#xbox-summer-game-fest

#xbox-summer-game-fest

Sportfive's gaming department, which started with just three dedicated employees in 2016, has now expanded to a robust team of 80, highlighting the agency's commitment to the gaming sector.

"I helped Santa Monica to make God of War, Naughty Dog to make Uncharted and The Last of Us, and Sucker Punch to make the beautiful Ghost of Tsushima. Ghost of Tsushima was one of the last games that I worked on as the president of Worldwide Studios. But in 2019, after 11 years leading the first-party development, I was fired from the role."

You might not have heard of the Nex Playground, but it's a tiny gaming system built entirely around Kinect-like games. With its camera and computer vision processing, the $249 Nex Playground can track up to four players as effectively as Microsoft's old Xbox motion tracker, according to Engadget's Devindra Hardawar. The hardware is cute and well-designed, there are plenty of games, and it works offline. The only issue is the ongoing subscription needed to access most games.

Microsoft seems more determined than ever to combine Xbox and Windows - to the point that its next-gen Xbox, codenamed Project Helix, will play PC games too. Today, we learned Helix will go alpha in 2027. But the company isn't waiting for Helix before it points Windows gamers in the Xbox direction. Starting in April, it's bringing its full-screen Xbox mode to every kind of Windows 11 PC, including laptops, desktops, and tablets.

The higher bitrate streaming option will let subscribers with an Xbox Series X or S, Xbox One X or Xbox One play their games at a higher resolution, provided the game and their display supports it. Microsoft previously only offered 1440p streams on select Fire TVs, LG TVs, Samsung TVs, web browsers and the Xbox PC app.

Obviously the sheen really has come off Game Pass after the last few years of bungled reshuffling of tiers and outrageous price hikes, but if you can still afford the monthly sub, it's at least been a decent investment this January. Joining the 10 games that were already added so far are another seven, along with two more sneaking in at the very start of February. And it's a fantastic mix.