Logitech’s excellent G915 TKL low-profile wireless mechanical gaming keyboard is 55% off at Amazon UK

The Logitech G915 Lightspeed TKL is a phenomenal gaming keyboard with low-profile mechanical switches, reliable Lightspeed wireless and a compact layout, yet Logitech normally ask well over £100 for it – and double that when it first launched! Today though, the G915 TKL Lightspeed is 55% off, dropping it to the more reasonable price of £99.

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Microsoft To Bring Four Xbox Exclusives To Other Consoles, But Won’t Name Them

Platforms also haven’t been confirmed.

After weeks of rumours, Xbox has finally confirmed that it will be bringing more Xbox exclusives to other consoles. What consoles, and what games, is anyone’s guess.

During today’s Official Xbox Podcast, the Head of Xbox and CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer confirmed that four titles that are currently exclusive to Xbox and PC will be coming to “other consoles”. Weirdly, the games haven’t been named, and Spencer is leaving it up to the developers behind those games to make the announcements.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Xbox’s Promise to Bring More Games to More Players Around the World

Xbox’s Promise to Bring More Games to More Players Around the World

Today, on a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast, we shared an update on plans to continue to bring more games to more people around the world, with the exciting news that the first Activision Blizzard game on Xbox Game Pass will be Diablo IV, beginning March 28.

Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty also shared the vision on game exclusivity, the future of Xbox hardware, and the overall Xbox promise. There’s a lot to talk about, so we encourage you to watch the full episode here:

With the combined creativity across Team Xbox, players can expect an incredible 2024 with the likes of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, Towerborne and more coming your way, alongside continued updates for our blockbuster franchises Call of Duty, Minecraft, Forza, The Elder Scrolls Online and Microsoft Flight Simulator.

There will be even more to play as we begin to fulfill our commitment to offer Activision and Blizzard games with Game Pass, both new releases and classic games from its legendary catalog. We’re happy to share that Diablo IV will be available to play by the 34 million Game Pass subscribers on both PC and Xbox consoles beginning March 28! 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.

Our combined studio teams already ship some of the biggest franchises and critically-acclaimed adventures across multiple platforms: Minecraft, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, The Elder Scrolls Online, and more have built communities across consoles, PC, and mobile. Likewise, Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda have brought dozens of games to Steam alongside Xbox consoles on launch day; the teams at Xbox have extensive experience supporting multiple platforms, while continuing to invest heavily in our studios, our consoles and services.

Indeed, our games are reaching more players than ever; across Activision, Bethesda, Blizzard, King, and Xbox Game Studios, we reach hundreds of millions of players across console, PC, and mobile.

To ensure long-term success for both Xbox and the industry as a whole, we must continue to evolve. Today we announced that we will expand the communities we reach: we are currently in the process of bringing four Xbox games to other platforms. These are titles which have been available to Xbox players for at least a year, including hidden gems that deserve to be experienced more widely, and live service games whose communities will benefit from welcoming even more players. We will share more details on these titles soon.

By bringing these games to more players, we not only expand the reach and impact of those titles, but this will allow us to invest in either future versions of these games, or elsewhere in our first-party portfolio. There is no fundamental change to our approach on exclusivity. 

Likewise, our commitment to game preservation is unwavering. Xbox players should have confidence in building your digital library in the Xbox ecosystem.  We will continue to reward that with the most robust, player-friendly experiences, including backwards compatibility, cross-play, cross-save progression, convenient cloud gaming, and more. Xbox consoles will continue to provide a flagship experience for players; it’s where you get the best value and convenience, it’s where Game Pass provides unprecedented access to an ever-evolving library of games. To be clear: Game Pass will continue to be only available on Xbox platforms. 

This is what it means to be part of Xbox:

  • The biggest games in the world will be on Xbox.  
  • Our games will come to Game Pass day one
  • A robust and innovative multi-year hardware roadmap
  • Compatibility with your library is a priority, inclusive of cross-play, cross-save, and robust cloud features.  
  • Xbox will continue to help game creators find the biggest audience possible.

Whether you’ve been with us since 2001, recently joined Game Pass to enjoy games like Starfield or Palworld, or are looking forward to the next season of Call of Duty, the creative teams at Xbox are stronger together – no matter where you play. Xbox will be around for decades to come – we hope you’ll join us on this journey.

The post Xbox’s Promise to Bring More Games to More Players Around the World appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Beat the Beats VR lets you groove like a boxing champ on PS VR2 February 27

Hello! I’m Josef, one of the creators of Beat the Beats VR, coming out February 27 on PlayStation VR2. It is a rhythm VR game you play with your fists and all about learning actual boxing moves like jab, dodge, and uppercut.

In this article I would like to share with you how the natural feeling boxing moves in our game came to fruition.

At Parallel Circles, we’re huge rhythm game fans. And VR? We love it. It immerses you like nothing else. I’ve always been captivated by the agility, coordination, and precision of boxers. So, blending these passions felt like a no-brainer. Thus, Beat the Beats VR was born.

Boxing greenhorn to boxing champion

Pulling off energetic boxing moves in real life takes years of training. But in Beat the Beats VR, we wanted players to feel like pros from the get-go. Jabs, hooks, uppercuts — they should all flow naturally. 

After lots of experimentation, we realized the traditional rhythm game approach didn’t quite fit boxing’s fluidity. So we switched it up. Instead of the “notes” (we call them beats) coming straight at you, they come from different directions in arcs challenging you to move exactly in the same way you would in a boxing fight.

You can’t help but make perfect jabs for beats from the front, hooks from the side, and uppercuts for ones coming from above.

Punching through the whole game

As soon as we nailed the boxing punches we brought other aspects of the sport into the game. You can also evade (called a “roll”) and block beats.

You can also unlock new levels/albums by punching them.

Mix all of the boxing action with some exhilarating music and you have a rhythm game that’s the best of both worlds: a fun experience for casual players and a full-throttle workout for the ones that want to go the extra mile.

We hope you have as much fun with our game as we had creating it. Maybe you’ll sweat as much as we did, too. Beat the Beats comes to PS VR2 on February 27!

Xbox Business Update Confirms Four Exclusives Going Multi-Platform, Reveals Diablo 4 Game Pass Date

Xbox revealed its “vision for the future” today in a podcast featuring executives Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty, who did their best to articulate the path forward for the platform amid reports of plans to embrace a third-party publishing strategy.

The business update confirmed that four games will be releasing on other platfoms, though Xbox did not provide additional details. It also revealed Xbox’s plans for Activision Blizzard games on Game Pass while teasing the “largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation” for its next console.

Here’s everything that was announced.

Xbox reveals its plans for PS5 and more.

The biggest news was Xbox’s confirmation that four games will indeed be going multi-platform. Spencer declined to name the games, saying only, “The teams that are building those games have announced plans that are not too far away. As we know, games teams put a lot of energy into their announcements and partners. So I don’t wanna take anything away from those teams, so I won’t be talking about the titles specifically, but I think when they come out, it’ll make sense.”

Asked whether Indiana Jones and Starfield will be among the games going multi-platform, Spencer said “they are not.” As for the four games that will be going multi-platform, The Verge reports that they will be Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded.

The Xbox Wire post reads, “To ensure long-term success for both Xbox and the industry as a whole, we must continue to evolve. Today we announced that we will expand the communities we reach: we are currently in the process of bringing four Xbox games to other platforms. These are titles which have been available to Xbox players for at least a year, including hidden gems that deserve to be experienced more widely, and live service games whose communities will benefit from welcoming even more players. We will share more details on these titles soon.

Diablo 4 is coming to Game Pass

The update also confirmed that Diablo 4 will be coming to Game Pass on March 28, with this being “only the beginning” for Activision Blizzard games on the service. Fans have been waiting for Activision Blizzard to arrive on Game Pass since the deal closed last year, with Spencer chalking up the delay to “regulatory challenges.”

Xbox also reaffirmed its commitment to the service, saying that “Game Pass will continue to only be available on Xbox platforms and will have all first-party games available on day one.”

Rumors have swirled concerning Xbox’s plans for more than a month now, with Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Pentiment, and Starfield all rumored to be heading to different platforms at various points. The reports ignited a debate around the value of exclusives within the gaming community as fans argued over the path forward for Xbox, which has lagged behind its competitors in terms of sales and releases this generation.

In a town hall meeting with Xbox employees, Spencer reaffirmed that Xbox would continue to make hardware going forward, seeking to alleviate concerns that Microsoft plans to get out of the console business altogether. Bond, meanwhile, reiterated Microsoft’s desire to “make every screen an Xbox.”

Stay tuned for more analysis of Xbox’s announcements at IGN, including a special episode of Podcast Unlocked and lots more.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

The Best ’90s Board Games to Play in 2024

The 90s was really the birthplace of the modern board game hobby. Yes, timeless artifacts such as Go, Mahjong, and even Cosmic Encounter pre-exist the post-Cold War decade, yet the groundswell of fresh titles with radical ideas really built the foundation for modern design principles. Germany was popping off with hits left and right, while the collectible card game format changed everything. Beyond the greats, there are several nearly forgotten releases that deserve recognition.

TL;DR The Best ’90s Board Games

Magic: the Gathering

Where else to start than with the game that started the collectable card craze and revolutionized games and game stores in the nineties? There was a time when almost every role-playing and board gaming club switched to playing Magic: the Gathering. And it’s easy to see why with the lure of finding powerful rare cards in hidden packs, planning a deck to construct around them and thrilling to the mix of random draw and strategic combinations during play. It’s a recipe that’s still almost as intoxicating today and the game remains in good health. With high prize money tournaments, online play, and regular expansions to collect there’s never been a better time to get involved.

Twilight Imperium

Many fans of Twilight Imperium would not even recognize its first edition. Fantasy Flight Games founder Christian Petersen brought his vision of a 4X board game to life way back in 1997. Flush with cardboard chits instead of plastic, the spirit of its later iterations was present in this inspired asymmetrical space conflict. Faction favorites such as the Jol-Nar and Emirates of Hacan were there right from the beginning, and the game was packed with an immense amount of setting. Its systems are slow and clunky by today’s standards, but this original release established a legacy that would prove the foundation for one of the strongest board game publishers of the early 2000s. The current fourth edition remains one of the most immersive and rich titles available.

Catan

Catan, known in the ’90s as Settlers of Catan, didn’t sweep the popularity stakes like Magic. Nor has it aged quite as well. But in many respects, it had as much — if not more — long-term influence on the gaming scene. Before Catan, almost all tabletop games were variations on war board games or dungeon crawling. But Catan’s mix of trading resources that players used to build a network of roads and settlements in an attempt to secure as much territory as possible showed us a whole new side to gaming. There was rich interaction without direct fighting or ganging up and rich strategy while still rolling a pair of dice and drawing random cards. It also introduced us to the novel paradigm of board games that existed in Germany, and gaming has never been the same since.

Robo Rally

Richard Garfield is known for more than just Magic: The Gathering. Robo Rally has players programming bots to dart around the factory in a ludicrous race. Each participant secretly chooses which cards they will play simultaneously. Then they are revealed and the robots start zipping around as chaos ensues. The goal is to pass through all of the checkpoints in order, which can prove more difficult than it initially appears. While many games would later nick Robo Rally’s programmed action approach, this was one of the first designs to lean into this creative and zany system. It still holds up and even just received a brand new reboot courtesy of Renegade Games.

Modern Art

Among the top designers who worked in German gaming, the most talented and prolific is Reiner Knizia. His oeuvre is so large that he’s worked on almost every genre but his particular love is for auction games, and his best auction game is Modern Art. Players take the role of dealers bidding to secure artworks based on five different methods of auction, from open bids to hidden values. But there’s a catch: your purchases will only be valuable if they’re popular: in other words, if other players are also collecting paintings by the same artist. This heady mixture of strategy and pointed satire on the art world is leant extra depth in the latest edition, which uses pieces by real-life artists.

Paths of Glory

This wargame arrived at the end of the decade with a splash. Boasting a harrowing playtime of up to eight hours, this beast attempts to simulate the entirety of the First World War. This is one of the early card driven games where players spend cards for flexible action points or to trigger specific narrative events. There is a fascinating element of deck manipulation as participants race to attain new cards, while also thinning their deck through playing events. This creates an interesting ecosystem of turnover that has subtle implications over the length of play. While some may criticize this design as being too complex, and there is a certain truth to the notion that Twilight Struggle later perfected this format, this is still quite the evocative experience that remains available through continual print runs over the years.

For Sale

You’ll rarely see so much game in such a small package as you will in For Sale. The game involves two decks of cards, one of real estate and the other of cheques, which are used in the two phases of play. In the first a selection of real estate cards is revealed each turn and the players bid on them using a limited supply of money. In the second, a selection of cheques is revealed and players secretly choose real estate from their hands to sell for those cheques, the most valuable getting the biggest payout. This simple game is a setup for endless agonising moments of not knowing whether you’re going to be outbid in an auction, or outclassed in the secret hunt for cheque payouts. It’s excitement all the way down to the wire, but is simple enough for kids to play and still rewards canny strategizing.

Blood Bowl

Adding this game here is a bit cheeky: you may have fond memories of the first edition of this crazy game of violent fantasy football, but the current edition is a complete redesign. The good news is that it’s even better: leaner, better looking and more strategic while still being just as crazy and just as violent. The Warhammer-esque underpinnings have been jettisoned in favor of a whole new game concept where your turn ends when you fail an action. That leaves every choice teetering on the precipice of risk and reward as you struggle to decide whether it’s worth prioritizing a dangerous action to advance your game plan. Plus, the old cardboard standees have been replaced with super-detailed plastic miniatures that look amazing on your tabletop.

Tichu

If Tichu didn’t require exactly four to play, it would have conquered the world. It’s not much to look at, essentially a rebranded deck of standard playing cards with four special extras, but there’s a reason for that. It’s actually a tweaked, commercialized version of a family of playing card games widely played in China. You play with a partner and the idea is to try and clear your hand by laying out a higher-value Poker style card combo than is currently on the table. But this basic formula is full of fascinating wrinkles because it’s rarely clear when it’s worth splitting a combo in your hand just to take what’s on the table, especially given the partner element. There’s also a pivotal bidding aspect because calling “Tichu” — betting you’ll be first to empty your hand — is where the bulk of points are won. Accessible, engaging and scarily addictive, Tichu deserves a much wider audience.

High Society

Given this is the second Reiner Knizia auction game on the list you may gather that the good doctor (he’s got a PhD in mathematics) is keen on the mechanic and good at delivering it. This is the lightest and fastest of the three (see one more below) but it still delivers thrills, spills and biting social commentary. Each round is a sequence of bids on some fancy item that indicates you’re part of monied culture. But while your cash reserves range from small to high value, you can’t get change: you’re forced to choose between creeping up your bid or risking being left with only high-value notes to fritter on paltry wins. The other twist is that some cards are negative; for these, bidding works in reverse, with the first player to pass “winning” and everyone else throwing away their cash. You’ve got to keep up with your social circle by spending vast sums on trifles without beggaring yourself, a point of view that’s as fun to play as it is alienating to observe in reality.

El Grande

Of all the games published in the ‘90s, El Grande is perhaps the most enduring and the one that still feels freshest and most relevant today. Which makes it surprising that it hasn’t seen a reprint and remains expensive on the second-hand market. The secret of its success is posing players with a series of circular, but interactive, conundrums to solve as they seek to maximise influence on a map of Spain. You can go early or gain more influence to spend, not both. You can take a powerful action, or you can put lots of influence on the board, not both. And of course you can’t possibly have the majority in all the regions of the board, you’ve got to pick and choose your battles. It’s so well done and pushes so many gaming buttons that it remains thrillingly playable 25 years after it was released.

Ra

Now, we come to another Reiner Knizia classic involving auctions. In Ra, you’re bidding on the history of ancient Egypt. Not in terms of artefacts but the far more abstract concepts of events, monuments, pharaohs and the like. Each type of tile has its own convoluted scoring mechanic, so you want to collect — or avoid — certain combinations. On your turn, you either add a tile to the stack available or start an auction, but currency in Ra is very limited and the winning amount becomes part of the next lot for auction. This makes every tile draw and every bid an excruciating elevator of excitement as you try and force players to bid on tiles they’d prefer to avoid while not getting caught in that trap yourself. This is back in print with a deluxe new edition that is gorgeous to behold.

V Rising’s 1.0 changes to PvP, endgame and armour detailed ahead of spring release

V Rising remains on track to reach 1.0 in the second quarter of this year, in what finance people call Q2 but I like to call Aprilmayjune. The latest developer blog post goes into detail on some of the new features coming for the full release and in particular its changes to PvP, higher tier weapon and armour, and vampire fashion.

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Guide: 77 Switch Games To Pick Up In Nintendo’s ‘Play On Sale’ (UK)

Everything we’ve scored 9/10 or higher.

What’s that? Another Switch eShop sale, you say? Oh why not, let’s have it.

Yes, Nintendo’s back with another sale, and this time it’s knocking off up to 70% from a whole bunch of eShop games (though we’ve spotted quite a few higher discounts) . Dubbed the ‘Play On Sale’, it’ll last until 25 February, 2024, so you’ve only got ten days at the time of writing to make the most of some awesome bargains.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

EA Play: Light It Up This Month in Madden NFL 24 – Now on the Play List

Football fans: get ready to hit the gridiron!

Madden NFL 24, the latest entry in the successful Madden NFL series, is now available on the Play List for all EA Play members! PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can start their season today with EA Play at no extra cost.

In Madden NFL 24, players can experience new gameplay depth that delivers more control and realism through the next evolution of FieldSENSE, and the debut of SAPIEN Technology which makes characters more human and anatomically correct.

To celebrate the addition of Madden NFL 24 to the Play List, EA Play members are getting rewarded with the Madden NFL 24 Supercharge Pack, which allows players to boost their Ultimate Team right from the start of the season. Redeemable now until March 8, the Supercharge Pack is being granted to players on top of February’s MUT Pack. Both packs come as part of EA Play’s member rewards, which regularly grant members in-game bonuses.

Members can score these packs and several more rewards this month, including:

EA Play Rewards February Image
  • Apex Legends BonanzaWeapon Charm – Now to March 4
  • Battlefield 2042 Ice Pick Weapon Skin – Now to February 27
  • EA SPORTS FC 24 Clubs 90s Retro Right Hand Tattoo – Now to March 14
  • EA SPORTS FC 24 VOLTA 90s Retro Black Cap and COINS – Now to March 14
  • EA SPORTS FC 24 Ultimate Team Draft Token – Now to March 14
  • F1 23 5000 XP Boost – Now to February 29
  • Madden NFL 24 MUT February Pack – Now to February 29
  • Madden NFL 24 Supercharge Pack – Now to March 8
  • WRC Season3 Rewards – Now to April 8
  • NHL 24 Biosuit Set – Now to March 27
  • NHL 24 WOC Coins – Now to March 27
  • NHL 2 WOC Battle Pass XP Modifier – Now to March 27

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Game Pass PC members receive EA Play at no additional cost with their Game Pass subscription. Members enjoy great player benefits, including in-game challenges and rewards, special member-only content, trials of select brand-new titles like EA SPORTS FC 24, Super Mega Baseball 4 and EA SPORTS F1 23, access to a collection of EA’s best-loved series and top titles, and 10% off purchases of Electronic Arts digital content.

Visit the EA Play page for more details, and to stay up to date on the latest from EA Play, follow EA Play on, Instagram, or X. Please see EA.com/EA-Play/Terms for terms and conditions.

The post EA Play: Light It Up This Month in Madden NFL 24 – Now on the Play List appeared first on Xbox Wire.