Episode 334 | "Xbox gains some XP"

After another solid week in video games, Jon, Nick and Jesse return to chat about all the latest news, games, and Nick's habitual cutscene skipping. Jump in for The DayOne Show Episode 334!

As always, we kick off the show by diving into what we've been playing. Gears of War: E-Day is a frequent topic of conversation with it's excellent Horde Siege mode, and the usual 'Insanity' campaign run through, though Nick is still taking it slow in his ongoing hunt for every collectible. Jesse has reviewed a number of titles releasing this week, from the horny horror of Hellraiser: Revival to the sumptuous expansion in Dragons Dogma 2: Dark Arisen.

This week has also seen a number of games release, including a couple for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. First there's Neon Abyss 2, which has launched everywhere in 1.0 form following a year or so in Early Access on PC. We also have Forever Ago, a new narrative focused game about love, loss and regret which Jon has been playing following an excellent review from Joe Cumbo on the site.

Despite all the great video games, there's also been plenty of industry goings-on to dive into, in what feels like a very Xbox-centric week. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma held a town hall at Xbox HQ and revealed that Gen-10 (Project Helix) will be a 'Family of Devices' with some being made by third party partners. Xbox also announced a new division - Xbox XP - which will focus on 4 verticals for Microsoft including a focus on film and TV entries in popular franchises.
There was some reporting around Xbox, streaming and GTA6 and crypto-scam leaker Cyberleek returned to threaten Rockstar with the release of the full game unless he gets money, or Rockstar makes a physical version. Oh, and Cyberpunk 2077 is getting a movie in partnership with Paramount and CDPR.

All this and more, including Nick defending his thoughts on videogame cutscenes in The DayOne Show Episode 334, available now on demand.