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• Xbox Series X and S: everything you need to know about the next gen of Xbox

Two consoles, a streaming service, and a lot of promises

By Jon Porter , a reporter with five years of experience covering consumer tech releases, EU tech policy, online platforms, and mechanical keyboards.

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The next-generation of Xbox gaming is a little more complicated than what we’re used to. For starters, Microsoft has released not one but two new consoles this week: the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S . Many of the initial crop of first-party games is also designed to be playable on its last generation Xbox, the Xbox One, as well as Windows PCs. And that’s before we get into Microsoft’s game streaming service, xCloud, which could mean you won’t need any Xbox hardware at all to play many of the latest games.

Each new generation tends to deliver big changes for console gaming, and Microsoft’s successors to the Xbox One are no different. Games look better, thanks to more powerful graphics hardware and built-in support for more realistic lighting technology, and in some cases feel more responsive, thanks to support for frame rates of up to 120fps. They also load quicker because both consoles now include fast solid-state storage, a big improvement over the mechanical hard drive included in the Xbox One.

The Series S and Series X are two very different consoles

But Microsoft’s approach to this new generation is a big departure from how console launches have worked previously. Typically, we’ve seen Sony and Microsoft release just one new piece of hardware at launch, and each one tends to come with an exclusive library of games that you have to buy the new console in order to play. While Sony, too, has operated a game streaming service for years, it’s only typically used PlayStation Now to offer access to older titles, rather than brand-new releases like xCloud is promising.

Microsoft’s new consoles give you a lot more freedom with how you play its new games, but depending on where you choose to play them, you won’t get exactly the same experience. The Xbox Series X is a much more powerful machine than the Series S or the current Xbox One, for example, which has a big impact on performance.

Microsoft’s two new consoles

This week, Microsoft released its two new Xbox consoles. There’s the $499 (£449, €499) Xbox Series X, and a cheaper $299 (£249, €299) Xbox Series S. You can read our reviews of both of them by following the links below.

• Xbox Series X review
• Xbox Series S review

It’s not unusual for console manufacturers to offer a couple of different hardware options at launch, but normally, the differences are minor. The PS3, for example, was initially available in two models. There was a version with a 60GB hard drive as well as a cheaper version with a smaller 20GB hard drive, no Wi-Fi support, and fewer ports. Meanwhile, Microsoft also originally sold a “Core” version of the Xbox 360 in 2005, which included compromises like including a wired rather than wireless controller and omitting a hard drive.

The differences between the Xbox Series S and Series X are more substantial and have a big impact on how games look. While Microsoft says the Series X is targeting running games at 60fps at a full 4K resolution, the Series S instead targets a lower 1440p resolution at 60fps. It’s a big power disparity, similar to what we saw between the Xbox One and the Xbox One X, but this time, the two consoles were available on day one, rather than releasing years apart.

Microsoft has a good rundown of the main differences between the Xbox Series X and the Series S on its website . Both have 8-core CPUs, although the X has a slightly higher maximum clock speed of 3.8GHz, rather than 3.6GHz on the Series S. Both support expandable storage of up to 1TB via an expansion card, both output over HDMI 2.1, and both are backwards compatible with “thousands” of Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games. Both support hardware-accelerated ray tracing for more realistic lighting in games, both support Dolby’s high-end Atmos audio technology, and both will support the Dolby Vision HDR standard . They’re also both backwards compatible with all officially licensed Xbox One accessories like controllers and headsets — although there are no plans to support the Kinect camera .

There are, however, big differences between the two. The Series X has a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray drive, but the Series S is digital-only, so you’ll have to download your games rather than buy them on disc. And yet, the disc-based X also has double the amount of internal storage with 1TB as opposed to 512GB. We found the storage in the Series S filled up quickly as a result. The Series X also has more RAM at 16GB compared to 10GB in the Series S. Physically, the Series S is also a lot smaller than the Series X; Microsoft calls the console its “smallest Xbox ever.” Despite the size differences, we’ve found both consoles have good cooling systems and are run cool and quiet when in use, so long as you don’t try blowing vape smoke into them .

Although they have different amounts of storage, both consoles use fast solid-state drives. For starters, that means that games load very quickly. We’ve found that many games that took over a minute to load on the Xbox One X now boot up in seconds. Games like Destiny 2 and Sea of Thieves , for example, load in half the time on the Series X as they did on the One X, and we found The Outer Worlds loaded in just six seconds on the new console.

Xbox Series X load times

This fast storage also helps enable a feature called Quick Resume on both consoles, which allows you to switch between games incredibly quickly in a lot of cases. The big problem right now is that it’s not supported by every game, although Microsoft is working to enable it across more titles. When it works, though, Quick Resume is one of the consoles’ best new additions, and Sony’s PS5 doesn’t have an equivalent feature.

One of the most significant differences between the Series S and Series X is found in the graphics department. Although both consoles use AMD’s RDNA 2 graphics architecture, the Series X has 52 compute units. That’s not only more than double the 20 compute units you’ll find in the Series S, but they’re also clocked faster at 1.825GHz compared to 1.565GHz. In total, that means the Series X has 12.15 teraflops of graphical horsepower according to Microsoft, compared to 4 teraflops for the Series S. 

The Xbox Series X is technically a shade more powerful than the PS5 in the graphics department. While Sony’s consoles are also based on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture, both models of the PS5 clock in with 10.28 teraflops of GPU power. They’ve got a smaller number of compute units (36), but their maximum cap is higher at 2.23GHz. They’ve also got 8-core CPUs, but they’re clocked at 3.5GHz. However, it’s important to note that the PS5’s CPU and GPU clock speeds are variable based on the total workload, so it’s not quite an apples-to-apples comparison with the new Xbox consoles. This approach could benefit the PS5 in certain scenarios but limit it in others. Otherwise, the PS5’s specs on paper are similar to the Series X. It has 16GB of RAM, 825GB of storage, and a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray drive. 

There aren’t many cross-platform titles that allow us to see how the performance of the PS5 and Series X compare in practice, but an analysis of Devil May Cry 5 by Digital Foundry sees Sony and Microsoft’s consoles performing very similarly. In some modes, the Series X offers slightly faster performance, while the PS5 is ahead in others.

Like Microsoft, Sony also has a step-down digital-only version of its next console, but here, the differences are a lot more basic. The lack of a disc drive means that the digital console is a little slimmer, but otherwise, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan tells CNET that its two consoles are “identical products.” That means we shouldn’t see the same power disparity as Microsoft has.

Xbox Series X vs Series S vs PS5

The difference in power generally means early Series S and Series X games run at different resolutions but often perform similarly. For example, Watch Dogs: Legion targets 4K at 30fps on the Series X and 1080p 30fps on the Series S, and both support ray-tracing for better-looking reflections. (Check out both in action here .)

Similarly, Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon run at 60fps at 1080p on the Series S, compared to 4K 60fps on the Series X.

Odds and Ends

Answering the niggling little questions about the new consoles.

How big are these consoles? Please tell me I don’t have to buy a new entertainment center or TV stand.

The Xbox Series X measures 15.1cm (5.9 inches) x 15.1cm (5.9 inches) x 30.1cm (11.1 inches), while the Series S is 60 percent smaller at 27.5cm (10.8 inches) x 15.1cm (5.9 inches) x  63.5cm (2.5 inches). Both can be stood horizontally or vertically, but the Xbox Series X can struggle to fit in some entertainment centers. The Series S is much smaller and fits just fine.

What’s the deal with expandable storage?

Microsoft has partnered with Seagate to produce proprietary expansion cards for its new consoles , and the first 1TB expansion card costs $219.99 . You can still use your existing hard drives on the new console, but Series X and Series S games can only be installed on the new cards. Games made for the Xbox One and older consoles will run just fine on standard USB external hard drives, however. The PS5 similarly limits the use of external drives to PS4 games. You’ll eventually be able to upgrade its internal storage with certain M.2 SSDs, but that feature isn’t available at launch .

Do I need a 4K TV?

Absolutely not. Although both consoles — especially the Series X — will look their best on an HDR 4K TV, they should work just fine on existing 1080p sets. Back in the PS3 era, there were some reports that small text in certain games was hard to read on older standard-definition TVs, but that’s unlikely to be a problem this time around since 1080p sets are more than high-resolution enough for most text.

What happens to my save games? 

You can transfer your old saves to the new console, no problem. You can transfer them over the internet using Xbox Live, over a local network, or using an external drive.

Sounds great. How do I get one?

Although both consoles are now technically available, stock shortages mean both are pretty hard to find at major retailers right now. The website Stock informer is a helpful resource for seeing if any retailers have stock, but be warned that Amazon has said some of its preorders might not arrive until as late as December 31st .

Despite the differences in resolution, Microsoft says both consoles are targeting frame rates of 60 frames per second and can support up to 120fps. For example, Rocket League will have a performance mode on both consoles that will allow it to run at 120fps, albeit in both cases at a reduced resolution compared to its 60fps mode. That said, there are some games that target different frame rates across the two consoles. Destiny 2’s crucible mode can run at 120Hz on Series X, but not on Series S , for example.

For now, however, the trend has been for games to feel just as smooth to play regardless of the console, but to look less detailed on the cheaper machine because of their lower resolution. That might not matter as much if you’re playing on an older 1080p TV, but it’ll be more apparent if you’re using a modern 4K set. 

Although Microsoft has said the Series S targets 1440p, some early Series S games are running at 1080p. Yakuza: Like a Dragon  and  Gears Tactics target 1440p, but others like Sea of Thieves ,  Forza Horizon 4 ,  Fortnite , and Watch Dogs: Legion are 1080p. That may change as developers get more comfortable working with the new hardware, but based on past experience, it might not. For example, Microsoft billed the Xbox One X as being capable of 4K gaming at 60fps but many of the most popular games around didn’t run at full 4K. Fortnite , for example, runs at a maximum of 1728p on the Xbox One X , while Doom: Eternal tops out at 1800p .

Although your existing Xbox One controllers will work on the Xbox Series X and Series S, there’s also an updated controller for the new consoles , which is available in white, black, and blue . Although it’s broadly similar to the design Microsoft has used for its previous controllers, it’s slightly smaller and has a dedicated share button to simplify the process of uploading screenshots and video clips. Its D-pad is also a circle like the recent Xbox Elite Series 2 controller , rather than a cross like it was on the Xbox One.

New games, new hardware 

New hardware needs new games to make the most of it, and Microsoft and its partners have announced a host of games that are coming to its new console. The biggest of these is Halo: Infinite , the latest entry in the long-running sci-fi first-person shooter franchise that’s become synonymous with the Xbox brand since its debut way back in 2001. 

Unfortunately, Microsoft recently delayed Halo: Infinite , meaning it will now release in 2021, rather than arriving alongside the new console. News of the delay, which Microsoft attributed in part to the pandemic, came after the game’s visuals were met with criticism after their initial unveiling, prompting developer 343 Industries to admit , “We do have work to do to address some of these areas and raise the level of fidelity and overall presentation for the final game.”

With other Xbox staples like Fable and Forza Motorsport without release dates, the delay has left third-party publishers to fill in the rest of the launch lineup, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla , Dirt 5 , Watch Dogs Legion , and Yakuza: Like a Dragon . Here’s a guide to the best launch day games , and here’s what the months ahead are looking like in terms of new releases.

These games support different Xbox Series X and Series S features. Watch Dogs Legion , for example, run in 4K on the Series X and supports ray tracing for more realistic-looking lighting on both consoles, but there’s no ray-tracing support in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla . Another interesting title in the launch lineup is Dirt 5 , which can run at up to 120fps on the Xbox Series X . A high frame rate like this is especially important in a fast-paced racing game, and it means Dirt 5 feels more responsive to play on compatible TVs.

One common feature a lot of these games share is that they’ll also be available for current-gen consoles like the Xbox One and PS4.  What was more surprising was when Microsoft said that would be true for even its own flagship games. If Microsoft keeps that promise, it would be a big departure from how console manufacturers have treated these games in the past, where these exclusive games have previously been an essential part of the sales pitch for new hardware.

New games, old hardware

Microsoft has said you won’t have to buy new hardware to enjoy its upcoming first-party titles because many of them will also come to Xbox One. Here’s how Xbox chief Phil Spencer described the company’s approach back in July , where he said that every Xbox Game Studios game in the next couple of years will be playable on the Xbox One. 

You won’t be forced into the next generation. We want every Xbox player to play all the new games from Xbox Game Studios. That’s why Xbox Game Studios titles we release in the next couple of years—like Halo Infinite—will be available and play great on Xbox Series X and Xbox One. We won’t force you to upgrade to Xbox Series X at launch to play Xbox exclusives.

And if you’re more of a PC gamer and don’t own an Xbox One, then Microsoft also typically releases its major titles there as well, and it says it plans to continue this policy this year .

There are some caveats you should be aware of. First is that these promises only cover Microsoft’s first-party titles, aka those published by Xbox Game Studios. Microsoft isn’t making any promises about how other publishers like EA, Ubisoft, or Activision will handle their new games.

Microsoft is making big promises about its own games

Even then, Microsoft has been pretty explicit about the fact that this only covers its own games that will release across the “next couple of years,” and there are signs that some high-profile games that have already been announced might not be coming to the Xbox One. After Microsoft’s high-profile Xbox event in July, we noted that a majority of the title cards for Microsoft’s first-party games, including Forza Motorsport and Fable , didn’t mention that they’d be coming to the Xbox One .

Finally, in case this wasn’t obvious, you’re probably going to see a very different-looking game if you’re choosing to play on a base Xbox One from 2013 compared to a shiny new Xbox Series X. 

There’s even been some concern that trying to continue to support the Xbox One could hold back Microsoft’s next-generation games , which could give Sony an advantage since it can focus all of its attention on the new hardware. Spencer, as well as developers we’ve spoken to , have said this shouldn’t be a problem , but so-called “cross-gen” games on previous consoles have never made the most of the latest hardware.

New games, no hardware

Say you don’t own an Xbox or a gaming PC, but you do have an Android phone. Does Microsoft have any next-gen gaming options for you? Thanks to game streaming, it does. On September 15th , Microsoft added game streaming to Xbox Games Pass Ultimate, which costs $14.99 a month. The feature, which was known previously as xCloud, could give you a way to play many of the biggest Xbox Series X games without having to own any gaming hardware at all. You can stream them to a device as simple as an Android phone, for example (but not iOS, which we’ll get into in a second).

Game streaming isn’t an entirely new idea — Sony launched its PlayStation Now service way back in 2014 to a muted response — but Microsoft is taking a much more interesting approach. Rather than focusing on older titles, as Sony did with PlayStation Now, Microsoft says its new games will be available to stream the day they release and lists recent first-party titles like Forza Horizon 4 , Gears of War 5 , Tell Me Why, The Outer Worlds, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps as being among the 150-plus games available to stream at launch.

There are currently a couple of compromises to this approach, as we found recently when we tested the service for ourselves . For starters, load times and lag and noticeable, and are worse than competing cloud gaming services from Google and Nvidia. Getting into gameplay can take between a minute and a minute and a half, and fast-paced games can feel sluggish. Microsoft says that the servers powering the service will be upgraded to Series S/X hardware next year , but as it stands the service feels unfinished.

Game streaming’s future on iPhones is uncertain

xCloud also currently isn’t available on every platform. At the moment, xCloud is available for Android, but the restrictions Apple places on game streaming services mean that it’s yet to come to iOS. That should change next year, however, since Microsoft is planning to develop a web version of the service that will be able to run on Apple’s devices.

Since xCloud will be included with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, it’s offered alongside a huge array of content beyond game streaming. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate’s $14.99 a month subscription also lets you download and play over 100 games directly on your Xbox or Windows 10 PC, as well as EA Play . It also includes an Xbox Live Gold subscription, which gives access to online multiplayer on Xbox. 

• xCloud is an unfinished but inspiring glimpse of how we might game in the future
• Xbox Game Pass briefly explained: console, PC, xCloud streaming and more

PlayStation Now is still around , of course, but Sony isn’t promoting it as a way to play its recent games. It might have a huge catalog of over 800 titles, but it doesn’t feel like a serious attempt to compete with Microsoft’s game streaming, even after a recent price cut to $9.99 a month . 

The backwards-compatibility question

The ability to play a previous generation’s games on your new hardware (so-called “backwards compatibility”) has varied between different consoles and generations. Nintendo’s Wii U could happily play every Wii game, and the Wii could play every GameCube game before it. In contrast, the PS4 can’t natively play any games that were released for previous PlayStations — although some can be streamed via PlayStation Now.

With its new consoles, Microsoft has outlined three ways your old games will eventually be playable on its new hardware. Some games will be backwards compatible, some will receive enhancements, and others will receive a free upgrade when newer versions are released.

“Thousands” of games for previous Xbox consoles will run on the new hardware

With the Xbox Series X, Microsoft is making big promises about your ability to play your old Xbox games on its new hardware . For starters, “thousands” of games released for the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One are playable on the new consoles, and Microsoft has got a handy tool to let you browse them all. That includes almost every game released for the Xbox One , barring those that required its Kinect camera accessory.

The Xbox Series S can still play older games, but it doesn’t include their Xbox One X enhancements like higher resolutions. So in most cases, you’ll essentially be playing the version of the game that was designed for the less-powerful Xbox One S. That said, in some cases, those older games can still benefit from more modern hardware such as the faster solid-state drive, and games with dynamic resolution scaling can run at higher resolutions. Backwards-compatible original Xbox and Xbox 360 games run at an enhanced 1440p resolution.

That’s the baseline, but in some cases, Microsoft says that games will be enhanced , running in higher resolutions and frame rates than they were originally released with and with support for new technologies like HDR. In particular, Microsoft says games can be updated to run at double their original frame rate on both the Series S and Series X. We’ve already seen Microsoft achieve impres s ive results with some of this technology.

Smart Delivery means you’ll get a free next-gen copy of certain games

Finally, there’s Smart Delivery , which is essentially a free upgrade program that means you won’t have to re-buy an Xbox One game — like Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla , Cyberpunk 2077 , or Doom Eternal — if it also gets released on the new hardware. Although this will theoretically offer the biggest upgrade, the feature is being selectively used. If you previously bought the original Control for Xbox One, for example, you won’t get a free upgrade to the next-gen version. That’s reserved for owners of Control ’s new Ultimate Edition .

Sony has promised more modest improvements for PS4 games running on the PS5. It’s confirmed that the “ overwhelming majority ” of PS4 games will run on its new hardware, and says that some will have better loading speeds and more stable frame rates . Some developers have said they’ll offer free upgrades to the PS5 versions of their games.

Paying the price

If you want to continue to pay for your hardware and games up front, then that’s still an option with Microsoft’s new Xboxes. As mentioned above, the Xbox Series X retails for $499, while the Series S costs $299. Major releases, meanwhile, seem to be priced similarly or at a $10 premium to current-gen titles. The PS5 costs between $399 for its disc-free model, and $499 for its model with a 4K Blu-ray drive.

But going into this generation, Microsoft is making a big bet on people wanting to spend their money on games in monthly installments. For the Xbox Series X, that means paying $34.99 a month for 24 months via its Xbox All Access bundle (total cost: $839.76), while the Series S is available for $24.99 a month (total cost: $599.76). All Access will be available in 12 countries this year : Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, the UK, and the US.

There are lots of ways to pay

That’s more expensive than buying the console upfront, but included with Xbox All Access is Xbox Game Pass Ultimate — a subscription service that gets you free access to over 100 Xbox One titles, including big recent titles like Tell Me Why , Ori and the Will of the Wisps , and Forza Horizon 4 — free games via EA Play , Xbox Live Gold (a subscription that comes with its own monthly free games as well as access to online multiplayer), and game streaming via xCloud. Oh, and it gives free access to over 100 Windows 10 games as well, such as the recently released Microsoft Flight Simulator . 

If you’d rather buy your hardware outright and buy a subscription to one of Microsoft’s game services separately, then Xbox Game Pass is available in a couple of different variations. Factor in the cost of these subscriptions to the total price of Xbox All Access, and the price of the console hardware itself drops to just $10 or $20 a month.

Xbox Game Pass comparison

Suffice it to say, if you don’t have the cash to make a big upfront purchase, then Microsoft still wants to get you on board for its next generation of consoles. You won’t own any of the games you can play (aside from the older Xbox 360 games you can download with Xbox Live’s Games with Gold service ), but that’s the trade-off you make.

Microsoft’s plans for the next generation of gaming are sprawling. Two consoles that are available via subscription and can play a huge chunk of your existing Xbox games, a new roster of games that will be playable on your existing Xbox One, a continuing focus on PC gaming, and a game streaming service mean that, no matter what hardware you own, there’s a decent chance you’ll be able to pay Microsoft to play its games .

We’ve written before about how the focus on trying to sell subscriptions rather than premium hardware means that the “ true next-gen Xbox ” is the subscription itself, rather than the hardware it plays on. Microsoft is casting its net wide, and it doesn’t want any hardware requirements to get in the way of you subscribing.

Sony, meanwhile, is doing what it’s always done: it’s making a new console, developing exclusive games for it, and selling it. It’s hard to argue too much with the approach when it’s done so well for the company so far, especially with the PS4 . 

As of this writing, the PS4 has reportedly outsold the Xbox One by a factor of over two to one , so it’s hard to see why Sony would want to change its strategy too much. Microsoft is coming into this next generation as an underdog, and it’s doing everything in its power to change the rules of the game.

Update November 12th, 1:30PM ET: Added hands on impressions now that the Xbox Series S and Series X have launched.

Correction November 12th, 1:30PM ET: An earlier version of this article stated that the PS5 will have 16GB of GDDR5 RAM. This is incorrect. It actually has 16GB of GDDR6 RAM.

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• A first look at ray tracing on the $299 Xbox Series S

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• EA Sports PGA Tour Achievements
• EA Sports PGA Tour News
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EA SPORTS PGA Tour

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EA SPORTS PGA Tour Achievements

Full list of all 18 EA SPORTS PGA Tour achievements worth 1,000 gamerscore. It takes around 20-25 hours to unlock all of the achievements on Xbox Series X|S.

• Achievement View View Image view List view Sort by TrueAchievement desc TrueAchievement asc Achievement name desc Achievement name asc GamerScore desc GamerScore asc TA Ratio desc TA Ratio asc Gamers desc Gamers asc Xbox.com order Date won desc Date won asc
• 11 Online Mode
• 7 Online/Offline
• 15 Single Player
• What are achievement flags? Click to find out Apply

Win the FedExCup

Win the Masters

Win the PGA Championship

Win the U.S. Open

Win the Open Championship

Win THE PLAYERS Championship

Make the cut in a PGA TOUR event

Win a PGA TOUR event

Record a hole-in-one

Hole out from at least 100 yards away

Hit a drive over 400 yards

Make a putt over 50 ft.

Complete an Online Tournament

Complete an Online H2H game

Get a win in an Online H2H game

Complete a Challenge

Complete an 18-hole round of Stroke Play without recording a bogey

Shoot 59 or better in an 18-hole round of Stroke Play

• How many achievements are there in EA Sports PGA Tour? There are 18 achievements in EA Sports PGA Tour, worth a total of 1,000 Gamerscore. You can view the full list of EA Sports PGA Tour achievements here .
• Is EA Sports PGA Tour on Game Pass? No, EA Sports PGA Tour is not currently available on either Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass.
• When did EA Sports PGA Tour release on Xbox? EA Sports PGA Tour was released on April 6th, 2023.
• How long does it take to complete all the achievements in EA Sports PGA Tour? It takes between 20 and 25 hours to complete the achievements in EA Sports PGA Tour.

Tour De France 2024 | Review - The cycle begins anew

D espite covering a good bunch of sports and racing games, here at XboxEra we never really got around to dive into Nacon’s cycling franchise, Tour De France. With the 2024 installment upon us, let’s see what their videogame, based on the most famous cycling race of them all, has on offer for us on Series X. This is Tour De France 2024!

It’s peloton time!

The first thing to point out about this franchise, recently under Nacon’s increasingly vast banner of racing IPs, is that it’s neither a classic racer nor a manager style game – Tour De France 2024 sits somewhere between the two. The players, naturally, get to ride their bike, of which direction and speed they need to manage themselves, but speed and precision itself doesn’t get you far – it’s all about strategically managing the riders’ energy levels while not sacrificing the performance too much, to allow them to reach the end in an optimal fashion. As anyone who’s ever rode a bike race can tell you, this sport is nothing like racing with cars, where slamming the gas doesn’t really take more energy from the driver than coasting. Cyclists’ stamina and energy levels, however, are crucial in such events, and there’s many tricks they can do to reduce the fatigue and effort to ensure enough physical battery remains to get a good finish.

Going at maximum speed at all times is a strategy that ensures that we run out of energy very early on, and thus, the nature of the race itself has to be used to our advantage to minimize consumption. Peloton racing is the main key, where competitors can closely stick behind another rider (or more of them) to reduce the drag and catch a slipstream, drastically decreasing the effort needed to keep up. In this game, pressing the X button allows the player to “latch” onto another player with ease, so that even the ones with a controller in hand can take a little break and no longer have to manually manage the speed and direction, adapting automatically to the bycicle in front instead. Cyclists can also stop pedaling and lean when on a downhill segment, which allows them to be fast while relaxing their muscles and catching a breath. The game offers two different coloured batteries the players can recharge once per event, but going to the max drains these resources insanely quick – players need to be smart as to when to push, and not get greedy when they see a pack farther away that needs to be caught. Keep that peloton racing going, and sprint only when truly necessary. And when the downhill segment finally arrives, the pain and anxiety all goes away, allowing us to really sprint without fear. It feels great.

I’ll manage, somehow

But that in itself doesn’t sound like anything too out of the ordinary for a racer. After all, even in Formula 1 games, players will need to closely monitor fuel and tyre consumption, employing tricks to reduce their wear while trying not to compromise laptimes and track position too much. But in most races, players have to manage an entire team of riders under the same banner, and they have two distinct ways of doing this. One is giving orders – when playing offline, the game can be effectively time-frozen, which allows players to dictate, via initially somewhat confusing icons, which cyclist needs to do what exactly. Do you want to send someone ahead towards the next pack? Do you want a teammate of yours to lead your peloton, so that some other, potentially more capable riders can relax a bit and have more stamina for the end? But the decision-making doesn’t end there…

In this segment, players can go one step further and effectively take control of any other team member, regardless of where they are located on the track. If you feel like they’re not following your orders optimally or you think you could do their deeds more efficiently, nothing stops you from stepping a bit into their shoes and get the action going yourself – giving, obviously, the control back to the AI for the cyclist you were using until that point. So what’s it gonna be? Sacrifice everybody for the glory of a single athlete, or make a consistent team effort and guarantee a solid finish for just about everyone in the team? This is where the manager side of the title comes into play, and when the steep uphill segments arrive and the energy levels are going down rapidly, it’s time for some difficult decisions.

Pogacar? More like “pog, a bike”, am I right?

A huge flaw in previous years’ titles by Nacon was the complete lack of proper online racing. Sure, leaderboards existed, as did a handful of timed challenges which still are around, but in 2024’s game it’s finally possible to hop online and play against real people, head-to-head, giving further spice to the game’s stages. This mode is limited to only 6 players, so forget the absolute chaotic traffic of a stage 1 start, but perhaps it’s for the best – judging by how people generally behave in online racing games, having a lower amount of them may not be a bad thing at all. For what it’s worth, the netcode seems sound, but it’s a barely customizeable and certainly very limited forage into the world of multiplayer. At least it’s here, and it’s pretty fun anyway.

Players can also play freely offline, being able to jump into just about any stage of Tour De France, including the starting segments in Italy. Be it in the full event, proper championships or even individual stages, players can hop on solo or part of a group into just about any stage, even if most of them are visually and mechanically very similar. You see, road surfaces are always pretty much the same, and even the curve geometry within a stage is reused a lot. Also, those who want to take on the challenges, the ups and downs of a Tour De France stage but without the other cyclists around, there’s a neat time trial mode that reduces it all down to the bone – though, in this way, it shines further light on the game’s general mechanical shortcomings.

Okay, but is it a good game?

Not to brag, but I think I did a decent job at explaining how the basics work in Tour De France 2024, yet another yearly installment of an atypical racing franchise. The strategic depth is certainly there, and mechanisms not really seen in racers are abundantly present, giving this title an aura of uniqueness through and through. At the same time, the game does seem to have a lower budget than most license-based sports games, and this shines through in just about every aspect. Questionable menu designs and UI choices, low-resolution and not very detailed 3D models and textures that really wouldn’t feel out of place in a game from 2 or 3 console generations ago. The handling is extremely basic, with invisible walls blocking off the outside of every single road and therefore drastically reducing the risk of entering a turn too quick, with a very approximative and forgiving physics model in play as well. The invisible walls can even be crashed into at high speed without any real penalty, making certain tight turns way too easy. It indeed feels like the actual part of riding the bikes is a secondary aspect over the managerial aspect of keeping all riders’ energy levels steady – an interesting mechanism that, however, gets a bit stale after already a couple hours of similar races.

Ultimately, Tour De France 2024 is yet another yearly installment of Nacon’s racing/managing franchise, based on the most notable cycling event of the year. A rather poor presentation, handling and physics make the actual act of riding not a particularly exciting one, though the pretty deep strategic options given by the peloton racing make for a compelling and unusual racing experience that’s worth a try. Proper multiplayer is finally present as well, albeit limited to 6 players, making this the best entry point to the series thus far. I also feel that such a level of micromanaging only truly caters to big fans of this discipline, whereas newcomers will find an otherwise rather poor racer where managing energy levels is far more important than… well, riding well. Tour De France 2024 isn’t for everyone, and it feels somewhat poorly made in a lot of areas, but it’s still an interesting game for cycling fans who, especially on console, don’t have a lot to pick from anyway.

Tour De France 24

Xbox series x.

• Highly strategic racing
• The pleasure of the fast downhill after a long uphill
• Massive peloton packs are always fun to navigate in
• Technically extremely outdated
• Very basic handling and physics, with invisible walls everywhere
• Limited online mode

The post Tour De France 2024 | Review – The cycle begins anew appeared first on XboxEra .

UFL Open Beta

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Welcome to UFL! UFL is a free-to-play football video game featuring real footballers, a rich metagame. UFL features tons of unique content like various club kits, boots, gloves, balls, and stadiums. In UFL, you create your club from the ground up, assembling a team of real-world footballers customized to your liking. Compete with players worldwide, climb the ranks, and win the championship! Join the online competition and enjoy football gaming like you’ve never seen it!

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• Powered by official PGA TOUR ShotLink and TrackMan data, Pure Strike provides unique golf swings with a fluid feel, and realistic outcomes on every golf shot.
• Every fairway, green, and rough is meticulously scanned, handcrafted, and uniquely tuned to ensure no two golf courses play the same.
• Revolutionized Ball Behavior delivers next-gen responsiveness so once your shot lands, the golf ball spins, bounces, dribbles, and rolls as it would in real life.
• EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is the exclusive home of the Majors, including the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open Championship, and The Open Championship.
• The tee is yours at 30 courses, including some of the world’s most exclusive, designed in stunning quality with Frostbite so you can enjoy more of golf’s finer details than ever before.

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Welcome to the exclusive home of major championship golf. Compete in the PGA TOUR's best events in the season-long chase for the FedExCup. Conquer the top Amateur Championships including the Augusta National Women's Amateur, the U.S. Amateur, and other elite international amateur events.

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Arsenal women step up champions league prepartion on united states tour.

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READING, ENGLAND - JANUARY 24: Emily Fox of Arsenal poses for a photo with fans after the team's ... [+] victory in the FA Women's Continental Tyres League Cup match between Reading and Arsenal at Select Car Leasing Stadium on January 24, 2024 in Reading, England. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arsenal and Chelsea Women will tour the United States this August as part of a summer series of matches broadcast exclusively around the world by DAZN Sports.

Arsenal will play National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) side Washington Spirit on August 18 before taking on their London rivals Chelsea the following Sunday. Both matches take place at Audi Field, Washington D.C. and will be streamed live and free globally on DAZN.

In addition, over the course of the visit, Arsenal will take part in a training camp at George Mason University in Fairfax County, a home-from-home for their Virginia-native Emily Fox. Otherwise, the team will be based in Washington D.C. from 15-26 August.

The matches come two weeks before Arsenal, who finished third in last season's Women's Super League, play two pivotal games in the First Qualifying Round for next season's UEFA Women's Champions League competition.

They hope the two games against high-quality opposition will provide them with the necessary match sharpness required as the qualifiers come three weeks before their competitive start of the season in the Women's Super League. Last season Arsenal went out in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, missing out on the lucrative income and prestige garnered from playing in the group stage.

LINKOPING, SWEDEN - SEPTEMBER 09: Manuela Zinsberger of Arsenal is consoled by Cloe Lacasse after ... [+] defeat in the penalty shoot out after the Women's UEFA Champions League Group 3 Round Match 2 between Paris FC and Arsenal Women at Linkoping Arena on September 09, 2023 in Linkoping, Sweden. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

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The club's Sporting Director Edu Gaspar said "we always want to create the best conditions for our teams to prepare and perform at their best in pre-season. This gives our players an opportunity to play and train in a new environment, in front of our supporters around the world."

Arsenal faced criticism last month for taking their players on a round-the-world trip to play a single friendly against an A-League All-Stars in Melbourne, Australia at the conclusion of the Women's Super League season and before the majority of their players had to play qualifying matches in the women's international window.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 24: Caitlin Foord of Arsenal Women FC with fans after beating the ... [+] A-League All Stars Women team during the Global Football Week at Marvel Stadium on May 24, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia (Photo credit should read Chris Putnam/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

They may face similar complaints regarding player welfare with the scheduling of the start of the camp coming just five days after some of their squad - like Fox, Canadian Cloé Lacasse, Spain's Laia Codina and their three Australians, Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross - could be playing in the Women's Olympic Football Final in Paris, which would involve six matches in seventeen days.

Nevertheless, the clubs will view the tour as an important vehicle in creating a global fancase for Arsenal and Chelsea. A sizeable crowd of 42,120 watched Arsenal play at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne and another 5,000 attended an open training session at AAMI Park in Melbourne during the trip.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 23: Steph Catley of Arsenal during the Arsenal Women's training session ... [+] at AAMI Park on May 23, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arsenal Managing Director, Richard Garlick said "To take our women’s team to the US for the first time on tour is another sign of great progress. We know from our recent trip to Australia that the interest and love for Arsenal Women stretches far and wide. We want to build on that and bring our United States supporters closer to the club."

Similarly, Washington Spirit CEO Kim Stone believes "this is a major step in growing the women’s game at home and abroad as the best in England face the best in the United States. We are very proud to offer global soccer followers unprecedented access to some of the top club competition in the world. We will welcome fans live at Audi Field or through our exclusive media partner, DAZN, who will stream the matches for free."

Co CEO of women's sports at DAZN, Hannah Brown added that "this deal marks another first for women’s football. Led by the team at the Washington Spirit – DAZN will be working with these clubs who are vanguards of the game."

"DAZN will not only distribute the games but also work with the clubs – marketing to their global fan bases and creating opportunities for brands to connect with the clubs and audiences alike. This is how we will grow the women’s game – working together to create unique and compelling content for fans."

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Xbox to Launch Discless Series X This Holiday, Working on ‘Next Generation’ Consoles Now

By Jennifer Maas

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Xbox will release an all-digital versions of its Series X console this holiday season, in addition to special editions of the X and S, Xbox president Sarah Bond announced during the Xbox Games Showcase Sunday .

Additionally, Bond teased that Microsoft is developing the “next generation” of its console offering.

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Xbox’s Series X and S systems hit the market in Nov. 2020, the same month the PlayStation 5 console launched.

Pre-order details and final regional pricing for the three new Xbox consoles will be released at a later date.

Bond’s announcement about the new Xbox digital-only console came amid a slew of title drops and first gameplay footage released during Xbox Games Showcase 2024. Key moments during the two-hour event held at the David Geffen Theater in Los Angeles included the release date for “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6″ and gameplay teaser, unveiled by Xbox chief Phil Spencer, as well as news on “Gears of War: E-Day,” “Doom” prequel “Doom: The Dark Ages” and a reboot of the “Fable” franchise, the latter two coming in 2025.

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• Category: Xbox Games Showcase

Perfect Dark: Answering the Big Questions from its Incredible First Gameplay Trailer

Today, at Xbox Games Showcase, we got our first look at gameplay from Perfect Dark , a reboot of the classic secret agent series. The fascinating new trailer gave us hints to secret agent Joanna Dark’s mission, showed us her descent into the game’s near-future Cairo setting, and then gave us a tantalising glimpse of the all-new secret agent-inspired gameplay.

Of course, when you’re given a look at such a highly anticipated game, you’re always going to want to ask more questions – and thankfully I was able to go straight to the source to get more details from members of the development team. The Initiative is co-developing Perfect Dark with Crystal Dynamics and other partners that make up Team Perfect Dark. Let’s take a deeper look and answer some of those burning questions.

What Kind of Game Is This?

Perfect Dark is a first-person secret agent thriller in a near-future world. With the blessing of the original Perfect Dark studio, Rare (not to mention some of the leads from the original titles), Team Perfect Dark has pulled inspiration from elements of the first two games, but crafted an entirely new story and universe around them for this reboot.

For previous fans and new players alike, the new game offers a fresh take on the secret agent experience, and is a great opportunity to jump into the world and character. Though fans will have moments that resonate with the history and memories of the original games, no prior knowledge is needed in this new experience.

At the widest level, Perfect Dark will be a single-player experience, with a set of missions – but with choices offered in how you complete those missions. Looking at the trailer, it’s clear that traversal and gadgets are a huge part of this – we see new parkour abilities used throughout, both for movement and combat. The developers tell me that the focus was on creating an intuitive movement system, which will let players find interesting ways to tackle their objectives. Add to that a combat system that allows for both melee and gunplay, stealth mechanics, and liberal use of gadgets, and Perfect Dark is a game that will present players with an objective, but let them figure out how they want to achieve it.

Team Perfect Dark doesn’t want this to feel like any one genre – it takes in elements of first-person shooters, immersive sims, and stealth-action, but blends them into a seamless whole. The goal is to offer a true secret agent fantasy – and letting players use their various tools and abilities in the way they want is key to this.

Who is Joanna Dark?

In this reboot, Joanna (voiced by Alix Wilton Regan with Elissa Bibaud lending visual likeness) is an agent for dataDyne, with a deep personal connection to what’s happening to her world. In this case, the title Perfect Dark is more aspirational – this Joanna won’t be perfect, but she’s striving to be. She’ll make mistakes in this journey, and learn from those experiences. Learning who this Joanna is proves to be just as compelling as the story itself.

Where Is the Game Set?

Perfect Dark ’s near-future world has been impacted by what’s known as “The Cascade,” in which the planet has suffered from a series of environmental disasters, rendering entire regions inhospitable to human life. In the wake of the disaster, a hypercorporation known as Core Mantis steps in to create a solution known as The GEN Network, and deploys it in Cairo – restoring ecological balance and creating a freshly walled city, insulated from the hostile environment outside to become a center for technological innovation.

In its wake, other hypercorporations step in to continue that regeneration – but, as you might expect, not all is as it seems, and their motives may be less altruistic than they appear. It is key that the setting communicates a hopeful future, seeing a world with both destruction and restoration, the bleakness of the past countered with a sense of promise.

It’s into Cairo that Joanna enters. The setting was chosen to offer a counterpoint to other secret agent stories, and media at large – ancient Egypt and modern Egypt have been seen by many, but a near-future take on the country is truly something new. Cairo itself allows for a balance of deeply old and startlingly new that suits the speculative fiction at the heart of Perfect Dark .

What’s Joanna’s Mission in the Trailer?

Joanna is being sent into Cairo to find and apprehend Daniel Carrington, and we see her enter a district called Garden City (and an area of Cairo in real life, too). In Perfect Dark , this is a more affluent and cosmopolitan area of the city, and Core Mantis has selected it to be revitalized by its new eco-technological processes.

We see Joanna find a hideout used by Carrington, who infiltrates Joanna’s AR system and begins to expose more information, and even more questions around the bigger mysteries in Cairo. Joanna will need to learn who can be trusted, and who might be working against her own goals, and Carrington’s role will be a major part of that.

What Can We Use Gadgets For?

Gadgets are a pillar of the secret agent genre. In the trailer, we get a tease of Joanna using a gadget to analyse NPC voices and create vocal “deepfakes” to trick security systems or impersonate other characters, as well as create distractions.

Gadgets can be used for misdirection and manipulation, but we also see that Joanna can use a tool to scan an NPC and learn details about them – it wouldn’t be a secret agent story without some fieldwork, and the developers tell me that parsing the world, around you will be a key part of understanding how to tackle your objectives.

How Does Combat Work?

With this first look at combat, it’s clear this is another aspect of player choice. In the trailer we see lethal and non-lethal weaponry, close-quarters combat, abilities that allow you to take down multiple enemies at once, and more. We can also go loud or go quiet, offering a risk-reward for both methods. Team Perfect Dark wants to create a “symphony” of mechanics, merging traversal, close-quarters-combat, gunplay, unlockable abilities, environmental elements, and gadgets into a unified experience for players.

Find out more about Perfect Dark here .

* A copy of Dawntrail, in-game bonus items, and pre-order bonuses are not included.

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