!.07-Xbox Wire |
- Get a Hit Before They Hit You in Knockout City
- New Games with Gold for April 2021
- Narita Boy: Exploring the Aesthetic of Nostalgia
- Introducing the Designed for Xbox Limited Series Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal Headphones
- Smite Celebrates its 7th Birthday with New Update
| Get a Hit Before They Hit You in Knockout City Posted: 30 Mar 2021 09:00 AM PDT High above Knockout City, a single voice narrates the epic dodgebrawl battles unfolding below. After all, when you're a radio DJ broadcasting from the moon, you need a really good show. And where better to find it than KO City? You gotta understand that dodgebrawling is all about the basics: throw, catch, pass, dodge, and tackle. Learn those, and you can take on any opponent. If you wanna be the best, you gotta put your skills to the test. Catch other brawlers with surprise KOs when you curve your shot or fake a toss. In the heat of a match, screen border indicators warn you when you're targeted by other brawlers. Pay attention and keep your reflexes sharp! This is a game of timing—and it's a good time for everyone.  Of course, you'll need a crew to watch your back. It's hard to go it alone on these streets… and rooftops… and in construction yards… and alleys. Point is, don't get caught by yourself. With a crew behind you, taking on rivals becomes that much easier. (Plus, up to 32 brawlers can be part of the same crew, so no one gets left out!) Rep your team with special cosmetic upgrades like team Logos, vehicles, and more. Got your crew figured out? Good. Time to queue up the playlists.  Sure, you've got the standard 3v3, but the rules in Knockout City change as fast as that ball flying toward you. The new Face-Off mode pits you one-on-one in a closing ring of danger—no crew to bail you out or steal your glory. Every time you hit an opponent in Diamond Dash, they drop sparkly gems for you to collect. And in Ball-Up Brawl? There's not a single ball on the map, just you, your crew, and your rivals. You know what to do, right? Become the ball! Speaking of balls… you'll need 'em! We got regular dodgeballs aplenty, but it's the special balls that really hit home. Bounce opponents into the stratosphere with a Moon Ball; blast them away with a Bomb Ball; take 'em out from across the map with a Sniper Ball; or trap them with a Cage Ball to throw them at their own teammates. The ultimate ball, though? That's you. Balling up is risky — rivals can pick you up and throw you off the map — but if your teammate preps you for an Ultimate Throw? That explosion can knock out a whole crew. Now that's a bop.  Tune in and gear up, brawlers. Soon enough, you'll be playing your own matches, and we'll be watchin'. Knockout City launches on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on May 21, 2021. Until then, you can catch the cross-platform beta from April 2 to April 4. Related:Find the Impostor When Among Us Comes to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One in 2021 Prepare to Explore, Fight, and Survive in Rust on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One Outriders is Coming to Xbox Game Pass on Day One  |
| New Games with Gold for April 2021 Posted: 30 Mar 2021 08:00 AM PDT The April Games with Gold lineup is here! On Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, battle mythical beasts in Vikings: Wolves of Midgard, and drive heavy big rigs to victory in Truck Racing Championship. And for our classic lineup via Backward Compatibility, step into the Void and fight on land or in the skies in Dark Void, and play the spiritual successor to Contra in the shooter game, Hard Corps: Uprising. Xbox Live Gold members will have exclusive access to these games for a limited time as part of Games with Gold. So will Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members, who receive all the fantastic benefits of Gold plus access to over 100 high-quality games with Xbox Game Pass.
Vikings: Wolves of Midgard Truck Racing Championship Dark Void Hard Corps: Uprising Read more about our Games with Gold program here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire for all the latest news on Xbox. Like we said before, if you're an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate member, you get all the benefits of Xbox Live Gold, over 100 high-quality games you can play on console, PC, and Android devices with cloud gaming (Beta, where available), and access to EA Play at no extra cost. New games are added all the time, so you're never without something new to try when you're looking to find your next favorite game. If you're new, or if you're an existing Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass for Console member, join or upgrade today for just $1. Related:Narita Boy: Exploring the Aesthetic of Nostalgia Smite Celebrates its 7th Birthday with New Update El Hijo – A Wild West Tale Available Now  |
| Narita Boy: Exploring the Aesthetic of Nostalgia Posted: 30 Mar 2021 07:00 AM PDT When I decided to create Narita Boy, I knew it had to be the game I wanted to play, not the game I thought would please thousands of people. I don't know them, and they don't know me. Narita Boy had to be a tribute to my childhood. I realized that my love for retro aesthetics came from the emotional connection I had with arcade games in the late 1980s. I had forgotten plenty of things throughout my life, but the smell of fried food and sounds of the arcade machines stuck with me. I realized that if I were able to connect with this place in the past where everything was great and there were no problems, I could connect with future players of Narita Boy – past, present, and future. Thus, Narita Boy's world was born! The next thing I did was explore the cultural references of my younghood and understand what my connection was to each – for example, He-man and how the sword transforms an ordinary man into a mighty hero. Okay, a legendary sword, noted. Another example, “The Last Starfighter,” where a boy that used to live in a van is recruited by aliens due to his abilities as a gamer. Another note, the ability to play a video game. An extraordinary element could completely change the life of an ordinary man and this was a common feature in my cultural references. While looking at all these elements, I was creating the foundations of Narita Boy.  And the aesthetics? They were born out of love and necessity. I decided to develop the game in pixel art because I love pixel art, and it helps that it's simpler and faster to create a background in 521×293 pixels rather than in HD. Moreover, the '80s and '90s were the golden age of pixel art, so what I liked and what was best in terms of production and aesthetics converged. Besides pixel art, the game needed its own aesthetics, which for me needs to play a role in explaining the story. Then I thought, I like several gaming franchises like Sword and Sorcery and retro aesthetics, so these are references I could mash up. So, I decided that my game had to be autoreferential – it finds the sense of the aesthetics by its own means. Then I decided that my hero needed an all-powerful sword, and I don't know why but I drew it in three colors – the three primary colors. What if these three colors were the vital force of the planet? There would be three different races and I could design three maps with a predominant color in each of them. I discovered that I could use my passion for color and color theory to structure my story, and thus an accidental decision was a key factor in creating the universe of the game.  Now that I had the three colors and races, I asked myself, what exactly is the Digital Kingdom? After thinking about it, I understood the Digital Kingdom as a land within a computer (thanks, “Tron!”). The computer is a rectangle, so these proportions in-game would make the Digital Kingdom an expression of Narita One, the computer creating this world. With this premise, all the scenarios and characters flourished, and everything was consistent and robust. There is a more subtle layer though. What I have explained is the formal aesthetic, what you can see, but I also wanted to create a layer of intangible aesthetic. This is where my love for Japanese aesthetics comes in, and the way nature and architecture coexist. I also remembered the strange feeling that I had when reading a Japanese horror tale, in which the beautiful and the bizarre coexist, not in a tangible way but more like an aftertaste.  Thinking about this aftertaste, I realized that I needed Narita Boy to be like waking after a fever dream. I wanted the aesthetic to immerse you in the game and last in your memory. For this last challenge I was inspired by some works of art where the strangeness of the aesthetic literally blew my mind. I'm talking about Beyond the Black Rainbow by Panos Cosmatos, some short films of Velasco Broca, the Chrono Crimes of Nacho Vigalondo, and many others. I wanted to create an aesthetic that takes you to uncomfortable places in your subconscious. All these artists leave parts of the story unexplained, enabling your imagination to fill them with your own fears and phobias, and for me it's essential that a game operates at the emotional level of the player.   Narita BoyTeam17 $24.99 Xbox Game Pass Flashback to the 80s. The Creator, a genius of his time, creates a video game console called Narita One with its flagship title being a game called Narita Boy. Narita Boy becomes a tremendous hit! Copies of cartridges are flying off physical shelves worldwide. Within weeks Narita Boy is the best-selling video game of all time, critically acclaimed for its power-fantasy wielding the Techno-sword and taking players on a journey like no other. Meanwhile, inside the binaural code the digital realm connects with reality. Him has returned and deleted The Creator's memories. Supervisor program, Motherboard, and her agents have activated the Narita Boy protocol. The Stallions are coming, and the Digital Kingdom needs a hero. The Game Become symphonic in Narita Boy! A radical action-adventure as a legendary pixel hero trapped as a mere echo within the Digital Kingdom. Discover the mysteries behind the Techno-sword, lock swords with the corrupt and tainted Stallions. Save the world! Pixel perfectionist – The shining example of a perfectionist at work. Experience the visuals of a retro-era brought to life with hand-drawn animations. Explore the mysteries of the Digital Kingdom – Venture up, down, left, and right to discover the darkest depths of the broken binary code in this never-ending story*. Max out the Trichroma – Equipped with the only weapon able to defeat the Stallion threat, take the Techno-sword and plunge it into the digital hearts of your enemies. Do not let this empire strike back, be the true blade runner. Diehard enemies – Face foes only imagined from your darkest fever-dreams! Show those bosses the bytes – Face-off against tons of totally radical and awesome bosses. Become the boss terminator, by overcoming the deadly Crab, DragonBot, Black Rainbow, and so much more! Sounds of the retro-grade-times – Feel fresh waves of synth wash over you while travelling the Digital Kingdom. With kickin' beats that will send you back to the future. *there is an end to the story. New Games with Gold for April 2021 Smite Celebrates its 7th Birthday with New Update El Hijo – A Wild West Tale Available Now  |
| Introducing the Designed for Xbox Limited Series Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal Headphones Posted: 30 Mar 2021 06:00 AM PDT At Xbox, we believe providing choice to our players is critical in delivering quality gaming experiences across all our products and services. We know how important immersive audio is to keep you connected and being connected is more important now than ever. Whether you are gaming with your friends around the world, listening to your favorite music, talking on a conference call for work, or bingeing the latest shows, audio plays a vital role in your everyday experiences. While we currently offer a wide range of first and third party headsets for all types of gamers including the new Xbox Wireless Headset, we see an opportunity to deliver even more experiences through the Designed for Xbox program. Today, we are thrilled to introduce the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal Wireless Headphones for Xbox. Beoplay Portal is the perfect combination of technology, design and craftsmanship providing an immaculate audio experience for gaming and everyday activities. It is the first product for the Designed for Xbox Limited Series program, intended to bring premium and bespoke experiences to our Xbox fans. Bang & Olufsen's Beoplay Portal Wireless Headphones for Xbox are available in Black Anthracite, Grey Mist, and Navy Brass and can be pre-ordered starting today in select markets.  Engineered for gaming, designed for life. Beoplay Portal has a sophisticated aesthetic and can be used in any situation, while offering easy access to dedicated gaming features. Customize the game/chat balance, mute, and volume directly on the headset itself or from the Bang & Olufsen audio app. You can easily connect to your Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One with lossless 2.4GHz Xbox Wireless connectivity built in. Beoplay Portal is also compatible with PC and mobile devices with Bluetooth 5.1 and aptX Adaptive, allowing you to take immersive audio on the go. Charging is quick and gets you back in the game within 3 hours. Beoplay Portal offers 12 hours of battery life when using Xbox Wireless, Bluetooth and active noise-cancellation, and 24 hours when only using Bluetooth and active-noise cancellation.  With the introduction of a virtual boom arm, Beoplay Portal offers reliable microphone performance without the intrusive design of a physical boom arm. An array of directional, beamforming microphones isolate and amplify your voice while cancelling out background noise for crystal clear conversations. The modern design of the virtual boom arm along with Bluetooth 5.1 makes this headset perfect for listening to music or taking calls on the go. Gamers who purchase Beoplay Portal can use the Bang & Olufsen audio app, available on iOS or Android, to fine-tune their audio experience. The app allows users to quickly swap between pre-set game modes, like RPG or FPS, adjust adaptive active noise-cancellation, mic monitoring, mic tone and game/chat balance. You can also customize your own personal audio mix by balancing audio tones between bright, relaxed, energetic, and warm, and many other options for a personalized audio experience. With Bluetooth, the app will automatically adjust to entertainment and travel preset modes. The app also ensures you have the latest software for your headphones and updating is quick and simple.    A sleek and sophisticated design for gamers. Beoplay Portal combines Scandinavian design values with the world of gaming. Designed by Jakob Wagner in partnership with Bang & Olufsen's design team, contemporary design aesthetics can be seen in features like gradient anodization on the aluminum earcups, unparalleled craftsmanship and quality materials. The lambskin ear cushions with built-in jaw support ensure great sound isolation and fully immersive audio. Chosen for durability and breathability, the Beoplay Portal features calfskin leather on the exterior headband with bamboo fiber textile on the inside band, and the cushions on top of the headband relieve any sort of fatigue you might find from long-term wear. The headset is extremely lightweight, at only 9.9 ounces (282 grams), making it ideal for gaming and travel.    The earcups have capacitive touch controls for easy access to volume and game/chat balance. Swipe up or down on the back of the earcup to adjust volume on the right and game/chat balance on the left. A quick double tap mutes your microphone, and another brings you back to chat. When using Bluetooth, a quick adjustment in the app allows the left ear cup to control ANC and own-voice balance. Renowned Bang & Olufsen sound makes its way to gaming. Bang & Olufsen are world leaders in both sound and design and are now bringing their legendary audio expertise to Xbox with the Beoplay Portal Headphones. Based out of Denmark, they have been developing audio solutions for over 95 years and have been continuously raising the bar in audio innovation across multiple categories. While many are familiar with Bang & Olufsen sound quality through their world-renowned speakers, headphones, or TVs, this is the first time they set out to build a gaming-first audio device.  Beoplay Portal has been tuned by acclaimed acousticians for the most immersive and precise gaming audio. Experience your favorite games like never before with its engaging, sensorial audio and hear the subtlest of sounds you did not even know existed. Beoplay Portal comes with a pre-activated Dolby Atmos for Headphones service and is compatible with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, and mobile devices. Designed for Xbox Limited Series Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal is the first Designed for Xbox Limited Series product in our program. Marked by a Designed for Xbox Limited Series badge on the lower right-hand corner of the box, this new category of licensed products ensures premium product quality and design. Limited Series products will also boast a custom-made feature set designed specifically for Xbox that will take your gaming experience to the next level.   Pricing and availability We're excited for you to experience the thoughtful combination of immersive sound, timeless design and the unrivalled craftsmanship that is Bang & Olufsen. The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal Headphones for Xbox will be available starting at $499.00 USD from select Microsoft Store markets worldwide, Bang & Olufsen and other participating retailers. See below for availability details: Microsoft Store: U.S and Canada
For all other markets, check xbox.com or your local gaming retailer for availability. Related:Find the Impostor When Among Us Comes to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One in 2021 The Lawn Mowing Simulator preview kicks off Apr. 2, secure your spot now! Microsoft Store Spring Sale: Great Deals on Games, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and More  |
| Smite Celebrates its 7th Birthday with New Update Posted: 29 Mar 2021 01:00 PM PDT The new Smite Update: Talons of Tyranny brings a Birthday Bash, a new event, a purrrfect Battle Pass and more — available now on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S! Smite turned lucky number 7 on March 25, and we want to spend it with you! To celebrate, we've added a free two-week in-game event: Birthday Bash! You can complete quests and unlock awesome gifts, such as the community submitted Avatars, Boosters, and Gems. There will be new rewards every day so be sure to log in and not miss out. Collect any 6 event items to unlock the exclusive Classic Ao Kuang Kukulkan Skin. That's not all! For some extra celebration, we're having a Gem and Ultimate God Pack sale – up to 50% off.  This update also starts the all-new Talons of Tyranny event, our major Spring event. Tiamat, the savior of the world has banished Cthulhu with her arrival, but is she friend or foe? You and the gods must discover her true nature. If she is a friend, that is fortunate. If she is an enemy, that is dangerous. The Talons of Tyranny event will span over the next four major content updates and include new skins, quests, new gods, and rewards. Headlining the event is the dark, eerie addition to the tier 5 line: Forgotten Gods Chaac. A priest of a forgotten mythology, the last human to know of these old gods, has been chosen as their vessel. The priest uses a gifted relic to transform into three gods: Optimism, Passion, and Rage. Unlock all items from all four chapter chests to earn this incredible reward. Can't wait? Buy all to immediately unlock the Forgotten Gods Chaac Skin and pre-order all future skins in the Talons of Tyranny event.  Last but certainly not least, this update also includes the Heroes of the Wild Battle Pass. The fluffiest adventurers are joining the battleground of the gods. When you purchase the Battle Pass, you'll instantly unlock Heroic Husky Fenrir. Then, earn more rewards like Sushi Neko Bacchus and Chibi Inu Amaterasu, just for playing Smite. And we can't forget the final Battle Pass reward: Nekomancer Zhong Kui. He's definitely the coolest cat in town. We're forever thankful to be celebrating our 7th birthday with you. We have so many more exciting updates, so we hope you'll spend even more birthdays with us in the future. We'll see you on the battleground of the gods!  SMITEHi-Rez Studios Xbox One X Enhanced Enter the Battleground of the Gods Join 35+ million players in SMITE, the world's most popular action multiplayer online battle arena. Become a legend of myth, enter the Battleground of the Gods, and play FREE now! 100+ Gods Unleash each deity's unique strategies, legendary weapons, and earth-shattering powers. Rain lightning down upon your foes as Zeus, assassinate from the shadows as Loki, or transform and trick your foes as the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. Which God will you choose? Unique Perspective Unlike other MOBAs, SMITE puts you directly onto the battlefield with a third-person action viewpoint. From blind-side ambushes to aimed shots, a new pantheon of strategic possibilities awaits. Become Godlike Never played a battle arena before? Don't worry. Auto-buy, auto-level, and the deathmatch-like Arena mode let you jump right into divine MOBA action. Aspiring pro? Top the ladders, join a competitive team, and you too could be playing at the SMITE World Championship. © 2012 – 2020 Hi-Rez Studios, Inc. "SMITE", "Battleground of the Gods", "Titan Forge Games", and "Hi-Rez Studios" are trademarks or registered trademarks of Hi-Rez Studios, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All trademarks and copyright material are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. New Games with Gold for April 2021 Narita Boy: Exploring the Aesthetic of Nostalgia El Hijo – A Wild West Tale Available Now  |
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