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Microsoft has provided a deeper explanation of its Optimized for Xbox Series X tag, explaining that games badged this way will have been specifically built for the next-gen console, with a variety of benefits.

In a new Xbox Wire blog post, it’s explained that games with the Optimized for Series X badge have to have been “either natively designed or fully rebuilt” for Xbox Series X. Brand new games built natively include Halo: Infinite and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, while enhanced games include Gears 5.

IGN’s Bo Moore spoke to one of Xbox Series X’s lead engineers, Jason Ronald about the definition of the term, which you can watch below:

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The post breaks down a series of benefits to Optimized games, comprising raytracing, a performance target of 60 frames per second at 4K resolution (rising to 120 FPS in some games), and ‘virtually eliminated’ loading times.

However, Jason Ronald makes clear that these are not a “features checklist” that must be met to earn an Optimized badge. “We don’t dictate game design,” he explained. The badge can be earned, “as long as they’re designing the game and building the game on the Xbox Series X development platform, and really tailoring it to take advantage of it.”

DiRT 5 will be one of the games able to take advantage of a 120 FPS frame rate, with David Springate from Codemasters making clear that it’s including an option to toggle between 60 and 120 frames per second (presumably with a loss of resolution at the higher rate).

Meanwhile, adventure game Call of the Sea will be able to support a 4K resolution as well as raytracing to help bring its island setting to life. As mentioned previously, the new console’s SSD and Velocity Architecture allow Gears 5 to load four times faster on Series X than on Xbox One.

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Full List of Optimized for Xbox Series X Games

Xbox has provided a full list of Optimized Series X games, which you can see below. However, this list is evolving due to the number of new games not yet announced:

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
• Bright Memory Infinite
• Call of the Sea
• Chivalry 2
• Chorus
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Destiny 2
• DiRT 5
• FIFA 21
• Gears 5
• Halo Infinite
• Hitman 3
• Madden NFL 21
• Marvel’s Avengers
• Outriders
• Scarlet Nexus
• Scorn
• Second Extinction
• The Ascent
• The Medium
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Last week, Xbox further explained the Smart Delivery program, which will allow for free upgrades between current-gen and next-gen games, including carrying your save data across consoles.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Jordan Peele’s revival of The Twilight Zone enters its second season today — that’s the signpost up ahead! — and we’ve got some creepy posters and a clip from the new batch of episodes.

The CBS All Access series features 10 new episodes in Season 2, with Peele once again hosting and executive-producing the latest take on Rod Serling’s classic show. The new episodes will star the likes of Morena Baccarin, Kylie Bunbury, Jenna Elfman, Sky Ferreira, Tavi Gevinson, Topher Grace, Tony Hale, Gillian Jacobs, David Krumholtz, Thomas Lennon, Sophia Macy, Natalie Martinez, Joel McHale, Chris Meloni, Gretchen Mol, Paula Newsome, Jurnee Smollett, Billy Porter, Jimmi Simpson, Daniel Sunjata, Damon Wayans Jr., and more.

First up, check out this clip from the episode “Meet in the Middle,” where Westworld’s Jimmi Simpson is having a rough time during a dinner date when a third party enters the scene… in his head.

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Definitely not how you’d want a first date to go.

Next up, we have 10 episode-specific posters based on the new season. Check them all out in this slideshow:

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The episode “A Human Face,” starring Christopher Meloni and Jenna Elfman, also got a special motion poster. You can take a look a that below, featuring the very human faces of, yes, Meloni and Elfman, and also a third human-ish face too…

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The Twilight Zone Season 2’s episodes are:

• “Among the Untrodden,” starring Sophia Macy
• “The Who of You,” starring Billy Porter
• “A Human Face,” starring Christopher Meloni and Jenna Elfman
• “Downtime,” starring Morena Baccarin
• “8,” starring Joel McHale
• “Meet in the Middle,” starring Jimmi Simpson
• “Try, Try,” starring Topher Grace and Kylie Bunbury
• “A Small Town,” starring Damon Wayans, Jr.
• “You Might Also Like,” starring Gretchen Mol
• “Ovation,” starring Thomas Lennon and Jurnee Smollett

From CBS: “Executive producers Jordan Peele and Simon Kinberg’s modern re-imagining of the classic brings the original series’ legacy of socially conscious storytelling to new audiences, exploring the human condition and holding a lens up to the culture of our times. The series’ second season will use introspection and the exploration of self to usher viewers into a familiar dimension.”

For more on the CBS All Access series, check out our ranking of The Twilight Zone Season 1’s episodes or get a first look at photos from the new season.

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After the last few good-but-not-great expansions for Borderlands 3, it brings me great joy to tell you that Bounty of Blood: A Fistful of Redemption is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favorite Borderlands 3 DLC so far. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this might be my favorite Borderlands-anything since Borderlands 2 way back in 2012. A novel approach to storytelling, likable characters, an interesting new world to explore, and of course gobs and gobs of great loot all come together to cross the border into greatness.

The name led me to believe this was going to be some sort of satirical take on Red Dead Redemption 2, but its awkward title and its western themes are about the only dots you could connect between the two. Instead, this DLC takes place on the planet Gehenna, a blend of the American Wild West and feudal Japan. The unusual “East meets West” setting leans much more heavily on Western side for its tropes, but the Japanese-inspired architecture integrates incredibly well and makes Bounty of Blood the best looking Borderlands 3 expansion to date.

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It’s kind of funny to think Borderlands, a game whose origins drew inspiration from the fusion of the American frontier and science-fiction futurism, would come full-circle like this. Somewhere along the way, Borderlands felt like it shifted away from being about lands… on the border… so it’s great to have that old familiar feel back in a way, even if it’s explicit rather than implicit.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=The%20narrator%20%E2%80%93%20a%20grizzled%20cowpoke%20called%20%22The%20Liar%22%20%E2%80%93%20works%20wonderfully.”]The story, at first blush, seems like a cliche: quite literally, there’s a new sheriff in town. Your main objective is to retrieve the Obsidian Stone, a monument of sorts to the days when Gehenna was used to create biological weapons. The main antagonists are the Devil Riders, an outlaw gang whose name is also literal: they ride Devils, a new dinosaur-like enemy type first teased at PAX East 2020. I love their design, even if they don’t do much that hasn’t already been done with other Borderlands enemies.

On top of the usual unfolding of the story, there’s a narrator guiding your progress the entire way, and the narrator – a grizzled cowpoke called “The Liar” – works wonderfully. His lines were something I didn’t even know I wanted until I had it, and now I can’t get enough. The Liar will occasionally drop hints, too – When I was battling a boss, he made reference to its weakpoint’s location more than once, and it dawned on me that, oh yeah, if I go where he’s guiding me to I’ll have a better chance to dole out some damage.

Less is More

Another reason the narrator and the main story for Bounty of Blood as a whole work is that they practice some rare restraint when it comes to humor. That’s not to say there aren’t any jokes – far from it. They’re here, and they definitely fit the overall Borderlands 3 tone. But as far as the main quest, Gearbox has pumped the brakes on the humor and gone for a much mellower tone. It’s more Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski and less Jeff Daniels in Dumb & Dumber.

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One of my complaints with Borderlands 3 was it had too many jokes. I know, it sounds ridiculous to say, but hear me out. Comedy is all about timing, yet Borderlands 3 jams jokes into every nook and cranny, whether the situation calls for them or not, almost reaching the point of self-parody. There’s no buildup – it’s just punchline after punchline after punchline with no time for thoughtful buildup. Bounty of Blood, on the other hand, rations out the humor, doling it out in delicious servings that are neither too big nor too small. This Goldilocks Zone of jokes makes the comedy so much more effective – more akin to the original Borderlands.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=This%20Goldilocks%20Zone%20of%20jokes%20makes%20the%20comedy%20so%20much%20more%20effective.”]With each story mission flowing so expertly into the next over about six hours, I didn’t want to stop playing. The pacing is wonderful with none of the unnecessary filler that annoyed me in the main game and some of the previous DLC. There is one minor scene where I had to do the classic Borderlands 3 “walk 20 steps to find a shelf with an item requested by a story character, grab the item, walk back and give it to the character so they’ll continue their expositional dialogue.” Other than that, the story keeps moving right along with an assist from The Liar’s dialogue, which pops in at just the right times to keep you from being pulled out of the story while being conservative enough not to feel like a nuisance.

The one letdown is that the sidequests I’ve taken on since beating the main story are more of the same. The loot is good, but the missions are fetchy and uninspired, in stark contrast to the fun flow of the story quest. Think of the coffee fetch-quest mission from the main game to get an idea of the side-mission structure. They’re funny, at least, which somewhat makes up for the monotony of fetching and placing an item over and over again. I particularly enjoyed the mission where I had to battle a character named Soapy Steve, for the writing rather than the mission structure.

Say, You Like Loot?

Levels in Bounty of Blood are huge and beg for exploration. I was really impressed by how massive and well-planned each map is, and appreciated how, in spite of their size, Bounty of Blood’s areas feel easy to navigate. I stuck mostly to the path at hand for the main story, but when I noticed a place with an unusually placed rockface or conveniently located broken staircase, my curiosity paid off by way of hidden treasures. Being rewarded with loot exactly where decades of gaming logic told me I’d find loot seems so obvious, but it never stops being great.

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Speaking of treasures, the loot in Bounty of Blood is plentiful. I managed to score orange-rarity loot drops well before the end of the story, and letting me use those fancy new toys for the final battle was a nice touch. I absolutely adore my Bloom Jakobs pistol: charging it up unleashes all six powerful shots in a rapid, bloody flurry, often resulting in instant death for whatever or whoever is on the receiving end. I also came across a ton of new decorations for my room back on Sanctuary 3, including one item used when the main quest is beaten, that then becomes decorative after use. It’s a nice little trophy for completing the main story. I don’t remember getting so many in the previous DLC, and as a sucker for arbitrary in-game cosmetic items I was delighted.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Once%20I%20completed%20the%20main%20mission%2C%20the%20payday%20was%20fantastic”]Once I completed the main mission, the payday was fantastic. Not only did the big baddie drop a hill of goodies after defeat, the immediate aftermath in the post-game introduced me to a cache of gear that nearly brought a tear to my eye. Right now, all my weapons slots are filled with incredible new orange-rarity weapons, along with an orange-rarity shield that makes me feel like a golden god, and I still have a bunch in my inventory waiting for me to experiment with them. Feels real good, is what I’m sayin.’

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Likewise, Boss fights in Bounty of Blood’s story are nicely paced and never feel overwhelming or beyond the realm of possibility to solo. There are a few fights, particularly the final boss, where it’s obvious the designers had co-op in mind (as they should!), but even then solo runs aren’t out of the question. I particularly appreciated the novel use of The Liar to gently nudge me in the right direction in one of the main fights. The narration didn’t beat me over the head, but it was enough to both help me while flowing seamlessly with the overall story.

I did venture off the beaten path a few times in search of hidden treasures, extending the playtime beyond a mere six hours. However, after beating the story, I’d still only explored 33% of what Bounty of Blood’s Gehanna has to offer, so there’s plenty more to do and see once the main story is done. That said, what I did explore of the post-story content hasn’t reached nearly the same heights as the main quest.

Tales of Arise, the next game in the long-running Tales series, has been delayed indefinitely. Bandai Namco explained the move, suggesting that it may be related to workflow changes due to the coronavirus.

Though the blog post from producer Yusuke Tomizawa doesn’t explicitly cite the pandemic as the reason for the delay, it goes straight from mentioning those development challenges into the studio needing more time to deliver on its vision. It says a new release date will be announced at a later time.

“While COVID-19 has affected some aspects of development, we’ve done our best to adapt to the situation and have implemented remote development capabilities for our team,” Tomizawa wrote. “However, we will need more time to achieve the quality and provide the gorgeous experience we envision for our players, and therefore we decided to delay the launch timing for Tales of Arise.”

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Gerard Butler has had to deal with a lot over the course of his movie career, including fighting the Persian army in 300, saving the President in Olympus Has Fallen, and stopping World War III in Hunter Killer. The upcoming disaster movie Greenland sees the actor try save his family while avoiding giant rocks falling from space. The new trailer for the film has now been released.

The Greenland trailer sets up the basic plot, in which scientists get predictions about an asteroid heading towards earth horribly wrong. Instead of breaking up and falling in the sea, city-levelling chunks of space rock are soon bombarding the planet. In the midst of the chaos, ordinary family guy John Garrity (Butler) must try to get his estranged wife and young son to Greenland, which is apparently safe from destruction. Problem is, everyone else has that plan too. Check the trailer out below:

Greenland also stars Morena Baccarin (Deadpool), Scott Glenn (Silence of the Lambs), Andrew B. Bachelor (The Babysitter), and Gary Weeks (Spider-Man: Homecoming). It’s helmed by Ric Roman Waugh, who previously directed Butler in last year’s action sequel Angel Has Fallen. It’s currently set to hit theaters on August 14.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is getting the first part of its free summer content update on July 3, including the ability to swim and hunt for new marine life.

Wave 1 of the Summer Update will let you dive into the ocean from any edge of your island, and let you swim around in search of new marine life that you can donate to museum curator Blathers. This includes star fish (or, sea stars), anemone, and garden eels, as seen in the trailer below. Blathers will have plenty of facts to tell you about your new finds, as well. As per usual, we don’t suggest bringing him a bug unless you want to scare him.

The update will also introduce the mermaid crafting set, which can be obtained through interactions with Pascal. You’ll be able to get new DIY recipes from Pascal–a red sea otter that would appear weekly in previous Animal Crossing entries–by trading scallops with him, but it’s unclear if he’ll be around as sparsely as Redd (who was introduced in an earlier update). There’s also a new encounter with Gulliver, although exactly what that results in isn’t made clear.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The first story DLC for Control, The Foundation, hit PC and PS4 in April. And there it stayed alone for a few months during the exclusivity period, but with that over you can now explore a new section of the Oldest House on Xbox One as well.

Developer Remedy noted the release on Twitter with an appropriately in-universe message style. The Board says there’s a Situation/Crisis/Uh-Oh that needs attending. The Foundation costs $15 individually or $25 as part of a season pass that will also include the second expansion, AWE.

AWE is said to be coming in late summer, and Remedy acknowledged “frustrations” with the Foundation exclusivity period in a note on Reddit. As a result, the AWE expansion will be released simultaneously on all platforms.

Continue Reading at GameSpot