The April Achievement Challenge has come to an end, and now it's time to declare our winners, losers and Lee.  And we even have a special guest. One who's not really a guest.    If you like stats, and nail-biting stories of will-they-won't-they, then this year's April Achievement Challenge has it all. Every day was a battle, with some contestants only entering halfway through and then blazing up the charts! Who took the winning spot? Who got the most Gamerscore? And most importantly, where did Kyle finish?    All your questions will be answered!    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

A weird week of news lies ahead. But what else do you expect when it's been contaminated by the Fallout?    Thats right - from Fallout in Excel to Fallout's next-gen update, this week is dominated by Fallout news. All thanks to the fact that the Fallout TV show was... good? Wait? Are TV Shows based on games allowed to be good these days? Someone tell Halo!    Xbox had an indie game show - and showed off a ton of new indies headed to your console. Google have decided to play nice and now allow you to use all the features of your Xbox game pad in Chrome when Cloud Gaming. And Major Nelson shares the cursed Achievement Unlocked sound that (thankfully) didn't make it into production.    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Oh, frabjous day! My Xbox podcast is obsessed with cheese!   Kyle is accused of being a Facebook fan. Lee wants to take away all of his tech. We're reading from wrong episode notes. And the answer to life is more KFC. Can you tell what kind of episode this is going to be?   Lee is on his way to 300K Gamer Score for April Achievement Challenge, and by jove, he just might make it! From Harold Halibut to Forza, he's developed a love for finishing games, and so tells us all about it. Kyle and Simone jumped into The Division 2, and got to World Tier 2! Only 6 years after release... And in this week's top tip, if you're playing Starfield on PC, you may want to verify that you have your premium content enabled.    Fallout is dominating everything at the moment thanks to the fantastic TV series. Speaking of, does anyone want to play Fallout 76? Just imagine what could have been if the Halo TV series was actually good. We may be living in a golden age of Halo. Ah, what it is to dream.    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Lee has found a love for finishing games.  All thanks to April Achievement Challenge!   April Achievement Challenge is heating up. Who's in the lead? Who has the most steps? And who will get themselves a commemorative coin this year? No one knows just yet! But all we do know is that Lee has discovered a love for finishing games. Who would have thought that his completion percentage would go up? Not us!    Ubisoft has managed to Ubisoft up again. At this stage, it's not that surprising... This time, they have actually uninstalled The Crew from people's consoles following the server closures. Now you won't even be able to play the game you purchased. Thanks Ubisoft!    Fallout has seen a resurgence of players as everyone is super hyped from the TV show. Imagine is the Halo TV show was actually good? We may be living in a golden age of Halo that rivals the 360 era. And speaking of Fallout - the next-gen update has a date and it actually coming out! A game form 2015 is about to be updated for modern hardware.    All this and more in this week's episode of The XboxCast's Regular Show.    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

It's been three weeks of constant cheese talk.  So, let's break the pattern by talking about a dog-napping!   April Achievement Challenge is here, and Lee is on the path to get 100k Gamer Score in one month. And he's doing it by playing really bad and baby games. That isn't t say there aren't some gems hidden in the slog. How are you going through April?    Hellblade II looks like it's going to be the new benchmark when it comes to graphics. With most of the media tentatively calling it a "banger", "a true next-gen showcase" and even "just what Xbox needs". Can you believe that even the Sony funded media are hyped for this game? And will it be so good that it breaks the Xbox Tax? Only time will tell...    Xbox is getting A.I. And before you get excited, this is only going to be a chat bot for logging support calls. While it could be amazing, it seems Xbox and Microsoft are limiting themselves in terms of how useful A.I. could be. Seems like Xbox One and Kinect really burnt Xbox in a bad way. All while Xbox is looking at their next-gen console, with Xbox setting up a team to make sure that all games being built are forward compatible. Could we be getting a new Xbox sooner rather than later? We can only hope!   If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Cheese! You're welcome.    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Brie first. Feta second.    NVidia has bought Xbox! While details are a bit sketchy at the moment in terms of if it's the brand or the whole division. While it makes sense from Microsoft's point of view to remove the gaming brand from its portfolio, we are interested to see where this takes the industry. And will this mean that that this will break the Xbox Tax?  And while we may be late - happy April Fools!    We have things to say about cheese! And we're looking for someone to make us a cheese faceoff - March Madness style, with brackets and everything. Are you the cheese hero we need? And if you haven't yet, make sure to listen to our Cheese Special! Where Kyle and Lee go off about cheese for 7 minutes.    April Achievement Challenge kicked off and we have a lot of updates to share with you. How will this competition change throughout the month? Lee is focusing on massive Gamer Score - hoping to get 100,000 GS in one month alone! Will his steps suffer? And introducing a new twist to this year's competition....    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Lee has a fascination with getting his news from articles.  No one reads articles anymore! It's all about the headlines.    Join us for the April Achievement Challenge! It's a new year, a new challenge, and even bigger and better competitions! Time to represent your country, get your game on, and win the month of April! Sign up now, join the Discord, and do it for your country. Keep in mind, Patrons and Discord boosters get bonus points... So, it's completely pay-to-win!   Could we be getting an Xbox Handheld? Rumors are spreading again about Xbox producing a Switch competitor! Would you buy one? And with a new Xbox dev kit certified in South Korea, could this be it, or is this the Xbox Series X Two 720?  Diablo IV is getting massive changes with Season 4, and Blizzard were kind enough to delay the next season until after April Achievement Challenge. Thanks guys! And speaking of getting massive updates, we can't leave out No Man's Sky - with their 23rd free expansion being released this week. The Hello Games team are knocking it out the park!    And where do you stad on ray-tracing? Are we spending too much effort on this or not enough? Lee and Kyle get technical, thanks to a new patent from Microsoft that promises better ray-tracing in both Windows and Xbox.    This week is a banger week for game releases! We have at least 4 good games that you should play. But one stands out - Stasis: Bone Totem. Seriously, check out this game. It looks very cool - and even Lee is impressed. That says something! And we also have Planet Zoo in case that's not really your jam...    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Plastic cheese is some of the best cheese!  This is a hill Kyle will die on.    Join us for the April Achievement Challenge! It's a new year, a new challenge, and even bigger and better competitions! Time to represent your country, get your game on, and win the month of April! Sign up now, join the Discord, and do it for your country. Keep in mind, Patrons and Discord boosters get bonus points... So, it's completely pay-to-win!   We are going to catch up on all the new games for the past two week. So prepare yourself for a list of all "must-plays" and get your wallet ready. Because this week is completely stacked.    If a game launches, but no one can play, did it really launch? Star Wars Battlefront Classic attempted to answer this question when only 192 people could play the game. And then using contents from mods without any credit. Star Wars takes the crown for worst launch in recent memory. Can it pull a No Man's Sky and come back from the dead? A few games are shutting down, including the inspiration behind our super semi-successful #GameFace! shows.    Yet again, we're moaning about a game to TV adaption. First Halo, now Fallout. It seems those that make these shows set out to destroy anything related to these games. Where do you stand? Do you think John Halo on TV is good? Are you going to watch the Fallout series? Or are you going to enjoy the fallout from yet another adaptation gone bad?    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Do you remember Skype?  Because Microsoft does. And they're still updating it!    We're deep into some tech talk this episode as we play around with a new way to record this podcast! We have gone from using Zoom to Discord and now even Microsoft Teams. Which one sounds best? We want to hear from you. Do we sound or look better? Do we sound the same? Please give us feedback!    April Achievement Challenge is back for 2024! Are you keen to join?  Sign up now, join the Discord, and play for your country!    The Xbox Partner Direct happened, and we decide to cover EVERYTHING! Be prepared to relive the entire showcase, in just about real time. Sea of Thieves is the top wish listed game on the PlayStation store - making it eligible for The Best Ongoing Game at the Game Awards now! Also, is this good or bad news for more Xbox games losing their exclusivity?    Our dear friend, and one of the OG supporters of the Podcast, Rebekah (Spirited Sojourn) - is recovering from a kidney and liver transplant. If you'd like to help, she has set up a GiveALittle page.    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

We are yet again asking Bioware to be sold to Xbox.  We deserve to get Anthem II!    Xbox admitting an ugly truth about Game Pass? How much more rage bait could we possibly put up with? Some games on Game Pass don't sell as well as expected after being added to Game Pass. What a twist!   Studios are going independent left and right! Embracer is spinning out Saber Interactive for $500 Million, Toys for Bob are leaving Xbox (previously Activision Blizzard) and EA is canceling games. Ok, so one of these things are not like the other. But EA will EA, so there's no surprises there. What is surprising is that Xbox retains the rights to all the Toys for Bob IP. That means Spiro and Crash remain as Xbox mascots!    Moon Studios are releasing a new game! But it's not Ori. It's more of a dark souls cross Diablo. And it looks amazing. Start getting hyped!    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Pounds? Euros?  They're the same thing, right?    Kyle and Lee get stuck talking about A.I. Almost as if they are a bunch of nerds... Can you tell we're amazed with ChatGPT? And with Microsoft shoving this A.I. all over Windows and Office and Azure, will we ever see this tech come to Xbox? Or are we wanting to keep the A.I. out of our games?   Friendly Feb has come to an end, and we have a bunch of game recommendations for you. So, if you didn't take part this year, but want to next year, you have a bunch of options. Now there is no excuse! Challenge yourself to avoid the death and destruction for February and spread the digital love.    What do you think of the Xbox games going to PlayStation? Now that we know what games are going cross platform, how do you feel? Has your faith in Xbox been shaken? Kyle still thinks this is a mistake, due to the generic gamer only hearing "Xbox games go to PlayStation". If you have thoughts, drop into our Discord and tell us what you think!    Has your wish list disappeared on Xbox? Are you the type to wish list 300+ games? If you were affected, Xbox has rolled out a fix and you should have your list back! And there was much rejoicing, with all three people who wish list the entire store.  And to finish us off, an all-white Series X Digital Edition has been rumored.... Is this supposed to go up against the PlayStation Pro?    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Everything you need to know about #75Hard. Or at least everything about drinking almost 4 liters of water a day. Including all the toilet breaks... We promise we're an Xbox podcast!    The charts are back to normal as Palworld slowly drops off. Now we wait for another chart disruptor to be released... And we keep control with a bunch of new controller releases, including the Retro Fighters controller for the OG Xbox. Thats right, for all 20 people who still have an original Xbox, you can now get a modern Series X like controller for it. How exciting!    If you're an Xbox Insider, and play on PC, you want to check out the Xbox app. Kyle gives a great review over on his X (formally Twitter). Check it out, and let's give Microsoft more feedback about it. Because together, we'll make it better than Steam!    Skull & Bones is a real game. Or at least it's out now. And we compare it to Black Flag - a game form 11 years ago. Can you guess which is the better game? We'll give you a hint - it's Black Flag by miles. Seriously, this is an embarrassment to Ubisoft. How it ever got released is beyond us...    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

After all the rumors, can we rest easy?  Or are we still at Panic Station Red?    We're joined today by the one, the only - Shane Bailey! And boy, is he needed, as we take apart everything to do with the Xbox Business Update. From the podcast itself, to the interviews with The Verge and Windows Central, we (almost) dissect every word from the CEO of Microsoft Gaming himself.    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

It's half past the hour of fun!    Rumors and rumors of rumors have the Xbox community melting down. From Sea of Thieves going to PlayStation, to Xbox going all in on Third Party, it seems like Xbox is preparing to change the entire game. Could we see Starfield on PlayStation? Who knows. We have to wait for next week to see what Phil says. But while weeks have passed where these rumors have escalated, Xbox has remained suspiciously silent... We try to break it down and pepper it full of our own opinions of course! What do you think?    Amid all of this, Rockband gets a new controller! In 2024! Who would have thought? Apparently, EA has only stopped supporting Rockband with its last DLC song pack. Diablo's Season 3 celebrates Lunar New Year with some great XP and gold bonuses and even Star Wars Outlaws gets a release date leak... Seems like the first week of Friendly Feb is full of controversy and exciting news.    If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Welcome to Season 8!  We're happy to have you here.   Because its "New Year, Same Us", we've decided to re-introduce ourselves to the world, for all the new listeners who've joined us recently. If you know and love us already, then let us know what we've missed out!    February is Friendly Feb! This is your excuse to play a game that doesn't hurt a digital fly. So, violence is right out. Shooting things is not hip this month. Beating people up does not make you lit. This month, love slaps, being nice is bussin and having friends is great, no cap, for real, for real. What will you be playing this month?    Xbox had a Developer Direct, showing off a lot of new games which managed to suck at least some of the hype out of Kyle. Ubisoft is closing servers, while pretending Skull & Bones is a real game that exists. Sea of Thieves is going from strength to strength with Season 11. Oh, and Palworld has knocked Fortnight off the top of the charts! We have much rejoicing!   If you want to support us, please share the podcast on social media. If you want to get access to our special Discord room, have your name read out on the podcast, and get to vote in Patreon Picks, then support us on Patreon.    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

It's time to play the music It's time to light the lights It's time to hand out awards On the Game Awards tonight   It's time to put on makeup It's time to dress up right It's time to raise the curtain    On the most sensational inspirational celebrational XboxCastational Game Awards tonight     Joining us is a very special guest to help hand out our awards - Keo Live @ Home from the Hall of Gamer's Podcast! He joins us to celebrate the year that was - from personal achievements and stats to all the stats you could ever want from The XboxCast!    And of course, we have our world-famous Game Awards to hand out! Some very controversial picks in this amazing year of gaming will have you disagreeing with almost everyone at some point. But hopefully we inspire to find your next favorite game for next year...    To all our Patrons - thank you for keeping the lights on this year. You helped us keep going as a podcast and even helped get Lee an early Christmas present. Not once, but twice!    And to everyone who listens, follows, shares and takes part in our little community - thank you for an amazing year. We are humbled and honored that you choose to spend your time with us, and we couldn't be prouder. You are all wonderful and we're thankful for every one of you.    The XboxCast, signing off for 2023. We'll see you all in 2024!  (If you're missing us, you're more than welcome to jump into our Discord...)    -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

We're here to keep you regular. With your daily dose of secondhand cringe!    The (unofficial) Game Awards happened! And there wasn't much fanfare, because it's now become a giant advert. However, we were still treated some juicy announcements, along with those pesky games that win some awards. So, what better way to celebrate than to go over every announcement, in detail, almost as it happened! If you feel yourself age during this episode, you're not alone.    Lee went on some dates! In a game. And made us all suffer from some serious secondhand cringe as he makes almost all the wrong choices in Motesolo: No Girlfriend Since Birth. Are you ready to get embarrassed on his behalf? Because Kyle was ready to hide under the podcasting desk while Lee described his very awkward encounters...    Starfield is getting an update, Activision Blizzard games are coming to the cloud and Skull & Bones might even be a real game! All this and more in this week's episode of The Regular Show!    Our game award voting is now live, and you get to have your say! Because we're the only awards show you should be listening to. So, hop on over to our fantastic voting form and nominate your Games of 2023. Our Game of the Year show will be live streamed on Wednesday, and we even have a very special guest! Get voting to have your say and join us live as we celebrate the only games that matter - the ones we played!    To all our dedicated fans - thank you for helping The XboxCast grow. Please continue to rate, share, and interact with us on the socials. We appreciate every one of you.   -- For previous episodes, our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

Apparently, q-tips are not supposed to clean your ears. Thats our Top Tip of the Week!   Lee is stuck in Diablo IV but we're in no danger of becoming a Diablo IV podcast! Kyle is sailing away in FAR: Changing Tides, because it seems he is now the new gamer player. Oh how the turn tables.    Season 10 is here for Sea of Thieves and comes with guilds and private servers! This is exciting as you can now sail the seas without being hunted down by 10 year olds. But how does progression work? Are we limited? Rare have been pretty light on details.  No More Robots, the makers of SpiritTea, have shared exactly how good Game Pass is for the industry. And he even shares some exciting stats about how good it is.    Baldur's Gate 3 shares stats as well, and it turns out that people have played about 81,000 years of the game! Thats slightly insane. And only 400 people have completed Honour Mode, with 150,000 people starting it. The biggest game of the year for sure!  And what the heck are hall effect thumb sticks?? We break this down for you, so you're not as confused as we were. You're welcome.    Our game award voting is now live, and you get to have your say! Because we're the only awards show you should be listening to. So, hop on over to our fantastic voting form and nominate your Games of 2023.    To all our dedicated fans - thank you for helping The XboxCast grow. Please continue to rate, share, and interact with us on the socials. We appreciate every one of you.   -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐

We have received a photo of our biggest fan!  But it's not a big fan. It's just a small fan that's been enlarged!    The Golden Joystick reveals their winners for this year's Game Awards and all we can say is thank goodness there remains some sanity in these award shows. If you're unsure what this means, then you clearly haven't listened to last weeks' episode. There's a bunch of games who totally deserve the win, and we offer our sincerest congratulations!    Warner Bros has seen the light! Wonder Woman will not be a live service game, so we can all breathe easier. It will have a beginning, a middle and an end! Almost like they understand that people enjoy finishing the games they play. Especially when there's news of server closures. Twelve EA games are going to be put out to pasture as the last remaining laptop running these servers gets unplugged at the end of the year.    And if you're interested in Dune: Spice Wars, well Kyle has the low down for you. While Lee is stuck playing Diablo, Diablo and more Diablo...     Kyle is growing an epic goatee for Movember! And you can help donate if that's your thing. If you want to throw a few dollars to a good cause, check out this link. If you have no idea what Movemeber is, then check out the official website.    To all our dedicated fans - thank you for helping The XboxCast grow. Please continue to rate, share, and interact with us on the socials. We appreciate every one of you.   -- For previous episodes, all our socials, community events, and more, visit ⭐THE XBOXCAST OFFICIAL WEBSITE ⭐