Xbox Game Studios

Game Review: Minecraft Legends provides a solid strategy spinoff

For everything that Minecraft has done over the past decade or so, it’s surprising top realise that the franchise has not yet touched the strategy genre. That is, until now. Minecraft Legends looks to fill that gap, providing fans and newcomers alike with an RTS spinoff that feels accessible to both younger and older gamers…

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As Dusk Falls Review: The heart of the heist

As Dusk Falls is in many ways a perfect representation of its setting and characters. Tucked away in Arizona, the small town of Two Rock paired with a deep and nuanced cast of intriguing characters bring to life one of the better video game stories in recent memory. Tied to many of the developer Telltale’s…

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Flight Simulator World Update 6

Microsoft Flight Simulator‘s World Update 6 to expand world again

The hotly anticipated Flight Simulator DLC, World Update 6, is coming in early September. With Microsoft Flight Simulator releasing on Xbox’s next-generation consoles last month, a whole new group of enthusiasts have been sinking their teeth into one of the best iterations in the long running series, with incredible visuals and clever controller functionality. But…

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Flight Simulator Xbox

Microsoft Flight Simulator (Xbox) Review: Clear skies ahead

Microsoft Flight Simulator on Xbox was being requested by fans before the PC version had even launched last year. To launch on a modern console is a first for Microsoft’s legendary series of flight sims. This is a franchise that predates both Microsoft Office and the Windows operating system and yet has never been available…

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The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood

The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood Preview: Companions and conflict

The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood is trying to solve to an impossible problem the game has grappled with for most of its life. Unable to fully emulate the trappings of its beloved parent series, and willing to fully embrace being its own thing, TESO has instead tried to do both. For the longest time, it has…

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Xbox Bethesda

Microsoft’s ZeniMax acquisition finalised, Bethesda officially joins Xbox

Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of Zenimax Media, the parent company of Bethesda and its attendant studios, has formally concluded. As of today, Bethesda, and every studio under its umbrella, is officially a first-party developer at Xbox. Xbox says it will drop further Bethesda games onto Xbox Game Pass this week to celebrate the acquisition. In…

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Bethesda

Xbox acquires Bethesda Softworks

“Today is a special day,” begins the most seismic announcement Phil Spencer has ever made. It certainly is. Xbox has announced overnight that it will acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. The deal, worth USD $7.5 billion, makes every studio under Bethesda’s umbrella and all of the IP they produce, from The Elder…

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Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator Review: Wings of liberty

I knew from the first that Microsoft Flight Simulator was something special. More than just a graphical showpiece, it had a clear goal in mind — to instill the joy and wonder of flight in anyone who decides to install it. It worked. From the earliest trailers, it captured the industry’s attention, an industry that…

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Battletoads

Battletoads Review: Return of the weekend rental

There’s a lot I like about Dlala Games’ take on Battletoads, but there’s just as much that I don’t. The latest Battletoads arrives almost 20 years after the NES original. It’s a side-scrolling beat-em-up in the same vein as the original, but it makes several changes to the series’ formula that may not sit well…

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Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite delayed to 2021, no longer a launch title

343 Industries have delayed the release of Halo Infinite into 2021. The delay means it will no longer be a launch title for the Xbox Series X in November. The announcement came via the official Halo Twitter account. 343 were not specific about when in 2021 they intend to launch, citing the difficulty of developing the…

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Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator Preview: Pure, unalloyed joy

Microsoft Flight Simulator feels really good and is happy to meet you where you are, regardless of whether you’re a long-time fan of the series or a complete aviation novice, and that’s all you need to know. End of preview? No? I’ve still got another 1700 words to fill? Okay, no, no it’s fine, I…

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Gears 5 Review: You’re going to get what you deserve

The common thread that runs through the Xbox’s two biggest exclusive franchises is that they are no longer being made by the developers that created them. The Halo series has been under the stewardship of 343 Industries since Halo 4, and the Gears franchise has been with The Coalition since Epic wrapped on Gears of…

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E3 2019: Double Fine joins Xbox Game Studios

One of the most important parts of being a first party publisher is having a great network of studios available to you. Xbox Game Studios have been busy, hauling in new talent to create games and content exclusively for the Xbox One and Windows PC platforms. The latest developer to join their ranks is Double…

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Games Review: Crackdown 3 is not the platform exclusive the Xbox One badly needs right now

I think we all knew, deep down, that Crackdown 3 was never going to be anything special. Years of delays don’t seem to have given developer Sumo Digital the space they needed to build on even the original game’s most basic concepts. It seems content to replicate the parts of the original that worked best…

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