Author Profile
Master web developer by trade, Ken guided Pure Xbox through its first incarnation around the time of the Xbox One. Nowadays, you'll find him selling a wealth of retro goodness via SuperChallenge.
Feature The Weird World of Awful Xbox Hardware Ripoffs
Attack of the clones
When it comes to console hardware design, Microsoft have always gotten a bit of a bad rap. The original Xbox was the size of a tank (and about as heavy as one) and the follow-up Xbox 360 wasn't designed well enough to stop boards from warping and giving millions of people the infamous "Red Ring of Death" error. The Xbox 360...
News Forza Motorsport 6 to Get Licensed NASCAR Expansion Pack
Card appears in UK stores
It appears that Forza Motorsport 6 is about to get a licensed NASCAR expansion pack. Eagle-eyed Reddit user smarkel101 spied a new card at his local retailer that advertises the new pack and suggests that it'll cost £15.99 in the UK. The reverse of the card reveals that the expansion will contain a NASCAR World Tour...
News WB Games Own Magazine Leaks Batman: Return to Arkham for Xbox One
And it might be here sooner than you think
Update: WB Games have now confirmed that Batman: Return to Arkham is indeed on the way, containing remastered versions of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. It will launch on July 29th, 2016, with a retail price of £39.99 on Xbox One. An announcement trailer follows:- Original Story:...
Review Coffin Dodgers (Xbox One)
Over the hill
It's been a while since we were in the era of a new licenced kart racer turning up every week. On the back of Super Mario Kart's success, pretty much every publisher decided that games of that type were easy to make and ship, most of them overlooking the things that made Nintendo's evergreen champion just as good as it was and still...
News Deals With Gold: Over 80 Discounts Take the Stage
An even spread
This week's Deals With Gold have been announced and there surely has to be something for everyone as Microsoft have pulled out over 80 discounts across Xbox One and Xbox 360, with a good selection of the Xbox 360 titles being playable on Xbox One. There's also two freebies in store for Battlefield fans, with the Dragon's Teeth DLC...
You are not in control.
When SUPERHOT made its debut on the E3 stage back in 2015, the trailer raised more questions than it answered. Originally created as part of a game jam event, the developer – also called SUPERHOT – managed to raise over $250,000 through crowdfunding to bring the strange FPS to life. Fast forward to the present day and the...
News Microsoft Ends Xbox 360 Production
Thanks for the memories
Microsoft have announced today that after a stellar run of over 10 years, they've ended production of the Xbox 360. After being officially revealed via a 22-minute television special - MTV Presents Xbox: The Next Generation Revealed - hosted by Elijah Wood and featuring The Killers back on May 12th, 2005, the Xbox 360 would...
Despite being fans, we fight for the users
If there was ever a movie franchise that should lend itself to a whole host of entertaining videogames, it's TRON. The two films are set in a digital world where everything crackles neon, feature intense disc battles and of course, contain fantastic sequences on light cycles. The latest (and probably...
News Xbox One User Shows How Awesome the Xbox One Dash Could Be
What say you?
We should point out from the get-go that the images you'll see in the below gallery are not in any way official...just in case you don't read the rest of the text. We just thought it was interesting and a job well done. Reddit user ES_Baxter has been tinkering with Photoshop to put together a few changes that would improve the Xbox...
Get dirty
When you first fire up Codemaster's latest racer, you're warned that DiRT Rally is a simulation that shouldn't be taken lightly. You'll wonder if that message was even necessary approximately two minutes later, when your car has flown over a sandy bank at an angle in the Greek hills and the sky and the ground have swapped places. Make no...
News Deals With Gold: Batman, Forza, Rory McIlroy Golf Cut
Back to Gotham
This week's Xbox Deals With Gold are now live, and there are savings to be had on a number of high profile titles, as well as a couple of cuts for some interesting diversions. Batman: Arkham Knight gets trimmed in the standalone and Premium editions, and the Season Pass is discounted too. Forza Horizon 2's Car Pass is cut, as is the...
Review Active Soccer 2 DX (Xbox One)
Red card
Back in the day, pretty much every game publisher had at least one football title on their books. That was certainly the case on the 16-bit systems and earlier, with every other big-name football star having a game featuring their name on the cover. Whether it was side-on (John Barnes European Football), isometric (Manchester United: The...
Review Casey Powell Lacrosse 16 (Xbox One)
High cheese
When it comes to a ranking of the most niche sports that have been turned into videogames, lacrosse is probably toward the top of the list. Following on from the relatively successful XBLIG release of College Lacrosse 12 for Xbox 360, Crosse Studio have been working on the next iteration. For Casey Powell Lacrosse 16 though, they've...
News Xbox 360 Store Comes to Xbox One Today Along With Other Updates
Backward compatible dreamland
This month's Xbox One firmware update will roll out today to all users. As reported earlier in the month, it will include some pretty large changes to improve functionality, including the ability to purchase backward compatible Xbox 360 games from the Xbox One store. The full list of changes are as follows:- Buy Xbox...
Review TrackMania Turbo (Xbox One)
Mania is right
If there's one game that's been flying under the radar since it was announced, it's Trackmania Turbo. Everyone was aware that the series – which had a sizeable fanbase on PC - would be challenging to take across to consoles, mainly due to the fact that even though it ships with a healthy supply of tracks, Trackmania is known as...
News Xbox Live Spring Sale: Xbox One Opening Day Deals List
Spring forward
It's Spring Sale time, and Microsoft has cut the prices of a big old load of games across both Xbox One and Xbox 360. The sale was due to start on the 20th, but it looks like Sunday's Halo World Championship got in the way and held things up. Still, offers are offers, and you'll find the full list of Xbox One deals below. The 360 list...
Review Blast 'Em Bunnies (Xbox One)
Blast 'em into the sun
When it comes to game concepts, the one supplied by Blast 'Em Bunnies couldn't be much simpler. You play a bunny, manning (bunnying?) a rotating gun turret. Other rabbits of various types – grenadiers, paratroopers, burrowers, walkers, etc. - are trying to get to you so that they can knock you out and take your stuff. You...
News No, Skate 3 and Black Ops Aren't Backward Compatible Yet
Well that doesn't help
Every single time we post a story about games being added to the backward compatibility list, we get a slew of Facebook comments all shouting "DUH BLACK OPS WHEN?" Folks are clamouring for the shooter (and every other Call of Duty game, because apparently they're the only games that exist) to be added to the back-compat...
News Microsoft Teases "April Blockbusters" for Games With Gold
Place your bets now, please
Microsoft have fired out a little tweetaroonie yesterday that not only confirms that Lords of the Fallen and Supreme Commander 2 have been added to the Games With Gold program (as announced last month) but that they could be throwing a couple of haymakers when it comes to April's titles. [tweet 710202587258163201] "Next...
News Two New Official Xbox One Controller Colours Due to Launch
Say hello to copper and dusk
Microsoft will launch two new official Xbox One controller colours in the form of Dusk Shadow and Copper Shadow, it has been revealed. Images started to crop up online late last week with no official Microsoft announcement in sight, but now the Swedish arm of giant European retailer MediaMarkt is listing both products,...
News Mordheim: City of the Damned Opens the Gates on Xbox One
Turn-based RPG heads to consoles
Focus Home Interactive will release Rogue Factor's Mordheim: City of the Damned on Xbox One, it has been confirmed. The game was given an age rating by PEGI last week, after launching on PC at the back end of last year. Mordheim is the first video game adaptation of Games Workshop's tabletop game of the same name,...
News Xbox Spring Sale to Return on March 20th
Get your wallet ready
Microsoft has confirmed that they'll be running a Spring Sale event which will kick off on March 20th. Details are thin on the ground of course, but it has been confirmed that the event will contain savings of up to 60% on Xbox Store games for Xbox One and Xbox 360, with Gold subscribers getting up to 10% more off. This year,...
News Fable Legends Cancelled, Lionhead Studios to Close
Just...what?
Microsoft have made a shock announcement that Lionhead Studios, developers of the Fable series and the upcoming Fable Legends, will be closed. Not only that, but with the studio closed, development will officially be ceased on Fable Legends, and the game cancelled outright. Hanno Lemke, General Manager of Microsoft Studios Europe,...
Henk, not Hank
Action Henk is a massive star that can do anything he turns his hand to. Well, you'd believe that to be the case if you took a look around the room in which he lives. He was kickflipping in Action Henk's Pro Skater 2, replaced Bruce Willis in Die Henk, and seemingly was a part of every other franchise that folks of a certain age will...
