Xbox Insider Release Notes – Alpha (2404.240314-2000)

Hey Xbox Insiders! We have a new Xbox Update Preview releasing to the Alpha ring today.

It’s important we note that some updates made to these preview OS builds include background improvements that ensure a quality and stable build for Xbox consoles. We will continue to post these release notes, even when the noticeable changes to the UI are minimal or behind the scenes, so you’re aware when updates are coming to your device.

Details can be found below!

Xbox Insider Release Notes

System Update Details

  • OS Version: XB_FLT_2404ZN25398.4026.240314-2000
  • Available: 2 p.m. PT – March 18, 2024
  • Mandatory: 3 a.m. PT – March 19, 2024

Fixes Included

Thanks to all the great feedback Xbox Insiders provide and the hard work of Xbox engineers, we are happy to announce the following fixes have been implemented with this build:

System

Known Issues

While known issues may have been listed in previous Xbox Insider Release Notes, they are not being ignored! However, it may take Xbox engineers more time to find a solution. If you experience any of these issues, we ask that you please follow any guidance provided and file feedback with Report a Problem.

Audio

  • Some users have reported experiencing intermittent audio issues across the dashboard, games, and apps.
    • Troubleshooting: If you do experience issues, please confirm your TV and all other equipment have the latest firmware installed. If you are unsure, you may need to contact the manufacturer for assistance. You can also find additional troubleshooting tips here: Troubleshoot audio on your Xbox console.
    • Feedback: If you continue to experience issues after applying the latest firmware and troubleshooting further, please submit feedback via Report a Problem when you are experiencing the issue. Use the “Reproduce with advanced diagnostics” option, then select the category “Console experiences” and “Console Audio Output Issues”.
      • Note: Be sure to include as much information as possible about the issue, when it started, your setup, troubleshooting you have completed, and any additional information that will help us reproduce the issue.

Networking

  • We are investigating reports of an issue where the console may not connect to the network immediately on boot. If you experience this, be sure to report the issue via Report a Problem as soon as you’re able.
    • Workaround: Wait a minute or two for the connection to establish. If your console still hasn’t connected, restart your Xbox from the Power Center or the guide then file feedback with Report a Problem. Learn more about restarting here: How to restart or power cycle your Xbox console.

As always, be sure to use Report a problem to keep us informed of any issues you encounter. We may not be able to respond to everyone, but the data we’ll gather is crucial to finding a resolution.

What Happens to Your Feedback

If you’re an Xbox Insider looking for support, please visit the community subreddit. Official Xbox staff, moderators, and fellow Xbox Insiders are there to help with your concerns.

When posting to the subreddit, please look through the most recent posts to see if your issue has already been posted or addressed. We always recommend adding to existing threads with the same issue before posting a new one. This helps us support you the best we can! Also, don’t forget to use “Report a Problem” before posting – the information shared in both places helps us understand your issue better.

Thank you to every Xbox Insider in the subreddit today and welcome to the community if you’re just joining us! We love that it has become such a friendly and community-driven hub of conversation and support.

For more information regarding the Xbox Insider Program follow us on Twitter. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information regarding your Xbox Update Preview ring!

The post Xbox Insider Release Notes – Alpha (2404.240314-2000) appeared first on Xbox Wire.

PSA: Dragon’s Dogma 2 Spoilers Have Leaked Online

Capcom’s highly anticipated role-playing game Dragon’s Dogma 2 launches March 22, 2024 but spoilers have already leaked online.

As reported by Eurogamer, the now fairly common occurence of major games leaking before their release date has happened again with Dragon’s Dogma 2, where players have seemingly received physical copies ahead of launch.

Regardless of how they obtained the copies, these players have streamed them online, uploaded videos to YouTube, and shared clips and other content on social media. While Capcom has issued takedown notices for some of these, the nature of the internet means they’ve already spread like wildfire.

Those looking forward to the RPG may therefore want to mute keywords on X/Twitter and avoid online discourse surrounding Dragon’s Dogma 2 for fear of spoiling the game too early. We won’t share what information has leaked online for obvious reasons, but it goes without saying myriad story details have surfaced.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes place in a parallel universe which “mirrors the world setting of the original game”. Players can explore the human kingdom of Vermund and the beastren kingdom of Battahl and ultimately take on a big evil dragon.

The myriad non-player characters of Dragon’s Dogma 2 also appear endlessly complex, as beyond some pawns being completely customisable as mentioned, NPCs can form different bonds with the player character and may even fight each other for the player’s love.

Those looking to kill time until it comes out proper can check out the game’s character creator, which Capcom released early. Players have used it to make some incredible recreations of other iconic characters (and some absolute monsters), with all data transferrable to the main game.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

The Axis Unseen channels years of Skyrim design experience into a spooky, open world hunting game

A heaving expo floor is not a great place to sample a first-person open world hunting game that wants you to monitor your own heartbeat, but The Axis Unseen manages to be pretty atmospheric regardless. It helps that I’m hunting Bigfoot. Hefting my magical bow, I peer around a tree trunk at the creature as he wanders down a slope of vivid orange grass sprinkled with pale blue rock. I only have a couple of arrows in my quiver, which doesn’t feel like nearly enough, so I edge across the hillside to another tree trunk, where I can hopefully line up a headshot.

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One of the Fastest 2TB PCI-E 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSDs for PS5 or PC Is On Sale Today

Amazon is currently offering the 2TB SK Hynix P41 Platinum PCIe 4.0 NVME solid state drive (SSD) for only $139.99 shipped. That’s one of the best prices we’ve seen for a 2TB PS5-compatible SSD from a reputable brand. It also happens to be one of the fastest PCI-E 4.0 SSDs on the market right now. This is an outstanding candidate for your PS5 or gaming PC rig.

SK Hynix P41 Platinum 2TB M.2 SSD for $139.99

SK Hynix might not be a brand that the consumer recognizes as much as Samsung or Western Digital, but make no mistake that they are a major player in the flash memory market. SK Hynix is a South Korean DRAM manufacturer and is the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker and the world’s third-largest semiconductor company. They supply components for brands you’ve heard of, like Corsair and G.Skill.

The Platinum P41 is SK Hynix’s highest end SSD. It boasts sustained read speeds of 7,000MB/s and sustained write speeds of 6,500MB/s. It also boasts random read speeds of 1.4 million IOPS and random write speeds of 1.3 million IOPS. In terms of reliability and stability, the SSDs have been tested and validated through 1,000 hours of stress testing with MTBF reaching 1.5 million hours or up to 1,200TB written. SK Hynix backs it all up with a 5 year warranty. Unlike most other SSDs, both the chips and the controller are manufactured in-house. The P41 Platinum uses an Aries controller with 176-layer TLC NAND flash chips.

Of course, in terms of real world performance, the vast majority of users won’t be able to tell apart the speeds between the highest end PCI-E 4.0 SSDs. Some of these SSDs include the SK Hynix P41 Platinum, the Samsung 990 Pro, and the WD Black SN850X. Therefore, it all comes down to the price. At its current price point, the P41 Platinum isn’t just one of the fastest drives on the market, it’s also cheaper than any competitor that can come close to its performance.

A great PS5 SSD, but you’ll need to get a heatsink

The SK Hynix P41 Platinum does not come equipped with a heatsink. That’s because this SSD is catered to PC gamers looking to add storage to their desktop computer. Many motherboards come equipped with built-in SSD coolers and will only accept bare SSDs. It’s generally harder to remove a heatsink than to apply a new one. If you plan to use this for your PS5, rest assured that’ it is 100% compatible (in fact, it’s overkill). Although some people have gotten away with an SSD with no heatsink, we recommend you install one for peace of mind. You can easily get a PS5 heatsink for under $10.

To understand the future of generative AI, we need better language to describe it

If you’ve ever tried to play a hardcore RPG that’s way above your brain’s pay grade, or got lost in tutorials that use complicated words and bizarre jargon, then you’ve probably felt right at home reading headlines about AI recently. Why are people angry that this character has seven fingers? Why does Nvidia want me to talk to a robot about ramen? Why is everyone saying AI is smart when it still can’t manage its Classical Era luxury resource economy in Civilization properly? In this new series, we’re going to explore what ‘generative AI’ is, why it’s arrived now in the games industry, and what it might mean for people who make, write about and play games in the future.

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Random: Nintendo Puts Out Another Tasty Splatoon 3 Music Video

We’re so back.

It’s been a hot minute since we last saw a music video from the talented musicians of Splatsville, but now Nintendo has released a new piece titled ‘We’re So Back’ from Splatoon 3, and it’s a doozy.

Well, it’s a doozy if you’re into this sort of thing. For everybody else, it could well be two and a half minutes of pure confusion. Any and all reactions are perfectly valid! Either way, it’s a pretty cool little comeback for Pearl and Marina, who mostly featured in Splatoon 2 before being largely replaced by the band ‘Deep Cut’ in the third entry.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Nurture A Brave New World in Lightyear Frontier, Coming to Xbox Game Pass on March 19

Summary

  • Create a sustainable exofarm on a mysterious new world, filled with mysteries to uncover
  • Join up to three friends online and work together to clean up the planet by taking care of the environment
  • Lightyear Frontier launches into Early Access for Xbox Series X|S, PC, and via Game Pass March 19

Explore a strange new planet, pilot and customize your very own mech suit and work with up to three friends online to clean up and create a sustainable environment in Lightyear Frontier, out in Early Access March 19 on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and via Game Pass.

Take a new direction in the farming-sim genre, as Lightyear Frontier sends players beyond the stars to a beautiful planet, where the goal is not to destroy or conquer but to nurture and cultivate a homestead for you and your friends. Embark in your mech and live in harmony with the world’s wondrous nature, as you help restore the planet to its natural beauty.

Find The Mech, Save The World

Where many games invite players to alien worlds to battle waves of monsters or save the universe from an intergalactic threat, Lightyear Frontier brings fresh ideas to the table. Instead of embarking on a path of destruction, players will work to help cultivate this forgotten land, managing their relationship with the ecosystem as they create a sustainable, healthy environment for themselves and all the wildlife that roams the planet.

Pollution has taken over the world, causing environmental hazards and challenges for players to overcome. With your trusty mech, it’s up to you and up to three of your friends to clean up the hazards that have soiled this world. Use your hose tool to power wash devastating pollution or equip your trusty hose to clean up noxious weeds to unlock new areas and uncover the past of this world.

By restoring regions of the planet, the landscape will blossom with vegetation, as once barren locations return to life with grass, plants and wildlife. Players can explore these beautiful new vistas to secure new materials and build the farmstead of their dreams, giving you an extra incentive to bring the planet back to its former glory.

Work Together, Live Together

All this work can be tough for one exofarmer, which is why Lightyear Frontier allows up to four players to explore together online, with full cross play. Journey out with your friends to help manage your relationship with the ecosystem and create a sustainable, living space for not only you but the plants and wildlife that inhabit each region.

Using the materials you find, create the dream exofarm for you and your friends, as you each pilot your very own customisable mech to help build a fully-fledged, retro-futuristic farm space. As you all gather new materials, you can perform as a team to build your living space further and unlock new upgrades to help in your journey of saving the planet.

Work together to cultivate and harvest crops, or even assign daily duties on your farm as a group to help jobs pass with ease. Have one player plant new seeds whilst the other waters crops, and even send the rest of your team out on expeditions to excavate new resources to aid in your mission to create a sustainable world.

Give Back What You Take

While other farming simulation games will have you take from the world and not give back, Lightyear Frontier promotes keeping the world nurtured and alive. As you harvest resources from the land to aid your journey be sure to keep replenishing the supply to ensure the planet can remain self-sufficient.

For every tree you cut down, help nurture the planet by replanting what you’ve taken. You can even plant trees much closer to your farmstead to make future gatherings easier for your group. There are many unique interactions to uncover, including feeding animals to help replenish supplies faster, such as aluminium deposits to help build you and your friend’s farm.

With the peculiar pollution overtaking regions of the planet, you can also use the additional mech power of your friends to quickly hose down purple goo damaging the environment and achieve your goal together of reforming the planet. Lightyear Frontier not only works as a solo experience of keeping the planet green but is even better when you tackle the adventure together with your friends.

The Journey Is Just Beginning

The Early Access release of Lightyear Frontier on Xbox Series X|S and PC is only the beginning. As development continues toward the game’s full launch, new updates, unfurling mysteries and ways to interact with the world will keep you coming back for more. Nurturing the planet is only the first step in your journey, with many new adventures on the horizon.

Xbox Live

Lightyear Frontier (Game Preview) Pre-Order Bundle

FRAME BREAK, Amplifier Studios


7


$24.99

$22.49

This game is a work in progress. It may or may not change over time or release as a final product. Purchase only if you are comfortable with the current state of the unfinished game.

Start your interstellar homestead in this peaceful open-world farming adventure!
Build your sustainable exofarm, grow alien crops, customize your mech, and explore a new world full of mystery with up to three friends!

RELAX ON A PEACEFUL WORLD
Live the quiet life as you take in the sights and sounds of your new home. Enjoy a low-stress, combat-free experience without the need to manage things like thirst and hunger. Just focus on farming, exploration, and discovery!
Relax to a chill, atmospheric cosmic country soundtrack

PILOT AND UPGRADE YOUR MECH
Farm, build, and explore in a customizable mech! Choose from an array of tools, unlock new upgrades, and personalize your mech with an assortment of paint choices and mech parts.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Carefully manage your relationship with the ecosystem, restoring the surrounding regions by cleaning up the mysterious pollution, clearing out invasive weeds, and mitigating the effects of hazards. Plant new trees to replace the ones you harvest, and ensure a sustainable homestead!

PLANT, GROW, HARVEST
Get your new life started by sowing a diverse harvest! Collect seeds of numerous plants as you explore the planet, growing them into fully-fledged harvests. Care for your fields by watering them consistently while enhancing their growth with fertilizer. Trade the harvested crops for credits or turn them into materials for buildings and upgrades.

CREATE YOUR NEW HOME
Create the exofarm of your dreams as you turn resources into buildings! Grow your presence as you expand your homestead from basic structures to a fully-fledged, retro-futuristic farm. Make your place your own with alternative color palettes and decorations.

EXPLORE A PLANET WITH A PAST
Venture out into the wilderness to discover this new world’s ancient secrets. Team up with your friendly scanner satellite to decipher clues spread across the planet’s varied environments and uncover lost knowledge.

FARM AND EXPLORE ALONE OR AS A GROUP
While your mech can handle anything the world throws at you, feel free to invite up to three friends to join you on this journey of settling and exploration! Pool your resources to create the perfect exofarm, and share the rewarding feeling of a good harvest with your pals!

The post Nurture A Brave New World in Lightyear Frontier, Coming to Xbox Game Pass on March 19 appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Official Fallout-Themed Xbox Series X Comes With Its Own Vault

Microsoft has created another custom Xbox Series X, this time theming after Fallout in celebration of the upcoming Amazon show.

Revealed in a post on X/Twitter, below, the console will be given away to one lucky fan who follows Xbox and retweets the post. The prize includes more than just the custom Xbox Series X, however, as it also bundles in a controller (which can actually be bought) and a custom vault to keep the hardware in.

This is a seemingly working safe with various bits of Fallout branding on it. It’s marked as Vault 33, which is the same bunker where the Fallout TV show’s protagonist comes from. Interestingly, it also has “Fort Knox” written on it, which is only mentioned in Bethesda’s game universe in Fallout 76.

The entire first season of Fallout hits Amazon Prime Video on April 11, 2024 and is set to be a “non interactive version” of Fallout 5 according to showrunner Jonathan Nolan. That being said, the lead on the Fallout video game series, Todd Howard, said he told writers what elements they couldn’t use because they actually will be in Fallout 5.

This isn’t the first custom console or controller Xbox has created. Last week, Microsoft revealed a bizarre Final Fantasy 14 Xbox Series X that doesn’t actually work. Earlier in February it revealed a Dune: Part 2 special edition with a floating gamepad. Other Xbox Series X and S generation highlights include red and blue fluffy Sonic the Hedgehog gamepads, one made out of actual Jade, and even an edible gamepad.

Its more regular line of controllers include the sexy Gold Shadow, cosmic Stellar Shift, dusty Stormcloud Vapor, and even an Earth Day one made partly from recycled CDs, water jugs, and other Xbox controller parts.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Zenless Zone Zero’s next closed beta is coming, along with new gunner character and their shape-shifting pistol

HoYoverse have announced that sign-ups for Zenless Zone Zero‘s next closed beta test are now available. While the start and end dates of the next closed beta haven’t been unveiled just yet, we do know that there’s going to be a new character to play, a new faction, new missions, and overhauls to the game’s combat and exploration. I’d imagine it’s worth a look if you’re into Genshin Impact, or are into your anime fights. Either one will suffice.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox Finally Caught Up on Recent Updates, Cross-Saves Should Now Work

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has issued hotfix 22 across PC, PlayStation 5, Mac, and, crucially, Xbox, bringing players on Microsoft’s console up to date.

The sprawling Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game had lagged behind by a number of hotfixes on Xbox Series X and S as a result of an Xbox exclusive crash bug, but now with the release of hotfix 22, Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox has hotfixes 20 and 21, too.

Alongside this release, issues with Xbox cross-saves should now be resolved, Larian said. “Thank you again for your patience while we worked to fix the issue, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience it may have caused,” the developer added.

Hotfix #22, meanwhile, resolves further crashes and blockers, and, as Larian put it, makes Minthara “pinky promise to stop repeating her thoughts about Gale in Act III.” What’s that about? As Larian explained in the patch notes: “We’ve also fixed an issue where a legacy dialogue flow had been enabled unintentionally while carrying out fixes for Minthara, which meant that some players had been able to view dialogue where Minthara would seemingly end a relationship with Dark Urge players if they had resisted their urges and made a certain choice in Act III.”

Baldur’s Gate 3 Hotfix 22 patch notes:

CRASHES AND BLOCKERS

  • Fixed a crash caused by the game trying to access the duration of a condition on a character with no conditions set.
  • Fixed conditions sometimes trying to get their duration from the source entity instead of the target entity.
  • Fixed some potential internal crashes on Xbox when suspending the game (e.g. when suspending the console or loading another game), causing it to reboot when you went back to it.

UI

  • Improved the messaging for syncing and cross-saving by indicating when a cross-save sync has failed and adding an option to try again. Also prevented the saving and cross-saving messages from appearing for secondary local players.
  • Voice chat will no longer overlap the minimap on split-screen.
  • Fixed the ‘Another Player Is Joining’ pop-up not triggering while the host has a panel open on Xbox, potentially preventing the client from joining.

SCRIPTING

  • Fixed an issue where legacy dialogue had been enabled unintentionally as part of another line of fixes, in which Minthara would seemingly end a relationship with Dark Urge players who had rejected Bhaal.
  • Made Minthara promise to stop repeating her thoughts about Gale in Act III.
  • Fixed a bug causing you to get perpetually stuck in a dangerous area if you triggered hostilities in the Emerald Grove and then left while it was still a dangerous area.
  • Fixed a rare issue where dialogues would end suddenly when you went to kiss your romantic partner.
  • Fixed a bug causing you to get stuck in combat with the enemies on top of Moonrise Towers if you found a way to sneak into the Mind Flayer Colony.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.