Hey, Xbox Wire readers! Fred Hoffman here, the better of the two brothers behind
Newfangled Games. I can hardly believe it, but we’re releasing Paper Trail on Xbox One and Xbox Series on May 21. If that sounds too far away for you, then I’ve got good news – we’ve got a shiny new demo available right now! It’s only available from now until our May 21 launch, so make sure you get it whilst you can!
A charming world of crafty puzzles awaits: grab and fold the fabric of reality like paper, and embark on a magical journey like no other! You play as Paige, a budding academic and the first of her family to be accepted into university. The problem? Your parents don’t want you to go. Using your secret origami powers (that’s totally a thing), you leave the confines of home to make your own way in the world.
Contained within the game, is a whole interactive storybook. As you travel further from your home, fragments of memory return and must be pieced together, weaving together the stories of your past, present and future. We won’t go too far into spoilers here, but it’s a story which is personal to us – and one we believe a lot of people will relate to.
Your adventure takes you through many beautiful hand painted locations, from sun drenched ruins, to rain swept forests. Each new area comes with quirky characters, hidden secrets, and unexpected puzzling twists. Uncover ancient patterns, connect magical circuits, navigate dizzying heights, and plumb long forgotten depths in your journey along the Paper Trail!
To have gone from wrestling the controller from my brother to get a turn on Halo as a kid; to releasing our own game together on Xbox – it’s a dream come true. Five years ago, we had an idea for a little paper folding game, it’s taken us around the world and back to where it all started. So if you have a sibling, go tell them that it’s your turn on the family console, and play the Paper Traildemo – available now!
Paper Trail is a top-down puzzle adventure about leaving home, set in a foldable, paper world. You play as Paige, a budding academic, leaving home for the first time to pursue her studies. On the journey, you learn to fold the world, merging two sides to solve puzzles, explore new areas and uncover long-lost secrets.
Heaven or Hell, controllers or cardboard – let’s rock. Guilty Gear Strive: The Board Game from Level 99 Games offers players a new way to experience many of those same pulse-pounding moments and swings in gameplay that fans of the video game expect. Plus, it has a surprisingly fast turn-around between matches and 20 characters to choose from. If you’re in the market for a new brawling game for you and a buddy to add to your game rotation, Strive may be it.
Guilty Gear Strive isn’t so much a brand new game as it is the next entry in a long-running series — think a new season of fighters for the video game. Strive is built around Level 99 Game’s Exceed system, first released in 2016, and has seen sets featuring other prevalent video game characters like Street Fighter and Shovel Knight. Strive (along with all the previous Exceed releases) pits two players against one another on a 9-spaced board, similar to the stage of a 2D fighter. Players advance and retreat around the stage by using their decks of special moves, basic attacks, and super specials, spacing themselves properly to take advantage of their specials to whittle their opponent down to zero life.
At first, it may be hard to imagine that a card game could capture the moment-to-moment action of a fighting video game. Level 99 has had a long time to refine this system. When I’m not playing board games and RPGs, I also love a good fighting game, with Guilty Gear being one of my favorites. So, I’m saying this from a position of familiarity with both the genre and series when I say that this game really nails that feeling.
This game is just as much about accurately reading what your opponent is going to do and responding to it as it is about trying to strategize and best use the moves in your character’s toolkit to poke holes in their game — just like in a video game. I appreciate the juggling of spacing, trying to keep yourself out of harm’s way while just close enough so that you can hit them or hitting them with a weak but fast attack, preventing them from hitting me. It actually does feel like a fighting game — just played with cards instead of a controller or fightstick.
Much like a match in a video game, it doesn’t take long to play out, making this a solid quick-playing board games. Most games take less than a half hour, and once my friends and I had a grasp on what was going on, it was even shorter. Even when jumping from one character to another, the different styles and mechanics lent themselves more to applying and learning new strategies as opposed to having to start fresh and learn how to play.
On the topic of the characters, I have to applaud the team at Level 99 for doing a good job capturing the feel of each of 20 included characters’ play styles from the source material. For instance, Axl’s expertise in battlefield positioning, lets you advantage of his long-range to push and pull his opponents into spots that are best for him. Or, Zato-1 can bring out his tethered demon pal, Eddie, onto the field to attack from. Little touches like that make jumping into this card-based version of Heaven and Hell all that more exciting and approachable.
Most games take less than a half hour.
Strive is an Exceed-based game, making it compatible and able to be played alongside previously released Exceed character sets. If you find yourself smitten with the system after playing Guilty Gear Strive, you can have Sol exchange blows with Ryu from Street Fighter or have Faust take on the knight of shovelery himself, Shovel Knight. All you need to do is pick up their respective decks, and off you go.
After eight years of releases, Level 99 has had a lot of time to figure out and refine the instructions and the best methods of teaching their Exceed system, with Strive benefiting from these refinements. Strive comes with a 27-page instruction book — ditching the paper foldout of older seasons — with straightforward explanations and visual examples of some situations you may encounter during a play session. As an extra handy bonus, each player deck also comes with its own set of reference cards showing rules, actions, and all the attacks that the character has access to. Where most games may give you a few, Strive gives you 20 sets.
Playing and teaching with a few friends, even the first time I was learning myself, things always seemed to click by the end of the first game, if not partway through. By the time I was teaching my third and fourth friend the game, where I didn’t need to confirm or double-check my information in the instructions, I could teach the basics in about 10-15 with little issue.
Regarding the components packed into Strive’s box, you can expect some solid-feeling cards with a semi-gloss finish. The cards are sturdy and feel good to shuffle, the tuck boxes for each character’s deck easily fit sleeved decks, and the included neoprene play mat is sturdy and well-constructed. However, I encountered a strange coloring issue around some of the cards that came in my copy of the game. Each character’s specific deck features an associated color scheme on its backside, and there were a few cards in my game where the odd card had a slightly off color to it. Were this color oddity on the front side of the card, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal, but considering this is a game where knowing what you have coming can adjust your strategy, this difference can provide you with an advantage. Hopefully, this issue isn’t widespread.
You can have Sol exchange blows with Ryu from Street Fighter.
As opposed to the previous releases of sets in the Exceed line, Level 99 has opted to include all the characters in a single release as opposed to bundling a few together and selling multiple smaller boxes. This means Strive comes in a large box, with a shocking amount of wasted space inside, too. The box itself comes in at 39.5cm x 41.5cm, a dimension that from a distance appears to be a square, even when up close appears to be a square, but when it comes to putting the top on the box means that there is a specific way you have to put it on. Does this impact the quality of the gameplay in any way? Not in the slightest. Does it make my eye twitch with minor annoyance when I get it wrong? No comment. But, on a more serious note, unfortunately, the box’s dimensions mean it is too large to fit on an Ikea Kallax shelf, a common go-to game storage solution for board gaming hobbyists, and is something to be aware of.
Guilty Gear Strive: The Board Game is a game where you have to be cutthroat, and players will get the most enjoyment when they play someone of an equal skill level. On the flip side, it also means the differences in experience can vastly skew the game in favor of one player over the other. The fact that Guilty Gear Strive is strictly a two-player board game doesn’t help alleviate or balance out that imbalance either.
Madden NFL 25 is apparently set to release on August 16, according to a new report.
Reliable video game leaker and data miner billbil-kun has published a new report detailing what fans can expect from this year’s Madden. According to billbil-kun, Madden NFL 25 will be released on August 16, but those who own the Deluxe Edition or subscribe to EA Play will get access as early as August 12.
Although billbil-kun has not revealed any details as to who the cover athlete(s) for Madden 25 will be, the report does confirm that EA Orlando (formerly EA Tiburon) will once again develop the next Madden game. Madden NFL 25 will have two editions: Standard and Deluxe; the former will retail for $69.99, while the latter will cost $99.99.
A proper reveal for Madden NFL is supposedly happening on May 16 — the same day the publisher is set to reveal the official covers for College Football 25, its first entry in the college football video game series since 2013.
The report also claims that Madden NFL 25 will improve the FieldSense technology. This feature originally debuted in Madden NFL 23, with the physics engine being reworked for the newest entry to provide more “realistic animations with fluid gameplay.”
The news comes the same day Prime Video announced new content for its streaming service, including a four-part docuseries focusing on the history of the Madden video game franchise.
In our review of Madden NFL 24, IGN wrote: “New animations and improved AI make Madden NFL 24’s on-field action the best it’s ever been, but everything that happens off the field is a slog of dated modes and laggy menus that brings everything around it down.”
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Dead by Daylight turns eight today, and to celebrate the milestone, Behaviour Interactive held its anniversary stream to share new details on updates headed to the asymmetrical horror game. This includes an official reveal of a new game mode, details on the previously teased D&D chapter, and updates on its upcoming spinoff projects.
But if you missed it, don’t worry. We break down every announcement from the Dead by Daylight 8th Anniversary Stream below:
Dead by Daylight’s 2V8 mode officially announced
Dead by Daylight fans, your wish has been granted: a 2V8 mode is coming. As the name implies, this game mode will have two killers facing off against eight survivors, and will include a larger map to accommodate the increase in players. However, this won’t be a rehash of the previous game mode, as the developer confirmed that Perks will not be available in 2V8; instead, it will be replaced with a Class system.
Because the community has highly requested the 2V8 mode, Behaviour revealed that its initial launch would be a building block for tweaks and adjustments based on community feedback. Behaviour plans to share more details on 2V8 mode in July, with a late summer release window.
Dungeons & Dragons chapter coming to Dead by Daylight next month
This new chapter, which launches on June 3, will introduce Vecna as a new killer, who will have four spells available to his playstyle: Fly, Flight of the Damned, Mage Hand, and Dispelling Sphere. At the same time, the two survivors are male and female Bard characters: Baermar Uraz, a human male, and Aestri Yazar, a female elf. Regardless of which gender you choose, this new survivor has three unique perks: Mirror Illusion, Bardic Inspiration, and Still Sight. Alongside new playable characters, the next chapter will introduce a new map inspired by the D&D franchise. The Forgotten Ruins is a new dungeon-themed map that serves as a home to Vecna after he finds himself mysteriously transported into The Fog. Alongside an expansive main floor is an extensive underground component filled with horrific experiments and secrets to discover.
For those interested in trying the new chapter early, it is available on the Dead by Daylight Public Test server today.
Dead by Daylight spinoff The Casting of Frank Stone gets new trailer, but no release date
Last year, Behaviour announced it was expanding the Dead by Daylight franchise by announcing two new games set in the same universe. One of them was The Casting of Frank Stone, a new narrative-driven game from Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games.
An official reveal came last December during The Game Awards, and today’s anniversary stream provided another look at the game. The new trailer reveals that the game is set in 1980 and focuses on a group of friends who are on a quest to make their own horror film.
Though we still do not have a firm release date, today’s trailer doubles down the fact that The Casting of Frank Stone is still targeting to release sometime this year.
Dead by Daylight’s upcoming PvE shooter, codenamed Project T, is launching an Insider Program
The second of two previously announced spinoffs, Behaviour shared new details about its unannounced PvE game, codenamed Project T. Developed by Midwinter Entertainment, Project T is an action-horror co-op shooter, set in a set in a region called The Backwater, up to four players can join together and fend off the monsters inhabiting the area.
Project T still doesn’t have a release window. Still, Behaviour revealed that it is launching an Insider Program, allowing players interested in the spinoff to become active in its development cycle. The insider program will include incentives, such as access to closed playtests.
What the Fog is a new rougouelite Dead by Daylight spinoff for PC
While fans previously knew about the other two spinoff games, Behaviour added a third one to the mix: a 2-person co-op roguelite game called What the Fog. Developed in-house by Behaviour, What the Fog has players control Dead by Daylight survivors Claudette Morel, Dwight Fairfield, or Feng Min as they run, jump, and shoot their way through a swarm of monsters.
What the Fog is exlclusive to PC, with the first 2 million copies available, free of charge, if you sign into or create a Behaviour account. After the promotion, What the Fog, will cost $4.99.
Behaviour teases Castlevaniaas the next chapter for Dead by Daylight
As a final “and one more thing”-type announcement, Behaviour announced that the next chapter coming to Dead by Daylight is Konami’s popular action-adventure series Castlevania. Not a ton of information was shared during the stream, but Behaviour promised that fans will get more details on August 6.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
We’ve all watched films that could have stood to lose 30 minutes from their runtime. That whole last act of Bad Boys II? Should’ve been left on the cutting room floor, mate. It’s the same with many a game. Alien: Isolation is fantastic, but how much better might it have been with a little tightening, to remove some flab in the middle?
Our video producer Felix-from-Nintendo-Life — yes, that’s his legal name now, for sure — has explored a good handful of the games that, for him, had the absolute perfect runtime. Not too short and, crucially, not too long, the games he looks at in the video above struck the perfect Goldilocks balance.
Price Reductions Available Now on the Digital Xbox 360 Store – Closing July 29, 2024
Xbox 360 launched 18 years ago and was a generation-defining console that invited many people to jump into gaming for the first time and connect with friends around the world. We’re thrilled people continue playing their favorite Xbox 360 games on Xbox 360, or on newer consoles via Backward Compatibility for supported titles.
As we shared last August, we have a change coming to the Xbox 360 experience. Starting on July 29, 2024, Xbox will stop supporting the ability to purchase new games, DLC, and other entertainment content from the Xbox 360 Store on the console and the Xbox 360 Marketplace (marketplace.xbox.com).
To celebrate the legacy of Xbox 360, we’re working with our amazing publishing partners to bring you as many price reductions from our online store or from the Xbox 360 Store on the console. We’ll be updating this list with more games on June 18, 2024, and on July 16, 2024, bringing you as many repriced games as possible before the end of July.
It’s important to know that this change will not affect your ability to play Xbox 360 games or DLC you have already purchased — Xbox 360 game content previously purchased will still be available to play.
Dead by Daylight: Dungeons & Dragons features one of the most iconic characters in the D&D mythos – the archlich Vecna – as well as the original Bard Survivor Aestri Yazar (and her playable counterpart, Baermar Uraz). Also coming is the Forgotten Ruins Map, a dark fantasy-inspired Realm befitting of The Whispered One’s presence.
Countless players have immersed themselves in the world of Dungeons & Dragons – including many of us on the Dead by Daylight team – and it was important to capture the experience and characters players know and love. It was an exciting challenge for Principal Game Designer Janick Neveu, who was tasked with bringing the all-powerful Vecna to life.
“We wanted to explore magic and really delve into the spellcasting aspect of the Killer,” he explains. “The first thing we did was look at Vecna’s recently updated lore and stat block from Wizards of the Coast. We then compiled a list of potential spells and tried to identify game mechanics that would translate to DbD.”
After deliberation and a few rounds of prototyping, the team ultimately landed on four distinct spells: Fly, Flight of the Damned, Dispelling Sphere, and Mage Hand. During a game, Vecna can cycle through his spell book and select whichever spell he wishes to use, with each one excelling at a different role.
“Fly allows Vecna to traverse the map quickly,” notes Neveu, citing the impact Killer mobility can have on a match. “Mobility is an interesting element that’s present on many other Killers, and it’s always appreciated by our players.”
“However, it was important that Fly wasn’t more effective than a Killer’s main mobility effect,” he continues. “Otherwise, we’d risk making an older Killer obsolete. During design, we had to carefully examine the values of traversal length, speed, and efficacy in chase.”
Complementing this tool for quickly gaining ground on a Survivor, Vecna can use his projectile Flight of the Damned spell to zone them into a favourable location. “Flight of the Damned, which is a special ability unique to Vecna in D&D, allows him to cast undead spectral projectiles that propel forward, creating a bullet-hell effect,” explains Neveu. “Try shooting it through walls to catch Survivors unawares.”
When Vecna catches up to a Survivor, he can use his Mage Hand spell to tip the scales in his favor. “Mage Hand allows you to tag a Pallet and block it if it’s already up,” explains Neveu. “If it’s been dropped, the Mage Hand will raise it instantly. It’s probably his most unique ability.”
It also rewards skillful gameplay for both sides. “Pallets are a valuable resource to Survivors, and we built intricacies to ensure counterplay. Using Mage Hand effectively might sound simple on paper, but there’s reactivity involved. You must pre-emptively charge your Power and predict a Survivor’s pathing, which creates a fun battle of wits.”
“His last spell is the Dispelling Sphere, which was inspired by two existing D&D spells named Detect Magic and Dispel Magic,” says Neveu. “Using this allows Vecna to cast a large area effect that traverses through the level, revealing any Survivor and dispelling any Magic Items they might have found.”
Speaking of Magic Items…
“One of the big appeals of RPGs is hunting for loot and improving your character,” says Neveu. “As such, it was imperative to incorporate that into Dead by Daylight. In the end, the team decided on making Magic Items spawn in Treasure Chests whenever facing Vecna, giving Survivors tools to withstand his magical onslaught. If they’re lucky, they may even unearth Vecna’s cherished possessions: the Hand and Eye of Vecna.”
“If a Survivor gets the Eye, when they do a fast Exit from a Locker, they’ll become unseen and unheard for a duration. If they have the Hand, when they fast jump into a Locker, they teleport to another random Locker. These can be tricky to use, and while they’re beneficial to the Survivor, they will take damage when using the effect.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be Dungeons & Dragons without one crucial element. “We absolutely needed a dice roll!” laughs Neveu. It manifested in determining the rarity of loot Survivors will find during the Trial – but as anyone knows, sometimes the rolls simply aren’t in your favor.
“Even the best fighter with the best magic sword can miss an attack from time to time,” he continues. “We really wanted to capture that aspect, but not base the whole experience around it. The dice roll might randomize the experience, but it doesn’t affect the result.”
For fans of Dungeons & Dragons, this latest Chapter looks to be one of Dead by Daylight’s most ambitious to date and no doubt the perfect entry point for many to the long-running horror multiplayer.
Revealed as part of Dead by Daylight’s 8th Anniversary celebrations, Dead by Daylight: Dungeons & Dragons will be released on PlayStation on June 3.
Buying new video games, hardware, and accessories for your preferred console doesn’t need to make a massive dent in your wallet. Deals happen all the time for items like these, so you can save money while investing in your favorite hobby. We also cover hot items coming back in stock, like the PlayStation Portal which is now available again at Amazon for $199. For now, whether you play on PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, or PC, you’ll find the very best deals listed below. And if you’ve taken advantage of lots of these deals, see our roundup on game storage ideas.
With Xbox debating yet another price hike for Game Pass, there’s no better time to get stacking. These three month codes provide a lot of flexibility in how you choose to stack them – whether that be 6, 12, 18, or 24 months – but if you want to go all the way up to 36 you can actually save quite a bit. Admittedly, buying up 12 of these codes can put a strain on your wallet, totaling $443.88 with the link above. However, when you compare it to the cost of Game Pass Ultimate for 36 months at $16.99 per month, amounting to $611.64, you’ll realize you’re saving $167.76 on your subscription for the next three years. That’s absolutely worth the investment, especially if yet another price hike is on the horizon.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (Physical Edition) Preorder
While waiting for Nintendo’s Switch successor, you can enjoy some absolute classics with the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. This is a collection of over 150 challenges from 13 different NES games that’s coming exclusively to Switch on July 18, and you can preorder it today. We’ve included links to the physical edition’s preorder below, but if you’re looking for even more information on digital editions, check out our Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition preorder guide.
Our Favorite Micro SD Cards for Switch and Steam Deck Are On Sale
The best Switch or Steam Deck SD card should be fast, reliable, and as future-proof as possible. That last one is important, as it was recently revealed a Switch successor will be announced within the fiscal year. Therefore, you’re going to want to opt for the latest in SD card tech, which is a micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 V30 memory card. That’s a lot of random letters, so to save you a bit of time we’ve left our top suggestions and deals just below for your convenience. To see even more SD card deals, make sure to check out our roundup of the best SD card deals.
More SD Card Deals
Alienware Aurora Ryzen RTX 4090 Gaming PC for $2519.99
Do you prefer to play on a dedicated tower? Navigating the options online can be quite the ordeal. Desk space, portability, and price point are often factors in the decision. However, there are some great PC deals that pop up every now and again that are worth jumping on. One of our favorite deals at the moment is on this Alienware Aurora Ryzen RTX 4090 Gaming PC, which is down 35% to $2519.99 (after using the code ‘10AMD‘ at checkout). To see even more PC deals, check out our roundup of the best gaming PC deals.
Our Favorite Power Bank for Steam Deck is Discounted Right Now
Some excellent power banks are discounted at the moment that are perfectly portable and packing plenty of power to keep you going. In particular, the fantastic Anker 737 is down a whopping 40% to $90.09 (after clipping the 15% off coupon) and the Anker Prime Power Bank is down to $89.98. These are great discounts on reliable power banks that likely won’t last long, so grab ’em at these prices while you can!
Meta Quest 2 (128GB) is Down to $199
Amazon is offering a very nice discount at the moment on the 128GB Meta Quest 2. This is one of the best Meta Quest deals available right now, and well worth considering for anyone interested in VR. Normally, this VR headset retails for $249.99, but you can grab it for $199 right now, which is a great price for such a high-quality headset. We gave it a 9/10 in ourreview back when it was released, stating that it “improves an already amazing VR headset with better resolution, refresh rate, and a lower price tag.”
Perfect PS5 4TB SSD with Heatsink for $269.99 at Amazon
Looking to completely maximize your PS5 storage capabilities? Then this is the deal for you. For a limited time only, this PS5 4TB SSD is available at Amazon for $269.99 (see here). It has an MSRP of $699.99, which is rather dramatic, but in reality, this and many other 4TB SSDs have been sitting around $280-$300 recently. The 1TB version is also down to just $84.99 as well. Again, we’re unlikely to see better deals than this until Prime Day in the summer. You can also check out more PS5 SSD deals here.
Steam Deck Internal SSD: Big Discount on the WD_BLACK SSD
If a micro SD card deal isn’t floating your boat for Steam Deck, how about a new internal SSD instead? The WD_BLACK 1TB SN770M M.2 2230 NVMe SSD is currently down to $109.99, which is a nice 15% discount from its $129.99 MSRP.
Best PC Game Deals
If you’re looking for the latest and greatest deals on PC games, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered there as well. Here, you can find some excellent deals on new releases, like Dragon’s Dogma 2, and enjoy some great discounts from Green Man Gaming’s Birthday Sale. With the latter, you can use the code BDAY14 at checkout to get an additional 14% off. These excellent deals can be seen below, but to see the full list of discounted games, head to GMG’s main sale page here.
Score 2 Free Months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (New Members Only)
Walmart is now offering two months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for free for any current or new Walmart+ members. If you’re not currently a member of Walmart+, the retailer offers a 30-day free trial (which will make you eligible for the Game Pass offer), alongside plans for $12.95 paid monthly, or $98 paid annually.
For those interested in the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offer, it is worth qualifying that this code will only apply to those who currently don’t have an active Game Pass Ultimate membership, and Walmart stresses that this is for new members only. If you’re on Game Pass Core, it should be fine to apply to your account. Otherwise, if you’re a current Game Pass Ultimate member, the code won’t be applicable. If you do qualify, it’s a pretty simple process if you’re looking to bag the two-month free trial, here’s how:
Steps:
Visit the Walmart+ Offer Page and select ‘Get Offer’ next to the 2 free months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate listing
On the ‘Offer Page’ you will see a unique promo code, copy this code and keep a record of it
Hit the ‘Redeem Offer’ button on the page to go to the Xbox Site
Sign in to Your Account
Your promo code will autofill — if it does not then paste/type
Redeem your offer and receive your 2 Free Months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Disable auto-renewal afterward to avoid being charged at the end of the trial — this can be located in ‘Services & Subscriptions’ in your Microsoft account. You should also do this for Walmart+ if you used a free trial to access the Game Pass offer
There’s a whole score of incredible Xbox deals to check out right now, including three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just $36.99, a 2TB Seagate Expansion Card for $249.99, excellent controller discounts, and so much more. When it comes to picking up new games, hardware, or accessories for your Xbox, it feels good when you can find those items at a discounted price. Here, we’ll keep you updated on all of the latest discounts for Xbox, from games to controllers and so much more. Let’s dig into the best Xbox deals that are happening right now.
With Xbox debating yet another price hike for Game Pass, there’s no better time to get stacking. These three month codes provide a lot of flexibility in how you choose to stack them – whether that be 6, 12, 18, or 24 months – but if you want to go all the way up to 36 you can actually save quite a bit. Admittedly, buying up 12 of these codes can put a strain on your wallet, totaling $443.88 with the link above. However, when you compare it to the cost of Game Pass Ultimate for 36 months at $16.99 per month, amounting to $611.64, you’ll realize you’re saving $167.76 on your subscription for the next three years. That’s absolutely worth the investment, especially if yet another price hike is on the horizon.
Score 2 Free Months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (New Members Only)
For those interested in the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offer, it is worth qualifying that this code will only apply to those who currently don’t have an active Game Pass Ultimate membership, and Walmart stresses that this is for new members only. If you’re on Game Pass Core, it should be fine to apply to your account. Otherwise, if you’re a current Game Pass Ultimate member, the code won’t be applicable. If you do qualify, it’s a pretty simple process if you’re looking to bag the two-month free trial, here’s how:
Steps:
Visit the Walmart+ Offer Page and select ‘Get Offer’ next to the 2 free months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate listing
On the ‘Offer Page’ you will see a unique promo code, copy this code and keep a record of it
Hit the ‘Redeem Offer’ button on the page to go to the Xbox Site
Sign in to Your Account
Your promo code will autofill — if it does not then paste/type
Redeem your offer and receive your 2 Free Months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Disable auto-renewal afterward to avoid being charged at the end of the trial — this can be located in ‘Services & Subscriptions’ in your Microsoft account. You should also do this for Walmart+ if you used a free trial to access the Game Pass offer
1TB Expansion Card for Xbox for $139.99
Amazon is offering the officially licensed Seagate 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series consoles at a nice little discount. Right now it’s only $139.99, a reasonable price drop from its original $160 MSRP. This is one of the best SSDs for the Xbox, which isn’t surprising since your options are pretty limited. There’s also the 2TB version for $249.99 and the 8TB Seagate Starfield Special Edition Game Drive for $189.99.
More Xbox Expandable Storage Deals
The Best Xbox Controller Deals: Select Controllers Down to $49
Ready to add another controller to your gaming setup? You’re in luck! There are fantastic deals available on a range of colors, like the Astral Purple, Robot White, and the Special Edition Remix controllers. Check out some of our top picks for deals above and below!
The Best Xbox Game Deals: Get 50% Off The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 & More Game Deals
While Xbox’s Spring Sale has ended, the deals for Xbox fans continue! Check out some of the best physical game discounts available, including markdowns on titles like Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and the newly released Alone in the Dark. For more fantastic game deals, click on the links below.
Get Over 50% Off the Xbox Series S Toaster & Xbox Series X Mini Fridge
It looks like a fridge, and it kinda is a fridge (mini), and it’s also down to $39.94 at Walmart. Plus, c’mon, who doesn’t want the Xbox Series S toaster for their kitchen as well? Not only is it a fun addition to have in your home, but this is a discount you definitely don’t want to miss out on, either! It’s currently marked down over 50% at Walmart to just $40, which is an excellent deal. What better time to pick it up?
The Diablo IV Xbox Series X bundle is still holding on at Walmart, down $90.00 from its MSRP of $559.99 to $469.99. This has stood the test of time since last Black Friday as one of our favorite console bundles, and is well worth investing in before it’s all gone for good.
Get 10% Off the Official Xbox Wireless Headset & More Headset Deals
Does your family complain when you stay up playing loud shooters late into the night? They’ll stop complaining if you pick up anXbox headset that lets no one but you hear the delightful explosions you cause on the screen. Right now, you can get 10% off the Official Xbox Wireless Headset and you can also save 20% on the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Gaming Headset at Amazon. To see even more gaming headsets on sale, visit our roundup of the best gaming headset deals.
In general, it is advisable to keep an eye out for sales and restocks throughout the year, as availability has improved since the initial launch of the console. Unlike the Nintendo Switch, there is no specific recommendation to wait for a sale regardless of the time of year. Instead, it’s a good idea to monitor various retailers and online platforms for restock announcements and promotional offers.
However, certain events like Black Friday or other holiday seasons may bring about unique bundles, discounts, or promotional deals specifically for the Xbox Series X. These bundles may include additional games, accessories, or exclusive limited editions. While quantities for such promotions might be limited, they can provide an opportunity to get more value for your purchase. See our guide to Xbox Series X prices for more info.
Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S?
Choosing between the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S ultimately depends on your gaming preferences, budget, and specific requirements. Let’s compare the two consoles to help you make an informed decision:
1. Performance: The Xbox Series X is the more powerful option, offering native 4K gaming, higher graphical fidelity, and faster loading times. It has more advanced hardware, including a larger storage capacity. On the other hand, the Xbox Series S targets a lower price point and offers a less powerful performance, targeting 1440p resolution gaming and upscaling to 4K.
2. Price: The Xbox Series S is more affordable compared to the Xbox Series X. If budget is a significant factor for you, the Xbox Series S provides a cost-effective option while still delivering a next-generation gaming experience. For example, the Series S can play Starfield at 1440p 30fps (vs 4K 30fps on Series X).
3. Storage: The Xbox Series X comes with a larger internal storage capacity, allowing you to store more games directly on the console. The Xbox Series S, however, has a smaller storage capacity, which means you may need to manage your game library more actively or rely on external storage solutions.
4. Disc Drive: The Xbox Series X includes a disc drive, enabling you to play physical game discs and enjoy a wider range of media options, including Blu-ray and DVD playback. The Xbox Series S, in contrast, is a digital-only console, meaning you can only play games downloaded from the digital store.
5. Graphics and Performance: While both consoles support ray tracing, the Xbox Series X provides a more immersive and visually impressive experience due to its superior hardware capabilities. If you prioritize cutting-edge graphics and want the best performance available, the Xbox Series X is the preferable choice.
Consider your gaming preferences, budget, and whether you prioritize top-of-the-line performance or cost-effectiveness. If you have a 4K TV, want the most powerful console, and are willing to invest more, the Xbox Series X is the recommended option. If you have a lower budget, a 1080p or 1440p TV, and don’t mind sacrificing some performance, the Xbox Series S offers excellent value for money.
With how expensive gaming is getting in 2024, we’re trying to save you as much money as possible on the games and other tech you actually want to buy. We’ve got great deal roundups available for all major platforms such as Switch and Xbox, and keep these updated daily with brand new offers. If you’re trying to keep costs down while maintaining your favorite hobby, stay tuned for more incredible discounts.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
This week, Microsoft and Bethesda announced that they would be closing down multiple game development studios under their umbrella. These include Alpha Dog Games, maker of Mighty Doom, and Arkane Austin, developer of the disastrous Redfall among others. In the gaming industry, the conventional wisdom has long been held that bad games sink you and great games save you, which would lead many to drawing an unfortunate line between Redfall’s reception and Arkane Austin’s closure — but immediately stops supporting that conclusion when you get to Tango Gameworks.
Founded in 2010 by Shinji Mikami, the studio was largely known for horror games like Evil Within until last year. As part of a shadow drop release, the cool rhythmic action title Hi-Fi Rush garnered critical acclaim from all sides, multiple awards and nominations, and was recently ported to PlayStation 5. Xbox Vice President Aaron Greenberg even said that the game was a “break out hit” in “all key measurements and expectations.” Moreover, they did what critics and fans alike beg studios to do: make something wildly different outside of their comfort zones.
Hi-Fi RUSH was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release.
— Aaron Greenberg 🙅🏼♂️💚U (@aarongreenberg) April 21, 2023
Despite all that, late at night in Tokyo, the people who made a Game of the Year candidate were informed through an email by Xbox Games Studios head Matt Booty that they were closing the studio.
Hi-Fi Rush was, by Microsoft’s own admission, exactly the kind of game the Redmond giant has been convincing their audience to stick with Game Pass for, which sets unclear goals and expectations from the get-go. What exactly constitutes a success on Game Pass? Hi-Fi Rush topped a whopping 3 million players last year, but that clearly was not enough for the higher ups. The lack of transparency with the general consumer on how games are evaluated internally is understandable, but it seems that not even Tango was aware of what metrics their game seemingly missed.
Despite having worked at a Japanese game studio myself, it does not take much experience to understand that creative jobs perform better when there is greater incentive beyond decidedly-unclear goals at the end. No one is working on a video game in hopes that they can get to the finish line of release so that they can continue to bite their nails over whether a nearly-90 metacritic game will result in a studio closure down the line as corporate, as Booty puts in the email, “look[s] across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success.”
Which leaves us grasping within this self-imposed murkiness for an answer to an important question: If success cannot save your studio, what can?
This is a problem that is likely on the mind of every other Xbox studio that does not produce games commanding audiences of tens of millions. With the upcoming release of Hellblade II: Senua’s Sacrifice, it is not difficult to imagine that a successful launch would not shield Ninja Theory from Microsoft’s ever-floating evaluations. Now those talented developers who have spent years toiling away on their game across multiple changes in their parent company’s focus have an ominous pall hanging over their head. It is not just enough to make a good game, nor make a game that critics and audiences both like, but you have to hope that a C-Suite executive’s nebulous plans forward include taking your studio along for the ride.
We have long assumed that corporate ownership by one of the richest companies in the industry would inoculate studios from tragic closures, but we were wrong. We thought that putting out a game with a modest budget would be protection, but we were wrong there too. And now we have learned that putting out a critically acclaimed title that said richest companies openly brag about succeeding will not protect anyone. There truly is no more shelter to hide under in the gaming industry and developers and consumers both suffer from it.
When studios are concerned for their very existence, games like Hi-Fi Rush do not have space to make it to market. Tango Gameworks bet on themselves by making something different than what they are known for and, by every metric available to them, that bet demonstrably paid off. In a situation where their head was on the chopping block the entire time, waiting for the executioner to make the call on whether their axe comes down on the back of Tango’s neck, you could not get a Hi-Fi Rush.
It is also unclear at this point what players can do to support games they love anymore. When the act of championing a game you like can only be measured in numbers too absurd for most video games, then there is no reasonable way to patronize them anymore. If three million players are not enough, why should anyone expect that four or five or ten million would be? It is no longer satisfactory to executives for a game to be a decent success, so there is little reason for audiences to become publicly enamored with what they play. In one fell swoop, Microsoft managed to undermine any grassroots marketing efforts they could have counted on for games that are not Call of Duty.
The games industry is ill and things like this, like the closure of Tango Gameworks and high-quality studios like Roll7, are symptoms. They can be written off by people as not their kind of game or reasoned with twisted return-on-investment maximization brainworms, but they do not represent an industry that is happy and healthy. The industry is now trying to redefine what success means until it skyrockets into an utterly unattainable goal post. It is likely not by intention, the decision-makers are also flying by the seat of their pants on this high-speed rocket, but ultimately that doesn’t actually mean anything. Microsoft was supposed to be the company that stepped back and said “Not past this line.” Now they’re erasing the line in the sand and hoping we don’t notice.
