Category: Games

Xbox boss Phil Spencer is celebrating an anniversary with Xbox. It was seven years ago, on March 31, 2014, that Spencer was promoted to Head of Xbox. It was a big, dramatic change for Microsoft and Xbox, as the company faltered under the leadership of Don Mattrick and some of the policy moves that the company pushed in regards to DRM and used games.

In short, Xbox was in a tough position back then. The Xbox One launched at $500, a full $100 above the PS4, thanks in part to Kinect being bundled with every system. Microsoft did sell 1 million units of the Xbox One in its first 24 hours, but the surge at launch could not be sustained in the long-term, and the PS4 would handily outsell the Xbox One over time.

Spencer would go on to acknowledge and own up to Microsoft’s numerous shortcomings in the Xbox One era, and in particular the controversial policy decisions from the previous leadership team. Under Spencer’s leadership, and due to a number of other factors, Xbox is in a great position right now. The Xbox Series X|S had a record-setting launch, while initiatives that Spencer spearheaded like Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Streaming have taken off to great success.

“Crazy to think it’s been 7 years. Couldn’t be more proud of the team; what they’ve learned and accomplished over the years. Lot’s more to do, thanks for all the support and feedback from the community, I really do appreciate all the positive energy,” he said on Twitter.

Looking back at the announcement from March 31, 2014 is a fun stroll down memory lane. At the time, Spencer said he was “honored to lead the team at this incredible time for Microsoft and the games industry.” His blog post was titled “A New Day at Xbox.”

Back in 2014, Spencer laid out a vision for where he saw Xbox heading in the future, and I think many would agree he achieved that and then some.

“Our mission is to build a world-class team, work hard to meet the high expectations of a passionate fan base, create the best games and entertainment, and drive technical innovation. As we continue forward, this renewed focus and mission will be a foundational part of how I lead the Xbox program,” he said at the time.

Spencer has made dramatic moves as Head of Xbox, including spending $10 billion on acquiring Mojang/Minecraft and also ZeniMax and its subsidiary studios and franchises. Those investments could pay, or in the case of Minecraft are already paying, significant dividends for Microsoft. With ZeniMax now under the Microsoft fold, Microsoft takes ownership of franchises like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Doom, and more, and brings on eight new first-party studios to help bolster its exclusive lineup going forward. Microsoft was criticized in the past for not doing enough in terms of first-party game development and exclusives, and that argument is likely to fall apart now with all the moves Microsoft has made.

Spencer also led the team in pushing a new approach to releasing Xbox games on more platforms to help broaden the playerbase. The company previously kept Xbox games on console and PC games on PC. But now, Xbox games are released everywhere, and even beyond console and PC thanks to cloud streaming for mobile devices and tablets. The executive also led the charge in pushing for cross-play, when, in 2016, he boldly announced a plan and a willingness to work with Sony and Nintendo on cross-play.

Spencer is known for his candor and free speaking, and he has on numerous occasions taken a hard line against the idea of console wars in the gaming industry. He says it serves no purpose and has a negative effect on gaming, and has consistently called for change.

Game Pass deserves a callout as well, as Spencer helped spearhead the launch of this Netflix-style subscription service that could be Microsoft’s secret weapon. Xbox Game Pass could have dramatic, long-lasting implications for Xbox and beyond, and it’s off to a great start with 18 million subscribers and a lot of positive buzz about how great a value it is.

Spencer is known for being humble, so he wouldn’t take credit for all of Microsoft’s success stories for Xbox in recent years, and he does have a big team around him that gets the job done. But he has personally led the way in his public-facing position and he sets the tone.

It hasn’t been completely smooth sailing, however, as Spencer was part of the team that decided to cancel Scalebound, shut down Lionhead, and close down Microsoft’s ambitious Xbox Entertainment Studios division (which, to be fair, he inherited from previous management).

The future is unwritten and uncertain, but Spencer has demonstrated again and again that he is a capable, forward-thinking leader who is committed to Xbox and growing the brand.

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Analogue’s Pocket, a retro console designed to play all your old games for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance, has been delayed from its original shipping window of May into October 2021. The company has pointed to industry-wide electrical component shortages and global logistical disruption (related to a certain ship getting stuck in a certain canal) as the reason for the delay.

Unlike other delays announced today, this one is sadly not an April Fools joke. “The current global state of affairs continues to create supply chain challenges outside of our control,” the blog post on Analogue’s website reads, linking to a Bloomberg feature on chip shortages and a Forbes explainer on the impact the Ever Given’s Suez Canal blunder will continue to have on the global supply chain for the next few months.

The $200 Analogue Pocket has proven to be an incredibly popular product even prior to its release, with preorders selling out in just 16 minutes and scalpers already listing them at hugely inflated prices. The delay is beyond Analogue’s control, however, with similar issues hitting tech manufacturers of all sizes.

The handheld has now been delayed for five months, and will begin shipping in October 2021. Anyone who managed to snag a preorder should have received an email from Analogue about the delay.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Outriders is now out for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Stadia. The game is available for Xbox Game Pass subscribers as well. If you’re just downloading Outriders and you’re wondering where to begin, like which class to pick and how to activate cross-play multiplayer, then you’re in the right place. Below, we’ve compiled a series of Outriders guides that should get you on your way to exploring the planet of Enoch.

In Outriders, you play as one of the last members of the titular group, initially tasked with determining whether the planet Enoch is a suitable home for humanity after Earth’s destruction. But when a freak storm kills most of your crew, no one can stop the signal misinforming the civilian colonists in your group that it’s safe to settle. Although you survive, the storm mutates you, gifting you with extraordinary powers. Now with no choice but to make a home of Enoch, you’re tasked with using your abilities to uncover the secrets of the planet and stop the source of the storm.

Outriders is a third-person shooter, and although there is cover in the game, you don’t want to spend all your time hiding behind chest-high walls. This game is all about aggression–each character class can only heal by killing or damaging enemies, so putting yourself out there to wreak havoc with a variety of firearms is ideal. To compliment your array of weapons, you can also use several superpowered abilities to devastating effect. The Devastator class, for example, can stop bullets in midair and throw them back at enemies, while the Technomancer can pull together discarded metal to forge rocket launchers and miniguns.

Demo Progress

Developer People Can Fly have said that all progress made in the Outriders pre-release demo will follow you into the main game. Just be sure to download the game to the platform where you played the demo–Outriders has cross-play multiplayer, but not cross-platform progression.

Day 1 Update

Publisher Square Enix has revealed several updates scheduled to go live in the first few weeks of Outriders’ release. The first is a Day 1 update, which is planned to go live just prior to Outriders’ launch time but may be delayed and come out the day of, requiring an additional download.

The Day 1 update is aimed at addressing bugs and the uncomfortable level of camera shake during cutscenes. Following this, Outriders is scheduled to get a post-launch patch that will add additional options for controller settings, improve loading times on Xbox One and PS4, implement cross-play multiplayer improvements, and more.

Picking A Class

When you first play Outriders, you’ll go through an exposition-heavy prologue that also introduces you to the basic controls and shooting mechanics. Following that prologue, your Altered abilities will awaken, allowing you to pick one of four classes. Choose carefully, even if you can adjust your character’s appearance throughout the game, you’re stuck with your class until you make a new character.

So that raises the question: Which Outriders character class is right for you? If you’re looking to fight up close, going for the Devastator or Trickster is probably your speed–the former controls gravity as Outriders’ resident tank class, while the latter manipulates space and time as the game’s take on a rogue. For a more long-range option, go for the Technomancer, which can create and control advanced machinery in a support or summoner role. The Pyromancer falls in between the other three as a mid-range class, commanding fire as Outriders’ mage.

Solo Play

Despite each of Outriders four classes fitting into squad-based roles, you can play Outriders entirely solo (though, as a warning, the game requires you to connect to the internet even if you have no plans of playing with others). All four classes can tackle Outriders’ campaign on their own, though we advise you pick the Trickster for solo play. The class’ ability to easily teleport in and out of trouble and create a shield for itself relatively easily makes it an ideal choice for playing on your own.

Cross-Play Multiplayer

Outriders supports cross-play multiplayer, so you can party up with your friends regardless of which platforms you each decide to play on. You can team up with up to two other people for a squad of three. That said, you won’t be able to jump into multiplayer immediately. There are a few steps you’ll have to complete first.

In order to enable cross-play multiplayer, you’ll need to complete the prologue–that means becoming fully Altered, picking your class, and reaching Outriders first hub area: Rift Town. Once you’ve done that, you can turn on multiplayer and team up from the lobby screen or by visiting the matchmaking terminal in Rift Town’s garage. That terminal will be packed up and follow you as you explore the world, being set up wherever you make camp.

Farming For Legendary Loot

You’ll naturally come across rarer and more powerful gear in Outriders by just playing the game. Chances are you’ll stumble upon legendary loot without needing to grind for it. But if you want something cool and shiny to equip before setting out in the campaign, there are a few missions and boss fights in the early hours of Outriders that make for ideal farming locations for legendary loot.

PC Specs

If you’re planning on playing Outriders on PC, it’s good to know whether your machine can run the game. Developer People Can Fly has outlined the full PC specs, so you know what type of experience you’re getting based on your rig. For the recommended experience (1080p resolution and 60fps), the developer advises you to have at least a GeForce GTX 1060 6GB or Radeon RX 480 8GB graphics card, an i7-7700 or Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, and 16GB of RAM. To install the game, you’ll also need 70GB of available storage space.

YouTube’s most disliked videos of all time include classics like Justin Bieber’s Baby, Rebecca Black’s Friday, and the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare reveal trailer–but a new update may take away viewers’ ability to tell how many users disliked any given video. YouTube says it is currently testing the change, which wouldn’t remove the dislike button, but would make the metric visible only to creators.

Only select users are part of the experiment to begin with, with YouTube sharing a screenshot of what the new interface will look like for the testing group. The number of likes would still be displayed under the thumbs up button, while the “dislike” button no longer has a number attached.

The gaming side of YouTube is no stranger to the “targeted dislike campaigns” described in the tweet, with the aforementioned mass-disliking of the futuristic Infinite Warfare trailer as one example. On another occasion, gamers organized in order to mass-dislike a Jimmy Kimmel video in which he said that watching other people play games makes no sense.

YouTube’s announcement of the experiment has been generally disliked by the YouTube community, with many replies and quote-retweets on Twitter criticizing the move. Even high profile YouTubers such as Jacksepticeye and RubberNinja have expressed doubts about the change, while other users have pointed out how easily committed dislikers will get around the restrictions.

It’s yet to be seen whether YouTube will roll out this change more broadly across the site. It is currently testing multiple versions of a user interface without dislikes on small groups of users.

It’s hard to miss Randall Park these days; he’s in a ton of stuff and is a consistent scene stealer. But now, Park is stepping behind the camera to bring a graphic novel to life. Park will helm the adaptation of Shortcomings, a graphic novel by cartoonist Adrian Tomine, Deadline reports, with Roadside Attractions and Imminent Collision producing.

Shortcomings follows the life of a group of young Asian Americans living in the Bay Area in the early 2000s as they explore relationships both with each other and outside, navigating questions about race and culture.

“I am such a huge fan of Adrian’s work, and I’m very excited to team with him and Roadside Attractions on this updated, modern take of Shortcomings,” Park said in an official statement. “In these characters, I see version of Asian Americans in my own life, the ones I love and the ones I just kind of tolerate.”

“Shortcomings is a book that’s very close to my heart, and I have long resisted the idea of any adaptation that didn’t feel true to the style and spirit of the material,” said Tomine, who is also penning the screenplay for the adaptation. “Randall, Roadside Attractions, and Imminent Collision immediately impressed me with their passion, insight, and vision for this film. They have been invaluable partners in the process of translating Shortcomings both to the screen as well as to the current time, and I’m honored to be a part of this collaboration.”

“With his adaptation of Shortcomings, Adrian has proven himself not only a brilliant cartoonist but also a talented screenwriter. When Randall came to us with a true artist’s vision for telling this story cinematically, everything clicked into place,” said Roadside Attractions’ senior VP Jennifer Berman.

The project is in early development, and Deadline says the team will be looking to sell the project in the coming weeks, meaning the project is still a ways off. In the meantime, you can catch him on Young Rock, read up on how Park forgot about his hilarious Office cameo (and the awkward interactions it has led to in his real life), or how he got ready to reprise his role as Jimmy Woo in Marvel Studios’ WandaVision.