Leaders from Rare and Dlala will join a special panel to discuss how to support and lead development teams during times of intense change.
The panel will end this year's GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit, which will take place at London's Royal Institution on September 18. Tickets are on sale here.
Rare studio boss Craig Duncan and chief of staff Harriet Manson will join Dlala CEO Aj Grand-Scrutton and COO Gemma Foster in a discussion around the rapid rate of change happening inside and outside of the games industry, such as on-going challenges posed by economic, political and global unrest. With Rare sharing insight from within a major Microsoft-owned AAA studio, and Dlala discussing their experiences on the indie side, the discussion will centre on the role of leadership in helping their employees navigate change, and will offer actionable advice and tips for leaders and HR professionals.
I believe I am not the only one who has had childhood afternoons spent poring over pirate maps, so you can recognize the feeling that such moments ignited in you, the wanderlust that you yearn to pursue in life. Sea of Thieves may provide just such an adventure (or nostalgic memory reignited), and it could be the case that once started, you will be hooked (pun intended) for a long! Think about the longevity of this adventure game: 12 Seasons already! When I say "hooked for long," it is not just an expression... I really mean it!
Is Sea of Thieves Worth It?
One must consider whether its riches truly meet their mark because the Sea of Thieves is a pleasant and addictive game, however, you cannot avoid asking yourself: is it worth its very high price tag? Also, are there ways to mitigate the price, like getting it for less - think cheap Xbox games on key websites like G2A or Eneba - or something else? Very fast, to leave these questions behind, I can tell you that on Xbox, you can get an Xbox pass for less than $10/month and enjoy many games, including Sea of Thieves. And "yes," it could be found at a better price on the websites mentioned.
From Ship to Shore: Unraveling the Mysteries of Sea of Thieves Islands
Although its graphics might not appeal to everyone - with more cartoony than hyper-realistic depictions - that doesn't matter; what matters is how well they work together: vivid colors, meticulous attention to environment details ranging from tropical island palm trees swaying in the breeze to volcanic vents in Devil's Roar giving off fiery flares combined to form an undeniably stunning world that exudes with its distinct artistic style and captivating moments of breathtaking beauty or hilarious pirate misadventures captured as screenshots before! Never have I taken so many screenshots before in one game that captured such breathtaking moments of breathtaking beauty or hilarious pirate misadventures!
An Insanely Beautiful Piratical Playground
And yet this is only a taste of what lies beyond. Concealed alcoves, perilous shallows, and mysterious isles shrouded in mist make the Sea of Thieves realm, an ever-evolving tableau that never ceases to surprise with its breadth and diversity. Furthermore, weather patterns add another dimension: one moment being caressed by gentle caresses of zephyr wind while moments later caught up in a fierce battle against tempests wreaking havoc: all elements come together to make for an ever-evolving tableau which demands reverence as well as attention as continual adaptation by those living within its waters.
Are You Dreaming of Hoisting the Jolly Roger and Chasing Sunset across Endless Blue?
In conclusion, here's the salty truth: Sea of Thieves can be an amazing solo experience too, even if I would rather recommend it as a multiplayer PvP or PvE video game, offering plenty of solitude with which you can commune with the vastness of the ocean. Even if you buy Xbox adventure games for playing alone, solo sailing offers its poetry and it is a nice departure from many more commercial offers or twitch-shooters that conquered the market lately. This is a different kind of adventure, that develops slowly, but well, and communing directly with nature while learning to read waves, predict storms, and anticipate squalls is part and parcel with becoming a hardened pirate from sea's harsh conditions.
Developer: Rare Publisher: Milton Bradley Release: 12/90 Genre: Platformer In total Rare developed 60 games for the NES. That is incredibly prolific and their games spanned almost every genre, from sports to action to even game show adaptations. But...
Perfect Dark has been in the news quite a lot recently. First there was the impressive gameplay reveal for the upcoming reboot at this month's Xbox Showcase and, literally yesterday, Nintendo announced that the original Perfect Dark is now available to play on Switch.
All of this Perfect Dark news got me perfectly nostalgic, so I jumped back into the original three games and put together a little list video based on some of the most bizarre (and naughty) Easter Eggs and features that Rare's series has to offer.
Give it a watch on the player above or there's the YouTube version embedded below if you'd prefer to push that one into your peepers. Enjoy!
The art of the reveal is a difficult thing - and in our current industry, most publishers prefer trailers packed with pre-rendered CGI or snippets captured across the game. Yet, I've always preferred a different approach: a linear series of events showcasing what's possible in the game. This style was memorably used to reveal Metal Gear Solid 2, along with titles like Halo 2, Doom 3, The Last of Us and Killzone: Shadow Fall. It's designed to showcase the gameplay vision of a title contained within a single location - a way to help the player understand what sort of game the developer is building. With the reboot of Perfect Dark, finally shown during this year's Xbox showcase, I was thrilled to see a return to this format.
There's little doubt that the lead-up to Perfect Dark has been fraught with challenges. First named six years ago in a simple teaser, the studio went radio-silent afterwards, with rumors suggesting it was in a rough state. With this new trailer, however, it finally feels like we have a vision for what the team wants to achieve. This is still very much a vertical slice - it wouldn't be surprising to learn that little else of the game's campaign has been built yet - but this trailer gives me hope that they're on the right track.
Creating a new entry in the Perfect Dark series is perhaps not as simple as it may seem. On the face of it, the original Perfect Dark is a type of shooter that largely doesn't really exist any longer. It's mission- and objective-driven, filled with gadgets and other unique scenarios, but the central mechanics, level design and flow are very much of the era. There is one contemporary game, known as Agent 64, which perfectly builds on this style of play - the demo is excellent and a fun throwback - but that's not necessarily what you'd want from a full reboot.
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Perfect Dark are heading to Nintendo Switch Online, as part of the Expansion pack's new "mature" games app.
Nintendo made the announcement during this afternoon's Direct broadcast. Both N64 shooters are available from today. In addition, Perfect Dark will arrive with online multiplayer, so who is ready for a round or two later?
As well as these mature games, Nintendo Switch Online users will be able to get their hands on GameBoy Advance's Metroid: Zero Mission and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Four Swords. You can see a little taste for what's in store via the video below.
I never played the original Perfect Dark, but the trailer for the reboot shown during this evening's Xbox Games Showcase instantly made it the most exciting game I've seen during not-E3. It's first-person, it's got stealth, it's got parkour, it's got hand-to-hand melee combat including slidekicks. It looks like a mashup of Mirror's Edge and something more immersive sim-y? What's not to like.
Everyone has a sequel they’re waiting for someone to greenlight. Some of our favorite video game franchises exist in a sad state of limbo. It’s only natural that after decades of companies making games and trying to earn the most money from them, that some good titles would fall through the cracks, never to become a…
Microsoft is adding the ability to pre-download game updates before their scheduled release.
The feature, which is already available on PlayStation, allows you to download hefty game updates days before their release. Then, when the update is formally released, the update simply installs - meaning less wait time to get playing.
Microsoft has begun rolling out the feature to those in the Alpha ring of Xbox Insider testers, before it filters down to more people and eventually becomes public in the coming weeks.
Sea of Thieves, the piratical live-service romp from Rare, just topped the PS5 download charts in Europe following its debut on Sony's console.
The Xbox Games Studios-published title recently made the jump from Xbox to PlayStation, as part of Microsoft's plans to make more of its games multiplatform. Outside of Europe, it was also the third most downloaded PS5 game in the US and Canada for April.
Not bad, considering it only arrived on PlayStation towards the end of the month!
Closing in on four years since Microsoft's Perfect Dark reboot was announced, and a year since it was reported that "little meaningful progress" had been made on the project since its unveiling, it's now being claimed the reboot remains in "a very rough state".
That's according to journalist Jeff Grubb who, while discussing Xbox's surprise recent studio closures on the Giant Bombcast, told co-presenters, "I've been hearing for years that Perfect Dark is in a rough state, [but] it sounds like it's in a very rough state. It doesn't sound like it's really come together in any way since then."
In the wake of Grubb's comments, several other industry pundits (as spotted by VGC) took to social media with similar claims. VG247's Alex Donaldson wrote, "I have some crazy stories about the development of that game I have not put in print out of respect for a team really trying hard to push a boulder up a steep hill. But my patience is getting thin." Meanwhile, video game historian Liam Robertson wrote, "From what little I have heard about the development of the new Perfect Dark, it sounds like... a big, protracted mess."
Sea of Thieves, the piratical live-service romp from Rare, just topped the PS5 download charts in Europe following its debut on Sony's console.
The Xbox Games Studios-published title recently made the jump from Xbox to PlayStation, as part of Microsoft's plans to make more of its games multiplatform. Outside of Europe, it was also the third most downloaded PS5 game in the US and Canada for April.
Not bad, considering it only arrived on PlayStation towards the end of the month!
Closing in on four years since Microsoft's Perfect Dark reboot was announced, and a year since it was reported that "little meaningful progress" had been made on the project since its unveiling, it's now being claimed the reboot remains in "a very rough state".
That's according to journalist Jeff Grubb who, while discussing Xbox's surprise recent studio closures on the Giant Bombcast, told co-presenters, "I've been hearing for years that Perfect Dark is in a rough state, [but] it sounds like it's in a very rough state. It doesn't sound like it's really come together in any way since then."
In the wake of Grubb's comments, several other industry pundits (as spotted by VGC) took to social media with similar claims. VG247's Alex Donaldson wrote, "I have some crazy stories about the development of that game I have not put in print out of respect for a team really trying hard to push a boulder up a steep hill. But my patience is getting thin." Meanwhile, video game historian Liam Robertson wrote, "From what little I have heard about the development of the new Perfect Dark, it sounds like... a big, protracted mess."
Sea of Thieves, the piratical live-service romp from Rare, just topped the PS5 download charts in Europe following its debut on Sony's console.
The Xbox Games Studios-published title recently made the jump from Xbox to PlayStation, as part of Microsoft's plans to make more of its games multiplatform. Outside of Europe, it was also the third most downloaded PS5 game in the US and Canada for April.
Not bad, considering it only arrived on PlayStation towards the end of the month!
Closing in on four years since Microsoft's Perfect Dark reboot was announced, and a year since it was reported that "little meaningful progress" had been made on the project since its unveiling, it's now being claimed the reboot remains in "a very rough state".
That's according to journalist Jeff Grubb who, while discussing Xbox's surprise recent studio closures on the Giant Bombcast, told co-presenters, "I've been hearing for years that Perfect Dark is in a rough state, [but] it sounds like it's in a very rough state. It doesn't sound like it's really come together in any way since then."
In the wake of Grubb's comments, several other industry pundits (as spotted by VGC) took to social media with similar claims. VG247's Alex Donaldson wrote, "I have some crazy stories about the development of that game I have not put in print out of respect for a team really trying hard to push a boulder up a steep hill. But my patience is getting thin." Meanwhile, video game historian Liam Robertson wrote, "From what little I have heard about the development of the new Perfect Dark, it sounds like... a big, protracted mess."
So you want to be a pirate, eh? Well, what with today's double whammy of a PlayStation 5 release and the launch of Season 12 – bringing with it, among other things, the first new weapons since 2018 – now seems as good a time as any to discover (or rediscover, if you're a lapsed player) Rare's swashbuckling multiplayer pirate game.
And to mark Sea of Thieves crossing the murky waters of console exclusivity toward new egalitarian horizons, it has come down to me – someone who has spent so many hours in Sea of Thieves over the last six years that I may as well be a real pirate at this point – to take you by the hook and guide you through these stranger tides.
This isn't a guide, as such, so don't go expecting all your piratical questions to be answered here; instead, it's a more of a relaxed tour of some of Sea of Thieves' niftier, lesser-remarked features – the stuff the game doesn't really tell you about – that you might find useful and/or intriguing on your first few days inside the Devil’s Shroud. Here we go!
One of Xbox's greatest treasures, Sea of Thieves has finally launching on PS5 and I, Iyaaaaarrrn Higton, have swabbed my poop deck and spliced my mainbrace in anticipation for this momentous occasion.
Sea of Thieves has actually been in open beta on PS5 for the past week and, according to Digital Foundry's Oliver Mackenzie, "Sea of Thieves retains its signature charm - and should go down well with PlayStation players." Although he also noted that there were some networking issues that he hopes will get (eye) patched out for launch.
Thankfully, I experience exactly 'zero' network issues with the PS5 launch version of Sea of Thieves in today's stream (above) and, in answer to the question I posed in the headline, it handles really well! The game looks absolutely stunning on PS5, with special shoutouts going to Rare's magnificent water tech that constantly blew me away with how beautiful it was. Sunlight bouncing across slowly undulating water never looked this good!
Remember that bit in that Guy Ritchie film where Dexter Fletcher shoot a guy and then throws a glowing jar over his soldier that summons a bunch of skeletons to help him out? Me too! Must have been the direct influence for Sea Of Thieves' new Season 12, which launched earlier this week with a bang - from two smoking barrels! Among the additions in this season of the ever popular salty sea-dog open-world adventure are double barrel pistols. They deal less damage per shot but have higher rate of fire, and you can charge them up to fire both barrels at once.
On the other end of the weapon scale are new throwing knives, capable of sneak attacks, light slashes, or, you know, throwing. You can nab any throwing knives you see lying around, too, which is fun. But honestly, the Bone Caller tool (the aforementioned jar of skeletons, which has a great Jason and The Argonauts vibe) and the Horn Of Fair Winds are are probably more useful. The winds from said horn can make your ship go faster, but can also put out fires or crowd control enemies, or for some reason make you swim faster? I don't think that makes sense, to be honest, but the horn has limited uses so as not to make you an unstoppable wind machine.
Sea of Thieves stared off life as an Xbox exclusive, growing over time into a genuine hit with a large, committed community. Now, in an effort to increase its audience still futher, it's become a key part of Microsoft's multi-platform push. Yes, Rare's pirate co-op title is headed to PlayStation 5, kicking off with an open beta last weekend. So just how good is the port and to what extent does the experience vary between PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series hardware? This has been an interesting project for Digital Foundry, not just because of the new version - but also because we missed out on covering the game in its transition to current-gen hardware, so we also took a look at the game to see how it has evolved up against Xbox One X.
The most interesting place to start is with a look at the brand-new PS5 version. To reiterate, we looked at beta code, and there may be changes when the game launches on April 30th, but it does seem quite polished at the moment. First impressions suggest a game that is very similar to its Series X counterpart - but when we look a bit closer, there are some differences. Shadows look quite a bit different on PS5, with a sharper outline and more visible detail. This holds true both up-close and at a distance, with far away shadows resolving more softly on the Series machine. This is definitely an odd change, and falls in line with a similar tweak found in the PS5 version of Hi-Fi Rush.
If we boot up the PC version at max settings, the PS5 version more closely resembles the highest shadow quality option, though neither console is a perfect fit. The PS5 and PC exhibit similar looking shadow detail, with slightly stronger filtering on PC, but if we step down to the legendary setting, both consoles clearly offer better and cleaner shadow rendering. I can't quite tell if this just comes down to a difference in shadow filtering or if the PS5's shadow resolution has been upgraded relative to Series X, but it is very curious for sure. I tended to prefer the PS5's shadow rendering for what it's worth, though it's not a difference I'd fixate on outside of head-to-heads.
There's something quietly quite exciting happening, and I wonder where it's going to lead. Earlier this week, Grounded - the Honey I Shrunk the Kids backyard survival game - arrived on PlayStation, and at the end of the month (30th April) pirating game Sea of Thieves arrives on PlayStation too. It's a momentous occasion, even though it might not sound it, because we've never had games conceived as Xbox exclusives arrive on PlayStation before. It's an unprecedented new approach by Microsoft and, should it work, it could open a whole Mary Poppins bag of possibility.
I don't want to talk about the colder business case for it, because that's not what excites me. What excites me is what it means for players and, I suppose, for the games themselves. How wonderful it feels to be excited about these games again, which are now a number of years old. We first played Sea of Thieves in early 2018, and Grounded in mid-2020, and they were terrifically exciting then, but now they're not. They've been with us so long they've become familiar. No one's pulling you aside and asking you, raw enthusiasm in their eyes, if you've played them yet.
Booty called, and boy did we answer. Earlier this week, the Sea of Thieves team revealed that 40 million of us had embraced our inner pirate and set sail since the game's debut across Xbox and PC. We seas-ed the day, if you will.
Sharing this "amazing milestone", Sea of Thieves executive producer Joe 'Three Sheets' Neate acknowledged the game's "brilliant, positive and welcoming community, who continue to surprise and impress us with your creativity and antics out on the waves".
A lot of credit and thanks for this milestone also had to go to Sea of Thieves' development team, Neate added, "who've worked so hard to deliver over a hundred free updates since launch and have plenty more excitement and innovation on the horizon".
Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!
There's a hole in your bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in your bucket, dear Liza, a hole. Thank you, thank you, what a lovely rendition. The humble bucket, a stalwart of our day-to-day lives. We use them to slosh dirty water around in, and we use them to wee in if we're going camping and don't want to venture out during the night. No, don't you? We all have a bucket, I'd venture to say, and we all use them, so it's only fitting that games should include them too. But which games have made them feel like more than just props? In which game are buckets the best?
Explore New Worlds and Solve Environmental Challenges With Gaming This Earth Day
Trista Patterson, Director of Sustainability, Xbox
Summary
Explore games that allow players to explore and engage with the natural world
Help Duriel sacrifice his horde as they donate buckets of maggots to Tiggywinkles animal rescue hospital
Learn about a new building at Rare, which has sustainability at its heart
At Microsoft we have made bold commitments to improve the impact of our business on the environment. Consequently, Xbox has made strategic, innovative and meaningful investments that scale up across the gaming industry:
Our Shutdown (Energy Saving) power mode, Active Hours and Carbon Aware console updates have made the use of our consoles more energy and emissions efficient.
The Xbox Sustainability Toolkit has empowered game developers to optimize their game code for energy efficiency on Xbox consoles and beyond.
In addition to these software innovations, we are making advancements in hardware and infrastructure spaces as well:
We are supporting impact reductions in-office, with Rare unveiling a new LEED Gold accredited building on its UK campus — Xbox’s first mass timber building in Europe for Xbox Game Studios.
As important as it is that we make these material changes, one of the great benefits gaming can have on environmental issues is often overlooked! The medium of gaming can act as a tool which provides world exploration for those that may not easily access the natural environment. It also fosters outside of the box thinking, empathy, and team action – all necessary ingredients to solve environmental issues. Gaming can unlock the world, break the barriers of what is possible and inspire environmental action for generations to come.
Read on to learn more about gaming as a medium for environmental change and how Xbox is celebrating Earth Day.
Bring climate and sustainability science to life with incredible animals. Minecraft Education Planet Earth III created in partnership with BBC Earth engages students with a free curriculum that includes lesson plans and discussion guides. Explore the way these animals’ lives are intertwined by playing as both predator and prey, parent and offspring, friend and ally, and discover the precarious balance of survival.
Research climate change while learning the principles of AI. With Minecraft Education AI for Earth students will learn principles of AI while taking their first steps into this exciting realm of computer science. Learners will use the power of AI in a range of exciting real-world scenarios, including preservation of wildlife and ecosystems, helping people in remote areas, and research on climate change.
Explore games with environmental themes on Game Pass
Simulation games provide a unique ability to explore and grow environments while also managing and regenerating natural resources. Check out these games that highlight these themes within their mechanics and stories:
Lightyear Frontier (Game Preview) (Available with Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Cloud) – Build a sustainable ecofarm and carefully manage your relationship with the ecosystem in this peaceful open-world farming adventure on a planet at the far edge of the galaxy. This game encourages sustainability efforts, including planting trees to replace those you harvest and cleaning up pollution. Invite up to three friends to create a flourishing homestead.
Coral Island (Available with Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Cloud) – Play a part in conserving native flora and fauna, dive into the seas to clean up the coral reef, and pick up trash all around the island in this family-friendly farming simulator inspired by Southeast Asia. The development team from Indonesia included themes of conservation in the way players must maintain the island’s ecosystem all while encouraging you to form a bond with nature.
Stardew Valley (Available with Xbox Game Pass on Console, PC, and Cloud) – You’ve inherited your grandfather’s overgrown farm plot and with a little dedication, you might be able to restore Stardew Valley to greatness! With an anti-consumerism plot against the JoJa Corporation and a whole lot of land to explore, Stardew Valley showcases love of nature and focuses on life’s simple pleasures.
Give
The Seattle Aquarium uses Xbox Controllers to research the depths of local waterways
Xbox is excited to spotlight and support the incredible underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) research work of the Seattle Aquarium—a program designed to inform habitat restoration efforts throughout the region and reverse the decline of local kelp forests. The aquarium’s ROV Nereo, named after the scientific name for bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), is a small, customizable, and easily maneuverable device that can dive up to 100 meters deep and transmit live video and data to the surface. Our favorite part? The researchers use Xbox controllers to pilot the ROV Nereo and navigate through the dense and dynamic kelp forests in Elliott Bay, the waterway surrounding the aquarium.
In addition to providing food and shelter for hundreds of marine animals, bull kelp also sequesters carbon from the water and locally mitigates the effects of ocean acidification. While some regions in the Salish Sea have thriving kelp forests, other regions are seeing up to a 95% decline, and researchers aren’t always sure why. The aquarium’s ROV work helps researchers survey declining kelp ecosystems and the factors that impact their health so the broader Washington kelp conservation, restoration, and management community can work towards restoration.
To expand the scope and scale of this work, the aquarium is collaborating with the Tulalip Tribes Natural Resources Shellfish Program to help them get their own ROV program up and running. The aquarium is also partnering with state agencies and Reef Check to compare ROV and scuba diving as methods for collecting data, and to evaluate the effectiveness of different environmental monitoring strategies. By using Xbox controllers to operate the ROV, the aquarium is not only making research more fun and accessible to future generations of marine conservationists, but also demonstrating the power of technology for environmental conservation and education. Through education and outreach events with a variety of local organizations, the aquarium hopes this program will inspire more people to appreciate and protect the kelp forests and the marine life they support.
Duriel the Maggot King has enlisted Diablo IV fans to help sacrifice his horde. For every 25 likes on the Earth Day post from Diablo’s X account, Blizzard will be donating a bucket of Maggots to Tiggywinkles, up to 666 buckets of maggots, to help feed their bird nursery. With each bucket containing roughly 45,000 maggots, you could help Blizzard fund Tiggywinkle’s bird rehabilitation program for more than two years by simply liking their post.
Tiggywinkles is a specialist animal rescue hospital in the UK. They are dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating all species of local wildlife. Every animal brought to the hospital is given a chance and treated with the best available care. Any animal or bird unable to be released back to the wild is maintained at the Hospital, in as natural conditions as possible. Head to the Diablo X account to help turn likes into buckets of maggots for the birds.
Engage
Barn X on the Rare Campus
Xbox has constructed its first mass timber building in Europe at Rare, the Xbox Game Studio and creator of Sea of Thieves. The new solar-powered studio is already inspiring game developers to create unique shared experiences for players.
Located in Twycross, Leicestershire, Rare’s new building – called ‘Barn X’ – was opened in early 2023 on the Rare campus, which is surrounded by nature in the heart of the English countryside.
Rare’s Studio Head, Craig Duncan, said: “Our new barn is a demonstration of leading-edge sustainability and environmental design, creating a model green workplace. The opportunity to expand our campus by building a state-of-the-art environment for our teams while supporting Microsoft to achieve its sustainability goals has been genuinely rewarding. The new space design promotes collaboration, creativity and wellbeing, which are essential ingredients for a team to create fun experiences for players everywhere.”
Barn X has recently been certified LEED GOLD for its design and construction – a worldwide-recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership. It is one example of how Microsoft is implementing sustainable solutions for the future as it pursues its goal to be carbon negative by 2030.
You can read more about the new building and how it is enabling creativity and enhancing wellbeing here.
Playing for the Planet Annual Impact Report
As a founding member of the Playing 4 The Planet Alliance, we are excited to share the 2023 Annual Impact Report. The report includes:
A measure of progress towards Playing 4 the Planet’s strategic goals.
Updates on focus areas, such as decarbonization, The Green Game Jam, and more.
A review of members’ commitments towards sustainability.
And even more from Team Microsoft: Visit Microsoft Unlocked to explore innovations across Microsoft products, partners and customers that are helping to achieve our carbon goals!
Sea of Thieves stared off life as an Xbox exclusive, growing over time into a genuine hit with a large, committed community. Now, in an effort to increase its audience still futher, it's become a key part of Microsoft's multi-platform push. Yes, Rare's pirate co-op title is headed to PlayStation 5, kicking off with an open beta last weekend. So just how good is the port and to what extent does the experience vary between PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series hardware? This has been an interesting project for Digital Foundry, not just because of the new version - but also because we missed out on covering the game in its transition to current-gen hardware, so we also took a look at the game to see how it has evolved up against Xbox One X.
The most interesting place to start is with a look at the brand-new PS5 version. To reiterate, we looked at beta code, and there may be changes when the game launches on April 30th, but it does seem quite polished at the moment. First impressions suggest a game that is very similar to its Series X counterpart - but when we look a bit closer, there are some differences. Shadows look quite a bit different on PS5, with a sharper outline and more visible detail. This holds true both up-close and at a distance, with far away shadows resolving more softly on the Series machine. This is definitely an odd change, and falls in line with a similar tweak found in the PS5 version of Hi-Fi Rush.
If we boot up the PC version at max settings, the PS5 version more closely resembles the highest shadow quality option, though neither console is a perfect fit. The PS5 and PC exhibit similar looking shadow detail, with slightly stronger filtering on PC, but if we step down to the legendary setting, both consoles clearly offer better and cleaner shadow rendering. I can't quite tell if this just comes down to a difference in shadow filtering or if the PS5's shadow resolution has been upgraded relative to Series X, but it is very curious for sure. I tended to prefer the PS5's shadow rendering for what it's worth, though it's not a difference I'd fixate on outside of head-to-heads.
There's something quietly quite exciting happening, and I wonder where it's going to lead. Earlier this week, Grounded - the Honey I Shrunk the Kids backyard survival game - arrived on PlayStation, and at the end of the month (30th April) pirating game Sea of Thieves arrives on PlayStation too. It's a momentous occasion, even though it might not sound it, because we've never had games conceived as Xbox exclusives arrive on PlayStation before. It's an unprecedented new approach by Microsoft and, should it work, it could open a whole Mary Poppins bag of possibility.
I don't want to talk about the colder business case for it, because that's not what excites me. What excites me is what it means for players and, I suppose, for the games themselves. How wonderful it feels to be excited about these games again, which are now a number of years old. We first played Sea of Thieves in early 2018, and Grounded in mid-2020, and they were terrifically exciting then, but now they're not. They've been with us so long they've become familiar. No one's pulling you aside and asking you, raw enthusiasm in their eyes, if you've played them yet.
Booty called, and boy did we answer. Earlier this week, the Sea of Thieves team revealed that 40 million of us had embraced our inner pirate and set sail since the game's debut across Xbox and PC. We seas-ed the day, if you will.
Sharing this "amazing milestone", Sea of Thieves executive producer Joe 'Three Sheets' Neate acknowledged the game's "brilliant, positive and welcoming community, who continue to surprise and impress us with your creativity and antics out on the waves".
A lot of credit and thanks for this milestone also had to go to Sea of Thieves' development team, Neate added, "who've worked so hard to deliver over a hundred free updates since launch and have plenty more excitement and innovation on the horizon".
Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!
There's a hole in your bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in your bucket, dear Liza, a hole. Thank you, thank you, what a lovely rendition. The humble bucket, a stalwart of our day-to-day lives. We use them to slosh dirty water around in, and we use them to wee in if we're going camping and don't want to venture out during the night. No, don't you? We all have a bucket, I'd venture to say, and we all use them, so it's only fitting that games should include them too. But which games have made them feel like more than just props? In which game are buckets the best?
Sea of Thieves, you might have heard, is heading to PlayStation 5 next month. It's a significant moment for all sorts of reasons – it's perhaps the biggest of the four Microsoft first-party titles recently confirmed for Sony's console, and it's also the first time developer Rare has released a PlayStation title in its nearly 40-year history – but it's also an opportunity for a whole new group of players to experience (and I say this as a huge Sea of Thieves fan) a wonderful, genuinely unique game. And with the multiplayer pirate adventure's 30th April launch on PS5 looming, I spoke to creative director Mike Chapman and executive producer Joe Neate about this latest milestone, the state of the game, and the team's big sandbox focus for 2024.
"We've had [the PlayStation 5 version] running really since late last year," Neate explains of Sea of Thieves' journey to a new console. "We've been testing internally and we're getting into the 'take home' stage, where we're playing at home with our little hands on the [PlayStation] controllers, and kind of going, 'This is insane!'". But how did the pair react when they first learned a PlayStation version was happening? "I think it's such a surreal moment we have this opportunity," Chapman responds. "Sea of Thieves at its core is about taking barriers away, allowing crews of would-be pirates to sail together on the waves, to share ships, and the fact we're now adding one more platform so people can create their ideal crew and enjoy the game, it's monumental, absolutely monumental - if you'd told me this back in 2018, I don't think I would have believed you. It's amazing."
"And having this new influx of players," Neate adds, "this new influx of feedback and perspective, for the strength and health of Sea of Thieves as an ongoing, evolving game, it's just a great moment… It's a really good time for Sea of Thieves."
Nintendo will add five classic Rare games to Nintendo Switch today, including SNES hit Killer Instinct and N64 great Blast Corps.
In Japan, Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will also get Mother 3 - the third entry in the legendary Earthbound series which has never made it to the West.
All of these games were announced in this afternoon's Nintendo Direct broadcast - though Mother 3 was only mentioned in the show's Japanese version. Sorry, rest of the world.
But why did Microsoft choose not to name those four games (even though Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Grounded and Sea of Thieves were immediately reported to be the titles in question)? What happened to the previously-reported plans to include larger games such as Starfield? And where will Microsoft draw the line for what to launch elsewhere? Right now, these four feel like something of a soft launch for Microsoft's multiplatform strategy,
As well as all that, we also discuss the news nuggets Microsoft dropped for the Xbox faithful - including mention of new Xbox console hardware this year and the proper next-gen Xbox that's still years away. With me this week are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.
Following mounting reports Xbox is preparing for some kind of multiplatform future, Microsoft has confirmed it'll be bringing four previously Xbox-exclusive first-party titles to PlayStation 5 and Switch later this year, with more likely to come in the future.
Reports that Microsoft was preparing to release a number of first-party games on competing consoles - namely Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush - first surfaced at the start of this year, but it wasn't until last week's claims high-profile exclusives such as Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would also be going multiplatform that Microsoft broke its silence, promising to reveal more in a podcast this week.
And now, as reported by The Verge - which was pre-briefed by Microsoft ahead of tonight's reveal - Xbox gaming boss Phil Spencer has confirmed the company has "made the decision that we're going to take four games to the other consoles". Bafflingly, Spencer does not name the games directly, only saying two are community-driven titles and two are smaller games.
Welcome to our live coverage of the big Xbox business update, where Microsoft laid out its plan to launch four first-party Xbox games on Nintendo and PlayStation platforms.
Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer, Xbox president Sarah Bond and head of Xbox game studios Matt Booty - the company's Triforce of gaming top brass - stopped short of officially confirming the quartet of titles set to go multiplatform, but reports online suggest those titles will be Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves and Grounded.
The podcast also included a brief mention of new Xbox hardware launching later this year, and a tease for the proper next-gen Xbox - you can read all of that below.
Xbox has rolled out a new update for February, adding touch controls in remote play and more.
With this update in action, users will be able to play games without being tied to their console even if they don't have a wireless controller to hand. This is as Xbox remote play now supports custom touch control layouts on the Xbox app (via iOS, Android and Windows devices) for over 100 games.
"The same custom touch layouts available through Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) will now be available when remotely playing games from your personal console," Microsoft said. "This includes games like Minecraft Dungeons, Psychonauts 2, Sea of Thieves, and many more. Additionally, a basic touch control layout can now be used for most other games."
Xbox president Sarah Bond reportedly told staff that "every screen is an Xbox". These words come ahead of Microsoft's business update later today, in which the company is expected to lay out its plans to publish some Xbox games on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms.
Bond was speaking at an internal town hall meeting, with several sources telling Inverse the exec went on to discuss Xbox's strategy of existing on multiple devices. She also spoke more on the company's ambitions to become the number one cross-platform gaming company, the sources said.
To illustrate this point, staff were shown images of this year's breakout hit Palworld across multiple screens. This included "tablets, TV screens, monitors, and handheld devices", the publication said.
As expected, Microsoft yesterday confirmed that four of their games are headed to rival consoles: Pentiment to PlayStations 4 & 5 and Nintendo Switch; Hi-Fi Rush to PS5; Grounded to PS4, PS5, and Switch; and Sea Of Thieves to PS5. It's nice to see barriers between systems coming down and all, and it'll likely have consequences of note to serious businessheads, but what relevance does this have for us as a PC gaming website? Well! Grounded and Sea Of Thieves will support cross-platform multiplayer, so we'll be able to play them with our consolatory chums. That's nice.
During today’s Nintendo Partner Showcase, which confirmed that former Xbox exclusives Grounded and Pentiment will launch on the Switch this year, the company also announced that five Rare classics are downloadable right now for folks with an active Nintendo Switch Online membership. It’s a blast from the past, y’all,…
But why did Microsoft choose not to name those four games (even though Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Grounded and Sea of Thieves were immediately reported to be the titles in question)? What happened to the previously-reported plans to include larger games such as Starfield? And where will Microsoft draw the line for what to launch elsewhere? Right now, these four feel like something of a soft launch for Microsoft's multiplatform strategy,
As well as all that, we also discuss the news nuggets Microsoft dropped for the Xbox faithful - including mention of new Xbox console hardware this year and the proper next-gen Xbox that's still years away. With me this week are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.
Following mounting reports Xbox is preparing for some kind of multiplatform future, Microsoft has confirmed it'll be bringing four previously Xbox-exclusive first-party titles to PlayStation 5 and Switch later this year, with more likely to come in the future.
Reports that Microsoft was preparing to release a number of first-party games on competing consoles - namely Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush - first surfaced at the start of this year, but it wasn't until last week's claims high-profile exclusives such as Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would also be going multiplatform that Microsoft broke its silence, promising to reveal more in a podcast this week.
And now, as reported by The Verge - which was pre-briefed by Microsoft ahead of tonight's reveal - Xbox gaming boss Phil Spencer has confirmed the company has "made the decision that we're going to take four games to the other consoles". Bafflingly, Spencer does not name the games directly, only saying two are community-driven titles and two are smaller games.
Welcome to our live coverage of the big Xbox business update, where Microsoft laid out its plan to launch four first-party Xbox games on Nintendo and PlayStation platforms.
Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer, Xbox president Sarah Bond and head of Xbox game studios Matt Booty - the company's Triforce of gaming top brass - stopped short of officially confirming the quartet of titles set to go multiplatform, but reports online suggest those titles will be Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves and Grounded.
The podcast also included a brief mention of new Xbox hardware launching later this year, and a tease for the proper next-gen Xbox - you can read all of that below.
Xbox has rolled out a new update for February, adding touch controls in remote play and more.
With this update in action, users will be able to play games without being tied to their console even if they don't have a wireless controller to hand. This is as Xbox remote play now supports custom touch control layouts on the Xbox app (via iOS, Android and Windows devices) for over 100 games.
"The same custom touch layouts available through Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) will now be available when remotely playing games from your personal console," Microsoft said. "This includes games like Minecraft Dungeons, Psychonauts 2, Sea of Thieves, and many more. Additionally, a basic touch control layout can now be used for most other games."
Xbox president Sarah Bond reportedly told staff that "every screen is an Xbox". These words come ahead of Microsoft's business update later today, in which the company is expected to lay out its plans to publish some Xbox games on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms.
Bond was speaking at an internal town hall meeting, with several sources telling Inverse the exec went on to discuss Xbox's strategy of existing on multiple devices. She also spoke more on the company's ambitions to become the number one cross-platform gaming company, the sources said.
To illustrate this point, staff were shown images of this year's breakout hit Palworld across multiple screens. This included "tablets, TV screens, monitors, and handheld devices", the publication said.
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