You will no longer have to be an Xbox Live subscriber to use cloud saves to transfer your Xbox 360 games to Xbox Series X/S. When the consoles launch, you will be able to transfer over your 360 games using the cloud. “Preserving the games of our past is fundamental to our DNA at Xbox and our continued promise to you,” said Microsoft. “Backward compatibility lets you experience your cherished gaming memories again and in new ways....

The September update for Xbox lets you customize the Xbox button color on the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2, get organized with a full library revamp and enjoy new storage and default install options. When it comes to color on your Series 2 controller, you can choose from a wide array of colors that combine red, blue, and green LEDs to produce over 16 million hues of light. Not a bad number of choices....

That’s according to Bloomberg, which reports that the Xbox firm has been in discussions with studios big and small in the region. There’s no indication yet about who the platform holder has been speaking to or how these discussions have been going. This would be the latest in a long line of acquisitions that Xbox has made in recent years. Back at E3 2018, Microsoft announced that it had purchased Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs and Compulsion, in addition to setting up a new studio called The Initiative in Santa Monica....

Over on The Verge, a whole section of the Xbox Series X hands-on preview is dedicated to the hardware’s loading times, and it makes for good reading. You will notice load times drop in “pretty much every single game” compared to an Xbox One X, according to the article (though it should be noted reviewers were limited to testing only backward-compatible games for this part of the embargo). The most noticeable example of the changes come in games with infamously long loading times....

Billed as an RPG whose story is told entirely through cards, details on the game are scant, including what platforms it will appear on or even how the game plays. All we have to go on is a cryptic teaser trailer and a short press release from the publisher, which says that “this new title will spark players imagination and open their minds to a different way of storytelling as the narrative unfolds....

Out of the handful of creatures that didn’t get the memo, one lies hidden, waiting to ruin your tranquil existence as you collect your daily fruit: wasps. Wasps in Animal Crossing: New Horizons descend on you without warning when you shake the wrong tree too vigorously, chasing you around your island with tireless determination. They’re like Liam Neeson in Taken. They will look for you. They will find you. And they will sting you....

Rather than the flatscreen experience, Praydog has integrated full 6DOF VR support for each game, full VRIK (so you’re no longer a pair of floating hands), and motion controller support. Motion controller support is still a work in progress according to the mods Github page, but as it stands, the new controls already work to make the experience even more immersive. These motion controls now allow players of Resident Evil 7 and Village to use their hands freely in their gameplay....

People can choose to be transgender in the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy. That’s according to a report from Bloomberg, which claims that players will be able to choose a character that has a male or female-sounding voice, regardless of what body type they have decided on. This news comes amid controversy over the views of Harry Potter creator JK Rowling, as well as the more recent revelation that Hogwarts Legacy’s lead designer, Troy Leavitt, used to run a pro-Gamergate YouTube channel....

The news comes from Kotaku, who noticed the option to switch between male and female Eivor during its Assassin’s Creed Valhalla preview session. “You can swap back and forth between the male and female versions of Eivor, seemingly at will,” reads the preview. “I played most of the demo as the female Eivor.” “Toward the end of my session I noticed an option to press up on the D-pad while toggling between menus,” it continues....

The Xbox Series S custom console and controller designs include BB-8, Boba Fett, Chewbacca, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, Finn, Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Rey, Stormtrooper, and Yoda. Each console also comes with a custom color inspired by each of the 12 playable characters featured in the game. To enter the sweepstakes, you will need to login into your public Twitter account and follow the official Xbox account. Once followed, re-tweet the promotional post and include the hashtags #LEGOStarWarsXboxSweepstakes and #Maythe4th....

Black Lives Matter. We will be donating to Black Lives Matter, Black Visions Collective, Minnesota Freedom Fund, the NAACP and other charities, local bail funds and organisations dedicated to ending injustice, oppression and discrimination. We will urgently examine how we can better use our platforms to promote Black voices and work toward change in our own company. We encourage our community to donate, to sign petitions calling for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and all those killed as the result of racist violence, and to engage on a local level to mend a broken system....

“Have you ever considered continuing The Witcher series with Ciri as a lead?” That’s a question I posed to principal writer Jakub Szamałek during a recent Q&A with The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red. “Interesting question,” he replied, teasingly. “Would you like to play a game with Ciri as a lead character?” Yes, mate. Yes I would. Elsewhere in our chat, Szamałek spoke about his biggest regret, looking back at development on The Witcher 3....

343 Industries has announced that it will be shutting down multiplayer servers for Xbox 360 Halo games at the end of 2021. Halo will always be one of the franchises that normalised online play. While online multiplayer existed before the arrival of Master Chief, the franchise was certainly one of the cornerstones of bringing it to a mainstream audience. While it started on the Xbox with Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, it was solidified on the Xbox 360 where it was even more accessible....

Beating a boss in Demon’s Souls (or any Souls-like game, for that matter) is always a rewarding feeling… but vanquishing a tricky foe with a dance pad? Well, that’s another feat altogether. YouTuber and Twitch streamer Luality has managed to overcome the Flamelurker using only a dance pad, putting down the DualSense in order to off the boss with nothing more than impressive footwork and impeccable timing (thanks, PushSquare). The video above shows off the impressive accomplishment – trust us, it’s worth a watch....

Look, I don’t care what anyone might say, I know I only managed to beat Malenia because of the Mimic Tear, and I’m not ashamed of it. She’s a damn tough boss fight, easily one of FromSoftware’s hardest. Which makes Twitch streamer MissMikkaa’s accomplishment of playing the game on a dance pad on one console, and a regular controller on another, and beating Malenia on both of them, all the more impressive (thanks, Eurogamer)....

After Kotick made a statement in response to the harassment and bullying lawsuit that’s been filed against the publisher yesterday, employees involved in the protest have said that whilst they’re happy they “convinced leadership to change the tone of their communications”, the statement still failed to address concerns or demands from those involved in the walkout. A statement from employees, provided to IGN, says that the walkout marks the beginning of “an enduring movement in favor of better labor conditions for all employees”....

I vividly remember Dead Space being a huge sleeper hit in late 2008, automatically becoming one of the scariest games ever, and with such a big cliffhanger wrapping up the first chapter of Isaac Clarke’s story, talk of a sequel quickly heated up. That second entry materialized a little over two years later in Dead Space 2, a more action-oriented take on space-based horror. If Dead Space, despite its bigger scale, could be compared structurally to Alien, then Dead Space 2 was clearly borrowing some notes from its explosive sequel, Aliens....

According to Respawn, the Apex Legends character Loba Andrade is a thief who “no matter how well it’s guarded,” is used to getting what she wants. Going by the new trailer, it appears she has some sort of past with Revenant. With Season 5, you can expect a new Battle Pass, a new Season Quest where you will hunt for “treasures and answers,” and Ranked Series 4. Season 5 of Apex Legends is set to kick off on May 12, and next week on May 5, we’ll get our first look at the upcoming season with a trailer....

You probably already guessed a delay was on the cards, considering public tests have yet to begin for the game, not to mention the fact Embark has been quiet on the news and gameplay footage front. Well, the developer made it official today. In a Twitter announcement, Embark said ARC Raiders has been delayed to 2023. The extra time will be used to “expand the experience.” Seeing as there’s plenty we still don’t know about the game, Embark added that more details will arrive once tests with players begin - though it’s not clear when that’s going to be....

Arcade1Up has established itself as one of the top ways to get yourself a home arcade presence, with a cost to rival building your own machine but a far greater simplicity. Coming in at three-quarter scale, these machines are theoretically big enough to stand at and use but small enough that they have a footprint that doesn’t become ridiculous in your home. Up until now Arcade1Up has focused on some of the most typical arcade classics you’d expect: Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Pac-Man and the like....