Project Helix Xbox Consoles Could Reportedly Cost Between $1,200 And $1,800 Without Subsidies

That threat seemingly helped lead to the current situation with the Xbox team “now largely controlling the direction of the operating system for the project, Fortune writes, though Sharma said the two groups are still working closely together. Fortune also reports that Microsoft has pressured the hardware team to move up the timelines for Project Helix hardware “by at least several months,” in part by using AI tools where applicable. The profile also cites “people familiar with the strategy” in reporting that Xbox Game Pass will soon shift to a heavily tiered “a la carte” structure that lets subscribers pick and choose “add-ons for console-only games, cloud gaming, and multiplayer.” That would be an interesting shift from the current Game Pass plans, which all include some level of cloud-based gaming, console exclusives, and console multiplayer even for players who don’t make use of them.

With an unmanageably colossal heap of demos on offer, a massive number of which look to be filled with AI-generated garbage, the current Steam Next Fest is a serious bummer. How on earth is any adult with limited free time supposed to muck through the stables of slop to find something worthwhile? Increasingly, people have been creating ad hoc slop-free recommendation lists on social media in addition to sharing browser plugins and other tools that people can use to filter out games that have a genAI disclosure. But even with tools to separate the good game wheat from the slop chaff, that’s still a lot of games to sift through, so I’m gonna throw my own recommendation onto the pile with the only demo I’ve made time for this Next Fest: Fallbearers. I found the game via Bluesky, wooed to its Steam page by the game’s trailer alone. Imagine a game that combines Bennet Foddy’s track-and-field simulator QWOP with the “Coffin Flop” bit from Tim Robinson’s HBO sketch show I Think You Should Leave—that’s Fallbearers. In it, you—by yourself or you with a friend—control two Victorian-era pallbearers as they try to transport the dearly departed from the hearse to the grave.

When the battlefield gets too crowded, sometimes the only answer is to blow the whole thing up In Magic: The Gathering, board wipes (otherwise known as "sweepers") serve as the ultimate reset button. Whether you’re in a pinch with no creatures while your opponents have full armies, or you’re looking to slow the game down by ridding everyone of lands, these are the types of spells designed to clear multiple cards from the battlefield in a single shot. These kinds of big plays have been a pillar of Magic strategy since the game’s debut in 1993, when Alpha introduced Wrath of God and set the standard for mass destruction. Control and midrange decks rely heavily on these cards to erase an opponent's early momentum, using one card from your hand to level an entire battlefield of threats.

The wonderful thing about video games is that they can take something that is, quite frankly, terrible, and turn it into an experience where you can't help but think "just five more minutes. " Incremental games often have that effect, and Selkie's Salvage&Co. is no different in that regard, it's just the funny thing is that it is essentially a game about taking your rubbish out. That is bastardising it. The setting for the world is one where the entire planet is flooded, and you, a robot created by an anthropomorphic rat girl (the titular Selkie) who I can already predict salacious fan art of, have to clean up a whole bunch of trash from it by fishing it out. This starts slow of course, all you have is you, your fishing rod, and a magnetic arm that can't carry all that much. The more trash you collect and feed into a grinder, the more you can steadily increase your capabilities.

Ari Notis is deputy editor of games at Polygon, where he oversees the gaming section. Previously, he was Polygon’s guides editor. Prior to joining Polygon, he was a reporter at Kotaku, the popular gaming site, and a senior editor at the lifestyle publication Best Life. He also served in various editorial capacities at various Hearst publications, including Esquire, Veranda, and Metropolitan Home. Ari is one of the people who still play Halo Infinite on a weekly basis. There are dozens of them! Even first-person shooters can't avoid the scourge

It appears that Rockstar may be preparing to sell beer brands from GTA 6 in real life. As spotted by iGrandTheftAuto, labels for three GTA-related beer brands have been approved by the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The labels include brands that have been featured in previous GTA titles, such as Patriot Beer and Pißwasser (commonly known as Pisswasser). There's also a new brand known as No Mames Vice City, which features a little dog wearing sunglasses and a Vice City chain on the label. These are being produced by a Florida brewery known as Tripping Animals Brewing. For alcohol afficianados, No Mames Vice City lager will have a 6% ABV, while the other two will be 4.2% ABV, which is identical to Bud Light's ABV. With all of that said, we have no idea exactly when or where these beverages will be sold. They may be exclusive to bars in and around Miami, as Rockstar Games has completely taken over the city with GTA 6 ads. Citizens have spotted various in-universe ads for various GTA brands around the area, and there's also a giant Vice City blimp flying over Florida.