Category: Xbox News

At long last, we’re excited to celebrate with fans of Final Fantasy VIII! For the first time in its 20-year history, the beloved adventure of Squall Leonhart comes to Xbox One with a visual overhaul as Final Fantasy VIII Remastered.

A widely embraced franchise favorite, Final Fantasy VIII has always stood out for its realistic art style and authentic storytelling – fans have been clamoring for this title to receive the same remastered love and attention as its peers. We heard you!

The uniqueness of Final Fantasy VIII’s design, characters, and gameplay mechanics differentiate the game from its predecessors. For the first time in the franchise’s history, characters are modelled to be realistic and true-to-life, moving away from the established high fantasy feel in favor of a grounded, modern story.

Final Fantasy VIII also introduced Guardian Forces, providing a new level of customization to battle strategy. Like our fans, we believe this title’s uniqueness is not to be overlooked, a testament to the series tradition of innovating with each new title. We wanted to give more players a chance to discover Final Fantasy VIII with a newly refreshed look!

For new fans, the story of Final Fantasy VIII casts unlikely heroes in a war to save the world. The setting: military nation Galbadia has declared war on the Dukedom of Dollet, left with no choice but to hire a mercenary force for their defense. Enter SeeD and its newest member: Squall Leonhart. Together with his friends, Squall joins Rinoa Heartilly, a member of the resistance, on a journey that holds the fate of their world in its balance.

In Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, we aimed to revitalize these beloved characters without compromising the feel of the original game. We hope players and fans alike will enjoy seeing them come to life like never before!

You can keep up with the latest on Final Fantasy VIII Remastered at Xbox.com and ffviiiremastered.com.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot brings the beloved story to life like never before. In this all-new Action RPG, fans will step into the shoes of one of the greatest warriors to ever walk the planet, Kakarot, who we all know by his Earth name, Goku.

Before he was known as a great hero, Goku had to overcome some monumental odds. Fans will get to relive Goku’s most epic battles such as his showdowns with Raditz and Frieza, to name a few. These battles for the fate of the planets will test the limits of your combat abilities, pushing you to grow stronger and rise to the challenge!

Beyond these iconic battles, you will also get to experience everything in between as you fly, fish, eat, train with friends, strengthen bonds and build relationships. Complete unique side quests to unlock never-before-seen stories and dialogue that answer burning questions of Dragon Ball Z lore for the first time.

With its unique blend of humor, heart-warming moments, and unforgettable battles, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot stays true to the anime that has captured the hearts of fans around the world.  Get ready to relive the epic tale of Goku when Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot comes to Xbox One early 2020.

Starting at 3:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha & Beta Rings will begin receiving the latest 1906 Xbox One system update (Build: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4050.190607-1330).

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4050.190607-1330
• Available: 3:00PM PDT 6/8/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 6/9/19

Fixes:

 

My Games and Apps

• We have fixed the issue in which My Games and Apps is blank after launching it from Home and/or hitting refresh from the guide.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Starting at 6:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Beta Ring will begin receiving the latest 1906 Xbox One system update (Build: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4048.190605-1940).

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4048.190605-1940
• Available: 6:00PM PDT 6/7/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 6/8/19

Fixes:

 

My Games and Apps

• We have fixed the issue in which My Games and apps is blank after deleting a title from collection.

System

• Various Narrator fixes.
• Various Localization fixes.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Starting at 6:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Ring will begin receiving the latest 1906 Xbox One system update (Build: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4048.190605-1940).

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4048.190605-1940
• Available: 6:00PM PDT 6/6/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 6/7/19

Fixes:

 

My Games and Apps

• We have fixed the issue in which My Games and apps is blank after deleting a title from collection.

System

• Various Narrator fixes.
• Various Localization fixes.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Ring will begin receiving the latest 1906 Xbox One system update (Build: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4046.190603-1940).

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4046.190603-1940
• Available: 2:00PM PDT 6/5/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 6/6/19

Fixes:

 

My Games and Apps

• We have fixed the issue the collection not correctly showing the latest Ready To Install (RTI) list for the signed in user when launching My Games and Apps.

System

• Fixed Game clip trim right button now keyboard navigable.
• Various Narrator fixes.
• Various Localization fixes.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

My Games and Apps

• We are tracking an issue in which My Games and apps is blank after deleting a title from collection.  A console reboot fixes this temporarily and we are working on a fix.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Today, I’ve got a question for you. Can a platformer be nonviolent, while having a deep story, adventure, dynamic platforming, and more? That’s one of the game design questions we answered when working on the upcoming Even the Ocean.

Even the Ocean is a platformer adventure where you play as Aliph, a government worker who repairs power plants. You’ll travel across the countryside, meet diverse people, and attempt to restore the world’s balance of light and dark energy. In the power plants, you’ll use obstacles and hazards to shift Aliph’s energy levels and movement physics.

Central to Even the Ocean is the two-way energy bar. This bar shows Aliph’s alignment between dark and light energy. By touching energy-charged obstacles, she’ll shift her alignment — dark means she’ll run faster; light means she’ll jump higher. Absorb too much energy of one type… and Aliph will die.  Every level contains multiple ways to overcome its challenges. A dark-energy laser might be a hazard at some alignments, but it might be a huge benefit at other alignments.

I hope you’ll play the game to discover all the different ways we use the two-way energy bar! But, you may be wondering… “Wow, that art… looks pretty good… what’s the deal with that?”

Good question!

Well, you see, Even the Ocean is roughly divided into two types of areas. Outdoors areas and power plant areas. The first picture in this post was a riverside outdoors area and the photo beliw is a power plant area.

The town areas are more organic, more natural feeling. They have hills, slopes, forests, water, and more. So, our artist Marina Kittaka used a special pixelized, painterly style to create these flowing hills and backgrounds. We wanted to create a feeling of being outdoors and hiking. Please take many screenshots and be sure to use the dedicated sit button and enjoy the sights.

As for the power plant areas? They’re far blockier and more geometrical. That’s because we wanted to emphasize the man-made-ness of those levels, and also, it’s easier to create platforming levels that are blocky and square shaped. You might also notice that those areas are made up of a patchwork of tile-based graphics, just like older games. This allowed us to make the levels art faster.

Now, the art we’ve shown here is just a mere taste. The game has a rich, character and dialogue-driven story, which will take you to many wondrous places. I hope that this post will enrich your experience and time with the game!

And, by the way! Even the Ocean is one of the first indie games to feature an extensive accessibility and gameplay options menu. You can turn on blocks to make levels easier, toggle the platform physics – even play the game without story or without platforming levels! Please utilize these options to make the experience as fun for you as possible!

Anyways, thanks to the support of prolific Ratalaika Games, we’re happy to be bringing Even the Ocean to Xbox One.

I hope this post has piqued your interest in the game. Please look forward to playing Even the Ocean later this year! Until next time… Chief Happiness Officer Sean Han Tani out. (Be sure to check out our other game, Anodyne, also on Xbox One!)

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Ring will begin receiving the latest 1906 Xbox One system update (Build: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4043.190531-1540).

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4043.190531-1540
• Available: 2:00PM PDT 5/31/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 6/1/19

Fixes:

 

 My Games and Apps

• We have fixed the issue with DLC for games is not showing when you go to Manage games.

 System

• Various Narrator fixes.
• Various Localization fixes.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Beta and Delta Rings will begin receiving the latest 1906 Xbox One system update (Build: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4041.190529-1940).

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4041.190529-1940
• Available: 2:00PM PDT 6/1/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 6/2/19

Fixes:

My Games and Apps

• We have fixed an issue with some media apps like Hulu playback that suffered stutter during playback.
• We are resolved a memory issue is which under some circumstances the console would shutdown and reboot while playing some games after a period of time with the user in party.

System

• Performance fixes to Home.
• Game Pass twist relocation on home.
• Fixes to Real time activity feed reliability.
• Narrator fixes.
• Various Localization fixes.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

My Games and Apps

• DLC for games is not showing when you go to Manage games – Fix is in progress and a workaround is to go to the Store PDP (Product Display Page)

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Skip Ahead Ring will begin receiving the latest 1910 Xbox One system update (19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_19H2HOLD_1910\18362.7148.190530-1940).  This build has the same features and fixes that are coming in 1906 however we need valuable core recovery coverage and feedback as we skip ahead.

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_19H2HOLD_1910\18362.7148.190530-1940
• Available: 2:00PM PDT 6/1/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 6/2/19

Fixes:

 

My Games and Apps

• Fixed an issue in which some games were stalling or crashing when installing.
• We have fixed an issue with any game that you own that is also in Game Pass did not show in your Ready To Install (RTI).
• We are resolved an issue with duplicate tiles in RTI.
• Performance fixes to games when resuming them from a paused state.

System

• UI fixes to Home to correctly show when your Game Pass subscription is expiring.
• Narrator fixes to various parts of Home and the Dashboard.
• Localization fixes.
• OOBE (Out Of Box Experience) UI and workflow fixes.
• Fixes to stop the guide UI from jumping around in the UI.

USB TV Tuner

• We have resolved the issue with the USB TV tuner is not working in Oneguide.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

My Games and Apps

• DLC for games is not showing when you go to Manage games – Fix is in progress and a workaround is to go to the Store PDP (Product Display Page)

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.