Update 1.2: Preppers includes a ton of new additions and tweaks to Vigoron Xbox One
Included in Update 1.2 is the addition of the Battle Pass
Players can opt to get the premium pass at any time within the season, instantly unlocking all the rewards from levels already achieved
Hei Outlanders.
Update 1.1: Bridges was an interesting ride for everyone. The Buried Caches became a focal point of encounters for many Outlanders, a brand-new map challenged inexperienced and veteran players alike, and the introduction of weight influence was… well… a love-hate feature within the community. We followed 1.1 with minor updates that improved the overall experience (at the cost of some hiccoughs) – be it increasing the number of Crowns in every package, improving matchmaking, or adding the option to risk more for the chance of better rewards with multiple boosters. Update 1.2: Preppers aims to amplify these efforts with a ton of new additions and tweaks.
The Battle Pass
Possibly the most prominent addition is the Battle Pass. You asked for more measurable progression other than the Shelter itself, and we listened. Almost every action you take in Vigor now awards some Experience Points (XP), and you can gain this XP in a variety of ways. You can collect resources, open crates, send food to people in need, or hone your aim at the shooting range, to name just a few. As you earn XP, you gain levels in the Battle Pass and receive various cool rewards along the way. If you want more, you can get even better rewards with the Premium Battle Pass. Players can opt to get the premium pass at any time within the season, instantly unlocking all the rewards from levels already achieved. But keep in mind, some of the premium rewards help you level your Battle Pass faster, so sooner is better than later if you go for this option.
Season 1: Preppers
Only the best Outlanders are getting a hazmat suit this time around, and that’s A-OK with the Preppers. Preppers always readied themselves for what might come, and now their forward-thinking is paying off. Be it hazardous environments, wide-spread infection, or even nuclear war – they were ready, and they were waiting. Stocked food rations, fortified housing, elaborate survival tools… nothing can catch a Prepper off-guard. In post-war Norway, such a mindset comes in handy, and you, Outlander, can become one of them. Show the world how you thrive in the wake of humanity’s fall – your Prepper mentality will serve you well from here on out.
Tools
Homemade tools are a staple in any Prepper’s repertoire. Three
new consumables are now available to use in Encounters – the Alarm Trap reveals
Outlanders trespassing within the vicinity, the Contact Bomb will explode and
deal significant damage if someone gets too close, and the Transmitter acts as
a decoy should someone use the Radio Signal Detector. While these tools will
take up slots in your inventory, using them wisely is a good way to turn an
Encounter in your favour. All three tools can be found in the Outlands, but if
you want to craft them yourself the plans are available in the Battle Pass.
Crafting Boosters
With all the new additions, you may want to head into Encounters
as fast as possible. But getting ready sometimes takes a while, as you may need
to craft your weapons first. With the introduction of the Crafting Boosters,
there’s now a sure-fire way to speed things up, as these boosters let you
significantly shorten crafting times. Players will, however, still need the
proper plans and enough materials to be able to craft the weapon they want.
Charity Box Rewards, Shooting Range Moving Targets, and More…
There are plenty of other additions coming with 1.2. Even with
the improvements to our changelogs, we would still like to point out a few.
Based on your feedback, we added rewards for helping others via the Charity
Box. The more food you send to people in need, the bigger and better the
rewards. We also plan to reset the progress of the Charity Box on a regular
basis to provide more opportunities in the future.
Regarding the Shelter: the Shooting Range got a ton of improvements, including an array of new challenges with more diverse challenge options (plus, you’ll now have more new guns to try out on the range!). As requested, we have also added moving targets, so fire them up, train your aim, and lead those shots! Speaking of challenges, a bunch of new types are also coming to the Daily Challenges rotation to add some more diversity and keep things fresh. And last but definitely not least, we listened to the feedback on team-killing and from now on team killers won’t be able to loot their teammate’s corpse. This, along with being marked as a Team Killer, should make “friendly fire” a lot less common in random duos.
Christmas in the Outlands
The first thing you’ll most likely notice when entering Vigor
after Update 1.2: Preppers is the change of season. All the maps, and your
Shelter, will get a good helping of Christmas cheer as a respite from the
brutal struggle of post-war Norway. And we hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised
by the many Easter Eggs coming with this – feel free to share the ones you’re
able to find! As always, we look forward to all your feedback. Let’s celebrate
Christmas in post-war Norway together, Outlanders.
Winter Wonderland is our final free update for 2019, and it’s a fun one!
There’s a Hangry Horde in a nearby castle that you’ll need to fend off with tasty treats.
This update delivers five brand new levels, all in a wintery setting, with lots of fun, comforting dishes, and two new chefs!
Feliz Navidad cooking fans! It’s time for the final Overcooked! 2 update of 2019, and it’s a very Christmassy one!
We’ve had a
jam-packed year of exciting content, which has been great to work on. I want to
thank the fantastic team who’ve worked hard to create great content since
launch over the last year and a half, and you the fans, for your continued
support – thank you!
Winter Wonderland is our final free update for 2019, and it’s a fun one! I’ll set the scene: You’re on a wintery trip around The Onion Kingdom, and of course you decide to go camping; but there’s a Hangry Horde in a nearby castle that you’ll need to fend off with tasty treats. Also, the Carnival has left behind their cannon, and you can use it (responsibly of course!) to get to those hard to reach places. It’s snowing, the decorations are up, and it’s time to cook! There’s not much more you could ask for at this time of year.
When the team were cooking up Winter Wonderland, we decided we wanted to celebrate some of our previous updates, pay homage to the game and the levels we’ve most enjoyed since launch. It’s great to go back to previous levels themes and tweak them to see what twists you can add. It really felt like the perfect chance for Winter Wonderland to share some more of those great levels with you. We’ve got themes taken from Campfire Cookoff, Night of The Hangry Horde, and Carnival of Chaos. This update delivers five brand new levels, all in a wintery setting, with lots of fun, comforting dishes, and of course – we can’t forget the two brand new chefs!
I think this update really does show off our favorite bits of Overcooked! 2 and what we’ve managed to do since we released in 2018. Overcooked! 2 has grown, and now has over 130 varied levels that we really love, and it’s great for us to see players still enjoy the game and hunger for more!
We decided early on that we wanted to follow Overcooked! 2 with a large schedule of updates that really kept pushing the title forward and kept things interesting. It’s so important to us to support our titles in the long term, as we want the fans to have as much fun as possible!
So, with that, it’s time to cook and be merry. Enjoy
the update, and Merry Christmas! (Disclaimer: Cooking poorly may cause tension,
please cook responsibly).
Hey Xbox Insiders! Did you know that you can “Report a problem” through Alexa skills?
Detailed reports on Xbox One features and experiences help us provide meaningful feedback to Xbox engineers. But we know some prefer to submit reports without the controller and virtual keyboard on the console.
Team Xbox is improving speech-to-text to make your Xbox One experience the best it can be. In an age that allows us to work and play hands-free, your smart device holds the key to easily provide feedback to Xbox engineers. If typing with the virtual keyboard and controller isn’t your preferred method, now you don’t have to!
“Alexa, tell Xbox…”
Last September, Xbox’s family got a little bigger with Alexa, but we haven’t spoken much about what this AI can do for you as an Xbox Insider. Before we begin, however, make sure you have set up Alexa for your Xbox One device with these steps:
Sign into your Xbox One console
Install the Alexa app on your mobile device and search for Xbox in Skills
Sign in with your Microsoft account after selecting the Xbox Skill
On your Xbox One console, make sure “Digital assistants” is enabled under Settings
Follow the instructions on the Alexa app to pair your console with your Alexa-enabled device
Got your devices paired? Excellent. Now comes the fun part. Just say, “Alexa, tell Xbox to file a bug.”
Once you’ve answered the questions (by voice, no hands required!), select the correct category and subcategory on your Xbox One. Your transcribed report will appear onscreen on your console for you to confirm before submitting.
The Alexa app is available on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, for Android and iOS devices respectively. Find out what else it can do for you while you’re on your Xbox One console.
Helpful Resources from Amazon
We’re always looking for ways to make Xbox One the best console experience for you. Do you have ideas for how to improve this service, or other great ideas for Xbox One features and experiences? Make sure to post them in the Xbox Requests subreddit thread.
As always, thank you for your participation as an Xbox Insider!
More information on providing feedback can be at Xbox Support.Follow us on Twitter at @XboxInsider and this blog for release notes, announcements and more. And feel free to interact with the community on the Xbox Insider subreddit.
We want to take this opportunity to thank the incredible team behind The Outer Worlds. It is because of their hard work and dedication to this project that we received the Best Narrative, Best Performance – Ashly Burch, Best RPG, and Game of the Year nominations at The Game Awards.
To all of those who voted for us in The Game Awards, you are all fantastic and we are so grateful for your support. The reception to The Outer Worlds has been unbelievable to see, and even just being nominated means a lot. However, the journey isn’t over yet as we are excited to announce that we will be expanding the story through DLC next year! Details will be made available at a later date.
Now we would like to allow our game directors to share a message with you all:
We just wanted to personally thank our team for doing a wonderful job and our fans for their tremendous support.
And Tim would like to say what an honor it was to work with me. – Leonard
Whatever, Leonard. Now that we’ve finished, I expect that certain photographs will be destroyed, as per our agreement. – Tim
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!
Power Your Dreams with Xbox Series X, Available Holiday 2020 For eighteen years and three console generations, the Xbox community has shown us the power both games and fun can have on all of us. As we enter a new generation of gaming, we see a future where you’re instantly absorbed in your games…
Yo Ho Ho Ho! The Festival of Giving Begins Today in Sea of Thieves It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and there’s no better place to spend it than on the Sea of Thieves. Put out the decorations, hang up your stocking and enjoy our latest monthly content update, Festival of Giving. This update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Xbox One or on Windows 10 PC, or those who have access to it with Xbox Game Pass. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to join in with the Festival of Giving!
Read Dead Online: Moonshiners Now Available on Xbox One Peddle white lightning as a black-market bootlegger in Moonshiners, the latest Frontier Pursuit available now in Red Dead Online. Team up with an infamous distiller to start your own Moonshining business and run it out of the new Shack property. Moonshining takes your Trader skills to the next level and gives you your first business established outside of camp. Not only will you need to source ingredients and produce the goods, savvy Moonshiners will learn the demands of the market and
Warframe Brings Rising Tides to Xbox One Today Every December is an incredibly busy time for Digital Extremes and Warframe players. This year is no exception. At The Game Awards last night, Digital Extremes announced Rising Tides, a content update that lays the blueprint to create the powerful Railjack battleship, is live now on Xbox One…
The Diamond Casino Heist is Now Available in GTA Online on Xbox One Pull off the most sophisticated and daring robbery the city of Los Santos has ever seen in The Diamond Casino Heist – now available in GTA Online. The Diamond Casino & Resort might be under the questionable management of the Duggans, the ruthless Texan petrochemical magnates who stole control from Tao Cheng and the Triads, but business is still booming.
Avicii Invector – Working with a Legend On December 10 we will be sharing our piece of the Avicii legacy with all of you, as we release Avicii Invector out into the wilderness. Avicii Invector thrusts you into a musical journey across six different worlds lit up with fantastical colors, wondrous sights, and 25 of Avicii’s greatest tracks. You’ll glide, float, and race through each musical track, tasked with hitting the beat, swiping each fade whilst wrapping yourself up in each world and track – the goal: keep the beat and rock hard for that high score.
Play Subnautica Today with Xbox Game Pass Hello, Subnauts! My name is Mario and I’m a developer at Unknown Worlds, creators of Subnautica. Since I joined the team in 2016, I’ve primarily worked on the console side of the game. From early access through launch in December, 2018 it has been an amazing experience to participate in the development and release of such a well-received game.
Heimdallr, The Vigilant, and Full Keyboard and Mouse Support Arrive in Smite’s Newest Update on Xbox One Hurl axes and traverse the mystical Bifrost Bridge as the legendary viking God Heimdallr, The Vigilant, in Smite’s newest Update available now on Xbox One. At the edge of Asgard and Midgard there stands a god with unmatched senses. From this vantage point he sees and hears of important matters from all the nine realms. Heimdallr has built great wisdom from this power, and he lives in solitude to stay dedicated to his cause: prevent any trespassers from entering Asgard.
Dauntless Launches New Behemoth and Escalation Dauntless is a game about slaying behemoths: colossal, aether-devouring beasts that roam the floating islands of the Shattered Isles. But what goes into producing these creatures? The Malkarion, the final “boss” in the brand-new Escalation experience, is the latest addition to Dauntless. When building this beast, the team started with broad concepts before refining them.
Take a Holiday Trip with Ticket to Ride on Xbox One Hello everyone! ‘Tis the season to be jolly, coming home to a nice cup of hot chocolate as snow gently falls behind the windows… Time for something that feels like it’s always been there and puts joy in each of us. It’s the holidays, and holidays are for the classics. Celebrate now by playing the first modern board game to be adapted on Xbox One:Ticket to Ride.
Gears Tactics is Coming to PC on April 28 Fans got their first look at the next installment in the Gears saga with the release of the Gears Tactics World Premiere Trailer on The Game Awards earlier tonight. First announced at E3 2018, Gears Tactics is a fast-paced, turn-based strategy game and is the first game in the long-running series to be developed from the ground up for PC. The game will launch April 28, 2020 on the Windows Store and Steam and will be available the same day with Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta).
The Valkyrie Rides into Battle in Black Desert on Xbox One The Valkyrie is one of Elion’s chosen warriors and uses her weapon to pierce through her foes with overwhelming power! She’s a perfect fit for players that enjoy having offensive skills while still being able to defend themselves with their shield. Her magical abilities add even more variety for combat on the battlefield.
Counting down the 50 Greatest Sea of Thieves moments from 2019 From heart-warming community stories to a treasure trove of hilarious gameplay videos, bucketloads of free content updates, including a massive Anniversary Update, to that monkey incident, 2019 has been quite the year for Sea of Thieves. As we head towards the end of the year it’s time to sit back and celebrate all the awesome things that happened across the Sea of Thieves in 2019. Starting from the December 12, we’ll be sharing our Top 50 Sea of Thieves moments from the last year and celebrating the people who make the game what it is – our amazing community.
The Eliminator Brings Battle Royale Inspired Racing to Forza Horizon 4, Free for All Players Today! Xbox One, Windows 10 PCs and Xbox Game Pass players – are you ready for The Eliminator?! In celebration of our amazing fans, we bring you an all-new, battle royale inspired racing game mode, The Eliminator, coming to Forza Horizon 4today at 10:00 a.m. PT for free in the Series 17 update. The Eliminator invites up to 72 players to face off within an arena set in the open world of Britain, eliminating one another in head-to-head races to earn new upgrades and a chance to pick up faster cars. Arena walls contract throughout the game, forcing players closer together until a final white-knuckle race among the survivors determines the winner.
Free Play Days – Fallout 76, Soulcalibur VI, and DayZ Jump in and brace for all the fun that awaits you in this weekend’s Free Play Day event! Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can play Fallout 76, Soulcalibur VI, and DayZ from Thursday, December 12 at 8 a.m. PST until Sunday, December 15 at 11:59 p.m. PST. You can find and install the games here on Xbox.com. Click through will send you to the Microsoft Store, where you must be signed in to see the option to install with your Xbox Live Gold membership. To download on console, click on the Gold member area on the home dashboard on your Xbox One.
Welcome to Verdun Remastered This is a hugely exciting day for all of us on theVerdun dev team. Anyone who has worked on a game will know that it never feels quite finished because there’s always more you could add, but we feel this remastered version of Verdun for Xbox One has been greatly improved, from the control schemes to a new user interface… and that’s far from all this remaster brings to the table. You also get revamped graphics, a new audio system and sound effects, AI opponents, a new map, new squads, and much more. The remaster is part of a whole new look and feel for the entire WW1 Game Series: everything from logos to the in-game artwork.
Pinball FX3 Triggers Treasured Arcade Memories with Williams Pinball Volume 5 Is 90s fever still a thing? It sure is at Zen Studios, as we’ve had an amazing year recreating the pinball classics of the decade with our Williams Pinball packs. The newest of which just arrived on Xbox One and Windows 10, featuring three heavy hitters — Tales of the Arabian Nights, Circus Voltaire and No Good Gofers.
Design Your Hospitals and Cure Unusual Illnesses in Two Point Hospital on Xbox One You kick back and relax with a cup of tea. Your hospital’s looking pretty sharp: you’ve got a reception desk, you’ve built a doctor’s office… things are running rather well. But no more than two sips into your overly milky beverage, you realize that this isn’t exactly a normal hospital. The cup slips from your hand, tumbling inexorably towards your new carpet. Your mouth, agape. A patient suffering from Cubism has just walked in looking like a Picasso painting. This, my friends and new acquaintances, is Two Point Hospital. An unusual healthcare sim to say the least; one that’s been loved by critics and players alike and is now heading straight to your couch –it’s coming to Xbox One February 25.
Gears 5 – Operation 2: Free for All Available Today for All Players Today, The Coalition will release Operation 2: Free for All. Operations are free quarterly, multiplayer updates that introduce new ways to play Gears 5. Operation 2: Free for All adds four new characters, three game types, five maps, a new Versus season and a brand-new Tour of Duty full of earnable content.
Resident Evil 3 Coming to Xbox One on April 3, 2020 20 years ago, Capcom altered the landscape of the survival horror genre forever with the release of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Starring franchise favorite Jill Valentine, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis featured her harrowing escape from Raccoon City during the panic-stricken hours leading up to and following the events of the acclaimed Resident Evil 2. Today, Capcom celebrated the anniversary of this seminal survival horror masterpiece by announcing Resident Evil 3, slated for release on April 3, 2020 on Xbox One.
DayZ Livonia is Available Now on Xbox One Survivor, DayZ’s second official map – and first-ever DLC – has arrived on Xbox One and is available now for 13.99 USD / 13.99 EUR. The vast and varied landscapes of this new Baltic backdrop bring a whole new atmosphere to DayZ’s survival experience. Set in the southern lush green forested region of Livonia, this 163 km2 of landlocked terrain provides a perfect idyllic backdrop for any survivor lost in the wilds. Venture south, chart new territory, avoid frenzied infected, encounter other survivors, build a base, and much more. Do whatever you can to survive for as long as possible.
Untitled Goose Game is Coming to Xbox One December 17 Oh, hello. We are House House. We spent the last three years making a game where you play as a goose. Untitled Goose Game is a slapstick-stealth-sandbox, where you are a goose let loose on an unsuspecting village. Make your way around town, from peoples’ back gardens to the high street shops to the village green, setting up pranks, stealing hats, honking a lot, and generally ruining everyone’s day. Now Untitled Goose Game is coming to Xbox One and Xbox Game Pass on December 17.
They Are Billions Campaign Available Now on Xbox One with Revamped Controls In case you don’t know They Are Billions yet, it’s a strategy game set in a distant future after a zombie apocalypse destroyed most of humanity. Now there are only a few thousand humans left alive that must struggle to survive under the threat of the infection. Billions of infected roam the world in massive swarms seeking the last living human colonies.
Bayonetta and Vanquish Get Bundled Up for Xbox on February 18, 2020 10 years after their original debut, Sam Gideon and the Umbra Witch return once more in the Bayonetta and Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle on Xbox One. It’s out on February 18, 2020 and you can pre-order it today on the Microsoft Store. Get ready to tear through countless hordes of enemies in two of gaming’s most celebrated (and stylish) cult-classic action games from PlatinumGames. Both Bayonetta and Vanquish will get the remaster treatment and will be enhanced for Xbox One X with 4K resolution and brisk 60fps gameplay.
Next Week on Xbox: New Games for December 17 to 20 Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. To find out what’s coming soon to Xbox One, read on below and click on each of the game profiles for pre-order details (dates are subject to change).
Minecraft Players on PS4 Join Bedrock Starting Tomorrow, Enabling Cross-Play Starting tomorrow, Minecraft players on the PlayStation 4 Edition will begin updating to the unified Bedrock version of Minecraft. This means that cross-platform play will be active across Xbox One, Windows 10, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android mobile devices, Gear VR and now PS4. In addition, PS4 players will now have their purchased content and progress carry across platforms and have access to the ever-growing in-game store – a source for worlds, skins, mini-games, and mash up packs – meaning PS4 players will have not just a better Minecraft experience than ever before, but more Minecraft than ever.
Rising Tide, a content update that lays the blueprint to create the powerful Railjack battleship, is live now on Xbox One
Rising Tide is the first step to experiencing Warframe’s upcoming Empyrean update
Scouring the viable salvage from wreckage across the Origin system, Tenno must retrieve six components to build the Railjack
Every December is an incredibly busy time for Digital Extremes and Warframe players. This year is no exception. At The Game Awards last night, Digital Extremes announced Rising Tide, a content update that lays the blueprint to create the powerful Railjack battleship, is live now on Xbox One.
The War Begins with Rising Tide
For Xbox One players, Tenno (the player’s in-game name), Rising Tide is the first step to experiencing Warframe’s upcoming Empyrean update. It’s the key to all-out, team-based space combat. Players will have the means to research and build the Dry Dock, which begins as a hangar but evolves into a sanctuary. To start, it’s as simple as rallying together a clan and contributing resources to its construction.
Once players have assembled clan members, researched and assembled the Dry Dock, they’ll recruit the help of Cephalon Cy, a wry new ship A.I. who helps players craft their Railjack, who functions like Cephalon Ordis, but values mission protocol more than anything else. We think you’ll love them!
Scouring the viable salvage from wreckage across the Origin system, Tenno must retrieve six components to build the Railjack. If players have completed the cinematic quest The Second Dream, they can begin to forge a ship. They’ll build, hone and upgrade the Railjack, an ancient Orokin technology, to arm themselves in the new war against the Grineer — and the dark tide of enemies not too far behind them.
Cosmetically, Rising Tide delivers overhauled select visual aspects for the Liset, players’ personal landing craft, by adding in updated machines, enhanced lighting, and even a new “moonroof”, perfect for gazing at the Origin System’s starlight.
Rising Tide is essentially a warmup for Empyrean. A very necessary one. Once armed with a customized Railjack battleship, the Sigma Series Railjack, Tenno will be ready for the all new battleship gameplay of Empyrean, and coming soon to Xbox One.
Dominate Space in the Railjack
In Empyrean, Tenno will charge into four-player space battles against an unrelenting Grineer space force in all new missions. We hope Empyrean will see new and veteran players alike forging friendships and team skills, as they propel into this next-level cooperative experience.
Whether it’s by blasting opponent Cruise Ships with upgradeable firepower from the pilot seat or gunner positions or shooting like a bullet from the Archwing Cannon into enemy ships and commadering their vessels, Xbox Tenno are in for a shock to their senses. Empyrean combines the classic third-person combat that we all know and love with fast-paced, dynamic battleship combat. But it’s not just flying around shooting combat. Empyrean relies on players genuinely fulfilling roles and working together to complete missions.
Once they get the hang of the ship — there is a fun, easy Free Flight Mode for new players to get acquainted with its layout and functionality — players have a wealth of roles to play in combat. They can pilot the ship in and out of combat with cool special moves like “juking” or turning invisible; jump into the gunner chairs to tear up Grineer fighter ships; launch into space as solo Archwing vectors to take down or infiltrate larger enemy targets (like Cruise or Galleon ships); research and produce resources in the engineer room, or provide support by dousing fires and repairing hull damage. Players can even apply a single Warframe power to other players on the ship to provide more support or fight onboard enemies.
Empyrean will challenge even the toughest players to use all their greatest combined skills, experience and knowledge to rise up and face the biggest threat they have ever experienced in Warframe.
Watch the World Premiere trailer debuted at The Game Awards now.
Gears Tactics is a fast-paced, turn-based strategy game developed from the ground up for PC.
Pre-order Gears Tactics to receive the Thrashball Cole Character Pack.
Fans got their first look at the next installment in the Gears saga with the release of the Gears Tactics World Premiere Trailer on The Game Awards earlier tonight.
First announced at E3 2018, Gears Tactics is a fast-paced, turn-based strategy game and is the first game in the long-running series to be developed from the ground up for PC. The game will launch April 28, 2020 on the Windows Store and Steam and will be available the same day with Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta).
Developed by The Coalition and Splash Damage, Gears Tactics is set 12 years before the first Gears of War. Cities across the planet Sera are beginning to fall to the monstrous threat rising from underground – the Locust Horde. With the government in disarray, a squad of survivors emerge as humanity’s last hope. Outnumbered and fighting for survival, players must recruit and command a squad to hunt down Ukkon, an evil mastermind who makes monsters.
Gears Tactics features an immersive and character-driven story, one that follows the defiant soldier Gabe Diaz, voiced by Noshir Dala, to rescue and build up a squad in a journey of leadership, survival and sacrifice. Playing as Gabe, you’ll customize your squad and equipment to prepare your troops to face tough enemies, upgrading squad skills and outfitting them with loot collected in challenging missions.
The aggressive gameplay of Gears Tactics retains a signature Gears tone and feel – you will command your squad in fast paced, turn-based battles, advancing and surviving intense and visceral encounters with the unstoppable, swarming Locust Horde enemy. Prepare yourself to take on and defeat towering deadly bosses that defy your strategies ad completely change the scale of the battle.
Pre-order Gears Tactics to receive the Thrashball Cole Character Pack which includes Augustus Cole as a recruit and the Thrashball Armor Set, complete with rare abilities.
Gears Tactics is available on the same day as its global release with Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta) and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. For a limited time, new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can get their first three months for $1, which includes Xbox Live Gold, and over 100 high-quality console and PC games, including Gears of War 4 and Gears 5. Plus, all Ultimate members can also receive 1 month of EA Access, 3 months of Discord Nitro, and 6 months of Spotify Premium at no extra cost. Terms apply.
For the latest on the Gears franchise, please stay tuned to @GearsofWar on Twitter.
Revamped graphics, a new audio system and sound effects, AI opponents, and much more.
The remaster includes a new map and two new squads with new weapons.
The console release of Tannenberg is making good progress and we can’t wait to share more news as soon as we have it.
This is a hugely exciting day for all of us on theVerdun dev team. Anyone who has worked on a game will know that it never feels quite finished because there’s always more you could add, but we feel this remastered version of Verdun for Xbox One has been greatly improved, from the control schemes to a new user interface… and that’s far from all this remaster brings to the table. You also get revamped graphics, a new audio system and sound effects, AI opponents, a new map, new squads, and much more. The remaster is part of a whole new look and feel for the entire WW1 Game Series: everything from logos to the in-game artwork.
New Look and Feel
The first thing you will notice on starting the game is that there has been a complete overhaul of the user interface! The menus are now more atmospheric and visually appealing, and we’ve added localizations for Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Turkish, and Polish. The new game logo better reflects the nature of Verdun and our WW1 Game Series. We have also gone over our control system with a fine-tooth comb to make it as user friendly and natural as possible, both in the menus and in the heat of battle!
There have also been several graphical improvements to the game and existing content. Character models have been improved, along with a ton of other little upgrades. We’re also proud of our revamped and improved sound effects in-game. The audio has been reworked with more satisfying and accurate sound effects, plus an updated soundscape for even more immersion when you’re fighting in the trenches. Where possible we worked with reenactors and collectors who own genuine WWI weapons to get the most authentic sounds possible!
Polish has been applied liberally throughout the game – for instance, there is an expanded gore system to better capture the sometimes shocking brutality of WWI battles, along with a bullet penetration system and tweaked barbed wire. Instead of getting caught up and dying, barbed wire will now only slow and injure you – so you still want to avoid wire, but you can force your way through in a pinch without worrying about abrupt death. There is also quality of life improvements like tutorial hints for new players, an improved spawning system, an enhanced deathcam, and more…
New Map, Squads, and Weapons
The remaster includes a new map and two new squads with new weapons! The new map is set on the St. Mihiel salient which saw heavy fighting during the Battle of St. Mihiel, when American Expeditionary Forces with French support attacked and defeated the German 5th Army. The French troops involved in the battle were from II Colonial Corps, which leads us neatly to the first of the two(!) new squads which are part of this remaster. The Senegalese Tirailleurs are a new French assault squad. Their distinctive machetes make them fearsome opponents in close quarters, and they’re no slouches at range when using their colonial variants of the Berthier rifle either.
The second new squad are the ANZACs – brought from the other side of the world to fight in the trenches of the Western Front. While Gallipoli is perhaps the most well-known battle involving ANZACs, they also fought with distinction in France. In-game the ANZACs are an engineering squad, representing troops like the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company who were engaged with digging two large mineshafts under Hill 60 in November 1916. They are well equipped with SMLE rifles and the Lewis Gun for fire support, but also include the unusual Webley-Fosbery – a recoil operated automatic revolver.
AI Allies and Opponents
Last but not least, we have added bot support to the game! You can have up to 24 AI bots join your battles. They will happily battle using any squad on any map in the Frontlines game mode. AI NCOs will call in fire support, and they can be tenacious opponents on the defense. You can even start your own custom offline battles and choose which squads you want the AI to use!
Looking to the future, the console release of Tannenberg is making good progress and we can’t wait to share more news as soon as we have it. Until then…
Happy holidays from all of us on the WW1Game Series team!
Xbox gives you a place to play and connect with your friends
and family, and we know it’s no fun when you’re interrupted. That’s where Xbox Support
steps in – whether via the Xbox Assist app on Xbox One, our online help at support.xbox.com,
our support forums or our customer support advocates, we’re always working to get
you back to gaming as fast as possible.
Today, we’re sharing another update – a new version of our support website. We’ve completely rebuilt the site with a brand-new look and feel that makes it faster and simpler to get help with your account, games, subscriptions and devices. Not only does the new site make finding help easier and more intuitive, it provides notifications based on what’s happening with Xbox and your account so the information you need is front and center.
Here are some of the updates we’ve made:
Smarter search – Search using your own
words and we’ll match you with the best solution we have, plus suggestions from
the community. The new search is focused on support exclusively and improves
from use over time.
Personal notifications – Sign in with
your Microsoft account and we’ll give you notifications and alerts to solve
problems or prevent them before they happen.
Designed for mobile – The new site is
designed to work and look great on your phone or tablet so you can get help
easily from your preferred device. And of course, it looks great from a web browser
too.
New Contact Us – We’ve made it quick and
easy to solve problems on your own, but we know that sometimes you just need to
connect with a person. Contact options are conveniently located in every article
and offer new tools to connect you to the best options for your specific question.
It’s fast – If you’re a gamer, you
probably get enough of lag and loading screens. You might not be able to see
it, but we rebuilt support.xbox.com from the ground up to help every page load
faster.
We aren’t done yet. We’re planning more updates to keep
improving Xbox Support online based on your feedback. Come visit when you haven
an issue, get help, and let us know what you think (it’s the big green “Give feedback”
button at the bottom of our home page).
Our goal is to solve your problems, save you time, and get
you back to playing games. After all, fun and play are the greatest achievements
you can unlock. Happy gaming!
Hey Beta ring users! Today’s Xbox Insider Release Notes highlight the latest fixes, known issues, and features coming to your console. Starting at 6:00 p.m. PT today, users will receive the latest 1911 Xbox One system update (build: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1911\18363.8125.191205-1530). Keep reading for more details.
System Update Details:
OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1911\18363.8125.191205-1530
Available: 6:00 p.m. PT – December 9, 2019
Mandatory: 3:00 a.m. PT – December 10, 2019
Fixes for Beta
We’ve heard your feedback, and we’re happy to announce the following fixes have been implemented for this 1911 build:
Party Chat
Fixed an issue where some users would disconnect from party chat when playing a backwards compatible title.
Store
Trailer playback on product pages should be disabled by default.
Known Issues for Beta
We understand some issues have been listed in previous Xbox Insider Release Notes. These issues aren’t being ignored, but it will take Xbox engineers more time to find a solution. We appreciate your patience at this time!
Audio
Users who have Dolby Atmos enabled and console display settings set to 120hz with 36 bits per pixel (12-bit) are experiencing loss of Dolby Atmos audio in some situations.
Workaround: Disable 120hz or set Video Fidelity to 30 bits per pixel (10-bit) or lower.
Profile Color
Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.
Are you not seeing your issue listed above? Make sure to use Report a problem to keep us informed of your issue. We may not be able to respond to everyone, but the data we’ll gather is crucial to finding a resolution.
Learn more about feedback and how each ring is differentiated in the following links:
For more information regarding the Xbox Insider Program follow us on Twitter and join the community subreddit for support and updates. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information regarding your Xbox One Update Preview ring!
