The official XBOX 25th anniversary is approaching fast, with November 15 flanked on both sides by plans for special hardware, celebratory merchandise, and a wave of themed cosmetics from Microsoft's gaming division.

It's almost hard to comprehend, given that I remember the much-anticipated launch of the original XBOX quite clearly.

But time marches on, and XBOX has proven it can iterate its hardware and innovate its experiences over the years.

So, in another mix of self-indulgent nostalgia and reflection on how far the technology has come, I'm looking back at how far performance has leaped across these console generations, from the original XBOX to the Series X and beyond.

XBOX (2001)

Microsoft's first console was comically gigantic and heavy, packed with parts that felt at home in a mid-to-high-tier desktop PC of the time. Its DVD drive sat alongside a 3.5-inch hard drive with 8–10 GB of space, connected via old-school IDE ribbon cables, and together they made up most of the heft. Some of my braver friends replaced their HDDs, requiring injected softmods to work.

Deeper inside, Intel provided a modified Pentium III x86 CPU built on a 180 nm process, which it has since scaled down incredibly far to the latest 18A process node used in its mainstream chips. Running at 733 MHz, the processor sat alongside 64 MB of DDR RAM (that's megabytes, not gigabytes) clocked at 200 MHz and an NVIDIA GeForce 3-based GPU at 233 MHz.

Looking back, it's fascinating how the OG XBOX resembled many of my friends' PCs at the time; we either paired Intel CPUs with NVIDIA GPUs or opted for AMD CPUs with ATI (later acquired by AMD) GPUs. It wasn't a permanent partnership for Microsoft, but it powered a compelling competitor to Sony's PlayStation 2, even if it remained out of reach for my teenage self.

XBOX 360 (2005)

Design-wise, this slim console was a far cry from its behemoth predecessor. Sure enough, the XBOX 360 made an instant impression on me and an even faster dent in my first self-earned paychecks. This time, Microsoft opted for a 64-bit PowerPC-based CPU design from IBM, moving further away from traditional PC architecture, with a massive clock speed jump to 3.2 GHz in its tri-core chip.

This leap to a multi-core processor makes direct clock speed comparisons a little moot, but it's still impressive to see how far the XBOX jumped in one generation. Its unified memory moved from DDR SDRAM to 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM clocked at 700 MHz for eight times more capacity and triple the bandwidth, and the GPU swapped teams to the ATI-designed 'Xenos' at 500 MHz.

Storage space is where it gets harder to define, because Microsoft offered so many different models, redesigns, and expandable add-ons. The earliest XBOX 360 consoles I saw ranged from selling with no hard drive at all to a 'Premium' model with a 20 GB HDD in the box. For game discs, Microsoft kept DVDs, but increased the read speed and moved to a SATA-connected, dual-layer disc drive.

XBOX One (2013)

Ah, the all-in-one entertainment unit. I bought into the XBOX ONE so eagerly because I wanted to play Quantum Break, but I was also intrigued by its appeal as a TV tuner with live programming snapped to the side of my screen. Of course, I'd never get the promised DVR function, and the Kinect 2.0 sensor did little more than collect dust, but the console still had its gaming appeal.

This is when Microsoft's consoles started resembling PCs again, with an octo-core AMD Jaguar CPU running x86-64 instructions, clocked at 1.75 GHz. It wasn't as mind-blowing as the XBOX 360's evolution, but the XBOX ONE came with 8GB of DDR3 RAM for a 16x generational memory capacity leap; all part of a new console that was generally easier for game developers to target.

This is also where Microsoft's modern AMD era began, building a GPU running at 853 MHz into its singular APU and delivering raw graphical compute performance about five times faster than the XBOX 360. Storage saw a huge jump to 500 GB to support game installations, and Microsoft finally adopted Blu-ray with a BD-ROM disc drive, but games were already going digital.

XBOX Series X (2020)

Yes, the current generation is almost six years old. We're once again entering an age of speculation about what comes next, but the XBOX Series X (and Series S) remain the brand's primary focus. There's even a transparent green 'Xbox Series X25' special edition console and controller launching in November, though I'm still quite satisfied with my original Series X|S variants.

The specs have more nuance these days, but the AMD octo-core Zen 2 CPU runs at 3.66 GHz, paired with an AMD RDNA 2 GPU at 1.82 GHz in another custom APU. For unified memory, Microsoft moved up to 16 GB of GDDR6 RAM, while storage starts with a 1 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, depending on the model you choose. Proprietary external storage also returned this generation, up to 4 TB.

An Ultra HD Blu-ray drive was also standard at launch, but later 'All-Digital' models have dropped it, in keeping with an ongoing trend shift towards digital gaming. Some major releases are already launching without physical media, and it's reasonable to assume that the Series X could be Microsoft's last console to support them by default.

XBOX Project Helix (2028?)

So, what comes next? We already know that Project Helix will be "powered by a custom AMD SoC", much like the APUs in previous XBOX consoles, and that high-end visuals are a focus for the brand. Ray-tracing technology, in particular, delivers incredibly realistic lighting, reflections, and shadows, but it's demanding on any hardware, which is where AI comes in.

AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling tech is already making its way to current-gen XBOX consoles via FSR 4.1, and early testing with beta drivers on XBOX Ally handheld gaming PCs shows some promise for improved visual fidelity at the same performance. A new AI-assisted upscaler seems likely for the next XBOX, but it'll depend on what AMD can support with its hardware plans.

Of course, the utterly gigantic elephant in the room right now is the ongoing memory crisis. Shortages have pushed up the cost of components and completely removed some of the highest-end consumer GPUs from sale, as major brands like NVIDIA focus on hardware for large-scale artificial intelligence platforms instead. It'll likely be the most PC-like console yet, but at a severe cost.

Its literal cost will continue to be the most pressing prediction posed by long-serving XBOX gamers. Both of the Series X|S consoles already suffered a price hike, which has many wondering what they'll have to pay for the next-generation console. Is $1,000+ a realistic expectation, or can Microsoft pull some favors to offset the inflated manufacturing costs? Let's see what 2027 reveals.

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One of the lesser-appreciated aspects of Xbox Game Pass is Xbox Free Play Days, a feature that allows players to enjoy a select number of games for a brief period of time.

The selection of Free Play Days' games changes frequently, and this week's Xbox titles mostly fall in line with the spooky season of Halloween — WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, Dead by Daylight, Darkwood, Spirttea, and Everspace 2 (the latter two of which are playable on console and PC).

WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, Dead by Daylight, Darkwood, and Everspace 2 will be free to play for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and Essential members between October 29, 2026 to November 1, 2026.

Dead by Daylight will be free to play for all Xbox players (no Xbox Game Pass plan required) between October 28, 2026, and November 2, 2026.

A fallen Soulslike and an unkillable multiplayer horror game are on the menu for this year's Halloween

Among the biggest titles of this line-up are WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers and Dead by Daylight.

WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers is an action-RPG Soulslike where you play as the titular pirate warrior, traveling the monster-infested lands of Shu to cure a horrific disease that's slowly turning you into an abomination.

My colleague, Jez Corden, gave WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers a highly positive review for its brutal yet satisfying combat, superb level design, and beautiful visuals. However, its difficulty and story were tarnished by harsh censorship, which can only be bypassed by fan-made mods on PC.

Dead by Daylight is a popular asymmetrical multiplayer horror game where four players must survive the night before a player-controlled slasher villain murders them all in brutal, horror-movie fashion.

The game was released in 2016, and it is still active to this day, with tens of thousands of people playing it and constantly adding new playable Survivors and Killers. Dead by Daylight has even added playable characters from other franchises like Diablo, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Stranger Things, Friday the 13th, Alien, Alan Wake, Nightmare on Elm Street, and many more.

To round up the horror titles is Darkwood, a top-down indie horror game where you must explore the titular forest to uncover its secrets whilst making gut-wrenching choices that may condemn human lives.

Of course, if you don't fancy being terrified this Halloween, you can always chill out with the cozy bathhouse simulator Spirittea or explore the universe while gunning down space pirates in the single-player space shooter, Everspace 2.

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Microsoft has announced (via Xbox Wire) that Metro Redux has received a next-gen update on Xbox consoles along with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

This means that Metro Redux will be able to take full advantage of the Xbox Series X's hardware to run at 4K resolution at 60 FPS with improved graphics or at standard resolution at 120 FPS for smoother gameplay responsiveness.

Additionally, this Next-Gen update has TSR Upscaling and Anti-Aliasing to make each game's visual fidelity much sharper and more detailed.

With Xbox Play Anywhere, you will be able to own Metro Redux on a Windows PC by buying the Xbox version, and vice versa.

Plus, you will be able to play this game on handhelds like the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, and continue your progress on any other compatible platform within the Xbox ecosystem.

For those unaware, Metro is a series of first-person shooters set in a post-apocalyptic future where you are struggling to survive in the Moscow underground filled with raiders, mutants, and other horrifying threats to the last scraps of humanity.

I never played this series myself, but my colleague, Jez Corden, is a huge fan of the series. Jez gave Metro Exodus a high 4.5 review score for its intriguing storyline and character writing, satisfying open-world survival gameplay, and excellent level design.

With Metro Redux's Next-Gen update, this will provide newcomers like me and long-time fans like Jez the perfect excuse to revisit the beginnings of this critically acclaimed series before its next entry, Metro 2039, drops on February 4, 2027, for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

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Xbox gift cards are a quick and easy way to add cash to your account, and they also make a great gift for your friends or family. It's even better when you can essentially get free cash to spend on expensive AAA blockbusters, like the upcoming mega hit Grand Theft Auto 6, which runs for $79.99 at retail.

So if you're hoping to buy yourself (or your pals) an expensive game, Newegg has your back with a special discount code on a (digital) $100 Xbox Gift Card for $90 with code GTWF968. Typing in the promo code during checkout at Newegg reduces the price, but you still get the full $100 delivered to your email inbox as a code. You could buy GTA6 and still have $20 left over!

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It's been a long time since we last heard news of Threads of Time, the indie JRPG that aims to recapture the magic of Square Enix's all-time classic, Chrono Trigger.

After a year since its Tokyo Game Show 2025 trailer, Threads of Time has broken radio silence to reveal that it's releasing during the Summer of 2027 for Xbox Series X|S , PC via Steam, and now Nintendo Switch & Nintendo Switch 2.

Threads of Time is a turn-based JRPG where you travel across multiple time periods to save the world from sinister forces to ruin the world's past, present, and future.

The game will feature gorgeous HD-2D pixel art, a cast of intriguing characters, a rich storyline, a variety of exotic and wondrous lands to explore, and challenging enemies to beat in in-depth turn-based battles.

I've been looking forward to this for a while for its charming, retro aesthetic and gameplay, and was worried it might've been canceled after not hearing any news about it for a year. So I'm glad to hear it's still being made and that it's releasing next year during the Summer.

Here's hoping Threads of Time will get Xbox Play Anywhere at launch so I can play with it on the go with my Xbox Ally and carry over progress to my Xbox Series X at home.

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Xbox's Year in Review feature, which lets players look back on their favorite games and greatest achievements, has been missing for over 2 years; the last one was in 2024, and in 2025, players had to turn to fan-made alternatives.

However, it appears Microsoft is finally looking to bring back Xbox Year in Review, but it will be reborn as a new feature called "Xbox Playback" in honor of Xbox's 25th anniversary.

This discovery comes from X user @redphx, who has uploaded images of this system in action (and we can confirm with our sources that it is real). It lists his most-played game of all time, total playtime across all platforms, total number of games played, rarest achievement, and much more.

However, @redphx notes Xbox Playback is bugged right now, as it listed the Xbox One as their first console despite never seeing or owning it, and mentions the Xbox Series X was their first console.

@redphx mentions Xbox's "Year in Review" tab page will be replaced with "Playback" at https://xbox.com/playback, but the link is currently not publicly available.

This is the second "leak" of an Xbox 25th anniversary feature this week, as players are getting new, incomplete achievements for OG Xbox games early (both of which are likely released early due to programming errors).

Not that I'm complaining, of course. It's cool to see Xbox Year-in-Review coming back, but this time detailing your entire Xbox career instead of just the past year. So I'm looking forward to seeing the final product in action when Xbox Playback gets officially announced.

Could these be part of a series of more updates coming to Xbox platforms when the brand's 25th anniversary lands on November 15, 2026? We'll have to wait to find out.

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Xbox Game Pass is, by far, the best deal in gaming, at least since the price cut earlier this year. While the future of the service remains a bit of a mystery with rumors swirling about potential transformations, I’ve always thought it was a shame that mobile users couldn’t play at least some Game Pass games natively on their phones. Heaven knows it would have been an amazing selling point for Windows Phone, but I digress.

Those on Android, and even iPhone, have had to rely on Xbox Cloud Gaming. We all know that service got quite the considerable nerf, no longer providing unlimited hours of play. Instead, Ultimate members are allotted just 15 hours maximum, with the ability to purchase additional hours starting at $3.99 for 10 hours.

Now, whilst iOS users are out of luck, at least for now, Android can now natively play Xbox Game Pass PC games thanks to the latest DroidDeck update. For now, the feature is in testing, but I’m rather impressed. In fact, we’re seeing a lot of things like this crop up lately; not long ago, we also got Xbox’s PC Game Pass on Steam Deck, thanks to Xodus Nexus, or heck, we even got Xbox One games running on iPhone.

How well do Xbox Game Pass PC games run on Android?

Performance-wise, having looked into it, you can expect pretty decent results, depending on the game, of course. Hollow Knight: Silksong runs at over 100 FPS on a device like the Ayn Thor, and Minecraft Dungeons 2 is hitting 30 to 40 FPS.

It’s still early days, with DroidDeck (which you can check out yourself on GitHub) only on version 0.6.0, but the app itself is coming along nicely. Beyond Game Pass support, you get access to Steam, Epic Games, GOG, Amazon Games, and even itch.io, making it pretty feature-rich.

I find this all extremely cool. I think playing these games on a handheld that actually fits in your pocket, instead of something that requires a backpack, is the future of portable gaming. As much as I enjoy my Xbox Ally X, I’d rather have games on something that, to me, feels like a handheld the way a Nintendo DS or PSP used to.

Maybe that’s just me, though. Let me know your thoughts on DroidDeck and Game Pass PC games on Android in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below.

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Back in July 2026, Microsoft announced via Xbox Wire that games from the original Xbox would get achievements implemented on modern consoles and PC. However, it seems that this long-requested feature has already been sneaking onto Xbox Series X|S for certain games without any official fanfare.

This has been confirmed by photographs taken by X users @xgramiliki and @PiquenoLoredo (via @CentralXBOX_) showing achievements for OG Xbox games like Destroy All Humans!, Full Spectrum Warrior, Star Wars: Republic Commando, Panzer Dragoon Orta, and KOF: Neowave.

However, it seems the update isn't finished, as each of the aforementioned games shows "0/0" achievements and zero Gamerscore earned. The possible explanation for this could be that these achievements have shown up on players' profiles by mistake due to a programming error before they were officially ready.

These achievements will probably be taken down shortly when Microsoft discovers this and brought back once they're fully ready so they can join the other OG Xbox titles that have achievements officially, like BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, Fuzion Frenzy.

Do note that if these achievements do show up again, Xbox's Vice President Jason Ronald has confirmed they will not unlock retroactively. This means you will need to play through each respective title again to unlock their achievements and Gamerscore.

Either way, this will be great news for Xbox Achievement hunters looking to get the prestige Xbox Mythic Achievement from their favorite OG Xbox titles and serve as the perfect excuse to replay them.

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Xbox has officially announced that Game Pass is heading to eligible T-Mobile customers in the U.S. starting this November. Through T-Mobile's new "T-Mix" plan perks, eligible subscribers will be able to pick Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or Premium as an included benefit, granting access across Xbox consoles, PC, Smart TVs, and cloud devices.

If you’re based in the UK, this announcement might seem like something of a nothing burger. EE has offered Game Pass Ultimate as an "Inclusive Extra" or an easy mobile bill add-on over here for absolutely years now. But across the Atlantic, this is actually the very first time a major U.S. wireless carrier has integrated Xbox Game Pass directly into its mobile plans.

Here's how T-Mix works

T-Mobile's new setup moves away from rigid pre-selected bundles and introduces a modular "Picks" system across three main plan tiers: Standard, More, and Loaded.

Depending on your plan tier and the number of lines on your account, you receive a bucket of monthly Picks to spend across partner streaming, tech, and gaming perks.

• Xbox Game Pass Premium: Requires 2 Picks.
• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: Requires 3 Picks.

For single-line accounts, T-Mix More starts at $75/month and includes 2 Picks which is enough to cover Game Pass Premium. If you want full Game Pass Ultimate access, you'll need 3 Picks, which comes included with a single line on T-Mix Loaded starting at $95/month (or through multi-line account allotments).

T-Mobile is also letting subscribers "remix" and swap out their chosen partner perks four times a year, so you aren't permanently locked in if your gaming or streaming habits change.

Why is this a big deal? UK have had this for ages!

For years, U.S. mobile networks have thrown free Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, or Apple Music subscriptions at customers to push plan upgrades. Yet despite Xbox pushing cloud gaming so heavily on mobile devices, game subscription services haven't made it into the mix.

When I wrote earlier this year that the Xbox Game Pass problem could be fixed without dropping the price, my main argument was that Microsoft needed to tackle subscription fatigue by letting us consolidate our monthly bills. Bundling in with mobile contracts is a fantastic way to do that, but Xbox shouldn't stop there. Bringing that same modular approach to the subscription itself, by letting players swap out unused extras like Fortnite Crew or EA Play for perks they’ll actually use, would instantly soften the blow of that monthly fee. Yes the price hike was ultimately reversed, but my point still stands.

Either way, T-Mobile’s November rollout of T-Mix is a long overdue one for the US audience. If Microsoft wants Game Pass to keep expanding beyond traditional hardware, partnering with major telecom providers to absorb that out-of-pocket cost is easily one of the smartest moves they can make right now.

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If you're still waiting for a reasonable price on next-gen consoles to upgrade for Grand Theft Auto 6, you'll be waiting a long time. That said, Argos have just made a surprise cut to the Xbox Series S 512GB model, taking it down to pre-RAMpocalypse prices of £299.99.

I can't believe I'm calling this a deal but at this point in 2026 with the current climate, it actually is the cheapest way to upgrade to current gen right now and I can't see stocks lasting much longer. In fact, I'd argue the even better deal is the 1TB model at £349.99, down from £519.99, as the extra storage is kind of essential nowadays.

This deal couldn't have come at a better time for UK consumers, given that Xbox stock is so dire right now that Xbox is begging lapsed users to trade in their consoles and make them available for new customers.

The Xbox Series S has always been the easiest and cheapest way to get into Xbox's eco system, and launched in November 2020 for £249.99 as an alternative to the beefier Xbox Series X, but it plays all of the same current generation games. I wrote a full Xbox Series S review if you want to read further, but I still love and use mine daily (and at current prices it will be a family heirloom.)

Those prices are now a thing of the past, and £299.99 is a bargain by current standards, with the price being recently hiked to a whopping £519.99. Thanks to Argos, we are now at a reasonable price point again, but that will be entirely dependent on your postcode and whether there are any in stock, so go fast!

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Original Article:

On October 23, 2026, the official X account of Stellar Blade revealed that the game is going to have a collaboration with Overwatch titled "Overwatch X Eve Protocol".

Like past collaborations with other franchises, Overwatch will no doubt create new cosmetic rewards based on Stellar Blade's main characters and pass them on to Overwatch's Heroes.

The date for this collaboration and its content have not been specified at this time.

For those unaware, Stellar Blade is a character action game where you play as EVE, a soldier dispatched to Earth to liberate it from monstrous alien invaders called the Naytiba.

It's gained quite the cult following and critical acclaim since its release in 2024 for its in-depth combat gameplay and appealing main character, EVE. Ever since it ditched PlayStation exclusivity and started releasing on other platforms like PC and soon Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox fans have been rallying for an Xbox Series X|S port.

With this expected collaboration with Overwatch, a first-party Xbox franchise, there might be a chance we could get an Xbox version of Stellar Blade down the pipeline.

Would you like to play Stellar Blade on Xbox?

I wouldn't mind giving Stellar Blade a chance if it lands on Xbox Series X|S, especially with Xbox Play Anywhere so I can play it while travelling on holiday.

Its gameplay looks fun and gives off the same over-the-top feel as classic combat-heavy titles like Nier: Automata and Bayonetta (it's even getting a crossover Bayonetta skin for EVE when the game lands on Nintendo Switch 2).

But what do you think? Could this Overwatch collaboration be hinting at an Xbox Series X|S port of Stellar Blade? Would you play it if it landed on Xbox? Do you think Stellar Blade's sequel, Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, will come to Xbox as well?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know in the comments, poll, or Reddit.

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Late on Friday, it was revealed that former Minecraft lead Helen Chiang was leaving Microsoft, shared by CEO Asha Sharma in an internal email.

Helen Chiang had been leading at Xbox as its first ever Chief Operations Officer, and had only been in the post for a few months. As such, the departure raised eyebrows immediately.

"Helen Chiang is leaving Microsoft today. I’m grateful for her years of service and wish her well," Asha Sharma said in an internal email shared by The Verge. Sharma noted that an update on the COO post would arrive later. Indeed, it doesn't sound as though the COO post is going away, suggesting that this wasn't a redundancy departure. People immediately began to speculate that Chiang had been removed over a clash or disagreement of sorts.

In a statement to Windows Central, a Microsoft spokesperson said: "We don't discuss individual personnel matters. We are grateful for Helen's years of service and wish her well," echoing statements given to other outlets.

We now have more detail on what might've transpired from Eurogamer, who suggests that Chiang was "terminated for policy violations," via one of its sources, although it said it wasn't able to gain additional corroborative sources.

Chiang has had a large, storied career at Microsoft. She joined all the way back in 2005 working on mapping software, and then began rising through the ranks of Xbox back in 2007. She's been working on Minecraft since 2014, and led the game's expansion across consoles, mobile devices, education services, merchandising, and more recently, movies and other transmedia opportunities.

Chiang is incredibly well-liked and highly regarded within Microsoft by every employee I've spoken to. She's known as supportive and helpful, described to me as going above and beyond for employees at all levels.

She has been one of Xbox's longest-serving leaders and her promotion to COO was celebrated. Her purported termination immediately struck me as odd, and not exactly something that would've been done lightly.

I suspect this isn't the last we've heard of this story, and certainly not the last we've heard of Chiang, who by all accounts was excellent in her role.

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Xbox's 25th anniversary is here, and it's been a wild ride with plenty of ups and downs, to say the least.

To celebrate such a momentous occasion, I'm looking back on how I was introduced to the Xbox ecosystem, what convinced me to stick with it above all the other consoles, and how it shaped my most fond gaming memories.

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My first meeting with Xbox

My first memories of the Xbox ecosystem were during the early 2000s, when my brother came home with his friends to play some strange new sci-fi shooter called Halo on the original Xbox.

We all had a blast playing through the single campaign in co-op (despite my brother constantly getting us killed with his grenade obsession and bad Warthog driving skills) and even spent some time in the PvP modes fighting in the iconic 'Blood Gulch' map.

Admittedly, as a kid, I didn't play much of the OG Xbox's catalog, like Halo 1 and 2, as I was more obsessed with Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube at the time.

Sadly, that meant I missed out on classics like Psychonauts, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Jade Empire when they were brand new, and I wouldn't get to play them until decades later.

I certainly can't say the same for the Xbox 360 when it came out in the mid-2000s, as I was obsessed with it as a teen.

Hooked by the Xbox 360

While I was still enjoying the amazing games on the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, I found myself spending more time with the Xbox 360 and its library of iconic games like Gears of War, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, and BioShock, and underrated gems like Kameo: Elements of Power and Lost Odyssey, just to name a few.

I got to the point where I played multi-platform games like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Transformers: War for Cybertron, Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Saints Row series, and Devil May Cry 4 only on Xbox 360, as I enjoyed its controls more for 3D games than any other home console.

And, in case anyone's wondering, my Xbox 360 managed to escape the infamous "Red Ring of Death", but I remember having technical issues of my own to deal with, mostly of my own making.

I somehow jumbled several Microsoft accounts together due to my inexperience with email addresses as a teen, and it took my brother several months to fix. I owed him big time for that and repaid his service by doing the "Scan the Keeper" quest in Mass Effect for him whenever he played (which has sadly become a family tradition I'll never escape from).

Thriving on the Xbox One

When the 2010s rolled around, there came a huge turning point in my gaming career. I was starting to become bored of how stale Nintendo games had become and was tired of dealing with motion-control gimmicks.

Plus, I was sick of having to deal with Sony's poor cybersecurity, as it was getting hacked every few months, forcing me to constantly change my account details on my PlayStation consoles.

As a result, I found myself playing console games exclusively on the Xbox One despite its disastrous launch, which mandated always-online requirements while being forced to be bundled with the Kinect, which Microsoft quickly backpedaled on.

While I didn't play the Xbox One as much as I did the Xbox 360 due to me getting into PC gaming during the mid-2010s, the Xbox One era held some of my fondest gaming memories and triumphs.

The Xbox One brought back one of the few fighting games I ever liked, Killer Instinct, with an amazing reboot that lasted for several years. It had amazing AAA titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Devil May Cry V, and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and cool indie retro throwbacks like Cuphead.

However, all of those memories paled in comparison to when I was introduced to one of my favorite games of all time on the Xbox One (even though it's not an Xbox exclusive), Monster Hunter: World.

With over 2,000 hours on my Xbox save file, I have never before (or since) been so maddeningly obsessed with a single game as I was with Monster Hunter World on the Xbox One. The in-depth combat system, the vibrant, interactable world laden with secrets, the cool and challenging monsters, the endless amount of gear to grind for — it was amazing.

Even dealing with Monster Hunter World's cumbersome multiplayer matchmaking system and story-locking was worth suffering through, as hunting giant monsters the size of buildings with my friends was some of the most fun I ever had, and no other multiplayer game has topped it since for me.

A shaky modern era and the unknown future

And that brings us to the current Xbox Series X|S era, and it's been a mixed bag, to say the least. While it's brought us some amazing games like Elden Ring, Lies of P, Psychonauts 2, and Baldur's Gate 3, this era has brought about some depressing situations that made me almost consider quitting Xbox altogether.

The controversial Xbox 'reset' that has laid off hundreds of people, Microsoft banning people's hacked accounts instead of trying to recover them, the rising cost of everything due to the RAM crisis, and the horrifying realization that if something were to go wrong with Xbox Live, both digital and physical discs wouldn't work.

Yet despite this bleak era we're currently in, I'm not giving up. If Xbox was able to survive the global credit crisis of 2007 and the COVID-19 pandemic that lasted for several years, then I believe it will weather this cyber apocalypse as well.

So long as my friends keep playing Xbox games, I will stay the course so we can make more precious memories together as we ponder what the Xbox Series X|S's successor, Project Helix, will be like.

Happy anniversary, Xbox, and here's to another 25 years of gaming!

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Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that AMD FSR 4.1 would be implemented on current Xbox devices, which will happen sooner than you'd think, according to our sources.

Well, that time has come for Xbox handhelds, as Reddit user "Sjknight413" has discovered that beta drivers for AMD FSR 4.1 have rolled out and are ready to download on Xbox Ally, Xbox Ally X, and Xbox Ally X20.

For those unaware, AMD FSR 4.1 is an upscaling technology designed to boost the graphical details of a game's image higher than its native resolution would allow. It accomplishes this by rendering games at a lower resolution, then using machine learning to generate sharper images.

This technique would allow the console to not spend as much on rendering a game's resolution and use the leftover overhead to boost its framerate performance.

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Our sources informed us last time that Xbox handhelds receive this update first, with the Xbox Series X|S to follow suit in the following weeks, so we'll keep an eye out and inform you when it arrives.

In the meantime, be sure to look forward to Jez Corden's personal testing of the AMD FSR 4.1 on Xbox Ally X, and see if its resolution and performance boost can match up to the Steam Deck's impressive usage of FSR 4, without the latter's complicated setup for it via GitHub.

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Xbox is ramping up to its 25th Anniversary celebrations on November 15th, but it’s looking even further ahead to the holidays. Hallmark has just dropped a brand new Christmas tree decoration honoring the holy grail of retro hardware: the original Halo Special Edition Xbox console.

It just went live on Amazon for $27.99, and if it's anything like the rest of the anniversary drops, it's going to sell out notoriously fast.

Deck the halls with merch from Xbox fa-la-la-la-laaa

Hallmark has made some awesome Xbox and gaming-related baubles before, including the original black console and this adorable mini Master Chief, but this one is the best I've seen so far because it's the transparent console everyone is reminiscing about right now (and unlike the Series X25 you can actually buy it.)

Even better, it plays the console startup sound and music from "Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix" from Halo 2.

Shockingly, it actually includes the batteries too and doesn't make you buy them separately (I hate it when that happens). I love Hallmark's decorations, and would love to make a whole gaming-themed tree, (Xbox ROG Ally at the top maybe, but at $27.99 a pop I may have to rethink my ambitions (or buy them on sale in January)

If you're hunting for more nostalgic merch, you can find a bunch of other collectible items to grab over on our full Xbox 25th Anniversary item roundup.

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CD Projekt Red has finished divulging the full details of Cyberpunk 2077's 2.5 update coming to home consoles and PC on October 22, 2026.

The update will feature a new questline that acts as a prologue to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2, dual-wielding pistols, new Cyberware and cosmetic customization options, FOV sliders on consoles, mod support on consoles, and more.

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Additionally, Cyberpunk 2077 has just received Xbox Play Anywhere support, so it can be played on all platforms within the Xbox ecosystem, like Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and compatible handhelds like the Xbox Ally via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Here are all the full details and patch notes for Cyberpunk 2077's 2.5 update.

Cyberpunk 2077 2.5 update — patch notes

• Edgerunners Content
  • Added a new side quest, Clampdown, set before the events of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2. To unlock it, complete The Heist and two gigs for Wakako, then wait for a message from her.
  • Added a new 5-piece gear set based on the character King, which can be obtained during the Clampdown side quest.
  • Added a new radio station, HKGN 102.0 FM, featuring a selection of tracks from the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners series.
    
• Show Off
  • A brand-new clothing collection has arrived in Night City! 5 new outfit sets can now be purchased from certain clothing vendors:
  • Maxiwear: available in Heywood, Arroyo, Little China
  • Jinguji: available in City Center
  • NetWatch: available in Kabuki, Japantown
  • IconAmerica: available in Pacifica, Badlands, Northside
  • And one more set that will hit Night City shelves just a little later...
  • The NUS Infiltrator clothing set can be now purchased from clothing vendors in Kabuki and Japantown.
  • 4 new TWINTONE skins for Quadra Turbo-R V-Tech are now available via Twitch Drops.
  • Some of the hairstyles that were previously exclusive to NPCs are now available for V. Please note that some hairstyles are available only to feminine or masculine body types.
  • Show off your chrome! You can now customize your hand cyberware. Equip your Mantis Blades, Gorilla Arms, Monowire or Projectile Launch System, and visit one of 5 Glamdocs (marked with a spray paint icon on the map) to give your implants a fresh, new look. Each Glamdoc is located in a unique shop, along with their own intro scene with voiceover and animations, and offers a unique catalog of cyberware skins with customizable colors.
  • Sometimes one gun just isn't enough. The new Double Trouble perk in the Cool tree (along with four auxiliary perks) introduces an entirely new playstyle, allowing you to dual-wield Pistols and Revolvers from the Power category.
  • Added frames from the Cyberpunk Trading Card Game to Photo Mode, allowing you to make your preem shots look like custom cards.
  • Added new poses in Photo Mode to show off your dual-wielding prowess.
    
• Mod the World
  • Added Cross-Platform Mod Support, powered by mod.io, a first step into cross-platform modding that allows you to easily browse and install a selection of player-created mods directly from the in-game menu. More mods will become available over time. The feature is available on PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S.
    
• Upgrading the World
  • Welcome to Paradise! Added a new side quest that takes you on a journey to uncover a mystery and explore Night City on a guided tour narrated by Richard Night. It unlocks after completing The Heist and reaching level 15 Street Cred.
  • Added 12 new Minor Arcana Tarot Cards to discover across Night City. The Tarot menu now has separate sections for Major and Minor Arcana. The new tarot cards are part of a new side quest, an extension of Fool on the Hill, which activates after scanning any of the new cards. Collect them all to get a special reward.
    
• Quality of Life
  • Saves in the “Load Game” menu are now grouped by separate playthroughs.
  • Added item filters to apartment and vehicle stashes.
  • Modded saves in the "Load Game" menu are now marked with a dedicated icon. Please note that achievements and trophies cannot be earned while playing on console from a modded save file.
  • Added an FOV (Field Of View) slider on consoles.
  • Updated the selection of AMD FSR options. FSR 3 upscaling is no longer included, while FSR 2.1, FSR 4, and FSR 3.1 Frame Generation remain available.
  • Updated the CD PROJEKT RED Account connection, My Rewards and telemetry consent menus.
    
• Technology
  • Added support for DLSS 4.5, including up to 6X Multi Frame Generation or Dynamic Multi Frame Generation, and the 2nd Generation Transformer Model.
  • Added support for glasses-free 3D effects on compatible Samsung Odyssey 3D monitors, along with a Motion Comfort setting that lets you balance 3D depth and viewing comfort.
  • Added support for MetalFX Frame Interpolation and Denoising on Mac.
  • Added a toggle in settings for FSR Anti-Lag 2.
  • Introduced various performance optimizations, including improvements specifically for Ray Tracing and for PlayStation 5 Pro.
  • Improved HDR rendering to provide more accurate colors, brightness, and contrast on compatible displays.
    
• Fixes
  • Fixed an issue on Nintendo Switch 2 where saving the game could result in a "Save failed - insufficient space" error.
  • Fixed an issue where adjusting HDR settings on PlayStation 5 had no effect.
  • Things Done Changed - Fixed an issue where the Delamain cab could get stuck after crashing into another vehicle, blocking quest progression.
  • Fixed an issue where enabling Film Grain had no effect.
  • Fixed an issue where tagging enemies while scanning could also cause V to crouch or stand up when using certain control schemes.
  • Fixed an issue where controller settings for the Third-Person Camera were missing.
  • Fixed several typos in various languages.
  • Added various other fixes for features and content introduced since Patch 2.1.

Dual-wielding pistols and FOV sliders on consoles? Sign me up!

Overall, all these new features sound cool. My favorite aspects of this update are mowing down enemies while dual-wielding guns and the FOV slider that will allow me to adjust the game's first-person view so it won't feel so cramped and claustrophobic on Xbox anymore.

Of course, mod support so we can customize Cyberpunk 2077 however we like, and customizing my cybernetic upgrades' looks is pretty awesome too.

But what do you think? Is this update worth another playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077? Will it motivate you to play it for the first time if you haven't already, or have you decided to move on and wait for Cyberpunk 2077's sequel?

If you have any thoughts on the subject, please let us know in the comments, on Reddit, or in the poll.

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