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Before going to visit Rare, the British studio behind Xbox One‘s first big exclusive of the year, I wasn’t really sure what you do in Sea of Thieves. It’s a pirate game, sure, but what does that mean, exactly? It seems obvious now, but of course the answer is: you act like a pirate. You take on quests to retrieve loot or kill a skeleton captain and then proceed to sail a ship, look out for enemy boats, fix leaks, bail water out, position the sails, lower or raise the anchor, and shoot cannons.

As it turns out, that’s all really fun. Playing in a team of four, I enjoyed swapping between those roles, communicating with my crewmates to navigate the sea or if we spotted an opposition ship in the distance. The entertainment comes from the role-playing, the coordination, and the satisfaction of knowing that skeleton captain’s skull lies on the floor beneath you because your crew attacked his fortress together. You can do whatever you wish, and go in any direction you want, and it’s enjoyable to see what hilarity ensues from those decisions.

For Rare, this sensation of making your own fun was very much intentional. “That happened because we give you a great degree of mechanical freedom,” says Sea of Thieves’ design director, Mike Chapman. “You’ve got a ship that’s not gonna sail itself; it’s just a piece of wood. You are the ship: you are a person on a ship and you must work together to sail it and then you’ve got these tools that you can use in different ways. Like the gunpowder kegs [which can be used to blow up enemy ships, for example], like [randomly] finding a merchant message in a bottle that leads you on a different adventure. All of these things are deliberate in terms of the freedom they give players because when you put multiple players in the same world doing the same thing, you get all these incredible scenarios.”

Of course, you do have objectives to accomplish in Sea of Thieves–it’s just up to you whether you actually aim for them. Sure, you can go and find that one specific pig and keep it alive on the journey back–one of the game’s three existing factions will task you with retrieving rare creatures and maintaining their health for the duration of your voyage–or you can ignore any quests and just chill out. Simply sailing around the game’s colorful oceans, hanging out with friends, is an equally enjoyable experience, and the world will distract you with emergent mechanics such as the aforementioned messages in bottles or public events on distant islands that draw other players to their shores.

A shared world, public events, and live content all made me, at least, recall Bungie’s Destiny, which has a similar structure–the ability to jump into a squad with friends and explore a beautiful world, engaging in missions if you want to. However, while Destiny and Destiny 2 have strikes, raids, a story campaign, and a combat-focused Crucible, Sea of Thieves appears to contain no extra modes as yet. After the game’s recent beta, some fans were left concerned that the final version would be too light on content to maintain any sort of significant longevity, and it’s a concern I share. Specifically, I wonder whether the game’s weapons and gear will offer enough depth to keep me coming back after more than a few hours. Using in-game currency, you can purchase new guns and clothing–among other items–but there are no stat advantages to be gained from buying more expensive pieces. You can obtain different types of weapon, such as the shotgun or sniper rifle, but within those categories there are no mechanical differences between the first shotgun available to you and the last. “The compass never gets more powerful,” says Chapman. “A compass is just a compass. A pistol is just a pistol. You’ll need to grow as a player as you face these high level challenges.”

Microsoft has rolled out a fresh set of deals on Xbox Live, and there are some solid offers to be had across Xbox One and Xbox 360. Starting with Xbox One, the newest Call of Duty game, Call of Duty: WWII, is on sale for one of the first times since release. Right now, you can get it for $39, which is 35 percent off its normal $60 price.

Some other notable Xbox One offers this week include Rocket League ($12), XCOM 2 ($20), WWE 2K18 ($30), NBA 2K18 ($39), Injustice 2 ($32), Firewatch ($8), Evolve ($7.50), and Destiny 2 ($39). Additionally, Mafia III ($16) and lots of add-on content for Rocket League and Rainbow Six Siege is on sale, with discounts as deep as 50% off.

On Xbox 360, BioShock 1-2 and Infinite are on sale, alongside Borderlands, Borderlands 2, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Other 2K games are on sale as well, including Mafia II, Spec Ops: The Line, The Darkness II, and XCOM: Enemy Within.

Go to Major Nelson’s blog to see a full rundown of this week’s Xbox One and Xbox 360 deals, including country-specific price points and more. The offers, some of which require an Xbox Live Gold membership, are good through February 19.

In other news, Xbox Live Gold members can now pick up some of February’s free Games With Gold titles. These include Shadow Warrior on Xbox One and Split/Second for Xbox 360.

Every year, the developers of Sony’s MLB The Show franchise come up with new elements to add to the game to make the professional baseball sim even more authentic. One of the new additions for MLB The Show 18 is rain delays. Yes. Rain delays.

As explained in the video below, MLB The Show 18 will have “more diverse” atmospheric effects, including fog and better-looking rain. We’re not sure of all the details yet, as only a few seconds were dedicated to rain in the video. Presumably, if it’s raining too hard, the umpires will call a rain delay, just as it would happen in real life. When this happens, you’ll have to decide if you want to leave in your current pitcher or warm up a fresh arm. This is the same managerial challenge that MLB managers must make in real-world games.

As for what will happen during the rain delay, we can’t imagine you’ll have to sit around and actually wait for the fictional weather to clear. In real life, rain delays can last for hours, so naturally, players and fans get into all manner of hijinks during the downtime. We can only hope that MLB The Show developer Sony San Diego incorporates some of this frivolity into the game, though that remains to be seen. In real life, the umpires can choose to cancel a game if the rain persists and reschedule for a later date, though we can’t imagine that would ever happen in the game.

Another new element for MLB The Show 18 is a batting stance creator that lets you control things like hand positioning and bat-wiggle, along with the placement of your hips, front elbow, and hands. Also, there are now home run celebration animations that correspond to how much the home run meant to the result of the game. As explained in the video, a home run that wins a game is completely different in emotion than one that happens during a blowout. Additionally, there are more team-specific celebration animations in MLB The Show 18, including the dancing Chicago Cubs pitchers.

In other news, Sony recently showed off MLB The Show 18’s revamped create-a-player features, including the custom batting stances and more. Check out GameSpot’s in-depth video here (and embedded above) to get a full rundown of what’s new this year.

MLB The Show launches exclusively for PS4 on March 27, though if you pre-order you can start playing on March 23. The 2018 MLB season begins on March 29. In all seriousness, Sony’s MLB The Show franchise is the leading baseball sim, and the addition of rain delays is a further step towards realism that fans may welcome and appreciate.

PUBG‘s mobile version launched in China this month. To support the release, launch partner Tencent put out a live-action trailer–and it looks pretty great.

It follows the narrative of the game, beginning with characters parachuting out of an airplane as they prepare to fight to the death on the ground. The characters are shown doing all manner of PUBG things such as scavenging for equipment and working alone and together (Solo vs. Squads). We also get a glimpse of PUBG’s famous frying pan and its bullet-stopping power, as well as a character gloating about a takedown before himself getting mowed down. Here’s the trailer, as posted on YouTube by Soy Effectiivez (via USGamer).

As others have pointed out, this live-action trailer shows off what a PUBG movie could look like. Last month, the CEO of PUBG developer PUBG Corp, Chang Han Kim, said in an interview that the studio sees the game as being a “universal media franchise,” with movies and TV shows extending the brand beyond a game alone.

“We want to take part in diverse industries including Esports, movies, drama, cartoons, animation, and more,” Kim said at the time. “In fact, we received a couple of love calls from a number of developers in Hollywood and Netflix. Our dream is to build a new game-based culture through various ways like this, and have the lead of that culture.”

Gamers in China can download PUBG right now for mobile devices. Check out the gameplay video below to get an idea about what the game looks like and how it plays. As of yet, there is no word on if PUBG mobile will be released in Western markets.

For more on PUBG, check out GameSpot’s new video feature that compares PUBG and Fortnite: Battle Royale.

Are you in the market for a new Xbox One X? A store page on eBay is currently offering a pretty excellent deal on the super-powered console that you may want to consider.

Right now, the AntOnline store on eBay (via Wario64) is selling the Xbox One X with an extra controller for only $460 USD. That’s an excellent deal, considering the system alone normally sells for $500. Extra controllers go for $60, so normally you’d pay $560 for all of this.

Of course, shipping will run you extra, with that fee depending on where you live. Another note is that this is a brand-new Xbox One X, so you get Microsoft’s full warranty, too.

The Xbox One X launched in November. An improved version of the Xbox One, the Xbox One X features more horsepower which affords better graphics and faster load times. All Xbox One games (and a library of backwards-compatible Xbox 360 games) play on Xbox One X. Some Xbox One titles are optimised to be “enhanced” on the the Xbox One X.

For more on the Xbox One X, check out GameSpot’s video review embedded above and our written review here.