The XboxCast

It's our 50th Episode of the year! 🎉 And it's our last #GameFace! for a while... 😢 Join us as we bid (a temporary) farewell to Simone, and to GameFace!, the only Xbox podcast show that brave enough to cover the games we've been playing! While #GameFace! may be on hiatus for a while, you'll still be hearing from Kyle and Lee as they cover everything in The Regular Show! And this so happens to be our 50th episode for the year! The big five oh. And what better way to celebrate getting to 50 episodes without going mad than to have a 2023 retrospective. From the best games we played each month to our personal recommendations, you may think this is our Games of the Year show, but it's not. You can't get rid of us that easily! Ever since we introduced #GameFace!, you guys have tuned in week after week, and we can't thank you enough for that. -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Is our start overstaying it's welcome? Do we need something that slaps? Or a banger? It's not really Lee's birthday, but that won't stop us from wishing Lee anyways. If you see Lee hanging about in the Discord, wish him happy birthday! So, we moved #nuNews to another night to help Lee experience Starfield for his fake birthday. Starfield rocks to the top of the charts, and it's not even technically out yet. A new king has emerged! Welcome to the new charts. You have been warned. And to celebrate, Xbox is releasing Starfield flavoured wraps for your Series X! Gotta keep him warm while you explore the galaxy in the 21st century. In sad news, Embracer is shutting down the studio behind the Saint's Row series. Looks like the latest release didn't exactly ignite the hype. Lots of finger pointing, but in the end, it seems to have just been a bad game. Never mind all the modern day baggage they added to it. And while Starfield is stealing all the hype, Cyberpunk's version 2 release is coming. And's it's looking really good! So what features will you get with the update and what features are locked behind the Phantom Liberty expansion? Well, you're in luck! We're here to tell you what's what. You are what helps this podcast grow. So please take a few seconds out of your day to rate or share the podcast with someone you think will enjoy it as much as you do! -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

It's embarrassing how organised we are. In fact, we could just about be the most organised podcast ever! Lee fights the man-flu to bring you the latest Xbox News. We thank him for his service and sacrifice live on the podcast. He was adequate. There's a ton of more Gamescom news! More stuff happened! The Future Games Show apparently. And guess what? It's all about games that are coming out. Aren't all game shows focused on games coming out? But we digress... New games! And mostly indies! Look at us growing as a podcast... No Man's Sky has gotten yet another big and impressive update, bringing a new robot race into the universe. And you can get a special staff! Or turn your traveller into one of them. The robots really are taking over. And of course, we have a bunch of Starfield news. Because we're an Xbox podcast, and Starfield is now the talk of Xbox. So we must talk about it. Or we'll have our gamer creds taken off us. And please excuse the technical difficulties that Kyle experienced. The joy of remote recording... How does Lee handle the pressure of being the lone host of Kay Go Kay Lee? Join us on Friday, September 8th, as we live stream Simone's final #GameFace! episode. We even have a special treat for you guys as it also happens to be our 50th show this year! We'll be live streaming on Kick and YouTube, but if you can't be there live, you still get to enoy the audio later. Don't forget that we're doing a massive YouTube push, and we need your help. Go to our YouTube channel, watch the podcast on there, subscribe, like share and just be that annoying person who tells the world about us. You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

August is coming to an end, and so is our Patron's Puzzling Picks. Kyle and Simone have continued with ExoPrimal (against their will) and are trying hard to follow the "story" and "care about the game." All while Lee has completely given up on it. Simone is warming up to Stray. Maybe it takes a while to let the cat out of this bag? Kyle has some thoughts about Resident Evil 2, and how these two games seem to be developed by completely different companies... And Lee tried Age of Empires, before going straight back into Diablo IV. Outside of the event, the hype for Starfield has truly taken its hold, and given Kyle an obsession with No Man's Sky. Especially with the Echos update and all the great stuff it brings. And he's managed to drag Simone into the NMS universe too... Don't forget that we're doing a massive YouTube push, and we need your help. Go to our YouTube channel, watch the podcast on there, subscribe, like share and just be that annoying person who tells the world about us. You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Gamescom! Gamescom! Gamescom! Let us summarise all you need to know. In case you missed it, Xbox bought the fire to this year's Gamescom in Germany. From info on existing games to shadow dropping Age of Empires - Kyle and Lee will cover everything you need to know. Don't have time to sit and watch the full 2-hour recap? We have you covered with our 2-hour recap! You're welcome. In a shock move, Microsoft is selling the Cloud Streaming Rights of all Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft! As this is no longer the sticking point of the CMA, could the deal finally go through? And it's been confirmed that Sony only has an agreement with Microsoft for COD - no other titles. How will this play out? No one knows yet, but it should be over soon (we hope). And this week, certain fanboi's decided to comment on the leaked start screen of Starfield. Looks like this massive game has some people regretting their loyalties to a plastic box... Will you be jumping in Early Access with Kyle, or are you more like Lee and waiting for the mods and patches to fix Starfield? What ever you choose, you can't deny this hype train! All this and more on this episode of #NuNews! You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

A new font appears, and Lee has thoughts. The zeros are the rectangles of Ohs! Join us as we talk about this week's Xbox Adventures. The Cast is still playing their Patron's Puzzling Picks for this month. Lee has finished his first game and is now on to Age of Empires. Pretty good going for a month! Kyle has some very good Top Tips™️ for Resident Evil 2 Remaster, and Simone has thoughts on Stray! Did Stray deserve the Game of the Year nomination, or was it only nominated because of its exclusivity? Don't forget that we're doing a massive YouTube push, and we need your help. Go to our YouTube channel, watch the podcast on there, subscribe, like share and just be that annoying person who tells the world about us. You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

All the Xbox News from the last week. We help you catch up on everything you've missed. And things you haven't. Lee is rebelling against society by not taking photos of his food. What even is this? How can you just get your food, and *not* take a photo? It boggles the mind. Xbox will soon allow you to stream to your Discord servers! Straight from the Xbox! Is this the return of Mixer's Co-Streaming? Will you be using it? Are you looking for a Discord to join that will allow this new feature? Well, you're formally invited to jump into our Discord and stream away. Gamescom is coming up quickly and Xbox will have the biggest both ever! Thirty titles will be playable, showing that Xbox is super confident in their line up this year. We're huge fans of this confident Xbox. And with Starfield coming out soon, it didn't stop the concern trolling. If only the ones doing the trolling took a history lesson instead. Quake II Remastered has been unleased on the world and we're trying really hard to not play it! Since we're all in on Patron's Puzzling Picks. You'll just have to wait for our next #GameFace! episode to see if we managed to hold out. All this and more on this episode of #NuNews! Don't forget that we're doing a massive YouTube push, and we need your help. Go to our YouTube channel, watch the podcast on there, subscribe, like share and just be that annoying person who tells the world about us. You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Patrons Puzzling Picks is now live! That's right folks, Patron's Puzzling Picks is now live, and we even have our first completion from the event. Lee was so excited with his Horse Game that he spent all weekend playing it. How does it stack up next to Diablo? How did he win the Horse Cup Award? Did he make lifelong friends in Horse Valley? So many questions! And only Lee has the answers. Along with his Twitch stream... Kyle has landed on Resident Evil 2 and think you should all play it. It's got just the right mix of old school PS2 game play bought into a modern light. It does everything right. You honestly have no excuse now. Unless of course you're taking part in the event too. In which case, you need to focus on your own game. Get that finished. Then play Resident Evil 2. You gaming life will thank you. And all three of the cast jumped into Exoprimal. And do we have some thoughts! How can shooting hordes of dinosaurs be this bad? And how do you release a game in this state? In fact, this game is so bad, even one of our viewers of the live stream gets into a massive rant about this game. We are starting to think our Patrons are trolling us. Don't forget that we're doing a massive YouTube push, and we need your help. Go to our YouTube channel, watch the podcast on there, subscribe, like share and just be that annoying person who tells the world about us. You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

You didn't know you needed this news. Just like that bacon and egg pie you're currently craving... We race into pole position with the release of F1 Manager 2023, and that seems to be the only good game coming out this week. Nothing is of note, so Lee struggles to stay awake. Can Kyle's puns keep him awake? This week is controller news heavy - from new controllers from Xbox to new custom controllers where you can add a wheel, to even replacement parts of your Elite controller. Looks like we need to take control of the news! Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Xbox! And Square Enix has committed to more games on Xbox too. If you're a Square fan, then this is your birthday. Phil has delivered on his promise of Japanese games on Xbox and its paying off! Are you excited? Kyle is excited. Even Lee is slightly excited. Its time to get hyped! In some sad news, the Xbox Console Companion app is being retired. And there's no replacement on PC if you want to see anything of the social side of Xbox. If you're a PC gamer, you should be filling out all the feedback to let Microsoft know what a stupid idea this really is. Don't forget that we're doing a massive YouTube push, and we need your help. Go to our YouTube channel, watch the podcast on there, subscribe, like share and just be that annoying person who tells the world about us. You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

We've become to powerful! They cannot nerf us. Kyle goes on a tirade against Adobe and their so-called photo organisation tools. Or lack thereof. Causing him to lose most of his photo backup. This has nothing to do with games, but since you're listening, we are just going to assume you care about our lives now. Patrons Puzzling Picks is about to kick off, so we recap what that means for us and for the community. What games will we be playing? Will Lee be playing a horse game? Is Kyle forced to play The Evil Within? And why are the Patron's so kind to Simone? We suspect theres some favourtism going on here... We're onto you! Lee surpirses no one with his obscession with Diablo IV, Kyle is in a Gears mood, and Simone has played more than all of them. Get rady for all out gaming advetures in this week's episode of #GameFace! Don't forget that we're doing a massive YouTube push, and we need your help. Go to our YouTube channel, watch the podcast on there, subscribe, like share and just be that annoying person who tells the world about us. You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Lee keeps running out of news. It's clearly time to start making stuff up. After much struggling, we find some news for you. Because we're kind like that. And because you deserve it. Now it's up to you to share the podcast with your friends and family... Xbox allows mapping keyboard keys to controller buttons. Is this because World of Warcraft is coming to consoles? It would be a very good test to see if controller support works for these PC exclusive games. Ubisoft has canceled the Fenyx Rising sequel. One of the games that everyone praises Ubisoft for. And they cancel it. Is this on purpose? Is Ubisoft trying to be bought by being so bad? Add to this that Ubisoft are deleting Ubi-Accounts. It's been a bad a week for Ubisoft fans. Don't forget that we're doing a massive YouTube push, and we need your help. Go to our YouTube channel, watch the podcast on there, subscribe, like share and just be that annoying person who tells the world about us. You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Next month our gaming future is in your hands. Who's chosen to be cruel, and who's chosen to be kind? In August, we're doing Patron's Puzzling Picks - leaving our gaming future up to our Patreons. Is this a good idea or a great idea? And to make sure we don't suffer alone, we're getting the Patrons to choose games for their fellow Patrons! It's Christmas! In August? No one ever said we're great with timings. Simone has done it! She has played more games in one week than Lee did. We really are in a weird timeline... Saving the world in Fenyx Rising, racing through the streets in Need for Speed Unbound and spying on nuns canoodling in the library in Pentiment - Simone has crossed every genre. Kyle is getting excited about factory building games. Wanna build a factory? It has to be a factory! Dyson Sphere Factory is on Game Pass PC and it's highly recomemended you play it. If factory building is your thing. And it's not really Lee's thing as he is stuck in Diablo. He may have a problem. Don't forget that we're doing a massive YouTube push, and we need your help. Go to our YouTube channel, watch the podcast on there, subscribe, like share and just be that annoying person who tells the world about us. You sharing the podcast is how we grow. So if you enjoyed this episode, please share it on all your social media and tag us! We're everywhere. Even in your house... -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐ -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

It's the Lee and Paul show. And Paul is kind enough to let Lee be the boss. This week, it's a deluge of news as suddenly everyone covering the Activision Blizzard deal now must find other news stories to cover. Lee yet again finds all the most important news stories just for you. Including our beloved True Achievement's Game Play Charts. Xbox Game Pass Family & Friends Plan has come to an end. Was the trial unsuccessful or did too many people take advantage of it? Microsoft is sure to be tight lipped about the program until we see it launch world wide. And have you tried to pick up an Xbox Series X yet? Chances are you 'll find they have been selling out. Why, you ask. Well Microsoft has fixed the old Call of Duty multiplayer servers, which means Xbox is the only place to enjoy all the old COD titles. Sony has also agreed to keep COD on PlayStation, but this is only for COD. It looks like other Activision Blizzard games are about to become Xbox Exclusive! And Phil Spencer has worked his magic in the background by bringing the Antstream Arcade collection to Xbox. Whatever your thoughts on the man is, he sure is sticking by his word of keeping gaming preservation alive. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our ⭐ official website ⭐! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

The FTC has been defeated. The CMA has just about conceded. Xbox is about to close on (finally) buying Activision Blizzard! It has been a long 18 months... Paul joins us again for #NuNews from a freezing cold Christchurch. And Kyle has the best life advice for him! Powerwash Simulator takes us into the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Which is a very hard turn from the colourful world of SpongeBob. But hey, even Space Marines need clean armour. Grand Theft Auto is now back on Game Pass and it's the new shinny Xbox Series X version too. 4K60, ray tracing and all the deliciousness that comes with it. Time to jump back in maybe? Xbox is clamping down on the Xbox Live to Game Pass conversion, and Kyle is part of the casualties... Three years of Xbox live now gets you just over 2 years of Game Pass Ultimate. It's still better than a kick in the pants, but it's sad to see it go. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our ⭐ official website ⭐! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

#PatronsPuzzlingPicks is coming up quickly. And it's going to be the last event for Simone and Kyle for some time... All your questions about #PatronsPuzzlingPicks are answered in this episode. If you have questions we haven't answered, then you need to get into our Discord. Or bug Simone. Or tweet at us. Basically, if you want to take part and don't know how, then it's up to you to do something. We've done all we can! Have you played Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? Have you ever wanted to rant about it? Like just a deep seated rage that you haven't yet addressed? Well Simone is here to save the day. She has ranted enough for everyone. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our ⭐ official website ⭐! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

It's that time of the year when there is just no news. So, here's two hours of us babbling. (Which is no different to every week). Annapurna had their very own showcase and there are even more games to add to your backlog. And the best thing about this? Most of these games are coming to Game Pass Day one! Time to get hyped for the best deal in gaming. Which one are you most excited for? We get excited about all the stats for Kick.com! Can you believe this streaming platform has come in and started eating Twitch's lunch? Oh, and on an unrelated note, we stream the podcast every week on Kick! You can even follow us there. Because we're cool like that. Now go over and follow us. (But also please continue to watch us on YouTube!) Of course there's new drama in the Activision Blizzard saga. Jim Ryan has demanded that Xbox give all its games to Playstation. And if they don't he will sulk. We may be being funny, but it's really not far from the truth. And then Phil claps back in the best way possible... We're starting to enjoy the new aggressive Xbox! Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our ⭐ official website ⭐! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

We're zooming here, we're zooming there. We're zooming everywhere! Simone and Kyle recount their trip to Vietnam and confuse Lee about coffee. Apparently, there is a monkey that eats a coffee bean and then you drink its poop. And it's quite expensive. But if you are a coffee drinker, this is peak coffee. And have you heard of Egg Coffee? Because Kyle is now a fan. #BackToYourBacklog has now wrapped up with an excellent turnout from the community. So many of you listeners got into the spirit and really went to town with this event. And we couldn't be prouder. You guys are amazing and we're blowing away by every one of you. Thanks for making these events really special. Now are you ready for #PatronsPuzzlingPicks? Kyle is super excited abut Hi-Fi Rush. So many colours! Lee is still stuck in Diablo, and Simone really want to talk about Immortality with someone. Can you say Spoilercast episode? Because we can. Even if we can't schedule it... Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our ⭐ official website ⭐! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

We're getting ready for the next XboxCast Community Event. And you're invited!* *Must be a patron. Why not sign up now? It's only $1! In fact, check out all the ways you can support us right over 🤩here! The next event is called Patron's Puzzling Picks and not only do our patrons decided what game we're playing for August, but we're including a special Secret Santa for all our Patrons too! Have you ever wanted to make Gary play Hi-Fi Rush? Or maybe you want to see what game your Secret Santa picks out for you? Now's your chance to get in on the fun! All Patron's are eligible and you can sign up on our Discord. Don't use Discord? Just tweet at us! Or DM Simone. If you have any questions - feel free to ask away. You can ask in our live stream chat, Discord, Twitter, smoke signal or intergalactic radio signal sent in the 1970s. The choice is yours. Of course we can only receive some due to our current technology, so please keep that in mind. In this episode of NuNews, Lee catches Kyle up with all the news from the showcase. And what a showcase it was! From finally seeing Fable, to the deep dive into Starfield, there was so much to cover. So we do! You're welcome. Lee has tried hard to make sure that we don't turn into The DiabloCast, so he's limited himself to only 4 stories. Good on ya Lee! And if you're waiting for a Barbie Pink Xbox, well you're dreams have just come true. And it comes with special collector edition controllers too. So much pink! It's everywhere. And what would a modern Xbox Podcast be without some indepth Activision Blizzard news? Because we're nerds and we like it. And its been amazing to follow. At least for us. Feel free to skip it. But it will cost you a $1! Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our ⭐ official website ⭐! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

If you think Lee has been doing a decent job with the podcast, just wait until you hear from Paul! For the OG listeners, they'll remember when Paul was our producer - making us sound (and look) amazing. From giving us our first mic, to building a full-on recording studio - Paul was integral in getting The XboxCast off the ground. And he's back! Don't forget to follow his YouTube channel where he streams every week. Xbox has proved the doubters wrong and confirmed that that excellent Fable trailer was captured on an Xbox Series X! It pays to have the world's most powerful console, it seems, seeing what magic can happen. Microsoft is no longer making Xbox One games. It's official - the Xbone generation is dead and gone. But have they told their publishers? As there are still "next-gen" games coming for the system. Our favourite game ever is now one of the best selling games ever. Which means it will never leave the charts now. What will we do? Should we just ignore it? And does this bode well for Starfield? Who are we kidding - of course this bodes well for Starfield! If you aren't going to play it, then you wont be one of the cool kids... Hey, we don't make the rules. And if you're hanging out for a new Xbox, the Series S is now in black. And more importantly - 1 whole terrabyte. Begone small console, and say hello to the biggest small console around. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our ⭐ official website ⭐! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Lee is learning how to live tweet. He just chose to do it in the middle of the podcast. Activision Blizzard is threatening to leave the UK. And Lee has a great idea of offering VPN's for all #GamePass subscribers so that Xbox players can still get their Call of Duty. This means Xbox gets to go ahead and buy ABK, all the UK people can play the games and Microsoft comes off looking like the good guy! It's foolproof. Stardew Valley is getting an update and Lee is getting excited when Simone retweets his #NuNews tweet! So thats why the story is in here. Its a new green scythe. So now your weapons can match. And everyone is losing their minds over it. Western Digital is now making Expansion Cards for the Series X and S! And it's cheaper than the Seagate. This is going to help drive the prices down and now we're all waiting for the 2TB Xbox... Come on guys! We're waiting! Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

E3 season is upon us! Or Xbox Showcase Season. But its less fun to say it that way... Get ready for the hype with our predictions! What's coming, what do we hope to see and what we will inevitably get... The XboxCast tries to go crystal ball gazing and talk about our hopes and dreams for the showcase! And Lee will be having a very special episode for the showcase too! So, make sure you are following on Kick and YouTube to keep him company as he tries to keep the HoG boys in line. This will be streamed in our normal #GameFace! time slot, and if you don't know when that is, then you really need to check out our website and subscribe to our #NuNewsletter! Apart from #BackToYourBacklog, we just know you're dying to hear about our thoughts on Diablo IV. Yes, it's true, we did kinda break the rules of #BackToYourBacklog. But for a good cause! Because now you get to hear all about the latest, and greatest, to come from the Blizzard vault. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Xbox achievements are broken. Or are they? Join Kyle and Lee as they go off on Xbox Achievements. Are they as broken or out of date as the hosts think? Would you like to see Achievements 2.0? What even does Achievement 2.0 even look like? Kyle thinks we should be able to remove games from our Gamer Tags if we have only one achievement. Lee doesn't care. Where do you sit on this matter? All this because Xbox looks like it's going to be fixing the easy Gamerscore games! Exciting news for Alan Wake fans! The highly anticipated Alan Wake 2 will be released digitally at an affordable price point because it's only being released on digital. Is this a good move? Or does it prove the Xbox One was ahead of its time? Xbox fans are in for a treat as some highly anticipated PlayStation Showcase games are also making their way to the Xbox platform. In fact only three games aren't coming to Xbox, but will be on PC. Which means we may see a time where PlayStation exclusives are a memory... Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Its time for the best Xbox podcast in the galaxy! Exclusively featuring the games that we play. #BackToYourBacklog is about to kick off, and we have made some #LeeRules. It's not because Lee Rulez, but because we have to find ways to keep him in line. We just know he'll be trying to find a way to play Diablo IV... And we're here to make sure that he at least tries to make some progress in his backlog game. As hard as it may be. This episode finds the cast still chipping away at the games that sucked them in last week. Kyle is still trying to be a Jedi while Simone and Lee are trying to be cowboys. In fact, they are so cowboy that they are playing the same game! Well... The same game released a few years apart. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Humans cannot sleep without hurting themselves. You're welcome for that little factoid. We hosted a Red Dead Redemption Multiplayer Achievement Hunting Session! Can you believe it? We actually did something with the community. And we had a few people join up for some gun-slinging, hay chewing, donkey wrangling fun! What a mission it turns out to be - spawn and die. So lets rather ride out into the sunset and shoot some NPC's. And blow-up Lee... Which caused Lee to get absolutely absorbed into Red Dead for the entire weekend! While he was playing the first game, Simone was getting stuck into Red Dead 2. And apparently horses can die. And don't come back. We're wondering whether the controls are bad on purpose so you end up being naughty by accident. And while the two are stuck in the Wild West, Kyle is still in a galaxy far away, mispronouncing names, and ranting about how convenient everything is. Oh, she used to be a Jedi? And you're going to meet Cheewie? Will Luke appear? Who knows... But Star Wars is still a lot of fun when you get into the rhythm of your laser sword. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We need a small nation of subscribers before YouTube takes us seriously. And we very much want to be taken seriously. I am sure you agree... -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

We are very professional and not at all children. No matter what you may hear... We have a newsletter! Do you want to get a breakdown of some of the very exciting news stories we cover every week? Now you can! Sign up now to the #NuNewsletter! Alan Wake fans, rejoice! The highly anticipated sequel, Alan Wake 2, is set to launch this October, according to a recent statement by the game's voice actor, who let this slip on a podcast. It's amazing how many people forget that other people listen to podcasts... The long-rumored Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake is finally confirmed and it's even coming to Xbox! Hell has indeed frozen over, and pigs are well and truly flying these days. If you're wanting God of War on Xbox now, well, there's no better time that to make that wish, because it may just happen. And in some sad news, the gaming industry has been hit by another wave of layoffs, with major companies like Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft affected. This news highlights the challenges faced by game developers as they raced to hire everyone and their brother during the government lockdowns, who are now dealing with having to pay everyone and their brother. All this and more on this episode of #NuNews. Your one stop news source for everything Xbox related. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. Every review makes a PlayStation fan subscribe to GamePass. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

We have experienced Maximum Crunch! All thanks to some microwave fries... In good news, the European Union has agreed to let Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard go ahead without throwing a temper tantrum. Take that CMA! And on that note, the CMS had a bit of a Twitter whinge. And everyone passed them the digital tissues and played the world's smallest violin for them. At least it's more exciting than our charts! Cyberpunk 2077 is getting DLC! And in case you missed it, we have a quick rundown of all the newness. From the unknown release date, to Idris Elba being an NPC, and even car to car gun fights. Looks like we'll be back in Night City pretty soon... Are you as excited as Kyle to jump back in? Xbox is showing off a Diablo IV Xbox bundle. And while it could have been really cool, its just an Xbox Series X with a code for the game. Nothing else. Like come on! They could have at least painted it red... Which leads Kyle to declare that he's ready for a mid-gen refresh. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Is it content or nonsense? Whatever it is, here's 2 hours of it! Lee got absorbed into the Diablo IV Server Slam. How absorbed you ask? 30 hours and one Ultimate Edition order later... Want to hear how Diablo IV fares on the Xbox? Lee has all the answers. Not so much a Server Slam as a Silky-Smooth Server Experience (TM). Simone has started Red Dead Redemption 2! Since she is the only one who's managed to finish the first one, who better to give you their thoughts. In her own words it's "like playing a movie", and that is some high praise indeed. But of course, it’s a Rockstar game, so the controls are going to be… interesting. Kyle has entered the galaxy far, far away in Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. He has opinions. Lots of opinions! A giant frog hiding in a hole is giving him a hard time, and he doesn’t realize that it’s supposed to be a legendary boss… Maybe he needs more Jedi training. All this and more on this episode of #GameFace! Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Kyle's in a competition to use all the "only's" in the world. And he has just won! Xbox is starting to prep for the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase and then Starfield Direct, which has replaced Xbox's E3 thing that they did. Xbox is going to tell us all about the exciting games we can expect, and updates on games we haven't seen in a while. If you're in Melbourne, you can watch it with friends at Fortress Melbourne. But you have to be specially chosen to wake up at 1AM to be there by 3AM, to sit in a crowded room and watch the live stream. Trust us, it's more fun than you think! Lee's a bit of a Trekkie, so start to expect more Star Trek news invading our #NuNews episodes... Lee tells us about a famous guy who was in Star Trek is now going to be in a Star Trek game. He's going to be a captain, and you get to chat to him in the game. Lee has all the details if this is your thing. It's enough to get Lee emotional. That deserves an award all on its own... Hogwarts Legacy has put out a new patch with over 500 fixes as it announces that its earned over a billion dollars! Thats quite a bit of money for a niche game. These fixes seem to fix everything, including that leaky tap in your bathroom. If it hasn't fixed that leak, then maybe wait for the next patch? At least thats our advice. Everyone on Twitter (read: not everyone) is calling for Phil Spencer to resign. However, we go over what Phil has done and what has pushed Xbox and the gaming industry forward. It's not all doom and gloom and we still have trust in Phil. We couldn't imagine anyone better for the top dog spot. But we are realists here - Xbox needs to be more aggressive in everything its doing to really take the console fight to the others. Kyle's Game Thing is now called Kyle's Game of Keeping Lee Awake, or KGoKLA for short. Doesn't it just roll off the tongue? We love how super smooth it sounds, and how concise it is. It just tells everyone what they're in for. In KGoKLA, we're introduced to Weird West which has won the game of the week award. An RPG set in the wild west, but with a supernatural twist. Lee nominated this game and if you disagree, then you have to take it up with him! Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

The April Achievement Challenge is now finally wrapping up! You can all breathe a sigh of relief. After all the fun we had with Patrons and Discord Boosters getting their bonuses, we can now reveal the winners, the losers and how everyone did. Where did you end up on the leaderboard? Luckily, we have a website for that! Check it out and maybe next year we'll have even more contestants... But it means you guys should share us around and evangelize AAC for us. Join us as we celebrate the wins everyone had this past month. From losing 6KG thanks to the step challenge, to putting up 60,000 GamerScore in a month, everyone gave it their all, in one way or another. We just want to thank you guys for making it one of our best events ever! Now who's ready for #back2YourBacklog? If you're interested in trying out Ravenlock, Lee has you covered. He spent 2 hours in this game and has nothing but good things to say. Seems like we have an indie hit on our hands here, and surely has helped convince Kyle and Simone to try it out at some point. Lee has also tried Redfall and is left feeling unimpressed, then got distracted with Dead Island 2. And completely forgot about Dying Light. What an adventure! Simone is trying to get achievements in RED games, thanks to the TrueAchievement Targets this month. And thanks to a game crashing, the whole Cast has their own horror stories of losing progress thanks to game crashes. Sometimes, we're not quite in the future we want just yet. Join us in sharing the pain... Kyle is obsessed with Dyson Sphere Program, and urges everyone to play it. It's on PC Game Pass, so you have no excuse! If you like building factories, taking over planets, controlling the galaxy and automation, then this game is for you. Build the factory that will build the Dyson Sphere. Then move to the next solar system and do it all over again! Whats not to love? Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Instructions unclear. Insulted Lee immediately. Maybe it's not quite what he meant... The CMS has blocked the Microsoft Activision Blizzard merger! We did not see this coming. And on the basis that Microsoft may get too much market share of the "cloud gaming" market. Like what the heck? Everyone thinks this is the complete wrong move, and even Microsoft has published a very unveiled threat about pulling their entire business out of the UK. Could this see the Uk government reigning in the CMA? We wait and see. But whatever happens, we have at least another year of talking about it. Lee has a conspiracy theory. He seems to think that devs are training us to accept 4K30 as the default for this generation. How right is he? Do you think there's any weight to this theory? Or do you just think the devs aren't very good? All this in relation to Redfall releasing without a 60FPS option. And then Jedi Survivor came out, and it performs better in 30FPS mode... Kyle just thinks that games are all broken. Hogwarts comes to the Xbox One generation! Now everyone on old-gen can enjoy the wizarding world of Potter. And it comes with more content. Whats the extra content you ask? It's a song. A song is now in the game for everyone. And everyone is HYPED! We wish we could understand why, but no questions here. Xbox is geting a new home screen and it doesnt suck. It's even amazing that we have to make this point in 2023, but hey, progress! Have you gotten it yet? Have you seen it? What do you think? Do you like your pins as much as Kyle, or like Lee, are you unphased? Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

We're now onto Phase One of the April Achievement Challenge! Join us in going over the current winners, the current losers and Kyle. Unlike normal years, we have bonuses to give to the Patrons and Discord Server Boosters. Which means that we get to drag out this challenge for another week. Aren't you lucky! If you're confused at what this means, never fear - Simone is here to explain everything. And we have graphs! Check out our graphs! At least we're able to figure out who got the most GamerScore, the most steps and the highest ratio right now. Right before the entire leaderboard gets turned on its head. So, who did what, and where do you rank? If you're listening to this and think you can win the competition, then put your money where you mouth is - join our Discord server and jump into our monthly challenges. We run one every second month, and now that April Achievement Challenge is over, we're looking towards June's #Back2YourBacklog. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Lee is the news master. If you disagree with anything in this episode, make sure to tweet at him. Xbox Keystone has been shown off again! Spotted on Phil Spencer's shelf, the rumored, then canceled, then spoken about, then may be releasing, device is supposed to be the Xbox's version of the Chrome Cast. Made for XCloud (Xbox Cloud Gaming), this device is targeting a $99 price point. Allegedly. We are sure it's supposed to come out at some point. But it's not released yet. Maybe around E3 time? Ubisoft+ launched on Xbox. And it's more expensive than Game Pass Ultimate. Like what the heck Ubisoft? What are you even playing at? If you have had Xbox Live Gold in the last 10 years, you'll have all the Assassins Creed anyways... The only thing worth playing, in Kyle's opinion, is Anno 1800 Xbox Edition. But not for $20 a month! More people are leaving 343i. Could this be good news? Is Microsoft cleaning house? Or is Halo Infinite dead? We wait and see. All this and more on this episode of #NuNews. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Welcome to The Zoo. It's where we keep all our Patrons. We have an update on where the extra points go for the April Achievement Challenge. It will allow you to put your points into ratio, steps or ratio, and could put the entire competition on its head! Want to get more points? You'll have to be a Discord Server Booster or a Patron. Or both. If you do, you get double bonuses! In a change of gears, Kyle and Simone start Dying Light! What? Thats not a baby April Achievement Challenge game, we hear you say. No. No, it is not. But it's a great game, was on super special, and you should totally play it. If you disagree, just listen to Simone's review. It will sell you on this game. Can we convince Lee to avoid some baby games and join us? Lee's managed to get super confused with some controls. Right Button, plus Y, and you get healed? Like what even is this game? Have they never seen a human hand? Or is Lee just getting old? Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

This year's April Achievement Challenge has us all going over different strategies. Lee's strategy is to fix one thing and break another. Kyle is going for pure Gamer Score, ratio be dammed. Lee is going for ratio. And Simone is going for "not being last". All great goals! How will they fare in the end? And where will the other challengers come? Lee is mastering the art of drift in Forza Horizon 5 and proving to himself that he can do it. Kyle's got some baby games that make no sense. Creatures come out of the darkness and speak to you. Then you feed a fish to a cat. And harvest its blood. Seriously, you need a guide for this game... Simone is probably the only sensible one and playing Her Story. So, we have more good games than bad this April. At least for now. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Lee's about to spend the day inna a truck. And we couldn't be prouder. They grow up so fast. In this episode of #NuNews, we cover all the latest Xbox News. Some of the highlights are... EA Football Club, or EAFC, is the new FIFA. And FIFA themselves are not too pleased. They sound very jealous that EA is getting all this great PR and everyone is ignoring them. Meanwhile, EA is showing off their shiny new FC logo, and saying things like "the best football game ever" and "you won't even need to eat!". Well, not really, but you know they would be saying it if they could get away with it. No Man's Sky has gotten another massive update! Featuring new infected sentinels that look very scary, new ships, a new backpack, and a bunch of more new stuff, we try go over the entire change log, but it's just way too big. What a great job Hello Games! You guys have really outdone yourself. Is this enough to pull you back into No Man's Sky? Square Enix is skipping Xbox. Again. How much money has Sony thrown at SQE to pretend that Xbox doesn't exist this time? But we're simple creatures - if your game is on our platform, we play it. If it's not, then we have so many other games to play. And we're back on the Achievement chat. Would you like Xbox to bring out Achievement 2.0 if it meant that Achievements 1.0 were discontinued? Is Microsoft brave enough to leave the legacy behind? It's an interesting discussion, and we're eager to hear your feedback. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

We value your time, and so, in an effort to be mindful of that, we strip out all the fluff from the news. It's not lazy. It's efficient! We recorded this podcast on First Contact Day. Apparently, that is a thing that happens. And if you never heard of it, then you are in luck - Lee is here to explain it to us. There's a new Forza inspired controller! It comes with a little wheel that you can pretend to drive your pretend car around. And actually, it looks really good. This could be a game changer for those that aren't into the full steering wheel simulator scene. And you can even swap the button placements! Not a fan of the offset thumb sticks? Swap them out! Want four thumb sticks and no face buttons? Swap it out! The possibilities are endless. Vampire Survivors won the BAFTA Game of The Year award! Beating God of War and Elden Ring to take the award home. Well done to those guys on a job done well. And finally, some recognition for the amazing game it is. The Diablo IV Beta broke a lot of records. Bajillions of player deaths, hours played, demons slayed all add up to a very successful beta by the sounds of it. And the buzz around this game is tangible. Looks like Xbox has a future first party hit on their hands! And we finally have an option when we're looking at Storage Expansion Cards for the Xbox! Western Digital have released their own version and it's slightly cheaper than Seagate's one. Now we wait for the rest of the manufactures to release their version, and hopefully we'll be picking up two terabytes for $20! Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

It's only been one week, and Lee is already cheating! The April Achievement Challenge really does bring out the worst in us (Lee). Today we thank our fantastic patrons! And we gift them their free 1000GS to aid them in AAC'23, in addition to our undying love and adoration. If you're taking part, there is still time to sign up - it's only a dollar a month and it may mean the difference between embarrassment and winning... As it's April, we have many, many bad games. Kyle is back with Bullet Beat, but it's very unstable. Crashing here, crashing there, crashing everywhere... Have you noticed Bullet Beat being crazy or are you one of the lucky few? Lee has changed his strategy and has decided to cheat in The Sims. Or has he? That's up to you! Is downloading someone's saved game to fast-track achievement earning cheating, or is it taking advantage of the tools? You need to let us know before April is over so we can either dock his points, or all jump into The Sims and destroy his ratio... But to make up for it, he's gone into Forza Horizon 5 and dived straight into the rally expansion. There's some great ratio there! Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So it's up to you guys to help out. And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Let's get together and talk to people about stuff we know very little about. The Activision-Blizzard acquisition is still ongoing, and this week was very newsy. It's now escalated all the way to the US Congress, with politicians even calling the Japanese-US trade deal into dispute because of it. Real newspapers - like the Finacial Times - are even starting to cover it. With this step, it seems Sony's whining has turned the spotlight onto them. Australia is stealing New Zealand game devs. Ok, so that's a bit sensationalist. But it's really happening. A lot of Kiwi's are heading across the ditch as Australia is just proving to be a much better place for developing games. And it's happening across all industries. How will New Zealand compete when their neighbor offers a lot more lucrative options? Game completions are back as a talking point. How many people should play and complete a game? What is the general population that can play and finish these 80-hour monsters? Seems like it's a third of all gamers. Which is higher than we thought! These are just a few things we cover in this very informative episode of #NuNews! It's almost like we're doing a real news show. But with opinions. Our opinions. Which are the right opinions. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

The April Achievement Challenge is fast approaching! Are you ready? This episode, we go all over The April Achievement Challenge - the rules, the way it works, and every other thing you could ask for. Get those baby games ready. Lace up your shoes. And check out our dedicated AAC'23 page on our website! It's been a quiet week for gaming as we're preparing our bodies for really bad games. Kyle jumps into Naraka: Bladepoint and finds it's gotten hard again. What are those devs playing at? It's easy, then it's hard, then it's easy again... At least the happy noises of unlocking new hats is around to give us that dopamine hit. Simone is playing Yakuza: Like A Dragon and it seems as if this game should not be real. Fighting fat American tourists, having a butch guy arrive to help you beat up enemies, and more! But she's really enjoying it and actually caring about the story, so it must be good. Lee is playing some very interesting games for his reviews over at NetizeNZ. Theres a game with a boy and a mask and terrible controls. And it sounds like his #GameFace! stories may start to become even more professional from now. Watch out world! The XboxCast is about to become good! If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Simone is still sick. And Lee is bored of Simone being sick. We have an update! We're streaming the podcast on Kick! Hopefully we'll have more reach than Twitch, but it's up to you guys to help us out. Let us know where you want to see us. Or if you even want to watch us. And remember, we're trying hard to get our YouTube views up, so please keep watching our VODs! Lee had the review for Defend the Rook published! If you'd like to read it, then check out this link. If you'd like to listen instead, then you're very lucky to have this podcast in front of you. You're welcome. Kyle gets back into Halo and even streamed some. And then he forces his poor mother to play Vampire Survivors, just for the lols. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Change. Change is the only constant. And we changed it up to record #NuNews first this week! Since we're doing the news first this week, Lee ends up mightily confused. He gets a new job and suddenly he's swimming in computers... Just diving into an Olympic sized swimming pool filled with chunky, beige boxes. That's not painful at all! Sea of Thieves is celebrating 5 years! Five years since Lee and I killed ourselves laughing at the utter ridiculousness of being pirates. And there's still so much stuff being changed every update. The map is being updated as well - growing and changing to provide environmental storytelling. It is something we really appreciate about this game. Jedi Fallen Order is at its lowest price yet! $5 to jump in and get yourself prep'd for the new one. And it's even got a next-gen update, so there's no excuse to not play it. Hogwarts Legacy has hints that there's supposed to be some sort of companions around. But be real - escort quests are almost the worst types of quests in any game! Unless they managed to get it right, then it may be worth it? Twitch is losing employees, including its CEO. Is Amazon just cutting staff, or is this because Twitch is in trouble? What do you think? And we even have an update in the Activision Blizzard saga! All this and more in this week's episode of #NuNews. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Lee is the boss now? Another quiet week on the news front sees us spend an hour on the news. So, spoiler alert, this is not a short podcast. And Lee is feeling a little bit posher after spending all week in Hogwarts Legacy. How do you pronounce catacombs? Catacombs or catacombs? It turns out English can be tricky... At least to us. Achievements are back as a talking point. Is it time for an upgrade? Or are you happy with the current state? And if you did want to change it, how should it be changed? So many questions, and don't come to us for answers. Each of us thinks that achievements need to be revamped but we just can't agree on how. Luckily, we're not in charge, because decisions are hard. And speaking of achievements, theres a game that has come up that stacks achievements based on the language. We think thats a bit cheeky. Oh, and while we're here, don't forget that the April Achievement Challenge is coming very soon! Make sure you sign up, make sure you join the Discord, and make sure to do your country proud. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

According to Lee, Kyle sounds like a Muppet. We don't need you to all agree at once, but it is just something we thought you should know. News has happened! The charts are changing (kinda). Things are going up. And down. Even sideways! And the game that shall not be named is not in this week's charts. There is much rejoicing from the peanut gallery... The ABK acquisition is still providing endless entertainment with the EU tipped to approve the deal. All thanks to Microsoft inking the 10-year COD deal with Nintendo. That was a very smart move, if we do say so ourselves. Xbox got a new controller to celebrate! It's bright. It's green. And it's very, very green. In fact, its so green, it's a feature. And we even have new games on GamePass to discuss! Kyle's Game Thing is going through some rough times. You see, there's going to be 100+ new games coming to Xbox in the next 3 weeks. And we can't guarantee they'll all be good. So in an effort to keep Lee awake, Kyle introduces a new challenge - find the noteworthy, sleeper hit game out of this weeks' list. On a side note - we're trying to get our YouTube watch hours up. And you can help! Just put us in in the background and let it play. You don't even need to be in the same room! In fact, we recommend listening to us this way. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Yes, yes, we know. It's not quite April yet. But that hasn't stopped a lot of people asking about this year's April Achievement Challenge! Because of all the newbs joining us for 2023, and because its been a year since the last one, and because we have some new stuff to go over, we're jumping into the April Achievement Challenge hype early. Simone is kind enough to go over all the ins and outs of this year's second biggest event. The first one being that time Kyle got that haircut one time. As promised, here are all the links for The XboxCast's April Achievement Challenge 2023: The Event Calendar on Our Website The April Achievement Challenge Sign Up Form TrueAchievements (To make sure you have an account we can track) Our Discord so you can talk smack Apart from the AAC taking up all our brian space, it's been a very quiet week when it comes to games... Lee is stuck in Hogwarts Legacy and I doubt we'll see him on another game until this is done. Kyle jumps into Atomic Heart, and is still confused by American Football. And Simone has had too much going on with organizing the masses for AAC, that she has to delve into the archives of game stories... If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

It may be our Destiny to get back into Destiny 2... The new expansion for Destiny 2 looks amazing. A cyber city on Neptune that just watched the chaos unfold from afar is now opening their gates to the guardians. Which begs the question - where were they for the rest of all the action? The Outer Worlds is getting a big upgrade. Which is a new version. For the Series X and PS5. You have to pay for it, and it has a different achievement list, but that's the price you pay for prettiness. Will this be enough to pull you back in? Hogwarts Legacy is massive. It's bigger than you think! Generating over $850 Million in revenue, it's on its way to challenge Skyrim's billion-dollar record. Could this be the new Skyrim? For the sake of our charts, we hope so. And to top it off Elden Ring is getting an expansion! Even more death! Yay! If that's your thing of course. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

#FriendlyFeb has come to an end. As sad as we are to see it go, we're ready for #MurderMarch! We're still talking about how moist New Zealand is after Cyclone Gabriell, but lucky for us, Lee has power. And with this power, he's only managed to play one game! How very un-Lee-like! Kyle is experimenting with Ultimate Team in Madden '23. And has gotten himself super confused. How does this game even work? No one knows. But that doesn't stop him from loving the game! And we're even educational - uncovering the meaning of RAC. And bringing back so many fond memories for Lee - when he sat in London with only Chanel 4 for company in the wee hours of the morning. Simone is finding Frostpunk super easy, barely an inconvenience. Completely opposite to how Kyle found the game... Maybe he's not that great of a gamer. We'll never know though... Simone gives us some top tips of the week when it comes to this harsh city builder. And should Lee start Frostpunk? Let's all peer pressure him into playing it and seeing where on the ladder he falls. Will he send children to the coal mines? And speaking of Lee - he's been focusing on Harry Potter. Or rather Hogwarts Legacy. He speaks more Harry Potter words at the other two, which leads to some very blank stares. The stares don't come through in audio, but its a good excuse to check out our YouTube! Have you jumped into Hogwarts Legacy? What do you think of it? And what does your wizard look like? We're super eager to know! On a side note - we're trying to get our YouTube watch hours up. And you can help! Just put us in in the background and let it play. You don't even need to be in the same room! In fact, we recommend listening to us this way. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Earthquakes in New Zealand are just part of the weather! Lee claims there's not much news. Now where have we heard that before? Normally he says it right before a 3-hour podcast... We're back into the charts, and games are going up and down like they do. Could there be any surprises this week? Or is COD still number 1? You'll have to just listen to find out. City Skylines got a remastered version and a Series X update. Bringing 4K60 to the console and other exciting things that you want from your city builder. Could Xbox be forced to sell Call of Duty? If the ABK deal goes through, it could be a possibility. And it looks like the tide in the industry is turning against Sony. So we'll be very interested in the future of these franchises... Microsoft has agreed to bring COD to Nintendo day-and-date for the next 10 years should the deal pass, so thats a win in our books. With all the stuff going on, would you be interested in a roudup podcast? From the first anouncement to the latest news - we could sit down and go through it each step of the way. Only if you want it, of course... LG has a new TV thats wireless. Kinda. No wires to the TV apart from the power cable. But a really ugly box to plug everything into. So swings and roundabouts... And it joins a brand new Xbox controller - Stellar Shift. It looks super nice and shiny. But Lee maintains his is better. Typical. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Before we get into what games we're sprinkling on our breakfast, we have a very important announcement. Hawke's Bay (where we're based) was hit by a cyclone earlier this week. Power and fiber lines were cut, roads were washed away, massive flooding and a lot of devastation was left in its wake. If you're interested in seeing the fallout, check out this link. And if you feel like you want to help out with the relief efforts, feel free to donate here. We're not expecting you to, so don't feel bad if you can't. Now back to the games! #FriendlyFeb continues with Lee playing The Grand Tour, and when he's not under water, he's having a whale of a time. Yelling at the other Top Gear hosts, racing around, doing all the things that The Grand Tour does. Including lots of car things. Kyle is knee deep in The Witness, and supplementing the puzzels with Madden '23. From a peaceful puzzle game, to a peaceful NFL game. Kyle has some choice feedback for Madden as a new player. And if you want to join him and teach him how to play, that would be greatly appreciated. Simone is washing away the thoughts of #FriendlyFeb with Powerwash Simulator, and friend of the podcast - Chillidawgs - ended up cleaning the firestation without a ladder... Not to be outdone, Simone decided to clean everything with the smallest hose. Because why not! Jump in, wash the world and listen to this podcast. It will help you feel relaxed as, bro. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Our intro was written by ChatGPT. And our outro was too. The bots look like they've arrived What, oh what, are creatives to do? The bots are really coming for our jobs... But I think we have a little more time before it becomes a reality. So, tell us! What do you think? Do you think ChatGPT does a better job than we do? Would you want a podcast composed entirely by a bot? (The correct answer is no, of course.) What were the top 100 Xbox games for 2022? Luckily you asked, because we have the answer. And we don't think you're going to like it. Because Kyle did not like it at all. Can you guess the number one game? Are you like us and disagree with this list? There's new controllers - left and right, everywhere you look! This one is purple and that one has a screen on it. Oh my! Ubisoft+ is flinally headed to Xbox, at least according to a bunch of rumors. But is it going to mean that all the current Ubisoft games get pulled from GamePass, or will it be a value add like EA Play? We hope its the latter, as there are some amazing Ubisoft games we want to jump into. And we dont want to lose access to the games aready on GamePass. And to top it off, we have a story about ourselves! Or more like a story about Lee. From Lee. Seems he may just enjoy talking about himself. But hey, content is content, so we're not going to argue. And our very first change for Season 7 is that the Nu & Noteworthy game section is now called Kyle's Game Thing. Please all welcome Kyle's Game Thing as a segement to the NuNews format. Tell us if you like it, hate it, want it changed back to just happy that we're back to putting out podcasts. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter

Welcome to Season 7! Can you believe it? Because we can't. We have a lot of games to catch up on from our Christmas break and #FriendlyFeb, so what better way to start than to talk absolute nonsense. Starting with #FriendlyFeb we go over who is paying what and how a certain someone has already failed that challenge... We have some questions from the peanut gallery. I mean fans! We have some questions from the fans. If you think you can ask better questions, then jump into our #Discord and throw us a few curveballs. We love to answer anything you ever wondered, so keep them coming. If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. -- For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. -- Your hosts are: Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter