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!

Play Apex Legends, a Free-to-Play Battle Royale from the Makers of Titanfall 2
Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale game where legendary competitors fight for glory, fame, and fortune on the fringes of the Frontier. To win in the Apex Games you’ll need to stay sharp, use your wits, and keep your friends close. But victory also favors the prepared, and a few helpful tips in your pocket can be the difference between defeat and… Read more

Safer Internet Day 2019: Our Continued Commitment to Safe, Welcoming and Inclusive Xbox Gaming
In honor of Safer Internet Day 2019, I’ll be joining students and leaders from Google and Facebook on today’s Youth & Tech Industry Issues in Perspective panel starting at 1:30 p.m. PST. Together, we will share our thoughts on the tough questions around technology, online engagement and living in a connected world. At Xbox, positive online experiences… Read more

Wargroove Tips and Tricks
Everyone at Chucklefish is blown away by the response to Wargroove. It’s been truly fantastic! That said, we know the game can get pretty tough, so we’re here to offer you some tips. We hope they help you on your way to becoming a groovy Commander! Knowledge is Power Each unit in Wargroove is unique, with unique stats, abilities, and critical hit conditions… Read more

The Official Monster AMA Supercross Championship Game is Back
Monster Energy Supercross The Official Videogame 2 will give you the chance to live like a pro rider, managing all the aspects of the life inside and outside the track! And as an Xbox One X Enhanced title we support an improved shadow quality, an overall post process effects quality that has been enhanced, and we improved FX quality… Read more

Community Achievement Unlocked: Aneska Joins the Spacelords
Ever since Spacelords launched as a free to play adventure in shooter form, the MercurySteam development team understood that the game’s unique proposition would attract a particular kind of player — one who wanted to experiment something beyond the more traditional formulas found in the genre. We have always maintained… Read more

Pumped BMX Pro Available Today on Xbox One and with Xbox Game Pass
Hello, Xbox Wire readers! We’re proud to announce that Pumped BMX Pro available now on Xbox One and with Xbox Game Pass. Pumped BMX Pro is a trick-based BMX game which has you riding and grinding your way through 60 levels of ever increasing difficulty, each with its own challenges and feats to complete… Read more

Free Play Days: The Sims 4, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and Fishing Sim World
Having trouble deciding what to play this weekend? Here’s this weekend’s Free Play Days event to help make it simple for you! Xbox Live Gold members can play The Sims 4, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and Fishing Sim World for free as part of the Free Play Days event. Express your creativity with your Sims… Read more

39 Days to Mars Available Now on Xbox One
Pack your tea-cosy, oil your Penny-Farthing, and hold on to your Top Hat, because: 39 Days to Mars is out now on Xbox One! It’s been a long journey to get to this point, and after five years of development, hundreds of hours of play-testing, and thousands of hand-drawn sketches, it’s unbelievably exciting to see 39 Days to Mars launch on Xbox One… Read more

A Plague Tale: Innocence Takes You Behind the Scenes in an Emotional New Webseries
A Plague Tale: Innocence, the new title from Asobo Studio, will release May 14 on Xbox One. You take the role of Amicia, a young girl in medieval France, navigating an infected and war-torn world while trying to protect her younger brother Hugo. Swarms of rats lurk in the dark while the mysterious Inquisition pursues them constantly… Read more

Play For Honor’s Wu Lin Faction for Free During the Weeklong Hero Trial
For Honor players who’ve held off on unlocking the four Heroes of the Wu Lin faction can see what they’ve been missing starting today on Xbox One, when a new Hero Trial will make them temporarily available for use on the battlefield. Xbox Live Gold members who already own For Honor on Xbox One will be able to play as the Tiandi… Read more

Salt and Sanctuary and the Salt That Nearly Was
At long last, Salt and Sanctuary is coming to Xbox One! Our 2D souls-like of deadly monsters, labyrinthine dungeons, and shattered heroes may be our studio’s fourth big game, but it’s our first title to grace Xbox One. Over a decade ago, when the studio was just me, I was lucky enough to get my big break when I was awarded… Read more

The Full List of Crackdown 3 Achievements Revealed
The boom is nearly upon us, as Crackdown 3 will be releasing on Xbox One on February 15. We’ve taken good looks at everything from the single-player campaign to the over-the-top multiplayer of Wrecking Zone, but there’s one thing we haven’t revealed yet: the game’s achievements. On today’s episode of Inside Xbox… Read more

Enjoy Great Discounts During the ID@Xbox Sports Spectacular Sale
In case you didn’t get enough excitement from this year’s big game, the ID@Xbox team has you covered. We have pulled together some of our favorite indie sports games and put them on sale! From now through February 11 you can save up to 60% on over 40 action packed sports games in the Indie Sports Spectacular sale… Read more

Crackdown 3 Wrecking Zone Technical Test Coming on February 7 for Xbox Insiders
We’re just a little over a week away from the launch of Crackdown 3, and we couldn’t be more excited for fans to dive back in to the over-the-top world of Crackdown that is coming to Xbox Game Pass on February 15. As the team moves full steam toward launch, we will be conducting a technical test of Wrecking Zone… Read more

Inside Xbox February Episode News Recap
Today, on our February episode of Inside Xbox, we gave fans a closer look at the highly anticipated Xbox One exclusive Crackdown 3, talked to the creative talent behind Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, revealed new titles coming soon to Xbox Game Pass like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and de blob, unveiled a hot new Xbox One controller… Read more

Friends Play Free In Sea of Thieves February 6-13
Show your crew the ropes and set sail for adventure! Filled with thrills, spills and the best kind of shenanigans, few things in life are more enjoyable than crewing up with friends in Sea of Thieves. If you’ve never had the pleasure, then this is for you – over the coming week we’re letting every Sea of Thieves player invite three friends to join the fun… Read more

Xbox Game Pass: Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Crackdown 3, Pumped BMX Pro, and More in February
Hi, Xbox Game Pass friends! It’s time for another drop of games coming your way. In case you hadn’t already cried when you realized that your backlog of video games has grown that much larger, my apologies. And if you’re going to cry on the controller, make it player 2’s controller please. We’re taking you deep this time around… Read more

Kick Your Style up a Notch with the Xbox Wireless Controller – Sport Red Special Edition
Bring your ABXY game with the new Xbox Wireless Controller – Sport Red Special Edition. Whether you’re gearing up for a new Xbox Game Pass Quest or bringing some extra flair to your next Mixer stream, this vibrant, bold controller will make a statement. Inspired by the world of active wear and sports lifestyle, the Xbox Wireless Controller… Read more

Become A Hero At Halo: Outpost Discovery
One of our favorite things about the Halo franchise are the many ways to experience its rich setting – from the games themselves to the dozens of novels, live-action and animated films, comics and more, that have been created and crafted over almost two decades. Today, we’re excited to give fans a brand-new way to experience and immerse themselves… Read more

Introducing Xbox Game Studios
At Xbox, we believe when everyone plays, we all win. It’s why we’re passionate about building a portfolio of games for players across console, PC and mobile. As we’ve expanded our focus beyond the console, the Xbox brand has also evolved from its original roots. Today, Xbox is our gaming brand across all devices, no matter how or where you want to play… Read more

Unleash Your Power with the Xbox One S Anthem Bundle
After being revealed at this weekend’s basketball game that featured two of the court’s biggest franchises and stars, Xbox partnered with publisher Electronic Arts to show off the Xbox One S Anthem Bundle. In Anthem, you will be able to assemble your high-tech, hand-crafted Javelin exosuit to explore vast ruins, battle deadly enemies and claim otherworldly artifacts… Read more

OpTic Gaming Makes Dramatic Run to Take Home Another Title
With a massive player pool, thousands of rabid cheering fans and some of the best Gears Esports gameplay ever, the Gears Pro Circuit Mexico City Open went down as a highlight for both players and fans alike. OpTic Gaming proved their championship mettle with a dramatic run that ended with taking down Denial Esports in a dominating fashion to claim the $200,000 prize pool… Read more

Play Arma 3 for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup Arma 3 at 66% off the regular price!*

If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Arma 3. If you don’t have Steam, you can download it here.

*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time

Nintendo arguably left the best announcement until last in the most recent Direct presentation. In case you missed it, we’re talking about the reveal of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for the Nintendo Switch – a remake of the Game Boy classic, first released in 1993.

With very few details about the game available at this point in time, other than the year of release and game trailer (see below), most returning fans are likely expecting it to be a relatively straightforward port, with a new lick of paint and some quality of life changes here and there. The game listing on the official Nintendo website though has led to speculation there could be a multiplayer option in the game, as the page says the number of players has not been determined. See for yourself below:

We know it’s still early days, but given the fact the original title was a solo experience, it raises questions as to why the listing doesn’t already say this. If we were to wildly speculate ourselves, perhaps there is a chance Nintendo will add in a bonus mode or game similar to Tri Force Heroes or the Four Swords, as this next outing appears to be another classic take on the series.

If you don’t know what all the fuss about this remake is for, why not take advantage of the current half-price offer on My Nintendo and download the Virtual Console DX version on your 3DS.

What do you make of this? Were you expecting a multiplayer component to be included with this Game Boy remake? Are you excited about Link’s Awakening coming to the Switch? Tell us in the comments.

Shortly after the Switch release of Dead Cells in August last year, the game’s developer Motion Twin was forced to issue an apology because of the frame rate issues. In certain areas of the title, players were reportedly experiencing significant dips in performance, resulting in entire sections of the game running well-below 60fps.

Motion Twin, at the time, said it would prioritise the issue and later on in September released a temporary fix, allowing “sensitive” players on the Switch to cap the game at 30 frames per second. Now, in the latest major update, the developer has finally got the game running on the Switch at a silky-smooth 60 frames per second. Here’s exactly how Motion Twin fixed it, courtesy of a message from the game’s newsfeed on the Switch:

We went back to the drawing board and completely rebuilt the driver that runs the graphics on the Switch, interfacing between Haxe, our home made game engine and Nintendo’s hardware. That was August last year…

As you can see we hit a few roadblocks, it was something of a technical challenge. However, we pulled it off and we’re really excited to see what you all think of our work.

In addition to this is a major update for the game. It adds custom game support – allowing players to select their level seed, and adjusts the difficulty and balancing. You can read the full patch notes over on the Dead Cells website.

In case you missed it, be sure to check out the recent interview with the Dead Cells team as well:

Have you been waiting for this Dead Cells frame rate fix? Will you be trying out the new update? Tell us below.

We’re finally at the end of what has been a pretty eventful week – you know, with that little video presentation thingy from Nintendo and all that – so it’s time to settle down and recover with some games-based chat. As ever, members of the Nintendo Life team have gathered to share their weekend plans and we’d love for you to get involved, too. Make your voices heard in the poll and comment section down below. Enjoy!

Ryan Craddock, staff writer

This weekend, like any weekend, was going to be completely dedicated to hoovering up those last few Super Smash Bros. Ultimate spirits – I have around 1,100 of the things and getting these last ones are proving to be more time-consuming than ever before. Those plans might have just been thrown out of the window, though, thanks to that silly, ridiculous, brilliant Tetris game.

Yep, like most who have played it, Tetris 99 seems to have me pretty hooked. Winning is incredibly tough, but the ability to just jump straight into another game makes you want to go for ‘just one more’. I’ve already started seeing Tetriminos in my sleep.

Austin Voigt, contributing writer

This weekend, I have high hopes of maybe starting Final Fantasy IX on the Switch – but let’s be honest, it’s been a long week, and I’ll probably just end up playing Tetris 99 the whole time. I’m also pretty disappointed with the lack of Animal Crossing news during the Direct, and I have this itch to go re-purchase a Wii U (I traded mine in when the Switch came out) to replay City Folk. If I squint my eyes, I may be able to trick myself into thinking it looks like an Animal Crossing game on the Switch… desperate times call for desperate measures.

Gavin Lane, staff writer

Despite falling foul of this week’s eShop sale, I doubt I’ll have time to play Undertale this weekend. You see, an impending arrival in the household means sorting out the house is a matter of urgency, so I’ll be going through old boxes filled with consoles and games, making difficult decisions. It’s a pretty lean collection already, but I had a crisis of conscience a few months back when I had the idea to replace my original NES console – which I can’t actually play through my TV anymore – with a nice, neat NES Mini. Of course, in the end I came to the only logical conclusion: get the NES Mini and keep the NES, too.
It’s going to be a long weekend…

Gonçalo Lopes, contributing writer

On the assumption that ‘Tetris Battle Royale’ won’t take over my entire life, there are some ARMS punches to be thrown along with some Super Smash Bros. Ultimate amiibo and Spirit Board event action this weekend. Nothing like a Nintendo Direct midweek to send every sort of weekend plans into complete disarray and I certainly was not expecting to get my hands on an early build of one of my current 2019 GOTY candidates. Since we were asked so politely for feedback, I will indulge in exploring DAEMON X MACHINA’s Prototype Missions demo to the fullest.

Tikipod’s Iron Crypticle is my game of the week. Grab the game, grab three friends and wonder why no one else is delivering a twin-stick shooter of this finesse.

Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, reviewer

This weekend I’ll be falling back into a series I have a rather unhealthy obsession with: Blazblue. As per usual, it’s taken an age for BlazBlue: Central Fiction to make it to the west but it’s finally here and I can’t wait to get stuck into some more 2D fighting madness. Oh and lots of Paladins because I’m a predictable bore.

Liam Doolan, news reporter

If you had asked me several years ago what kind of video games I thought I would be playing in 2019, I probably wouldn’t have said Tetris against 98 other people online. I’m probably not alone when I say I’ve always been fond of this arguably perfect tile-matching puzzle game, but I don’t think I’ve ever been this impressed by it before.

When I’m not giving my brain a workout in Tetris 99 this weekend, I’ll be spending time making maps and slowly working my way through the campaign in Wargroove. Other than these games, I’ve been encouraged by the recent Team Cherry announcement to go back and play Hollow Knight. I’ll also be revisiting the Game Boy Color Virtual Console version of Link’s Awakening on the 3DS, in preparation for the Switch remake.

As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave a vote in the poll above and a comment below with your gaming choices over the next few days…

An article by Emily Rogers over on Nintendo World Report suggests a VR-related announcement for the Switch could arrive as early as this year. This information allegedly comes from “multiple sources” as Rogers goes onto state how a “small, select number of traditional first-party software titles” could potentially receive VR support in the “not-so-distant future.”

GoNintendo added fuel to the fire, revealing how a “very trusted source” said VR support for the Switch was, in fact, true and Nintendo Labo would be one of the first games to support it. Right now, there are no details about what this rumoured Labo kit would contain or what it would be called.

Last October, at Seattle’s Geekwire Summit, Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils- Aimé explained how Nintendo had been experimenting with VR technology but said it would need to be fun in order to get the green light:

“This is something we constantly think about, experiment with. For virtual reality, we’ve said: it’s tech that we’re looking at, but in the end it has to be fun. That’s our mission, and that is what we do arguably better than anyone else.”

While he had nothing to announce at the time, Reggie did mention how VR was a technology Nintendo would continue to experiment with in the future.

As noted by Nintendo World Report, there have been several signs Nintendo has been thinking about bringing VR to the Switch. Last August, data miners uncovered a screen-splitting “VR Mode” hidden within the Switch system firmware and in 2016 the hybrid device was reportedly delayed to enhance its VR capabilities. In the same year, the company also filed a patent application for a head-mounted display and just last month it was revealed Nintendo would be participating as an observer of a joint Japanese enterprise known as the VRM Consortium.

Based on the above-mentioned information, do you think VR is coming to the Nintendo Switch? Do you think it will arrive this year? Are you interested in using VR devices to play games? Tell us below.

The 2018 Mac mini is a welcome refresh to the compact Mac product line, but the Intel graphics are weak. AppleInsider examines whether it is worth the extra expense of adding an external GPU to the Mac mini.

In a previous comparison where the 2018 Mac Mini was put against the iMac 5K, it was decided the Mac mini is a great option for users who don’t really need best-in-class graphical performance, such as for photo editing and other intensive media tasks. The Mac Mini doesn’t pack a dedicated graphics card, and it definitely lags behind the iMac 5K which is supplied with a Radeon Pro GPU.

However, the Mac Mini does sport four Thunderbolt 3 ports, which means there is the opportunity of hooking up an eGPU, an external enclosure that houses a graphics card.

The actual setup process for the eGPU on the Mac mini is relatively straightforward, regardless of whether it is a separately bought graphics card and enclosure or a premade unit. If bought separately, insert the graphics card into the enclosure’s PCI-e slot and insert the power connectors into the card. Plug your monitor into the card, then plug the enclosure into an outlet and connect it to the Mac mini’s Thunderbolt 3 port.

Once connected, macOS should instantly recognize the eGPU and automatically start using it for graphics rendering.

Price comparisons

For the purposes of this test, a powerful $400 Radeon RX Vega 64 graphics card will be attached to the Mac mini using a $250 Sonnet 550-Watt eGPU enclosure via Thunderbolt 3. It is worth noting the enclosure is also capable of providing 87 Watts of power delivery, allowing it to recharge a connected MacBook for those interested in giving their portable Mac more graphical grunt.

The Mac mini next to the Sonnet eGPU enclosure

The Mac mini in this case is upgraded with an Intel Core i7 processor and 512 gigabytes of storage. Instead of upgrading the RAM to 32 gigabytes for $600 through Apple, a 32-gigabyte upgrade kit was acquired for the far cheaper cost of $200. Following a memory swap, the total cost of the Mac mini in this case is approximately $1,700.

The price of the Vega 64 eGPU brings the entire boosted Mac mini setup to $2,350, excluding the monitor and peripherals. Add these extras on, and you’re getting quite close to the cost of a similar-specification iMac 5K.

Just on comparative specifications, those switching from PC to Mac or upgrading from an earlier Mac mini model are likely to have their own mouse, keyboard, monitor, and in the case of the PC user, potentially even an AMD graphics card to add to an empty eGPU enclosure. In this sort of situation, opting for the Mac mini is probably going to offer the better overall value for money.

In the event you don’t need all of the power offered by the Vega 64, an alternative option is to acquire a $200 RX 580 graphics card and combine it with the $200 350-Watt Sonnet eGPU enclosure. Going for these cheaper options brings the overall cost down to $2,100, saving $250.

The eGPU enclosure is a considerable investment in terms of desk space

Realistically, you can also save a good amount of cash on the Mac Mini by opting for a smaller storage capacity, using less RAM, or maybe just going with the i5 processor instead of the i7 if you don’t need that much processing power.

Performance

The main downside to using an eGPU is that it isn’t as efficient as using an internal graphics card. The Thunderbolt 3 for a variety of reasons can shave off some performance compared to a native PCI-E connection, or a built-in version.

As part of the testing, the Radeon RX Vega 64 eGPU was put against the discrete Radeon Pro 580 in the iMac 5K and the Vega 56 installed in the iMac Pro. Both discrete cards are less powerful than the Vega 64 in the eGPU, but benefit from a wider data path than the Thunderbolt 3 eGPU.

Looking at raw performance in Geekbench 4’s Metal test, the Mac Mini with Vega 64 scored similarly to the iMac Pro with the Vega 56 card, but quite a bit less than the iMac Pro with the same Vega 64 GPU. More importantly, the Mac mini using the eGPU achieves a score over six times greater than without the enclosure.

Synthetic benchmarks are a decent approximation of everyday tasking, but aren’t a good indicator of specific performance on every given task. AppleInsider has its own real-world tests involving video editing in Final Cut Pro X. The tests also provide more variation in terms of load sharing, with some elements relying more on the processor than the eGPU, which can have more of a bearing on the final scores.

Starting with the BruceX Final Cut Pro benchmark, the Mac mini with the eGPU is right up there with the iMac Pro, and is even faster than the iMac 5K. Compared to the Mac mini by itself, there is a considerable performance increase with the external card.

In a test for stabilizing a 20-second 4K clip, the eGPU-equipped Mac mini is actually slower than both the iMac Pro and the iMac 5K, but again is still a marked improvement over the Mac mini alone, running approximately 3.5 times faster. The slowness despite having a more powerful card is likely down to the inefficiencies of using an externally-located graphics card.

In another video test exporting a 5 minute 4K project, the Vega 64 helps the Mac mini finish over twice as fast as a stock model, but it’s unfortunately still slower than the iMacs. This is somewhat surprising as the Mac mini’s processor and eGPU are both more powerful than what is offered in a top-of-the-line iMac 5K.

Moving on to a 5 minute 4.5K RED RAW project, the Mac mini actually outperforms the iMac 5K, as the Red RAW codec is extremely processor intensive rather relying than eGPU-based processing. Since the Mac mini’s processor is faster, it finishes quicker than the iMac 5K.

In the last test, exporting a 60p Canon Raw Lite project, the Mac mini is yet again slower than the other two, because it is a less processor-intensive task, and more of GPU-bound one. However, it was able to play back the project at 52 frames per second compared to only 45 on the iMac 5K. The iMac Pro played back at the full 60 frames per second.

The result dropped down to around 22 frames per second in the Canon Raw project when the display was plugged directly into the Mac mini, instead of into the eGPU. Treat this as a warning that, if you ever use an eGPU, make sure the monitor is plugged directly into the enclosure.

A mixed result

If you already own a 2018 Mac mini, getting an eGPU can really boost graphics performance compared to the stock specification, but graphical power is your primary differentiator between the Mac Mini and the iMac 5K, just go with the iMac. It performed better in almost every test put to all of the models, even though the processor and graphics card aren’t as powerful as the Mac mini’s processor and the eGPU’s graphics card. There is also the benefit of having a beautiful 5K display to use at the same time and minimal desk usage due to being an all-in-one unit.

Throughout, the iMac Pro showed itself to be a viable alternative to both of the other Macs, passing with decent results in all of the tests. It may not necessarily offer the cost savings of a Mac mini with an eGPU, but it is certainly an option for those looking for reliable performance.