New Xbox All-Digital Console Launching This Year — Report
New images have emerged of what appears to be a brand-new Xbox Series X console model. The leaked pictures show a white Xbox Series X with a similar design to the current model, but no disc drive. The shade of white also appears to be the same as the one used on the Xbox Series S console–and the one-off model seen in a 2022 Logitech advert–and it has been claimed that this version has a few minor hardware upgrades.
According to Exputer, the console comes with an improved heatsink, could be priced at $50-$100 less than the current $499 Xbox Series X console, and may launch in June or July. Microsoft hasn’t commented on this leak, but The Verge corroborated these claims by saying that it has seen additional documents suggesting the photos are the real deal.
Last year, leaked legal documents also revealed the apparent existence of a new cylindrical Xbox console as part of a mid-gen refresh strategy. Codenamed “Brooklin” and featuring an all-digital design, the documents showed a targeted release date of November 2024 and a $499 launch price. Recently, Xbox president Sarah Bond revealed how Microsoft is working on the next-gen Xbox and said it will be “the largest technical leap” ever seen in a hardware generation.
Outside of hardware, Microsoft appears to be changing its approach to the gaming business by releasing more of its first-party games on other platforms. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer also spoke about how the company is attempting to create more open ecosystems on its hardware and how he’d like to see other storefronts like the Epic Games Store on Xbox in the future.
Visions Of Mana Preview: Classic Feel And Vivid Visuals Underpin The Return Of The Action-RPG Series
Despite being whimsical and colorful adventures with flexible action-RPG combat to boot, the Mana series has largely existed through remakes instead of new entries for the past 15 years. This is what makes Visions of Mana–the first fully-realized entry in the modern sense in a long time–such a big deal for fans of Square Enix’s dormant franchise.
Visions of Mana makes the most of its newest outing with vast regions to explore, breathtaking vistas to take in, and an emphasis on magical elements woven into both its combat mechanics and exploration that create synergy between the two.
Having had the chance to play a brief two-part demo for Visions of Mana, I was left eager to dig into its systems as that’s where the game’s real potential lies. I spent the first part of the demo exploring the open region of Fallow Steppe, which let me get my feet wet in basic battles against enemies sprinkled throughout. The three controllable characters–Val, Careena, and Morley–all had their own combat classes with their own assortment of magic spells, and I could switch between any of them on the fly. It felt like pretty simple action-RPG fare with light and heavy attack combos and a mix of magic, but after this warm-up, I got to play through the Mt. Gala dungeon, which is a more linear story-based scenario with greater combat challenges.
I also had access to more advanced combat classes at Mt. Gala, and once I got to mess around with Morley as a Nightblade–a swift ninja dual-wielding daggers–I started to really feel the flow of Visions of Mana’s combat. This came in handy when I faced off against Mantis Ant, the gargantuan beast lurking at the end of Mt. Gala. With a huge combat arena and a fast opponent with multiple targetable parts, being fast and closing the gap was my solution to taking it down. Instead of using a heavy attack, I would teleport next to my target and start serving up quick combos, almost like a Warp Strike in Final Fantasy XV.
While the Nightblade class was definitely more of my speed when it comes to my preference in action combat, Val and Careena had their share of effective abilities such as fireballs and wind gusts to tack on big damage from a distance. The best damage dealer is the Limit Break-style Class Strike, which you can activate after filling up the CS Gauge. Each character has their own based on their class and they all come with brief, beautifully animated cinematic cuts before wreaking havoc.
Taking a step back, what I’m intrigued by is how the class system works. Elemental Vessels can be equipped to any character and these determine their class. However, each character has their own unique set of classes when equipping the same Elemental Vessels. For example, when Val has the wind-based Sylphid Boomerang, he becomes a heavy sword-wielding Rune Knight but if Careena equips that same Elemental Vessel, she turns into a nimble Dancer. And I could only access the Nightblade class if I had the Luna Globe equipped to Morley, or the paladin-inspired Aegis set to Val. This all may sound like standard action-RPG stuff, but combined with the variation available in each class and the specific playstyles they offer through every party member, it seems there’s a lot worth digging into that can genuinely change the gameplay experience.
It’s worth noting, though, that Visions of Mana sometimes doesn’t feel as fluid as it should be. While it’s definitely a step up from the Trials of Mana remake from 2020, there’s a bit of a stickiness when it comes to how characters move and attack. This took some getting used to and the targeting system was often a point of frustration in the demo–while the game does feature a lock-on mechanic, the camera struggles to follow the target, and since the right stick changes the target you lock onto, you can’t really move the camera to get a better view of the combat arena. We’ve seen several action-RPGs get this right in the past, and the hope is Visions of Mana can improve this small but important aspect before launch.
There wasn’t much story content shown in the demo since it was more focused on combat and the use of Elemental Vessels. From what I can tell, the main protagonist Val seems like your typical headstrong lead, but Visions of Mana appears to be giving its other party members proper screen time as well. After the Mt. Gala portion of the demo, I got to see Careena take the spotlight alongside her adorable owl-cat hybrid name Ramcoh as they saved the wind sylphid Mantis Ant. With her background of being half-dragon and half-human, she’s dubbed the One-Winged Oracle and the wind Sylphid agrees to lend her his power. In talking with the game’s producer Masaru Oyamada, he mentioned that we can expect to explore the various cultures that fill Visions of Mana’s world along with a story about questioning things that are taken at face value.
As Oyamada told me, “One thing that we wanted to explore thematically was this idea that there might be certain things that people think of as a normal way of looking at the world. But that might not actually be the case. And so this feeling of sort of questioning what you feel is common sense is definitely an important theme to support the story.”
My broadest takeaway from playing roughly 30 minutes of Visions of Mana is that it’s going for a classic RPG feel. It’s not necessarily breaking the mold, but it’s a modern extension of Mana’s core elements wrapped in a bigger, more vibrant fantasy setting. While I’m interested in unraveling the possibilities with its class system, I’m hoping combat can be tightened up a bit more or evolve in a way that makes sense for the flow of its gameplay. However, it’s going to be the story, characters, and sense of adventure that will likely determine whether Visions of Mana can stand out among the sea of great RPGs we’ve seen in recent years.
Popular Call Of Duty Warzone Theory Debunked
An enduring fan theory about Call of Duty: Warzone is that the battle royale mode is populated in part by bots. However, Activision has now come out to say this is a bunch of baloney.
In a blog post, the company set the record straight. The only bots in Warzone are in the Bootcamp training mode, which goes live with the Season 3 launch in April. Activision said Bootcamp is Warzone’s only mode that has bots. If the company does decide to add bots to other Warzone modes, it’ll only be after informing fans of this.
“We’ll ensure the community is informed ahead of time,” Activision said.
Fans have long theorized that both Warzone and Modern Warfare III include AI bots in some instances, but this is the first time Activision is debunking that rumor for Warzone specifically. The belief amongst fans is that bots are infiltrating matches so players can easily pound them and have a better experience that encourages them to come back and play more.
Not every Warzone match begins with a full roster of players, and some fans have suggested it would be nice to see bots added to matches in these instances to round things out. Whether or not Warzone ever officially adds bots to the main modes remains to be seen.
Epic’s battle royale game Fortnite features bots in its standard modes, and has for years.
For more, check out GameSpot’s rundown of everything coming to Call of Duty in the Season 3 update, including a bunch of 4/20-themed content, a mode that turns fallen foes into mines, and the newest BlackCell DLC.
Call Of Duty Warzone Adding Mode With Bots To Help Players Learn The Ropes
Call of Duty: Warzone is a challenging battle royale game that requires skill and patience to be the last soldier or team standing. If you’re intrigued by the game but are maybe put off by diving directly into a game, Activision is releasing a new mode with bots to help you learn the ropes.
Call of Duty: Warzone Bootcamp, as it’s called, is a new training mode aimed at helping players get up to speed before dropping into a game with human enemies. Set on a randomized slice of the Urzikstan map and featuring up to 20 human players and 24 bots, Bootcamp is a quad-only mode that provides a “snapshot” of the real experience.
This isn’t Call of Duty’s first training mode, as Modern Warfare III features a “training course” mode that allows players to learn the basics of multiplayer before getting into the action.
The idea with that mode and Bootcamp is to help players build confidence before jumping into matches populated exclusively with human players. To that end, Activision pointed out in its blog post that Bootcamp is Warzone’s only mode that has bots. It’s been an enduring theory that Warzone is actually populated in part by bots, but Activision says this is not true, for now at least.
“If this changes in the future, we’ll ensure the community is informed ahead of time,” Activision said.
Activision also clarified that players won’t be able to use Bootcamp as a way to amass easy XP. Player, weapon, and battle pass XP progression is “limited” in Bootcamp, Activision said. Additionally, playing the training mode will not contribute to progress for daily and weekly challenges, calling card challenges, weapon challenges, or Champion’s Quest. Finally, Bootcamp does not include any of the public events or advanced contracts in the main mode.
The new Bootcamp mode arrives with the debut of Season 3 on April 3, and it’s the first new season since Warzone Mobile launched on March 21. As announced previously, player progress and all store bundles bought on one platform carry over to another, so you can grind on console, for example, and your progress and purchases will also be applied to mobile. However, COD Points do not move between platforms.
For more, check out GameSpot’s rundown of everything coming to Call of Duty in the Season 3 update, including a bunch of 4/20-themed content, a mode that turns fallen foes into mines, and the newest BlackCell DLC.
Next Borderlands Game In “Active Development”
As part of the wider announcement that Take-Two has acquired Gearbox from Embracer, Take-Two announced that Gearbox is now in “active development” on the next Borderlands title.
In February this year, Gearbox founder and CEO Randy Pitchford teased the company’s next game, saying it is the “greatest thing we’ve ever done.” Many believe it’s the rumored Borderlands 4. The latest entry in the main series was 2019’s Borderlands 3. In 2022, the spin-off Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands was released, and a sequel is reportedly in the works.
Whatever the next game is, the new Borderlands game is just one of many upcoming games from Gearbox. There are six “key interactive entertainment projects” in the works currently at Gearbox in various stages of development. These include five sequels, including the aforementioned Borderlands game and the next Homeworld title, along with “at least one” new IP.
In addition to these six games, Take-Two said it sees opportunities to “invest in new projects and to expand Gearbox’s proven franchises.”
Take-Two and Gearbox had worked together previously on every Borderlands game, and that relationship continued despite Gearbox being owned for a period of time by Embracer. However, Take-Two has now taken full ownership of Gearbox’s development teams and its franchises for the price of $460 million.
Gearbox founder and CEO Randy Pitchford said getting acquired by Take-Two will help Gearbox “ascend to our next level.”
In the future, Gearbox will become a 2K studio led by Pitchford and his management team. Gearbox has teams in Frisco, Texas; Montreal, Canada; and Quebec City, Canada.
Hot Wheels Reveals Fidget Spinner-Inspired Vehicle For Autism Acceptance Month
Hot Wheels has revealed a new vehicle called the Flippin Fast die-cast ahead of Autism Acceptance Month in April, saying it based the design of the new toy off a fidget spinner to allow for open-ended sensory play.
The new car sports a unique reversible design that allows it to roll whether it’s right way up or upside down, as well as an extra spinner in the middle of the vehicle for fidget spinner-like play. Ahead of Autism Acceptance Month, the vehicle was designed in partnership with ASAN, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, an autism advocacy nonprofit run for and by autistic people.
The design of the Flippin Fast is centered around open-ended, sensory play, with Hot Wheels stressing that there’s no right or wrong way to play with the toy. “Flip it, spin it, or roll it forwards, backwards and even upside down,” the press release encourages.
“We design tons of cars every year, and of course inspiration can come from anywhere,” said Ted Wu, vice-president of global vehicle design at Mattel. “We have a host of designers that come from the automotive industry. We work across cars of every genre and every type, but one of the most important sources of inspiration, of course, is our consumer, the kids that play with our toys, which is why it was really important for us to take that feedback in while we were developing the Flippin Fast car.”
While the sensory-based toy is designed with people on the autism spectrum in mind, Wu says it was also important for it to be “a fun car for anyone who is a Hot Wheels fan.”
Homeworld 3 Devs Reveal What Is Being Changed Thanks To Player Feedback
Last month, Homeworld 3 developer Blackbird Interactive announced it was pushing the game’s release date to May, in order to implement player feedback from February’s open demo. Now, the devs have revealed what exactly they’re working on to get the long-awaited sequel ready for release in May.
In a new update on the game’s Steam page, Blackbird has outlined five major changes they’re implementing in response to player feedback, including tweaks that bring the new title closer in line with classic Homeworld games.
First up, the controls are getting reworked in response to player feedback that said the Modern control scheme was unintuitive and the Classic controls didn’t feel enough like those classic games. First and foremost, Blackbird is making every keyboard input rebindable, meaning players can customize the controls to their liking if the defaults still don’t hit the mark.
The default hotkeys are also getting some sweeping changes, to make the overall experience better for players who don’t want to spend a lot of time customizing their input. There are two defaults for hotkeys, one of them the revamped Modern layout, and one replicating the Homeworld 2 Remastered hotkeys. The camera movement has also seen some tweaks, with the devs saying it handles more like you may remember from Homeworld 2 Remastered now.
The second point of business for the developers is to make combat more exciting, by tweaking some of the more tedious aspects of combat. The changes will make formations feel more organic, as well as making them more strategically useful. Support Frigates now also have more autonomy to heal friendly ships without directly being instructed to. All ships will now have 30% more hitpoints, and the developers have also increased both the duration and cooldown on abilities to make their use more strategic and less spammy.
In terms of bringing back more of that classic Homeworld feel, Blackbird has also fixed the classic Attack Move, where ships can attack in one direction while moving in a different one. The studio explains that Attack Move wasn’t performing as expected in the demo due to needing more time to properly implement it, as well as a bug that impacted certain larger ships.
A number of quality-of-life updates are also in line for Homeworld 3 before its release, including a slider to adjust the scale of the HUD. Blackbird has also fixed an issue impacting the scaling of ships, which in the demo resulted in some ships looking far larger or smaller than they should.
Finally, Blackbird is also making some balance tweaks to War Games, including adding extra objectives to improve the variety between runs. Resources Controllers have also been made free to rebuild if destroyed during a game, however they will now take significantly longer to build.
The full blog post goes into more detail on the pre-launch changes, with the developers explaining the process of finding balance between modern gaming standards and that classic Homeworld feel. Check out everything we know about Homeworld 3 ahead of its release on PC on May 13, with advanced access from May 10.