The Elder Scrolls

Xbox has announced that it will be holding its first games showcase on Wednesday, January 25th at 3pm ET/12pm PT.

Under a new format called ‘Developer_Direct,’ Xbox developers will offer deep dives into a small handful of games, rather than the sorts of E3-style events featuring dozens of titles. Windows Central first reported on the show earlier this week.

Specifically, Xbox is promising looks at:

The Elder Scrolls Online (ZeniMax Online Studios) — an unveiling of the 2023 Chapter Update (an ‘ESO Chapter Reveal Event’ will also take place immediately after Developer_Direct)
Forza Motorsport (Turn 10) — we’ll learn more about the next Forza game built from the ground up for Xbox Series X/S
Minecraft Legends (Mojang and Vancouver’s Blackbird Interactive) — an “insider’s look” into the PvP experience
Redfall (Arkane) — “several minutes” of gameplay from this vampire FPS will be shown

The Developer_Direct will be streamed to Xbox’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Additionally, Xbox confirmed that Starfield, the next game from Todd Howard’s The Elder Scrolls and Fallout team, will get its own standalone show in the future. All of the aforementioned games are set to release within the first half of 2023. Presumably, Xbox will keep with tradition and hold a major showcase in the summer (perhaps at E3) to outline what’s coming later this year and beyond.

In any case, it seems that Xbox is at least getting close to finally releasing some big exclusives. 2022 was a relatively quiet year for the publisher outside of its pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, so it remains to be seen how 2023 will fare for the company.

Source: Xbox

Microsoft is inviting Xbox Insiders to preview a small selection of classic Bethesda titles on PC. As part of its $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media, Microsoft is diving into the well of Bethesda’s catalogue and sparking new life to largely unplayable titles.

As part of this initiative, Xbox Insiders on PC can now preview Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, HeXen: Beyond Heretic, HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Quake Champions.

Many of the aforementioned titles were originally released in the early to mid-90s. However, severalstill have quite a cult following. This is especially true for The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Quake Champions. Access to the small array of classic Bethesda games appears to be a soft launch to gather feedback from the Xbox Insiders community.

Each game is available to download for free. It appears as though the majority of available titles operate via DOSBox emulation. This system is able to re-create and run software for MS-DOS compatible games. Many don’t consider it to be the most pragmatic solution. However, given that games like HeXen: Beyond Heretic and Quake Champions are available for free, players have little to no excuse to try them out.

Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, HeXen: Beyond Heretic, and HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel are all a part of Bethesda’s dark fantasy shooter series. Interestingly enough, Raven Software, which Activision later bought, is behind these titles. However, the studio now works on Call of Duty: Warzone.

The Elder Scrolls: Arena is the first game in the very successful Elder Scrolls series. It originally featured a smaller scope, seeing players travel between towns to compete in a fighting tournament. However, the games evolved into an open-world RPG with side quests galore.

There’s no word on whether these games will be made available to those outside of the Xbox Insiders program.

Xbox Insiders are also receiving access to Discord Voice chat on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, the company confirms.

Image credit: Bethesda Softworks

Source: Xbox Wire Via: Engadget