Inside Xbox for April 2019 | Recap
Inside Xbox April Episode News Recap
Today,
on our April episode of Inside Xbox, we made a big announcement about a
brand-new Xbox One console, revealed some major news
regarding Xbox Game Pass, unveiled some new features coming to Game
Bar, shared info on new titles coming to Xbox One Backward
Compatibility, and much more. For a full recap, read on below or watch
the replay of Inside Xbox episode above when the VOD is available.
Introducing the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition
The
big news coming out of today’s show was our reveal of The Xbox One S
All-Digital Edition, which was created for those who prefer
to find and play their games digitally and are looking for the most
affordable way to play Xbox games. The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition
comes bundled with three of our most compelling and popular games – Minecraft, Forza
Horizon 3 and Sea
of Thieves.
It
also comes with a special offer to get started with Xbox Game Pass. The
Xbox One S All-Digital Edition will be available at select retailers
worldwide beginning May
7, 2019, arriving in Australia later this year. We hope to share more
details on local availability and pricing in the coming weeks.
Get the Best of Both Worlds with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
In June
2017, we launched Xbox Game Pass – with the goal of empowering gamers
all over the world to discover their next favourite
game. A top request fans have shared from day one is to provide an
option to get Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold in a single membership.
We heard you. Today, we’re excited to announce Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will include all of the
benefits of Xbox Live Gold with Xbox Game Pass. That means the
full Xbox Game Pass library of over 100 high quality games, and Xbox
Live Gold online multiplayer, in one convenient membership for AUD$15.95
a month. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, gamers will
be able to play together on the most-advanced multiplayer network and
discover their next favourite game.
Brand-new Features are Coming to Game bar
A few weeks ago, we shared that
Game bar on Windows 10 was getting a major overhaul. From Spotify
integration to improved social experiences that enable you to see what
your friends are playing, quickly text or voice chat, and create memes
to share via Twitter, there are a number of ways
that the team is making this the best version of Game bar yet based on
community feedback. Game bar is an overlay built into Windows so it
works over any PC game. In order to make the overlay your own, we added
the ability to customize Game bar. Choose which
widgets to show/hide, where you want them located, and even pin
specific widgets. Find your own favourite Game bar layout to enhance
your gaming experience. In addition to all of those improvements, today
we shared that our Looking for Group (LFG) feature
will also be added to Game bar, allowing you to quickly and easily find
people to bring into battle with you (or, if you prefer, battle
against). To try out these features, launch the Xbox Insider Hub on your
Windows 10 PC.
New Competitive Game Mode and Story-Rich Quests are Coming to Sea of Thieves
Sea
of Thieves Executive Producer Joe Neate made an appearance on this
week’s show to share more on the updates the
Rare team announced this morning. First there’s The Arena, a brand-new
competitive game mode that offers all the best bits of Sea of Thieves
concentrated into fast-paced and fun 24-minute matches. For players
looking for rich and immersive new quests, there
are Tall Tales. These are epic story-driven quests that play out in the
shared world, with the first collection – Shores of Gold – taking
players across the seas to experience a story of love, honour and
betrayal in search of the mythical Shores of Gold. Finally,
there’s a brand-new Trading Company, The Hunter’s Call. This will offer
players new ways to play and progress and includes a raft of new
features including fishing (with 50 different types of fish to catch),
cooking and hunting.
Go Behind the Scenes of Gears Esports with the ELEAGUE Gears Summer Series
In partnership with ELEAGUE,
Xbox announced the ELEAGUE Gears Summer Series: The Bonds and Betrayals of Brotherhood –
a six-part
event series and live tournament focused on the stories and players
behind the world of Gears Esports with the first episode debuting on TBS,
Friday, June 14, at 11 pm ET/PT. ELEAGUE will also feature the worldwide debut of Gears 5 Versus multiplayer, culminating in The Invitational at the end of the season, within ELEAGUE Arena
at Turner Studios in Atlanta from Saturday-Sunday, July 13-14.
Six Beloved Titles Join Xbox One Backward Compatibility with Xbox One X Enhancements
Announcing new titles coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility is always exciting, but it’s even better when we
can reveal that said titles are being enhanced for Xbox One X. Today, we were happy to share that Ninja Gaiden 2, Fable 2, Fable
3, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction, and Tom
Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent are all enhanced for
Xbox One X. Best of all, they’re all available starting today! Remember,
Xbox 360 games enhanced for Xbox One X run at a higher resolution and
9X the original pixel count. The power of Xbox
One X enables the Xbox 360 emulator to showcase the very best version
possible with the existing assets—all without touching the game code.
Today’s additions join our existing catalogue for a total of 62 Xbox One
X Enhanced Backward Compatible games.
Exploring Some Exciting New Games on the Horizon
During the show, we took a closer look at some games that’ll be hitting Xbox One in the coming months. First up was Star
Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the new Star Wars game from
Respawn Entertainment that was revealed this weekend at Star Wars
Celebration. Next, got up close and personal with Rage 2,
the upcoming shooter from Bethesda that offers up one of the wildest
post-apocalyptic settings we’ve ever seen. Finally, we shared that Warhammer Chaosbane is
set to launch on June 4th.
If you love the Warhammer universe or some good old-fashioned dungeon
crawling, then this game is for you. Best of all, the next closed beta
is about to start in just two days. That’s right: On April 18th, you’ll
be able to jump into the action as Bragi Axebiter,
the Dwarf-killer and Elessa the Wood Elf, who will be joining the
soldier and high elf classes from the first beta. This means that all
four classes will be playable at once, and in a whole new region!
Announcing Details for Xbox FanFest: E3 2019
On
today’s episode, FanFest Lead Chris Munson shared that this marks the
5th year of FanFest, which explains why
he was so excited to reveal brand-new details on Xbox FanFest at E3
2019 during his segment. With E3 2019 marking our biggest E3 presence
ever, we’re thrilled to share that 700 tickets will be available for E3
FanFest, which will include experiencing the Xbox
Briefing, a FanFest Showcase, and much more. Chris broke down some of
the details on things like the ticketing process and how you can bring a
guest along with you, as well as what you’ll get with your ticket.
There’s a lot of goodness this year, so be sure
to check out our full FanFest post for the complete details!
Phil Spencer Talks E3 2019, Xbox Studios, and More
To
close out today’s show, we had a special guest appearance by the Head
of Xbox himself, Phil Spencer. During his
segment, he talked Project xCloud and how we at Xbox put the gamer at
the centre of how we build our strategy and services, driven by the idea
that as a gamer you should be able to play the games you want to play,
on the devices you want to play them on with
your friends, anywhere you go. Spencer also talked about his
excitement to be representing the broader gaming community at E3 2019.
We recently announced plans for our biggest presence ever, including
Xbox E3 FanFest, and the diversity of the content across
Xbox and PC that we’ll be highlighting in the briefing from both Xbox
Game Studios and third-party partners from around the world.
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17th April 2019