Xbox’s Summer Games Showcase on Sunday brought a nice little surprise amidst all the expected news: the announcement of a new Life is Strange game, Life is Strange: Double Exposure. The game, which sees the return of its original protagonist Max Caulfield, will be released on October 29 for Xbox Series X/S, PC and PlayStation 5. Anyone dying to get their hands on it a little earlier, though, can pre-order the Ultimate Edition, which will grant them access to Chapters 1 and 2 on October 15. A Nintendo Switch release appears to be coming later, as well.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure picks up years after the events of the first game. Now, Max has found her friend Safi murdered and tries to use her powers of time manipulation to go back and save her — but things go awry. It’s a “full-on murder-mystery, with a supernatural twist” in which Max will have to bounce between parallel timelines to stop the killer.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

Toward the end of the Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft unveiled a refreshed console lineup. For the first time, the company will offer an Xbox Series X with no disc drive in a robot white colorway. It comes with 1TB of storage and will cost $450. The MSRP of the original Series X is $500, but it often goes on sale (Microsoft itself is currently selling the console for $450).

A Xbox Series X without a disc drive had long been expected. A leak in March suggested that an all-digital robot white model was in the works. As with the PS5 refresh Sony released last year, perhaps Microsoft will offer a disc drive attachment for folks who later decide they want to play physical games on their Series X too.

A special edition Xbox Series X will also soon be available. This model, in galaxy black, does have a disc drive and double the internal storage of the regular Series X at 2TB. It will come with a matching controller and cost $600. 

The Xbox Series S is getting a more modest update. Microsoft released a 1TB model in carbon black last year, and a version with the same storage and original colorway is in the pipeline. The 1TB robot white option will be offered in select markets and cost $350. The company notes that the black model will be available "while supplies last," indicating it's phasing that variant out.

More details on availability and regional pricing will be revealed soon. Microsoft says it also has plans for controller designs to match certain games and more Xbox Series X console wraps.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

As the grand finale of Xbox’s Summer Game Fest showcase, after the new consoles, we were treated to the exclusive premiere of the latest addition to the Gears series, Gears of War: E-Day.

The trailer kicks off with a one-on-one brawl between the Gears guy and a grunt, ending in a headshot. Immediately after, however, the floor collapses between them. Fortunately, Gears’ Guy #2 is there to grab your hand. And the sad Mad World melody plays in the background. Because Gears. Called E-Day, and ending on an apocalyptic view of a city, it looks like this game will center on an invasion. Apparently, this is the origin story centered on the Locust invasion on Emergence Day, through the eyes of Marcus Fenix — AKA Gears guy. Get the big guns. There’s no release window just yet, but it will, of course, be landing on Game Pass when it does arrive.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

It’s Treyarch’s turn at bat for a big ol’ Call of Duty game, which means it’s time for a new Black Ops. Today we learned that Black Ops 6 will have a full campaign set in the 1990s that picks up (broadly) where the ‘80s-infused Cold War left off. Raven Software is actually handling the campaign, and is promising “globetrotting missions along with stealth gameplay mixed with blockbuster action. ” Sure sounds a lot like Black Ops!

Locations for the storyline include the Middle East, southern Europe, Russia and the US. For those deeply entwined in Blops' gripping storyline, Frank Woods and Russel Adler will return for 6, and the story will be tied to the 1980s flashbacks in Black Ops 2. The campaign will branch out from an “expanded campaign hub” set in a safehouse where you’ll be able to “learn about allies, explore and solve puzzles, gather lore and upgrades” and, of course, select missions.

Multiplayer is the main event for most Call of Duty players, and is also the area where Treyarch typically excels. This year, the developers are talking up “omnimovement,” which will seemingly deemphasize linear strafing and movement in favor of a more fluid chained system. We didn't see this in action — check the livestream above for that — but here’s a description from Activision:

“Omnimovement lets players sprint, slide, and dive in any direction, along with the new Supine Prone, the ability to rotate while prone, granting Black Ops 6 players more freedom of movement and tactical flexibility.”

And a screenshot called BO6_Multiplayer_Omnimovement.jpg that Activision sent over:

Activision

Rad! In terms of multiplayer modes, there’ll be 16 basic maps — 12 for six-on-six battles, and four Strike levels that support two-on-two and six-on-six matches. As pre-launch rumors suggested, Black Ops 6 marks the return of the classic Prestige gameplay for the most advanced players. Round-Based Zombies will also be in the game at launch with two all-new maps, Liberty Falls and Terminus. Activision promises more maps and modes post-launch.

Expect to hear a ton more about Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as we get closer to its launch date — October 25, 2024. There’ll be a free Open Beta, with pre-orders granting early access as usual. It’s coming to PC (Battle.net, Microsoft Store and Steam), Playstation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series consoles. No Nintendo Switch this time around — I guess Microsoft’s deal with Nintendo is predicated on the Japanese company having a console more powerful than a mid ‘10s smartphone.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

After years of teasing its arrival, Xbox has finally announced a release window for the upcoming Fable reboot. The game is slated to hit Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2025, and will be available on Xbox Game Pass from day one. The company dropped a new trailer for Fable during the Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday. The game, which is being developed by Playground Games, was first announced with a teaser back in 2020.

Xbox is billing it as “a new beginning” for the series. The new Fable focuses on a washed-up ex-hero named Humphry, who we see in the latest trailer. He’ll be “forced out of retirement when a mysterious figure from his past threatens Albion's very existence.” In our last glimpse at the game, released during last year’s Summer Game Fest, we were introduced to a character named Dave, who is voiced by Richard Ayoade. The new trailer gives us a bit more of a look at some in-game footage and doubles down on the offbeat tone of the previous teasers.

We'll still have to wait a while for it to actually be released, but at least now there's a timeframe we can cling to. 

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

Mixtape is a coming-of-age story about the reality-bending adventures of three teenage friends on their final night of high school, featuring a soundtrack of classic punk and alternative hits. It's due to hit Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2025, and it'll be available day-one on Game Pass.

Mixtape follows three friends on their way to their final high school party, as they relive their glory days to the tunes of a perfectly curated playlist. Their memories appear in dreamlike sequences, featuring songs by Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Devo, The Smashing Pumpkins and other old-school hit makers.

The main trio in Mixtape provide plenty of teenage sass in the game's reveal trailer, and its art style feels like something between stop-motion and cel-shaded cinematics. It's a welcoming, stylish world. The Mixtape microsite includes the mantra, "Skate. Party. Avoid the law. Make out. Sneak out. Hang out." Sounds like high school to me.

Mixtape comes from Beethoven & Dinosaur, the studio behind the musical adventure The Artful Escape and fronted by Australian rockstar Johnny Galvatron. It's published by Annapurna Interactive.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

It's been a long, long time since we learned that a Perfect Dark reboot was in the works, and there are finally some fresh signs of life. A gameplay trailer was shown during the Xbox Games Showcase, though there's no release date or window as yet.

Xbox is billing the reboot as a "first-person secret agent thriller in a near-future world" that includes immersive sim and stealth-action elements. Based on this first look, co-developers The Initiative and may have nailed the brief. 

The clip shows Joanna Dark dropping into a near-future version of Cairo in search of a bad guy who possesses a radioactive device. She's able to capture goons' voice prints to open voice-activated door locks, and she can kick off walls to clamber up drain pipes and gain extra distance for jumps. Along with blasting enemies with guns, Joanna has some hand-to-hand combat skills too.

According to an Xbox Wire blog post, you'll have a range of traversal abilities and gadgets at your disposal, so you'll be able to choose how to complete missions. I'm just a little bummed that there was no sign of a laptop gun. 

The blog post also notes that "at the widest level, Perfect Dark will be a single-player experience." That could be a hint that there will be multiplayer modes too. I have my fingers crossed for that, as the original Perfect Dark was a better multiplayer shooter than Goldeneye 007.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

South of Midnight, first revealed at last year’s Summer Game Fest, will launch on Xbox and PC sometime next year. During today's Xbox showcase, we got a first look at how the third-person action-adventure will play. 

Right off the bat, it reminds me of Square Enix’s fun-but-flawed Forspoken. In South of Midnight, protagonist Hazel is apparently pulled into a “Southern Gothic world” where reality and fantasy are blurred. Hazel is able to move around the environment fluidly, with the new trailer showing off gliding skills, double jumps, and some sort of magical grapple hook to speed up level navigation. 

We also got even more cutscenes to help flesh out this world, and they still have that Into The Spider-verse jumpy frame-rate trick to separate cutscenes from in-game actionYou’ll be able to fight monsters with close-up magical blade attacks and other midrange weaponry. Oh and you seem to befriend – and ride – a giant catfish around the magical bayou.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

There's a new Doom in town. Doom: The Dark Ages is heading to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, day one on Game Pass, in 2025. The game's first trailer showcases a world of hulking monsters in blood-soaked environments, badass new weapons and what looks to be a player-controlled dragon. At one point, the Doom Slayer steps inside a giant mech suit in order to battle a huge demon, buildings crumbling beneath their feet. 

The weapons and creatures in Doom: The Dark Ages have a distinct medieval flare, as is expected, with lots of sharpened blades, at least one flail and heavy armor all around. One new weapon that stands out in the game's reveal trailer is an automatic shotgun with a skull in the center of it, menacing and slightly silly at the same time. As is custom in Doom games, the level of gory, gruesome detail on display in The Dark Ages is exceptional, and it looks like the game is leaning into everything that makes this franchise so deliciously disgusting.

Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel to 2016's Doom and Doom Eternal, developed by series shepherd id Software. Its story will illuminate the origin of the Doom Slayer. Spoiler: He will slaughter a lot of demons.

It's possible this is the rumored Doom: Year Zero that was mentioned in leaked documents related to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The leak happened in September 2023 and it outlined Bethesda's roadmap over the coming years as part of the Xbox Game Studios brand.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!

It seemed like a missed opportunity for Microsoft and Bethesda to not have a new Fallout game ready to capitalize on the TV adaptation's success. However, Bethesda does have Fallout 76 up its sleeve at least, and the latest expansion of the multiplayer RPG is just a few days away.

The publisher revealed the Skyline Valley expansion during the Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday. The DLC expands the map for the first time into a new region called Shenandoah. The telethon-themed trailer offers a peek at some of what's in store. For instance, you'll be able to explore the remnants of Vault 63 and try to discover what happened to its dwellers. As you might expect, there will also be Ghouls to contend with. The trailer ends on a spicy tease, as starting early next year, you'll actually be able to play as a Ghoul.

Fallout 76 had a rough debut, but by all accounts the game has gotten much better over time (following in the footsteps of some other Bethesda games). As with other Fallout titles, it had a huge surge in players in the wake of the Prime Video show. On Steam alone, the average number of concurrent players shot up nearly fivefold from 5,975 in March to 25,673 in April.

With so many new and returning players enjoying the game, it’s nice that they won’t have to wait long for more things to see and do. Skyline Valley, which is free for Fallout 76 players on all platforms, will arrive on June 12.