Xbox Fans Will Either Love Or Hate February 15

Fans of cozy games like Stardew Valleyshould keep an eye on the upcoming crafting survival game Outbound. The game was developed by Square Glade Studios, a small indie studio run by only two developers. Outbound, the studio's latest project, is a cozy survival game based in a colorful open world where players live out of their van.

Microsoft has announced the next wave of titles headed to Xbox Game Pass, which are set to be added to the subscription service over the tail end of February.

Following comments from Xbox boss Phil Spencer over how he's unsure who's helped by Helldivers 2 not launching on Microsoft consoles, Xbox fans have set up a petition directed at PlayStation to try and convince them to bring the co-op shooter to Xbox Series X|S. Close to 23,000 signatures have been garnered so far, with the petition saying it «heralds the arrival of a beloved franchise on new platforms» and «signifies a potential turning point in the ongoing console wars».

Microsoft will bring four first-party titles to PS5, but it’s refusing to name which. Said titles will not include Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which will remain exclusive to Xbox and PC, until circumstances change. Xbox bigwig Phil Spencer, however, has seen the success of Helldivers 2 – and is struggling to see the advantage of the PlayStation-published shooter not being available on Xbox.

The Until Dawn movie cast is being speculated by fans of the video game franchise, who believe Jessica Riley actress Meaghan Martin hinted at a return for more than just the PlayStation 5 remaster.

In a special Valentine's Day edition of Building Azeroth, Cinematic Narrative Director Terran Gregory and Real-Time Content Cinematic Director Sarah Delahanty detail the technical challenges of portraying the first on-screen kiss in Warcraft history! As part of the Dragonflight story epilogue in Patch 10.2.5, we saw the highly anticipated return of Malfurion Stormrage, reuniting with his long-time love Tyrande Whisperwind and adopted daughter Shandris Feathermoon in their new home at the foot of Amirdrassil. For the first time in Warcraft history, the homecoming is punctuated by an on-screen kiss between reunited lovers. Portraying this embrace in-game is more technically challenging than the simplicity of the act itself, however.

An established insider has hinted that Nintendo's next Direct will happen next week and will be a Partner Showcase rather than a traditional Direct, and has also claimed to reveal one of the games that will be showcased during the presentation. The news comes after previous rumors that Nintendo's next Direct would happen earlier this week.

Microsoft shared new details about its plans for Xbox hardware, teasing the next generation of Xbox consoles and providing updates about its gaming business in a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast Thursday. While the company confirmed that four Xbox-exclusive games would launch on PS5 and Nintendo Switch, it reiterated its commitment to developing Xbox hardware and exclusives titles on the platform. In the podcast, Xbox president Sarah Bond said that Microsoft was focussed on delivering the “largest technical leap” for a new console generation for the next Xbox.

The last 10-days-or-so have been quite the roller coaster for Xbox fans. Team Green was thrown into turmoil earlier this month by rumors that everything from Starfield, to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, to even Gears of War may be going multiplatform. Granted, some of those rumors were later walked back, but still, the spectre of a third-party future for Xbox was raised.

With Activision Blizzard now officially part of Xbox, it was obviously going to be only a matter of time before its games started appearing on Game Pass. That process is set to kick off on March 28, with Diablo 4 being the first game to join the service– but though the action RPG is joining the service’s catalog, it turns out not all subscribers are going to be able to dive in.

If it weren’t enough that Microsoft detailed its plans for bringing first-party titles to other platforms (which doesn’t include Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle), it also discussed its next-gen hardware. Xbox president Sarah Bond promised the “largest technical leap” in a hardware generation.

Today's highly anticipated Xbox Podcast brought plenty of news when it comes to Microsoft's plans for hardware and multiplatform game releases, and it also brought confirmation that we're still getting an Xbox Showcase in June even after the death of E3.