I’ll be honest, this one slipped under my radar. I didn’t even realize it had been released nearly two weeks ago, but it seems the community has taken on the mantle of responsibility for Halo lately in more ways than one.

First, there’s Project Reclaimer for Halo 3, which is everything Halo 3 on PC should have been. It features full custom server browsers, mod support, and a massive expansion to the sandbox with up to 128 players in a single match.

Not only that, but in Campaign Evolved, while it was reported that the remnants of Halo Studios are working to bring Theater and Firefight to the game in December, some community members have already taken it upon themselves to start testing Firefight within the game, to varying success, mind you.

Now onto the main attraction, Mjolnir Core, a community effort to bring multiplayer to Halo: Campaign Evolved. I must say, so far it’s pretty impressive. The project supports 19 maps, including classics like Blood Gulch, Battle Creek, and Hang ‘Em High. The mod also supports up to 16 players, pushing past the initial four-player limit it had at the start of development.

The mod itself is in alpha, but those working on it have put together a pretty hefty amount of documentation for those who wish to help and get involved. From what I can tell, the mod works pretty effortlessly.

You get the launcher, install multiplayer, and you’re ready to go. That said, I don't believe there’s any public game browser in the game yet, so you’ll need to invite friends through your fireteam to play together.

Seeing the community put this much effort in really pains me. Halo: Campaign Evolved needed some sort of multiplayer content at release, even if it were just Firefight. And whilst projects like this are great, they’ll likely sadly remain rather niche, as people have already moved on to other games like Gears of War: E-Day, which actually outperformed Halo on launch.

Regardless, I can’t stress enough how cool this is and how I hope the team behind it continues their hard work. So let me know your thoughts: is this cool, too little too late, or do you have any other thoughts? Drop them in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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I’ve sat here for 10 minutes now, staring at my PC, because I really just don’t know what to say about how this is even possible, but here goes. Yes, PS5 emulation is now working on the Xbox Series X via Xbox’s Developer Mode as a UWP app.

The emulator in question is KytyPS5, which has been ported by @maccosmo to Xbox. If you’ve been keeping up with the emulator on X (formerly Twitter), it's probably the main PS5 emulator making the most progress right now. Most notably, the emulator can play Demon’s Souls and Astro Bot at over 60 FPS, while Wolverine is bootable but runs at a much lower frame rate that isn’t really playable (these figures are for the PC version of the emulator, not the Xbox version).

You’re probably wondering what performance is like playing a PS5 game on an Xbox Series X, and well, it’s not great. Astro Bot sits at around 10 FPS, but there’s a lot going on under the hood. The Xbox fork of KytyPS5 includes a Direct3D 12 renderer that uses Mesa’s spirv_to_dxil to translate shaders, meaning there's a lot of code translation happening to make this work.

It’s a work in progress, but it’s not crazy to imagine Astro Bot eventually reaching a level where you can play it comfortably. For myself, I’ve made it known that I have no interest in PS5 hardware. That’s just my preference.

But Astro Bot has always been one of the few PS5 exclusives I thought genuinely looked good. If I thought I could purchase a copy of the game and play it on my Series X somehow, I think I probably would.

As I said, I’m just bewildered here. But the progress that’s been made, whether forced through thanks to AI, is cool to see. I mean, thanks to PS5 jailbreaking, we’ve already got Xbox Cloud Gaming on PS5, and there’s even one developer attempting to get Windows running on PS5, with some success too, as Hades is currently playable.

Let me know your thoughts. Is this something you’d try, or do you think this is all getting out of hand and regulators need to step in? Leave a comment below, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Gears of War: E-Day is seemingly still full of surprises, and according to the latest Xbox US store data, the game is flying off (digital) shelves. It has secured the number one spot, overtaking titles like Minecraft Dungeons 2 and the critically acclaimed Star Wars: Galactic Racer.

Gears of War: E-Day reaching the top spot in the US isn’t the only news, too. The game also topped the UK store and many others across the globe, which is great to see.

I will say, I am a bit surprised, obviously given the games on Game Pass, that does come with a certain, how would you say, online drama? Especially as it's often thought Xbox gamers don’t buy games, which of course has been debunked time and time again, but I digress.

We also know, thanks to reporting from TrueAchievements, that Gears of War: E-Day is 2026’s second-biggest Xbox launch. It surpassed Halo: Campaign Evolved by 8.6% but fell just shy of Forza Horizon 6, managing only 67.3% of Forza’s player count at launch, which of course was a massive success on both Xbox and PC.

I’m impressed with how well Gears of War: E-Day has done, and it's honestly well deserved. Having beaten the game myself, it has given me the Gears itch, and I am probably going to run through Gears 2, 3, 4, and 5 on Insane, just like I have done with the first game and E-Day.

Hopefully, everyone has enjoyed E-Day as much as I have, and I hope the game continues to perform well. There was, of course, reporting from Alinea Analytics, which estimated 230,000 copies sold across both Steam and Xbox. Steam accounted for 168,000 of those, with Xbox (console and PC) selling 62,000.

Alinea also estimated that 1.7 million people played the game via Game Pass, and of that 1.7 million, 722,000 paid for the five-day early access upgrade. Alinea also reported that the game grossed $37 million in revenue, and they called for the game to be released on PlayStation 5 too to help recoup development costs.

I won’t dive into that drama, though. Don't worry. For now, let me know your thoughts on E-Day, how it's performed, whether you're impressed, or if you expected it to do better, in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Following Xbox's recent push to simplify development for its platform, we have a new engine joining the party with official hardware support: Defold. For those unfamiliar, Defold is a game engine originally created by King, the studio behind Candy Crush, which is now owned by Microsoft.

Naturally, given its origins, the engine was heavily utilized for mobile titles like Blossom Blast Saga. However, it has since evolved into a solid option for indie developers, with existing support for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation consoles.

While Defold might not be the first engine that comes to mind for most people, I’m a strong believer that making development easier across whatever engines people choose is a fantastic move. In this case, it seems Defold has managed to make Xbox support as straightforward as possible.

According to its creators, Xbox support is now available in Defold 1.14.0, provided free of charge to approved developers. This completes a major expansion of the engine’s console capabilities, meaning it now supports all three major platforms.

Developers must first be approved for Xbox console development through programs like ID@Xbox before they can access the specific resources. Once approved, they can request access to the Xbox extension, which includes platform integrations such as user management and game saves, along with the necessary tools and workflows for building and testing Xbox games.

The engine itself has been around since 2008, so it’s been a long wait for official Xbox support. When asked why it took so long by @Danielon5538 on X (formerly Twitter), Defold responded:

“We (at Defold Foundation) developed Xbox support alongside our ongoing work on Defold, using the Foundation's own savings. Defold is free and all its console ports are completely free for approved developers too. We sustain development through partnerships and community donations. It took some time and sweat, but we're happy to finally make it available!”

You can also help fund Defold, which helps pay developers, and support core services, donations can be made here.

Hopefully, this is a sign of more things to come to make development easier for Xbox. While I can’t speak to what other engines might be lacking in the Xbox development space, lowering barriers in any way possible is one of Xbox’s best chances of getting as many developers on board with their platform as possible.

Let me know in the comments if you use Defold, if you’re glad it now has Xbox support, or if you just heard of the engine today. And, as always, don’t forget to take part in our poll!

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It’s easy to forget that the PS5 has any true exclusives left, given how few remain. Xbox, though, can hardly boast of a strong exclusive library either, having only recently started to reclaim that territory. Yet an extremely ambitious developer has managed to get Windows 11 running on the PS5 using a project called Mihawk OS.

This is just another wild turn for the PS5 modding scene since the console was jailbroken, but what developer Mihawk is actually doing is genuinely impressive. They are building a translation layer that will allow both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows games to run directly on a jailbroken PS5.

While development of Mihawk OS isn’t open source like many other mods currently releasing, Mihawk says progress is going well, and just to instill some confidence in what Mihawk is capable of, they also got RetroArch running, which allows a whole host of emulators to work on the console. That said, we don’t know much yet, particularly regarding how games actually perform. However, we have seemingly seen HADES run within Windows on PS5.

How other games perform is still unknown, but it's impressive regardless. Who knows, instead of relying on Xbox Cloud Gaming via a new homebrew app, you might eventually be able to play titles like Gears of War: E-Day natively.

Of course, that assumes you’re comfortable with the cost of jailbreaking your console, which naturally limits your access to PlayStation servers and could even put your account at risk.

I’ve covered other impressive work in the PS5 jailbreak scene, including Xbox 360 and OG Xbox emulation running directly on the PS5. It’s honestly getting a little out of control. If Windows games can run natively on the PS5, I think that would push me over the edge to buy one.

It would seemingly make for a solid living room console, effectively becoming what I wanted the Steam Machine to be, but at a heavily discounted price if I went the second-hand route.

Just a rather quick asterisk, too: Jailbreaking isn't something I necessarily recommend, but it also isn't illegal, and I do recommend you at least purchase the games you are either going to play or emulate on a jailbroken PS5.

If you’re as baffled and impressed by these latest advancements as I am, let me know in the comments!

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For the second time today, I’m writing about PlayStation, and I have a feeling this won’t be the last time I discuss Sony’s console. The jailbreaking scene is offering a whole slew of reasons to revisit what I once considered Sony’s worst console to date. Thanks to community efforts, it’s quickly becoming a machine I might actually pick up secondhand.

If you’ve been out of the loop and aren’t sure what I’m talking about, the PlayStation 5 has been jailbroken. This allows users to install custom software on the platform, ranging from Xbox Cloud Gaming, which lets you play the latest Xbox exclusive, Gears of War: E-Day, on a PS5, to Xbox 360 and Original Xbox emulation.

Honestly, I’ve started to not get shocked by what people are doing with their jailbroken PS5s. We’ve even got a mod that allows you to insert PS2 games into your PS5 and play them directly on the console, with work currently underway to get PS3 games working as well.

It feels like the Wild West out there for PlayStation right now, and Xbox emulation is just the tip of the iceberg. Currently, fans can play titles like Gears of War 2 and 3, with the list of compatible games expanding as more work is done. The software itself is actually just a port of the existing Xenia emulator for PC, which allows 360 games to run on Windows through emulation.

As for Original Xbox games, it’s a similar story. XPSEmu can let PlayStation fans experience Halo 2 and even Forza. It’s honestly extremely impressive what modders are doing here. Whether these mods are being rushed through thanks to recent advancements in AI, I really don’t know. We’re seeing some genuinely crazy stuff happen with games lately, from Minecraft in Elden Ring to all sorts of whacky mods.

I’ll be honest, I do have concerns over where all this eventually leads, especially with people reportedly making open-source versions of Microsoft Office and Adobe’s suite of apps, all made thanks to AI. But for now, seeing the PS5 do all these things is impressive at the very least.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Do you find this cool, or does it worry you? And don’t forget to take part in our poll!

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Recently, it was revealed that fans can expect FSR4 on the likes of the Xbox Ally X, something my colleague Jez Corden covered. But now, thanks to god-knows-what-kind-of wizardry, a new mod developed by lonewolf0622 has managed to get Nvidia’s own DLSS 3.7 working on AMD’s hardware, including the ROG Ally X and Steam Deck.

For those unfamiliar with what DLSS and FSR do, they basically let hardware render games at lower resolutions to improve performance, then upscale that image without tanking visual quality. Think of it as a game rendering at 720p and upscaling to 1080p for a much sharper image.

The mod, called HelixSR, is quite clever in how it achieves this. Rather than requiring NVIDIA hardware, it effectively tricks the hardware in believing it's AMD's FSR 3.1, allowing games to use DLSS's image reconstruction instead.

In testing from various creators, we actually know whether the mod is good or not. And early testing says, yes, it is. Over on ResetEra, users have been comparing HelixSR against FSR 4. One test showed that upscaling at 1080p took around 7 milliseconds with HelixSR, compared to 11 milliseconds using FSR 4.

It's not an insignificant difference, particularly for handhelds where performance is already rather limited. Of course, there's more to upscaling than raw performance, and whether the resulting image looks better is up for debate.

YouTuber BlackHeart909 has also been experimenting with the mod, reportedly achieving between 35 and 40 FPS in CONTROL Resonant on the ROG Ally X at 1080p. Dropping the output to 720p apparently allowed the game to maintain a locked 60 FPS, which is rather impressive.

There are some catches, though. HelixSR currently only works with DirectX 12 games, and those without FSR 3.1 support need an additional tool called OptiScaler.

Still, I find this whole thing fascinating. NVIDIA has spent years making DLSS a major selling point for its graphics cards, and now we're seeing people bring the technology to AMD-powered handhelds, which is just something I never thought we'd see.

Do let me know your thoughts on this in the comments. Shoutout to wccftech for originally reporting on this; it’s a great mod and hopefully can be more refined in the future.

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The PlayStation 5 is currently going through a bit of a nightmare, at least for Sony. For fans, however, they’re in for quite the treat.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t particularly like PlayStation. The PS5 is the first Sony console I’ve actively avoided. But there’s been a lot happening in the jailbreak scene that actually makes it seem like it could be the best console to buy, at least second-hand anyway.

For those unfamiliar with what I’m referring to, the PlayStation 5 has basically been cracked open. Users can now install custom software and do as they please, though that comes at the cost of accessing PlayStation’s servers for games on the console.

It’s not the only thing developing in the PlayStation scene, either. The console is also being emulated on PC lately, much to Sony’s dismay, I imagine. But let’s get back on topic. Users who jailbreak their PS5 can now play Xbox games with the console, thanks to a new app that’s appeared on GitHub: PSBox Cloud Gaming. It natively runs Xbox’s cloud gaming service on the PlayStation 5.

A year or so ago, this wouldn’t have really mattered much. Xbox was in full swing with its multiplatform strategy. But given recent changes, specifically with the return of Xbox exclusives like Gears of War: E-Day never releasing on PlayStation, fans of the franchise who are willing to jailbreak their console can experience what I’d personally describe as a fantastic game. I finished it myself on Insane difficulty last week with a friend, and enjoyed every second.

Of course, cloud gaming isn’t as good as actually playing the game on the console itself. But I’d say it’s a pretty good compromise, and something I’ve started to come around to lately. Granted, Xbox just threw a massive spanner in the works by egregiously limiting cloud gaming hours to pitiful numbers. But if you’re willing to put up with that, you can play through E-Day on Insane and get all the collectibles in about 20 hours or so. At least that’s what it took me.

Let me know your thoughts. Would you jailbreak a PS5, or do you think this is all far too silly? At the very least, it’s interesting to see. So do be sure to leave a comment and take part in our poll!

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Gears of War: E-Day modding is here, and as a Halo fan, I’m quite pleased with what’s already on display. It hasn’t even been a week since the game’s full release, but creator @WH40kWorkshop, who is known for mods for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, has turned their eyes to Gears of War. Their first mod, Incursion (PC Only), replaces the character models for the main cast.

Of course, if you’re a Warhammer fan, you can swap Marcus, Dom, Lucas, and Mags for Space Marine characters. But what excites me more is that you can replace the entire cast with the Noble Team from Halo: Reach. The only exception is Noble 6, who is instead replaced by Master Chief.

It doesn’t stop at Warhammer and Halo, either. You can also become a Stormtrooper from Star Wars, or what seems to be (I haven't tested it myself just yet) any other character from E-Day’s campaign, including Tai, and more.

For now, other mods don’t do much. You can find improvements to the HUDs and several mods that claim to improve performance, though I haven’t tested those either.

If you want to install the mod, follow these instructions:

1. Download the mod from here on Nexus Mods.
2. Unzip the mod to a safe location.
3. Navigate to Gears of War: E-Day’s installation directory (this will vary depending on whether you’re using Steam or Xbox PC).
4. Copy the contents of the mod folder directly into the game’s installation directory and click Merge if prompted.
5. The mod should work when you next load up the game.

Gears of War: E-Day is a great game. I actually managed to finish it on Insane with a friend and even got all the collectibles, which just shows how much I enjoyed it. For little mods like this, I think they’re great, and I do hope we get official skins at some point in the future. Whilst mods like this aren't essential, it’s just good fun to see Master Chief killing hordes of Locust.

In any case, let me know your thoughts on E-Day and this mod in the comments, and don’t forget to take part in our poll!

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Gears of War: E-Day is out, and I’m personally having a fun time with it. I’ve been running through the campaign on Insane with a friend, and while it hasn’t been a struggle, collecting everything has genuinely been fun.

So much fun, in fact, that I’d be disappointed if the next Gears of War was years away. Luckily, we might not have to wait that long. In a recent interview with the BBC, The Coalition studio head Mike Crump discussed what it means for the series to be exclusive to Xbox, whilst also hinting that the development timeline could be shorter going forward.

“The next game will not take nearly as long,” Crump said, noting that E-Day provides a “great foundation” for future entries.

There have, of course, been concerns floating around online about whether Gears will perform at the level it needs to, with some even speculating about potential layoffs at the studio.

Critics have questioned the exclusivity strategy given the game’s long development cycle and estimated budget, arguing that keeping it away from other platforms could make it harder to recoup those costs. However, contrary to that, I believe titles like this are essential in proving that Xbox deserves to stay around.

That said, current numbers seem to be good. According to Circana, E-Day is off to a strong start on console. That’s without even mentioning its solid performance on Steam, where it peaked at 30,000 concurrent players.

I’m currently enjoying the game through Game Pass on my PC, but it’s definitely a title worth purchasing. As I typically do when I enjoy a game on Game Pass, I’ll probably pick it up at some point. Who knows, I might even grab the physical version thanks to Xbox’s generous disc-to-digital program.

As for Crump’s remarks on exclusivity, he emphasized the franchise’s long history with the console. “Gears has been an exclusive franchise to Xbox for 20 years now. It's sort of entwined deeply with the brand... and we’re proud of that,” he said. He added that the series gives people a “reason to be in the Xbox ecosystem.”

It’s great to see one Xbox flagship franchise deliver this year. Yes, I am a longtime Halo fan, and I can’t resist taking a slight jab at a franchise I’ve seen butchered over the years, but at least Gears of War fans have been treated well, and I really do hope the next installment is no more than three years away at most.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Are you enjoying E-Day, or are you finding it a slog?

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Halo 3, my favorite entry in the franchise, just keeps getting better thanks to Project Reclaimer. This new PC-specific launcher runs Halo 3 directly off your installation of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, so yes, you do need to own the base game.

That said, what the community is building here is genuinely impressive and honestly a little bewildering. Players are setting up matches with up to 128 people, including 64-on-64 team battles, all with full mod support. The catch, sadly, is that this is all PC-only, which is a real shame.

The entire project is so ambitious that I barely feel like I’ve scratched the surface. You can play the Halo 3 campaign in co-op with up to 16 players, and I appreciate that you can bring your own customized Spartan or Elite too. What I love most, though, is that they’ve restored Halo 3’s original menu and even managed to cram in a server browser, so you can play to your heart’s content.

I love stuff like this. I really do. It’s just frustrating that so much of the labor of love for Halo seems to come from the community rather than the people who were in charge of the franchise.

Beyond the campaign, four-player split-screen is back. Unlike the original Xbox 360 release, though, those four players aren’t stuck on a local network. You can take your entire local group online and jump into community servers together.

Forge has also been completely blown open. Creators can now use objects from across different maps, remove invisible boundaries, mess around with custom lighting, and even place Halo 3’s AI directly into their creations. Spartans, Elites, Marines, Grunts, Jackals, Brutes, Hunters, and more can all be thrown into maps and made to fight players or each other.

Dedicated servers are here as well, running on Windows or Linux, alongside playlists where players can vote on what map and mode comes next. Now I had to sit down when I heard that mods can even be downloaded automatically when you join a server, rather than requiring everyone to go hunting around online for the exact same files beforehand! Something that takes me back to my Garry's Mod days.

It basically feels like someone looked at everything Halo 3 could have become on PC and just decided to build it themselves. Project Reclaimer isn’t simply increasing the player count; it’s effectively building an entire community multiplayer platform around a game that originally released almost two decades ago.

I highly recommend you check the project out and let me know what you think. It really reminds me of ElDewrito, if anyone remembers that. It was a port of Halo Online a while back, before Halo officially launched on PC.

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Splitting up with your partner usually leaves both parties on rather poor terms, or is that just me? In the case of Undead Labs, the developer behind State of Decay, that seemingly isn’t the case.

In a recent interview with Game File, Undead Labs Studio Head Philip Holt was asked why the studio is still sticking with Game Pass, and here’s what he said:

Shocking many I'm sure, as again another developer comes out in defence of Game Pass, but Holt does go on, stating:

"Even today, we have several thousand people coming through the door every day. The benefit of State of Decay is that it’s a very retentive game. Last time I looked, something like half of our monthly active users have been in the game for close to two years, and a quarter for more than five. A lot of players from Game Pass come in and they’re like ‘this isn’t for me’ and leave. There is a high churn rate. But of the players we capture, we capture for a long time. And then they become franchise fans and consume other titles, and they’re excited for State of Decay 3. It’s really helped us achieve scale."

He continues, lamenting Game Passes reach:

"How do we make the most of that for State of Decay 3? Our biggest investment by far is the four-player co-op shared world, so a large audience that comes through Game Pass becomes a huge benefit. They play State of Decay 3, it is a great experience with friends, they invite their friends, and many of them will be on other platforms. It is a vector of growth for us."

The full interview dives into a plethora of additional details, including how the studio is working with three co-development teams to keep the project on track, so I do suggest you dive in and read it yourselves. But it’s great for us Xbox fans to see Holt take this position and recognize the value of a service like Game Pass despite the split with Xbox.

Thankfully, State of Decay 3 is full steam ahead for next year. As quite the zombie fanatic, I’m excited and hopeful that the game does well. It remains the one game I wish Xbox hadn’t chucked out amid their restructuring, but alas.

Do let me know your thoughts on Holt’s comments down below!

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Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm that more is coming to make development on the platform easier. Despite already rolling out numerous positive changes for developers, Van Vliet states that the company is actively working to remove further friction.

“We’ve heard the feedback from developers: bringing a game to XBOX should be easier than it is today. We agree, and we’re working to make it better. We care deeply about ID@XBOX and the developers who build for XBOX. We’re starting with some of the areas we know can create unnecessary friction, including our concept and publishing processes, and simplifying them so developers can spend less time navigating process and more time bringing great games to players. More soon.”

It’s great to see Xbox address developers directly here and whilst what exactly will change is kept rather vague for now, and doesn’t give much away, outside of simplifying concept and publishing processes, it's still nice to see acknowledged, and publicly no less.

Not long ago, I was getting quite giddy over changes made to PlayFab, specifically with the introduction of Foundation Mode. This gives developers access to backend services for free, including infrastructure for multiplayer lobbies and other essential features.

At the same time, Microsoft expressed confidence that developers could now get working within the Xbox development environment in about 30 minutes, making the onboarding process significantly simpler than before.

For folks like me, and you, it won’t really mean much if you just play games. But for developers, Xbox is making serious strides to lower as many barriers as possible. Eventually, maybe skipping Xbox won’t be an option anymore? Who knows?

Hopefully, we hear more soon about the specific changes Van Vliet is referring to. Despite not being all too technically inclined with game development, I do enjoy dabbling here and there, and as an Xbox fan, it’s exciting that more and more developers might see the platform as more viable in the future.

With that said, let me know if things like this excite you or not by commenting down below, and be sure to take part in our poll.

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Color me surprised. Somehow, Halo: Campaign Evolved survived?

Yes, according to leaker @Mr_Rebs_, who detailed what’s left of Halo Studios in his latest video. He also broke down plans for a final content update for Campaign Evolved and clarified the team’s connection, or rather lack thereof, with Activision. As we all know, Activision is now in control of Halo, so let’s first jump into what we know about the remainder of Halo Studios.

To many’s surprise, and perhaps chagrin, Pierre Hintze has remained. He is a figure of controversy within the studio, but he continues to head a 30-person team. Their priorities are set to be handling Halo Fest and shipping a content update for Campaign Evolved.

Now, what could possibly be coming to Campaign Evolved? Well, if true, it’s quite impressive. At least, I think so anyway. According to Rebs, Halo Studios is planning to add both Firefight and Theater mode to the game. These are features I expressed disappointment over not being available at launch.

For those unfamiliar, Firefight is Halo’s PvE mode featuring wave-based gameplay, whilst Theater mode lets players replay their matches, record clips, and use free-cam within their played matches. It was a great tool for the likes of Machinima, so shout-out to anyone who remembers those.

Rebs also mentions that some things may be cut due to the recent layoffs, so don’t hold out hope just yet on all of these making it into the game.

His source also expects Halo Studios to disappear completely in the future. The remaining team has no contact with Activision or the future of Halo, a fact I’m personally pleased with. I haven’t been best pleased with the state of Halo these past 15 years.

It’s weird, and almost bittersweet, how things have panned out. I don’t know if Activision is the right choice for Halo. I do have some thoughts on it, and I am more positive about the prospects of another Halo game from Activision than I am about another Halo Studios effort. But it’ll be years before we see the fruits of Activision’s labor.

Frankly, unless the game is a massive hit, I’d be surprised if anyone really comes back to Halo. Then again, I know I’ll somehow find a way to muster up the courage to potentially be disappointed for the hundredth time.

Let me know your thoughts on a potential last update for Campaign Evolved, whether you’re happy nobody at Halo Studios is jumping ship to Activision, or anything else down below in the comments.

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The death of 343 Industries and Halo Studios, whether you view it as the right call or not, has brought an enormous amount of drama with it. We aren't going to dive into that mess today. Instead, I want to highlight something that has been somewhat buried in the noise: a community-driven effort has ported the original Halo: Combat Evolved to a host of devices.

We are talking about your web browser, Android, Linux, and yes, even the PS4 and PS5. All of these ports support full multiplayer and campaign modes. For the PlayStation crowd, you will of course need a jailbroken device, which has become a relatively straightforward process.

Beyond the basic ports, we are seeing other Halo mods emerge, a new Halo 3 port on PC, and new modes for Halo: CE that support up to 128 players. Is this effectively making Halo x Battlefield a reality? Maybe.

Of course, these projects are largely driven by AI-powered tools, or at least most are anyway. With Claude recently releasing Opus 5.5, the barrier to entry for this kind of work has dropped significantly, so make of that what you will.

Regarding Halo, Combat Evolved was also recently decompiled, again thanks to AI, which is also likely why we're seeing a surge in mods for the game.

The scope is genuinely wild. We even have Halo: CE running on a Nintendo 3DS, and unrelated to Halo, there's even a project showcasing Minecraft inside Elden Ring. Yes, that exists, and it is pretty crazy to see.

Personally, I am somewhat indifferent about these things. I find it rather cool that the community is pushing the boundaries of what is possible, but I do worry about the long-term implications of AI being able to transform games to this extent. It raises some interesting questions about what it might mean for multiplayer titles in the future, especially if AI can start reverse engineering games.

With all that said, do let me know your thoughts in the comments. Whether you agree with where I sit on this matter or disagree, both opinions are welcome!

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Xbox’s disc-to-digital feature has been in testing for insiders for about a month now, and the momentum is picking up. Ubisoft joined the program not long ago, and SEGA has now seemingly followed suit.

Beyond the new publisher participation, there have been some tweaks to how the feature actually works. So, let’s go over what’s changed.

If you’ve been living under a rock and aren’t sure what this fabled feature is, I’ll quickly explain. Disc-to-digital allows you to insert participating discs into your Xbox One or Series X console to obtain a digital license. Once you have that license, you can keep playing the game without the disc even being inserted. It also unlocks access to the game on other platforms if it’s a Play Anywhere title, as well as through cloud gaming.

With that out of the way, how exactly is the experience changing? The digital entitlement is now granted automatically when you insert a disc, rather than requiring a manual step from the menu. Additionally, the service will only provide a full-screen explanation on your first digital entitlement. For any subsequent games, you’ll just see a simple toast notification.

Perhaps the biggest update, however, is that fans have started noticing select SEGA games allowing digital entitlement. Titles like Persona 5 Royal are already in. If all SEGA games work out similarly, that would add another 44 games to the program.

For those keeping count, or if you follow @XCTdotLIVE on X (formerly Twitter), that brings the current disc-to-digital count to 1,585 games, with 205 games currently not in the service. Considering the feature is still in testing, I’m personally expecting that figure to grow, especially as more publishers get on board.

Currently, publishers who aren’t participating include Bandai Namco and Square Enix. While I can’t speak much for Bandai Namco, I do presume that, given Square’s fondness for Xbox as of late, we’ll at the very least see them get on board at some stage.

Xbox’s disc-to-digital feature continues to impress. At least, I’m impressed anyway; in fact, it even got me buying physical games again. It’s a bit of a shame to think we could have had such a forward-thinking feature as far back as the Xbox One, but I digress.

Let me know your thoughts on disc-to-digital, what games you want to see enter the service that haven’t already, and anything else that comes to mind in the comments.

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Heroes of the Storm fans, rejoice: Blizzard has not forgotten you. Yes, shocking many, I’m sure. Blizzard has just released a new blog post announcing that Xal’atath is joining Heroes of the Storm alongside a major new update.

That’s right: for the first time in almost six years, the game is receiving a brand-new hero, making her the 91st to join the Nexus.

To celebrate the launch, fans can earn exclusive Twitch drops starting today, September 28, at 9:00 am PT, through October 5 at 11:59 pm PT. Rewards scale with watch time, ranging from 1,000 gold for an hour to Epic and Legendary loot chests, and even an Epic Deadly Chaos Wolf at the eight-hour mark.

Now, my personal knowledge of Heroes of the Storm is limited, but the blog post does detail the new hero. Xal’atath is a ranged assassin, and her ability kit is as follows:

• Trait - Void Volley. Basic attacks build Soul Essence; at full Essence, unleash a barrage of void orbs at a target area while moving freely.
• Q - Shadow Mark. Cast a large Void Orb that marks enemy Heroes hit by its inner radius; the Dark Heart moves to the impact point and detonates on marked enemy Heroes.
• W - Dark Heart Ritual. Summon the Dark Heart talisman to pulse void energy at nearby enemies, then follow and detonate on any Shadow Marked Hero.
• E - Void Step. Blink between three points in a triangular pattern, gaining attack damage at each stop; can be cancelled early to reposition or escape.
• Heroic - Void Eruption. Channel a growing void orb, launch it to blind enemies and dominate space, then detonate in a large area - cast on the Dark Heart for an instant, fully empowered eruption.
• Heroic - Void Convergence. Summon a portal that spawns relentless void minions to overwhelm nearby enemies, replacing fallen minions until the portal ends or is destroyed.

Xal’atath is a paid hero, available for $7.99 right now. For those who prefer to use gold, Blizzard aims to make her available for gold later this year, tentatively set for the end of November.

Outside of this new hero, Blizzard details a bunch of other stuff in the blog post, which you should check out, including a teaser that more might be to come... Fans of Heroes of the Storm seemingly have a lot to be excited about, and I for one hope the game can stick it to other MOBAs.

Do let me know your thoughts in the comments, whether you’re excited, not excited, or somewhere in between. And with that, do be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Winhanced is a launcher that essentially replaces Xbox Mode on your Windows handheld. Instead of simply fullscreening the Xbox app, Winhanced gives you a fully featured user interface that connects to your Xbox, Steam, GOG, and Epic libraries, alongside support for emulators, other apps, and much more.

I've talked quite extensively about Winhanced here on Windows Central, using the launcher for quite some time on my own handhelds, and seen it in both its current, near-complete state and its not-so-complete state a few months back.

The launcher is nearing version 1.0, which I’m sure I’ll cover when it releases, as the sneak peek I’ve seen — and will discuss closer to release — is extremely exciting. However, version 0.9.9.9 is available today and boasts new features and improvements. These are just a few that caught my attention:

• Friend cards, letting you message your friends, see what they’re doing, view their profiles, and more. (Public)
• Better integration with Discord, Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. (Public)
• PC streaming through the new Winhanced Streaming Companion. (Public)
• Install Windows updates without leaving Winhanced. (Public)
• Improved driver detection for updating your handheld’s drivers through Winhanced. (Public)
• Game theme music, including the option to choose your own tracks. (Public)
• Improved Epic and GOG downloads, including resumable downloads. (Public)
• Create your own collections for easier access to different groups of games. (Early Access)
• A Discord server browser that can be navigated with a controller. (Early Access)

Those are just a handful of the additions, and 0.9.9.9 also includes substantial behind-the-scenes work to improve how Winhanced works in general, making it a pretty seamless experience. If you're interested, I urge you to join the Winhanced Discord and check out the full release notes because there’s simply far too much for me to reasonably cram into one overextended post without getting into the weeds.

I’ve moaned since the day I got my Xbox Ally X about just how unpolished and, frankly, disappointing the user experience was. Winhanced has genuinely changed that for me, though, and made me much more willing to pick up my Xbox Ally X and actually play games on it, which isn’t something I can say for the other launchers I’ve tried.

If you’ve tried Winhanced before and found it too buggy, I’d suggest giving it another shot now. A big part of 0.9.9.9 focused on squashing hardware-related bugs and improving consistency across supported handhelds, with the developer describing this release's device consistency as finally at a "1.0 level."

If Winhanced isn’t your thing, though, that’s okay too. Xbox Mode is improving, but I'll still use this instead. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or just drop a vote on the poll!

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I’m sure it needs no recap at this point, but Halo Studios is no more. Well, mostly no more, as the studio has reportedly been left with just 20 or so employees, while Activision has now taken on the mantle of responsibility for Halo.

Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, @Mr_Rebs_, a prominent leaker within the Halo community, has spoken out about what he alleges Halo Studios had planned for the franchise’s future. Despite my grievances with Halo Studios and its poor management of the franchise, one of these plans actually doesn’t sound too bad.

However, given the letdown of Campaign Evolved, I personally have very little faith that Halo Studios could have seen these ideas through. So, without further ado, let’s dive into it.

According to Rebs, Halo Studios was reportedly working on Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes, as well as Halo 7. However, these projects were apparently still years away.

More interesting to me, though, is the fourth project: a standalone spin-off campaign based on Halo: First Strike, a genuinely great novel by Eric Nylund.

First Strike, for those unaware, fills in the gaps between Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, which genuinely would have been great to see adapted into a game. Apparently, the project was targeting a release next year, although development was still in its early stages.

Given the state Campaign Evolved was in, I really doubt we would have seen it within that timeframe, especially considering the reported plans to include around five campaign missions alongside a Firefight mode.

The Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes, though, were almost a given and something we’ve reported on before, with Halo 2 even being teased at the end of Campaign Evolved.

Halo 7 was actually in the conceptual stages, with a concept for the game apparently presented to Matt Booty and other Xbox executives shortly before the recent changes at Halo Studios. According to Rebs, the plan was for Halo 7 to launch with Campaign, PvP, PvE, and Forge from day one.

Of the remaining staff at Halo Studios, Pierre Hintze (Studio Head) does remain, a figure of controversy within the community and according to Rebs, Pierre still has a plan, Rebs states:

If this is the case, I do hope Pierre is unsuccessful in these endeavors; the last thing Halo needs right now is AI slop.

As for the future, there are still a lot of unknowns, and I imagine it will be that way for a while; however, one rumor floating around suggests a reboot of sorts might be on the cards now that the IP is under Activision.

I’m personally happy with the changes being made to Halo. While I do have my reservations regarding Activision, there’s no doubt it has the infrastructure to support an IP as big as Halo.

And while my long-dreamed-of wish to see Halo’s books adapted into games is probably dead for the foreseeable future, I’d still much prefer a future where Halo Studios is no longer making Halo. Because yes, things really were that bad.

If you feel differently about everything, do let me know in the comments. I’ll be sure to respond, and as always, don’t forget to take part in our poll!

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I know, I know. It’s a bold statement, and before you rush to the comments, let me explain myself. You’ve likely all heard the news by now. Halo Studios may be whittled down to as few as 20 employees, with the franchise hoisted under the Activision umbrella and a new team created to take over the mantle of responsibility. It is genuinely devastating that well over 200 people were impacted by this move and are now out of work.

Despite how painful it has been to be a Halo fan over the past 15 years, we should still show compassion and kindness to those impacted by these decisions because, at the end of the day, we’re all human. "Genuinely devastating" is also how I’d describe Halo itself, at least in its current state.

It’s no secret that 343 Industries, and later Halo Studios, struggled to capture what made Halo truly fantastic, with each game suffering from glaring launch issues or missing features. Despite this, I find it a little unfair for 343i/Halo Studios to shoulder all the blame. I imagine Microsoft itself played a heavy role in how poorly the franchise was handled and mismanaged, even going as far back as the Bungie days.

Can it really get any worse?

This begs the question of whether Activision is actually the right choice here. If we look at Call of Duty, it’s fair to be concerned that Halo won’t be treated much better there either. However, I believe the franchise is at such an unbelievable low point that Activision is a better bet for Halo’s future than another game developed under Halo Studios, and I will explain why.

We know Halo Studios relied heavily on contract work to finish Halo: Campaign Evolved, if you could even call it finished. Due to this outsourcing, I'd argue that Halo: Campaign Evolved is among the worst ways to experience the first Halo game, second only to Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

Like Campaign Evolved, the Anniversary edition takes creative liberties that I believe ruin the experience for returning fans and do the original a disservice for first-time Halo players.

Don’t get me wrong, though, Campaign Evolved isn’t awful. It still tells the same story as the original, so it isn’t all bad, and I enjoyed the updated visuals and even some of the changes to levels, but that’s mostly where my positives end.

Campaign Evolved suffers from worse cutscenes, awkward pacing, poorly directed voice-overs, and an experience that feels like it was worked on by 2,000 people who barely communicated with one another. That said, I’d still give the campaign itself a solid 7/10 because, despite my problems with it, I had fun.

Ironically, it feels as though the Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST crossover did more for Halo than a remake of the original game. If you’re at a point where crossovers in other games based on titles that predate your studio are better received than your actual games, then something clearly needs to change.

The prequel missions killed any hope I had

Halo Studios developed three new missions that take place before the events of Halo: Campaign Evolved. However, in almost every way possible, they fail to deliver anything meaningful to Halo’s lore. Instead, they wasted what should have been an opportunity for Halo Studios to show that it understood Halo and could carry the franchise forward.

What we got instead turned into an experience I can only describe as possibly the worst story told within a Halo game, right up there next to Halo 5. Allow me to paint a better picture of what we could have had.

Instead of Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson meandering around a Covenant ship, imagine three missions spliced throughout the campaign following Thel 'Vadam, the Arbiter, as he desperately tries and ultimately fails to stop Master Chief from destroying Halo.

Not only would that have given us a far more interesting perspective on the events of the first game, but it could have perfectly led into Halo 2. Instead, we got a barely memorable experience that feels like a huge missed opportunity.

That brings me back around to why I believe Activision is a better option than what we were currently looking at for Halo’s future. The franchise is at a point where, despite enjoying Halo since 2001, I would now rather see the publisher responsible for Call of Duty make a Halo game.

I genuinely don’t see how things could get much worse than they already are.

Yes, I am aware Call of Duty’s battle passes are awful, and skill-based matchmaking is also awful. But I will also remind people that Halo Infinite required you to pay $10 to color your Spartan white and already has skill-based matchmaking as strict as Call of Duty, except with a player base not even a fraction of the size.

Why Activision might actually make sense

Seeing the word Activision rightfully invokes a sense of doom. However, the company has also consistently managed to ship enormous Call of Duty games on an annual basis, with the franchise regularly sitting among the best-selling games each year.

Despite yearly Call of Duty releases becoming stale, it’s fair to say that Activision operates a well-oiled machine with seemingly no signs of letting up. Unlike 343i/Halo Studios, which often struggled to get games out of the door, Activision has repeatedly demonstrated that it can coordinate enormous titles across multiple studios and actually ship them.

We’re talking about an operation capable of juggling huge campaigns, multiplayer, progression systems, live-service content, PC support, console support, backend infrastructure, and multiple studios all working alongside one another.

Somehow, it still gets a Call of Duty game out of the door every single year. Whether every single one of those games is good is another question entirely. Again, there’s no denying that Activision knows how to organize and ship enormous FPS projects.

That’s the biggest thing that gives me hope here, especially when Halo has repeatedly struggled to simply have everything ready at launch. Halo Infinite launched without campaign co-op or Forge; Halo 5 also shipped without Forge, and even Halo: The Master Chief Collection famously launched in an absolutely terrible state.

So, having a company that has consistently managed projects of this scale does at least sound appealing on paper. It’s also important not to get caught up in the fact that it’s Activision.

They are reportedly creating a completely new team to head up a Halo project, and I’m hoping we see some old, familiar faces join on board, with the likes of Joe Staten and, of course, Marcus Lehto, who has recently spoken about how he’d love to return to Halo, even posting numerous polls asking fans what they’d like to see from the franchise moving forward.

That new team is probably what gives me the most hope, as it clearly won’t just be Treyarch or Sledgehammer being told to make Halo, or Infinity Ward being pulled away from Call of Duty. Microsoft is effectively building a new Halo team under Activision, which creates an opportunity to bring in people specifically because they want to work on Halo.

A completely new team also means completely new leadership and, hopefully, a clearer creative direction from the very beginning. Activision’s existing technology, production pipelines, QA teams, and general infrastructure could still sit behind that new team without necessarily dictating what Halo itself has to become.

That’s really the important distinction here because I don’t want Call of Duty wearing a Halo skin. What I want is Halo being given access to the kind of development structure that has allowed Call of Duty to consistently ship enormous games year after year, while still retaining what actually makes Halo, well, Halo.

Halo doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel or itself

This really brings me to what I think Halo actually needs moving forward. At this point, I don’t think the franchise needs yet another grand reinvention, although I wouldn’t necessarily be against them rebooting things and picking the story back up after Halo 3.

Halo 4 tried to take the story in a completely different direction, Halo 5 then shifted things again, and Halo Infinite was supposed to become a platform for Halo for years to come. Then, 343 Industries became Halo Studios with the promise that things would change (Spoiler: they didn't). At some point, you really do just need somebody to make a complete Halo game.

Give me a campaign with scoring and timing, split-screen, campaign co-op, Forge, Firefight, Big Team Battle, social modes, custom games, theater, a proper progression system, and a multiplayer suite that actually feels complete when I boot the game up on day one. These shouldn’t feel like ambitious requests either because, for a franchise like Halo, a lot of these things were once simply expected as far back as 2010.

More than anything, I’d also like to see some consistency with the story again. Halo has spent far too long introducing new ideas, setting up villains, establishing plot threads, and then seemingly deciding by the next game that it would rather move on to something else entirely. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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