E3 2018: All Things Xbox

April 18th 2018, 9:01 AM PT ·

E3 2018: All Things Xbox

April 18th 2018, 9:01 AM PT ·

Will Tuttle, Xbox Wire Editor In Chief, shares details about what Xbox has planned for E3 2018.

Here at Xbox, we’re hard at work getting ready for the big show. We’ll be kicking things off with our annual Xbox E3 2018 Briefing, which you can watch live beginning on Sunday, June 10 at 1 p.m. PDT. During the briefing, you’ll have a chance to check out everything from in-depth looks at previously-announced games to trailers for our unannounced titles coming in 2018 and beyond. You can watch the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing live beginning at 1 p.m. PDT on Sunday, June 10 on the official Xbox Mixer Channel or on the Mixer app for Xbox One and Windows 10.

This year, on Mixer, the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing will be offered in six languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish (LATAM), Portuguese (LATAM), and includes support for English Closed Captions. To select an alternate language, click the “cog” button within Mixer to view the available list. We’re excited for more fans all around the world to join in on the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing festivities.

You’ll also be able to catch a live stream of the briefing on other streaming services, which we’ll be announcing soon, as well as on the big screen at your local Microsoft Stores.

This year will mark the first year that our hot new show, Inside Xbox, will be airing during E3. Inside Xbox: Live @ E3 will air Monday, June 11 at 3 p.m. PDT and will feature a livestream full of exclusive announcements, game demos, interviews, giveaways and more. We’ll also be streaming live on Mixer every day throughout E3 2018 starting from Tuesday, June 12 through Thursday, June 14, so keep an eye out for our full schedule coming soon.

Finally, if you’re in LA during E3 week, we’ve got something even bigger for you: more details on Xbox FanFest: E3 2018! As we announced last week, you can win a chance to be one of the 400 lucky people to experience Xbox FanFest from June 10 to June 11, or win one of 1,000 brand-new Xbox Briefing-Only Fan Tickets. All winners will be able to enjoy the Xbox E3 Briefing in-person.

Today at 12 p.m. PDT, we’ll be launching the Xbox E3 Fan Event Submission Site, where you can submit your name for a chance, via random drawing, to win a ticket (or tickets, if you choose to add a guest) to Xbox FanFest or a Briefing-Only Fan Ticket. After your submission, you’ll need to keep an eye on the random drawing dates, then watch your email inbox once the winners have been chosen.

Amongst other things, fans who win one of the Xbox FanFest tickets will get:

Early Check-in: Private check-in and admission to a Fan Rally prior to the Xbox E3 Briefing on Sunday morning.
Briefing Access: Experience the Xbox E3 Briefing in-person.
Epic Moments: A “can’t miss” Xbox community event Sunday afternoon.
Exclusivity: Early access to Xbox’s hottest exclusives and biggest blockbuster games.
Meet Xbox: Meet and talk with some of gaming’s top developers, leaders and influencers.
Our Secret Gear Backpack: Full of amazing surprises.
A Custom Jersey: Since Xbox fans deserve the best apparel to show off their fandom!

Head on over to the Xbox E3 Online Experience for more information, as well as full rules and regulations, on Xbox FanFest: E3 2018.

Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks, as these are just a few of the activities Xbox has planned for E3 2018!

For more details about Xbox At E3 2018, check out Xbox Wire.

Sea Of Thieves: Content Plans

April 13th 2018, 10:42 AM PT ·

Sea Of Thieves: Content Plans

April 13th 2018, 10:42 AM PT ·

Joe Neate, Executive Producer at RARE, discusses content updates coming to Sea of Thieves.

It’s been just over three weeks since we launched Sea of Thieves, and a lot has happened since then! We’ve been listening to you all, and we know you are keen to hear how we plan to grow Sea of Thieves. As we’ve always said, launch is just the start, and we are going to grow and evolve the game with feedback from our community. It feels like the right time to reveal how we’ll do this.

Sea of Thieves is a unique experience. As we look to add to the game, we will be very purposeful about the type of experience we want to create, and how we want this game to grow. At the same time, we have also been listening closely to everyone playing the game since launch and have been ensuring that this feeds into our content plans. When considering what to add to our plans, we always consider how we can make the most impact on the following:

Bringing players together in interesting ways, encouraging different types of player encounters
Enriching the world that players adventure in
Giving players new ways to play
Giving players a variety of goals and rewards
Broadening the journey to Pirate Legend and beyondAlongside this, what’s key for us is the rhythm and cadence we want to get into with Sea of Thieves. Our focus for April is to continue addressing the top feedback points, but as we move into May, our focus will shift to new content.

Our first content update, The Hungering Deep, will release in May and bring with it a new AI threat to the world. Crews will have to work together to discover and defeat this threat as part of a unique event. We will also be introducing a number of new mechanics to assist players on this adventure, and there will be unique rewards that players can earn as part of this event. Beyond this, we will begin our weekly events programme during May, where we introduce new mechanics and give players fun new ways to play with weekly events and rewards.

In the summer months, we’ll debut two more content updates with Cursed Sails, which will include a new ship type, and Forsaken Shores, which will introduce players to a perilous new part of the world to explore. Similarly to The Hungering Deep, both of these updates will also include new gameplay mechanics for players, new AI threats to challenge and new unique rewards to claim.

As we’ve always said, we never wanted to do anything to separate our players, so we’re pleased to confirm that all content updates will be available to all our players, at no additional cost.

With Sea of Thieves being a game that grows and evolves, we’ll be listening to you, our community, throughout. As such, we’ll always be looking at whether our current plans are meeting your needs. Based on feedback since launch, we have changed the priorities for both Pets and Ship Captaincy which we had previously announced as things we would look to add in the few months after launch. These are on the back burner for now whilst we add to the game in other areas. Expect our plans to continue to be fluid, but always with the goals listed above as our guiding principles.

We are hugely excited to be beginning this phase of Sea of Thieves, and seeing where the adventure takes us.

Cheers,

– Joe Neate, Executive Producer

Inside Xbox Episode Two News Recap

April 11th 2018, 8:13 AM PT ·

Inside Xbox Episode Two News Recap

April 11th 2018, 8:13 AM PT ·

Earlier today, we aired episode two of Inside Xbox, as we continue to pull back the curtain on Team Xbox to celebrates our games, our features, and our fans. This episode was jam-packed full of everything you could want from a show like this, including the latest on our Xbox Backward Compatibility offerings, exciting news about Xbox FanFest at E3 2018, the debut of new console features, and an appearance from a very special guest. So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest news coming out of this month’s episode of Inside Xbox. Watch the whole show in the player above or on our YouTube channel.

Xbox Backward Compatibility

Bill Stillwell came on the show to reveal our next big batch of original Xbox backward compatible games, including beloved titles like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Jade Empire, Star Wars: Battlefront, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, and many more. He also unveiled some brand-new Xbox One X Enhanced Xbox 360 titles, including Gears of War 2, Darksiders, Portal 2, and more. For complete details, check out our full blog post on today’s Xbox One Backward Compatibility announcement.

Xbox FanFest at E3 2018

Xbox FanFest guy Chris Munson appeared on today’s show to offer the first details on Xbox FanFest at E3, including details on how tickets will be handled and a sneak peek at some of the great swag that awaits attendees. We’ve got a full post breaking down all of the details on Xbox FanFest at E3 2018, so check it out if you’re interested in joining us.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands Season 2

Yesterday, in a blog post from Ubisoft, we highlighted the first big content update for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands Season 2. On today’s show, we had an appearance from a very special guest: Sam Fisher himself, actor Michael Ironside!

PUBG Interview

Developer Brendan Greene and musician Deadmau5 appeared on the show to talk about PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on Xbox One, sharing that there will be a free trial of the game during Xbox Live Gold’s Free Play Days beginning Thursday, April 19. Fans will be able to play the full Xbox Game Preview version of the game, including all modes. There’s also some new DLC for the game, giving players some exclusive new clothes to customize their character. For more information on both the upcoming free play weekend and the all-new DLC, give today’s PUBG blog post a read.

Robocraft Infinity

Robocraft Infinity will launch day and date on Xbox Game Pass on April 11 and the team traveled to England to talk to the developer about the game and why they chose to launch into Xbox Game Pass. You can check out the full video on the Xbox YouTube channel.

Xbox Spring Update Walkthrough

The Xbox Spring Update is arriving in the coming weeks, with features including Freesync support, Share to Twitter, 1440p support, Share Controller on Mixer and more, so the team walked through some of the features. For more details, take a look at our recap from episode one of Inside Xbox, or our blog post on the Xbox Spring Update rolling out to Xbox Insiders.

Overkill’s The Walking Dead

Today’s episode featured the debut of a brand-new trailer from Overkill’s The Walking Dead, as well as a chat with the executive producer about what fans can expect in the upcoming cooperative FPS. To check out the trailer for yourself, head on over to the Xbox YouTube channel.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in! We hope you enjoyed the show and we can’t wait to tell you all about next month’s episode in a few weeks.

Visit Xbox And Mixer at PAX East

April 5th 2018, 7:03 AM PT ·

Visit Xbox And Mixer at PAX East

April 5th 2018, 7:03 AM PT ·

Tara Theoharis, Manager at Xbox US Events, shares details about PAX East going on this weekend in Boston, Massachusetts.

Xbox and Mixer are heading to Boston for PAX East this week, running April 5-8, 2018. If you have a PAX East badge, you’ll get the opportunity to play new Xbox games for the first time, interact with streamers through Mixer, and meet some of your favorite developers. Not able to make PAX East in person? Our biggest event will be streamed to you live on Mixer, and the Xbox Most Powerful Gamers Sweepstakes on the official @Xbox Twitter channel is open to everyone. Read on for all the information you need!

Xbox Booth
Booth #13019

Experience Xbox One’s largest, most diverse games lineup in the Xbox booth! Try your hand at nine different titles available to play, including Sea of Thieves, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Ashen, Below, DayZ, and for the first time ever: State of Decay 2. The Xbox Booth will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time from Thursday through Sunday and is only available to PAX East badge holders.

Sea of Thieves Lounge
Booth #15033

Visit the Sea of Thieves Lounge presented by Chips Ahoy! to relax, recharge your devices, and enjoy some Chips Ahoy! cookies. While there, take a selfie with our Sea of Thieves statue, try your hand at the State of Decay 2 claw machine, and pick a game from the Xbox Game Pass vending machine. The Sea of Thieves Lounge will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time from Thursday through Sunday and is only available to PAX East badge holders.

Mixer Booth
Booth #: 15019

Stop by the Mixer booth in Hall A to meet some of your favorite Mixer streamers, catch HypeZone LIVE, and win a chance to score some sweet Mixer swag! Not able to attend in person? You can also watch all the HypeZone Live content over at Mixer.com/HypeZoneLIVE. For more information about Mixer at PAX, please see their blog post or find them on social media using #MixerPAXEast.

Xbox Live Sessions: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds with deadmau5 and Brendan Greene
Saturday, April 7
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EST
Main Theater and mixer.com/xbox

Electronic musician deadmau5 and PUBG Creative Director Brendan Greene (PlayerUnknown) will be joined by Xbox Live’s Major Nelson to play PUBG live in front of fans at PAX East. Fans at home can tune in to watch and submit questions on mixer.com/xbox and twitch.tv/xbox. An autograph session will follow. For more information on deadmau5 at PAX East, visit this Xbox Wire post.

The Xbox Most Powerful Gamers Sweepstakes

Whether you’re at PAX East or tuning in from home, you have the chance to win everything you need to become one of our Most Powerful Gamers. Four winners will receive either a State of Decay 2, PUBG, Sea of Thieves, or Ashen custom Xbox One X console created by Hydro74, plus a Samsung 55” QLED 4K Television, an Elite controller, one year of Xbox Game Pass, and one year of Xbox Live Gold.

How do you enter? Follow @Xbox or @XboxCanada on Twitter and retweet one of their tweets mentioning the sweepstakes, including #PAXEast #XboxSweepstakes. The sweepstakes run from April 5-8, 2018 and are open to anyone from the United States or Canada. Click through for the Official Rules.

Visit the Xbox US Events website for more information on PAX East. For more Xbox news, follow @Xbox and @XboxWire on Twitter.

[ 💬 Larry Hryb ] @majornelson