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Everwild's exec producer moves from Rare to Xbox Game Studios following cancellation and Microsoft layoffs
Game Reviews

Everwild’s exec producer moves from Rare to Xbox Game Studios following cancellation and Microsoft layoffs

by admin September 1, 2025



Everwild’s executive producer has a new role at Xbox, following the cancellation of Rare’s long-in-development project.


Amidst layoffs at Microsoft in July, Rare’s fantasy adventure Everwild was cancelled and a number of employees at the British studio lost their jobs.


Now, as reported by VGC, the game’s executive producer Louise O’Connor has moved to Xbox Game Studios as its chief of staff, following 25 years at Rare.

Everwild – Eternals Trailer – Xbox Games Showcase JulyWatch on YouTube


The move comes almost a year after former head of Rare Craig Duncan became head of Xbox Game Studios, after Alan Hartman retired.


O’Connor first worked at Rare on Conker’s Bad Fur Day for the N64. She later worked at the studio as head of animation and its incubation director, responsible for innovation.


Everwild was first revealed in 2019 as the next big project from Rare. It surfaced again in 2020 with a trailer (above) featuring gorgeous environments and creatures, but little was seen aftewards until its cancellation.


Notably, Rare veteran Gregg Mayles also left the studio in the wake of the Microsoft layoffs, after 35 years.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.



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September 1, 2025 0 comments
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Xbox Is Making It Easier To Pick Back Up Games On Console, PC, And More
Game Updates

Xbox Is Making It Easier To Pick Back Up Games On Console, PC, And More

by admin September 1, 2025



Microsoft wants to ensure it’s easier to return to recently played games no matter what device you pick up. Your Xbox play history should now start syncing across consoles, PC, and eventually the ROG Xbox Ally, thanks to an August update rolling out now.

In other words, if you start playing Gears of War: Reloaded on your Xbox Series X|S, but then decide to move to your PC another day, the cover-based shooter should be ready to roll from your play history. Cloud-enabled games should also start appearing in your recently played list, according to Microsoft. That includes if you checked out a Game Pass title via the cloud or actually own it, such as an original Xbox game like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

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Now Playing: ROG Xbox Ally World Premiere Reveal Trailer | Xbox Games Showcase

This cross-device play history will obviously be a boon for the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds when they launch this October. Picking up where you left off in a game on the portable device while on the go is one of the system’s main selling points, though that title will have to be compatible with the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. While still in preview, Xbox is making it easier to track your owned games, too.

One thing Microsoft won’t reveal quite yet is the cost of the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. There has been speculation–and Best Buy listings at one point–that the handheld devices could cost $550 and $900, respectively. For more, check out GameSpot’s ROG Xbox Ally X impressions.



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September 1, 2025 0 comments
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helldivers 2 arrowhead CCO johan pilestedt
Product Reviews

8 months after moving on from Helldivers 2, Johan Pilestedt returns to thank everyone for welcoming Xbox divers into the fold: ‘All the stories I read make my heart sing’

by admin August 30, 2025



One nice thing about Helldivers 2 is that you can join random sessions with strangers all night and never find a bad egg. Emerge from the cryostasis transportation pod on another diver’s ship and you’re likely to be greeted with a salute, handshake, or hug emote. That’s just how Helldivers roll.

The community’s been on its extra-best behavior this week with an uptick of fresh recruits, as Helldivers 2 became the first Sony-published game to come to Xbox. It’s been one big welcoming party: Xbox players are sounding off on Reddit to thank the veterans helping them, walking them through confusing missions, and not freaking out when they accidentally blow the whole squad up. I’ve been playing with my fiancée every night this week, and it’s been fun to join Xbox lobbies and show them the ropes (insist on driving the car and then flipping it repeatedly).

The wholesome surge has been so nice to watch that Johan Pilestedt, Arrowhead’s chief creative officer who left the Helldivers 2 team in January to work on a new game, popped back into the Helldivers subreddit to thank community members with his first post in over a year.


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“Over the last couple of days I’ve seen so many comments from the new players joining the community and they are truly wonderful and inspiring. That so many are shocked by how kind and empathic this community is, shows that we need more kindness in our digital lives,” wrote Pilestedt.

“I want to say, on behalf of everyone that gave the better part of a decade to make Helldivers, that we truly appreciate all of you. From the veterans of Malevelon Creek (o7), to those that fought on Meridia, defended Super Earth and held EotS for the way you have treated and helped the new recruits joining from Xbox and elsewhere.”

Helldivers 2 x Halo: ODST Legendary Warbond | PS5 & PC Games – YouTube

Watch On

While he’s still involved with the game as studio leadership, Pilestedt has relinquished his day-to-day Helldivers duties to game director Mikael Eriksson and Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani. He’s directing Arrowhead’s next game, which is still a big mystery.

“All the stories I read make my heart sing—this unity and friendship is why I make games and I look forward to a decade of Helldivers with you all.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

“Now go roleplay space fascists!” he concluded.

The Xbox release of Helldivers 2 coincided with a special Halo 3: ODST-themed warbond with two armor sets and four Halo guns faithfully recreated in Super Earth’s image. The next major update comes next week, introducing underground bug missions and a new Terminid wyvern monstrosity.

You can read Pilestedt’s full post below:

A Humble “Thank you” from r/Helldivers

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August 30, 2025 0 comments
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You can take the Gears out of the Xbox, but you can't take the Xbox out of the Gears
Game Reviews

You can take the Gears out of the Xbox, but you can’t take the Xbox out of the Gears

by admin August 26, 2025


You can now play Gears of War on the PlayStation 5. Despite the changes to the video game landscape in recent years, that sentence still makes me react similarly to how I would if someone said “you can now drink coffee with a fork”. My brain’s immediate reaction is to dismiss it as nonsense. It’s not. We’ve seen plenty of Xbox games on PlayStation already, but there are some games that bleed Xbox. Gears of War is one of them.

I’ll talk more about the game itself (Gears of War Reloaded, to use its full title), but first it’s worth looking back to November 2006. A year following the release of the Xbox 360, Sony was set to unleash the PlayStation 3 and start clawing back next-gen market share from Xbox.


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The PS3, though, had a lacklustre launch line-up without any true showpiece games – those previous E3 presentations that the gullible believed to be actual in-game visuals did them no favours here, with MotorStorm in particular failing to get close. Resistance: Fall of Man was decent enough, but things were absolutely greener over on Xbox. The company was ready to drop the most hyped game of that generation, on or before the release of the PlayStation 3.

A look at Gears of War’s muddy visuals (that you don’t see in this modern remaster) through today’s eyes doesn’t tell the story of the time. Gears was a sensation, a rallying point for the next-generation, and a show of power. It helped make Xbox the console for an audience that wanted the booms, the online multiplayer, and the cutting-edge. Sony got its act together eventually, releasing some proper showstoppers, but Xbox 360 remained the console of choice for more people than seems possible now.

Gears of War Reloaded, then, really does trade on that sense of excellence, at least to me. I can’t play Gears of War and not remember with great fondness the awe felt when playing the campaign for the first time, the laughs had in seemingly never-ending multiplayer sessions, and frankly just how peak mid-2000s it felt to chainsaw an enemy in half with a gun. Gears of War was and still is the most bro-y shooter I’ve ever played, but 24-year-old me loved it – the spectacle, the thrills, the characters.

Let slip the COGs of war. | Image credit: The Coalition.

Reloaded, a tweaked and enhanced version of Ultimate (released 10 years ago), itself a remaster of the original, no matter how smooth it feels and how crisp it looks (in truth I had to look at screenshot comparisons to see how this version improved on Ultimate, but it does) simply can’t create that same feeling today. Games have moved on in the almost 20 years since, and those games include more recent Gears titles. That’s not to say this is a bad game, far from it, but it’ll hit differently depending on your background.

For some, Gears of War Reloaded will feel like a fairly standard shooter, one that feels a tad dated, unexpectedly clunky, and visually rather plain, even – maybe a question will be asked to find out what all the fuss was about, perhaps in an attempt to rile up Xbox fans. Fanboy arguments aside, it’s a fair thought when asked with the right intention. In truth, Gears improved quite dramatically from game to game, and the real appeal of the original today is as a window back in time – albeit a window that has been scrubbed up significantly. I see Gears of War for what it was and what it meant, and that tie to Xbox and the excitement of the era simply can’t be separated in my mind.

Going back to that launch in 2006, Xbox appeared to be ready to cement itself as a console to be reckoned with, and yet what followed – seemingly with misjudgement after misjudgement – saw the brand fall back and allow PlayStation to mop up. What a difference six Gears of War games, an expansion, a remaster (plus a second sort of remaster of the same game), and a new game in development make. In 2006 it was cool to own an Xbox, in 2025 there’s constant chatter about if Xbox consoles even have a reason to exist any more.

Like a Fenix from the ashes. | Image credit: The Coalition

Context is key, and there’s no denying the starkly different Xbox we have today compared to that MTV-cool 20 years ago. We’ve had moments, fleeting as they’ve been, of a gaming division seemingly knowing what it was doing – flurries of releases that pointed towards a strong future. But these highs have been followed by monumental lows. Layoffs have affected all divisions (most recently resulting in the cancelation of Everwild and Perfect Dark), and there is a wide call to boycott Xbox products and services while Microsoft employees (including those that are part of the Xbox division) are protesting the company’s contracts with Israel tied to an ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. I can’t believe for a second that this is the Microsoft the majority of its staff want it to be, yet this is the context Xbox releases find themselves in, and it’s not pretty.

Gears of War is a game I loved, and for many reasons I think I’ll always love it, but for many reasons, that’s not so easy to sit with right now.



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August 26, 2025 0 comments
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Clair Obscur Gets Amazon-Exclusive Steelbook Edition For PS5 And Xbox
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Clair Obscur Gets Amazon-Exclusive Steelbook Edition For PS5 And Xbox

by admin August 24, 2025



Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is getting an Amazon-exclusive collectible edition later this year. An exact release date hasn’t been set, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Mirror Edition is available to preorder now for $60 on PS5 and Xbox Series X. The Mirror Edition includes a physical copy of the hit RPG, an exclusive steelbook case, three collectible trading cards, and a tuckbox.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Editions at Amazon

We feel it’s obligatory to mention Little Nightmares 3 also has an Amazon-exclusive Mirror Edition that you can preorder now.

Clair Obscur’s Mirror Edition isn’t the only upcoming retailer-exclusive edition you can preorder. GameStop’s Lumiere Edition for PS5 will be rereleased on October 31. Exclusive to PS5, the Lumiere Edition costs $70 and includes a steelbook case, 48-page art book, and the Digital Deluxe Edition DLC outfits.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Mirror Edition

Sandfall Interactive’s debut game turned out to be a much bigger hit than anyone could have expected. In fact, it currently holds a 93 on Metacritic, which includes GameSpot’s 9/10 review, making it the best-reviewed original game of 2025. Technically, it’s behind the Switch 2 versions of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but those don’t really count.

Physical copies of Clair Obscur for PS5 and Xbox Series X sold out on launch day (April 24). Publisher Kepler Interactive struggled to keep up with demand, as the game remained sold out through May and into June. Stock for the $50 standard edition at Amazon finally seems to have stabilized for both consoles, but the game remains sold out at multiple retailers. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Amazon’s Mirror Edition sell out before launch.

Check out all four Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 physical editions below.

$60 | Amazon Exclusive

The Mirror Edition is only 10 bucks more than the standard edition–and 10 bucks less than GameStop’s Lumiere Edition. And unlike the Lumiere, the Amazon-exclusive Mirror Edition is available for both PS5 and Xbox Series X. Here’s what you’ll find inside the box:

  • Physical copy of base game
  • Exclusive Steelbook with Verso and Alicia character art
  • Mirror Edition Tuckbox
  • 3 collectable trading cards

There are 10 trading cards in all, so you’d need to buy at least four Mirror Editions–and likely more–to get all of the cards. Seems excessive, but you could buy the Mirror Edition for your friends as gifts this holiday season. Before you wrap the presents, make sure to remove the cards from the boxes.

$50 | In stock on August 22

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s physical edition sold out for PS5 and Xbox Series X shortly after the game launched on April 24. The $50 standard edition remained difficult to find for months on PS5 and Xbox Series X, but Amazon has copies for both platforms as of August 22.

Check stock at:

$70 | Reprint Preorder | Releases October 31

The GameStop-exclusive Lumiere Edition is only available for PS5 in the US. The upcoming reprint is slated to arrive October 31.

Like Amazon’s edition, this comes with an exclusive steelbook case. PlayStation 5 users need to decide if you’d prefer a mini art book plus in-game cosmetics or three illustrated trading cards plus an extra $10 in your pocket.

Here’s a look at everything included in the Lumiere Edition:

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 physical edition
  • Collectible Steelbook Case featuring Maelle, Gustave, and the Paintress
  • The Expeditioner’s Journal – 48-page hardcover art book
  • Digital Deluxe Upgrade Pack (in-game DLC)
    • The Flowers Collection – Six Flowers of Lumiere outfits and hairstyles / Six Gommage outfit variations
    • Custom “Clair” outfit for Maelle
    • Custom “Obscur” outfit for Gustave

$150 | Sold Out

SOLD OUT

Unlike the Limited Edition, the Collector’s Edition appears to be gone for good. The Collector’s Edition was also exclusive to PS5 and only at GameStop. Along with all of the bonus DLC from the Lumiere and Digital Deluxe Editions, here’s what’s included in the box:

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 base game
  • An 8-inch hand-painted Monolith music box
  • A collectible Steelbook case featuring unique cover art
  • The Expeditioner’s Journal 48-page hardcover artbook
  • The “Flowers” Collection DLC with unique cosmetic items
  • A “Clair” custom outfit for Maelle
  • An “Obscur” custom outfit for Gustave

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 PC Game Deals

PC players can get Steam keys for 10% off at GameSpot sister site Fanatical.

Clair Obscur is also available on Xbox and PC Game Pass. It’s an Xbox Play Anywhere title, so Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can carry their saves from PC to Xbox and vice-versa.

Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom.



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August 24, 2025 0 comments
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Former Switch console exclusive Triangle Strategy is now available on PS5 and Xbox
Game Reviews

Former Switch console exclusive Triangle Strategy is now available on PS5 and Xbox

by admin August 24, 2025


Square Enix has released its tactics RPG Triangle Strategy on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, following its release in 2022 on Switch and PC.

The game was the second to be developed in the HD-2D style, after Octopath Traveler. It features isometric grid-based combat, a political narrative depicting three warring kingdoms, and tasks players with making moral choices to shape the story.

Triangle Strategy is available on PlayStation and Xbox with a limited-time discount of 30 percent until 3rd September.

TRIANGLE STRATEGY | PS5 and Xbox Series X|S Announce TrailerWatch on YouTube

A VR version of the game is also available for Meta Quest headsets.

Triangle Strategy helped to popularise the HD-2D graphical style, that’s been used in the Octopath Traveler games, the Dragon Quest 3 remake, and forthcoming Switch game The Adventures of Elliot.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.



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August 24, 2025 0 comments
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Don't let an apathy towards trucks drive you away from American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 now they're heading to PS5 and Xbox
Game Reviews

Don’t let an apathy towards trucks drive you away from American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 now they’re heading to PS5 and Xbox

by admin August 23, 2025



If I had to make a list of the things in life I have absolutely no interest in, trucks would be pretty near the top. And yet, I am obsessed with developer SCS Software’s Truck Simulator series of games. And so, following the news both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 are at long last making their way to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, I’m here to convince you their soothing expanses of endless virtual highway might also be for you, even if you don’t know your backhaul from your bill of lading.


The downside to this whole not-being-into-trucks thing is, of course, that I’m a terrible guide through the series if you’re here for proper hobbyist reasons, so apologies in advance. For me, though, the appeal is not so much the allure of a Hopper Body and the promise of a lubricated Glad Hand, as it is the pure ASMR pleasures of hours spent in empty minded tranquility with naught for company but the swoosh of scenic vistas, the tick of an indicator, the quiet hum of an air-conditioned cabin, and the lulling rumble of rubber on road.


I’m being a little reductive, admittedly. Well, a lot actually. Even without delving deep into the Truck Simulator games’ more specialist particulars, there’s a lot to love. There’s the fundamental progression system that sees you doing odd jobs in loaned trucks and then scrambling up the XP tree to unlock new missions, or stockpiling enough cash that you’re able to buy your own truck, even start your own business with your own HQ. It’s not necessarily a particularly flashy package, but its basic structure is sound enough that it provides an additional layer of focus to your life on the open road. Chuck in the kind of cabin customisation that lets you scatter tatty souvenirs and pizza boxes around the place (honestly, I love this kind of nonsense), occasional community events, and a multiplayer mode enabling up to eight friends to form a convoy – a wonderfully, surprisingly hilarious recipe for chaos with the right (or wrong, depending on your perspective) people – and it’s brilliantly compelling, even if you don’t give a truck about trailers and the like.

ATS and ETS 2 are coming to consoles.Watch on YouTube


As for the different flavours of sim coming to Xbox and PlayStation, both – if you’re not already aware – are fundamentally the same experience, just with a very obvious change of scenery between them. Personally, I’m far more partial to the big skies and breathtaking wilderness of American Truck Simulator than its European counterpart (the sheer uncanny weirdness of ETS2’s deeply unconvincing UK expansion was a bit of a turn-off when I tried it a fair few years back), but your mileage – no pun intended – will almost certainly vary.


Unfortunately, SCS’ Truck Simulator console announcement is almost completely devoid of specifics, so pretty much all we can say with certainty right now is that ATS and ETS 2 are on the way. I’d assume both will be pretty close to their PC counterparts (minus, perhaps, extended peripheral support and mod availability), especially after all the work SCS has done to improve controller support and upgrade the interface over time. It will, though, be interesting to see how the studio handles the games’ years of paid cosmetic, truck, and map expansion DLC. A couple of free packs-ins to help consoles catch up? Starter bundles? Nothing of the sort? Time will reveal all.


So there you go; American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 are finally making their way to Xbox Series X/S and PS5. And if the thought of the open road and an endless shifting horizon stirs even the faintest twinge of latent yearning, you’d do well to lean in. You too might discover a love for a virtual four-wheeled life of adventure hitherto unknown.



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August 23, 2025 0 comments
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Microsoft’s Xbox handheld is a good first step toward a Windows gaming OS
Product Reviews

Microsoft’s Xbox handheld is a good first step toward a Windows gaming OS

by admin August 21, 2025


The first thing I did when I got my hands on the Xbox Ally was reboot it. I wanted to see exactly how Microsoft manages to hide Windows beneath the Xbox interface that’s debuting on these handheld devices.

After a short startup, I was met with the standard Windows login prompt. But I could use the controller to input the PIN code, an immediate improvement over what’s available right now. And as soon as Windows 11 loaded up, the interface immediately disappeared. The Xbox PC app took over and went full-screen — and for the most part, I didn’t have to leave.

I’ve spent enough time with Microsoft and Asus’ Xbox Ally devices this week to get a better understanding of how Windows and Xbox are moving closer together. Microsoft has created what it calls an Xbox full-screen experience for these new handheld devices, which essentially takes over for Windows and hides the OS away. It’s exactly what I’ve been wanting for Windows-powered handheld gaming PCs for years now, but it still feels like a small first step in a grand next-gen Xbox plan.

The Game Bar drives a lot of Microsoft’s Xbox full-screen experience.

The main interface on the Xbox Ally is similar to what can be found in the current Xbox app on Windows 11, Microsoft’s Steam competitor on PC. This app integrates with the Game Bar, Microsoft’s PC gaming overlay, to form this full-screen Xbox experience. Just like an Xbox console, you activate this Game Bar from a single tap of the Xbox button, and it’s what keeps you far away from the complexities of the Windows desktop hidden underneath.

Microsoft doesn’t load the desktop wallpaper, the taskbar, or a bunch of other processes that you don’t need for gaming. It’s essentially not loading the Explorer shell and saving around 2GB of memory by suppressing all the unnecessary parts of a typical Windows 11 installation. It’s surprisingly easy to get back to a regular Windows experience on these Xbox Ally devices, though.

You can exit out of the Xbox full-screen experience through the Game Bar or hold the Xbox button down to access the task switcher and a shortcut to the Windows desktop. Microsoft warns that you’re exiting to the Windows desktop and that you should use touch or a mouse and keyboard “for the best experience.”

The new Xbox task switcher lets you get to the Windows desktop quickly.

The Windows desktop experience is exactly the same as any regular handheld, and the Xbox team hasn’t done much additional work here to improve this side of the Xbox Ally. You’ll still have to use this part of the device to install and configure Windows apps like Discord and Steam, but once they’re up and running, you can mostly stay within the handheld-optimized confines of the Xbox full-screen experience. It’s easy to connect to Bluetooth devices or Wi-Fi networks here, and if all you’re doing is gaming, then Microsoft has nailed most of the basics, thanks to the widgets in the Game Bar.

Switching back and forth between Windows and Xbox modes is relatively quick, but after switching into the Windows desktop mode just once, you’ll need to fully reboot the device to regain the 2GB of allocated RAM. You also have the option to keep switching between both modes without those performance savings.

While the handheld-optimized Xbox UI on the Xbox Ally devices is a great improvement over what exists today, I still fear the complexity of Windows will creep through during daily use. This is still a Windows 11 device after all, which means there are OS updates and notifications from other apps or storefronts to install that might break the immersion.

For example, while the Xbox app takes over the left-hand swipe gesture to activate the Game Bar, the right-hand swipe still activates the Windows 11 notification center, which looks out of place in the Xbox UI. The Xbox team is working to improve this, but it highlights the challenges of trying to hide Windows beneath a console-like UI.

You can switch between the Xbox and Windows modes easily.

There’s also an interesting setting that suggests you’ll be able to set something other than the Xbox app as the default boot experience on the Xbox Ally devices, potentially opening the door for Steam or other launchers to become the home app here. Microsoft wouldn’t comment on what this setting is for just yet.

Due to my limited time with the Xbox Ally devices, it’s difficult to judge just how much switching between the Windows desktop and this full-screen Xbox experience you’d have to do on a daily basis. If you install Steam, then Microsoft brings any games you install from Valve’s store into the library interface of the Xbox app, making it a launcher for these PC games and keeping you in the handheld-friendly UI. But I did play some Gears of War: Reloaded on one of the demo units on the floor and noticed the game crash, leaving me with a broken game app window instead of a more gracious home screen like you see when games crash on an Xbox Series X console.

I also ran into a UI bug switching into the Windows desktop, which Microsoft assures me will be fixed by the time these devices ship on October 16th. Asus’ own devices on the Gamescom floor also had some weird bugs, including not being able to use the Xbox button at times. There’s clearly some work needed ahead of release.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to fully test how Windows standby and hibernation work with games on the Xbox Ally. I love the experience of turning my Xbox Series X off and then being able to immediately resume a game hours or days later, and Microsoft doesn’t have the equivalent of Quick Resume on Windows devices.

This experience feels like a first step in Microsoft’s plans for the next-gen Xbox, and seeing it in action makes it even clearer to me that Windows will be at the heart of the next Xbox console. Microsoft still has a tremendous amount of work ahead to blend all the best parts of Windows and Xbox together, but it’s about to ship some improvements that will hopefully lead to a gaming-optimized Windows operating system that spans across handhelds, consoles, and PCs.

  • Microsoft is finally improving Windows 11’s dark mode. Nearly a decade after a full dark mode was introduced in Windows 10, the latest preview build of Windows 11 now includes even more darkened UI elements. If you’re copying files or deleting them, these file operation dialogs will finally have a dark mode instead of light-themed prompt. Hopefully this signals that more dark mode improvements are coming with the 25H2 update to Windows 11 later this year.
  • Microsoft employee arrested at headquarters while protesting Israel contracts. Microsoft employee Anna Hattle, a software engineer in Microsoft’s cloud and AI team, has been arrested at the company’s headquarters during protests against Microsoft’s cloud contracts with Israel. Hattle’s arrest was part of 18 arrests by Redmond Police, including former Microsoft employees who joined the protest for a second day. The No Azure for Apartheid group continues to protest Microsoft’s cloud contracts with Israel, calling on the company to cut ties after reports emerged that the Israeli government uses Azure to power a surveillance network of Palestinian phone calls.
  • Microsoft hints at “more affordable” Xbox Cloud Gaming plan. Microsoft has dropped hints about a potential dedicated Xbox Cloud Gaming plan multiple times before, but it feels like we’re getting closer to an announcement. Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s VP of Next Generation, appeared on the company’s official Xbox podcast earlier this week and hinted that Microsoft wants to make its Xbox Cloud “much more affordable” and accessible to players. Microsoft is currently building a next-generation Xbox console and cloud network, so not having to buy Xbox Game Pass Ultimate just for cloud gaming access would certainly be a welcome move.
  • Microsoft Excel adds Copilot AI to help fill in spreadsheet cells. Microsoft has started testing a new AI-powered function in Excel that can automatically fill cells in spreadsheets. It’s similar to the feature that Google Sheets rolled out in June, and allows you to call up a “COPILOT” function to generate summaries, create tables, and more.
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is heading to Nintendo Switch 2. I’ve been patiently waiting for Microsoft’s first Switch 2 game, and at Gamescom this week, the company announced that it’s bringing Bethesda’s Indiana Jones to Nintendo’s latest console in 2026. It’s one of the first PC games to require ray tracing, so it’ll be interesting to see what Bethesda does with the Switch 2 port.
  • Windows 11 test brings AI file search to the Copilot app. Microsoft has started testing the ability to use AI to search through your files and images directly from the Copilot app on Windows 11. The test is rolling out to Windows Insiders on Copilot Plus PCs and allows you to use more descriptive language when conducting your search. Microsoft is also making it easier to jump into “guided help” sessions with Copilot Vision.
  • Microsoft Teams is getting a microphone volume indicator. I can’t be the only person who asks “Can you hear me?” on a Microsoft Teams meeting, but that might be a thing of the past soon. Microsoft is adding a volume indicator to Teams on macOS and Windows that makes it easy to see if your microphone is working. This new feature is currently in testing before it rolls out to Teams users in the coming months.
  • Microsoft’s AI chief wants to “build AI for people, not to be a person.” Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has written a blog post where he shares his concerns about AI models becoming too humanlike to the point where people will believe they are conscious entities. “My central worry is that many people will start to believe in the illusion of AIs as conscious entities so strongly that they’ll soon advocate for AI rights, model welfare and even AI citizenship,” says Suleyman. “This development will be a dangerous turn in AI progress and deserves our immediate attention.”
  • Microsoft and Asus’ new Xbox Ally handhelds launch on October 16th. We finally got a date for the new Xbox Ally handhelds this week: October 16th. Weirdly there was no price or preorders, though. That didn’t stop Best Buy from accidentally listing the Xbox Ally at $549.99 and the Xbox Ally X at $899.99. I do wonder if Asus and Microsoft can subsidize this hardware a little further to bring those price points down, and we’re going to find out if that’s possible in the coming weeks.
  • Xbox on PC is getting a highlights reel and Auto SR. Alongside the Xbox Ally release date announcement, Microsoft also revealed this week that it’s bringing Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR), which uses an NPU to upscale games, to the Xbox Ally X in early 2026. It will be joined by a new highlights reels feature that uses AI models to automatically capture gameplay moments and make them easily shareable with friends or on social networks.
  • Microsoft is improving the game shader experience on Windows. The DirectX team at Microsoft is working on a new “advanced shader delivery” system that’s designed to preload game shaders during download on the Xbox Ally devices. It’s launching on these handhelds first, to make games launch faster and run a lot smoother without stutters. It’s similar to Valve’s own efforts to improve the shader situation, and Microsoft says it will eventually expand this to more games and more devices over time.

I’m always keen to hear from readers, so please drop a comment here, or you can reach me at [email protected] if you want to discuss anything else. If you’ve heard about any of Microsoft’s secret projects, you can reach me via email at [email protected] or speak to me confidentially on the Signal messaging app, where I’m tomwarren.01. I’m also tomwarren on Telegram, if you’d prefer to chat there.

Thanks for subscribing to Notepad.

Photos by Tom Warren / The Verge

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August 21, 2025 0 comments
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The ROG Xbox Ally held in human hands.
Game Updates

Xbox PC Gaming Handheld Gets October Release Date But No Price

by admin August 21, 2025


Microsoft has officially announced the release date for its handheld gaming PCs, the ROG Xbox Ally and indeed the even more bemusingly named ROG Xbox Ally X. Both devices will be available on October 16, but maddeningly, we still don’t know a price. However, we have learned that the portable gaming machine is going to feature its own equivalent of Valve’s Steam Deck verification system.

Microsoft and ROG’s team-up is a sort of stop-gap attempt at a portable Xbox, a concept Microsoft has recently be touting in ambiguous terms. This crossover with the already popular ROG Ally Windows 11 machine sees the device rebranded with Xbox buttons and, more importantly, with a new UI that should make it reasonably simple to play your Game Pass, GOG, and Steam games on the subway.

Today, Microsoft has made its release date official, declaring that on October 16 we’ll be able to get hold of both models, with pre-orders due “in the coming weeks.” Despite this, we still don’t have a price for either model. However, rumors about the potential cost continue to appear—see below.

The current ROG Ally comes with an AMD Ryzen Z1 processor, and costs $650. However, the basic Xbox version will be a step up, featuring the brand-new Ryzen Z2 with “four Zen 2 cores with eight threads and eight RDNA 2 GPU cores,” which sure sounds like a lot of threads and cores. It’ll also have 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD (which isn’t close to enough–that’s like two Calls of Duty). Meanwhile, the Ally X will beef that up to an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, which as you can see both has AI and is extreme. It features “a new 8‑core/16‑thread Zen 5 APU with 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores and an integrated 50 TOPS NPU,” and let’s all pretend we know what that means and feel impressed. It also bumps the RAM up to 24GB, and offers a 1TB SSD for up to four Calls of Duty at a time.

Xbox Ally has its own improved take on “Steam Deck Verified”

When Valve’s Steam Deck released, the company attempted to create a system, called Steam Deck Verified, that’d let owners know if a game on Steam was likely to be able to run on the handheld. It’s been sort-of useful over the years, although too often compromised by some games getting “Verified” status despite requiring super-low settings. It’s less and less useful these days, but then the Steam Deck is aging out. Microsoft is attempting something similar for the ROG Xbox Ally, with a system called the Handheld Compatibility Program, which the company says will “optimize thousands of PC titles for handheld compatibility” to “ensure day-one users have the best experience possible.” The system’s labels will have two tiers, “Mostly Compatible” and “Handheld Optimized.”

“Handheld Optimized means that the game is ready to go—with default controller inputs, an intuitive text input method, accurate iconography, clear text legibility, and appropriate resolution in full-screen mode. Mostly Compatible means that the game may require minor in-game setting changes for an optimal experience on handheld.”

Another neat feature is that the device will preload shaders while you’re downloading a game, so you won’t have to sit through a minutes-long loading bar the first time you launch a game after you already thought it was ready. The AI is being used for upscaling antics, and for the more dubious-sounding “Highlight Reels,” where it’ll capture what it considers to be “standout gameplay moments” and create shareable clips. It’ll be fun to see what nonsense that generates.

Microsoft says they’ve already got Gears of War: Reloaded running on the new handheld, which is an impressive boast.

Price rumors are already out there

According to an IGN report, Microsoft says it can’t announce prices yet because of “macro-economic conditions,” which is a bold claim considering the release date is in less than two months. You might assume the devices are already built at this stage, so the cost is not going to surprise the corporation. Clearly implying that Trump’s tariff jazz is a factor, an ASUS rep told IGN, “I think we will have to…we need more time to figure the macro-economic impact to pricing, and that’s why we’ll be sharing more later, in September and October.”

Reliable leaker billbil-kun is claiming to have the figures, however, stating the regular ROG Xbox Ally will be $549.99, while the ROG Xbox Ally X will be a mighty $899.99.

🚨 PRICING ALERT 🚨

Here are the final prices of Xbox Handheld consoles in USD:

🔸 ROG Xbox Ally: 549.99 USD
🔹 ROG Xbox Ally X: 899.99 USD pic.twitter.com/8sz1DKGFY7

— billbil-kun (@billbil_kun) August 20, 2025

$550 does seem low for the basic version, given the current ROG Ally is $650 and runs on an older generation of tech. However, it’s possible that Microsoft could be eating a lot of the costs to get the handheld out there and competitive. The company is said to have never made a single cent from the sale of Xbox consoles, instead relying on software and subscription sales to make up for the losses. Given the ROG Xbox Ally will essentially be a portable Xbox store, it’s very possible the company will be looking to make its money through sales, and of course the Game Pass Premium subscriptions that’ll make the machine worthwhile. At the same time, serious PC players will recognize that 16GB RAM is at the very lowest end of what’s useful these days, so will be tempted to lean toward the far more expensive Ally X to get that 24GB RAM and its considerably faster innards.

Given Microsoft and ROG will want a decent runway for pre-orders ahead of release, it does seem slightly unlikely that we’ll not get an official price before October. Expect that to appear in a couple of weeks, I’d reckon.





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PlayStation 5 prices are going up, too, just like Xbox
Game Updates

PlayStation 5 prices are going up, too, just like Xbox

by admin August 21, 2025


The moment many feared would come following Xbox’s recent, wide-ranging price hikes of its consoles and games has arrived – Sony has officially announced that it’s raising the price of the PlayStation 5 console in the US.

The platform holder revealed the new prices on Wednesday, which go in effect today, August 21.


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All PlayStation 5 console models are going up by $50. Here are the new prices:

  • PlayStation 5 – $549.99.
  • PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – $499.99.
  • PlayStation 5 Pro – $749.99.

PlayStation, of course, technically had its own set of price hikes recently, having raised the price of the PS5 console in the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand just this past April. However, Sony has always been cautious not raise prices in the United States, as it’s the market where it has the biggest competition in Xbox.

In 2022, two years after this current generation of consoles launched, Sony raised the price of the PlayStation 5 in Canada, Mexico, UK, Europe, Australia, China, and Japan. The United States has always been spared when it came to these price hikes.

However, with Xbox now raising prices in the US, Sony has likely been emboldened to do the same – even if it took a while for it to get there.

It also doesn’t help that tariffs on goods imported from China and various other manufacturing centres in Asia, which the US has recently imposed, have themselves raised the cost of each unit. As it’s often the case, companies will then pass that added cost on to the consumer.

Imagine the idea of a more expensive PS5! | Image credit: VG247

Even though the tariffs imposed by the US government are meant to influence the country’s relationship with its trade partners, they’ve had wide-reaching effects beyond the borders of the United States. Japanese companies, for instance, had their stocks quickly tumble after the initial tariffs were announced in April, and Nintendo had to delay the Switch 2 pre-orders in the US and Canada very quickly after the console was announced.

Even setting aside the impact of tariffs, this is all highly unprecedented. Consoles typically go down in price the deeper into their respective generations they get. The idea that consoles, which launched five years ago, haven’t dropped in price, but have in fact became more expensive, does not bode well for the growth prospects of the industry.



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