Less than two months to go!

After what feels like an eternity, GSC Game World's Stalker 2 is almost here. Xbox Game Pass aficionados, we have less than two months to wait, and in the meantime we've got a fresh set of screenshots to gawk over.

Showcasing some immaculately detailed weapons and gadgets, alongside the game's ever-impressive open world, these screengrabs are doing their best at making the wait for Stalker 2 just that bit more agonizing!

Heya together. I was fancing the official Xbox Starfield controller but I'm so used to paddles, that I can't play with a regular controller anymore. I then stumbled upon a shell for the Elite V2 Controller. I walked the extra mile and replaced the thumbstick base for a red one and I also ordered two sets of paddles and circle pads. I'm still on the hunt for opaque trigger.

How do you like the result and what version do you prefer, the burnt metal one or the brass/ gold one?

Any advice for further improvements? I know, the backside should be red but I can't find a matching one.

It's finally coming to Xbox!

Last year, spooky ghost-hunting game Phasmophobia was supposed to be coming to Xbox, before a couple of last-minute delays pushed the release beyond 2023. At the time, we had no real idea when the console version would eventually come out - but the dev team now has a fresh release date.

However, it's not disclosing the exact date for now. Kinetic Games plans to release Phasmophobia on Xbox "during our in-game Halloween Event" this October, but there's no specific date beyond that.

Game developers are speaking up in defense of Xbox Game Pass in the wake of the subscription service's most recent price hikes, specifically on its importance for indie discoverability.

"I can attest personally that people on Game Pass actually do try out small indie games, to the tune of staggering numbers," Bulwark solodev Tomas Sala writes on Twitter, responding to an argument that price increases could reflect Microsoft's commitment to making Game Pass work [via GamesIndustry.biz]. "On top of that, more platforms, with more diverse business models, with more diverse deal types, actually makes for more opportunities for indie devs. Not less."

It makes sense that many Xbox fans have not taken the news lightly. It feels like just yesterday that the Game Pass prices went up again right before Starfield launched – to absolutely no one's surprise. But Sala offers a different perspective to assertions that "Game Pass has irreversibly damaged the industry", as Twitter user Ryan T. Brown says.

Sala isn't the only indie developer clapping back at those declaring the death of Game Pass and Xbox as we knew it. Citizen Sleeper designer Gareth Damian Martin was quick to challenge Ryan's viewpoint in a reply Tweet: "Game Pass has been an important part of Citizen Sleeper’s success and has led to more players buying the game, not less. Without Game Pass there would have been no opportunity to do the sequel. I know many indies whose projects have massively benefited."

Martin goes on to explain the rare breadth of mass circulation afforded to indie devs from being a part of Xbox Game Pass, and it's not all about the bottom line. "Thinking of the value of games as purely financially driven is wrong," Martin says. "People give incredible value to games they love, and they find those games on Game Pass when they never would have encountered them [before]. This raises the devs' profile, gains fans, and GP financially rewards indies."

While Martin is right that games shouldn't be all about the money, and that Game Pass offers near priceless outreach potential for indie studios and their games, this does feel like a best case scenario. After all, success on the subscription service hasn't always meant such great things for smaller Microsoft-owned studios. RIP Tango Gameworks, creators of Game Pass breakout hit Hi-Fi Rush, as just one example.

I kinda called it two months ago

https://lemm.ee/comment/12027830

Respawn Entertainment has announced Apex Legends' upcoming Season 22 will make significant changes to the free-to-play shooter's Battle Pass "experience", by releasing two Battle Passes per season instead of one, and then charging full price for each.

As of Season 22, Apex Legends will ditch its current season-long Battle Pass in favour of two half-season Battle Passes - one launching at a season's start and another at its mid-point "split" - each featuring 60 levels of rewards, compared to the previous version's 110.

Despite the truncated number of progression levels, each new half-season premium Battle Pass costs approximately the same as the older season-long version. Previously, a premium Battle Pass cost 950 Apex Coins (a 1000-coin bundle is priced at $9.99 USD), and Respawn's new half-season Battle Passes cost $9.99 each. A new Premium+ tier (replacing the existing Premium Bundle) is $19.99 every half-season, and a free tier remains available.

Piranha Bytes, the Embracer-owned German studio behind the Gothic, Risen and ELEX series, has reportedly shut down.

The embattled publisher Embracer had been seeking a buyer for Piranha Bytes as part of its vast and brutal swathe of cost-cutting that saw multiple studios shut and more than 4500 people lose their jobs - though ultimately was unsuccessful.

Job losses at Piranha Bytes were first reported at the end of last year and the company acknowledged earlier this year "a difficult situation" as it faced potential closure. Now a fresh report today by German website GameStar has confirmed the studio formally shut at the end of June, with its leaders now founding a new indie studio.

Hi-Rez Studios has pulled all Dr Disrespect content from Rogue Company after the streamer was alleged to have sent sexually explicit messages to a minor.

Guy Beahm, better known as Dr Disrespect, was banned from Twitch in 2020 without explanation. Last month, following a number of reports, Beahm admitted he exchanged messages in 2017 with a minor via Twitch's now-defunct Whispers feature that "sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate." Subsequent reports alleged the minor had informed Beahm they were underage, and Beahm continued to send "sexually graphic" messages to them regardless.

Twitch and Beahm have not responded to IGN's request for comment.

Partners and sponsors like Turtle Beach, 2K, and the San Francisco 49ers subsequently cut ties with the streamer. Midnight Society, the game studio Beahm co-founded, also terminated its relationship with him, and monetization on his YouTube channel was suspended. Now, another video game Beahm was affiliated with has taken steps to distance itself from the streamer.

Beahm had partnered with Rogue Company publisher Hi-Rez Studios, which is also behind Smite and Paladins, to design his own level and even a $20 character skin sold in the free-to-play third-person tactical action shooter. That premium content is no longer in the game.

A statement published to the official Rogue Company X/Twitter account has signaled the change: “Hey Rogue Company, we have disabled Dr Disrespect content previously available on game. We will provide full Rogue Buck refunds to any impacted account this week.”

In recent years interest in Rogue Company has dropped off significantly. After a Steam peak concurrent player count of 12,189 set three years ago, Rogue Company now averages just a few hundred players on Steam’s platform, with 236 concurrent players at the time of this article’s publication. Indeed, Rogue Company hasn’t seen a major update since 2023, indicating a deprioritization from Hi-Rez Studios amid the upcoming launch of Smite 2.

It’s fair to say that the decision to offer Rogue Buck refunds as opposed to real-money refunds for the Dr Disrespect content has sparked a backlash from paying customers who would rather their money back than a virtual currency they deem to be practically useless. Some have taken to Rogue Company’s Steam user reviews, which are down to ‘mixed’ for recent reviews, to complain about the situation.

“Where’s my $40? I have no need for Rogue Bucks when you guys haven’t updated the game in over a year,” said one person. “How about since we paid with real money you provide real money refunds?” said another.

Meanwhile, Beahm hasn't issued a comment since his last stream, in which he played Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree, almost two weeks ago.

We still have a bit of a wait before we can begin tackling the Dragon Age: The Veilguard achievements, but new details about the difficulty choices suggest we'll have a range of options to help style how we'll play, with Dragon Age: The Veilguard also letting you turn off death if you prefer.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is set to launch later this year, although we don't yet have a release date. As fall 2024 approaches, however, more details are surfacing, including info about some of the game's difficulty options. According to Game Informer, not only is the character creator wonderfully extensive, but the playstyle options offer a lot too. Those options include the usual range, such as Storyteller for those who want to prioritise the story, Adventurer for more of a balance, and Nightmare, which sounds fittingly ominous. You'll be able to change between the first two, but if you pick Nightmare, you'll have to stick with it all the way through.

However, more extensive customizing is apparently available with the Unbound option where you can choose things such as auto-aim, adjust damage (both dealt and received), and manage the timing for parrying. You'll also have a no-death option, and game director Corinne Busche explains to Game Informer that these options are not "a cheat" but are there to "make sure players of all abilities can show up."

Death might do as you please but romance will not, as one of the things we've learned about Dragon Age: The Veilguard recently is the fact that its companions will get together if you fail to romance them.

The First Descendant has been proving extremely popular since its free-to-play release on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S earlier this week, and it's just received its very first update - albeit just a small hotfix.

Probably the most notable thing here from an Xbox perspective is an issue that caused AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution technology to be "malfunctioning". Also, the logo screen volume when starting the game has been reduced.

A nice touch.

It's always nice to see Xbox giving recognition to third-party teams when their games perform well, and the latest example is in the form of the "Xbox Excellence Award" - which we've spotted being given out to two dev teams so far.

There are probably many examples out there, but for now, it's the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and My Time At Sandrock studios

Including a "Rewards Notes" service.

It's been a while since we last talked about Microsoft Rewards here at Pure Xbox, and that's because it hasn't really changed all that much since plans were announced to supposedly overhaul the service earlier this year.

However, we've got a couple of new features on the way! The first of these is called "Rewards Notes", and it'll serve as a destination on console, PC and mobile where Xbox can share details about what's changing with Microsoft Rewards.

Update from Tom's Guide:

As of 5:50 PM Pacific the Xbox Status page was updated to say All Clear.

I hate that my gaming time is dependent on some service from Microsoft being up.

• Journey to the Savage Planet (3 July)
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 (3 July)
• Cricket 24 (9 July)
• The Case of the Golden Idol (9 July)
• Neon White (11 July)
• Tchia (11 July)
• Magical Delicacy (16 July)
• Flock (16 July)

Darkest Dungeon II, the turn-based RPG from developers Red Hook Studios is coming to both Xbox Series consoles and Xbox One, at the same time it launches on PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. July 15th.

Get out of here Stalker.

The story of Stalker 2 is well known at this point. Finally, after delays, a cancellation, and a re-reveal in 2018, the cult classic PC game was set to get a true sequel in 2022, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the Kyiv-based GSC Game World to relocate much of the studio to Prague. And yet, despite all of the hardships, Stalker 2 is almost here, and it’s looking incredibly impressive.

For context, we had some 'hands on' time with Stalker 2 at Gamescom 2023, and things weren’t looking too good. The game looked rough, the demo was buggy, and it felt a bit aimless overall. Given everything going on, it was totally understandable that things weren’t exactly shaping up, but the fact still remained that it seemed like a long road was ahead for the game, which made its then-2023 release date a bit of a worry with the fear that it would release in a subpar state.

It's no secret that 2024 has been a bit of a wild time to be an Xbox fan. We started out the year with rumours and speculation leading to a special business update podcast, while the last few months have brought numerous PS5 ports and studio closures over at Microsoft. However, this month's showcase was an absolute banger, and it definitely feels like we've been back on track a little bit since the event.

So, we wanted to check in with the Pure Xbox faithful on how you're all feeling about Xbox right now. If you were concerned leading up to the Xbox Games Showcase, have your fears now been squashed? Or do you still have questions about Microsoft Gaming and its future in leading the Xbox brand?

Ubisoft is working on multiple Assassin’s Creed remakes, according to CEO Yves Guillemot.

The publisher’s head spoke about its flagship series’ future in an interview published on the Ubisoft website. When asked if the company will continue to offer a variety of experiences from the franchise, Guillemot told players to get excited for “some remakes.” It’s not clear just how many remakes there will be or which Assassin’s Creed stories they will cover.

“Firstly, players can be excited about some remakes,” Guillemot said, “which will allow us to revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them; there are worlds in some of our older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich.”

He continued: “Secondly, to answer your question, there will be plenty of experience variety. The goal is to have Assassin’s Creed games come out more regularly, but not for it to be the same experience every year. There are a lot of good things to come, including Assassin’s Creed Hexe, which we’ve announced, which is going to be a very different game from Assassin’s Creed Shadows. We’re going to surprise people, I think.”

One remake contender that fans may already have their eyes on is 2013’s Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. Last year, Kotaku reported that Ubisoft Singapore was heavily involved in the development of a reimagining of the fourth mainline Assassin’s Creed game. Now, more than a decade old, the pirate-themed action-stealth game remains a favorite among longtime enjoyers of the franchise, though the company hasn't gone as far as to confirm that a remake for this specific title is in the works.

Ubisoft has never released a full-on Assassin’s Creed remake before, but the series has a lot of options to pull from. The original Assassin's Creed launched in 2007 and was followed by the Ezio trilogy, which includes Assassin’s Creed 2, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. The company reexamined Ezio's three-arc story with a remaster bundle called The Ezio Collection in 2016.

Ubisoft is turning back the clock to reexamine Assassin’s Creed’s past, but its future holds a lot in store, too. Assassin’s Creed Shadows will transport fans to Japan when it releases its dual-protagonist story this November. In 2022, the publisher also revealed a project known as Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe. There company will also eventually release Assassin’s Creed Infinity, a platform that is said to connect other experiences from the franchise under one umbrella.

I wonder if they will support Chromecast in the future?

Capcom has released another update for Dragon's Dogma 2 across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

While the majority of adjustments have been made across all devices, the team has also added some console specific updates with this patch. It has now added the option for those on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S to change graphics settings to high or low, as well as the option to turn 120Hz output on or off.

Capcom said turning graphics settings down to low on consoles should improve Dragon's Dogma 2's frame rates, adding: "Further frame rate improvements are planned for future updates as well."

Developer Arctic Hazard has announced Norse, an upcoming turn-based tactics game set in Norway in the age of Vikings. It promises an "historically authentic" world where you embark on a quest for vengeance while building settlements, managing communities, forging alliances, and fighting tactical battles. Norse is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

As part of the character creation process for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, players will have to select both a class for their player-controlled Rook and a faction. After customizing much of your Rook's body, including things like a Qunari's horn type and material, for example, with the hundreds of options available in Veilguard, it will be time to pick said class.

There are three classes to choose from: Rogue, Mage, and Warrior. As the names suggest, each features a unique combat system and plays differently as a result. Though you’ll be performing things like light and heavy attacks using the same buttons, what those attacks do varies based on your class. For example, a sword-and-shield Warrior can hip-fire or aim their shield to throw it like Captain America, whereas a Mage can use that same button to throw out magical ranged attacks – read more about the combat of Veilguard in Game Informer's exclusive feature here. Plus, as you spec out these classes and unlock their individual specializations, the differences will only grow even more stark.

The Rogue has access to three specializations. The Duelist is the fastest of the three, with two blades for rapid strikes; the Saboteur uses tricks and traps; and the Veil Ranger is purely range, sniping enemies from afar with a bow. The Mage can utilize necromancy with the Death Caller specialization; Evokers wield fire, ice, and lightning; and the Spellblade uses magic-infused melee attacks. The Warrior can become a Reaper, which uses night blades to steal life and risk death to gain unnatural abilities; a Slayer, a simple but strong two-handed weapons expert; or the Champion, a tactical defense fighter. While these specializations don't matter upfront – you class into them via the skill trees you progress through the game – it's nice to see the potential of each class before you choose it.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Dreadwolf Game Informer Cover Story For the penultimate step of the character creator, at least during the demo BioWare shows me, players select a faction. The Grey Wardens return, joined by other returning favorites and new additions like the Antivan Crows, the Mourn Watch, the Shadow Dragons, the pirate-themed Lords of Fortune, which is what I chose in my demo for the current Game Informer cover story, and the Veil Jumpers.

Each faction has unique casual wear, which is worn in specific cutscenes when the character isn't donning armor, and three unique traits. The Lords of Fortune, for example, gain additional reputation with this particular faction, have increased damage versus mercenaries, and perform takedowns on enemies with slightly less effort. Veilguard game director Corinne Busche says this faction selection, which ties into your character's backstory, determines who your Rook was before, how they met Varric, why they travel with Varric instead of their faction, and more.

"The message of The Veilguard is you're not saving the world on your own – you need your companions, but you also need these factions, these other groups in the world," creative director John Epler tells me. "You help them, they help you now."

He says BioWare wanted to avoid the trope of needing to gather 200 random resources or objects before helping you save the world. Instead, the team aimed to create factions that want to help you but have realistic challenges and problems in front of them so that narratively, it makes sense why you help them in return for their help when the time comes.

"Gameplay-wise – each of our classes has a specialization, and each of them is tied to a faction," Epler continues. "But beyond that, each faction has a [companion] as well as [people we're calling agents, ancillarily] who exist as the faces of these factions. We didn't want to just say, 'Here's the Grey Wardens, go deal with them.' We wanted characters within that faction who are sympathetic, who you can see and become the face of the faction, so that even if there are moments where the faction as a whole may be on the outs with you, these characters are still with you; they've still got your back."

If you want to make changes to your character's physical appearance, you can do that with the Mirror of Transformation, found in the main Veilguard hub, The Lighthouse. However, class, lineage, and identity are locked in and cannot be changed after you select them in the game's character creator.