pipeline, or fully migrate to the cloud. Low latency VMs on Azure’s global network allow teams to work anywhere, with the same build speed they would get in the office.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Touch Controls for Xbox Cloud Gaming)
In an effort to maximize the reach of their hit game Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio embraced Xbox Cloud Gaming to bring the experience to more players in more parts of the world. The Xbox Cloud Gaming APIs and the Touch Adaptation Kit allowed them to bring the full HD version of the game to smartphones and tablets, implementing scenario-based touch control layouts that dynamically changed on-screen based on what the player is doing in-game. The results were groundbreaking, with all new audiences now able to enjoy the award-winning title.
“We used the Xbox Cloud Gaming Touch Adaptation Kit to easily place buttons and icons proactively in a way that was intuitive, making actions in each scenario easy to understand,” said a representative of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.
The Xbox Cloud Gaming APIs and the Touch Adaptation Kit ensures that players get the best experience in every part of a game with context sensitive touch layouts that feel mobile-native. Most importantly, they also allow developers to create an immersive experience with custom controls that match the game’s art style.
Turbo Golf Racing is an arcade-style sports racing game for up to eight players online
Racers compete by smashing oversized golf balls down sprawling, twisting fairways to the finish
Sign-ups for the beta, which is coming to the Xbox Insider Program this April, are now open
All of us here at Hugecalf Studios are ridiculously excited to finally reveal Turbo Golf Racing, a fast-paced, arcade-style, multiplayer party racing game for up to eight players online.
Turbo Golf Racing is a game that takes the concept of a golf driving range at face value, throwing competitors into cars onto winding, colorful fairways teeming with power-ups to see who can be first to strike their oversized golf ball into the finish hole.
And we’re not just announcing Turbo Golf Racing today: we’re inviting you tee-off with us next month in our playable beta, accessible via the Xbox Insider Program. Make sure you have the Xbox Insider Hub downloaded from the Store if you haven’t yet already, and you can register for more details about participation right now over on the Turbo Golf Racing website.
The eagle-eyed (or should that be albatross-eyed?) among you will have spied that you’re not simply driving ordinary cars, either. Our machines have modular features. We want you to make your vehicle your own by bolting on unique combinations of chassis, shields, spoilers, wheels, and boosters, and then coating it all with a paint job of your choosing. You can even customize your golf ball, too, so why not ditch that regular white ball for a glittering disco ball instead?
That’s not all. You can also plug elements called Power Cores directly into your car, which let you pull off special abilities such as Ground Stomp to get the edge on your opponents. You’ll unlock Power Cores by completing various milestones and through regular play.
And all vehicles, regardless of components, can take to the skies and fly: many of the courses feature special jump pads and boost-powered wind tunnels for you to cut some corners on your dash towards the finish hole.
From the very start of development, we wanted to make Turbo Golf Racing a casually competitive multiplayer game that’s both welcoming and chaotic. One in which it’s fun to win, of course, but where near-misses and defeats are just as enjoyable. With our mix of cars, courses, and Grand Prix-style competitions we’re confident that we’ve found that formula, but we want you to join us next month in the Turbo Golf Racing Beta to see for yourself and help us fine-tune the game ahead of release.
I can’t wait to see you in our beta, and I’m looking forward to sharing even more with you in the coming months. Turbo Golf Racing will be heading to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and with Xbox Game Pass later in 2022.
Your time has come, Valorians! Godfall: Ultimate Edition marks the arrival of the epic action RPG on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. The team here at Counterplay Games can’t wait for the Xbox community to dive into this epic high fantasy playground we’ve created for you. Let’s jump in and look at some of the awesome content you’ll discover when Godfall: Ultimate Edition launches on April 7, 2022.
Godfall is a melee action-RPG designed specifically to be the tinkerer’s dream. Playing as Orin, you find Aperion on the precipice of ruin. You and your small band of loyal champions are the last of the Valorian knights, god-like warriors able to equip Valorplates. These legendary armor sets transform those that wield them into unstoppable masters of melee combat and harness powerful elemental and status effects to tear through foes. Your goal is to climb through the elemental realms and challenge Macros, who is rapidly acquiring the necessary resources to ascend to the status of a god.
Godfall: Ultimate Edition contains the core game and a year and a half of post-launch updates, including the massive Primal, Lightbringer, and Exalted updates plus the Fire & Darkness expansion. Godfall: Ultimate Edition will retail for $39.99, with a special limited time Xbox launch price of $29.99!
Take on the Epic Campaign in Single-Player and Co-op
The story of Godfall has players adventuring across the three elemental realms of Aperion alone or with up to two other players as you battle towards the final confrontation with the twisted fallen knight, Macros. If successful, an even greater threat will emerge with the arrival of Moirax and the Flameblood Tribe in the deadly Fire Realm from the Fire & Darkness Expansion. The enemies found in the Fire Realm are as diverse as they are formidable and will test even the most well-equipped knights. The Exalted Update brings a host of story updates and enhancements including new cutscenes, increased Macros dialog, contextual loading screens, and more NPC interactions. These changes make Godfall more immersive than ever before!
Choose Your Valorplate
These 12 unique sets of armor inspired by the signs of the Zodiac each offer diverse powers from summoning spiritual backup, redirecting damage back at enemies, or powering up attacks with elemental infused status effects of fire, earth, air, and water. They are unlocked by spending resources collected from various sources throughout the Realms of Aperion. Valorplates can be further empowered thanks to the new Shard system.
While dawning a specific Valorplate, players will need to complete unlock requirements like defeating enemies or locating points of interest in the Spirit Realms game mode to unlock Shards. Once unlocked, the Shards are equipped to the Valorplate activating an additional ability tied to a triggering move in combat. Shards can be upgraded up to five times at the Forge scaling the benefits. After unlocking all four of the Shards on a given Valorplate, it becomes Ascendant and gains a second ability. More still, once all four Shards are leveled up to rank five the Valorplate becomes Exalted and gains a third ability, such as massive boosts to ailment damage.
The Tinkerer’s Dream
There is no shortage of awesome loot to obtain in Godfall. And you better believe that the Exalted Update comes jam packed with features to help you navigate all these treasures as well as a host of new cosmetic options for you to unlock. Knowing that each battle and challenge can require its own special approach, players can customize and save up to three loadouts for each Valorplate. Make sure to continue experimenting until you’ve found the ultimate build befitting a god!
We wouldn’t be able to call Godfall an action RPG if it didn’t come loaded with a spread of deadly weapons for players to master and collect. Five weapon classes, each with their own play styles and attributes await players. These include the quick and deadly longswords and dual blades; the powerful far-reaching polearms; and the destructive warhammers and greatswords perfect for smashing through enemies.
By defeating enemies, players earn experience helping them climb to level 50. Each level earns a player a skill point that can be applied toward improving various attributes and your move set in combat. The journey doesn’t stop at just level 50 – players can power up beyond the level cap through a whopping 450 Ascension Levels to obtain new powers and bonuses, allowing them to gain the upper hand against our hardcore endgame challenges.”
An Array of Rewarding Endgame Activities
Godfall shines brightest when players have the ability to put their brilliantly crafted builds to the test. And what better way to do it than inviting your friends to loot and slash through the game’s several endgame modes? Players can matchmake with up to two other players to challenge Godfall’s unique endgame modes such as Dreamstones, Tower of Trials, Lightbringer, and the brand new six-player Spirit Realms. My personal favorite of these awesome options is to battle it out against increasingly ferocious enemies in the Ascended or Exalted Tower of Trials. These modes are wave based in nature and will be your gateway to legendary gear only attainable from climbing the tower and facing high leveled bosses. Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X players can all jump into endgame matchmaking together – so make sure to bring some friends!
Xbox-Exclusive Enhancements
When we set out to create Godfall, we wanted to create an opulent and vibrant world. Metals needed to be shiny, and visual effects needed to stand out from the backgrounds. With our arrival on Xbox, these desires have been cranked to 11. Xbox players will be able to experience Godfall’s visuals like never before with the addition of Variable Refresh Rate and Dolby Vision for HDR-capable displays. We spent a lot of time adjusting every visual effect in the game and we hope you can feel this labor of love, or at least benefit from the effort with brighter highlights, sharper contrast and more vibrant colors throughout the experience.
The Complete Experience
Godfall: Ultimate Edition is a complete premium experience. There are no microtransactions or DLC to fuss with —all cosmetics are earnable by reaching milestones and completing challenges in-game, and the Ultimate Edition even includes the original Ascended Edition and pre-order rewards! We have been listening closely to player feedback since the launch of Godfall and have worked incredibly hard to deliver as many of the community’s most requested features to the game as we can. Combat is faster and more fluid with a knockdown recovery skill; inventory management is more streamlined and robust; Valorplates feel diverse and offer unique play style options; the story experience has been enhanced, and there are now dozens of new weapons banner and shield cosmetics to unlock. We cannot wait for this new band of knights to explore the world we have so thoroughly enjoyed creating.
Starting today, Ultimate members will be able to stream A Mountain of Entertainment, including the Paramount+ Original Series, “Halo,” premiering on March 24, along with other exclusive originals, big movies, and more with a 30-day free trial to Paramount+ via Perks*.
Ultimate members who are new to Paramount+ will be eligible to claim the 30-day subscription trial through the Perks gallery on their Xbox console, on the Xbox app on Windows PCs, or through the Xbox Game Pass mobile app on iOS and Android. Once the Perk is claimed, members will be directed to the Paramount+ site to activate their trial. The Paramount+ app is also available to download and use on your Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One consoles, as well as Windows PCs in select regions.
And don’t forget to go claim this month’s Halo Infinite Perk, the Pass Tense Mongoose Bundle, which includes the exclusive “Pass Tense” Mongoose Vehicle Coating, four 2XP Boosts and four Challenge Swaps!
*New Paramount+ subscribers only. Credit Card required. Offer expires 5/23/22. After the free month period, subscription automatically renews on a monthly basis and your credit card automatically charged either U.S. $4.99 or $9.99/month (+tax) as applicable, at the start of each billing period unless you cancel. Other restrictions may apply. Available in AR, AU, BR, CA, CL, CO, DK, FI, MX, NO, US, SE.
Smite’s newest ultimate skin reward – Izanami, Queen of Cards – makes its way onto Xbox today with a mixture of misdirection and panache.
This is no ordinary skin – it’s what we call a “Tier 5” skin, representing the pinnacle of Smite skin design and serving as the final reward for our new Heavenly Light event. Queen of Cards Izanami possesses four unique forms, each inspired by a suit of cards and corresponding tarot symbology, making her a bit of a stacked deck. When Izanami uses her ability to “Fade Away,” this stunning skin will change between its four forms, each of which is functionally an entirely separate skin. Additionally, the Queen of Cards possesses a special bonus: An emote that evolves as you complete quests built into the skin, unique to each of the suits she can take on. Each time you get a kill or assist while playing Izanami, you will draw four cards; if all four match, an upgraded emote will be permanently unlocked for her current form.
As you play through the Heavenly Light event, you’ll join Mulan and Sun Wukong as they investigate mysterious ghosts in China – and you’ll get some amazing skins. The Heavenly Light Event consists of four chapters, each with its own free bonus skin like Funny Bones Baron Samedi. Collect all of a chapter’s rewards to get each free bonus skin, and collect every reward across all four chapters to unlock Queen of Cards Izanami. Don’t want to wait? You can instantly unlock the Queen of Cards Izanami Skin and pre-order all of the event’s future Skins with the Buy-All button.
The Heavenly Light event launches as part of Smite‘s Birthday Celebration, featuring free events and special savings to celebrate. Gem Packs are up to 33 percent off, and all players can unlock a variety of free rewards for participating in the Smite Birthday Celebration Community Calendar Event. Log in and play from now until April 5th to unlock a unique reward each day, ranging from Community Art-inspired cosmetics to free Gems! You can even get the Exclusive Husky Handler Skadi Skin free through the Birthday Celebration event!
That’s not all we’ve got for this next update: a swarm of tiny robots is taking to the Battlegrounds with the Chibi Bots Battle Pass! So go out and conquer your foes in a cute and compact package as Doom Bot Hades, Freezy Bot Ymir, Beaky Bot Thoth, and Intruder Bot Cupid and unleash the tiny fury of these Chibi Bots! As per usual, all four of these skins will be available by progressing through the Battle Pass, and we cannot wait to see these tiny terrors released onto the Battleground.
Last but not least, we’re excited to give the community a long-requested update: Expanded Custom Match options, letting you play all sorts of fun new modes with your friends! When creating custom games, there are now a number of pre-saved defaults to help as a starting point for the more common game modes, alongside more competitive rulesets such as Competitive Conquest for Smite Pro League and scrims, as well as the Ranked format. You can then customize each preset with a plethora of new, fun options such as adjusting mana costs, cooldown reduction, and more. We can’t wait to see how you all use these options to design fun new custom match experiences.
With that, I hope to see everyone shuffling onto the battleground again soon, and be sure to practice your card counting, or the Queen of Cards may just catch you off guard.
It’s time to put all you’ve learned to practice quelling the Imagined Order. Take on your opponents in the ultimate battle for the Zero Point in Fortnite Chapter 3 – Season 2: Resistance!
Overshield Has Your Back
Building has been disabled, so it’s time to unleash a new defense: the Overshield. This new line of defense will protect your health and shield from enemy fire. Taking too many hits will crack the Overshield, exposing your health and shields to taking damage. Utilize objects on the field to take cover until the Overshield can regenerate.
Resistance’s Movement Maneuvers
The IO is moving quickly, but so are we! Check out the new ways to maneuver the battlefield in Chapter 3 – Season 2.
It’s an All-Out Sprint
We’re moving quicker than ever with increased (default) movement speed. This movement speed increase also means a faster sprint, so use this to your advantage. Be sure to keep an eye on the new sprint meter before engaging in combat. You never know when you’ll need to make a tactile escape.
Mantling: Hoist Yourself Up!
Maintaining the high ground is extremely important in the heat of the battle, and mantling will help you keep this advantage. Run — or jump — to a surface that’s just out of normal range to grab the ledge and pull yourself up!
Shoulder Bashing
There’s no time for door etiquette in Chapter 3 – Season 2. Sprinting (or sliding) into doors will now open them. Talk about making an entrance!
Turn the Tide… With Bars!
Your contribution of Bars is vital to defending against the Imagined Order, and it’s up to you to decide which equipment will help us turn the tide. Prefer heavy or light turrets? Vote with your Bars to install these turret types at various pro-Resistance sites across the map.
Bars will also play a major role in constructing Armored Battle Busses and voting on weapons that should be unvaulted!
Resistance Equipment
Keep your eyes peeled for equipment of both the Resistance and Imagined Order. With the Resistance, for example, comes the new Combat SMG, Striker Burst Rifle, and a plethora of unvaulted weapons.
Using the Imagined Order’s equipment against them could prove useful, so be sure to make good use of IO machinery such as the IO Blimp, IO Titan Tank, Siege Cannon, and more.
Chapter 3 – Season 2 Battle Pass
This Season’s Battle Pass includes Sorcerer Supreme and Master of the Mystic Arts, Doctor Strange. With the Chapter 3 – Season 2 Battle Pass, you can unlock characters like Doctor Strange and characters like Tsuki 2.0, Gunnar, The Origin, and more!
Later on in the Season, you’ll be able to unlock world-class criminal Prowler in the Battle Pass!
Customize Your Omni Sword Pickaxe
Owners of the Chapter 3 – Season 2 Battle Pass can unlock the customizable Omni Sword Pickaxe. Complete its weekly Quests to earn Omni Chips you can use to unlock new blades, guards, colors, and even sounds for the Pickaxe. The Omni Sword Pickaxe can be customized from the Battle Pass tab.
Fortnite
Epic Games Inc.
☆☆☆☆☆2014
★★★★★
Xbox One X Enhanced
Join the Resistance in the final battle to free the Zero Point! The IO has lined up guards and sky stations, but the Resistance is equipped with new tactics like sprinting, mantling, and more. Board an Armored Battle Bus to be a powerful force or attach a Cow Catcher to your truck for extra ramming power. Take on your opponents in the ultimate battle for the Zero Point in Chapter 3 Season 2: Resistance! Fortnite is the always evolving, multiplayer game where you and your friends battle to be the last one standing or collaborate to create your dream Fortnite world. Play both Battle Royale and Fortnite Creative for free or purchase Fortnite’s PvE Campaign mode, Save the World. Download now and jump into the action. This download also gives you a path to purchase access to the Save the World co-op PvE campaign!
The best horror games are those that mixes impossible things, to defy and entertain the audience, with slightly possible scenarios capable of triggering our deepest fears. Dolmen is one of these games. It’s a souls-like action RPG, considered challenging even to experienced players, but with a sci-fi story based in the premise that humans will modify themselves, both genetically and with augments, to become more apt to colonize space. Zoan Corp, one of the companies who explores space, hired the modified humans called Drillers to colonize Revion Prime. Things got wrong, as always happens in a good horror game, and Zoan Corp arouse the player to protect the company’s interests and investment, never showing any remorse for what happened to the deceased employees.
As the story unfolds, the player becomes aware of the greedy details that took place in Revion Prime evolving the Dolmen crystals and its interdimensional proprieties. After all, evil, resentment and arrogance can be found in all multiverses.
About the game design, there’s dozens of melee and ranged weapons that can be crafted with different materials to alter their stats. There’s armors to enhance three different types of technologies, improving the character’s combat abilities, an elemental system that can be exploited to defeat enemies more easily, attributes and much more. Gathering materials and crafting better equipment can be the best strategy to those who are not familiar with the rough experience a souls-like game can be, but even with a full gear the late enemies of Dolmen can wipe a player who’s let their guard down. For those strong of mind who like to challenge bosses multiple times, the game offers a respawn feature, which provides extra rewards to craft boss weapons. That option can also be used with multiplayer, grating rewards to all who join the battle.
Overall, the environment and level design tries to keep the senses of the player in alert, contributing to the sci-fi horror feeling, as there’s only a few safe spots in the adventure and the combat uses nothing less than menacing creatures all along. After 12 or more hours playing, we experienced a good horror atmosphere and the thrilling of trying to recover the timeline where we didn’t die. It takes some time to master all the mechanics, as the elemental system and the new “energy mode,” but the challenge is part of the fun when we speak about souls-like.
Dolmenis coming soon to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. It will be Optimized for Xbox Series X|S with support for Smart Delivery.
Dolmen
Prime Matter
☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★
Dolmen casts players onto a hostile alien world known as Revion Prime.
Your job? Bring back samples of a crystal with particularly unique properties; the so-called “”Dolmen””.
These crystals are capable of allowing interaction between realities, revolutionising space exploration and changing the known world forever. DYNAMIC COMBAT
In Dolmen you will grow stronger with each battle!
Experience a rich combat system with various weapons and moves at your disposal.
Switch natively between melee and ranged combat to overcome the most challenging enemies Revion Prime has to offer. ENERGY MODE
Energy management is key to victory in Dolmen.
Energy is not only used for ranged weapons, but also for activating “”Energy Mode””. “”Energy Mode”” imbues your melee weapons with elemental status effects, letting you take full advantage of your enemy’s weaknesses. DISCOVER A MYSTERIOUS PLANET
A devastated, darkly beautiful world is waiting to be explored.
Will you find all the secrets that Revion Prime has to offer? Or will this cruel world push you to the brink of death? A CHALLENGE AWAITS
Surviving is the last thing this world wants you to do.
Will you see your timeline erased or will you overcome the challenge that awaits you? ENCOUNTER GRUESOME BOSSES
Revion Prime offers a plethora of gruesome monstrosities that will put your skills to the test.” Dolmen – Rebel Set Experience your journey on Revion Prime in style with the unique Rebel Set. Made by genetically engineered Humans – the so called “Xenospecies” – this gear set was built to last and help the wearer adapt to different conditions during the colonisation of space. Defeat fierce bosses in this stylish new gear and overcome the fear of having your timeline erased. The Rebel Set includes:
– Rebel Armor Set
– Rebel Sword
– Rebel Axe
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for more details (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!
Make friends, free spirits, and make sure that the world doesn’t end! Welcome to Kraken Academy, a technicolor fever dream that for legal reasons can only be described as “technically a school.” Join forces with a magical kraken to manipulate a time loop and save the world. Available on Cloud, Console, and PC.
Available now with PC Game Pass and coming soon to console! Explore the ever-changing maps, fight with deadly enemies, and learn what happened to the cursed island of Avalon in this unique, infinitely replayable, story-driven hybrid between a deck-building roguelike and an RPG game. Create your own combos out of hundreds of cards and learn how to survive in a dark, unforgiving world shrouded by a mysterious, deadly force known as the wyrdness.
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games – March 22 – Game Pass
A group of strangers are kidnapped and forced to participate in a diabolical game of death. Who can be trusted? Tensions rise as the situation becomes increasingly dire. Can you find a way out of The Nonary Games? Or will you pay the ultimate price? Available on Cloud, Console, and PC.
Combining exquisite narrative depth and exploration with a curious setup – plus a dash of Lovecraft – A Place for the Unwilling is a rich narrative experience where player choices really do count, set in a Dickensian world of colour and Eldritch nightmares.
Richy’s Nightmares is a unique platforming experience. It tells a story of Richy, a little boy who got lost in the labyrinths of some dreaded magical woods. And now he must do his best to survive through this journey. The forest is full of nightmares and lethal puzzles, and that is why Richy’s escape is going to be the challenge to remember.
A semi-autobiographical game about pizza and the time-travelers who make it. It’s The Pizza Delivery Boy Who Saved the World! A brand-new visual novel by a former delivery boy who is probably never going to work in the pizza industry again, if his boss finds out he made this game.
In the year 201X, war has already ravaged much of the continent when a rogue AI rebels against its creators, leading an army of robots to conquer the Robot Empire. Trained from a young age as an agent of justice, Thunder Kid is sent into battle against the Robot Royalty to stop the empire from taking over the world in this low poly, run ‘n’ gun action experience
A Memoir Blue – March 24 – Game Pass
Available day one with Game Pass. A song from years ago triggers a flood of memories for champion swimmer Miriam. Embark on an evocative journey through her turbulent childhood and the complicated relationship she shared with her devoted mother.
Norco (PC) – March 24 – PC Game Pass
Available on day one with PC Game Pass. Play the southern gothic point-and-click narrative adventure for yourself and explore the sinking suburbs and verdant industrial swamps of a distorted South Louisiana. Your brother Blake has gone missing in the aftermath of your mother’s death. In the hopes of finding him, you must follow a fugitive security android through the refineries, strip malls, and drainage ditches of suburban New Orleans.
An interactive game experience that’s designed to relax your mind and soul. You jump into the role of a little bird, explore beautiful landscapes, and collect magical crystals that mark certain landscapes. Because there are no enemies or any other dangers in this game, you will be able to lean back and enjoy the scenery and the sensation of flying.
Bounce into this colorful and cartoony world with BouncyBoi and adventure through various levels filled with challenging puzzles, cute graphics, and funky beats! As BouncyBoi, a purple bouncy slime who loves to jive and solve puzzles, make your way through Puzzle Land as you listen to good music and check out the great visuals.
A retro-modern arcade twin-stick shooter featuring spectacular visuals, heart-pounding music, and intense gameplay. The ultimate twin-stick shooter for people who love twin-stick shooters!
Bullets, magic, and broadswords collide across this chaotic fantasy world brought to life by the unpredictable Tiny Tina. Roll your own multiclass hero and loot, shoot, slash, and cast your way through outlandish monsters and loot-filled dungeons on a quest to stop the tyrannical Dragon Lord. Everyone’s welcome, so join the party, throw on your adventuring boots, and be Chaotic Great!
