Here are the first 13 games optimized for the Xbox Series X

[Karlston]

Here are the first 13 games optimized for the Xbox Series X

Thirteen new games are coming to the Xbox Series X with optimizations

Microsoft is detailing the first games that will be optimized for its next-gen Xbox Series X console today. All of the games included in Microsoft’s Xbox 20/20 show will sport a new Xbox Series X Optimized badge, which signals that a game has been improved and optimized for the new console.

 

Optimizations include 4K support at up to 120fps, DirectStorage support, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and faster load times. Effectively, when you see the Optimized badge, you know that a developer has done some work to ensure existing or new games work better on an Xbox Series X. You can read more about the Xbox Series X Optimized details here.

 

Microsoft showcased 13 new games coming to Xbox Series X, including titles from Ubisoft, Deep Silver, and Bloober Team. All 13 games will sport the new Xbox Series X Optimized badge, and it’s likely we’ll see many more during Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios announcements in July and over the coming months. Here are the first 13 Xbox Series X Optimized titles:

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
• Bright Memory Infinite
• Call of the Sea
• Chorus
• DiRT 5
• Madden NFL 21
• Scarlet Nexus
• Scorn
• Second Extinction
• The Ascent
• The Medium
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon

 

 

Source: Here are the first 13 games optimized for the Xbox Series X (The Verge)

[Karlston]

Xbox Series X Optimized games will play at 4K 120fps and support raytracing

When Microsoft announced its Xbox 20/20 series of events earlier this week, it said that it will be showing off games that are Xbox Series X Optimized, only providing some brief context on what that means. Today was the first event, where the company talked a bit more about it.

 

The image above is the Optimized for Xbox Series X badge. Microsoft had a similar program for the Xbox One X, calling games Xbox One X Enhanced. That would mean that a game would play at 4K, HDR, or one of the two. Xbox Series X Optimized means more than that. It essentially means that the game will take advantage of all of the new features.

 

First of all, an Xbox Series X Optimized game will play at 4K 120fps. The base setting for the console is 60fps, so you're never going to go lower than that. 30fps games are dead, at least for the Xbox Series X.

 

They'll also support DirectX Raytracing (DXR), meaning that games can draw things like shadows and reflections in real time. The games will support DirectStorage as well, meaning that they'll load faster, and of course, the SSD storage adds to this too. Smart Delivery is a big feature, and that means that you'll get the version of the game that applies to your console. So if you buy a game on your Xbox One and then download it later on the Xbox Series X, you'll get the Series X version.

 

 

Source: Xbox Series X Optimized games will play at 4K 120fps and support raytracing (Neowin)

[Karlston]

Xbox Series X game trailers: all the videos from the next-gen gameplay reveal

The best Xbox Series X trailers so far include Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and Yakuza: Like A Dragon

(Image credit: Microsoft)

 

The first dozen Xbox Series X game trailers premiered during Microsoft's live stream and gave us insight into its console's capabilities. The event was our chance to see Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 and a new Yakuza game running on the forthcoming new Xbox.

 

Some heavy-hitters were noticeably absent, and Xbox Games Studios head Matt Booty noted that first-party games would be revealed in July. In other words, we have to wait to see that Halo Infinite trailer, even though it's the most anticipated Xbox Series X game. 

Instead, the first stream focused on games from Microsoft’s third-party partners. The headliner was the viking-themed Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, but most of the Xbox Series X games shown off were original titles – not sequels or spinoffs from popular franchises. 

 

Unveiling a list of unknowns wasn’t quite what viewers were expecting, and likely won’t build the kind of hype that showing off new Halo, Gears, or Forza footage would have. But it’s a relief to see Microsoft’s partnerships are paying off with a diverse lineup of Xbox Series X games that (hopefully) will push the console to shine.

 

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

While last to be shown, the biggest game shown on the stream was certainly Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Norse altars, the aurora borealis, and longships, oh my! While we didn’t see any gameplay, this Xbox Series X game trailer showed off some exciting moments that we’re sure will make sense in context of the game. It’s a bit of a disappointing tease, but the YouTube video’s description revealed more about the game: RPG mechanics, political gameplay, raiding, and settlement expansion augment the signature Assassin’s Creed hack-and-slash gameplay.

 

Bright Memory Infinite

The first game we saw had us wondering if we were beholding a new Crysis with its intricate graphics and shooter gameplay. But Bright Memory Infinite is apparently a new title Microsoft claims was created by a single Chinese developer. We’re eager to see more of this exciting, slightly baffling game after its intro showed off a futuristic cyber warrior gunning down Roman-looking soldiers in a courtyard before climbing in a DeLorean for a car chase.

 

Dirt 5

Dirt 5, the next in the rally-themed racing franchise, looks like it lives up to its predecessors with track and off-road driving, according to its Xbox Series X game trailer. From what we gather, players will be able to tweak their vehicle down to the size of tires for better cornering and performance.

 

Scorn

 

The haunting horror game Scorn was first revealed back in 2017, but it’s set to be an Xbox Series X-exclusive, apparently (at least for awhile, as it also has a Steam page). While we didn’t glean much from the vivid and grotesque Xbox Series X game trailer, we do know this heavily H. R. Giger-influenced game is a shooter with very organic, squicky guns and gore. Yum.

 

 

 

 

Chorus

 

Chorus (styled Chorvs) from Deep Silver and Fishlabs puts players in the shoes of a spaceship pilot with a lot going on, and we’re betting she shoots her way out of some conspiracy. With Everspace-style starfighter combat and some spooky astral chicanery straight out of Control, we’re looking forward to this lovely, weird synthesis.

 

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

 

Hope you weren’t sitting down to eat. This Xbox Series X game trailer for the eagerly-anticipated vampire lifestyle sequel Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 opens with what looks like a monstrous scene of a serial killing with bodies strung up and faces carved up into smiling rictus (we weren’t kidding!) as a presumed villain dances to Danke Shoen. That sets the stage for the game’s dark world of vampires preying on humans, and it looks like players will get access to a bevy of supernatural abilities as they plumb the depths of The Masquerade.

 

Call of the Sea

 

On a much lighter note, Call of the Sea by Out of the Blue and Raw Fury sets the players in the shoes of an adventurer searching an island paradise for her missing husband – though below lurks mystery and seemingly occult menace (with a hint of Lovecraftian horrors).

 

The Ascent

 

Blade Runner fans, take notice: The Ascent by Neon Giant and Curved Digital is an RPG set in a cyberpunk future ruled by megacorporation The Ascent Group. Unlike the much-hyped Cyberpunk 2077, The Ascent looks like a cross between a tactics game and a twin-stick shooter with its isometric perspective. We’re looking forward to learning more about the game, but we’re already excited by its gritty neon atmosphere.

 

The Medium

 

The Medium by Bloober Team looks like another tough-to-categorize game in the vein of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. We didn’t get much from this trailer, but it looks to follow the titular Medium uncovering a mystery that extends from this world into the ethereal beyond. That’s what we’re sensing, anyhow. You’d need ESP to pluck real answers from this Xbox Series X game trailer.

 

Scarlet Nexus

Bandai Namco’s Scarlet Nexus looks like a latter-day Bandai Namco game: a hack-and-slash set in a futuristic city-crossing world where anime-styled heroes use psychic powers to thrash evil flower planters with legs. Yeah.

 

Second Extinction

Dinosaurs! Guns! Survival! Big landscapes! Second Extinction by Systemic Reaction looks, quite simply, dope. It’s a first-person shooter where you and a squad blow away hordes of dinos, large and small, to ‘retake Earth.’ Sign us up.

 

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

 

The next game in the storied Yakuza franchise, Sega’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon looks to star new hero Ichiban Kasuga as a dutiful yakuza grunt who endured a prison term in service to his criminal family...who betrays him after his release. Expect the usual brawls, street drama, and maybe some familiar faces, though the antics look dialed up to ridiculous degrees (someone literally fires a space laser at our boy Ichi) – which is saying something for a franchise known for its wild turns.

 

 

Source: Xbox Series X game trailers: all the videos from the next-gen gameplay reveal (TechRadar)