Fallout 4, The Division Now Available on Xbox Game Pass
At Microsoft's E3 2018 press conference, Todd Howard announced that Fallout 4 is now available on Xbox Game Pass. Additionally, Tom Clancy’s The Division and The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited were added to the Xbox Game Pass library, available today (June 10).
Forza Horizon 4, Crackdown 3, Ashen, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Afterparty, and more upcoming titles will go into the Xbox Game Pass catalogue on the same day of release.
Microsoft is leaning into Xbox Game Pass's popularity by leveraging machine learning expertise “and
a way to start your games twice as fast." Called FastStart, it’s two times faster than before. FastStart will launch for select titles in the June update coming later this month.
The Division 2 Release Date Revealed
Ubisoft revealed the release date for The Division 2 during Microsoft's E3 2018 briefing.
At the end of an extended gameplay trailer, the March 15, 2019 release date was shown on screen briefly.
In May, during Ubisoft's quarterly earnings reports, it revealed The Division 2's release window, but didn't pin down a specific date until today.
Developing...
Tales of Vesperia Remaster Coming to Xbox Store in Winter 2018
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition will be coming to the Xbox Store this winter, Microsoft announced at its E3 2018 press conference.
The E3 2018 announcement trailer for Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition promised it will include "content and characters brought to the West for the first time."
This remaster gives a facelift to the 2008 RPG a decade after its release. Tales of Vesperia originally released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
IGN gave Tales of Vesperia an 8.2 on its original release, saying it's "a strong anime-style Japanese RPG with a wide- ranging story, compelling characters and an intense real-time battle system that keeps you on your toes."
PUBG Teases Snowy Map for Winter 2018
During today's Microsoft press conference a new snowy map for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was teased.
According to the teaser trailer that was revealed during the showcase, the map will be released in winter 2018.
The Evangel and Miramar maps, both of which are available on PC, are also available for Xbox One. Additionally, the new Sanhok map will be released sometime this summer.
The popular battle royale shooter garnered over three million Xbox One players in less than a month after its launch in Xbox Game Preview this past December. By the end of January, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds reached 4 million players on Xbox One.
Microsoft Acquires Forza Horizon Dev PlayGround Games
Microsoft announced at E3 today that they have acquired Forza Horizon developer PlayGround Games, State of Decay developer Undead Labs, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice developer Ninja Theory, and We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games.
They will also be founding a new studio in Santa Monica called The Initiative. The Initiative is a Santa Monica studio lead by Darrel Galager, who Xbox head Phil Spencer said is “a visionary storyteller” who has worked on “some of the most iconic franchises for over 20 years,” such as Tomb Raider.
An update to Playground's website earlier this month hinted that their acquisition was likely, but the others were a surprise. Playground has more than Forza Horizon in the works, too, as a job listing indicated the studio is developing an open-world game which was confirmed by Spencer today.
We Happy Few Release Date Announced
We Happy Few will be released on August 10, 2018. This news came during the Microsoft conference at E3 2018.
This announcement came moments after Microsoft revealed that developer Compulsion Games was a part of its acquisition of four new studios, including Undead Labs, Playground Games, and Ninja Theory. The game was originally set for a PlayStation 4 release, though we're not sure if this will still be the case.
We Happy Few began as a Kickstarter project back in 2015. It went on to make a big splash on Microsoft's stage a year later at E3 2016. After spending quite a bit of time in Early Access, it was announced that Gearbox would publish the game.
Forza Horizon 4: Every Season Is Racing Season
To say that Forza Horizon 3 has been a success might be understating things. It was named best racing game at both the 20th annual D.I.C.E. Awards and The Game Awards 2016, and picked up a BAFTA nomination for Best British Game at the 13th British Academy Games Awards for good measure. It was the most played game on Xbox in Australia in 2017 and is the best-selling Xbox One game down under since the launch of the console. Worldwide it’s moved millions of copies.
It’s one of the most critically-acclaimed racing games ever made.
“I think, to date, more than 9 million people have played Forza Horizon 3,” says Ralph Fulton, creative director at UK-based Forza Horizon developer Playground Games. “But if you’d told me right back around the launch window that that was going to be how it panned out? That's astonishing; that was beyond wildest dreams territory for this team.”
Forza Horizon 4 Announced
Playground Games and Microsoft have announced Forza Horizon 4, which is set for release worldwide on the Xbox One and Windows 10 PC, and as part of Xbox's Game Pass subscription service, on Oct. 2.
Featuring over 450 cars, Forza Horizon 4 features a shared open world with an open-ended campaign — according to Playground, "everything you do progresses your game." FH4 features dynamic seasons, so players will have to contend with driving in dry, snowy, muddy, wet, and icy conditions, all while racing throughout "beautiful, historic Britain."
Playground showed off the dynamic seasons with a lake, completely frozen during the winter, and also completely drivable. The lake was one example of how the "world changes with the seasons."
Sea of Thieves Gets Two New Expansions
Sea of Thieves players now have two more adventures on the horizon: Cursed Sails and Foresaken Shores.
Cursed Sails will come in July, with Foresaken Shores coming in September.
The announcement trailer teases the premise of the new expansions: "Skeleton crews will rise to curse the seas, an ancient evil set loose on the Sea of Thieves." The Forsaken Shores is “a place of darkness where fire and ash consume all."
This news comes on the heels of Sea of Thieves' first expansion, The Hungering Deep. The Hungering Deep introduced players to an adventuring group known as the Bilge Rats and more specifically Merrick, a bard who brushed with the unseen horror and lived to tell the tale. The Hungering Deep dropped on May 29.
Anthem Has No Romances, and That’s Just Fine
E3 began in earnest yesterday afternoon with the EA Play event, which meant a new and much more extensive look at BioWare’s sci-fi shooter, Anthem. Though the game definitely brought it on the gameplay level and talked a big game about its story, the most important question for many a BioWare fan was who they would be able to romance in this new IP.
The answer to that question came soon after thanks to the Game Informer cover reveal, and it turns out that it’s no one. There are no characters for the player to romance in Anthem, something that was an intentional design choice rather than something that was cut from the game proper.