PlayStation has had its turn, and this weekend was time for Microsoft’s Xbox to take the spotlight. The Xbox Game Showcase 2026 promises the latest looks at upcoming games from Xbox Game Studios, alongside new reveals and trailers from some of the biggest franchises around.

The live-streamed event kicked off Sunday at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. BST, and if one Xbox gaming showcase wasn’t enough, it was immediately followed by the Gears of War: E-Day Direct, with plenty of new information on the upcoming shooter, which is set to release on October 6. Don’t worry if you couldn't watch; you can check out all the biggest announcements and reveal below.

Alongside Gears, we saw more from the new Fable game, a teaser for Persona 5, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 had a presence in a big way, as well as the Halo 1 remake.

How to watch Xbox Games Showcase 2026

Xbox Games Showcase 2026 + Gears of War: E-Day Direct takes place today (Sunday, June 7) at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. BST.

You can watch the recording via YouTube or Twitch.

LIVE UPDATES

Welcome!

Good morning! Welcome to Tom's Guide's coverage of the Xbox Games Showcase 2026 + Gears of War: E-Day Direct (that's quite a mouthful). We'll have live updates covering all the new reveals and trailers in this live blog. If you're a passionate Xbox gamer, you won't want to miss this mammoth-sized live showcase.

Halo: Campaign Evolved screenshots leaked

There's been a surprising lack of leaks ahead of today's Xbox Games Showcase, but several screenshots of Halo: Campaign Evolved were captured on Xbox's official store page by some eagle-eyed Redditors before being taken down. The screenshots give us a glimpse at Cortana's redesign, along with battles in space and redesigned brutes with beards.

Persona 6 debut?

Several leakers have suggested we could get a look at Persona 6 today, though with Atlus also expected to reveal a release date for Persona 4 Revival at the Xbox Games Showcase, I'm not too optimistic. Then again, that would be peak Atlus.

Don't expect any next-gen console news

Games will be front and center at today's presentation (it is all called the Xbox Games Showcase, after all). But if you were getting your hopes up about new details on Xbox's next-gen console, codenamed Project Helix, I'm here to dash those.

"The focus here is on the games," Microsoft Studios boss Matt Booty said on the latest Xbox podcast (h/t Gamespot). "There won’t be Helix news. Helix will not be in this showcase. We want to get everything about that right."

A new era for Xbox

The showcase will be the first under new CEO of Microsoft Gaming Asha Sharma, who took over for now-retired Xbox boss Phil Spencer in February. Though I don't have high hopes given the show's focus on games, I'd love to see her outline a clearer picture on Xbox's future.

Phil's vision of Xbox's next-gen console as a powerful PC-like machine for your living room sounds tailored toward a pretty niche audience, but with rising costs of, well, everything these days, more and more gamers are getting priced out. Will Xbox pivot to court a broader crowd or double down on what's rumors suggest could be a pricey next-gen console?

Viva Piñata revival?

It's a long shot, but given the recent success of Pokopia, I'd love to see Xbox revive its Viva Piñata series. We haven't gotten a new game since Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise way back in 2008. Cozy games have only gotten more popular since then, and I say it's time to bring it back with more piñatas, bigger gardens, and modern controls.

Just an hour to go...

The Xbox Games Showcase is almost here! In a little over an hour, the livestreamed event will kick off, giving us our first look at games like State of Decay 3, Halo: Campaign Evolved, and new Fable and Call of Duty games.

The red room of death

Yesterday Xbox CEO Asha Sharma shared a snapshot on X of the in-person venue this year's showcase will take place at. It's giving off big "Twin Peaks" vibes to me.

Here we go!

The Xbox Games Showcase is about to kick off! As a refresher for anyone just joining us, you can watch along via YouTube or Twitch when the event kicks off at the top of the hour. Gears of War: E-day will front and center, with its own Direct immediately following the showcase. Also expect to hear more about RPGs like Fable, Clockwork Revolution, and the Persona series as well as a statement of intent from Xbox's new leadership.

New gameplay trailer for Gears of War: E Day

I'm not surprised to see Xbox kick things off with gameplay footage of today's main event: Gears of War: E-Day. A lengthy shot of gameplay showed off combat as chaos erupts through the street. The carnage is every bit as gritty and bloody as expected of the series, complete with chainsaws galore.

The age of Xbox exclusives continues

The new CEO of Microsoft Gaming Asha Sharma revealed Xbox isn't done with console exclusives quite yet. After showing off some gameplay footage of Gears of War: E-Day, the exec announced it would be an Xbox exclusive when it comes out on October 6, 2026. Considering how many previously exclusive Xbox games have made their way to other consoles, it was unclear whether Xbox would continue making them or instead pivot to hedging its bets with wider releases.

Fable revival looks promising

I love RPGs, but somehow never played the original Fable games so I wasn't too hyped for the series revival. After seeing the trailer, though, I'm excited. The writing made me laugh out loud, landing somewhere between Baldur's Gate 3 and Vox Machina with some well-placed F-bombs that actually landed rather than feeling forced. The combat looks stellar as well, with a weight that reminds me of the newer God of War games. Fable will hit store shelves on February 23, 2027.

Halo gets space battles

Three new missions are coming to Halo Campaign Evolved, the big remake of the first Halo, and Xbox showed off an exciting new addition in today's showcase: space flying missions and combat. The missions seem to be prequels to the original's campaign, with the voiceover promising a story "we haven't heard yet" that takes place "one year before the ring." Halo Campaign Evolved releases July 28, 2026.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy up next

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy shifts the spotlight to Sophia in a prequel adventure. The combat and gameplay seems less horror and more Tomb Raider/Uncharted vibes with some of the ancient temples she's seen running through. It comes out August 27 across multiple platforms.

Persona 4 Revival takes the stage

Take a trip to The Midnight Channel with our first real look at Persona 4 Revival. In the same vein as the Persona 3 Reload remake, the PS2 original looks way more detailed this time around with animated cut scenes, vibrant colors, and more detailed models. Atlus is also bringing over the Baton Pass mechanic from P3R for flashy, Persona 5-esque battles.

It's out Feb 18, 2027!

Build your cult in Join Us

Join Us from Wolf Haus Games has the graphics and multiplayer havoc of GTA 6 with the premise of Cult of the Lamb, and I'm here for it. In either single player and 4-person co-op you build your cult and convert followers to your cause while surviving giant tentacle monsters emerging from the Earth and other apocalyptic scenarios. The voice acting is on point too: "You better evaluate your life choices."

A new Senua game on the horizon

We got a look at some of the combat and gameplay for the third game in the Senua series, simply titled Senua, that's coming out next year. The combat has always been on the floaty side, but her hits landed with a satisfying weight and there seems to be plenty of environmental tools you can use in group fights. The trailer showed her kicking over a burning effigy to scatter her opponents.

Fallout 76 gets some new goodies

Bethesda up now with a Fallout 76 update with a seriously catchy jingle. The new Infestations update, which is available now, adds plenty of new baddies to mow through with your friends. And is that new power armor I see? Nice!

Sega's Crazy Taxi revival looks sick

As soon as I heard that "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" I was sat up. Sega's long in development Crazy Taxi revival finally has a name and a slick new trailer. The gameplay footage showed off even more insane antics as players pick up customers and zip around the city. Crazy Taxi World Tour comes out in 2027 across PS5, Xbox, and PC.

Y'all we are so back

Xbox showed off a new Xbox model for the company's 25th anniversary, with a Y2K style I've been chomping at the bit to come back: Those colored see-through casings that were everywhere in the early aughts. The limited edition Xbox Series X25 comes out in November 2026, and while it's not clear if it'll sport any new specs, they nailed the design.

Minecraft Dungeons II gets a new trailer

Mojang Studios returns with its next Minecraft thing, showing off players fighting through dungeons together in a world of blocky, Minecraft-style visuals. Minecraft Dungeons 2 is coming September 29.

The Thieves Guild is back

Some Elder Scrolls news, though not Elder Scrolls 6. Rather, the series' MMORPG entry, The Elder Scrolls Online, is getting a thieves guild expansion that takes players to the high seas and underwater in a hunt for glorious loot. Also making an appearance was Sheogorath, the Daedric prince of madness, and it sure looks like he got transported to Skyrim. The update is coming out July 8.

Genderbent Castlevania, yes please

To celebrate Castlevania's 40th anniversary, we got a new look at Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, a new 2D entry in the series. It looks to be a substantial entry in the series, complete with a sprawling castle map and powers like gravity-flipping and jumping inside a painting. It's coming out October 15, 2026.

Persona 6 got...something

Persona 6 made an appearance at today's showcase, though hardly a substantial one. Instead of any gameplay or a look at the new cast of characters, we got another green-tinged teaser, this time of a graveyard and a couple of collages of people with cut-up pictures. I'm sure it'll all make more sense once Atlus releases the first batch of trailers, which may not be for a while considering we still don't have a release date.

Spyro, my boy!

Would you look at that, Spyro's getting a revival! I loved the games as a kid, and the trailer showed off the iconic purple dragon and some new flight-based gameplay. Spyro: A Realm Beyond takes flight in spring 2027.

Clockwork Revolution confirmed for 2027

inXile's steampunk RPG Clockwork Revolution finally has a release window, and it's 2027. In today's showcase, we got a look at some of the game's core characters and first-person environments. Also: a heist plot! All signs point to it being another Xbox exclusive.

New look at CoD MW4

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4's new DMZ looks tense as hell, and the sound design is entirely too real in replicating bullets whizzing by your head. "Extract or die trying," we're reminded. CoD MW4 is out October 23 with an upcoming playtest set for July.

Onto the Gears of War: E-Day Direct

Studio head Mike Crump welcomes us to the Coalition as the Gears of War presentation kicks off with a bloody countdown. So stay tuned to learn more about the long-awaited prequel.

'The most brutally satisfying Gears yet'

The prequel heads back to Emergence Date, the catastrophic event that forever altered humanity’s fate and set the stage for the war-torn world players first encountered in the original game back in 2006.

Crump promises "the most brutally satisfying Gears yet." With the series leap to Unreal Engine 5, developer The Coalition revisited what made the series resonate in the first place. The team looked back to the iconic "Mad World" trailer for inspiration, seeing in it many of the themes that define the franchise. With the E-Day story, they saw it as the perfect chance to recapture that atmosphere with modern tech that finally allowed them to realize it on the scale they originally envisioned.

Built from the ground up, the game showcases seamless large-scale environments, ray-traced lighting, and real-time destruction for a dramatically reimagined look at the Gears universe while staying true to its roots.

Reimagined combat and movement

The team overhauled the game's movement with smoother transitions, a larger range of cover, and the ability to jump to open up the citywide battleground. You have more choice than ever to tackle each combat puzzle, which can take place across neighborhoods and through multiple floors of buildings. The team built out an extensive tool set for making the world feel lived in too.

E holes are back

The iconic emergence loop for spawning enemies, a core part of the Gears of War combat flow, returns in Gears of War: E-Day. Chippable cover across a range of textures also makes you feel like you're influencing the world. You'll watch "the fall of Kalona" in real time, and The Coalition demonstrated this with before and after shots of the destruction as the Locus overrun the city.

A look at Gears co-op

All four characters are playable, with two-player split-screen available locally. In PvP, maps are designed to feel like classic battles, with the added bonus of new traversal modes to build on the game's revamped movement system. There's also Foreword siege, a 12-player mode that focuses on defending Kalona co-operatively.

That's a wrap!

The Xbox Games Showcase ended with a reel of everything we've seen throughout the show. What was your favorite announcement? Let us know in the comments!

Deciding between PlayStation or Xbox might seem like a no-brainer for some, but for others, it’s a more difficult choice. From the hardware to the games, subscriptions, and accessories, there’s a lot to consider when choosing one gaming ecosystem over the other. However, there’s one key preference that immediately sets each console apart: staggered or symmetrical thumbsticks.

Since the launch of its DualShock Controller for the original PlayStation, one thing hasn’t changed with Sony’s controllers throughout the years: their symmetrical thumbsticks. On the other hand, Microsoft took a different approach with its staggered thumbsticks, which have remained a core part of the Xbox experience in the same way.

If you grew up using one layout, chances are, you likely had a difficult time getting used to the other. One of the reasons I’ve always preferred playing on my gaming PC is that you’re not limited to one controller layout and have plenty of options to choose from among the best PC game controllers.

While third-party controllers have given PS5 gamers more layout choices, the same flexibility hasn't extended to the Xbox ecosystem. For those of us who prefer symmetrical sticks, playing certain games on Xbox can feel less intuitive.

After almost a year, though, I finally had a chance to try out one of my most anticipated Xbox controllers. Unlike Hyperkin’s modern remakes of classic Xbox controllers, such as The Duke and The Xenon, The Competitor features a brand new design that gives you the look and feel of Sony’s DualSense for the PS5, but with a few pro-level features added to the mix.

Here’s why the Hyperkin Competitor is not just another symmetrical controller for Xbox but an excellent pro-level hybrid that finally convinced me to put down my 8BitDo Pro 2.

From staggered to symmetrical

If you saw the Hyperkin Competitor lying down on a table or a desk from far away, you would probably think it’s a DualSense controller for the PS5. While there’s also an all-black version, this two-tone black and white one definitely gives off DualSense vibes at first glance. However, instead of a touchpad above its symmetrical analog sticks, the black and white meet in the top center of the controller to form an “X” with an Xbox button in the middle.

In the box, you get the controller itself and a 10-foot detachable USB-C cable. You don’t get a case or swappable thumbstick caps as this is a $50 controller after all. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a pro controller though, since it’s wired and not wireless due to Microsoft’s restrictions and extra licensing fees. Instead, the Hyperkin Competitor is a wired Xbox controller with some pro-level features like its Hall Effect joysticks to help prevent stick drift and the metal anti-friction rings around them for a smoother overall feel.

Instead of the thinner and shorter triggers on Microsoft’s Xbox controller, the Hyperkin Competitor fully leans into Sony’s wider and longer triggers. One big difference between it and the DualSense controller though is that its bumpers are smaller and are sort of a mix between Sony's and Microsoft’s respective designs. There’s a USB-C port in the middle and while it isn’t flush like the one on the DualSense, it isn’t restrictive so you can use any USB-C cable you want.

While I certainly would have preferred if this was a wireless controller, I do like that I can use any of the USB-C cables I have on hand. For instance, the Hyperkin Competitor ships with a PVC cable, so I swapped it out for a more premium-feeling braided fabric one that’s also flexible. Like basically every other Xbox controller, you can also use this one on your PC.

Around back is where things get a bit more interesting. While Hyperkin stayed true to the original design of Microsoft’s Duke controller for the original Xbox and its Xenon controller for the Xbox 360, here, the company had a chance to experiment. As such, it added two remappable back buttons on either side of the Competitor and this is a feature I’ve always wanted in a Hyperkin controller, which made waiting almost a full year for this one worth it.

You can remap these back buttons on the fly by pressing the “M” button in the middle of the controller between its two trigger lock toggles on either side. You also get a 3.5mm audio jack in the center of its handles for using one of the best gaming headsets while playing on your Xbox.

From its reveal, I was really excited to try out the Hyperkin Competitor for myself and after finally getting my hands on it, I couldn’t wait to put it to the test in my go-to Xbox game.

A PlayStation-like Xbox experience

Given that the Hyperkin Competitor is a wired controller after all, you get a plug and play experience right out of the box with no extra configuration needed. I plugged it into my white Xbox Series X, pressed the Xbox button in the center and it sprang to life. To make dealing with its wire easier, I ran it from the back of my Xbox and up from the center compartment of the Corsair Platform 4 standing desk I’m currently using for gaming in my office.

Everything felt smooth and while it’s not an exact replica of Sony’s DualSense controller, its D-pad does feel pretty much the same. In addition to having Xbox branding, its face buttons are slightly smaller and have a bit more travel to them than the ones on the DualSense. The metal anti-friction rings around the Competitor’s thumbsticks really do make a difference and when paired with the controller’s magnetic Hall Effect sensors, I preferred using it over both the DualSense and the Xbox controller as my movements felt more precise.

Despite having grown up with Nintendo, then PlayStation, and finally Xbox, and generally preferring staggered thumbsticks for shooters, RPGs and action games, there is one major exception: skateboarding games. One of the first games I picked up when I got my Xbox Series S was Skate 3 but I quickly went back to playing SkaterXL before moving on entirely to the skateboarding sim Session.

On the Xbox Series X though, Session looks even better. I have it on PlayStation and PC as well (got to support the developers when you really love a game right) but I keep coming back to playing Session on my Xbox. While Xbox fumbled the ball in the console war this generation, Quick Resume is a real innovation and one of the best new features to come to any game console since Microsoft added a hard drive to the original Xbox.

Whether I’m skating around the Brooklyn Banks or the Jerome Banks in New York City, Love Park or FDR in Philadelphia or Hollywood High and the surrounding schoolyard in LA, what I love about playing Session on Xbox is that I can jump right back in where I last left off, even after a power outage. I know most people prefer playing on the couch with a wireless controller in hand but as I often play at my desk, I don’t mind using a wired controller like the Hyperkin Competitor. Not only do I not have to worry about charging it but with Quick Resume, I can get a quick session in when I have a few minutes here and there (no pun intended).

Up until now, I had been using the 8BitDo Pro 2 to do the exact same thing on my Xbox. Like the Competitor, it also has Hall Effect thumbsticks and is a wired controller. However, compared to its more SNES-like design, I actually really prefer how the Competitor’s shape draws inspiration from the DualSense.

In a league of its own

Side by side, the Hyperkin Competitor really does look quite like a DualSense controller with just enough changes throughout its design that it’s not a one-for-one clone. Even though the DualSense is packed with more tech inside and is fully wireless, the Competitor packs in a few additions that really help it stand out. These include its Hall Effect thumbsticks, metal anti-friction rings and my favorite, the remappable buttons around back.

In a game like Session where most of its controls are mapped to the thumbsticks, I like remapping its back buttons to A and X as you use these ones to push while riding in regular or goofy stance. That way, I never have to take my thumbs off the thumbsticks and can play the game without almost ever having to reach over to its face buttons.

I know my controller preference for one game in particular is incredibly niche. However, a controller like the Competitor with symmetrical joysticks could be an easy way for PlayStation players to ease themselves into playing on Xbox. The option to have symmetrical thumbsticks on your console of choice is a valuable addition to the Xbox ecosystem, especially for gamers who rely on that layout.

Now would I call the Hyperkin Competitor a perfect controller? Probably not and the reason for that is that in 2025, the option to use it wirelessly would have been great. I know that would have driven up the price due to Microsoft’s licensing fees to use its wireless tech but still, I’d definitely pay a bit more for a Hyperkin Competitor Pro with wireless functionality.

If you’re looking for a well-built, third-party Xbox controller with symmetrical thumbsticks and a few pro-level features for just $50, which is significantly less than both the Xbox Wireless Controller and the DualSense, you can’t go wrong with the Hyperkin Competitor but take it from me, it’s better if you game at your desk instead of on the TV.

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The Steam Machine is not quite a console and not quite a gaming PC. It’s the best of both worlds, and I’ve compared it to its living room (and desk) competition to prove it.

I’m the kind of guy who installs SteamOS on mini PCs and ponders “will Valve actually make a console?” They tried ten years ago and it flopped, but the Steam Machine is back in a big way that bridges the gap between a gaming PC and a console.

Throw in a new Steam Controller that essentially chops off the sides of a Steam Deck and crams them together, and you’re onto a winner in my mind.

But while a lot of people have gone hands-on with the system, none have really put it in the context of seeing where it stands in comparison to the machines it's clearly gunning for — the PS5, the Xbox Series X/S and mini PCs like the M4 Mac mini. So that’s what I’m going to do.

A 'goth gamecube'

My colleague Scott wrote this in the team’s Slack channel, and while it got a quick laugh out of me, he’s onto something. That Steam Machine makes for a sleek system under any TV — emphasized by that glowing LED light bar indicator. Plus, it’s customizable with magnetic covers on the front to fit into any aesthetic you have.

And size-wise, it’s significantly smaller than its games console competition.

That being said, the Mac mini does have a far smaller footprint in dimensions and weight. But that is also because of drastically smaller components needed to run it vs the Steam Machine.

Specs and predicted performance

Of course, this isn’t going to be completely accurate as these are not off-the-shelf parts, but there are some similarities in some of AMD’s more common parts to the custom silicon in here.

The custom Zen 4 chip with 6 cores and 12 threads is eerily similar to the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 on a specs level — with the real difference coming down to the power being pumped through it (30W for the Steam Machine vs a 65W limit for the desktop chip).

As for the GPU, it looks like you’re getting something more akin to the Radeon RX 7400. But this time around, the wattage is flipped on its head, as 110W is going to the custom RDNA 3 chip in the Steam Machine vs the typical 55W.

This puts the Steam Machine in roughly similar territory performance-wise to the PS5 and way ahead of the Xbox Series S. But its mid-range specs do fall a little behind the graphical capabilities of the Xbox Series X and PS5 Pro. That’s even more prevalent when you see the Steam Machine only has HDMI 2.0 — making that claim of 4K at 60 FPS with AMD’s FSR an absolute maximum.

But then again, the PS5 and Xbox have an RDNA 2 architecture, whereas the Steam Machine supports more of AMD’s more modern resolution scaling tech with RDNA 3. The big unknown here is its performance vs the Mac mini, because it’s very much like comparing apples and oranges in terms of GPU performance and game support.

Does SteamOS fit in the living room?

As someone who used Bazzite to install SteamOS on a mini PC in my living room, the answer is a resounding “yes.” The console UI of the Steam Deck works great on a big screen, and the Steam Machine borrows some really nice-to-have features like fast game resume and quick sleep/wake.

And given that, according to Valve, roughly 20% of Steam Deck owners connected it to their TV via the official dock, it’s clear there is a want for home gaming.

And all of that comes with Proton — the breakthrough in game compatibility that allows a lot of Windows titles to run on the Linux-based OS. That immediately gives you access to over 19,000 games verified for Steam Deck, and the verification program is coming to the Steam Machine, too.

And while the PS5 does have an impressive library and Xbox Game Pass is packed with some solid first-party titles, Steam is the cheat code as the service packs games from both of these consoles. Driving from the rear is the Mac mini, which is starting to get some AAA titles to play, but nowhere near the same library depth as you’d find on any of these systems.

Best of both worlds

Of course, this is all very early speculation until I can get my hands on one next spring, but I do believe Valve is definitely onto something here. The original Steam Machine decidedly flopped, but one decade later, the game has changed.

Proton brings a new level of game compatibility, the vastly improved controller inspired by Steam Deck brings new ways to play and the sleek, customizable design will take pride of place on any TV stand.

We don’t know the price yet, but given the specs, I’m hoping for $499 or less to make it make sense. If it’s around here, I think the traditional idea of a games console is going to be altered.

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Despite getting long in the tooth, the current generation of consoles are not getting cheaper. For the second time this year, Microsoft announced that it's raising prices on the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles starting October 3.

Microsoft is blaming the increase on "changes in the macroeconomic environment." Unlike the last price increase, this one only affects U.S. customers. As Eurogamer reports, experts are blaming the fluctuating and ongoing tariffs introduced by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Microsoft gave the Xbox a price boost in May, adding $100 to every console and announcing that $80 games are arriving in time for the holiday season. The next hike isn't quite as drastic but costs are still going up.

For the most part, prices are only going up by $20 to $50. But compared to how much it cost at the start of the year, the Special Edition Xbox console is now $200 more than its original $599 price. The Series X is now $650 when it was $500 previously.

Unlike the previous hike, however, this price bump only affects the consoles, not the accessories like the Xbox controllers or headsets. Still, if you were waiting to pick up an Xbox you might want to buy now since Microsoft isn't expected to launch its next-generation consoles until 2027.

If you're looking for handheld relief, you may be out of luck as the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X handheld consoles have been tipped to launch around $699 and $899, respectively

This all despite a reported 18% boost in profits for Microsoft overall, and a 13% increase in the Xbox division.

Xbox isn't alone

If you thought Microsoft was alone, sadly, it's not the only gaming company to increase prices this year.

In August, Sony introduced across-the-board $50 price hikes for every PS5 console. Today, the base PS5 (or PS5 Slim), PS5 Digital, and the PS5 Pro will set you back $549, $499, and $749, respectively.

Similar to Xbox, we don't expect the PS6 until 2027 or 2028.

The Nintendo Switch 2, launched in June, has a starting price of $449 for the standalone console with bundles hitting closer to $500.

Its predecessor saw increases though with the Switch going up to $340, the Switch OLED now costing $400 and the Switch Lite bumping up to $230. Not to mention smaller price hikes to accessories including the new Switch 2 Pro controller and Switch 2 Joy-Cons.

Plus, Nintendo open the gates to $80 games with the launch price of both Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza hitting that ceiling. Both are excellent games, but the new $80 price has been hard to stomach.

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Pragmata was first unveiled in 2020 during Sony's PS5 reveal stream. I'll never forget sitting awestruck, curious as to what this new title with its sci-fi dystopian chic was all about.

Lucky for me, following nearly five years of delays, I finally got to sink my teeth into Capcom's upcoming title at an event in NYC. Although it was just a short 15-minute demo, the experience allowed me to get a better sense of what Pragmata had to offer. It's already got me giddy for more.

From combat that blends puzzle-hacking with third-person shooting mechanics, to a story that feels like a mix between "Event Horizon" and The Last of Us, it's one exciting thrill ride that could be one of the most unique games of 2026.

A tried-and-true narrative set in the far future

We've seen it time and time again. From The Last of Us to God of War and on to "The Mandalorian," "The Witcher," and even "Logan," these are stories featuring an older, often apathetic male overseeing and protecting a young child. And Pragamata is seemingly no different in that regard.

You play as Hugh Williams, who is a sort of futuristic cop sent to investigate a lunar mining and research facility that mysteriously went quiet. Upon arrival, Hugh gets separated from his comrades when the facility is hit with a lunar quake, rendering him unconscious and badly damaging his suit.

It's here where you'll meet the game's other protagonist, an android named Diana who has the appearance of a seven-year-old girl. Her primary skill is being able to hack devices, such as elevators, terminals, and even robots. Made from a substance named Lunafilament, she's what the game refers to as a "Pragmata."

Diana not only helps Hugh regain consciousness and repairs his suit, but inevitably assists in fending off a variety of robots sent to protect the facility by its autonomous base administrator, IDUS. This is pretty much where the demo picks up, and it allowed me to control Hugh and use Diana's hacking on enemies and the environment.

Working puzzles into combat

The best way I can describe the combat in Pragmata is "hack-n'-shoot." You can utilize various weapons scattered around the facility, but you start the game with a rechargeable pistol. In the demo, I used a shotgun and a net cannon, but these require ammo caches for prolonged use. The demo was somewhat limited in the amount of ammo available.

Conventional weapons don't do much damage on their own, which is where Diana's hacking comes into play. Pragamata incentivizes you to leverage Diana's powers to take down enemies, which isn't always easy in tighter spaces.

The hacking UI that pops up on the screen hovers next to enemies you're attempting to hack. You use the four face buttons to navigate the grid to reach a green circle, often requiring you to hit other blue boxes along the way.

Later in the game, you'll pick up hacking upgrades that slow down enemies or make hacking much easier. Plus, you'll have to deal with various roadblocks on harder enemies, like impassable red boxes, that can make hacking a little tougher. Hitting those will essentially restart the whole process.

You're also doing this while aiming and shooting foes in front of you. It sounds like you're doing a lot, but it works well in practice. If you're a puzzle fan like me, you'll really enjoy how this game flows, especially in boss battles.

Though it's slightly different, the hacking in Pragmata reminds me of the hacking in BioShock. In that game, you're tasked with flipping over tiles and moving different tubes to reverse the course of electricity from one side to the other. The particular path you take while hacking in the small window during the early portion of Pragamata isn't as important as it is in BioShock, but I'm sure the late game will be a different story.

It's a neat little combo piece with the all-too-familiar shooting mechanics almost every game employs. I feel Pragmata's implementation will be rewarding the more you get used to it.

Traversing the lunar facility to a synth-laden score

As I mentioned before, Diana's hacking abilities also let you interact with the environment. You'll leverage a hacking mini game to unlock doors and activate elevators so you can progress through the facility. However, these menus look and function differently than when you're in combat.

I like how Capcom differentiated the two hacking menus, and that both are quite fun. I can see some players being turned off by the hacking while in combat, but exploring the facility helps you better understand Diana's abilities and how to use them to your advantage.

Hugh also has a few boosters he can use to power jump and strafe about the world, making traversal that much more interesting. I often forgot about Hugh's boosters when I was in combat, though, probably because my mind was so focused on the hacking and shooting that dodging with speedy precision wasn't a priority.

Another thing that makes Pragmata stand out is its synth-heavy score that's reminiscent of "Blade Runner" and even earlier Armored Core games. This makes sense, seeing as the final boss in the demo was a giant mech that used close-range rockets and a boosted melee attack that can be devastating if you're not too careful.

One of my most anticipated 2026 games

Honestly, I cannot wait to dive back into Pragmata when it releases next year. I asked the folks at Capcom when we could expect an official launch date, but all they told me was a tentative 2026. That has me worried, especially with all the awesome games on the horizon (looking at you, GTA 6).

But if one thing is clear, Pragmata is very original. It lends itself to a whole new, fascinating gameplay loop set in a world that's rife with intrigue. If the gaming industry needs anything right now, it's more original IPs that take risks like Pragmata, and I'm sold on everything it has to offer so far.

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If you’re looking for the best graphics possible, higher frame rates and true 4K gameplay, then the Xbox Series S obviously isn’t for you. Instead, you’d be better off with an Xbox Series X, a PS5, a PS5 Pro or even one of the best gaming PCs.

Despite being the least powerful console this generation, the Series S immediately left an impression on me back when it was first revealed and even to this day, it continues to impress me. From the original console’s striking two-tone black and white design to the fact that it packs in many of the best features of the Series X like Quick Resume and backwards compatibility across four generations of Xbox consoles, there’s a lot to like, especially when you consider its lower price.

Even with Microsoft’s recent Xbox Series X/S price hike, the Series S still delivers great value. It offers a more affordable way to dip your toes into the next generation of console gaming which makes it easy to recommend to younger and more casual gamers. Plus, there’s an easy upgrade path to the Xbox Series X if you want better visuals or to make the most out of one of the best TVs.

Though I know a lot of people wrote the Series S off at launch and many continue to do so, these are my favorite things about Microsoft’s smallest Xbox yet along with why it could still be a worthwhile purchase in 2025 even with next-gen consoles right around the corner.

Tariffs be damned

At a time when the Xbox Series X and the PS5 were selling for $500, the Xbox Series S undercut both consoles with a launch price of just $299. Sure, you weren’t getting as much storage, a disc drive and 10.3 or 12 teraflops of graphics power respectively, but you could still play all the best Xbox Series X games with some limitations.

Now though thanks to ongoing tariff disputes between the U.S. and other countries, Microsoft has raised the price of the 512GB Series S from $299 to $379 and the 1TB Series S from $349 to $429. While many people (myself included) thought these higher console and accessory prices would be a deal breaker, fortunately you can still find both versions of the Series S for their original prices or even lower online.

If you’re in the market for a Series S though, you may also want to consider picking up a pre-owned console for even cheaper. GameStop has raised the price of its used Xbox consoles but there are plenty of other places to pick up a Series S, either online or in person. In the past, we’ve also seen significant discounts on new consoles and who knows, by the time Black Friday rolls around, it might be back to its original price or even lower.

Jumping into next-gen gaming

Although there were plenty of cross-gen games at the start of this console generation, most of them play significantly better than they did on the Xbox One. The more powerful Xbox One X is the exception here with its 4K performance in some titles but even then, the majority of games will load faster and run at 60 fps on the series S.

There are loads of native Xbox Series games that you can play on the Series S too. From Microsoft Flight Simulator to Indiana Jones, there are some great first-party as well as third-party games you can play on Microsoft’s smallest Xbox.

My personal favorite feature of the Xbox Series X and the Series S is Quick Resume as it allows you to run multiple games at the same time without having to close them and then, you can instantly jump right back into where you left off the last time you played. With 10GB of RAM (versus 16GB on Series X), the Series S supports between 3 to 5 games in Quick Resume and this should be more than enough for most people.

I personally like how I can be playing through a longer story-driven game like Metaphor Refantazio and then jump out of it and into a title that’s more pick up and play, like the skateboarding sim Session, without missing a beat. Then when I’m done, I can go right back to the first game I was playing.

One thing that rarely gets mentioned about Quick Resume is that your console’s power doesn’t affect it. For instance, one time I turned on my Series S after a power outage and much to my surprise, my Xbox and the game I was previously playing were exactly how I left them.

Pint-sized power

At just over 10 inches long and 6 inches wide when positioned horizontally, the Series S is tiny for a home console. Here it is next to the 8BitDo Arcade Stick for Xbox but if you want another visual comparison, it’s about the same size as Valve’s Steam Deck on its side.

Despite its small size, the Series S packs in a custom AMD Zen 2 CPU clocked at 3.4 GHz, a custom AMD RDNA GPU clocked at 1.56 GHz with 4 TFLOPs of graphical power, 10GB of GDDR6 RAM and a custom 512GB NVMe SSD.

You get a single USB-A port up front, two USB-A ports, a gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI 2.1 port and a storage expansion port around back. Even though the Series S comes in two storage sizes now (it didn’t at launch), you can always save a bit by going with the 512GB version and then upgrading your console’s storage capacity with a Storage Expansion Card from Seagate or Western Digital. They were quite expensive initially but over the past year or so, I’ve seen the 512GB, 1TB and even the 2TB one available at steep discounts.

While it is designed to target a resolution of 1440p, the Series S can go lower and output video at 1080p as well as higher with upscaling to reach 4K. If you plan on playing the console at your desk with one of the best gaming monitors, the Series S can go up as high as 120 fps at 1080p if your display supports higher refresh rates.

Almost as portable as a handheld

From the moment I first unboxed my Series S, I imagined slipping it into a backpack to take with me on a trip or even over to a friend’s house as it’s really that small. Another thing that makes this console very portable is that unlike past Xbox devices, it has an internal power supply which means you don’t have to haul around a bulky power brick with you.

Just like the Series X (and even the PS5 and PS5 Pro), the Series S uses a standard IEC C7 power cord. They are very cheap online and I actually picked up a few so that I can easily move my Xbox from my desk to the TV in my living room or even out to my garage TV. If you’re bringing the Series S with you, you just need a power cord and an HDMI cable which makes the whole package very light indeed.

Instead of going this route though, I ended up trying out one of the coolest Series S accessories back when I first got the console.

The xScreen as the name suggests is a small portable monitor that attaches to the back of the Series S. You just flip it up when you want to play and then when you’re done, you can close it like the lid of a laptop.

There are other attachable monitors for the Series S but I really like the xScreen since it plugs directly into the back of the console and is powered by one of its USB-A ports.

Lots to play with (or without) Game Pass

As it stands now, there are 600-700 native Xbox Series games you can play on the Series S. However, thanks to the inclusion of backwards compatibility, you can play thousands of Xbox One games, hundreds of Xbox 360 games and even dozens of original Xbox games, all on the same device.

Since the Series S is a digital-only console, you’ll be buying most if not all of your games from the Microsoft Store. The company frequently has sales and sometimes, you might even get a notification that some games are on sale just for you. This actually happened to me when I booted up my Series S to take one of the pictures for this story.

Then there’s the elephant in the room, Xbox Game Pass. There are multiple pricing tiers available but if you just want to play on your Series S, you’re looking at paying $10.99. Game Pass gives you access to 300-400 games at a time that you can download and play on your console.

New games are added each month and the best part is that big first-party Xbox Series games typically release on the service on day one. This way, instead of paying $69.99 to play a brand new game like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, you can do so through Game Pass instead.

Besides Microsoft’s weekend sales and big sales events, being a Game Pass subscriber also gives you access to even more discounts on games. Likewise, it also includes online play and other perks too. If you’re willing to pay twice as much each month, you can get Game Pass Ultimate which lets you play on your Xbox, PC and even on your smartphone over the internet through Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Like the Series S, Game Pass was initially written off by many but now, it’s become the best value in gaming and one of the main reasons you might pick up an Xbox (or a gaming PC) over a PS5.

Which Xbox Series console is right for you?

Deciding which Xbox Series console to get or even if you should buy an Xbox now that Forza Horizon 5 and many of the best Xbox exclusives are coming to PS5 is something you’ll have to make up your own mind on. Still, there’s a lot to like about the Series S and the Series X.

If you want a whisper-quiet device and don’t have a collection of physical Xbox games from previous consoles, I’d recommend either the Series S or the Series X Digital Edition. This will depend on your budget and the display you’ll be playing on though. Series S is great for older 1080p TVs or 1440p gaming monitors while the Series X is best paired with a 4K TV or monitor.

Now if you have old Xbox games or even a big Blu-Ray or DVD collection, then the standard Series X makes the most sense. You get as much power as possible with the ability to play your old disc-based games as well as to buy new ones (often at a cheaper price) or borrow games from your friends.

There is one final option if you don’t want a game console taking up extra room in your house or apartment. Now that “Everything is an Xbox”, you can always play Xbox games over the cloud with Game Pass on your smartphone, laptop or even on your TV. For instance, Amazon’s Fire TV devices now support the Xbox app which means all you really need is a Fire Stick and a decent internet connection.

At the end of the day, the choice is yours as to which Xbox to get if you want one at all. The Series S may get a bad wrap online but it’s a capable console and with the right games, is just as fun to play as anything else out there. Its less powerful internals might be a turnoff for some but with the rumored Xbox handheld becoming closer to a reality, Microsoft may have just set itself up perfectly for a portable Xbox.

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Here's the thing about choosing the best consoles in 2026: you may have already made up your mind on which system to buy. Whether you've grown up playing Crash Bandicoot on PlayStation (like I have), can't get enough of Forza Horizon on Xbox or live for Mario's latest adventures on Nintendo, a key part of console gaming is the games you play.

But the console market is shifting. Thanks to the RAM crisis, console prices are on the rise, meaning that what were once more reasonable gaming systems for all are now getting harder to afford. Our team of gamers here at Tom's Guide has felt the effects, so if you're looking for a change of pace in what you play on, this guide is here to help.

The good news is that many of the most popular games of today can be played on multiple platforms, so you don't have to feel like you're missing out. With that in mind, we recommend the PS5 Slim as the best gaming console for most, with its vast library of games (and PlayStation exclusives), along with its excellent value. Prefer a more powerful standalone system or a console to take with you on the move? We've done the testing of all the latest, so let's dive into the best gaming consoles you can grab today.

The best consoles you can buy today

The best gaming console overall

We called Sony's PS5 an “essential console” when it first launched, but the PS5 Slim cements that status by shedding bulk without sacrificing speed. The slimmer profile makes it far easier to fit into most living rooms, and in everyday use, we found it delivers the same blazing-fast performance and load times as the original model.

But what truly sets the PS5 Slim apart, and the main reason we recommend it for most players, is its exceptional game library. From blockbuster exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, God of War: Ragnarok and Saros, to an ever-growing catalog of indie gems, there’s no shortage of memorable experiences here. The upgrade to a 1TB SSD also means you’ll spend less time juggling installs — something we immediately appreciated as new releases pile up.

Versatility is another major win: the PS5 Slim offers a removable and attachable optical disc drive, so you can choose between a sleeker digital setup or physical game collection. Swapping out the drive is genuinely user-friendly, and that modularity gives you more freedom to tailor the console to your habits (though opting for the Digital Edition and adding the drive later does cost a bit more).

In our own testing, the PS5 Slim matched the older PS5’s speed and responsiveness, which is to say: games load in seconds, and jumping between titles feels effortless.

Of course, there are a few small drawbacks. The new design is certainly less obtrusive but still divisive. More annoyingly, you won’t get a vertical stand in the box (it costs extra), and the disc drive is a separate purchase if you buy the Digital Edition. These are minor quibbles, but worth factoring into your setup budget. Oh, and it's worth noting the price hike, with prices now starting at $599 for the Digital edition (a $100 price bump).

If you want one console that delivers the best balance of games, performance and adaptability for years to come, the PS5 Slim is our top pick.

• Read our full PS5 Slim review

The best value gaming console

Microsoft hit the nail on the head with the Xbox Series S, a fantastic budget option to let everyone play the latest games on the couch, even if it's not nearly as powerful as its peers. But it's the design that should get the spotlight! Its small form factor means the Series S slides into cramped entertainment centers and bedrooms with ease, solving a real problem for anyone short on space or patience for bulky hardware.

But don’t let the size fool you. Beneath that minimalist case is an 8-core Custom Zen 2 processor and a custom RDNA 2 GPU, both tuned for reliable 1080p gaming. In our experience, load times are measured in seconds rather than minutes, even across demanding games like Gears of War 5 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon. This is a machine built for fast, responsive play, not flashy specs you’ll pay a premium for but never use.

The Series S’s affordability and quiet, unobtrusive design will matter more to casual players, kids, and anyone on a tight budget. If you’re not planning to chase the latest graphical showpieces or need a machine for a modest screen, the Series S’s limitations actually become its strengths.

Of course, those limitations are real: the built-in 512GB SSD fills up quickly, especially as game install sizes continue to grow. Upgrading storage means buying proprietary expansion cards, which eat into the initial savings.

If you’re hunting for the best value in a modern gaming console, especially for a first-timer, casual player or anyone with limited space, the Xbox Series S is hard to beat. Just be ready to manage digital games only and keep an eye on storage. For most value-focused buyers, though, it’s the right tool for the job.

• Read our full Xbox Series S review

The best premium gaming console

There’s no question about it: the PS5 Pro is the most powerful console around. After spending some time putting the best PS5 games through their paces, it’s immediately clear this is the most technically impressive home console you can buy right now — if you’re willing to pay for it.

Under the hood, Sony has gone all-in on performance: the upgraded chip delivers 67% more compute units and 28% faster memory than before, unlocking up to 45% faster gameplay rendering. For anyone playing on a large, high-end TV, the visual difference is obvious. Scenes look sharper, smoother and more dynamic, with enough headroom for both higher frame rates and next-level effects.

Ray tracing has finally arrived as a headline feature you’ll actually notice in supported games. Take Spider-Man 2: reflective puddles, shimmering cityscapes and more realistic lighting are all here and genuinely transform the look of blockbuster titles. This is the sort of visual leap that just feels good to show off, especially if you want your setup to be a cut above the rest.

Sony’s AI-driven PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) also shines, quietly working behind the scenes to sharpen image clarity using machine learning. In the majority of games, the bump in resolution is there. Even if it’s not always a jaw-dropping upgrade, it adds to the sense that you’re playing on a system built for the future.

Storage is another area where the PS5 Pro flexes its premium muscle: you get a massive 2TB internal SSD. That’s enough space for dozens of AAA games without the constant shuffle of installs and deletes. That's a real quality-of-life upgrade for anyone with a big library.

Of course, all this comes at an even steeper price than before, at a whopping $899. The PS5 Pro is significantly more expensive than the PS5 Slim or Xbox Series S, and it’s digital-only unless you buy the add-on disc drive. But if you demand the absolute best visuals and performance and want a console that’s built to stay ahead for years to come, the PS5 Pro is the premium choice, no question.

• Read our full PS5 Pro review

The best Xbox gaming console

Look, Xbox isn't in the best place right now, with major layoffs and rising console prices. But either way, the Xbox Series X remains the most powerful console Microsoft has ever built, and it makes a real difference where it counts: performance and speed.

In our own tests, games like Red Dead Redemption 2 loaded in just 38 seconds on the Series X — a massive jump from the 1 minute 28 seconds we measured on the previous Xbox One X. With a 12 teraflop GPU under the hood, there’s no doubt this box is built for demanding, big-screen games.

That power isn’t just theoretical. In games like Assassin’s Creed, we found the Series X consistently targeted 60 frames per second, dynamically scaling from 4K down to 1440p as needed to maintain smooth action. For anyone who wants crisp visuals and fluid gameplay on a 4K TV, this is a platform that holds up well — not just for today’s blockbusters, but for the demanding titles of the next few years.

But what really sets the Series X apart for Xbox loyalists is backward compatibility. We’ve found it effortlessly runs games from every generation of Xbox. Just pop in a disc and play. That means your library, whether you’re still holding onto classics or chasing the latest releases, is ready to go right out of the box.

The broader Xbox ecosystem also shines, especially for gamers who want flexibility. Features like Quick Resume (which lets you bounce between several games and pick up right where you left off) are genuinely useful and pair well with the appeal of Xbox Game Pass. Access to a rotating vault of both new and older games means you can sample, subscribe and switch up your play style with minimal friction.

There are trade-offs. Compared to the PS5 Slim, the Series X wins on loading times and backward compatibility, but Sony’s system still has the edge when it comes to exclusive games. If you’re weighing the Series S for its lower price and quieter running, remember that the Series X is the box to buy if you want real 4K capability, faster load times and more future-proof performance

If you’re looking for a powerful home console that fits neatly into a living room and lets you dip into a huge cross-generational library, the Series X is the clear Xbox to get.

• Read our full Xbox Series X review

The best hybrid gaming console

Nintendo Switch 2 takes pretty much everything that worked well about its fantastic predecessor and adds useful upgrades across the board. It’s a phenomenal hybrid console that can offer a robust TV experience, but the true ace up its sleeve is when you remove the Switch 2 from its docking station and can take your untethered play experience anywhere you wish.

The most immediately apparent difference with the Switch 2 is the larger 7.9-inch display. This increase in size makes it comparable to rival handhelds on the market like the Steam Deck. However, the lack of an OLED option is disappointing. Still, the Switch 2’s LCD is vibrant enough that the move from the Switch 1 OLED hasn’t felt too noticeable.

Other upgrades include re-worked Joy-Con 2 controllers, which now connect to the main console unit via a series of magnets, replacing the cumbersome railing system of the Switch 1. Beefed-up internal specs: while Switch 2 can’t rival PS5 or Xbox Series X, it is significantly better equipped for modern games than its forefather. Oh and let’s not forget about Mouse Mode, which lets you turn your Joy-Con 2s into a PC-style mouse just by laying them on a flat surface (or even in your lap).

The other major advantage that Switch 2 has over its rivals in the console space is Nintendo’s stable of fan-favorite franchises. Switch 2 is still in its infancy, so its library isn’t as sizeable as other options on this list, but it’s the only place where you can play titles like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. The latter is practically a system seller itself. Don’t forget, Switch 2 is also compatible with the majority of Switch 1 games.

There aren’t really any major drawbacks when it comes to Nintendo Switch 2, but battery life is rather lackluster overall. I’ve been able to get around two-and-a-half hours of play from a fully charged battery, which will suffice during a somewhat lengthy journey, but if you’re away from a power outlet for a prolonged period of time, you’ll need a good power bank to keep playing. The lack of ergonomic grips on the back of the console also makes it less comfortable in your palms than some rival handhelds, but this can be fixed with a case like the dBrand Killswitch.

Nintendo Switch 2’s lifecycle is just getting started, but even at this early stage, it’s pretty much the hybrid console of our dreams, offering smart upgrades over its predecessor, a small but rapidly growing library, and an overall play experience that is truly excellent.

• Read our full Nintendo 2 Switch review

The best handheld gaming console

Valve’s breakout portable device kicked off an era of PC handheld gaming, and that’s still the case with the Steam Deck OLED — only now, it’s paired with a genuinely stunning OLED HDR display. But we'll still recommend the original Steam Deck (where you can get it), and that's unfortunately because of Valve's major $200+ price increase.

Still, this handheld sings when it comes to playing AAA games and especially indie titles alike. If you play mostly on the move and prioritize screen quality, battery life, and comfort, the Steam Deck OLED is still our top pick as the best handheld gaming console. Playing games like Resident Evil 4 Remake or Hades 2 on this well-built machine is very satisfying.

And the 7.4-inch OLED display is amazing for playing games on. In our lab testing, we measured brightness at 597 nits, so games look vivid even under harsh lighting, and the color really pops whether you’re in a dim train or a sunny café.

Battery life is the real game-changer. The Steam Deck OLED delivers 30-50% more battery life than the original model, and in practice, that means noticeably longer sessions between charges. We managed a little over two hours playing Spider-Man at medium settings before needing to plug in, compared to just 90 minutes on the prior version. Commuters and travelers who’ve struggled with handhelds running dry mid-journey will appreciate the difference.

Sure, the Switch 2 offers a more exclusive library of games and a flexible hybrid design (which the Steam Deck can do, too), but it lacks the Deck OLED’s screen quality and stamina.

Yes, the Steam Deck OLED isn't the value-find it once was (another victim of RAMaggedon), but to get stuck into the user-friendly SteamOS and make your way through an endless catalog of games in your Steam library, the Steam Deck will do the trick.

• Read our full Steam Deck review and Steam Deck OLED review

The best value handheld gaming console

If funds are tight but you still want a dedicated portable for Nintendo’s best games, the Switch Lite is the clear value pick at $229/£199 (or less). Its compact design isn’t just affordable; it makes the Lite the most travel-friendly console around, perfect for anyone whose gaming happens on commutes, during breaks or, you know, lying in bed.

The 5.5-inch 720p screen is noticeably smaller than the standard Switch's (especially the Switch 2), but in our testing, that’s part of its carry-everywhere appeal. Rated battery life is 3 to 7 hours, depending on what you play, which we found is enough to get through daily commutes or even a cross-country flight without stress. The display is bright and crisp enough for handheld play, even if it can’t match the flashier panels on pricier rivals.

Personally, I adored picking this up when I got my hands on it. That reduction in bulk really matters for handheld comfort, especially if you want a system that disappears into a bag or coat pocket.

Crucially, the Switch Lite plays nearly all Nintendo Switch games, so you’re not locked out of Nintendo’s biggest franchises or the bulk of its excellent indie and third-party catalog. For value-per-dollar, nothing else in handheld gaming offers this much access to quality games at this price.

Just know what you’re trading for that convenience: there’s no hybrid TV mode, and you’ll miss out on high-end features like 4K visuals or detachable controllers. But for anyone seeking a practical, budget-friendly way into Nintendo’s world-class library, especially for on-the-go play, the Switch Lite remains our top-value handheld.

• Read our full Nintendo Switch Lite review

Also tested

Gaming consoles take a long time to make, as their life cycles are meant to last at least five to seven years (and if it's good enough with great ongoing support, beyond). This is to say that when an all-new console arrives, it's a big deal, but they can be few and far between.

When they do launch, we get testing. Here's a look at other consoles worth considering, as despite some quirks we've experienced, they may suit your play style.

How to choose the best gaming console

Choosing the right game console for your needs really boils down to how much you value cutting-edge tech and the amount of leisure time you have on your hands.

• If you only get a chance to play games on your commute to work or for an hour or so in bed at night, you should probably prioritize a machine you can game on the go with, like the Nintendo Switch 2 and Steam Deck.
• If you’re a hardcore gamer who spends most of your evenings with a controller glued to your hands, you’d be better off going with a PS5 Slim or Xbox Series X. If high-quality 4K graphics are important to you, those two consoles and even more powerful PS5 Pro are the machines to go for.

Lastly, consider what games you want to play. Generally speaking, you can easily dip in for quick gameplay sessions on many Nintendo Switch games, whereas the best-story-driven titles on PS5 require more time and emotional investment. Of the consoles above, the PS5 and Switch definitely have the best library of exclusive blockbuster games.

That said, Nintendo rarely drops the price of its first-party software (now up to $80), and PS5 games often cost $70. If you want to experience as many games for as little cash as possible, Xbox Series X and the digital-only Series S suddenly become very appealing thanks to Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service (that's dropped in price after a cost rise, thankfully).

What's coming next

We here at Tom's Guide are always on console-watch, and as the end of a console generation cycle looms closer, we're getting ready for a new state of gaming systems from the major players on the console market, including PlayStation, Xbox and even Nintendo.

Here's a look at the latest updates on consoles to expect down the line:

• Valve's Steam Machine is now on shelves, but it's not quite the price we all wanted it to be. Starting at $1,049 / £879 (and that's without the outstanding Steam Controller), it easily brings PC gaming to the couch, but its performance is a little too underwhelming for what you pay for. Of course, the RAM crisis is to blame here. Still, it nails the console niceties that a PC can’t do, so there are still perks to enjoy here. Here's how the Steam Machine and PS5 Pro compare.
• Sony is rumored to launch its PlayStation 6 in 2027, and the next-gen console could come in a unique lineup when released. Along with the standard PS6 console, we may see a PS6 S (or Lite) and a PS6 handheld. However, just like the Steam Machine, it's already looking to be a pricey console.
• Microsoft's next console is Project Helix, which is hinted to launch sometime in 2028. The next-gen console has been officially confirmed, and it aims to "lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games," powered by a superpowered AMD chip.
• The Nintendo Switch 2 is officially confirmed to be getting a price hike. From September 1, the Switch 2 will be priced at $499, instead of its original $449 launch price. If you've been looking to grab one, better do it before prices rise!
• Speaking of, we've heard whispers of a Nintendo Switch 2 OLED model in the works, with a leaker showing "Switch 2 OLED middle frame" prototypes. This was in the "trial production research and development," so there's no telling if we'll ever see one, or when it may arrive. However, we've seen the Nintendo Switch OLED before, so it isn't completely unlikely.

How we test the best gaming console

Would you be surprised to know that we test gaming consoles by playing on each system for hours on end? That's exactly what we do, analyzing the performance, comfort, ease of use and library of games these consoles have to offer.

When it comes to traditional home consoles like the PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X, we mainly examine how quietly they run, judge just how good their games look on some of the best TVs and best gaming monitors, and evaluate the battery life of their first-party controllers. After that, it’s really all about the games. Here, we extensively play a number of titles across a wide variety of genres to give an impression of what type of gamer the console is best suited for, from 007 First Light or Resident Evil Requiem to Forza Horizon 6.

As for handheld consoles such as the Nintendo Switch 2 and Steam Deck, battery life is one of the key technical aspects we test, seeing how long they last depending on the level of screen brightness and how graphically demanding a game is.

Now, testing gaming consoles is a far less scientific process than reviewing the best gaming PCs or best gaming laptops. As modern consoles are fixed platforms, they provide more consistent (but normally lower) frame rates than a desktop rig that you can easily overclock for boosted performance.

Even though the rumored Xbox Series X mid-gen refresh never came to be, we did get three new Xbox consoles this week and I was lucky enough to get the chance to go hands-on with one of them.

Back in 2020 when the Xbox Series X/S launched, we had a digital only version and one with a disc drive but now this too has been flipped on its head with the release of the Xbox Series X Digital Edition. Like the Xbox Series S, it forgoes a disc drive in order to cut costs.

Microsoft has followed in its own footsteps by swapping the console’s colorway with this new discless Xbox Series X. Instead of an all-black design, it sports an all-white one. While I haven’t opened up the console Microsoft sent over to me to check out, others have, and there’s one big change under the hood that’s aimed at improving power consumption instead of boosting the Series X’s graphical capabilities.

Here’s what it’s been like using the new, white Xbox Series X Digital Edition all week and whether upgrading could be worth it for you.

Clean as can be

Pictures just don’t do this new Xbox Series X edition justice. It’s really the kind of console you need to see in person to truly appreciate. It’s almost identical to the previous version except for the omission of a Blu-Ray drive. With both consoles side by side though, the edges of the Xbox Series X Digital Edition feel more pronounced. I’d say that overall, this new version has a bigger presence than its predecessor.

In the box, you get all of the same accessories that came with the original Xbox Series X. There’s the console itself, an Xbox wireless controller, two AA batteries, a power cable and an HDMI 2.1 cable. The box design is a bit different, though, since it shows the whole console instead of just a closeup of the top of the device at an angle.

As someone who bought a refurbished Series X from Microsoft earlier this year, I never got this original unboxing experience. However, just like with its new units, the software giant wraps and packages its refurbished ones in a similar way. The only main difference I noticed when unboxing the Xbox Series X Digital Edition is that the “Power Your Dreams” wrapper was missing this time around.

Small but subtle differences

When I had the Xbox Series X Digital Edition out of the box and put everything else out of the way, it was then that I noticed the main design difference between it and its predecessor besides the lack of a disc drive. Instead of green accents in between the holes on the top of the console, Microsoft has changed them to black with this version.

This is by no means a dealbreaker, but it was one of my favorite things about the original Xbox Series X’s design. However, the decision to go with black instead of green as an accent color does make this new console look a bit closer to the original Xbox Series X. If you want green accents all around though, this isn’t the Series X for you. Instead, you’d be better off with the Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition, as it has a green accent at the top, a green base and the controller it comes with also has a green back. It is significantly more expensive at $599 versus just $449 for the new Xbox Series X Digital Edition.

Around back, you get all of the same ports that the original Xbox Series X has, which include an HDMI 2.1 port, two USB-A ports, a storage expansion slot, an Ethernet port, a power port and a Kensington lock port. There’s also a single USB-A port and a sync button on the front of the console.

If you open the Xbox Series X Digital Edition up like some reviewers have, you’ll find it sports a new heatsink that uses copper heat pipes instead of the vapor chamber found on the original. Likewise, its motherboard has been redesigned and its processor is a bit smaller than the original 6nm one. In terms of heat and noise, the two Xbox Series X consoles are nearly identical. However, this new console uses less power when idle, which should help keep your energy bill down.

A quick and simple swap

One of my favorite things about the entire Xbox Series X/S family is that all of the consoles use the same, relatively inexpensive power cable. What I like about this is that I can quickly move my Xbox around from room to room in a similar way to undocking and redocking my Switch. For instance, I have a power and HDMI cable hooked up to my TV and an extra set plugged into one of the best gaming monitors at my desk. This way, I can play on the big screen when it’s free or cozy up at my desk when it’s not.

This makes for an easy upgrade if you already have an Xbox series console. However, if you’re upgrading from the Series S to the Series X for the first time and want to play in 4K at 60Hz, you’ll need to swap your current HDMI cable with the one that comes with the Xbox Series X Digital Edition. This is because the Series S ships with an HDMI 2.0 cable instead of an HDMI 2.1 one.

If you’re using your Xbox with a 1440p monitor and not a TV, you’re good to go, as the Xbox Series X can do 1440p at 60Hz using an HDMI 2.0 cable. Swapping out one cable for another isn’t that difficult, unless like me, you’re using a monitor arm instead of a monitor stand.

With everything plugged in, I went through the same setup process as before and loaded up a few of my favorite games to test out the Xbox Series X Digital Edition. While I downloaded the skateboarding sim Session first, I spent most of my time playing Atlus’ new JRPG Metaphor Refantazio as I needed a few more screenshots for my review.

Unlike others who managed to fight off the scalpers and snagged a console at launch this generation, I ended up getting an Xbox later on for work. You see, I review the best PC game controllers and since most of them also work on Xbox, I decided to pick up a used Xbox Series S to test them out on Microsoft’s console. Coming from the Xbox Series S to the Series X earlier this year, the graphic improvements were immediately noticeable. However, I do have one small grip with my Series X. Every now and then, I hear its disc drive spin up when I’m playing.

With the new Xbox Series X Digital Edition though, the console is dead silent, just like with my Series S. You get all the same features too — minus the ability to play physical games and Blu-rays — and my favorite Xbox feature without a doubt is Quick Resume. I love being able to jump right back into a game without having to load up my previous save file. In a lengthy game like Metaphor ReFantazio too, Quick Resume lets you play for a few minutes here and there without wasting any time. In fact, there was a power outage while I was playing through the game and much to my surprise, I was able to pick up right where I left off even though my console had effectively been turned off.

A worthwhile upgrade and a great entry point

If you’re coming from a Series S, the Series X Digital Edition is the perfect upgrade since you can already play all of your existing digital games on it. The extra storage also makes it a much better choice for Xbox Game Pass as Seagate and Western Digital’s storage expansion cards can get expensive unless you pick one up on Black Friday or during another big sales event.

For those that want to get back into gaming or even back into Xbox, the Series X Digital Edition is a great option, too. You get all the power under the hood with a slightly cheaper price tag. And who knows — we could see this version go on sale over the holidays like we did with the original Xbox Series X.

If you have a large Blu-ray collection or have been hanging onto your physical Xbox games, you’re probably better off with the original version or even the new special edition console since you get an extra terabyte of storage. Personally, I sold my Xbox games back in the 360 era and have been all digital ever since, as I moved around a lot and didn’t want to lug physical games around with me. If you didn’t though, many Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One games work with the Series X thanks to Microsoft’s backward compatibility efforts for this console generation.

The new Xbox Series X Digital Edition is a sight to behold and one of the best looking consoles I’ve ever seen. If you get the chance, this is one you’ll definitely want to check out in person as pictures just can’t capture how clean the switch from all-black to all-white really is.

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Hello, Friend Requests; we haven't seen you on the Xbox since the Xbox 360, more than a decade since the feature shifted to more of a social media experience. 

This week, friend requests will return to Xbox Series X and Series S consoles and PC-based gamers (h/t IGN). The feature will go out to Xbox Insiders first and be available for any who have joined the Windows PC Gaming preview or those on handheld gaming devices like the Asus ROG Ally X. 

According to a post on Xbox.com, if you fit those categories, you can "easily send, accept, or delete friend requests." Now, friends are a "two-way, invite-approved relationship." You can still follow someone, which remains a one-way connection, allowing you to stay updated with players, clubs or games. This means that they don't necessarily have to follow you back.

Based on comments we've seen from others on X and Reddit, people are pretty confused about this, with the consensus seeming to be that most people didn't realize the feature had even gone away or how it changed to the current system.

Basically, right now, adding someone to your "friend" list makes you a follower until they add you to your friend list. Unfortunately, for some reason, Xbox doesn't send you a notification when this happens. I speculate this is to stop people with many followers from being inundated with notifications or abuse. However, this means that the rest of us don't always know who is or isn't a friend on the system.

When friend requests disappeared, it removed a dedicated tab in our social feed on Xbox that showed friend requests. Simply put, Xbox brought that tab back under the People tab in the UI. 

For those who paid attention, there have been calls for some Xbox to bring the feature back, but those requests were ignored until now.

In the Xbox post, the company says that existing friends and followers will automatically update with the change. If someone isn't currently on your friend list, you can send them a request via the People tab. 

According to Xbox, new privacy and notification settings are being implemented to manage friend requests. The post noted, "You can manage who can send you friend requests, or follow your account, directly from your Xbox console by navigating to Settings > Account > Privacy & online safety > Xbox privacy, then select View details & customize > Friends, followers & clubs to customize your settings. You can also update your notification preferences on Xbox consoles from Settings > Preferences > Notifications."

If you aren't an Xbox Insider, why not look at some of the best Xbox Series X games you can play now.

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Riot Games‘ popular free-to-play tactical shooter is now officially live on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S, the developer announced on Friday. It marks Riot's first live-service game on console, as its other hits like League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics remain PC exclusives. 

Like the existing PC version of the game, Valorant is free to play on consoles, and it's currently available to players in the United States along with Canada, Europe, Japan, and Brazil. Moving forward, PC and console players will receive “simultaneous platform releases of all live patch balances, new agents, maps, premium content, and additional live service features," the developer said. 

While PlayStation and Xbox players will be able to play together, cross-play between PC and console player matches remains off the table for now, which Riot says is to “maintain Valorant’s renowned standard for competitor integrity.” However, the game will support cross-progression, so any skins or Battle Pass progress you have will carry over between PC and console. 

Valorant initially arrived on consoles in June in beta form, and players needed an invitation code to gain access. While codes weren't especially hard to come by, for those players who did struggle to get in, this announcement is a welcome change.

“We’ve received so much valuable feedback from players during Limited Beta, and feel confident to deliver on our gameplay promise for console players,” Arnar Gylfason, production director of Valorant at Riot Games, said. “Whether it’s hitting that perfect shot, executing a flawless team play, or wiping out the enemy team, we look forward to seeing console players experience the same gameplay thrill as ‘Valorant’ PC players.”

Riot Games has made some tweaks to its 5v5 tactical shooter to make it more controller-friendly, including the addition of a new shooting mode called Focus.

“Focus is a new shooting mode that behaves essentially like hip-fire, but with reduced sensitivity,” said Gylfason. "This way, players can use hip-fire whenever they need speed in moving their camera/aim, but utilize focus mode whenever they need precision. This also approximates the shooting mechanic to what console players are used to in shooters, all of this without losing the added value Valorant’s aim down sights provides.”

Valorant is now available to play for free on PC, Xbox Series S and Series X, and PS5.

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It might not be Prime Day 2024 just yet, but Amazon has already launched a gaming deal that's perfect for PS5 and Xbox Series X owners who are looking to build out their libraries.

With Amazon's limited-time "buy 3 for the price of 2" promotion, you can scoop up recent PS5 and Xbox Series X/S games along with some last-generation releases. To access the deal, select three eligible games and pop them into your shopping cart. At checkout, you'll get the cheapest one for free. You'll have to act fast to make the most of the games that are left, as some of the must-have titles have already disappeared from the list! 

Amazon has been known to trot out these buy 2 get 1 free deals in the past; the mega site held a similar sale during Black Friday 2023.

Initially, the lineup included some of PlayStation 5's biggest releases of the year, including Stellar Blade, Helldivers 2, and Rise of the Ronin, along with other big releases like Xbox smash hit Starfield and the excellent Marvel's Spider-Man 2. But as I mentioned, customers have been quick to take note of this offer, and these titles have already disappeared. 

That doesn't mean there's nothing here worth picking up. If you've yet to play Resident Evil 4 Remake and Street Fighter 6, those are definitely worth picking up. Dragon's Dogma 2 and Dying Light 2 are also worth owning and both are still available in the offer, at the time of writing. There's also a handful of titles from the previous console generation and a couple of collector's editions in the mix.

If you're only tempted to pick up DD2 (every RPG fan should play it, in my opinion), you don't have to spend any extra cash on another game. That's because you can play one of the best games of 2024 for free, as Capcom already slashed 20% off the price of Dragon's Dogma 2 and released a two-hour free trial across Xbox, PS5, and Steam.

If you're only seeing one or two titles you might want, you may still be able to take advantage of the sale, as it doesn't just cover video games but also DVDs, books, toys, and more. As long as you add three eligible items from the Amazon 3 for 2 deal page to your cart, you can mix and match across departments. And if you're a Switch fan, make sure to check out our latest Nintendo Store deals.

New console hardware is on the horizon and while much of the focus has been placed on the (currently unannounced) PS5 Pro and Nintendo Switch 2, Microsoft is hoping to tempt players to enter the Xbox ecosystem this holiday season with a trio of new consoles. 

During the recent Xbox Games Showcase 2024, three new Xbox consoles were unveiled. In a subsequent Xbox Wire post, Roanne Sones, Head of Xbox Devices, said, “This is one of the best years ever to upgrade your console or jump into Xbox for the first time” and this selection of new Xbox hardware should give the brand a much-need boost over the busy holiday season as it looks to keep pace with PlayStation and Nintendo. 

First details on 3 new Xbox Series X/S consoles

First up is the Xbox Series S 1TB in Robot White. This is a blend between the original Xbox Series S and the Carbon Black 1TB model that launched last year. It’s the same affordable console with a sleek white finish and a roomy 1TB SSD. It will retail for $349. Though at that price point, you’d be better off spending the extra $100 and getting a more powerful Xbox Series X, in this writer’s opinion. The limits of the Xbox Series S are becoming increasingly apparent. 

An all-digital Xbox Series X has been rumored for a while, and it’s finally set to launch later this year. This new model of the Series X removes the 4K Blu-ray disc drive and comes in a Robot White color scheme that stands out without being overbearing. Otherwise, it’s the same console we’ve been enjoying for the best part of four years. It will retail for $449, which is $50 cheaper than the MSRP of the disc version. 

Finally, there’s the most premium new hardware offering of the bunch, the Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition. This Series X comes with a sizeable 2TB SSD, which is double the storage of the base console. Plus, it comes sporting a nifty design that draws inspiration from “constellations and the spirit of exploration and adventure that outer space evokes.” Microsoft also describes it as featuring a “silver, grey, and green celestial effect" which is a fancy way of saying it's a Carbon Black console covered in loads of tiny grey and green dots. 

The included controller also sports this same Galaxy Black design with a unique D-pad and Velocity Green back casing. This controller will only be available as part of this special edition console bundle. The Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition will cost $599, and Microsoft notes it will “be available in limited quantities in select markets.”

All three new Xbox consoles are scheduled to launch before the end of the year, with pre-order details to follow. If any of the three have caught your eye, stick with Tom’s Guide as we’ll bring all the order details you need as soon as retail listings go live. 

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Microsoft has just announced the next batch of games that will hit its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, taking us into the start of May. It's a good mix of titles this time around, packed with gems that could land a spot on our best Xbox Series X games list. And one about an adorable little kitty causing chaos ranks among my most anticipated games for 2024. 

It's called Little Kitty, Big City, and it lands on Xbox Game Pass on May 9 as a day-one addition. Its shtick of playing as a mischievous cat in a cozy open-world playground had me hooked from the first trailer. And you can dress up your cat in little hats! How cute is that? 

"Explore the city, make new friends with stray animals, wear delightful hats, and leave more than a little chaos in your wake. After all, isn't that what cats do best?" Xbox said in a press release. Did I mention the hats? Because I'm really excited about the hats. 

While considerably less feline-focused, the rest of the lineup is solid as well. Also worth noting, Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on PC and Xbox is now available on Game Pass via EA Play, which is part of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. 

Have a Nice Death, a 2D action roguelike that casts players as an overworked Grim Reaper, lands on Xbox Game Pass today (April 30). I played it in early access and found it a punishing but satisfying challenge. Its combat is extremely polished, the soundtrack is an endless string of bangers that keep its runs engaging, and its hand-drawn art style melds cute designs with its goth aesthetic beautifully. 

Next up, on May 2, is Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, the critically acclaimed reboot of the Lara Croft-led, action-adventure franchise rebuilt for next-gen consoles like the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. After that, you've got Kona II: Brume on May 7. The sequel to 2017's Kona, it's a first-person narrative game set in a rural mining village in Northern Canada in 1970 plagued by a bizarre mist that has engulfed the region. 

May 14 sees Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons return to Game Pass ahead of its forthcoming next-gen remake. Conceived and directed by the supremely talented Josef Fares, who went on to make the award-winning co-op puzzler It Takes Two, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is one of the most charming indie adventures to come out of the 2010s.

You can find the full list of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass in May below. 

All titles coming to Xbox Game Pass

• April 30: Have A Nice Death (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• May 2: Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• May 7: Kona II: Brume (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• May 9: Little Kitty, Big City (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• May 14: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Cloud, Console, and PC)

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Let’s face it, while the launch model PS5 was a huge improvement over its predecessor and even the more powerful PS4 Pro, it was hardly a looker. Instead, it was a bulky device that literally led to people rearranging their entire entertainment centers or straight up buying a brand new one just to accommodate it.

The same can be said for the Xbox Series X, at least when it comes to size. Even to this day, I still find it odd to see one laying flat instead of standing up next to a TV. Meanwhile, I think the Xbox Series S is one of the best-looking consoles this generation by far, even if hardcore gamers will never take it seriously due to its underpowered internals.

As I was too busy working to fight off scalpers at the beginning of this console generation, I decided I would wait things out. After all, I still had my trusty Nintendo Switch and I had built a new gaming PC only a few years prior.

Being a fan of Sony’s exclusives, I knew that one day I would eventually pick up a PS5. Plus, I had a big enough backlog of games to tide me over in the meantime. I figured if I waited long enough, a better looking and more compact PS5 would come around, and it did with the launch of the PS5 Slim last year. 

I can’t count how many times I almost bought a PS5 Slim but one thing always stopped me before I could: the inevitable PS5 Pro. If I could wait for the PS5 Slim, what’s a few more months or even a year for the PS5 Pro, right? Well, I got tired of waiting but instead of buying a PS5, I upgraded to an Xbox Series X instead. Here’s why.

An unexpected purchase

Although I spent a lot of time admiring the look and design of both the Series S and the Series X at the beginning of this console generation, I’m by no means an Xbox fanboy. After my Xbox 360 died years ago, I switched to PC gaming and never looked back. In fact, I had sworn off consoles entirely until the Nintendo Switch came around.

Besides reminding me just how much care and attention goes into the best Nintendo Switch games from the House of Mario, Nintendo’s hybrid console took me in an entirely different direction when it comes to gaming. After falling head over heels with mechanical keyboards a few years earlier, the Switch ignited a love of controllers in me that I still have to this day. 

I love testing and trying out new controllers and when I was asked to start reviewing the best PC game controllers, I jumped at the offer. There was only one problem: many PC controllers also work with Xbox and to do my reviews justice, I needed to test each controller on both platforms.

While I was fine with going over to a friend’s house to play on his Xbox Series X back when I reviewed the HyperX Clutch Gladiate, as more Xbox-compatible, PC controllers found their way to me, I realized I needed an Xbox of my own. I wasn’t ready to rush out and buy a $500 Xbox Series X, so I did the next best thing: I bought a used Series S solely for testing controllers.

From its compact size to how quickly and seamlessly I could switch from one game to another using Quick Resume, I fell in love with my Series S even with its shortcomings. It was never intended to be my main console after all. However, the more I used my Series S, the more I liked it — and don’t even get me started on the value of Xbox Game Pass. I also really like how there are portable monitors like UPspec Gaming's XScreen which attach directly to the back of the Series S and turn into something a bit closer to a gaming laptop.

Despite this, I knew deep down that I would have an even better experience on the Series X. Likewise, I still found it to be the most visually appealing console of this generation. Even though I’ve been saving for a PS5 to play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in particular, I finally went ahead and bought a Series X last week.

Hard to pass up

When buying certain types of electronics like mechanical keyboards and gaming headsets, I would never even consider picking one up used. As you can tell with my Series S, consoles are another story entirely.

Right now, you can find the Xbox Series X discounted by $50 but it was going for just $350 during the holidays. I should have jumped on that opportunity when I had the chance and I still regret it to this day. However, while scrolling through X recently, I kept coming across posts about refurbished consoles on Woot.

Unlike with the Xbox 360’s Red Ring of Death, I haven’t heard about any serious hardware problems with either of Microsoft’s consoles this generation. Still though, Grade A refurbished Series X consoles kept popping up on Woot (h/t Wario64). I’ll admit I was skeptical at first and I did miss the first few batches including when the console was on sale for $150 as part of a “Special Prime Appreciation Days Pricing” promotion. However, when I saw that refurbished Series X consoles were available at just $300 for the third time, I added one to my cart and checked out before stock ran out.

Less than a week later, a box from Amazon (Woot’s parent company) arrived on my doorstep. I was expecting GameStop Refurbished but what I got was a like-new console in almost its original packaging. You see, Microsoft sells enough refurbished Xbox consoles that it has special boxes with a refurbished label on the bottom left corner. Even though I bought a used console, I still got the same unboxing experience that I would have with a new one and taking my new Series X out of the identical black bag with “Power Your Dreams” written on its label immediately brought a smile to my face.

Worth the wait

So what’s it like going from Microsoft’s smallest console ever to its most powerful one yet? Exactly as I expected. The games I play often like Session and Rocket League immediately looked and ran better while Persona 3 Reload really popped in native 4K as opposed to being upscaled to 4K.

As I recently bought an open box gaming monitor to build out a new desk setup entirely dedicated to gaming, I was also able to utilize its higher refresh rate to play more Xbox games than I would have expected at 120fps. You would have needed one of the best gaming PCs to do something like this only a few years ago but with both the Series X and even the Series S (with some limitations), you can now experience high refresh rate gaming on consoles. The same goes for the PS5 but you will need an HDMI 2.1 cable while this works on Xbox with just a standard HDMI 2.0 one.

One of my biggest gripes with the Series S besides its scaled down performance is the fact that its HDMI port is so high up when the console is positioned vertically. This makes cable management a little harder and no matter what you do, you’re still going to see some wires jutting out from the back of the console. The same can’t be said for the Series X though, as all of its ports are located at the very bottom of the console.

I don’t own any physical Xbox games as I gave away all of my older titles after my Xbox 360 died but it’s still nice to know that I could pop in an original Xbox game, an Xbox 360 game or an Xbox One game and it will work on the Series X. At the same time, I also now have a Blu-Ray player if I want to start a physical movie collection for those times when the best streaming services just don’t cut it.

The PS5 can wait (for now)

Don’t get me wrong, I will likely buy a PS5 before the PS6 comes out. There are just too many great PlayStation exclusives that I don’t want to miss out on or have to wait to eventually play on PC. While I like the streamlined design of the PS5 Slim minus the fact that you have to buy a vertical stand separately, waiting to see what the PS5 Pro will look like and the improvements it will offer seems like the right move at the moment. Plus, we also have the Nintendo Switch 2 on the horizon.

One of the main things that soured me on the PS5 early on this generation is that the console isn’t backwards-compatible with PS4 controllers. Sure, you can run PS4 games on it and play them with your old controllers but you’ll need a DualSense controller to play actual PS5 games. Not to mention that there isn’t and likely will never be a PS5 equivalent to the DualShock 4 Back Button Attachment. I’ve reached a point in my own gaming experience where I need back buttons and the $200 DualSense Edge just doesn’t appeal to me and third-party PS5 pro controllers lack many of the DualSense’s best features. Meanwhile on Xbox, I can use all of my old first and third-party controllers without any fuss.

I know there’s a new version of the Series X rumored to launch later this year but a discless, all-white console just doesn’t call to me in the same way the current black one does. I could be wrong but without any performance and graphical updates, now seemed like the best time to experience Microsoft’s latest console in all its glory. So far, I’m glad I jumped on the deal I did; my refurbished Series X is a huge step up over my Series S.

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Uranium hot on the heels of the Fallout TV show on Prime Video, Bethesda has finally announced a release date for the long-awaited next-gen update to Fallout 4. The patch will arrive on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X and Series S on April 25. 

Bethesda originally announced the patch way back in 2022 as part of the gamemaker's 25th-anniversary celebration for the Fallout series, with a rollout set for 2023. As 2023 came and went, that launch window was pushed to 2024, and now we have a firm release date: The free upgrade for Fallout 4 rolls out on April 25. 

This patch is primarily geared toward bringing Bethesda's post-apocalyptic open-world role-playing game to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles, adding native applications for the consoles, Performance mode and Quality mode settings, and 60 fps gameplay. But previous-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will also receive an update with stability improvements, login and quest fixes. 

On PC, the update will add widescreen and ultra-widescreen support along with fixes to the Creation Kit and a variety of quest updates, Bethesda announced this week. As a huge Steam Deck fan, I was most excited to see that Fallout 4 is going to be Steam Deck verified with the latest patch. It's currently listed as "playable" on Steam's handheld gaming device, one level below "verified," which indicates that players may run into the occasional issue or need to make some manual tweaks to run the game. Fallout 4 will also be released on the Epic Games Store.

New Enclave quest, Halloween decor, and more 

As part of the update, Bethesda also announced a slew of additional content set to roll out for Fallout 4. 

This includes several free Creation Club items themed to the Enclave, the pre-war fascist paramilitary organization players will remember from Fallout 2 and 3, like new weapon and armor skins, the Tesla Cannon, Hellfire and X-02 power armor, and the heavy incinerator. If you're itching to crawl out through the fallout once more, Bethesda's also adding a new quest called "Echoes of the Past" where players fight to stop the Enclave from establishing a foothold in the Commonwealth.

A new Makeshift Weapon Pack adds a baseball launcher, nail gun, piggy bank, and more unconventional objects turned into deadly weapons. Dozens of new Halloween decorations for your settlement, including witches, cauldrons, and ghouls, are also on the way. 

The Fallout 4 next-gen update goes live on April 25 on PlayStation and Xbox consoles as well as on PC on Steam, GOG, the Microsoft Store, and the Epic Games Store.

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Xbox has easily been the most talked about player in gaming this year. It’s almost like murmurings of Starfield going to PS5 grabbed everyone’s attention. 

The rumbling rumors that Microsoft was going to become an entirely third-party publisher were eventually tucked into bed and were briefly told “nighty-night” following the underwhelming announcement that merely four Xbox games would be going multi-platform. Wooh! 

During a recent interview with Polyon at GDC 2024 (Games Developers Conference), CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer revealed plans about the possibility of other digital storefronts coming to Xbox consoles in an interesting chat.

The big takeaway? When Polygon asked him directly if he could envisage a future where the likes of PC gaming platforms such as the Epic Games Store may appear on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, he certainly seemed open to the notion. “Yes” was Phil’s simple, oh so direct answer.

“Nobody would blink twice if I said, ‘Hey, when you’re using a PC, you get to decide the type of experience you have [by picking where to buy games], Spencer continued. There’s real value in that.”

Although in the case of Epic's storefront, and for as much as I appreciate the impressive library of games it’s amassed and monthly free titles, hot damn does that Epic launcher crash on me way too often. Trying to get a game downloaded on it even with one of the best gaming PCs can often feel like a challenge akin to squaring off against a raging bull armed only with a small dessert spoon… while wearing an entirely red tracksuit.

But Phil certainly seems open to well, “opening” up the industry. “(Subsidizing hardware) becomes more challenging in today’s world,” revealed Spencer at the latest GDC. “And I will say, and this may seem too altruistic, I don’t know that it’s growing the industry. So I think, what are the barriers? What are the things that create friction in today’s world for creators and players? And how can we be part of opening up that model?”

A sea change 

Using Sea of Thieves as an example — the high seas sociable pirate sim being one of the foursome of titles jumping to rival consoles, as I previously mentioned — doubles down on the idea Spencer genuinely wants to break down as many barriers as possible to allow gamers to play together, regardless of platform.

“If I want to play on a gaming PC, then I feel like I’m more a continuous part of a gaming ecosystem as a whole,” said Spencer. “As opposed to [on console], my gaming is kind of sharded — to use a gaming term — based on these different closed ecosystems that I have to play across.”

It’s not exactly like the Xbox big cheese hasn’t actively tried to smash down the walls between Xbox and PC gaming for a long while. The best Xbox Series X games have been available to play through Xbox Game Pass via (the annoyingly unstable) Xbox App and through the Microsoft Store on Windows 11 on PC and the best gaming laptops for years now. And let me tell you, playing Halo Infinite in 4K at 120 fps is a Master Chief delight.

Could Steam come to Xbox?

With the PS5 and PS5 Slim currently smashing Xbox Series X in terms of units sold, turning the two Series systems into hybrid consoles/PCs that potentially have access to even the mighty Steam would feel like an absolute game-changer. Though seeing as there’s no currently easy way to get Xbox Game Pass titles working on the Steam Deck without jumping through painful hoops, it might take quite the sales pitch from Phil to get Gabe Newell to allow Valve’s iconic platform to arrive on Xbox consoles.

Editor's note: since this article was initially published, somewhat prominent X user Kariam Jovian has posted the following regarding a newly engaged partnership between Microsoft and Valve: 

Xbox clearly has to do something drastic in terms of turning the tide of its current console war with PlayStation. Perhaps leaning into Microsoft’s enduring software legacy and opening Xbox’s doors to other distribution platforms could give Phil and his team the momentum swing they appear to so desperately need.

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It has been almost seven years since the last game in the series but it's finally time to go on down to South Park once again with the release of South Park: Snow Day.

However, when you arrive in the quiet, little mountain town of South Park, Colorado this time around, things are going to look quite a bit different than they did in 2014’s Stick of Truth or 2017’s Fractured But Whole. Instead of creating yet another 2.5D RPG, Matt Stone and Trey Parker have opted for a 3D world to give the game’s developers Question a bit more flexibility when building the world of South Park: Snow Day.

The turn-based role playing of the previous two games has also been replaced in favor of an action-adventure game that’s meant to be played cooperatively online with friends or with other players in public matches. This is quite the change to a formula that worked so well in both Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole but once again, there’s a reason for it.

In an interview with IGN ahead of the game’s release, Stone explained that the team wanted to be able to quickly update the characters and to be able to add new content to the game in a way which is more inline with the show’s release schedule. Likewise, Snow Day writer Jameel Saleem explained in the same interview that while previous games felt more like a South Park movie, Snow Day is designed to be more like an episode of South Park. 

Besides switching genres, the latest South Park game also drew some inspiration from the popular roguelite Hades. Basically, this means that you can’t save your progress during any of the game’s five chapters but certain resources — like the game’s coveted dark matter — carry-over even if you die. Unfortunately for me, I had to learn this the hard way while I’ve been working on my South Park: Snow Day review for the past week. At the same time, since I was playing the game early, I didn’t have any friends to turn to for help. Instead, I had to rely on my own wits and a bit of help from the game’s AI bots which join your party when playing solo. 

If you’re a die-hard South Park fan like myself and just want to experience the story of Snow Day by yourself, here are three tips I learned along the way as I spent over 15 hours playing the game until the credits rolled.

Don’t be afraid to respec your character

Although the graphic style and genre have changed, this is still a South Park game after all which means that character creation plays a big role. However, while you can deck out your character as you see fit, the clothes and accessories you wear don’t have any effect on combat. Unlike in Stick of Truth or Fractured But Whole, your equipment doesn’t raise your abilities at all.

You have a limited number of shirts, hats, glasses and even capes available at the start of the game but you can purchase additional ones when you’re outside of battle. This is done at the bazaar run by Tweak and Craig and you’ll spend in-game PP currency to buy new equipment and accessories. For your actual abilities, you’re going to need to collect dark matter during your runs.

With enough dark matter in hand, you can head to Mr. Hankey’s port-o-potty on the far left side of Snow Day’s hub world located behind Eric Cartman’s house. Spending your hard-earned dark matter will allow you to unlock new perks that carry-over throughout the game’s five chapters.

Snow Day’s dark matter perks are quite expensive, especially as you work your way towards the more powerful upgrades. The best part though is that how you choose to allocate your dark matter isn’t final and you can always refund a perk later on if you find that’s not actually helping you in battle.

Personally, I really struggled during the first few chapters of the game and I had to do several runs of each before I completed them. During one particularly difficult chapter early on, I just kept dying no matter what loadout I started with or the upgrade cards I drew during the run.

One common complaint with Snow Day is that the movement feels a bit off. This is South Park after all and Matt Stone and Trey Parker insisted to the developers at Question that movement actually felt like the way the characters walk and run in the show. Early on, I allocated extra dark matter to improve my character’s movement speeds. When I kept dying though, I refunded these perks and put all my dark matter into perks that raised my health and gave me one extra life when I died in battle. This was all I needed to get through that chapter I was hung up on and make my way to the next one.

Take good care of your AI teammates 

Even during a solo playthrough like my own, you’re never truly alone. If you don’t want to be paired with random players online or have friends to play with, Snow Day fills the remaining three slots in your party with AI-powered bots.

While I like how they’re randomly generated and are supposed to represent other new kids in town such as yourself, they are bots after all. When playing online with your friends or other players, you can watch their actions and see which way they’re going to go or what they’re going to do in battle and then act accordingly. The same can’t be said for Snow Day’s bots.

The bots will follow you at times during a run but they disappear entirely once you’re out of combat. I also noticed during my own playthrough that they often had a mind of their own and instead of heading towards an objective, they might get distracted and go after that lone enemy in the opposite direction of where you want to go. There was also one point during the game when the bots abandoned me entirely and failed to spawn during a large battle. As you may have guessed, I died pretty quickly and had to restart that chapter.

During the first few chapters, I held my own without much help from Snow Day’s bots. However, once I reached some of the game’s more difficult bosses though, they were often the only thing standing between continuing and having to start a run over from scratch, since they can revive you when you die. For this reason, I recommend that you treat these bots as if they were human players joining you for a chapter.

I had the healing totem power bound to my character the whole time and in addition to healing myself, I also used it to make sure that my party had full health. There’s also an upgrade card you can get that allows the totem to revive dead players just like another player would. If this one shows up in a shuffle, it’s worth choosing since you never know when you may need to revive all three bots while a horde of enemies is coming for you.

With enough playthroughs and perks, you may not need the help of these bots but if you want to work your way through Snow Day’s single-player campaign, I highly suggest you take care of the bots assigned to your party. It’s also worth noting that these bots won’t search out and collect loot like toilet paper for you. This is something you’re going to have to do on your own but at least you won’t be fighting other players for resources when you want to level up your upgrade cards.

Play on a console that lets you resume a run

For my South Park: Snow Day review, I played the game on PC through Steam. While I was able to play it much earlier than those who reviewed the game on consoles, there is a major downside to playing on PC: you can’t stop a run and resume it later. As I mentioned, I learned this the hard way early on.

As my friend let me borrow his old Steam Deck to see if I liked it after he upgraded to the Steam Deck OLED, I decided to try playing on that instead at my desk in front of my PC. I’m happy to report that Snow Day runs great on the Steam Deck for those who would rather play the game on one of the best handheld gaming consoles.

Besides being able to play in bed or on the couch, there’s another big advantage to playing Snow Day on the Steam Deck. When you press the device’s power button, your game is suspended and you can pick your run right where you left off. This feature is how I finally managed to finish Snow Day’s fifth chapter and see the end credits roll.

Since I’m quite fond of my Xbox Series S, I also got an Xbox code to see what it’s like playing Snow Day on console. I had an ulterior motive in doing so too though, as I wanted to see if the game supported Microsoft’s Quick Resume feature. I turned off my console mid-run earlier today and once I turned it back on, I was able to pick up right where I left off on Xbox just like with the Steam Deck.

Sure, this tactic won’t work with multiplayer runs in Snow Day but if you want to actually finish the game on your own, it’s an invaluable feature to have. I highly doubt I would have been able to finish the game before the embargo lifted if it wasn’t for being able to suspend my playthrough on the Steam Deck. Now that I know this tactic also works with Xbox, I might even start a second playthrough from scratch on my Series S.

You can learn a lot from a solo playthrough

It may have taken me much longer than if I had played alongside friends but beating South Park: Snow Day on my own was a really enjoyable albeit difficult experience.

Instead of having other, more powerful players to help me during my runs of the game’s five chapters, I had to rely on myself to see it to the end. This took a lot of time but along the way, I learned all about how the game’s upgrade and bullsh*t cards work. I also gained a better understanding of Snow Day’s maps and where the hidden treasure chests and caches of loots are in each level.

Going from a single-player game to a multiplayer one meant to be played cooperatively was a big risk but I fully understand why Matt Stone and Trey Parker did it. Both Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole had much longer development cycles and a whole lot more work that you would think went into these 2.5D games. With a 3D environment and using the popular game engine Unity, Question and the team at South Park Digital Studios will be able to build on what’s been done so far in Snow Day and add new characters, gameplay modes and hopefully more chapters or even a brand new campaign.

Still though, if you like playing games by yourself for the story, the inclusion of a single-player, offline mode in Snow Day is something you too will likely appreciate. While other reviewers didn’t enjoy the game as much as I did, at just $30, you can’t go wrong even with a solo playthrough if you’re a die-hard South Park fan that wants to see the direction the series is going in after Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole.

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GTA 6 has been a long time coming, and one of the biggest questions in gaming right now is "When is GTA 6's release date?” So far developer Rockstar has been tight-lipped on the matter, only teasing a 2025 launch in its first GTA 6 trailer. But even that vague launch window may change as production woes could push it back to 2026, according to the latest rumors. 

According to a new Kotaku report, the studio's current goal is to release GTA 6 in "early 2025," as previously rumored, but it's "becoming more and more likely" that a delay will push it to late 2025 or even 2026, sources with knowledge of the game’s development told the outlet under the condition of anonymity. Sources say a Fall 2025 release seems more feasible at this stage of development, but delaying the game until 2026 is also being discussed as a sort of “fallback plan” or “emergency” option if needed.

While it isn't exactly clear from the reporting why production is "falling behind" schedule, it's enough to have Rockstar leadership worried about hitting its Spring 2025 launch window. This production setback is reportedly one of the main reasons Rockstar issued its controversial return-to-office mandate as GTA 6's development enters the home stretch. Rockstar said the decision was for productivity and security reasons, according to an internal email to staff reviewed by Bloomberg. 

The short notice and drastic policy shift reportedly caught many workers by surprise. In response to news of the mandate, which begins in April, developers at the typically secretive studio spoke out to Aftermath about concerns that Rockstar could bleed talent at a critical time if frustrated remote workers start leaving. Others are worried that Rockstar may backslide into the kind of brutal crunch culture it's been known for in the past. 

Of course, it's important to take all this talk of GTA 6's release with a grain of salt until Rockstar confirms anything. Still, it’s quickly becoming clear that GTA 6’s final year or so of development is shaping up to be more of a headache than Rockstar anticipated. It wouldn't be the first time, either; GTA 5 was famously set to launch in Spring 2013 before being delayed until October of that same year. Its successor could very well share the same fate. 

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A recent leak claims the rumored successor to the PS5 console, the upgraded PS5 Pro, will release later this year, presumably in time for the holiday season. If this proves true and Rockstar's GTA 6 hits its targeted launch window of early 2025, that would crown Sony as the de facto best console to play one of the most highly anticipated games of a generation. 

Granted, that's a lot of "ifs" that have to go right. But given that GTA 5 broke all-time sales records when it came out back in 2013, it cannot be understated how huge an opportunity this could be for Sony. Especially since, unlike with many modern releases, Rockstar doesn't plan to launch GTA 6 on PC and consoles simultaneously. Instead, the developer plans to release an "upgraded version" of the game on PC at some point after its initial launch date.

Previously Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has dismissed the idea of a mid-cycle refresh for either the Xbox Series X or Series S. He doesn’t "feel an imperative” to release another Xbox console this generation, he told Bloomberg last summer. “That’s not the feedback we’re getting right now. Right now, we’re pretty set on the hardware we have.”

That could give Sony a serious leg up if it moves forward with the PS5 Pro in time for GTA 6's release. According to a video this week from YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead, the PS5 Pro could house 67 teraflops of compute power — a mightily impressive APU-boosting figure that seems to be made possible by machine-learning. That could end up equating to a "mere" 33.5 Tflops of “Floating Point” performance; by comparison, the base PS5 manages just a third of that at 10.28 Tflops. If these specs shake out to be true, that’s a colossal technical leap that could help the PS5 Pro rival the graphical power of some of the best gaming PCs.

Given Sony’s estimated 2:1 market position over Xbox, the PS5 was already posed to be the main platform players chose to experience Rockstar's hugely-anticipated open-world crime game. But being able to play GTA 6 on the upgraded PS5 Pro could give them even more of a reason to opt for Sony's console instead of Xbox. The PS5 Pro needs a compelling sales pitch to justify its existence, especially given that the cheaper Xbox Series S continues to outsell the Xbox Series X, and this could be it. 

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Diablo IV is coming to Xbox Game Pass on March 28, Microsoft announced this week. It'll be the first Activision Blizzard game to land on Xbox's gaming subscription service since Microsoft acquired them in a $68.7 billion deal last October. 

In an official Xbox podcast earlier this week, Xbox executives Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty revealed the company's "vision for the future." The announcement was part PR stagecraft to drum up excitement for Xbox's hardware plans, and part damage control to assuage concerns amid reports that several high-profile Xbox Series X games could come to rival consoles like Nintendo Switch and PS5. 

To that end, the company confirmed that four unnamed Xbox exclusives are indeed coming to other platforms — but not Starfield or the new Indiana Jones game in development, as had been previously rumored. A “next-gen” Xbox console is also in the works, along with an “exciting” hardware announcement slated for this holiday season. 

Bringing Diablo 4 to Xbox Game Pass is a smart move on Xbox's part. The latest entry in Activision Blizzard's legendary dungeon-crawling action RPG series was one of last year's biggest hits when it launched in June on Blizzard's own Battle.net store before coming to Steam in October. And its seasonal updates continue to pull in hundreds of thousands of players each day. Offering it on Game Pass will open up its player base to the service's 34 million subscribers. 

"This is only the start of Xbox players being able to enjoy Activision and Blizzard games on Game Pass — we look forward to sharing more soon," said Xbox Senior Communications Manager Jeff Rubenstein in a company blog post. 

In October right after the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said fans would have to wait until at least 2024 before some of the gamemaker's biggest series like Call of Duty would make their way to Xbox Game Pass. The fact that Diablo IV is already coming to the service so early in the year is a good sign that Call of Duty and more may not be too far behind. 

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For a moment there, it really seemed like this might be the end for Xbox. Fortunately though, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer set the record straight during an appearance on the official Xbox podcast this week.

Yes, some first-party Xbox games are coming to other consoles but it will only be four games to start. Spencer’s reasoning behind this is that if players on PS5 and the Nintendo Switch get to try out some of the company’s games, they might buy an Xbox of their own or sign up for Xbox Game Pass to experience even more of them. 

Besides this news, there was also talk about the future Xbox hardware during the 20 minute podcast. While we already know some details about the mid-gen refresh of the Xbox Series X (codenamed Brooklin) due to past leaks, the presentation also led to new speculation about a handheld Xbox console. 

While this is something Xbox fans have been wanting for ages, a few weeks ago I had a realization that maybe a portable Xbox console was always in the works. If Microsoft is planning to go up against the best handheld gaming consoles, here’s one way it could really set itself apart from the Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go and the upcoming MSI Claw while finally being able to compete with Valve’s Steam Deck in a big way.

What’s in a name?

This console generation, Xbox did something very different from its biggest competitor: PlayStation. While Sony called its latest console the PS5 and made both a disc and diskless version of it, they both have the same name.

Microsoft on the other hand also launched its next-gen Xbox with two distinct consoles. However, besides the fact that one is all digital, the Xbox Series S is also underpowered when compared to the Xbox Series X. These new Xbox consoles are from the Series family while the letter at the end denotes which model they are. However, after a bit of thinking to myself, I came up with the idea that there might be more to using these letters for model names than what Microsoft has told us.

Before we go any further, note that this is pure speculation on my part and nothing official. But if you think about it, the “X” and “S” at the end of these console’s names have to mean something, right?

In my opinion, the “X” in Xbox Series X stands for eXtreme while the “S” in Xbox Series S stands for Standard. Since this latest generation of Xbox consoles is a family after all, who’s to say there couldn’t be other models that use this same naming scheme. And this is how I got the idea for what Microsoft might call its handheld Xbox: the Xbox Series P. In this case, the “P” stands for portable.

While I could be way off here, if I’m not, I have one more idea that could really help a potential Xbox handheld stand out from the crowd.

The Steam Deck is the handheld to emulate

If Microsoft is working on a portable Xbox, I don’t think the company is using the Nintendo Switch as a blueprint. Valve already did that with the Steam Deck and its success is the very reason we’re seeing more and more handheld gaming PCs.

Besides Valve’s extensive game library, there’s one major difference that sets the Steam Deck apart from the ROG Ally, Legion Go and other handheld gaming PCs: it runs Linux instead of Windows. This might have seemed like a huge risk when Valve first announced the Steam Deck but it’s paid off in more ways than one. 

For starters, Valve doesn’t have to pay anything to use Linux whereas Asus, Lenovo, MSI and other PC makers have to pay Microsoft to use Windows on their handhelds. Another great thing about Steam OS is that it’s much more streamlined than Windows. Games open and close quickly and you don’t have to worry about driver updates or worse, Windows updates. 

From battery life to the lack of a dedicated UI, Windows is holding back all of these other handheld gaming PCs. In fact, Phil Spencer himself said that Windows is “one of the weak points in the experience on an [Asus] ROG Ally or the Lenovo [Legion Go].” As such, the Xbox platform team is “working with Windows to make sure that the experience is even better.”

This is all well and good but I’ve got a better idea that will set the Xbox Series P apart from third-party handheld gaming PCs running Windows.

Dual booting could be the better option

Instead of optimizing Windows 11 to run better on handheld devices, Microsoft should consider leveraging one of the best aspects of PCs overall: dual-booting. With multiple drives or even one drive that’s partitioned into two halves, you can have two separate operating systems on the same device at a time.

If the Xbox Series P is going to be a handheld gaming console instead of just another handheld gaming PC, games need to be the main focus. Having games running on top of standard Windows is what’s holding back other handheld gaming PCs. Instead, Microsoft should put Windows 11 on one drive or partition and its Xbox system software on another.

You see, like previous Xbox consoles, your Xbox Series X/S does in fact run Windows, just a highly optimized version that’s based on Windows 10. Instead of trying to fix Windows 11 to run smoothly on a handheld, it could exist as a separate operating system on the Xbox Series P that you could switch to when necessary. This way, Windows tasks and updates won’t slow down the console and playing games will be a more streamlined experience.

Valve does something similar with the Steam Deck and SteamOS except its Linux desktop environment and launcher exist on the same drive. By separating them though, Microsoft could give Xbox gamers the best of both worlds without having to make nearly as many compromises as other Windows-based handheld PCs have to.

There’s always the Xbox Series S to fall back on

Even if a handheld Xbox isn’t actually in the works, we already got the most portable Xbox yet with the release of the Xbox Series S. It may not be as powerful as the Series X but it’s compact and small enough that you can easily throw it into a backpack and bring it with you when heading to a friend’s house or even while traveling.

When paired with UPspec Gaming’s xScreen, the Xbox Series X turns into a gaming laptop of sorts, though it does need to be plugged into the wall to work. I really enjoy playing my own Xbox Series S in this way when I’m away from home. When I am at home though, I bring it from room to room and use it on several different TVs and monitors since it uses a standard AC power cord instead of a proprietary one.

We’ll have to wait and see as to whether or not Microsoft does actually release a portable Xbox. However, now that Sony could be making a new PlayStation handheld and the Nintendo Switch 2 is on the horizon, there’s never been a better time for the software giant to get in on the handheld craze.

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Microsoft’s Xbox published a new podcast going over the future of the gaming brand, denoting an all-new console that might be its “largest technical leap” ever, according to Xbox president Sarah Bond. 

The news falls not several months following reports of not one but two potential Xbox consoles in the works, codenamed Ellewood and Brooklin, though it's unclear if Bond was speaking specifically on these two hardware forms or something else entirely.

Rumors of an Xbox handheld have also circulated widely over the past month, too, with many believing Bond could be talking about a potential new area for the gaming giant to tackle. 

Bond's comments suggest that a console announcement is planned for the holiday season, which lines up with rumors pertaining to the aforementioned projects. Though which type of console, handheld or conventional gaming platform, remains unknown at this time. 

Injecting more power into the Xbox 

Announced last week by Microsoft's Phil Spencer, Xbox has finally voiced its considerations on the future of its business in a 20-minute podcast highlighting everything from games exclusivity to future hardware updates. 

Despite aiming to achieve the commendable in bringing games "across any screen," as Bond herself relays, the gaming giant is set to release potentially two new Xbox consoles, one of which is slated to be announced this holiday season. 

In the midst of the podcast, published on Xbox's YouTube channel, Bond highlights with exuberance "some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we're going to share this holiday." She also commented on the future, as well, noting that Xbox is "invested in the next generation roadmap." 

In regards to this next Xbox console, not the one to be announced this holiday season, Bond notes that it will be "the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation." What that looks like on paper remains to be seen, but it's certainly a major vote of confidence for Xbox fans who felt miffed over the past week in regards to the downfall of their favorite console maker. 

As for that holiday season hardware reveal, many seem to believe it could be Xbox's new push into handheld gaming. Xbox is no stranger to the form factor, saddling up alongside Logitech to deliver the G-Cloud back in 2022 solely built for cloud gaming. Now in this new PC handheld-riddled industry, Microsoft's take could prove rewarding, especially if the specs are there to rival heavy hitters like the Steam Deck OLED and Lenovo Go. 

Microsoft also adds fuel to Bond's statements and to that potential handheld reveal, noting in a blog post published after the video's release that the gaming giant sees "a lot of opportunity in different types of devices, and will share specifics on our future hardware plans as soon as we are ready." Microsoft continues that it has "a robust and innovative multi-year hardware roadmap including more console and controller options for you this holiday."

Beyond just improving upon its hardware lineup, several updates to Game Pass will also take into effect soon, namely the launch of "Diablo 4" on the subscription service, as well as Activision Blizzard games. Microsoft officially purchased ActiBlizz this past October, and the fruits of that $68.7B deal are now starting to come to fruition. 

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The supposed death knell for Microsoft’s Xbox has not been wrung as many believed, but the gaming giant is preparing to bring a total of four games from its ever-growing catalogue to rival platforms.

This news comes following an over 20 minute-long podcast aptly titled Updates on the Xbox Business. The video, published on Xbox’s YouTube channel, features Xbox head Phil Spencer alongside Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, and Sarah Bond, president of Xbox. 

Spencer spoke highly about the importance of the “long-term health of Xbox,” detailing the ways “we [can] continue to grow the games industry and Xbox.” He kicked off the pre-recorded sit down with an early jump into the exclusivity question, highlighting that only four games will be going over to rival consoles.

Later into the discussion, Bond spoke about the upcoming next-gen Xbox console, calling it “the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation.” It’s unclear if she was speaking on the previously leaked consoles, codenamed Brooklin and Ellewood, or something else entirely, but the news should quell fears of Xbox’s potential downfall.

Xbox brings 4 games to rival consoles 

Spencer kicked off the discussion with the highly important Xbox exclusivity question, which took social media by storm last week in the run up to this very podcast’s release. The Xbox executive highlighted only a total of 4 games jumping ship to alternative consoles, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, though which games remain to be determined. 

In the discussion, Spencer highlighted that this would not be a major alteration of its “fundamental exclusivity strategy,” specifically citing games that would be considered for other platforms as being ones that are at least “over a year old” and “community driven games,” those that are “first iterations of a franchise.” 

As for specifics, Spencer called out both “Starfield’ and “Indiana Jones” as not being among the mix. Inside sources tell The Verge that the 4 titles heading over to other consoles could be “Hi-Fi Rush,” “Sea of Thieves,” “Pentiment,” and “Grounded,” which to some degree makes a lot of sense and falls perfectly into the descriptor given via Spencer. 

We also aren’t too sure on which consoles said games will be coming to. While Spencer did say “other consoles,” there wasn’t exactly any specific names thrown around, probably for good measure. Though, of the four aforementioned titles, realistically only “Hi-Fi Rush” and “Pentiment” could play at a reasonable rate on the Nintendo Switch without major drawbacks. 

Interestingly, Spencer did note that while only 4 games are coming to other consoles now, there could potentially be more in the future. He denoted the previously mentioned descriptor of community-driven and year-old experiences as being games with the highest likelihood to join these other titles on other platforms later down the line. 

It all seemingly falls in line with how Spencer and co. sees the company now and where he wants to take it, literally coining it “Xbox Everywhere” amid the podcast. Spencer also did note that he will be keeping a watchful eye on the community’s reaction to these changes and address them accordingly. 

More from Tom's Guide

• Xbox Series X vs. Xbox Series S: Which Xbox should you buy?
• I took my Xbox on vacation and even played it in the desert
• The first 5 games you should play on your new Xbox Series X

The new year brought with it a slew of rumors that Microsoft is seriously considering putting aside exclusivity and bringing its library of titles to rival platforms like the PS5 and Switch. If true, it could be a death knell for the console war as we know it and the biggest shake-up the industry's seen since Sega dropped out of the hardware game in 2001. 

The biggest bombshells over the past week have been increasing speculation that Microsoft may release Starfield on PS5 alongside the recently revealed Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Other possible PS5 ports include the charming rhythm-action game Hi-Fi Rush (which could also see a release on Nintendo Switch) as well as Microsoft's popular run-and-gun shooter series Gears of War.

Of course, this all remains speculation for now. Microsoft has stayed quiet regarding these rumors or speculation that it may be planning to transition into a third-party publisher. We're likely to learn more soon as Xbox head Phil Spencer promised a "business update event" at some unspecified point next week to clarify the company's plans. 

Given the recent surge of leaks, it's difficult to keep track of which Xbox games could lose their exclusivity and make their way onto PlayStation or Nintendo consoles. With that in mind, we've rounded up all the rumors, leaks, and reports for every Xbox exclusive that's reportedly going multiplatform. 

Hi-Fi Rush

The first rumors to surface of an Xbox exclusive coming to a non-Microsoft platform was Hi-Fi Rush, a charming rhythm-action game that we at Tom's Guide count among the best Xbox Series X games. Tango Gameworks surprise-released the game early last year and went on to garner widespread acclaim for its splashy, cartoon-like visuals, endearing characters and fun combat. 

In a January episode of his podcast, Nate the Hate, an industry insider with a solid track record of accurate scoops, said as one of his 2024 predictions that "Microsoft will bring one of their more acclaimed first-party releases to a competitor’s system.” While the insider didn't name Hi-Fi Rush specifically, he dropped plenty of clues that this was the case based on his description. He also name-dropped Nintendo Switch and PlayStation as potential platforms that Microsoft may explore bringing more games to in the future. 

Another insider later added even more credibility to this claim. On a ResetEra thread discussing the video, the insider said that if you were to bet on the current Xbox console exclusive Hi-Fi Rush launching on Nintendo Switch, “you’ll win.” 

Starfield

Bethesda’s sci-fi epic Starfield wasn't exactly the slam-dunk Xbox was banking on. Steam data showed that players bounced hard off what was supposed to be the biggest Xbox exclusive of the year. My co-worker Dave Meikleham described it as thoroughly mid, calling it "the video game equivalent of a big dollop of intergalactic vanilla ice cream."

Which is why, from a fiscal standpoint, it makes sense for Microsoft’s bottom line to consider letting Starfield go to PS5.  A handful of reports at the beginning of February (thanks, IGN) said Xbox is seriously considering the idea. Sources say a PS5 port of Starfield could be announced after the release of the game's Shattered Space DLC, which is planned for sometime in 2024. 

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Around the same time as the Starfield leak, the Verge reported the Indiana Jones game that Bethesda and MachineGames are currently working on is also tentatively set to launch on PS5. Titled Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, this port would come months after the Xbox and PC release, which is set for the end of 2024. 

However, the Verge hedged that its sources say Microsoft staff is currently deadlocked in "intense debate" about what games should be brought to rival consoles, so an Indy PS5 port feels far from set in stone. 

Sea of Thieves

Some fans speculated that Nate the Hate's prediction about a PS5 and Switch port could actually refer to Rare's popular pirate 'em up Sea of Thieves as opposed to Hi-Fi Rush. Adding even more credibility to this claim was Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb, who said he’d heard buzzing about a potential port, as well as later reports from Game File’s Stephen Totilo and VGC’s Andy Robinson. 

Totilo noted he'd only heard rumors about a potential Sea of Thieves port for PS5, not Switch, that could see an early 2024 launch.

Gears of War

In a recent Giant Bomb livestream , Grubb shared that the Gears franchise’s potential migration to PS5 is “definitely under consideration” over at Microsoft. A specific Sony platform isn’t mentioned, but it's likely he was referring to the PS5 given it's the only current-gen machine the company has out right now. Though he could have meant its home will be the heavily rumored PS5 Pro. 

The Xbox Series X nor Xbox Series S haven't seen a new Gears game since the consoles' launch in late 2020. But it's possible we could see a 4K Gears of War Collection consisting of not just the latest entry, Gears 5, but also the first three games in the series and Xbox One’s Gears of War 4.

Talk about potentially giving away all the keys to the kingdom. Over the past week, there’s been increasing speculation that Microsoft may seriously be considering releasing Starfield on PS5, alongside the recently revealed Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Now, it looks like Xbox Games Studios could be willing to let the Gears of War series head to PlayStation as well.

These latest whispers have stemmed from comments made by Jeff Grub in the most recent edition of his Giant Bomb livestream (thanks, Insider Gaming). On the ‘cast, Grubb states that the Gears franchise’s potential move is “definitely under consideration” on Microsoft’s part. A specific Sony platform isn’t mentioned, but seeing as the PS5 is the only current gen machine the company has out right now, the only other PlayStation system that could realistically give the run-and-gun shooter a home is the heavily rumored PS5 Pro. 

This is obviously all speculation at this point. As you’d expect, Microsoft hasn’t made a peep regarding these PlayStation rumors, or the fact it may be about to transition to becoming a third-party publisher. 

It’s also unclear what Gears games could actually be PlayStation-bound. The most recent installment is 2019’s Gears 5, which is the mostly likely candidate for a PS5 port. Who knows, though? If Microsoft truly is willing to let one of its most historically significant IPs go to its longtime rival, perhaps the company would consider making a 4K Gears of War Collection, consisting of not just Gears 5 but also the first three games in the series and Xbox One’s Gears of War 4.

The original trilogy was released on Xbox 360 and was a colossal deal back in the day. Initially placing you in the hulking boots of man mountain Marcus Fenix before the series let you play as his son J.D. in the fourth entry and Kat Diaz in the fifth game, the first title sold a whopping three million copies during its opening week on sale. It also created the innovative “Rhodie Run”, a mechanic that let you shift between cover via a low stance sprint that deployed a heavy amount of shaky cam effects.

 Could Halo head to PS5 some day? 

While Xbox Series X nor Xbox Series S have been graced with a new Gears game since both consoles launched in late 2020, the mere suggestion Microsoft could allow one of its biggest ever franchises to launch on PlayStation opens up “all bets are off” questions. The sort of questions that may involve a certain near-mute Spartan soldier. 

Personally, I wouldn’t view Gears 5 on PS5 as anywhere near as significant a development as Starfield appearing on Sony’s console, mainly because it’s quite an old game and there are already better third-person shooters that are native to Playstation, like the excellent Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection. Still, if such a port were to happen, it would all but confirm the rumors of Microsoft’s intent to become a third-party console going forward and that may pave the way for Halo Infinite and The Master Chief Collection to cross the divide, too. 

If that ends up being the case, it would cast not only the future of dedicated Xbox hardware in doubt, it could open up the possibility of every big Microsoft gaming IP appearing on rival machines, be that PS5 or the rumored Nintendo Switch 2.

Of course, there’s the very real chance PlayStation ports of any of these Xbox properties won’t happen. Not only would physical and/or digital releases of Halo games on PS5 threaten the already underperforming Xbox Series X’s future, it would also require either dedicated Microsoft teams or the intervention of third-party porting specialists to make the notion a reality.

Maybe the most likely outcome if these surprising rumors end up becoming true in some shape, form or fashion is that we see Xbox Game Pass come to PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2. Microsoft’s subscription service has been available on Windows devices and smartphones for years, so the next natural step in its evolution could perhaps see Game Pass land on rival consoles.

In the here and now, all this third-party publisher talk is likely to make PlayStation fans happy and long term Xbox devotees majorly discontent.

More from Tom's Guide

• PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Which console wins?
• The best Xbox Series X games you must play
• PS5 vs PS5 Pro — biggest rumored upgrades

Not too long ago, our gaming gurus here at Tom’s Guide collectively pondered the following: what if Xbox Game Studios was to become a third-party publisher? Some of us thought this notion was fanciful (this pea-brained writer included), yet with recent rumors suggesting Microsoft is at least considering allowing two major exclusive IPs to make the jump to the PS5, perhaps there really was merit in that question we posed a few weeks ago.   

If the latest online whispers are to be believed, both Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Starfield could potentially get PS5 ports (Thanks, IGN). This would obviously be a colossal deal for multiple reasons. Not only would Microsoft be handing Sony the keys to the biggest game to launch on Xbox Series X so far this generation, it would be sharing one of its most anticipated upcoming titles with its rival publisher, too. 

Squinting between the lines, there have been hints this sort of industry-shaking idea has been in Microsoft’s head for some time. At the turn of the year, stories broke that one of the biggest surprise breakout hits on Xbox in 2023 could be published on other platforms. Though we’ve yet to see it appear outside the Xbox ecosystem, rumors persist charming rhythm-action game Hi-Fi Rush could be PS5 and Nintendo Switch-bound. 

So exactly what could be the potential ramifications for both Microsoft and the Xbox brand if it let Bethesda’s sci-fi epic and potentially the best Indy game since 2003’s Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb willingly slip into “enemy” hands? 

Looking at it from a purely fiscal standpoint, it would probably be good for Microsoft’s bottom line. The company would get a nice chunk of change from all Indy and Starfield PS5 sales, and remember, this is a far bigger and more valuable company than Sony is ever likely to be. The House that Bill Built is hardly short of cash.

It also wouldn’t be a monocle-dropping shocker considering how Xbox Game Studios has been run under the stewardship of Phil Spencer. The CEO of Microsoft Gaming has always seemingly been of the mantra of “Xbox Game Pass first, hardware sales second."

During multiple, refreshingly candid interviews, Spencer has frequently talked about wanting to make Xbox games as accessible as possible. And if we’re talking access, there’s no better way to do that than by shipping your previously exclusive IPs off to a console that outsold Xbox Series X 3-1 in Europe last year.

(X)boxed in

Maybe this is the next natural step in Microsoft going back to its roots as a pure software company. After all, The Big M essentially kiboshed any chance of Series X obtaining must-buy status as soon as it cooked up the concept of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

For years now, you’ve been able to play the majority of big new first-party games at launch on the best gaming PCs thanks to Microsoft’s desire to embed the Xbox brand into Windows 11. As someone who enjoyed playing Forza Horizon 5 at 4K/120 fps on an RTX 4090, I’ll freely admit to being fully behind the company’s PC-embracing decision.

Once you factor in the recent Activision Blizzard acquistion, the concept of “Microsoft being a publisher first and a company that wants to sell Xboxes second” begins to make more sense. Let’s not forget, Xbox as a brand has access to a ludicrous number of IPs going forward. Call of Duty, Tony Hawk’s, Overwatch, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, Heroes of the Storm etc — not to mention its longstanding homegrown properties like Halo, Forza and the Gears of War series.

Gatekeeping any of the Activision Blizzard franchises above (particularly Call of Duty) would just be Microsoft taking money out of its own pocket when the majority of gamers choose to experience these titles on PlayStation, though.

Perhaps Microsoft should be more worried about making Xbox a “can’t miss” brand again, like back in the days of Xbox 360. We already know hardware sales of Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are flagging behind PS5 big time, and the last time we heard about Xbox Game Pass figures, the number of subscribers involved doesn’t exactly flatter the subscription service model. Recently Omdia Senior Analyst James McWhirter predicted that Game Pass subs were around 33.3 million as of the end of 2023 (thanks again, IGN).

The ironic thing is, Starfield isn’t even a particularly great game. The hype train didn’t quite redrail it, but it’s probably fair to say it wasn’t the monster hit and pop culture cornerstone Microsoft was hoping it would become. Regardless, if Bethesda’s intergalactic RPG does indeed one day come to the PS5, it represents, if not a white flag from Microsoft in regards to the current console “war”, then certainly an industry-shaking change of direction for Xbox.

More from Tom's Guide

• The best Xbox Series X games you can play
• Haters be damned — the Xbox Series S is my favorite gadget of 2023
• The first 5 games you should play on your new Xbox Series X

If you've seen your social media feeds flooded with Palworld after it launched on PC and Xbox Game Pass last week, you may be considering checking out the open-world survival game that Japanese developer Pocketpair is billing as “Pokémon with guns.” However, Xbox players should know that the Xbox and Windows PC versions are missing several features the Steam one has, and a fix is currently bottlenecked by Microsoft's certification process. 

Over on the Palworld Discord server, Pocketpair community manager Bucky moved to clarify the situation in the wake of rumors that Xbox players were playing an older build of Palworld compared to the Steam version. For one, players argue, the version numbers between platforms are different, but more notable is the absence of several key features and fixes. 

Palworld players on Steam can create and join dedicated servers, allowing up to 32 players to play in the same world and create guilds together. Meanwhile, players on Xbox and Windows PC can't create or join dedicated servers, thus limiting online co-op to 2-4 players. Game Pass players on Reddit also noted the ability to name your character, the option to rename your Pals, certain sound effects, and an exit button to close the game are absent while available on the Steam version. 

These discrepancies stem from the fact that "the versions of the game are not the same between Steam and Xbox,” Bucky wrote on Discord (courtesy of Windows Central).

"There seems to be some confusion that Steam and Xbox are 'missing features'. This isn't entirely true," they continued. "Some features may be slightly different or have different value but other issues like the missing exit game button etc are not a result of an 'older build', these are separate issues."

The Steam and Xbox versions will likely never have identical version numbers until crossplay between the platforms becomes available. "Because at that point they will be the same game internally," Bucky explained. 

"Again, that doesn't mean Xbox is necessarily 'behind' or anything, they are just just fundamentally two different versions of the game because of the architecture on Xbox is different."

Said architecture is also why updates are taking longer to implement on the Xbox version compared to Steam. On Valve's marketplace, developers can apply patches when and how they see fit, whereas with Microsoft, updates have to go through the company's certification process. 

"Some of these things will take extra time," Bucky said in a response to a fan's post about feature parity, "we're really at the mercy of the certification here. We're desperately trying to speed this up." They added in another reply that a hotfix is currently "sitting in the MS certification queue." 

So there you have it. Pocketpair is working to align the Xbox version of Palworld with the Steam version as quickly as possible, but it has to get through Microsoft's red tape to do so. In the meantime, Game Pass players are stuck playing a less feature-rich version of the game. Here's hoping that future patches can get through Microsoft's certification process a bit faster.

More from Tom's Guide

• Palworld — everything you need to know about this controversial survival game
• Nintendo Switch 2 could be disappointingly underpowered
• 7 reasons why gaming at your desk beats playing on your couch

With the holiday season behind us and a new year ahead, January is usually a pretty slow time of the year for new video games. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to play. And 2024 is off to a strong start, with several notable franchises returning with brand-new entries. 

Yakuza fans can expect the next sunny chapter in the rechristened Like a Dragon franchise while the Prince of Persia series sees its first major entry in a decade. Meanwhile, one of the best PlayStation games of the last console generation, The Last of Us Part II, is getting a glow-up on PS5 that adds new game modes and levels. And a mischievous turnip hellbent on doing crimes arrives on Xbox Game Pass in a sequel to the ridiculously titled Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion.

So without further ado, these are the game releases that should be on your radar in January as 2024 kicks off with a bang. 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - All Platforms (Jan. 18)

Ubisoft may have left the Prince of Persia series sitting dormant for the past decade, but 2024 sees the return of the classic action-adventure brand to its side-scrolling platforming roots with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

This latest entry wears its anime and metroidvania influences on its sleeve. With a sprawling map, emphasis on frenetic movement and combat, and a slew of new abilities you unlock over time, it all come together in a high-energy adventure in an era of gods and heroes. 

For fans of the series and newcomers alike, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a must-play when it releases on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on January 18.

Turnip Boy Robs a Bank - PC, Xbox, Switch (Jan. 18)

I play a lot of indie games, and I adored Snoozy Kazoo's 2021 release Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. It's a delightfully silly mix of terminally online humor, old-school RPG influences, and cutesy graphics that make its story of a trouble-making turnip doing crimes all the more charming. 

The little terror (or should I say taro-r) continues his descent into villainy in a sequel this month: Turnip Boy Robs a Bank. Team up with the fearsome Pickled Gang in the weirdest heist of all time. Shake down hostages and use wacky tools purchased off the dark web to infiltrate the vaults of the Botanical Bank in this top-down roguelite shooter. 

Turnip Boy Robs a Bank lands on PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on January 18. It'll also be available as part of Xbox Game Pass. 

The Last of Us Part II Remastered - PS5 (Jan. 19)

The Last of Us Part II is a bonafide masterpiece that tops our list of the best PS4 games. And while Naughty Dog's highly anticipated sequel already plays brilliantly on PS5 thanks to a free 60 fps update, this month sees the release of a remastered and expanded version built for the PS5. 

Along with a visual upgrade, The Last of Us Part II Remastered adds a new roguelike survival mode called No Return, which features a roster of playable characters to choose from, including some that are playable for the first time in the series's history. Other additions include a new set of "lost levels" that were cut during the original's development, new character costumes, a guitar free play mode and a mode tailored to speedrunning. 

The Last of Us Part II Remastered launches for PS5 on January 19 at $50, less than the price of a typical new PS5 game. And if you already own it on PS4, the upgrade only costs $10.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - PC, PlayStation, Xbox (Jan. 26)

Fans of Like a Dragon (the series formally known as Yakuza) were already eating well last year with two noteworthy releases, Like a Dragon: Ishin and Like a Dragon: Gaiden. But this year, Ichiban Kasuga returns for a trip to the sunny shores of Hawaii in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

He teams up with fellow series lead Kazuma Kiryu to tackle organized crime and complete a slew of wacky side missions across Japan and Honolulu. And if you need a break from kicking ass and taking names, there's a full-on Animal Crossing-inspired mode for players to craft their perfect island getaway. 

Unlike the recent spinoffs, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is billed as a direct sequel to 2020's Yakuza: Like a Dragon, so it may not be the best place to start for series newcomers. But existing fans should have plenty to enjoy once it launches on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox on January 26. 

Tekken 8 - PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S (Jan. 26)

Lace up your boots and step into the ring for the next big fighting game. While 2023 was headlined by Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1, 2024 kicks off by bringing the King of the Iron tournament back with Tekken 8.

This latest entry brings Bandai Namco's long-running fighting franchise to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S as well as PC on January 26. While the vibe largely looks familiar and sees the return of many familiar faces, Tekken 8 shakes things up by adding a cinematic flair to the action and introducing new combat elements like the Heat Gauge system that rewards players for relentless pummeling. 

While it can be hard to make a 30-year-old franchise feel fresh, Tekken 8 looks to have a renewed spark, packing a solid one-two combo of storytelling and over-the-top grudge matches for fans to look forward to. 

More from Tom's Guide

• Nintendo Switch 2 could be unveiled by March — and get a must-play exclusive
• The Last of Us 2 Remastered looks amazing but I can’t bring myself to replay the game — here’s why
• The Last of Us: 7 things you should know before you watch

Microsoft and Sony have taken an entirely different approach to this current console generation and this has certainly worked in the favor of many gamers, myself included.

While the PS5 is available with or without a disc drive, Microsoft decided to play things quite differently with its Xbox consoles this time around by launching the bigger, more powerful Xbox Series X alongside the smaller, less powerful Xbox Series S. 

For those who want the absolute best performance and graphics in a game console, I can see why they may have been quick to dismiss the Series S. However, after buying one for myself over the summer and putting Microsoft’s smallest Xbox yet through its paces, the Series S ended up being my favorite gadget of the year — here’s why.

Buying an Xbox Series S was the obvious choice

I never intended to buy an Xbox Series S, but here I am months later playing it almost every day. You see, as part of my work at Tom’s Guide, I test and review the best PC game controllers and coincidentally, many of them also work on Xbox.

Back when I reviewed the HyperX Clutch Gladiate — which is a fantastic budget wired controller with a few pro level features by the way — I was content to bring it over to a friend’s house and test it out on his Xbox Series X. After this though, I had a chance to review the Hyperkin Xenon, and in order to do Hyperkin’s recreation of the original Xbox 360 controller justice, I knew it was time to get my own Xbox, solely for the purpose of testing and reviewing controllers.

Design wise between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, Microsoft’s more powerful console is my favorite, though I have since warmed up to the design of the PS5 Slim. As I mainly play games on my PC and my Nintendo Switch, I wasn’t planning on rushing into this current console generation. Instead, I was willing to wait for an Xbox Series X refresh or even the PS5 Pro.

As I had plenty of Xbox controllers to test and didn’t want to have to go back and forth to my friend’s house, I decided to pick up a used Xbox Series S from GameStop. I paid $30 less than a new console would have cost but these days, thanks to holiday deals, you can pick up a new Series S for $250 and some Costco stores have been selling them for as low as $150. Even at its original price, the Series S was the perfect entry point to this current console generation but with deals like these, it’s a no-brainer for those who don’t necessarily want or need the more powerful — and larger — Series X.

The xScreen opened up a world of possibilities

As someone who grew up in the 90s, there was one console in particular that I missed out on at that time that I’ve been dying to try ever since: the PS One. Sure, I had a PlayStation but the smaller, redesigned PS One had one of the coolest first-party accessories in the form of an official LCD screen that attached to the back of the console. You should look it up if you haven’t seen it before as it still looks really cool even now.

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, UPspec Gaming released a similar accessory for the Xbox Series S called the xScreen. There are other portable monitors that attach to Microsoft’s smaller Xbox. However, the xScreen almost looks like it was designed by Microsoft itself. In fact, it recently became one of the company’s official “Designed for Xbox” accessories.

What I really love about the xScreen compared to other attachable monitors for the Xbox Series S is that it doesn’t require a separate HDMI or power cable. Instead, it slots right in on the back of the Series S and uses the console’s original AC cable to power both devices. Meanwhile, two latches on either side ensure it’s firmly attached to the console and won’t come off accidentally.

After trying out the xScreen at home and using it to transform my Series S into something that more closely resembled one of the best gaming laptops, I also took it with me on a road trip. I know others prefer using the SteamDeck or other handheld gaming consoles in these kinds of situations but I really enjoyed having a larger, 11.6-inch LCD display and being able to play with a full-size controller.

And then came the Carbon Black Xbox Series S

Although I was more than content with the limitations of my Series S when it came to graphics and performance, its 512 GB of internal storage was something I knew could end up being a hassle down the line. There are Xbox expansion cards that let you easily add more storage to either the Series S or Series X just by plugging them in at the back of either console, but unlike with the best PS5 SSDs, they’re much more expensive as they are proprietary.

Microsoft did end up fixing one of the biggest complaints with the original Series S console though when it released the all new, Carbon Black variant back in September. Besides its all-black look, this new version of the Series S ships with the same 1 TB SSD that the Xbox Series X does.

Microsoft was kind enough to send over a Carbon Black Series S for me to try out and I’ve been using it as my main Xbox ever since. I just finished playing through Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy on it earlier this week and I have also used it to play quite a bit of Persona 5 Tactica.

For the most part, the Carbon Black Series S is identical to the original Series S console besides its larger SSD and the fact that it ships with a black controller as opposed to a white one. Still though, it looks great in person and if you do want to pair it with an attachable monitor, you’re in luck as UPspec Gaming did recently announce that it will make a black version of the xScreen just for Microsoft’s new console.

Next-gen gaming in a tiny package

Before I got a Nintendo Switch back in 2017, I never imagined I’d be able to bring a home game console with me while traveling or swap it between TVs throughout my house. As I love using my Switch on different monitors and TVs, I’m now doing the exact same thing with my Series S. The best part though is that since it uses a standard AC power cord, I was able to pick up a few really cheap ones online and I now have one and an HDMI cable under the monitor on my desk and next to each of my TVs.

Although the Series X is more powerful and the PS5 is more popular, I’ve had a fantastic experience playing my Series S this year. When paired with Xbox Game Pass, it offers the easiest and cheapest way to get a taste of next-gen gaming without breaking the bank. I still find it kind of funny though that a console I bought to test and review controllers out of necessity has become one my favorite gadgets of this year.

More from Tom's Guide

• I took my Xbox on vacation this summer and even played it in the desert
• Xbox Series X vs. Xbox Series S: Which Xbox should you buy?
• Two brand new Xbox consoles could arrive next year — here's what we know

Since it launched back in November 2020, Microsoft has hardly ever discounted Xbox Series X. In fact, in countries like my perpetually frosty United Kingdom, the high-end console actually rose in price earlier this year — jumping from its launch price of £449 to £479. Now, though, it’s finally being discounted (at least in the U.S.) and it’s not difficult to guess why. 

The following will not read as a remotely shocking statement: Microsoft has pretty much lost the console war just three years into this generation. Well, at least in terms of how people historically judge the winner of PlayStation vs Xbox battles.

Which is perhaps why we’re seeing deals like this pop up before Christmas. Right now, this Xbox Series X Diablo IV bundle is on sale for $349 at Walmart. That's a saving of $210 compared to the normal $559 listing price. 

According to recent data published by GI.biz (thanks, IGN), sales of both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have dropped a staggering 52% over the past year in Europe. Compare that to PS5’s year-on-year figures in the same region, and sales for Sony’s console are up an astonishing 143%. And no, that really isn’t a typo.

Clearly, Microsoft is struggling to shift physical consoles, even though as a company, it’s rarely talked about sales figures since the brilliant (and underappreciated) Xbox One X launched.

In my eyes, this is down to precisely two factors, neither of which are surprising. Factor one: The Xbox Series consoles simply don’t have enough must-play exclusives to entice gamers into parting with their cash to invest in these machines. Factor the two: Under the stewardship of Phil Spencer, the Xbox division arguably doesn’t hugely care if you buy a Series X or S, as long as you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber.

Personally, I think Spencer has done a terrific job since he stepped in as the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Compared to the disastrous tenure of his predecessor Don Mattrick — who basically let Sony win the PS4/Xbox One generation with a disastrous console reveal where the Microsoft machine was initially marketed as an overpriced, all-in-one media device — Spencer has killed it. 

He gets gaming culture; he always comes across as personable in interviews; and he’s overseen some truly astounding acquisitions like the prolonged but eventually successful buyout of Activision Blizzard.

Game Pass it on

It’s clear what Spencer’s main goal has been from day one: To make Xbox the Netflix of gaming. Game Pass has always been aggressively priced, and the fact it lets you play first-party games on launch day for a reasonable monthly fee is a genuinely great deal… or it would be, if Microsoft actually had an extensive library of brilliant exclusives.

Sadly, that’s just not the case. Here at Tom’s Guide, I’m in charge of updating our best Xbox Series X games buying guide. Currently, only four of the top ten entries are actual Series X exclusives. The rest are either multiplatform games or titles that first launched on Xbox One and just happen to be playable on Microsoft’s most powerful console thanks to its excellent backwards compatibility features. That’s not a pretty state of affairs.

I’ll freely admit I jumped the gun on playing up my renewed love affair with Series X just a couple of months ago. Starfield and Forza Motorsport had just come out and this was the first time I’d felt that the console was serving me up must-experience games since Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5. 

Said tryst lasted all of a month.

Motorsport is a strong driving simulator, yet it lacks the breezy fun and addictive open-world distractions of Horizon 5. And Starfield? I’ve never bounced harder off a Bethesda game before and the Steam data backed my feelings up. While it briefly impressed me after a disastrously dull intro, I quickly lost interest about 10 hours in after realizing how shallow the core gameplay loop was.

You know the only time I’ve turned on my Series X in the last six weeks has been for? To watch my beloved Back to the Future trilogy… and that’s only because my PS5 Media Remote had broken. Normally, I’d watch my favorite Blu-rays on Sony’s console.

Not that any of my ramblings will remotely bother Big Phil or the rest of his execs at Team Xbox. Microsoft’s number one priority is to get you playing its games through any device that either lets you play them locally or via streaming. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can play a ton of Xbox titles on PC at higher resolutions and vastly better frame rates if you’re lucky enough to own one of the best gaming PCs.

It’s also easy to stream Game Pass titles, and with a cool gizmo like the Backbone One, playing the likes of Psychonauts 2 on your phone can provide a surprisingly good time.

Could we see a future where Microsoft does a Sega and gets out of the console hardware game entirely? It doesn’t seem that implausible. Game Pass is a compelling service that offers access to a huge library of titles, the majority of which are worth playing.

No matter how low Microsoft drops the price of Xbox Series X, though, PS5 has seemingly already built up an uncatchable lead in terms of hardware sales this generation. And with the rumored PS5 Pro potentially on the horizon, the future for Microsoft's consoles doesn’t look like it’s going to get rosier anytime soon.

More from Tom's Guide

• PS5 offers a better gaming experience than the Xbox Series X
• 10 hidden Xbox Series X features you need to try
• Why I chose the PS5 over the Xbox Series X

My former colleague Roland Moore-Colyer likes Bethesda’s latest title a fair bit more than me, and I get where he’s coming from… to an extent. In his excellent Starfield review, my old boss described Bethesda’s sweeping sci-fi adventure as “the apex of Bethesda’s open-world games and a killer Xbox Series X and PC game, giving players a slice of galaxy to explore, exploit, raid and wander for ages.”

Before I go to town dunking on the biggest Xbox exclusive of the year, let me make a few things clear. First off, as you can see from the paragraph above, this is in no way Tom's Guide's official Starfield review, merely my own personal take on the time I've spent with the game. I'm also in no way either a Bethesda or Xbox 'hater'. I adored Skyrim and I literally used to pay the bills working for the UK's (sadly defunct) Official Xbox Magazine. 

So with that cleared up, let's get back to it. I think Starfield is a perfectly okay game. Albeit with a heavy emphasis on the ‘okay.' It’s the video game equivalent of a big dollop of intergalactic vanilla ice cream. Translation: it’s utterly unobjectionable. But who the hell goes for vanilla when you can have raspberry ripple?

Fundamentally, I don’t overly disagree with any of the points Roland makes in that statement. I think the scope of the game is certainly admirable, and there’s no denying the Xbox ecosystem needed such a big hitter when PS5 has been slaying it with exclusives like Horizon Forbidden West, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and the recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. 

I’m not sure the “wander for ages” is all that much of a selling point in my book, though. I’ve probably clocked up around a dozen hours in Starfield at this point, and there’s definitely been a whole lot of wandering. Trouble is, I’ve found it to be largely aimless. And most of it has involved ambling around procedurally generated planets that look roughly as interesting as gigantic bowls of celery soup.

I’ve killed some big space bugs that look like they’ve come straight from the set of Starship Troopers, I’ve merced a bunch of space pirates during surprisingly decent firefights and I’ve… ugh, jumped around a big city that I can’t remember the name of a lot purely because the jetpack is a hoot to use.

Lost in space

But my two abiding Starfield memories don’t paint the action-RPG in a flattering light. The first is that truly awful opening. When a game promises you literally thousands of planets to explore, then forces you to play the role of a sci-fi miner as you potter around a dreary network of caves, something has gone awry.

In a parallel universe, it would be like the movie equivalent of Spielberg deciding to open Raiders of the Lost Ark not with that incredible setpiece full of spike traps, spiders and that boulder, but with Indy meticulously going over his students’ archaeology homework.

Compared to Skyrim’s electrifying “Am I about to get my head chopped off? Oh no wait, here’s a dragon to save the day by burning my enemies alive," it’s a stinker of an opener. Add in the fact those caves look so horribly washed out due to Starfield’s questionable HDR implementation, and it’s like the game actively goes out of its way to make the worst first impression it possibly can.

My other lasting memory from Starfield? Painfully fiddling about with the camera in tiny increments so I could look at juuuust the right gap of a glass exhibit that, if you get the finicky technique right, means you can nab the excellent Mark 1 Spacesuit from the Lodge in New Atlantis without any lockpicking skills. As memorable moments go, it ain’t exactly up there with BioShock’s “would you kindly…” monocle-dropping twist.

So yeah, Starfield is a bit dull and its opening hours have caused me to bounce off it hard. And I’m not the only one. A cursory overview of some Steam Charts stats don’t paint a pretty picture for the game’s long-term player base going forward. Certainly not on PC, at least.

At time of writing, Starfield’s concurrent peak number of players over the last 24 hours is 47,455. It’s all time peak — and bear in mind the game has only been out for a little over a month at this point — is 330,597. That’s quite the drop off.

Delving deeper into the numbers, the peak number of players over the last 30 days is 187,094, which represents almost a 50% decrease in the amount of players diving into Starfield on Steam on a daily basis compared to nearer its launch window.

Running out of Steam

To put those already daming figures into a wider context, over the same period, Cyberpunk 2077’s peak number of daily players hit 273,990 — no doubt thanks to its excellent Phantom Liberty DLC. While recent RPG smash Baldur’s Gate 3 can boast a whopping high of 389,351 peak players during the last month.

It might be a slight overstatement to say Starfield’s Steam community is sinking like a certain ship after it got too intimate with a giant block of ice. Yet the numbers paint a picture of alarming decline considering this is still a new game, and certainly the most high-profile one of the year.

Can Starfield bounce back and find a new lease of life through canny tweaks and generous expansions ala No Man’s Sky? Absolutely. For a game that rode the hype train quite like any other in recent memory, I hope Bethesda keeps supporting its cosmic quest with new content to keep those previously highlighted numbers from truly dropping off a cliff.

My slight concern is the megaton studio’s attention will now almost entirely shift to The Elder Scrolls 6, leaving less room for Bethesda to focus on feeding Starfield the fresh content it will need to keep players wriggling on its space hook as time passes.

It’s somewhat reassuring that the developer is working on at least one major expansion (called Shattered Space), but it’s unclear when this piece of DLC will launch.

If my faltering Starfield attention span (alongside those concerning Steam stats) are anything to go by, I worry many interstellar explorers will have ventured onto pastures new by the time it comes out, never to return.

More from Tom's Guide

• Starfield review: The Xbox strikes back
• Starfield on the world's best OLED TV looks incredible — you need to see this
• How to use Starfield photo mode to snap space shots

Microsoft is teaming up with PepsiCo and Frito-Lay to reward gamers for fueling up on their favorite snacks. Beginning October 9, when you buy specially marked packages of Doritos, Mountain Dew, and Rockstar Energy drinks, you could win a code for a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

The catch is this promotion is limited to new subscribers. So if you currently have or had a subscription to one of the best deals in gaming, you can still snack on these products all you want, but you won't be getting free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for doing so.

Eligible snacks will feature branding on the label for some of Xbox's biggest games, like Starfield and Redfall. Once you get the code, head over to DoritosDewRockstar.com to redeem your reward. In addition to a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Xbox is also giving away DLC content and in-game rewards, like a Magma Racing Suit in Forza Motorsport or a Chipped Tankard in Sea of Thieves. "Additional purchases and codes will enable players to earn more points to spend on the online rewards marketplace," Xbox said. The promotion kicks off this week and runs until December 29. 

What do you get with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate?

Game Pass Ultimate is Microsoft's premium tier for its monthly game subscription service, typically priced at $16.99 per month. For that, you get access to more than 100 Xbox games ranging from first-party exclusives like Halo Infinite to third-party offerings like Guardians of the Galaxy. 

You also get access to the best cloud gaming streaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming, which enables save syncing across platforms and lets you play native console games in the cloud and stream them to your phone, PC, or console.

This past summer, the price of Game Pass Ultimate jumped from $14.99 to $16.99 in the U.S. as subscription price hikes were felt worldwide. Though it came as no big surprise that Microsoft would want players to pay more. The cost of subscriptions everywhere has increased over the past couple of years, while Game Pass has remained steady since it launched in 2017 — even as the number of titles on offer has ballooned.

More from Tom's Guide

• The best Xbox Series X games to play right now
• I’ve never been happier to own my Xbox Series X — here’s why
• 10 hidden Xbox Series X features you need to try

Full disclosure: even though I used to work for the UK Official Xbox Magazine, I’ve barely touched my Xbox Series X in over a year. Hell, of late, I’ve mostly been using it to prop up my streaming box. And yes, I know I really shouldn’t be blocking off my console’s top vents. I'll slap my own wrists later. 

My relationship with Microsoft’s flagship console has completely changed over the past few weeks, though. Thanks to a couple of megaton releases, Microsoft’s machine has finally grabbed my attention for the first time since Halo Infinite launched in ye olden days of 2021.

My Series X has Starfield and Forza Motorsport to thank for finally giving me an excuse to dust off Microsoft’s high-end console. Bethesda’s latest epic action-RPG may not have quite garnered the universal critical acclaim of Skyrim, but it’s certainly the most polished, best-looking game the studio has ever put out. 

On my LG G3 OLED TV, Starfield looks stunning. The core gameplay loop of ferrying between planets, scanning intergalactic plants, getting distracted by side quests and shooting all the space dudes isn’t super compelling, sure. But the game looks so damned good I can’t put it down.

Though I really do wish Bethesda would fix its borked HDR — currently I have to set my TV’s brightness setting to a ludicrously low 23/100 just to stop Starfield from looking washed out.

As for the recently released Forza Motorsport: Hot. Damn. It’s scarcely believable how close Turn 10 Studios’ driving sim comes to legitimate photorealism. 

We’ll have our full review of the game live at Tom's Guide shortly, but in the meantime, I can happily tell you Forza Motorsport is a truly gorgeous racer with a sumptuous handling model. It also takes advantage of the official Xbox Wireless Controller’s palm-shaking Impulse triggers more effectively than any other title I can currently think of.

Game Pass with flying colors

It’s been far too long since Xbox Series X had two blockbuster releases to get me all hot and bothered, so I’m glad Microsoft is finally starting to deliver triple-A games that make Xbox Game Pass feel like it’s finally an essential subscription service.

I’ve recently resubscribed to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which allows me to play titles across both my Series X and one of the best gaming PCs. Not only does the Xbox app work far better on my Windows 11-powered rig than it used to, but the collection of titles it’s quietly amassed makes signing up for a sub feel like a no-brainer to me. now

While I’ve primarily been playing Starfield and Forza on my Xbox Series X because I’m now the proud owner of one of the best OLED TVs in the world, I really appreciate that I can play a wide selection of Game Pass titles on my Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 PC.

The list of games I can enjoy at 4K (often at a 120 frames per second) is truly impressive. Deathloop, Dishonored 2, Dirt 5, Doom Eternal, Forza Horizon 5, Crusader Kings 3, A Plague Tale: Requiem — that’s quite the stellar line-up. I can even play Dead Space 2 (one of the best survival horror games of all time, in my book), in Ultra HD thanks to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Almost three years after release, Xbox Series X — and to a lesser extent Xbox Series S (for gamers playing on 1080p TVs) — finally feels like an essential games console. PS5 still has the superior library of exclusives, but with Microsoft's prolonged yet likely upcoming acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the Xbox ecosystem is only going to get stronger from here on out.

Xbox Series X, I officially apologize for using you as a glorified 4K Blu-ray player for the past two years. I’ll give you the respect you finally deserve and remove that little streaming service box that’s currently blocking your vents.

Ready to give the Xbox Series X a go, but want to save some money? Our Microsoft discount codes page provides you with all the latest ways to save on the Microsoft store. 

More from Tom's Guide

• The best Xbox Series X games to play right now
• 10 hidden Xbox Series X features you need to try
• The leaked new Xbox Series X is a downgrade over the current model

FIF… sorry, EA Sports FC 24 is the Thanos of soccer sims. Historic name changes or not, it’s inevitable. As a slightly bitter Arsenal fan, I’m not exactly thrilled by the fact Manchester City super striker Erling Haaland is this year’s cover star. But it’s an entirely appropriate marriage. Like the Marvel supervillain, EA’s genre-defining sports game can simply snap its fingers to obtain instant, chart-topping sales success year after year.

First up, let’s get the big question mark out of the way first. Losing the FIFA branding hasn’t stopped EA from sorting out official deals to ensure all major European leagues are properly licensed with real team names, kits and competitions. 

The Champions League and Europa League still feature with all their electrifying bells and whistles, which means the loss of that iconic name has no real effect in terms of how authentic the on-field action looks or feels.

This season’s entry is mostly a really good football game. Sorry, reporting to you live from Scotland means it's known as football (or The Beautiful Game) here. I’ll do my American pals a solid by referring to EA Sports FC 24 as a ‘soccer’ title from here on out… even if it slightly slays my soul.

Regardless of the naming semantics surrounding one of the most popular video game franchises in the world, this is a quality sports sim. Last year’s FIFA 23 was one of my favorite entries in the series for years — in large part because I wanted to play it every week thanks to the fact my beloved Gunners were gloriously (and unexpectedly) leading the English Premier League for 75% of the season.

Obviously the robotic efficiency of Pep Guardiola's Man City put paid to the notion of Arsenal winning their first title since 2004, yet regardless, FIFA 23 felt like a swashbuckling return to form for a series that has taken as many misguided steps back as it has tripped upon well-judged stumbles forward. 

Full disclosure: I’m not all that good at FIFA when it comes to online matches. Of the dozen or so competitive games I played for this review, I won exactly four of them. Yet even when I’m getting pasted by Real Madrid or City — and trust me, at least 80% of players choose those two super clubs when it comes to online clashes — I can still appreciate FC 24’s underlying qualities even after suffering dispiriting defeat after defeat. 

New season's greetings 

A lot of the criticism that surrounds annual sports game updates revolves around the fact they often play out like overpriced DLC; where you’re essentially paying for minor mechanical tweaks and the latest squad updates.

There’s definitely still an element of that in-play with EA’s latest soccer effort, but there’s no denying it has made some significant on-pitch strides since FIFA 23.

A week before I went studs-in on EA Sports FC 24, I decided to dedicate a night to manually transferring a lot of players to their current real life teams in FIFA 23; the auto update transfer function had clearly been abandoned recently with the latest entry about to hit the market.

Manually transferring the GOAT of all GOATs Lionel Messi from PSG to Inter Miami felt wild, but it was also a process that took all of thirty seconds.

Is upgrading to EA’s latest soccer game just to have up-to-date squads worth $70? Obviously not. Yet EA’s latest footy entry — grant me the indulgence of using the proper name for the world’s global sport this one last time — is an improvement on the already strong FIFA 23. 

Field of dreams

As ever, the latest EA soccer game is bogged down by company buzzwords that sound fancy, but don’t always affect the on-field action all that much. The series’ latest engine is branded with the tag of ‘Hypermotion Technology’ that admittedly sounds seductively futuristic. In practice, it means animations look more realistic, player likeness are more on the money and the game’s lighting model is definitely more impressive.

There’s nothing truly game-changing in these improvements, but they are welcomingly evolved (if minor) upgrades all the same. The main takeaway regardless of these subtle tweaks is this: EA’s brand of virtual soccer is still a country mile ahead of what Konami’s shamefully compromised eFootball franchise has devolved into in recent years.

In terms of on-field improvements over FIFA 23, FC 24 moves the goalposts in certain areas. There’s nothing truly revolutionary about how EA’s latest ball-hoofing juggernaut has evolved. Yet what incremental tweaks that have been added are appreciated.

If you decide you want to face a challenge as daunting as playing Luton’s reserves against a treble-winning Man City side, Competitor Mode and Player Based Difficulty options are welcome additions if you kick the game into Legendary difficulty or above.

By switching these sliders on, superstar players instantly stand out from their journeyman counterparts, meaning Mbappe is going to leave his League 1 counterparts in the dust due to his Road Runner-aping speed the vast majority of the time.

Personally, I’m all for these player-differentiating features, as older FIFA entries have definitely been guilty of making the likes of De Bruyne hard to differentiate from the likes of a chronically-underperforming Deli Alli in seasons past.

Raising the (cross)bar

EA has also upgraded its game in other easily appreciable areas. Crosses now feel notably more effective than FIFA 23’s anaemic efforts, while outpacing a fullback with a lightning winger like Bukayo Saka, then drilling the ball back to an on-running Gabriel Jesus, feels way more achievable than in FIFA 23; where simple cutbacks felt all about impossible thanks to the AI’s ludicrously committed marking.

Presentation is predictably impeccable. The game looks gorgeous on my LG G3 OLED TV, with player likenesses impressing more than ever before. As always, the little club-specific details that really matter to fans remain present and correct in EA's latest soccer sim.

Example? When I take to the field with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, my team is instantly serenaded by the 'North London Forever' fan song that quickly swept through the ground when the Gunners were going hard for the EPL title last season.

These details really do matter, and whether it's admiring Burnley's faithfully recreated Turf Moor or 'admiring' Everton manager Sean Dyche's spot-on likeness, EA Sports FC 24 nails its presentation at almost every level.

Outta FUT

To finally address Dumbo in the corner, you’ll notice I’ve splurged a lot of words without mentioning the series’ headline FIFA Ultimate Team mode. And I’ll be honest here, it has and never will hold any interest to me.

At its heart, this is a mode that doesn’t do enough to discourage impressionable youngsters from pilfering their parents’ credit cards to sink real world money into pay-to-win gambling mechanics.

Sure, you can amass a competitive squad by grinding out online results the hard way, yet ultimately EA still gives fans of the series the ability to cut corners to amass a dream squad by pouring actual cash into random player packs, where you’re as likely to land a Jonny Evans as a William Saliba.

It’s a grubby, yet hugely popular mode that has helped make EA’s soccer series the global phenomenon it is today. And while I appreciate the improved tutorials and inclusion of women ballers into FUT, it still feels like a mode lasered focused on getting young soccer fans into a quasi-form of gambling.

EA Sports FC 24 review verdict: (mostly) sublime soccer

Luckily, for this 38-year-old dinosaur, all I really want to do is help Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal win the league for the first time in 20 years through the continually compelling Career mode. Currently, I lie 8th, 10 points behind a high-flying Chelsea, while Man City currently toil in 15th place after a dozen fixtures.

If the real Premier League table looks like that next May, with a major swapping of the Gooners and the Blues current league positions from my virtual season, I’ll gladly massage Haaland’s shins for the next half decade.

Does EA Sports FC 24 reinvent the wheel when it comes to virtual soccer action? Absolutely not. But then, it doesn't need to. This is another confident entry in a series, which, thanks to the state of Konami's eFootball 2023, has no real competitor on its march to yet another title. 

Selling contraband in Starfield isn’t a friction-free process. Contraband in Starfield can come under many guises, but at heart, what you’re dealing with are illegal intergalactic items. 

From stolen space artwork, harvested organs or special types of chemicals, the various authorities in Bethesda’s colossal galaxy basically don’t want you turning a fast buck on them. 

Thankfully, finding contraband items in Starfield is a relatively straightforward process. You'll usually always find some contraband on ships from the Crimson Fleet or Spacers. Likewise, you can find it easily by landing on a planet, bringing out your scanner to search for the nearest base or research facility, where you'll often find and be able to plunder their naughty contraband. And when we say ‘plunder’, we mean ‘shoot a bunch of space pirates / mercenaries, then loot their corpses to obtain said wares'.

Once you’ve claimed possession of Starfield contraband, it’s then a case of finding places to hock your illegal goodies. Most stores / sales folk want nothing to do with contraband items, but thankfully Trade Authority vendors have no such qualms about buying your naughtily obtained goods. 

Below, we’ll walk you through the process of how to find and sell Starfield contraband if you’re just starting out in the biggest Xbox Series X game of the year. With our easy-to-follow steps, you’ll be looting and profiting from Starfield contraband in no time at all. 

Please note: The following guide assumes you are playing Starfield with a gamepad, so these steps show Xbox controller buttons, rather than keyboard inputs.

How to find and sell Starfield contraband  

1. Find contraband in bases and research facilities 
2. Go through your inventory to check for contraband
3. If you’re just starting out, travel to Jemison 
4. Head for the city of New Atlantis 
5. Find the Trade Authority office
6. Start selling your illegal wares   

Read on to see full illustrated instructions for each step.   

And that’s it! You can now pawn off your ill-gotten gains and make a tidy profit. In need of more Starfield guidance? Then check out how to use Starfield photo mode, get up to speed on how to increase carry weight in Starfield and make sure you know how to upgrade your ship in Starfield.  

As someone who loves to travel, New York City is probably my favorite place on this spinning globe. But while I may love Brooklyn, I definitely harbor far less fuzzy feelings for Xbox Series X’s now all but confirmed successor, ‘Brooklin.'

The next Xbox was leaked through filed documents during the ongoing FTC lawsuit regarding Microsoft’s attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Not only were images of this newly svelte Series X accidentally leaked to the public, the successor to the Xbox Series S also got a premature unveiling in the form of ‘Project Ellewood.' Both are set to launch in 2024, if the filings are accurate. 

Personally, I’ve got no problem with the latter console’s refresh. It keeps the current model’s consumer-friendly $299 price tag, while doubling the internal storage capacity of the launch console in the form of a new 1TB SSD. Not a bad deal at all. On paper, it’s also friendlier to the environment, thanks to a new low-power standby mode that runs at just 20% of the output of the current Xbox Series S. 

So thumbs up Ellewood… or Xbox Series S 2.0… or whatever Microsoft may end up calling its budget-conscious console refresh.

I’m flipping those same thumbs all the way down when it comes to Brooklin, though. While I appreciate it’s a more energy efficient version of the high-end Xbox we currently have — the PSU is 15% less power-hungry — I just can’t stomach it losing the disc drive of the OG model.

Blue-urns

Recently, I wrote about how Xbox Series X is an excellent 4K Blu-ray player. As someone who still values both UHD movies and regular 1080p discs, a refreshed Series X losing a component I really value without offering any significant hardware upgrades is a tough pill to swallow.

And make no mistake, this is not an ‘Xbox One S evolves into Xbox One X’ Pokemon-style situation. Pikachu isn’t being transformed into a more powerful, console-shaped Raichu here. Aside from improved wireless connectivity in the form of Wi-Fi 6E and 2TB of storage, the refreshed Xbox Series X doesn’t look like it will provide a single meaningful hardware upgrade.

If (but most certainly when), the much-rumored PS5 Pro comes along, it should theoretically wipe the floor with Brooklin. This is a machine tipsters suggest could be a 4K ray tracing powerhouse, and a console with a significantly upgraded GPU and RAM that might even make 8K gaming on Sony’s refreshed PS5 possible.

The PS5 Pro release date is rumored to be November 2024, and in a welcome gesture that shows Sony isn’t willing to totally ditch physical games, there are suggestions the upgraded console will launch alongside a rejigged standard PS5 that will include a detachable disc drive.

I’ll admit my collection of physical Xbox discs is on the sparse side. Currently, the only two I have knocking around my flat are slightly tattered copies of Mirror’s Edge and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Working on a former Xbox magazine, I’ve been lucky enough to amass a huge digital library that I paid diddly squat for, so I can’t exactly claim to be a gatekeeper of physical game editions.

Yet I absolutely do want current and past Xbox gamers to still be able to savor, say, their old Xbox 360 discs. Ultimately, I believe physical copies have a significant part to play in the role of game preservation going forward. After all, you never know when a digital storefront could be pulled out of the blue.

Speaking of, Microsoft is shuttering the Xbox 360 Store and Xbox 360 Marketplace in July 2024, so I’d advise you keep hold of gems like the original Crackdown and Mirror’s Edge, both of which can be played in 4K thanks to free Ultra HD patches by sticking their discs into either an Xbox One X or Series X. On that front, Microsoft’s commitment to digital backwards compatibility is at least commendable.

As someone with a colossal Blu-ray collection, I fully intend to keep using my Xbox Series X as an excellent movie player for years to come… even if I’ll probably only be firing up the console to play actual games on the odd occasion. Although my fridge-shaped console is very much looking forward to Forza Motorsport 8.

In an era of Xbox Game Pass, where the model around games ownership has completely changed (another issue I’m somewhat uncomfortable with), the days of Xbox discs are clearly cooked.

For all you games collectors out there who take pride in amassing shelves upon shelves of classic boxed titles, the future looks bleak. You have my sympathies.

Although I’m ashamed to admit, I really do dig that cylindrical design of the refreshed Xbox Series X.

Stupid, sexy Brooklin.

More from Tom's Guide

• Next Xbox just tipped for 2028 — here’s what we know
• The leaked new Xbox Series X is a downgrade over the current model — here's why
• The best Xbox Series games you can play right now

My following musings are going to make me sound like an anti-digital dinosaur, so apologies in advance. With that out of the way, I think the rumored new Xbox Series X model (currently codenamed ‘Brooklin’) that’s reportedly set to launch in October 2024, is not only a misstep, but an actual downgrade on the current version of Microsoft’s premium console. 

To be clear, I’m not against mid-generation system refreshes. I owned and adored both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X. In fact, the latter is my favorite Xbox of all time. With display, GPU and CPU technology constantly evolving at such a blistering rate, I think the old school concept of waiting seven or so years between console gens is downright draconian. Imagine if the gap between the launch of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro was the best part of a decade?!

Both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are due for hardware refreshes after leaked Microsoft documents spilled out onto the interwebs. The latter console has always been discless, so the fact it utilizes new Wi-FI 6E tech and operates with 20% less power in standby mode are benefits gamers everywhere can appreciate in an age of skyrocketing electricity bills without any drawbacks.

The leaked Xbox Series X refresh also receives similar benefits, but the main downside — at least from my perspective — is that it’s set to lose the current model’s disc drive. Personally, that’s a huge issue for this Xbox fan.

I’ll fully admit I’ve not played my Series X as much as I should over the last couple of years. I enjoyed both Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 thoroughly, but with such a dearth of first-party exclusives, my go-to console has been the PS5 since both systems launched in late 2020. 

I’m not the biggest Starfield fan, but I’m at least thankful the Xbox ecosystem finally has a huge triple-A exclusive you can play across either of Microsoft’s current consoles or PC through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.  

Discless drama

Yet for this Master Chief lover, and I realize this is a pretty niche take, the leaked Series X / Project Brooklin is going to deprive me of the main function I’ve used my high-end Xbox for over the last three years: the fact it’s an awesome 4K Blu-ray player. 

The upgraded 2TB SSD and an updated controller are welcome additions, no doubt. Yet when it comes to a boost in storage or losing the ability to watch some of my favorite Blu-ray movies, I’d sacrifice the SSD upgrade all day long. 

Though it doesn’t get all that much praise in this regard, the Xbox Series X (like the Xbox One X before it), is a quietly excellent 4K Blu-ray player. I’m all in on watching the best Netflix shows in Ultra HD or the best Disney+ movies through either my LG G3 OLED TV streaming apps or my Apple TV 4K (2022), but when it comes to revisiting my all-time favorite flicks, my Xbox Series X is where it’s at. 

My take is that Microsoft’s top-end console is a better Blu-ray player than the PS5. Yes, it has slight Dolby Atmos issues where you may experience a second or so audio delay when pausing and resuming a movie, but the machine’s support for Atmos, Dolby Digital and DTS:X — alongside comprehensive audio demos of how each format will differ on your sound system — makes it a great way to watch 4K movies. 

For me, there’s no A/V experience quite like watching The Matrix in 4K disc form. It’s my fourth favorite movie of all time — yes, rather embarrassingly, I have a definitive top ten jotted down in my head that Jurassic Park tops — and I’d far rather watch the pioneering sci-fi classic in pristine disc transfer than view it over one of the best streaming services.

Let’s be clear, there’s also nothing “adorably all digital” about the Future of Xbox, as described in Microsoft’s leaked screens. There are still significant portions of the world where broadband speeds are absolutely not up to snuff, so this discless path forward feels like a middle finger to those who still rely on owning physical game copies.

This subject also circles back to Microsoft’s previously excellent backwards-compatible support, which allowed you to play the likes of Mirror’s Edge and Red Dead Redemption on Xbox One X or Xbox Series X in 4K as long as you owned the original Xbox 360 discs at no extra cost thanks to 2018-ish era patches.

From both a gaming and movie standpoint, a discless Xbox Series X is not something I can get behind. My broadband might be stellar, but when it comes to watching my favorite flicks, I’m always going to favor the Blu-ray route.

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• Xbox Series X review
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We recently found out that Microsoft is aiming to launch a new console hardware generation in 2028, thanks to the recent FTC lawsuit aimed at blocking Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. It turns out documents filed as part of that case also revealed a discless version of the Xbox Series X.

While the current disc-enabled version of the Xbox Series X looks like a miniature mini-fridge, this one is a big cylinder. A bit like the old-school Mac Pros or some kind of air purifier. And despite still being an Xbox Series X, the materials for this console claim that it’s actually better than the current model. Even if it doesn’t look like there are any major upgrades to the console’s gaming capabilities.

So think of this more like a Series X equivalent to the Xbox One S, rather than the Xbox One X or long-rumored PS5 Pro. 

The console is codenamed Brooklin, and is set to come with 2TB of storage — double that of the current disc-laden Series X. Presumably Microsoft will also include its expansion port at the back of the console, letting you add between 512GB and 2TB of additional storage space (so far). 

Other documents mention the prospect of other storage options, but it's not clear whether this means in the consoles, or as expandable storage.

Materials also reveal the console will come with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 support, for better communication and lower latency when connecting to controllers and accessories. Wi-Fi 6E will no doubt be responsible for the faster wireless connectivity listed here, which is always a good thing.

Efficiency and sustainability is also said to be on the cards. A 6nm die shrink promised to help, and the console will apparently use 15% less PSU power during use. A new lower-power standby mode will also apparently be 20% more efficient than the current version. Oh and the packaging will be 100% recycled, which is pretty cool I guess, but there’s no word on any sustainable materials inside the console itself.

Other notable features include a USB-C port at the front with power delivery, a new “more immersive controller” and no change in price. Unlike the Digital PS5, which is $100 cheaper than the disc drive model, this console is the same $499 as the disc drive Series X. The improved internals have to be paid for by someone, and it isn’t going to be Microsoft.

The new Xbox controller — aka Sebile

You may be thinking that a new and “immersive” controller may have been Microsoft’s opportunity to release its own version of the DualSense — complete with the adaptive triggers and other features. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Sebile, as it’s known internally, but this new controller does appear to have a bunch of upgrades.

The first is a rechargeable battery, something Xbox has been failing to include for a ridiculous amount of time. But unlike a PlayStation controller, this one can be swapped out for a new one. So if the battery fails, you don’t need to decide between a pricey repair job or a brand new controller. The controller itself also appears to be built with repairs and easy disassembly in mind — meaning the pricey repair job might be something you can tackle yourself.

Microsoft has done some work on immersion, though. That includes “precision haptic feedback”, whatever that will entail, VCA haptics that double as speakers, a new accelerometer and less noise from the buttons and thumbsticks. Those thumbsticks are said to be modular, and have “improved longevity”. Hopefully that means drifting is less of a problem than it has been so far.

The controller also has “Xbox wireless “, Bluetooth 5.2 and something called “Direct-to-Cloud” — which, at the very least, tells us this controller has been built with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate’s cloud gaming in mind. Also mentioned is a new “seamless pair and switch” plus other features that let you see paired devices and the cloud, plus better management of devices and accessories.

Finally the controller has much the same design as current Xbox Series X/S controllers — also known as Merlin. It has the same shape and ergonomics, and the layout is more or less the same as every Xbox controller from the past 18 years. Though the share button has been slimmed down in the middle, and there’s a two-tone color scheme. It also has a lift-to-wake system, which should help you get to your gaming a little faster.

An upgraded Series S could also be on the way

These products aren’t just concepts and it looks like Microsoft has a very real intention of releasing both the Sebile controller and the Brooklin console. We may also see a refreshed version of the Xbox Series S arrive as well.

Microsoft’s launch timeline reveals that something called “Ellewood 1TB” is scheduled to launch at the end of August 2024 for $299. Given the price, it suggests that this is a new Xbox Series S — possibly one that has many of the same enhancements as the Brooklin Series X. So Wi-Fi 6E, lower power consumption and so on.

It’s a bit odd since Microsoft only just released a 1TB Xbox Series S without any additional changes. So if you had your heart set on that console, but haven’t picked it up yet, you need to decide whether you want it now or if you can afford to wait a year for a potentially better system.

The timeline also reveals that the Brooklin console will arrive later in the year, with a gap of at least 60 days. Apparently this is to “enable dialog with different audiences” and gives Ellewood “its own moment in the holiday timeline to maximize sales”. It sounds like the new console will also coincide with the end of life of the 512GB Series S, which could drop as low as $199 during the Black Friday 2024 sales.

One other console, codenamed Starkville, will also see the end of its life right before the Brooklin launch in (at the earliest) late October. This is presumably the current Series X, though it’s unclear whether another console with a disc drive will be available. I certainly hope so, because I sure as hell am not switching to digital-only gaming anytime soon. Especially with digital games being as expensive as they are.

Here’s hoping those old rumors of a standalone Xbox disc drive come to fruition, even if it’s only available as a standalone purchase.

The Sebile controller will arrive much earlier in the year, likely around the end of May for $70. This is right before the “Xbox Gaming Beat” in June, which is presumably a big event that we would have once seen at E3. It looks like both consoles will be announced around this time, and the plan is to unveil them both simultaneously.

More from Tom's Guide

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• Next Xbox just tipped for 2028 — here’s what we know

Microsoft is eyeing a 2028 launch window for a successor to the Xbox Series X and Series S, according to a new document made public as part of the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision. Or at least, that was the understanding back in 2022, as outlined in an internal chat log between Microsoft executives at the time, Axios reports.

The 2028 launch plan was referenced in a May 2022 meeting attended by more than a dozen senior Microsoft executives, including CEO Satya Nadella, CFO Amy Hood, and head of gaming Phil Spencer, the document states. During the discussion, one attendee asked the gaming leadership team if the new Xbox console would continue to have fixed hardware standards or go in a new direction, which they described as "a Windows like flexible/capabilities like model." One member of the group said fixed hardware standards were useful for developers, as it means all game makers are on the same playing field, as opposed to the Wild West found on PC.

Kevin Gammill, the corporate vice president of gaming ecosystems, replied that Microsoft had "already started this journey " toward more flexibility with the Xbox One and Xbox One X and, more recently, with the current-gen Xbox Series X|S.

"We need to be even more flexible going forward with gen 10, but also provide the ability for creators to take advantage of unique hardware capabilities," he added. 

We'll have to take all this with a grain of salt for now, as odds are the participants in these internal chats never expected their statements to be publicized. However, the launch target is consistent with June statements from Microsoft's lawyers suggesting that the anticipated starting date of the next console generation is 2028. This latest document hints that Microsoft is, at the very least, considering releasing different versions of its next Xbox console or making it more modular akin to PC.

PC games could soon come to Xbox Cloud Gaming

All these court documents relate to the ongoing dispute about Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard and what it means for the future of Call of Duty and other popular video game series. The legal feud has unearthed plenty of juicy insider information already, and a targeted console launch date isn't the only news that came to light this week. 

A batch of 2021 internal emails between Microsoft execs reveal Microsoft has been planning to stream PC games through its Xbox Cloud Gaming service, the Verge reports. Since the service runs on specialized Xbox Series X chips, cloud streaming is currently limited to Xbox titles. But when rumors surfaced of the now-defunct Google Stadia becoming a white-label cloud gaming service for developers, Xbox began working on a competitor. 

In July 2021, Nadella emailed Spencer, Microsoft's head of cloud gaming Kareem Choudhry and head of Xbox creator experience Sarah Bond about leveraging the company's Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform to stream PC games over Xbox Cloud Gaming. Spencer replied with confirmation that Microsoft was working on a solution powered by Azure servers to enable streaming native PC games from the cloud. Microsoft would be able to offer this service to other companies as well, he added. Choudhry corroborated this in the email chain, making it clear Microsoft was working on streaming PC games over the cloud as early as July 2021.

Microsoft has been dropping clues for a while now that Xbox Cloud Gaming could soon support PC games. In the past year, Microsoft has inked partnerships with several tech companies to build out its cloud computing infrastructure, including NVIDIA, EE, and others. Microsoft has also been conducting beta testing for mouse and keyboard support on Xbox Cloud Gaming, albeit it's limited to games originally designed for Xbox consoles. 

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Unlike the Xbox Series X or the PS5, the Xbox Series S has remained somewhat of an outlier during this console generation — and for good reason. 

While the Xbox Series S will always be underpowered when compared to its larger sibling, it was designed to provide a reasonably priced entry point into this latest console generation. It’s also the most compact Xbox Microsoft has ever made: if you place the console on its side, you'll find that Valve’s Steam Deck handheld is actually wider.

Back in the summer, I decided to pick up a Series S since I mainly game on my PC or on the Nintendo Switch and wanted an easy way to test out some of the best PC game controllers that are also compatible with Xbox. Although the portability and compact design of the Series S immediately won me over, the console has one serious shortcoming: its internal storage. With the operating system installed on the Series S’ 512GB SSD, you’re left with only 364GB of usable storage space. Besides this, the white and black of the Series S really makes this little console stand out.

If you’ve been wondering whether or not you should pick up a Series S and couldn’t quite come to terms with its smaller storage and two-tone colorway, you’re in luck as this month, Microsoft released a brand new version of the console. The all new Carbon Black Series S loses the white and black of the original Series S and bumps the built-in storage from 512GB to 1TB. 

Microsoft sent over one for me to try out and while I’m still working on my review, here are 3 things I love about the new Xbox Series S and one thing I wish had been changed.

This Xbox's all-black design

It’s one thing to look at pictures but to truly appreciate what Microsoft has managed to accomplish here, you really need to see an Xbox Series S in person. The size difference between it and past Xbox consoles still surprises me and I had a similar feeling after unboxing the new, all-black Series S. Unlike the original Robot White console, its Carbon Black variant doesn’t stand out nearly as much and will likely blend in a lot better with the other devices on your desk or in your entertainment center.

Although the new Series S is completely black, there’s a slight difference in the shades of black used for the console itself and its black fan vent. The fan vent is a darker black and has a semi-gloss look to it while the console’s case is lighter and has a matte finish. The Xbox logo is now also completely black when the Series S is powered off. 

I know a new colorway isn’t the kind of thing that most people get this excited about but unlike with the Series X, there aren’t any official console wraps coming anytime soon for the Series S. In a way, this new Series S reminds me a lot of when the first white iPhone was released but in reverse.

The additional storage space

Up until now, Series S owners had to be quite selective when it came to which games were installed on their console, as they had only 364GB of storage space to work with. The challenge was even harder for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. With the new Series S though, you have 802GB of free storage space with the operating system installed just like on the Series X.

This bump in storage space will likely be the most welcome addition to the new Series S, especially at a time when newer games clock in at sizes of more than 100GB. For instance, Bethesda’s epic space RPG Starfield takes up 140GB on its own and this is quickly becoming the standard for larger next-gen games.

Just like with the original Series S, you still have the option of using one of Microsoft’s proprietary storage expansion cards. There’s a big benefit to choosing the new Series S over the original console though, as buying it along with a 500GB storage expansion card would cost you $380 while the Series S - 1TB is $30 cheaper at $350.

Compatibility with previous accessories

The new Series S isn’t a mid-gen console refresh or a smaller version of the console like the rumored PS5 Slim will be. Instead, it’s an upgraded Series S with more storage in a new colorway. This means that all of your existing Series S accessories will work if you do decide to upgrade from the original console.

One of the things that drew me to the Series S in the first place was the accessories available for it, namely the portable monitors that turn the console into a quasi gaming laptop. In the picture above, I have UPspec Gaming’s xScreen attached to the back of the new Series S. What I really like about this monitor in particular is that unlike similar products from G-Story or Depgi, it doesn’t add any extra bulk to the console. You can also power this entire setup with just one cord, like I did during the summer when I played my Xbox in the desert.

The Series S is so small you can easily put it in a backpack and bring it with you to play at a friend’s house or hook it up to the TV in your hotel room. However, with the xScreen or a similar monitor and a portable power station, you can play your Xbox from anywhere. The one caveat with the xScreen though is that it uses the Series S USB ports for power which is why I have this USB hub ($16, Amazon) plugged in at the front.

While others might have preferred a mid-gen refresh of the Series S, I’m happy that Microsoft fixed one of the biggest gripes with the console without changing that much about it. However, there is one thing I wish it had changed.

No upgraded Wi-Fi

Despite the 2020 Xbox release date, Microsoft chose to outfit both the Series X and Series S with Wi-Fi 5 instead of with Wi-Fi 6 or even Wi-Fi 6E which arrived around the same time. This is one area in which the PS5 has a leg up on both Xbox consoles as it ships with Wi-Fi 6 support.

On a console with an optical UHD Blu-ray player like the Series X, this isn’t that big of a problem as you can still buy and then install games from physical discs. The Series S is an all-digital console which means you’re limited to Wi-Fi, though you can plug in an Ethernet cable since it also has a gigabit Ethernet port at the back. However, most people have their Xbox in their living room which is normally quite far away from one of the best Wi-Fi routers. 

Alongside the larger SSD, Microsoft could have also upgraded the Wi-Fi chip in the new Series S without completely redesigning the console. In fact, after looking at a Wi-Fi board replacement guide for the Series S on iFixit, I know the company could have done just this as the console’s Wi-Fi chip is actually on the outside of the case as opposed to being soldered to its motherboard.

With games getting larger in size and multiplayer titles still as popular as ever, a Wi-Fi upgrade would have been a welcome addition to the new Series S. Hopefully, Microsoft doesn’t make the same mistake with its next Xbox.

Still the best next-gen value

If you want to play next-gen games like Starfield or other upcoming Xbox exclusives such as Fable and even the Elder Scrolls VI without having to upgrade your PC or buying the more expensive Series X, the Series S and especially the new Series S - 1TB is a great option. The Series S is the best next-gen value at the moment and despite concerns from some developers, Microsoft has said that it’s committed to continuing to support its pint-sized Xbox for the duration of this console generation.

The extra storage space and the all black colorway of the new Series S are great additions to the console and as we saw last year, there could be some great deals on this new version of the console come Black Friday. If you’re itching to play Starfield, are new to Xbox or want to get back into gaming like many did with the Nintendo Switch, $350 is a reasonable price for everything the Series S offers, especially when you pair it with Xbox Game Pass.

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Microsoft is teaming up with global financial services provider Barclays to launch an Xbox Mastercard later this month, the Xbox maker announced Tuesday (Sept. 12). Cardholders will be able to use the points they earn for every dollar they spend to exchange for games and add-ons on the Xbox Games Store. 

The card, which has no annual fee, will be available exclusively to Xbox Insiders in the U.S., Alaska and Hawaii starting on Sept. 21. After Insiders get their shot, Microsoft will open the credit card up to all Xbox players in the U.S. during 2024.

“With the Xbox Mastercard credit card, players can earn card points with everyday purchases to redeem on games and add-ons at xbox.com,” explained Dave McCarthy, CVP of Xbox player services, in a company blog post. 

APR rates range from 20.99% to 31.99% based on credit. And as with most credit cards, you'll rack up more points from buying certain things than others. Purchasing eligible products on the Microsoft store will net cardholders five times the number of points for every dollar they spend, while subscriptions to some of the best streaming services like Netflix and Disney Plus earn three times the points. All other types of purchases will earn the regular 1x rate. 

Somewhat confusingly, the Xbox Mastercard also isn't linked to the Microsoft Rewards program in any way. Instead, the card is its own separate pot of points that can be earned through purchases. 

Applications open on September 21 for U.S.-based Xbox Insiders, Microsoft's early access program to test new Xbox features.

There are five card designs to choose from, which you can see above, along with the option to customize it with your Xbox gamertag. 

As an added sign-on bonus, cardholders will also get 5,000 points ($50 value) after their first purchase with the card along with three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for new Game Pass members. Or if you're already a subscriber, you can gift the free three-month subscription to friends or family.

We've often touted Microsoft's monthly video game subscription service as one of the best deals in gaming. The top-end Ultimate tier, regularly $15/month, offers all of best bells and whistles: access to a library of over 400 games, an Xbox Live Gold membership for online gaming, cloud streaming available across Xbox, PC, Android and iOS and a handful of select titles to fully own.

Microsoft is no stranger to unconventional collabs (usually seeming to come out of nowhere) to expand the Xbox brand. Last week, Mattel announced a new kit for its Lego-style rival Mega of the Xbox 360, complete with lights, working parts and a bricked-up copy of Halo 3. And let's not forget the eye-watering $10,000 limited-edition Xbox Series X from Gucci. 

As far as credit cards go, we haven't seen Microsoft offer an Xbox card since the early days of Xbox Live. But given that rival Sony already offers its own points-based PlayStation credit card, it tracks that Microsoft would aim to roll out an Xbox competitor. 

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As we continue to wait for official word on the Nintendo Switch 2, a new leak is indicating we can expect a pretty powerful device. In fact, according to a recent report, the Switch 2 will trump the Xbox Series S in at least one key area. 

According to Felipe Lima of Universo Nintendo (and spotted by Gamerant), the Switch 2 will pack 12GB of RAM. This spec update comes after the device was reportedly showcased to select developers during the Gamescom tradeshow in Cologne, Germany. And this information apparently comes from an anonymous source who attended this behind-closed-door presentation. However, it should still be taken with a grain of salt. 

The current Nintendo Switch has 4G of LPDDR4 RAM. For comparison, the PS5 and Xbox Series X each sport 16GB of GDDR6 RAM. Meanwhile, the Xbox Series S utilizes 10GB of the same sixth-generation RAM. So, if this leak is accurate, the Switch 2 would have more RAM than the Xbox Series S. But it’s important to note, that this source doesn’t mention what type of RAM would be found in the Switch 2. 

If the Switch 2 offers 10GB of GDDR5 RAM (the same type found in the PS4 and Xbox One), the Xbox Series S would actually have a generational advantage over Nintendo’s new hardware. Yes, the Switch 2 would win in terms of raw numbers, but the entry-level Xbox would have faster memory which makes a big difference when it comes to overall performance levels. 

There is a possibility that the Switch 2 could pack GDDR6 RAM, but as Gamerant points out, that would require Nintendo to essentially skip a RAM generation, which it has never done before. 

This tip toward the console’s RAM capacity is just the latest Switch 2 rumor to surface online. In fact, over the summer, the Switch 2 rumor mill has gone into overdrive with various sources claiming the console will be released in 2024 and that it will launch at an attractive price point of $399 — just $50 more than the Nintendo Switch OLED. 

More dubious sources have suggested it will actually be called the Nintendo Focus and include VR capabilities, it's also been suggested it will have new camera features, while another unverified industry insider has teased a potential launch game that “looks and runs like a PS5 game” on Nintendo’s next hardware.

Concrete details are basically non-existent — we don’t even know for sure if it will be called Nintendo Switch 2 — but we can say with near certainty that Nintendo is working on a successor to the wildly successful first-generation Switch right now. 

Hopefully, it’s not too much longer before we’re given some firm facts, and we can leave this era of speculation, rumors and leaks behind. After all, Nintendo revealed the first-generation Switch to the world in October 2016, and the gaming giant could follow the same rollout plan with whatever hardware it’s currently cooking up. 

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• I’ve been playing Starfield on an Android gaming handheld

The wait is over — this week, Xbox gamers finally got the chance to play Bethesda’s latest epic RPG and so far, Starfield has lived up to the hype.

In our Starfield review, we hailed it as “one of the biggest Xbox series X games of the year if not the generation” and like the rest of the team at Tom’s Guide, I’ve been working my way through the opening missions of the game. However, while others have been playing it on the Xbox Series X, I’ve been using the new Xbox Series S 1TB in Carbon Black ahead of my upcoming review.

Even though the Series S still remains underpowered compared to its larger sibling, Starfield looks great on one of the best Vizio TVs. As I don’t want to hog the biggest screen in the house, I broke out the xScreen attachable monitor for the Series S and played on that for a bit. It then dawned on me that with one of the best handheld gaming consoles, I could play Starfield anywhere around my house or even on the go for that matter.

Since I don’t have a Steam Deck, an Asus ROG Ally or any other Windows 11 handheld, I’ve been using Razer’s Android gaming handheld instead. It’s been perfect for playing Starfield at home but with its 5G connection and a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, I even managed to play outside. Here’s how it went.

Not your average handheld console

Following the success of the Steam Deck, we’ve seen the release of several cloud gaming handhelds like the Logitech G Cloud with Sony’s own PlayStation Portal set to launch later this year. One such device that seems to have gone under the radar is the Razer Edge. 

Unlike the competition, the Razer Edge isn’t actually a cloud gaming handheld. Instead, it’s a hybrid device that can run Android games locally with quite a bit of power thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 chip and 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM (on the 5G model). It can also stream games from Steam, GeForce NOW, PS5 and of course, the Xbox Series X and S. With Wi-Fi 6E support as opposed to just Wi-Fi 5, it’s a much better device for gaming streaming than the Logitech G Cloud.

Another thing that helps set the Razer Edge apart is that its controller is detachable. It ships with the Kishi V2 Pro ($150, Amazon) which has several features the regular Kishi V2 lacks like a headphone jack and Razer’s HyperSense haptics for vibration. Replacing the Kishi V2 Pro is a lot easier than taking the entire device apart if something goes wrong; since it’s detachable, it’s also easier to slip the Razer Edge into your bag or even your pocket

The vastness of space in the palm of your hand

So what’s it like playing Starfield on a handheld console? Surprisingly comfortable, and the game looks great on the Razer Edge’s 6.8 144HZ AMOLED FHD+ display. To everyone’s dismay though, Starfield is locked at 30 FPS and the game can’t take advantage of the display’s higher refresh rate, though the best Steam games can with GeForce NOW Ultimate.

While playing Starfield remotely at home, I didn’t see any dips in streaming performance or frame rate drops, probably because I’m using one of the best Wi-Fi 6E routers. Gameplay was fluid and smooth and once I got used to playing the game on a smaller screen, I lost track of time.

One of my favorite things about the Razer Edge and the Kishi V2 are the programmable buttons just above the left and right bumpers. Like past Bethesda games, you’re constantly adding items to your inventory by pressing A. With A mapped to either the M1 or M2 button, you can loot fresh corpses without having to take your thumbs off the joysticks which really comes in handy in the middle of a firefight in Starfield.

Besides these extra programmable buttons, I really enjoyed how the deep blacks of space popped on the Razer Edge’s AMOLED screen. At the same time, I got to experience Starfield’s music, dialog and sound effects in spatial surround sound on the Razer Edge as I’m using the 5G version of the Android handheld which ships with Verizon Adaptive Sound.

Playing Starfield on the go

After playing Starfield at home on the Razer Edge all week, I decided to take it out into the field to see how it performed on Xbox Cloud Gaming over Verizon’s 5G network. I performed a similar test back in the summer when I spent a week using the Razer Edge as my main console. However, this time around things went a bit differently.

I loaded up the Xbox Cloud Gaming app, opened Starfield and then nothing happened at first. While I thought my data plan might have run out or that I had lost signal, it turns out that Starfield is a very popular game and therefore I had to wait to play it on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The app told me I had to wait nine minutes but fortunately, an xCloud server opened up before then and I found myself at Starfield’s start menu.

The last time I played the Razer Edge in this exact location, I noticed a few hang-ups and performance issues in Halo Infinite. Maybe it’s because Starfield is a slower paced game, but I didn’t experience any issues this time around — both while walking through Akila City in the Cheyenne system or when traversing space in the game’s first ship, the Frontier

While I mainly plan on playing Starfield from the comfort of my own home once everyone else has gone to bed, the fact that I can reliably play it on the go is nice. Who knows, maybe I can get a few missions in from the comfort of a hotel room or even while out and about on my next vacation.

An almost perfect handheld Xbox

The Razer Edge is in its own class when it comes to handheld gaming consoles designed for remote or cloud play. However, there is one big limitation if you’re using it to play Xbox like I’ve been.

With a 20:5:9 aspect ratio, the Xbox or Xbox Game Pass apps will never fully fill the device’s screen. Unlike with YouTube and the best streaming services where you can pinch to zoom in and see content on the entire screen, Microsoft still hasn’t implemented anything like this for Xbox. It probably won’t anytime soon either as in a game like Starfield, doing so would cut off important parts of the game’s user interface.

If you can get over the fact that there are going to be black bars on the side when playing Xbox remotely or over the cloud on the Razer Edge, it’s a great device for playing games like Starfield on a small screen. It’s worth noting that you can take full advantage of the device’s screen with Starfield on PC but as I’m in the process of testing out the new Series S, I plan on doing my first playthrough of the game entirely on Xbox.

In my opinion, Starfield is a fantastic game so far, and with the Razer Edge on hand, I don’t have to limit myself to playing on my TV if I want to experience it on a stunning display.

More from Tom's Guide

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• I took my Xbox on vacation and even played it in the desert
• Upgrading to Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 won't speed up your PS5 or Xbox Series X

Diablo IV Season 1 is slowly winding down, and with Season 2 not set to arrive until mid-October, fans may be wondering what Blizzard has planned for its best-selling dungeon-crawling action RPG in the meantime. This week Blizzard announced a new patch that should make it easier for players to grind to level 100 before the next season. 

Update 1.1.4 rolls out on September 12 with several incremental updates, bug fixes and other tweaks. Most importantly, it adds an XP buff for the Urn of Aggression Season Blessing, increasing the amount of experience earned from killing monsters from 8% to 20%. Blizzard laid it all out in the update's patch notes this week, explaining that this increase in XP earned should help players reach level 100 a bit faster before Season 2 starts on October 17.

"We increased the total experience bonus of Urn of Aggression to make the Season Blessing more impactful and to help players seeking Level 100 get there a little faster," reads a developer's note included with the patch notes. 

Season Blessings are a new Diablo IV mechanic introduced in Season 1 that awards players with bonuses for completing certain objectives. These boosts range from the extremely useful (like the Urn of Bargaining, which increases how much gold you receive from selling items) to the mostly useless (like the Urn of Reclamation, which boosts your chances of finding rare salvage). Easily one of the most handy Blessings is the Urn of Aggression as it bumps up how much experience you earn from killing monsters, making the grind to max out your character's level a bit less tedious. 

This latest update also fixes a few issues with some of Diablo 4’s side quests and the game's screen reader. Read on for the full list of bug fixes below. 

Accessibility

• Fixed an issue where the screen reader didn’t read enemy names.

Quests and events

• Fixed an issue where the Lorath's Polearm and Strange Amulet items from the Missing Pieces quest couldn’t be picked up after dropping them and re-entering town while mounted.
• Fixed an issue where progression for the Remembering the Goose quest could be blocked if the player teleported using the Town Portal or exited the game immediately after placing Tavish's dagger.
• Fixed an issue where the Retching Mass event did not reward Gold upon completion.
• Fixed an issue where progression for the Poisoned Hearts quest could be blocked if the player left the area in the middle of Aneta's dialogue with Vera.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed an issue where a dialogue option for Kres couldn’t display properly.
• Fixed an issue where the Season Journey's completion percentage in the Season menu would display the progression percentage of the last viewed Chapter instead of the active Chapter.
• Fixed an issue where the notification stating your Inventory is full could appear unexpectedly.
• Fixed an issue where credit would not be received for completing a Malignant Tunnels Season's Journey objective if the heart at the end was not captured.
• Fixed an issue where the voice over lines did not play for the following taunt Emotes: I Will End You / You Will Die! / I will Rip Your Soul Apart / Die! /Prepare for Oblivion
• Various visual, performance, and stability fixes.

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There's an intergalactic adventure that recently launched that is sort of a big deal. Said title would be Starfield. Unless you’ve been living in a log cabin in the remotest of woods with zero access to the internet for the last three decades, you’ll know this is the first new IP from Bethesda Game Studios in 25 years. 

It’s also categorically the biggest title to launch on Xbox Game Pass this year, and the most important game for Xbox Series X since 2021’s Halo Infinite. 

In our Starfield review, our writer Roland described the epic space quest as “the apex of Bethesda’s open-world games and a killer Xbox Series X and PC game.” Thanks to Game Pass Ultimate, subscribers to Microsoft’s top-tier service can also enjoy Starfield on one of the best gaming PCs or best gaming laptops. 

Let me be clear, though: I’m not here to add my two cents to the critical consensus surrounding Starfield. 

Whether I think Bethesda’s ambitious open-world is the best thing since sliced space bread or the biggest sci-fi abomination this side of John Travolta’s ghastly 2000 Battlefield Earth reboot doesn’t really matter.

What I am here to tell you is this: holy hell does it ever look ludicrously good on the LG G3 OLED TV.

Up until a few days ago, I would have happily told you the LG C2 OLED is the best TV I’ve ever owned. It’s little wonder we currently rank it as the best TV for most people here at Tom’s Guide. This is a truly wonderful television.

And you know what? The G3 OLED stomps the shizzle out of the C2.

The future of OLED

I recently put myself in the poor house forever by purchasing the 77-inch version of this astonishingly good LG G3 OLED, which currently retails for $4,499 / £4,299. My maxed out credit card is gonna hate me for a looooong ol’ time.

Hitting a peak HDR brightness of 1,361 nits, it’s the second brightest OLED TV we’ve ever tested — that’s just a teeny fraction dimmer than the superb Samsung S95C, which can reach 1,369 nits.

Depending on what type of content you’re watching, the G3 is also up to 70% brighter than its little brother (the still awesome LG OLED C3), based on our testing results.

I’ve played Starfield on both last year’s LG C2 and this year’s G3 over the past week, and there’s just no contest in my eyes. The G3 represents the biggest annual jump in brightness between two LG OLED models I’ve ever seen, and that’s all thanks to Micro Lens Array (MLA) tech.

I’ll try not to overly bore you with screen specifics, but MLA is LG’s answer to the quantum dot tech Samsung has been rolling out with its QD-OLEDs over the last year or so.

Thanks to billions of convex lenses that are placed above the G3’s panel, the company’s latest premium TV is able to get significantly brighter than any other OLED the South Korean firm has ever produced.

I can honestly say that after only a week’s usage, the G3’s brightness-boosting MLA features have blown my (now incredibly poor) socks off. The pictures it produces are so much more punchy and vivid than my C2 — which I’m now going to have to flog — it’s a legit night and day difference.

Starfield looks utterly incredible on the LG G3 OLED. When you first take to the stars after blasting off the game’s opening mining colony, then suddenly see the contrast between the surface of a blindingly bright moon and the endless, inky gloom of space, it’s a gobsmacking moment.

I’ll go one further: it’s the single most impressive image I’ve ever seen an OLED TV produce. And I’ve been buying these ‘organic light-emitting diodes’ since 2015.

(Star)field of Dreams

The scenes Starfield so regularly serves players up are often perfect for showing the strength of OLED as a display technology. The infinite blacks of the cosmos being pierced by millions of glistening stars shows off the sort of contrast the best LED TVs can’t get anywhere near.

Combine this with the added pop the G3 gives to bright setpieces — like the many battles your hero encounters on planet surfaces that are so bright, I found myself squinting on more than one occasion — and the searing results are enough to give your pupils sunburn.

Play Starfield on the LG G3 OLED, and I promise you it’s an experience your peepers will cherish for years.

I am seriously saying most gamers should go out and sink over four grand on a TV, though? Of course not. I bought one because I’m A) obsessed with owning the best OLED TVs, and B) I’m bad with money and probably shouldn’t be let within several country miles of a credit.

Nevertheless, playing Starfield on the LG G3 OLED, purely from a visual perspective, could well be the most visually-arousing experience of this A/V nerd’s existence.

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Want to use Starfield photo mode but find yourself perplexed about how to enable the snap-happy feature? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Starfield is inarguably the biggest exclusive game to come to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in years, and as you explore its thousands of procedurally generated planets, you’ll undoubtedly want to document your adventures via virtual photos.

Initially, the process of actually getting photo mode to work in Starfield seems needlessly complicated. Though it appears in the pause menu right from the beginning of Bethesda’s epic sci-fi quest, it’s grayed out by default.

Before you can start taking proper pics in Starfield, you’ll first need to play through the opening ten or so minutes of the open-world RPG until the feature opens up. 

There are actually two ways to initiate Starfield’s photo mode. Though the one that first pops up is a little more tricky to use than the second option that soon becomes available after you enter your hero’s spaceship and blast off from the game’s initial mining colony. 

Below, we’ll guide you through the steps needed on how to enable photo mode in Starfield to ensure you’ll be an alien-snapping expert in no time at all. 

Please note: The following guide assumes you are playing Starfield with a gamepad, and so certain steps show Xbox controller buttons, rather than keyboard inputs.  

How to use Starfield photo mode 

1. Complete the opening mine section until you reach 'the Artifact'
2. Once you awaken, press the Menu button, then the View button
3. Navigate to the ‘Photo Mode’ option, then enter it to start snapping
4. Leave Vectera and travel to Kreet to unlock the scanner 
5. Once unlocked, press LB then click RS to open photo mode
6. Go to the pause menu and select ‘Photo Gallery’ to view your pics    

Read on to see full illustrated instructions for each step.   

Congratulations! You now know how to use Starfield photo mode, and are officially an intergalactic Ansel Adams. Starfield is easily the best looking title Bethesda Game Studios has ever made, so make sure you regularly use photo mode to document the incredible sci-fi adventures that lie ahead.  

Looking for more Starfield assistance? Learn how to modify weapons in Starfield, read up on how to get the Adoring Fan in Starfield, get the skinny on how to upgrade your ship in Starfield and don’t forget to check out how to increase carry weight in Starfield. 

Starfield is now mere weeks away, but for people who want to dive into the game as soon as it arrives on September 6, you can preload the massive sci-fi RPG today (August 17). 

Set to gobble up 125GB of hard disk space, Starfield is going to be a chunky game (though a lot of the best Xbox Series X games and best PS5 games can be storage hogs). So by preloading you can at least make sure your machine of choice, be it an Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, or Windows PC, has the space needed for Starfield. Meaning that once the game is officially released, you can dive right in rather than waiting for a lengthy download. 

Preloading is dead easy on Xbox: simply go to the game store and buy an edition of Starfield and you’ll be promoted to pre-load it. On PC, this happens in the Microsoft Store. 

Alternatively, subscribers of Xbox Game Pass, on both Xbox and PC, can start preloading Starfield by going through the Game Pass section in the Xbox dashboard or in the Xbox PC app.

Those with access to the Starfield Constellation Edition or the Digital Premium edition will be able to play Starfield five days earlier than people who’ve oped for the standard version or those on Game Pass.

PC gamers who want to order and play Starfield on Steam will have to wait until August 30 before they can pre-load the title. Unfortunately, that means Steam users with premium editions of Starfield will be somewhat rushed to get the game downloaded for Early Access, which starts September 1.

While 2023 has already seen the debuts of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate 3, both of which have launched to massive critical acclaim, Starfield is still set to become one of the biggest game launches of the year. I hope Bethesda can hit the same vein of gaming gold it did with Skyrim; I'm crossing my fingers and toes.

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More than 20 years after the launch of Baldur’s Gate 2, we finally have a sequel in the form of Baldur’s Gate 3. Released on August 3, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a new role-playing game that has so far received pretty much widespread critical acclaim. 

But if you’ve yet to take the plunge, you may be wondering what platforms Baldur’s Gate 3 is available on and what could be the best platforms to play Larian’s RPG on.  

So to help you get started, we've run down the platforms you can play Baldur’s Gate 3 on today and when to expect the game on other devices. 

Baldur's Gate 3 on PC

Probably the best Baldur’s Gate 3 experience can be had on a Windows gaming PC, be it one of our best gaming desktops or best gaming laptops. 

Easily available on Steam, the system requirements are pretty reasonable for Baldur’s Gate 3, with the minimum system requirements only needing an Intel Core i5 4690 or AMD FX 8350 processor, 8GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 480, 150GB of storage space is needed, which is perhaps the most demanding spec. 

Given the flexibility of PCs and being able to play on compact external displays or sprawling widescreen monitors, as well as support for mouse and keyboard alongside controllers, the PC is arguably the best platform to play Baldur’s Gate on today. 

Baldur's Gate 3 on Mac

It might not be immediately obvious, given the Baldur’s Gate series has long been Windows PC centric, but Baldur’s Gate 3 can run on macOS. 

You will need macOS 10.15.6 and have a Mac that’s running a Core i7 processor clocked at 2.6GHz, as well as 8GB of RAM and a Radeon 460 graphics card. Unfortunately, at these minimum specs don’t expect to run Baldur’s Gate 3 much beyond the game’s low and medium settings. 

There’s no word on whether Baldur’s Gate 3 will run on Macs and MacBooks with M-series chips. But as Larian’s last big RPG, Divinity: Original Sin 2, runs on Apple Silicon, we’re hoping support for Baldur’s Gate 3 will come to Apple devices with M-series chips. 

Baldur's Gate 3 on PS5

While not available yet on PS5, Baldur’s Gate 3 will be coming to Sony’s games console on September 6, with a digital-only release coming three days earlier on September 3. 

With full controller support, Larian’s RPG should play well on the PS5, hopefully making use of the DualSense controller’s advanced haptics to add a little more immersion. The only problem with a September console release is Baldur’s Gate 3 will arrive the same week as Starfield, another epic RPG only set in space rather than a fantasy world that could steal Baldur's Gate 3's thunder. 

Baldur's Gate 3 on Steam Deck

Baldur’s Gate 3 is listed as “Verified'' for Steam Deck compatibility, so the game should theoretically run well on Valve’s handheld PC. However, observations from a variety of reviewers and testers have found that Baldur’s Gate 3 can have some problems loading on the Steam Deck. 

This situation is likely to improve as the game matures, likely with patches and optimizations pushed out by Larian. And again, Divinity: Original Sin 2 runs well on the Steam Deck, so we hope to see the same for Baldur’s Gate 3 in time. 

Baldur's Gate 3 on Asus ROG Ally

Being Windows 11-based the Asus ROG Ally does a good job at supporting Baldur’s Gate 3, not only running the game at a combination of low and medium settings with smooth frame rates but also offering full controller support; ROG Ally Life has a rundown on its recommended settings for the Ally. 

From what we've heard, the Ally may be a better bet for playing Baldur’s Gate 3 than the Steam Deck, at least at the time of writing. 

No Xbox Series X, Series S or Nintendo Switch support

Unfortunately for fans of other consoles, there’s no word on whether Baldur’s Gate 3 will be ported over the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Nintendo Switch. 

Unfortunately, Microsoft’s need for Xbox games to work on both the Series X and Series S means Baldur’s Gate 3 isn't coming to the latest Xbox consoles as Larian claims the technical limitation of the Series S means Baldur's Gate 3 can't meet the gameplay parity Microsoft requires between its Xbox machines. While Microsoft is reportedly working with Larian to get past this, for now if you want to play the RPG on console you’ll need to go the PlayStation route. 

As for the Nintendo Switch, Baldur’s Gate 3 won’t run on the aged hardware. And Larian currently has no plans to port the game to the Switch. Perhaps the rumored Nintendo Switch 2 could offer the power needed to run Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now that console exists as speculation.

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The original Red Dead Redemption and its Undead Nightmare expansion are moseying onto PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on August 17, with physical editions to follow on October 13. 

Following this announcement by RockStar Games, fans' excitement quickly soured when the long-rumored re-release of gun-slinging John Marston's first open-world adventure turned out to be neither a remake nor a remaster. Rather, it's a port (or "conversion," as Rockstar calls it) of the 2010 title with a few minor technical upgrades sprinkled in. No graphical or framerate enhancements, and no online multiplayer support. 

Now that we've got the good and the bad out of the way, it's time for the ugly: the $50 price tag. Yep, Rockstar is charging $50 for Red Dead Redemption on the Nintendo eShop and PlayStation Store (pricing for physical versions has yet to be announced). Fans balked at the idea of paying close to the full price of a new release for a no-frills port of a 13-year-old game, calling it a blatant "cash grab" on Rockstar's part. 

The real kicker, though, is that for just $30, you can already play Red Dead Redemption on the Xbox Series X at 4K and with online multiplayer. The original Xbox 360 version has been available for years on Xbox's latest consoles (it's also on the Xbox Series S, just without the 4K support) thanks to their robust backward compatibility.

A trailer for the Switch and PS4 Red Dead Redemption ports showed off some frankly underwhelming graphical tweaks. Fidelity has been bumped up a notch, with many of the game's textures appearing sharper and finer details like facial features coming into focus. The contrast level seems to have been adjusted as well, as the color palette appears warmer. And, as one Twitter user noted, you can spot a new patch of grass added to the background of a cutscene. 

Beyond that, you'd be hard-pressed to identify which one was the original 2010 game or the new port when looking at them side by side. Since Rockstar didn't announce 60 frames per second support, it's likely the port will run at the original's 30 fps. Granted, that's true of the Xbox Series X version as well, even at 4K. But it's also $20 cheaper, comes with online multiplayer and is available now. No need to wait until August 17.

It's important to note the Xbox version of Red Dead Redemption doesn't come with the Undead Nightmare DLC, the noncanonical single-player campaign where John Marston faces off against hordes of zombies. That'll set you back another $10 in the Xbox store, for a total of $40 for both Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare, which still comes in under the cost of the latest port. 

So if you have an Xbox Series X/S, save your money for some of the best Switch or PS4 games instead of wasting it on an inferior port. 

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Taking my gaming console with me on vacation was never something I even considered until earlier this summer when I picked up an Xbox Series S to test out some of the best PC game controllers with Xbox support.

My trusty Nintendo Switch has gone with me on many trips alongside my smaller, DIY Switch dock but even then, you need to stay somewhere with a TV that has an easily accessible HDMI port or bring a portable monitor with you. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing on the best handheld gaming consoles, but nothing beats the feeling of playing with a controller in hand on a larger display.

Just like the Switch, the Xbox Series S is extremely portable but you still need access to a TV which can be difficult when traveling off the beaten path, as my family and I did on our recent summer trip to Terlingua, Texas, which is right on the Mexican border. Fortunately, I got to try out one of the best Xbox Series S accessories earlier in the summer: the xScreen.

The xScreen ($199 on Amazon)  eliminates the need for a TV and makes Microsoft’s smallest Xbox yet look a bit more like a gaming laptop than a home console. However, the Series S still needs to be plugged into a wall which can be tricky when you’re out in the desert. Fortunately, I had another accessory on hand that solved this problem.

If you’re heading off on a family road trip soon and just can’t bear to leave your game console behind, here’s what happened when I took my Xbox on vacation. 

Xbox to go

At just over 10 inches long and 6 inches wide when laid flat on a table or desk, the Xbox Series S is incredibly small — at least for an Xbox. It’s easy to slip into a backpack and since it has a built-in power supply, there isn’t a bulky power brick to go with it.

The xScreen clamps onto the back of the Series S and two latches firmly attach it to the console. Unlike similar attachable monitors from G-Story or Degpi, it doesn’t add any extra bulk to the sides of the console and is powered from one of the USB ports at the back of the Series S without the need for extra cables. You just need the cable that came with the console to power both devices.

While you could put the Series S with the xScreen attached into a backpack, UPspec Gaming also sells a case ($48, UPspec Gaming) for it to keep both the console and monitor protected while in transit. There’s also a bit of space for your Xbox controller, power cable and other accessories.

With my Xbox Series S and xScreen carefully secured, I loaded them both into our car along with The Foldable Gaming Chair and set off with my family for a week-long road trip. Since I have a little one at home, I don’t get to travel nearly as much as I used to, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to test the xScreen out in the field — or in this case, in the desert.

Gaming al fresco

As Terlingua is a 10–hour drive from Houston, we broke up the trip by stopping in Fredericksburg, Texas. We rented a modern-looking Airbnb made out of a shipping container but there was just one problem: it only had a single room. Sleeping in the same room with my toddler was quite hard, since my son goes to bed much earlier than we do.

Fortunately, the Airbnb we stayed at also had a patio on its roof. Since I saw there were string lights hanging from the guardrail, I knew there had to be a power outlet up there somewhere. I found it in the corner and after jiggling the smart plug they were connected to in order to make some room, I plugged in the surge protector I always bring with me when traveling and set up my Xbox Series S.

Playing the Xbox Series S on top of a shipping container out in the countryside was certainly an experience. I played a bit of Skate 3 and did a few challenges while I watched the sun set and the stars come out. However, when the smart plugs turned off the lights at the other container homes, I knew it was time to go down the spiral staircase and head to bed.

Back on the road, we drove for six hours before we ended up in our final destination at Terlingua just outside of Big Bend National Park. We checked into our next Airbnb, which thankfully had two rooms instead of just one.

While I did play some Xbox at night in the living room of our new place, I also sat outside on the front porch and played for a bit in between sightseeing. With outlets on either side of the outdoor bar, it was easy to plug my Xbox in and play as I enjoyed the desert's dry heat. However, I wasn’t done as I still had one more thing I wanted to test out with the xScreen.

Making my Xbox truly portable

Unlike one of the best gaming laptops, the Xbox Series S and xScreen need to be plugged into an outlet to work. At the first two places we stayed, it was easy enough to find an outlet but this wasn’t the case when we headed out into the desert. 

Although my Dad got me a portable power station for emergencies, my Jackery Explorer 300 ($280, Amazon) is also perfect for road trips as it has two USB-A ports, one fast-charging USB-C port and two AC outlets. It can also be charged directly from your car with the included power adapter. I’ve used in the past to charge the Base Camp F11 electric skateboard but I had yet to see how well it could power a game console, so I brought it with us to do just that.

With the Xbox Series S and xScreen plugged into the Jackery Explorer 300, I played some Xbox out in the desert for around 30 minutes or so. I was surprised when I checked the LCD screen in the middle of the device as I had only used 3% of its 293Wh battery. 

Since the Jackery Explorer 300 has two AC outlets instead of one, I think I’m going to try putting together a similar setup with the Xbox Series S and my projector the next time my family and I stay somewhere more remote.

The full console experience on the go

My Xbox Series S is now back at home and plugged into my Samsung M5 monitor but the xScreen, along with the Jackery power bank, helped me do something I could have only dreamed of as a kid — being able to play on a console from anywhere.

For those of us who grew up playing Super Nintendo and the original PlayStation, we remember just how limited handheld gaming used to be before the Nintendo Switch showed us you could really have a full console experience on the go. Nintendo’s GameBoy, Sega’s Game Gear and Sony’s PSP were fantastic at the time but you never really felt like you were having the same experience you would with a console plugged into your TV. 

Even with the Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck, there are still limitations in terms of performance and resolution. The same can be said for the Series S, but playing in 1080p on the xScreen’s 11.6-inch screen out in the desert was an experience I’ll never forget.

While the xScreen is safely tucked away in its case in my closet, I absolutely plan on taking it on my next trip. Who knows, maybe the next time I break it out I’ll be thousands of feet up in the air playing on an airplane’s tray table because with the xScreen and the Series S, you can do just that.

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