This marks an incredible week for PC Game Pass members - on the heels of Starfield, highly anticipated titles Lies of P, Payday 3, and Party Animals all arrive this week - and October is shaping up sterling as well with the likes of Forza Motorsport and The Lamplighter's League. That's on top of well over a hundred more PC games available at your fingertips; sometimes the question is: where to start?

To help players find the right game for them, we asked one of our favorite variety streamers, Bruce Greene, to pick some of his favorites from the PC Game Pass library. Why him? "I've been playing PC games for 25 years and I'm super impressed by what's on PC Game Pass," he told me, as he shared his list. "When I was asked to pick games from PC Game Pass that you would recommend, I picked like 40 or 50 cause like there were so many good games on there and I had to pare them down which is hilarious. Being a curator, it's perfect for me."

Microsoft Gaming's chief, Phil Spencer, has issued a public-facing response to the recent leak of potential upcoming Xbox products (2024 to 2028): "We've seen the conversation around old emails and documents. It is hard to see our team's work shared in this way because so much has changed and there's so much to be excited about right now, and in the future. We will share the real plans when we are ready." The information dump (in part) consisted of presentation material prepared for (internal) April 2022 meetings, so it is possible that the Xbox division has changed direction in the meantime. Spencer was also involved in an August 2020 discussion with Microsoft marketing executives, regarding a possible buyout of Nintendo—according to leaked FTC legal case material. It should be noted that Microsoft has made attempts to acquire Nintendo in the past—but their approaches were "laughed off."

The Verge has managed to obtain an email distributed to Microsoft employees, as sent out by an embattled Spencer—he reiterates his public messaging of "real plans" in the company memo: "I know this is disappointing, even if many of the documents are well over a year old and our plans have evolved...We all put incredible amounts of passion and energy into our work, and this is never how we want that hard work to be shared with the community. That said, there's so much more to be excited about, and when we're ready, we'll share the real plans with our players."

A comprehensive leak of documents—from a FTC versus Microsoft case—has exposed short and long-term plans in the world of Xbox. It seems that a relatively mild refresh of current generation Xbox Series X and S is lined up for the second half of 2024, but presentation material (dated April 2022) also reaches far into the future with strategies for next-gen gaming hardware. The bigwigs at Xbox were projecting a "full convergence" of their proprietary "xCloud" gaming platform and physical console hardware to deliver "cloud hybrid games" for 2028—schemes and priorities could have shifted in the interim, given various legal challenges and takeover bids.

One of the slides points to Microsoft getting the technical nitty-gritty sorted by CY2023—with two main options presented for consideration: a licensed ARM 64 design or a "Zen 6-based" AMD 64 processor. The next-gen Xbox's GPU aspect could incorporate a Navi 5 design (RDNA 5)—weighing up either a co-operation with AMD, or an IP license of said graphics architecture. VideoCardz theorizes that: "the latter option seems more likely if the ARM 64 chip is chosen over the Zen 6 APU." A key goal in this area seems to be an implementation of "Next-Gen DirectX Ray tracing" and "ML-based Super Resolutions" features. A Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is marked as a key provision for the 2028 console—granting some nice-to-have perks including: latency compensation, frame rate interpolation and various enrichments of the user experience.

If you're looking for the latest games coming to Game Pass, you've come to the right place. Maybe you're looking for a Soulslike, or mysterious adventures. Maybe you're looking to solve crimes, or even do crimes (maybe please keep that in the context of video games). Either way, we've got something for you!

Available Today—Lies of P (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Available on day one with Game Pass: Lies of P is a thrilling soulslike that takes the story of Pinocchio, turns it on its head, and sets it against the darkly elegant backdrop of the Belle Epoque era. You must adapt yourself and your weapons to face untold horrors, untangle the unfathomable secrets of the city's elites and choose whether to confront predicaments with the truth or weave lies to overcome them on the journey to find yourself.

Piranha Games revealed MechWarrior 5: Clans today, a new stand alone MechWarrior game coming to PC, Xbox and PlayStation consoles next year. MechWarrior 5: Clans, while retaining the MechWarrior 5 designation, represents a transformative step forward in the MechWarrior 5 franchise. MechWarrior 5: Clans linear campaign will be an evolution of gameplay and storytelling in the MechWarrior series, experienced from the perspective of Clan Smoke Jaguar in the pivotal conflict known as the Clan Invasion starting in the year 3050.

MechWarrior 5: Clans follows Piranha's 2019 hit, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, which was a campaign-based, open ended, procedural experience, selling more than 1.5 million units with a current 9/10 Very Positive ranking on Steam from more than 7,500 user reviews.

A screaming goat once told me that October is the BEST month. Not just because it's full of pumpkins (yum!) or because all the skeletons in my save file finally fit in (aww!), but because Minecraft Live is back on October 15, and this year it's bigger and blockier than ever! If you've never watched our epic, once-a-year livestream before, then you are in for a treat. Not only do we spend an hour talking about Minecraft (our favorite topic), but we dive into news from Minecraft and Minecraft: Legends; share snippets of what you can expect in the future, and reveal the winner of the hotly anticipated mob vote!

Minecraft Live returns on October 15! Tune in at 1pm EDT for news, sneak peeks, the mob vote, and more! Once the mobs have been revealed, you'll be able to cast your vote via the Minecraft Launcher, Minecraft.net, or the special event server on Minecraft: Bedrock Edition from October 13. You can even challenge yourself to mob-tastic mini-games while you're there!

We're almost there - tomorrow we're excited to bring to life all our updates for Xbox Game Pass Core! As we shared last month, this is our latest evolution of what was previously known as Xbox Live Gold. Same great online experience, new name, and an added library of games! When we announced Xbox Game Pass Core, we shared that this membership would come with more than 25 high quality games from the Xbox Game Pass library - we're thrilled to share that there will be 36 games available to play on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One starting tomorrow! We'll get to the full list - starting with some truly iconic multiplayers, games with incredible storytelling, and influential indies.

Check out the most recent single player Fallout game, Fallout 4, and use your continued access to multiplayer in Fallout 76. Traverse the backyard in Grounded or explore Tamriel in The Elder Scrolls Online. Play the absolute mind trip that is Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (get some headphones for this one!). These are only a few of the Xbox Game Studios games for you to dig into tomorrow.

First, an enormous thank you to all of you playing Starfield and your support. We are absolutely blown away by the response and all you love about the game. We're also reading all your great feedback on what you'd like to see improved or added to the game. This is a game we'll be supporting for years and years to come, so please keep all the feedback coming! Even if we don't get to your requests immediately, we'd love to do it in the future, like city maps. Our priority initially is making sure any top blocker bugs or stability issues are addressed, and adding quality-of-life features that many are asking for.

This first update is a small hotfix targeted at the few top issues were are seeing. After that, expect a regular interval of updates that have top community requested features including:

• Brightness and Contrast controls
• HDR Calibration Menu
• FOV Slider
• Nvidia DLSS Support (PC)
• 32:9 Ultrawide Monitor Support (PC)
• Eat button for food!

Introducing the newest addition to our classic Xbox controller lineup, the Xbox Wireless Controller - Astral Purple. The rich purple color has such a distinct regal look to spice up your gaming setup and bolster your collection. The dark purple theme is carried over to both the thumbsticks and buttons, with a black matte finish on the hybrid D-Pad, bumpers, and triggers. This is all tied together with a clean white back case that results in the front of the controller looking even more striking.

Each Xbox Wireless Controller in Astral Purple comes with all the features you've come to love in our current generation of controllers. The D-Pad's hybrid design offers an accurate yet familiar glide, perfect for navigating complex gaming worlds with precision. The textured grips on the bumpers, triggers, and back case allow for a better grip and the 3.5 mm jack enables you to chat with friends using a compatible headset. By using Bluetooth and Xbox Wireless, the Astral Purple controller can connect to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles, PC, mobile phones, and tablets. Play longer with up to 40 hours of battery life and save your favorite moments like hitting a new personal speed running record with the dedicated Share button

We know players are interested in getting more value from Xbox, and we've heard feedback from the community that they want more ways to get value from their purchases. Today, I'm excited to share that we are introducing the no annual fee1 Xbox Mastercard in partnership with Barclays US Consumer Bank, a leading co-branded credit card issuer in the United States.

With the Xbox Mastercard credit card, players can earn card points with everyday purchases to redeem on games and add-ons at xbox.com. The Xbox Mastercard will be available exclusively to Xbox Insiders in the 50 United States beginning on September 21, with availability to all Xbox players in the 50 United States coming in 2024.

A new version of Minecraft for Xbox Series X and S consoles has been registered with ratings boards around the world—as reported by Eurogamer, the first appearance arrived back in August through Germany's USK system, and more recently with the ESRB (USA). This lead to speculation that Mojang Studios was prepping a visually-upgraded variant of the game for current generation consoles. Microsoft and Xbox teased a significant ray tracing graphical option back in 2020, prior to Series X launching, but we have not heard much since then. Bedrock Edition, utilizing the RenderDragon engine, is set to improve graphics across most platforms, yet only PC gamers get to enjoy ray tracing features on capable/compatible hardware.

Microsoft has seemingly become fed up with the latest batch of news reports, and reached out to media outlets in order to shutdown further conjecture on the topic.
A company spokesperson informed Eurogamer and other sites about the situation: "Given the number of platforms and geographies in which Minecraft is available, we periodically go through rating reviews and updates with different regional boards. This recent rating is not indicative of any new versions or platform support for Minecraft in the near future." A 2022 test build inadvertently included "prototype code for ray tracing support on Xbox consoles," but was swiftly eliminated from public view soon after release. A spokesperson stated back then: "this early prototype code has been removed from Preview and doesn't signal near future plans to bring ray tracing support to consoles."

The Xbox Digital Broadcast will be returning to Tokyo Game Show on September 21 at 6 pm JST / 9 am UTC / 2 am PDT. Tokyo Game Show represents a special time each year where we share news and updates on games that we hope will delight Xbox fans in Japan and across Asia. Players can expect to hear progress updates from Xbox and Bethesda Softworks and see a creatively diverse collection of games from creators predominantly located in Japan and across Asia. We'll also share exciting new games coming to Xbox Game Pass, which continues to grow with great content from teams all around Asia.

This year's broadcast will be available on Tokyo Game Show's official YouTube channel, as well as on select Xbox social channels in Japanese, English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, French, German and Castilian Spanish. It will also be broadcast with Japanese Sign Language (JSL), Australian Sign Language (AusLan), and audio descriptions in both Japanese and English. A full list of where you can watch the broadcast will be available the week of the show.

If you've ever dreamed of launching into space and exploring new worlds, a much-anticipated new video game can take you there in rich detail and immersive storytelling. With Starfield, the first new universe from Bethesda Game Studios in 25 years, your role-playing journey can lead to more than 1,000 planets. It's available day one on Xbox Game Pass on Sept. 6, and on Xbox Series X|S consoles, Windows PCs and Steam.

"We love the idea of exploring space and always wanted to turn it into a game. People love to get lost in games we build, and we do as well," says Todd Howard, game director and executive producer of Bethesda Game Studios, which Microsoft acquired through parent company ZeniMax Media in 2021. "This one is easily the most ambitious one we've built. It's something we've really poured ourselves into over a long period of time."

September is shaping up to be one of the hottest months of the year for Xbox players, with a ton of new releases, including some of the year's most anticipated games, several of which will be available with Game Pass on day one (Starfield, Lies of P, Payday 3 - just to name a few). Plus, with the release of the 1 TB Xbox Series S in Carbon Black on September 1 and Xbox Game Pass Core launching on September 14 you will have even more options on what to play and where to play it.

Xbox Series S - 1 TB
With the release of so many new games this month, it's a great time to join Xbox or upgrade your console, so you can enjoy games that only run on Xbox Series X|S and PC like Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and more. Plus, September 1 marks the release of the new Xbox Series S - 1 TB, which was announced earlier this year at the Xbox Games Showcase 2023. This console features the same next-gen speed and performance of our 512 GB Series S, now with double the storage so you can download even more of your favorite games to your console where they'll be ready to play when you are. Xbox is always exploring ways to use less new materials and reduce waste - our new 1 TB Series S incorporates Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) resins, mirroring the practice established in 2021 with our white Series S in a new color. The bold Carbon Black color is the same sleek, modern matte finish as Xbox Series X and the Xbox Wireless Controller. Make the most of every gaming minute with features like Quick Resume, lightning-fast load times, and support for gameplay of up to 120 FPS.

Your reign draws near! Skull Island: Rise of Kong arrives on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam on Oct. 17, 2023. Based on the series of novels featuring Skull Island developed by creator Joe DeVito and based on Merian C. Cooper's King Kong, this exhilarating, third-person action-adventure game lets you become Kong on a journey of vengeance as you fight to claim your rightful place as King of Skull Island.

Take on an action-packed quest to avenge the death of Kong's parents at the hands of the ultimate alpha predator: the saurian terror Gaw. Traverse the mysterious island and uncover its secrets across a variety of treacherous environments, discovering the power coursing through its exotic flora and fauna. Conquer waves of primal beasts, defeat unique bosses, and rise above all who stand in Kong's way to being King!

To celebrate our presence here at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, today we revealed that the local and world-famous Nürburgring GP circuit will be available in Forza Motorsport at launch on October 10. What's more, as part of our plan to regularly bring new content to the game after release, we are also happy to confirm the iconic 12.9-mile (20.83 km) Nordschleife will be coming in Spring 2024.

Both tracks have been completely rebuilt for the Xbox Series X|S and PC. Nürburgring GP is the latest addition to the 20 tracks featured in Forza Motorsport on day one - with more announcements remaining, check out the list of tracks we've announced to date. In addition to our track lineup, Forza Motorsport starts with over 500 cars, and this list will continue to expand beyond launch. Check out the cars we have announced so far and stay tuned for future car reveals as we get closer to release day.

Today, Electronic Arts Inc. and Ascendant Studios launched Immortals of Aveum, a single-player, first-person magic shooter powered by the groundbreaking Unreal Engine 5.1 technology and set in an original fantasy universe. Developed by a new independent AAA studio made up of award-winning industry veterans and published under the EA Originals label, Immortals of Aveum puts players in a visceral and cinematic fantasy universe that combines modern characters and a story-driven campaign with intense magic-based action, world exploration and puzzle-solving. Summon your power, stop the Everwar, and save the realms starting now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the EA app, Steam and Epic Games Store worldwide.

Immortals of Aveum tells the story of Jak (Darren Barnet), who discovers that he is a magically-imbued 'Unforeseen' and finds himself reluctantly caught in the middle of the raging Everwar. Recruited under the tutelage of the powerful General Kirkan (Gina Torres) and an elite order of battlemages called the Immortals, Jak must master all three colors of magic - blue, green, and red. With powerful magic-wielders and legions of soldiers on both sides of the Everwar, Jak and the Immortals must uncover the mysteries of Aveum's troubled past, if there's any hope for turning the tides of the Everwar and defeating Sandrakk, the powerful warlord of Rasharn and his mysterious lieutenant, simply known as The Hand.

We are constantly improving our safety measures and bringing more systems and tools in place that empower players to respectfully interact with one another - because everyone deserves a place to comfortably be themselves online, free from harassment and bullying. One of the most common questions we get from players through feedback, posts, and appeals is how repeated enforcements impact their gameplay, how they escalate, what they escalate to, and how they know when their account is back in good standing. To help address this, we are introducing a new enforcement strike system.

The new system attaches strikes to every enforcement, ranging in severity based on inappropriate activity. Each player will now have a view of their enforcement history including strikes and the overall impact these have on their player record. This revised system gives players a better understanding of enforcement severity and the cumulative effect of multiple enforcements. Enforcement transparency is about giving players clarity into how their behavior impacts their experience. Our content moderation efforts are not changing as a result of the new enforcement strike system.

Electronic Arts Inc. is creating the most intense NHL game yet with EA SPORTS NHL 24, coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on Oct. 6, 2023. Colorado Avalanche superstar defenseman Cale Makar, whose world class on-ice skills exemplify the type of hard-checking and game-changing features that will be a part of EA SPORTS NHL 24, has been named the cover athlete for this year's game.

NHL 24 feels like hockey and brings the rush and fatigue of high-pressure games to life. The brand-new Exhaust Engine - powered by Frostbite - includes the Sustained Pressure and Goalie Fatigue systems to let players experience concentrated moments of intensity that hockey is known for. Through the Sustained Pressure System, offensive players who keep pressure on in the attack zone are rewarded and will trigger the Sustained Pressure perk, lowering their opponent's attributes for a limited time and creating more space for movement and setting up plays. With the Goalie Fatigue System, the more pucks you put on net, the more fatigue the opponent's goalie will experience. This will affect the netminder's ability to react to shots as they wear down over time and upwards of 75 new goalie animations will help bring this in-game storyline to life.

Sometimes you want a chill game that lets you explore sorrow (in game, I don't want to explore sorrow IRL). Sometimes you want to explore wild environments while exploring mysteries, escaping flesh monsters, or even be the monster yourself. Some highly specific things you might want, and what a crazy happenstance, we've got just those games coming soon. Let's take a look!

Available Today
Everspace 2 (Cloud and Xbox Series X|S)
Step into the pilot seat in this fast-paced single-player space shooter where brutal challenges stand between you and epic loot. Embark on a sci-fi adventure where massive, handcrafted areas are packed with secrets, puzzles, and perils! Level up, craft, and loot better gear to survive on the edge of space.

Xbox is coming to Gamescom 2023 in full force, showing 30 titles in three blocks. Starfield, Forza Motorsport, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Ara: History Untold, PayDay 3, Mortal Kombat 1, are just some of the titles that will be at the Xbox Gamescom booth.

Running from August 23rd to August 27th, Gamescom 2023 will definitely have some pretty big names from the game industry, and its Opening Night Live will be live on August 22nd, hosted and produced by Geoff Keighley.

HyperX, the gaming peripherals team at HP Inc. and brand leader in gaming and esports, today announced the release of the HyperX Cloud Stinger 2 Gaming Headset for PlayStation and the officially licensed CloudX Stinger 2 Gaming Headset for Xbox, both in white colorways. Offering signature HyperX comfort and durability with soft memory foam and premium leatherette, Cloud Stinger 2 gaming headsets for consoles offer lightweight comfort with impressive audio, ideal for long gaming sessions and chatting with friends.

The Cloud Stinger 2 for PlayStation and CloudX Stinger 2 for Xbox are built on the foundation of the original HyperX Cloud Stinger. The headsets feature large 50 mm drivers for clear audio and rotating earcups for a comfortable fit with easy-access audio controls and a swivel-to-mute microphone for added convenience and clear voice quality.

My favorite announcements are those coming soon, especially when "soon" means "right now" (looking at you Celeste!). We have hikes, we have Bros., kingdoms, and space, and more, so let's get to the games!

Available Today
Celeste (Cloud, Console, and PC)—Help Madeline survive her inner demons on her journey to the top of Celeste Mountain, in this super-tight platformer from the creators of TowerFall. Brave hundreds of hand-crafted challenges, uncover devious secrets, and piece together the mystery of the mountain.

Introducing a brand-new controller to the Xbox lineup, the Xbox Wireless Controller - Stormcloud Vapor Special Edition. This controller's rich color will pull you in, featuring a dynamic dark navy swirl - each with its own energy and pattern. The design is inspired by clouds and storming skies, with each billowing puff of vapor bringing a unique design to each controller.

Stormcloud Vapor features rubberized, blue diamond-pattern grips on the back case that allow you to hold onto all your gaming action. By using Bluetooth and Xbox Wireless, the Stormcloud Vapor controller can connect to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles, PC, mobile phones and tablets. Its 3.5 mm audio jack allows you to talk with friends with your favorite compatible headset as you utilize the dedicated Share button to show off all your most unbelievable gaming highlights.

Starting today, a new Home experience is rolling out to all Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles. This update is designed from player feedback and makes it easier to discover new games, rediscover games you already love, connect with communities, and create a more personalized experience.

We're excited to share more about the journey that led us here, and what you can expect with this new update.