Xbox Series X - Timeline
TodayThu, 9th May 2024
News Xbox Game Pass's Dead Island 2 'Isn't Over Yet', Vows Developer Dambuster
"We know a lot of you are wondering what's next"
After years and years of development delays, Dead Island 2 finally launched in April 2023 - with an Xbox Game Pass arrival following up last month. It seemed that after this Game Pass drop, and the team's second story DLC release, Dead Island 2's time was up - but that's not going to
Review Little Kitty, Big City (Xbox) - A Purrfect Addition to Xbox Game Pass
Cats are cute, Humans should have faces.
Little Kitty, Big City is the inaugural release for indie developer Double Dagger Studio. It’s a fun and silly venture centering around a mischievous little kitty trying to find their way back home. We were interested to understand where the makers of such wholesome content had been, and let us tell you, we...
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (May 9-12)
Included with Game Pass Core and Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox's Free Play Days selection for this week is now live, with four games in total playable for free this weekend. Crime Boss: Rockay City is probably the highlight of the bunch here, with 505's star-studded FPS only launching last summer. Here's your full Xbox Free Play Days lineup for the...
News Little Kitty, Big City Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 9)
Find your way back home
Today marks another day one arrival on Xbox Game Pass in the form of Little Kitty, Big City, in which you'll embark on a "whimsical adventure" within an open-world playground as a "curious little kitty with a big personality". The release time for Little Kitty, Big City on Xbox Game Pass is 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm BST. We've...
News Xbox Apparently Still Needs Smaller Games For 'Prestige And Awards'
Matt Booty outlines the division's future goals at the latest town hall
Just a day after Xbox announced the closure of four studios including the Hi-Fi RUSH developer Tango Gameworks, it's apparently touched on the importance of "smaller games" during its latest town hall meeting. According to "internal remarks" shared with The Verge, Xbox Game...
YesterdayWed, 8th May 2024
News Tango Gameworks Had Hopes For Hi-Fi RUSH 2 Before Xbox Closure, Says Report
"Tango was in the process of pitching a sequel"
Sorry to add to the pain of this week's news, but for those who are big fans of the great Xbox first-party title Hi-Fi RUSH, you'll be sad to know that Tango Gameworks was seemingly trying to get a sequel greenlit prior to the studio's closure. This is according to the latest report from Bloomberg...
News PS1-Style Horror Game 'Crow Country' Is Launching On Xbox To Amazing Reviews
"It is a real triumph"
Earlier this month, we included the PS1-style survival horror game Crow Country in our roundup of exciting indies to look forward to on Xbox, and the good news is that the critics appear to be absolutely loving the game so far! Some of the highlights here include a 5/5 from The Guardian, a 4/5
Report Ubisoft's Japan-Themed Assassin's Creed Set For Gameplay Reveal Next Month
A sea of red is coming
'Assassin's Creed Red' was officially unveiled back in September 2022, but we're still waiting for a proper reveal from the folks over at Ubisoft following the tiny teaser trailer up above. Earlier this year we heard that a new trailer could be dropping in May before a gameplay deep dive during Ubisoft Forward,
News Subscription Services Like Xbox Game Pass Appear To Have 'Stalled' In The US
The figures are barely moving
We've heard for a while now that Xbox Game Pass growth is slowing down these days - Microsoft has said that the service has struggled to expand numbers-wise since at least late 2022. Well, the overall US numbers seem to be backing that up, and that's across gaming subscriptions in general. Circana's Mat Piscatella (NPD...
News Starfield's New Camera View Is Getting Rave Reviews Ahead Of May's Xbox Update
"I'm completely rediscovering the game"
This time last week, Bethesda unveiled plans for the biggest update in Starfield history, adding a bunch of new features including better surface maps, new ways to customise gameplay and a 60FPS mode on Xbox Series X. Something that was also mentioned was the ability to stick to a third-person camera during...
News EA CEO 'Couldn't Be More Excited' About What The Team Is Making With Battlefield
"This is the largest Battlefield team in franchise history"
Battlefield 2042 development recently wrapped up over at EA and DICE, so naturally, murmurings about the next instalment in this famous FPS franchise are starting to appear. This week, EA CEO Andrew Wilson has been hyping up the next game in the company's latest financial report (thanks,
News The Excellent 'Banishers: Ghosts Of New Eden' Now Has A Free Trial On Xbox
Play the game for free on Xbox Series X|S
DON'T NOD's Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden flew under the radar when it launched on Xbox back in February, but when we did get around to playing it, we really enjoyed our time with this spooky investigative adventure. Three months on, and now anyone can try the game out as the team has added a free trial to...
Random Xbox Drops 'Feel The Burn' Tagline On New Controller After Four Studio Closures
It was feeling the burn...
Xbox yesterday lifted the lid on its new Fire Vapor Special Edition Xbox Series X|S controller. Attached to the reveal was the tagline "feel the burn today", and unsurprisingly this didn't go down very well after it announced four studio closures. In an update, it seems Microsoft has now made a quick edit to the...
News Tango Gameworks Founder Responds To Xbox Shutting Down Studio
"Sad"
It's another tough period for the video game industry this week with Xbox announcing the immediate closure of four teams - including its Japanese studio Tango Gameworks, responsible for Hi-Fi RUSH and multiple other IP over the years. Past and present developers have been sending their messages to these teams and now the studio founder, who...
Tuesday7th May 2024
Reaction Xbox's Push Towards 'Microsoft Gaming' Looks More Drastic Than We First Thought
The price of ever-expanding growth
It's been a wild few years over at Team Xbox, with the brand being marked by vast change since the launch of Xbox Series X and S back in late 2020 - which is starting to feel like a lifetime ago now. Huge acquisitions like that of both Bethesda and Activision Blizzard have massively changed how the team now...
News Xbox Exec Provides Reasoning Behind Bethesda Studio Closures
"I’m sharing changes we are making to our Bethesda teams"
We're all somewhat in shock by today's news surrounding the closure of four Bethesda development studios, including the teams behind the likes of Hi-Fi RUSH and Redfall. While it's hard to wrap your head around why Xbox would go out and buy these studios only to shut them down a few years...
News Xbox Is Hosting Another 'Buy One, Get Two Free' Sale This Week
But honestly, these aren't great deals
Xbox's new weekly sales are now live, and alongside a pretty great selection of standard deals on some recently released titles, the team is hosting another one of its 'Buy One, Get Two Free' sales right now. This particular promotion has a wide range of games on offer, but they're hardly what we'd call...
News New Xbox 'Achievement' Sale Includes Great Deals For Many 2023 & 2024 Releases
Grab 'em while you can
It's Tuesday, so that means we've got a new batch of discounts on the Xbox Store! Around 350 games have been added to the pile today, made up of "Achievement", "Xbox Game Studios", "Sofa Co-Op" and Xbox Game Pass sales. In the mix are some recent Xbox releases such as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Banishers: Ghosts of New...
News Kona 2: Brume Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 7)
Explore the Canadian wilderness on Game Pass
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass library update! Today, developer Parabole welcomes you to the Canadian wilderness in Kona 2: Brume, the recent sequel to 2017's Kona; which is already in the Game Pass library. Here's a quick look at Kona 2, which is now live on Xbox Game Pass: Kona 2: Brume...
News Hades 2 Gets A Surprise Early Access Release, Initial Impressions 'Overwhelmingly Positive'
A console release is on the way
Following some previews in April, the highly anticipated roguelike Hades 2 has now got an early access launch. Unfortunately, it's only for PC right now, but it could be a sign that an update about the Xbox version of Hades 2 is nearby. Supergiant's official website notes how the title is expected to be in "early...
Monday6th May 2024
Talking Point What Are Your Favourite Quick Resume Games On Xbox Series X|S?
Jump in, jump out
Back at the end of 2023, we polled the Pure Xbox community on what everyone thought about Quick Resume on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and the vast majority told us that they "love it" and "use it all the time". So, let's take this to the next level! Clearly this instant-resume feature has proven extremely popular since its...
News Xbox Fan Helps Bromley FC Achieve Greatest Success In 132 Years
A dream come true
Last year, Xbox and Football Manager held a competition to give one lucky Xbox fan a job at Bromley FC as a "Support Performance Tactician", and it was ultimately won by Nathan Owolabi who has become the star of a mini documentary. If that wasn't cool enough, Owolabi played a part in Bromley's biggest success in their 132 years as...
News Microsoft & CI Games Strike Deal For Two New Xbox Game Pass Additions
One was already rumoured to be coming!
Following a rumour about Lords of the Fallen coming to Xbox Game Pass this month, we seem to have confirmation of that particular title and another from publisher CI Games joining the library soon. As picked up by Polish business site Bankier, Microsoft appears to have agreed to bring t
Talking Point Would You Mind If The Next Xbox Was A Portable Console?
Or do you hope Microsoft sticks to a traditional system?
As we move through the fourth year of Xbox Series X|S, we're surely approaching the back-half of this generation of gaming - which has us often pondering where Microsoft might go next. Lately, 'Xbox handheld' rumours have been swirling — fuelled by the likes of Phil Spencer talking about...
News TopSpin 2K25 Has A New Xbox Rival As 'Tennis Elbow 4' Makes Console Debut
Some are calling it "the most realistic tennis simulation ever"
It's definitely a great time for tennis fans on Xbox right now! We've been having a blast with TopSpin 2K25 ever since it was released a couple of weeks ago, and yet another tennis game is about to make its debut on Xbox this week. The latest one is called Tennis Elbow 4, and many of...
News Fallout 4's Next-Gen Update 'Weirdly Undercooked', Says Digital Foundry
It may have needed more time in the vault
We waited a long time for Bethesda to deliver its next-gen upgrade for Fallout 4, and it's safe to say that last month's update hasn't turned out to be a particularly smooth transition for Xbox Series X|S players. Now, the team at Digital Foundry has had a good look at how
News Xbox Is Apparently 'Very Confident' In Its 2024 Summer Showcase Lineup
Just over a month until the big day!
We're closing in on the big Xbox Games Showcase for 2024, with this year's event recently confirmed to be airing on June 9th - and it's sounding like we might be in for a treat during the 2024 show and beyond. Windows Central's Jez Corden has been hyping up the event on Twitter, discussing his most anticipated...
Saturday4th May 2024
Feature These 20+ Games Are Coming To Xbox Next Week (May 6-10)
Including two Game Pass titles!
Welcome to your Xbox games roundup for May 6-10! Although there aren't too many big releases next week, there's some great-looking stuff on the way including PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs, Indika and
Friday3rd May 2024
News 24 Years Later, This Obscure SEGA Dreamcast Game Arrives On Xbox Next Week
This time it's "massively improved"
Hands up, who remembers Rainbow Cotton for the SEGA Dreamcast? There are probably quite a few people who do, but for the majority of Xbox fans, we'd suggest that this 3D rail shooter from 2000 likely passed you by. That doesn't matter though, because 24 years after it first launched, we're now getting it on Xbox!...
News Hellblade 2 Will Display With Black Bars Outside Of Ultrawide Mode
The game has a 2.39:1 aspect ratio
Xbox and Ninja Theory have officially started the hype train for the release of Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 later this month, and as part of this, some interesting details have been confirmed about the game's aspect ratio. Taking to social media earlier this week, Ninja Theory shared the screenshot you see above,...
