The XboxCast

#NuNews: There’s Been a Change in the Charts!

Lee has a big bottom.
Can you hear it? Can you hear the big bottom? Can you? 
 
Maybe we should get better work stories? Because we're now complaining about being misquoted, and builders. Gary, we feel you. Do you feel seen? Also, we do the charts. Not as a joke, But as a service to you. You're welcome. You can thank us by supporting us on Patreon! lol 
 
Things are happening in the charts, but we don't know what or why. But excitement all around! Things are moving, and maybe GTA V will finally be knocked off the charts. Clippy has come to Halo and caused no end of problems. He popped up and told everyone he's here to help shoot. What do you think of Halo's rollout of Season 2 so far? Lee is not convinced. 
Our Top Tip of The Week is all about explaining QoS is. Because we're geeks. And we like to help. 
 
And in our biggest story this week - Excel is getting Eve Online integration! Now this is ground breaking! Talk about living in the future. No longer will you need to have spreadsheets in space, but rather spreadsheets on your laptop while you're on the train to work. Kyle gets way too excited about this... Maybe even worth getting back into Eve Online for? 
 
In some exciting news - we're going to be at PAX Melbourne this year! Want to come meet us? Well now you can! 
We won't have a booth, but we'll be walking around - all three of us. So come hang out for the weekend and show us your flossing skills. 
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
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If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The XboxCast Website - Our home on the internet
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, can be found at our LinkTree! 
 
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Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Twitter and Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#GameFace! Alex Quick, SharkMan!

Kyle has been giggling in his sleep. 
And it could be because of his new laptop...
 
Kyle gets a quick 1000GS in Bullet Beat, thanks to a cheeky update. So, now it's time to redownload that! Lee is going full on into story mode on Jedi: Fallen Order and Marvel's Gaurdians of the Galaxy. And Simone is eating mans in Maneater! What a strange week for gaming. And of course, the best way to cap a strange week in gaming is by playing Anthem! Pour one out for what could have been a great game...
 
We're going to be at PAX Melbourne! Do you want to get an XboxCast hug? Come up to us and do the floss!
Then we'll know that you're a listener. And you may get stickers, or merch, or maybe just the promise of merch... But who knows. We don't remember half of what we say. 
 
Remember to pay the fee!
 
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The Official XboxCast Website
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, check out our LinkTree! 
 
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Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#NuNews: Power As In Power

We do the charts. 
Unironically. 
 
Gears 5 is giving away two free achievements because it's dropping certain modes, and this leads to an interesting thought - is this the right way to do it? Or is there a better way to deal with discontinued achievements? How would you deal with achievements tied to things that stop working? Stupid freaking Rockband and their "check our website" achievement! 
 
You can now get GamePass for 42% off! But only if you're in the US. Not if you're in ANZ. Because we don't get things like that here... Luckily Scotland joins ANZ in being slow when it comes to Xbox. Almost as slow as Lee is when it comes to reading the news stories. There's a rumor that Zenimax Online is building a Mandalorian MMO. And who owns Zenimax? Some small company called Microsoft... 
 
And Skull & Bones - the long-awaited game from Ubisoft - is getting a TV show. Did you know? We didn't. And do we really need another pirate TV show? 
 
In another announcement - we're back on Twitch and YouTube! Woohoo! And we've made the game give away even easier now - subscribe to our YouTube channel and we'll give away these games when we get to 100 subscribers. So, what are you waiting for? Get subscribed!  
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
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If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The XboxCast Website - Our home on the internet
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, can be found at our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#GameFace! 2022’s April Achievement Wrap Up

When you stop drinking tea, does the Queen unfriend you? 
Asking for a friend... 
 
April is finally over! And boy did we play a lot of trash. So much trash. Lee played almost every baby game known to man. But we know someone who played even more baby games than we ever thought existed! The winners this month... *drum roll please* 
 
Neomaster with 157,875 GS in one month wins the Touch Some Grass Award for the most gamerscore in one month. Out of The XboxCast, Lee wins with 29,477 GS! His personal best! 
Diabolic Jester wins the Have You Thought About Staying Inside? award for the most steps! He got 408,432 steps in the month of April. Kyle beat the other two slackers with 305,466 steps! 
Neomaster popped 2,425 achievements and takes home the Addicted To The Pop award! With 266 chevos popped this month, Lee beat the other two.
Thanks to everyone who took part! We have some big plans for next year already. And we even had an official competition running with the gamer score plus steps going on. Should we make it official next year? Too late. We already have! 
 
Keep an eye on the website, as we'll be adding all these stats to it at some point. You'll be able to see all the graphs and info your little heart could desire. If there's any other stats you want to know about, tell Simone! She's the keeper of the graphs. 
 
In another announcement - we're back on Twitch and YouTube! Woohoo! And we've made the game give away even easier now - subscribe to our YouTube channel and we'll give away these games when we get to 100 subscribers. So what are you waiting for? Get there and get subscribed!  
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
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If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The XboxCast Website - Our home on the internet
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, can be found at our LinkTree! 
 
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Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#NuNews: We’ll Ignore Your Technical Issues

Lee deals with auditors. And no one cries. 
We call that a win! 
 
Maybe we should turn this podcast into our work stories? Because it seems like both Lee and Kyle have a lot to say on the subject. And Kyle's laptop is about to melt into the center of the earth while recording this podcast. Happy times all around! 
 
The charts continue to be whelming. Not overwhelming, or underwhelming. Just whelming. Just what we expect. Kingdom Hearts 4 is revealed and looks super realistic. Like almost true to life real... Not exactly the direction we expected. Especially when Lee finds the wrong video! 
Is Certain Affinity looking to be sold to Microsoft? Or is 343 Industries going to be taken off Halo? Something has to be done as the perception is that Halo is not evolving fast enough. Are you still playing Halo Infinite? 
 
March saw the best month ever for Xbox - selling almost half a million units in one month alone! Great job everyone. And well done to Phil for turning the Xbox ship around in such a massive way. Microsoft has also grown almost all its businesses, so the future is very bright indeed. 
 
And do you remember Riders Republic? We got slightly obsessed with it earlier this year. Well, it's gotten a Season 2! New stuff, new events, new, new, nu! How exciting.  
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
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If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The XboxCast Website - Our new home on the internet
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, check out our LinkTree! 
 
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Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#GameFace! All Four One, And One Four All

All four of us, back together again?
Covid-crew go! 
 
Kyle and Simone have been away on holiday while Lee and Paul have gotten the spicy cough. That's our excuse for missing some podcast episodes, and we're sticking to it! 
So, to make up for it, we got Paul in to chat about... movies! Movies, TV series, RPG's and somewhere there is a podcast all about our April Achievement Challenge (including some games). 
 
What games did you play for AAC? We played some really bad games. So bad, most of us gave up and went back to CyberPunk! Simone has given XCloud a good shake while on holiday. What did she think and how did it handle?  Want to hear us rant about these bad games? Which game wins the One Leaves award this month? How much trash before we just go "we've done enough"? You'll just have to listen to this episode to find out. 
 
In another announcement - we're back on Twitch and YouTube! Woohoo! And we've made the game give away even easier now - subscribe to our YouTube channel and we'll give away these games when we get to 100 subscribers. So what are you waiting for? Get there and get subscribed!  
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
And remember to subscribe to Paul on YouTube! 
 
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If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Brand New XboxCast Website - Our new home on the internet
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, can be found at our LinkTree! 
 
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Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#NuNews: The Wrath of Kyle

You're welcome to write a letter of complaint to us. 
We may even reply... 
 
While the news has gotten noticeably quiet in prep for June, it doesn't stop us from spending an hour ranting about things. The game play charts are not super exciting, Kyle is super close to buying Overwatch, and will Tiny Tina Wonderlands come to Game Pass? 
Xbox is having a sale, and we think we've cracked the code for when these things happen. Is Simone right? Do these sales happen on the second month of the season? We'd love to know so we can put it in our calendar! And in the constant search for content, we go through some of the more interesting deals. 
 
Unreal Engine 5 has dropped and looks amazing, but we're a bit dubious of there being only 2 game engines in the world. Hopefully it doesn't come down to Unity VS Unreal... We'd be missing out on so many cool and interesting looks in games. But we can't argue with how amazing UE5 is. 
 
Microsoft has been accused of paying for chip priority. Also known as business common sense. And it's working!
Xbox is sitting as the top selling console for the past few months! Often outpacing the competition by a very healthy margin. Is it too early to say that Xbox is back to the glory days of the 360 - hardware wise at least. 
 
We're still knee deep in the April Achievement Challenge and would love you to join us. We're also doing a step challenge, so if you can't get some alone time with your Xbox, you can at least compete on the physical side! 
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
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If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Brand New XboxCast Website - Our new home on the internet
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, can be found at our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#GameFace! Just A Steady Stream Of Pain

Have you been following Lee on Twitter? 
Because if so, we apologize! 
 
The April Achievement Challenge is here, and we have been giving it a good run so far. Lee is off to the races and looks like he's trying to take down Neomaster all by himself. 
Simone is already sick of playing games, and she hasn't even been playing any. Seems like Kyle is to blame... Moaning about all the baby games he's playing. All these games! And they are all terrible. 
Lee gets through 17 games, Kyle gets through 8-ish and Simone, one.
 
Want to join in on the challenge this month? 
Join our #Discord and jump in! 
 
In some good news - Lee has almost 100%'d CyberPunk. Now that's an achievement! 
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
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If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Brand New XboxCast Website - Our new home on the internet
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, can be found at our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#NuNews: The Razor Bunch

The podcast is never early, nor is it late.
It arrives exactly when it means to. 
 
The charts aren't remarkably interesting this week... Fortnite removes building-mode and stays the same. GTA V releases a next-gen version and... stays the same... Elden Ring and CyberPunk are slowly dropping off. Looks like we might be stuck in the doldrums after the recent excitement. 
Xbox is trying its hand at 'Cloud Native' games again after being burnt by Crackdown 3. But maybe they can focus on it this time and make it great. They certainly have found the right person with Kim Swift! Either way, we watch with interest. 
 
In some late breaking news, and confirming what we've been seeing for the past 3 years, and after confirming it multiple times, it's now been confirmed, yet again, that Game Pass is profitable and good for the industry! 
 
And apparently there's been a Game Pass leak too... A nice big Blizzard game in fact. Could this be a sign of things to come? 
 
And who is Ashley Burch? The name sounds familiar... 
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
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If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Brand New XboxCast Website - Our new home on the internet
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, can be found at our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#GameFace! #theSlappening

We're the most cultured Xbox podcast around. 
Pop cultured! 
 
April brings with it the April Achievement Challenge! Are you ready? We're going to need everyone's help to take down Neomaster! For those that need some remembering, April is the month where we all get as much Gamer Score as possible, we all try get the most achievements and we attempt to take the most steps? 
 
We're also doing a game give away! And you can enter. See, we're kind like that... If you're looking for details on how to enter, it's all on our website right here. Basically, subscribe to our YouTube channel and leave a comment on any one of our videos! We'll be drawing winners on #GameFace so make sure you tune in to see if you've won. We're all rooting for you! 
 
#ParchMunk continues and we're sad to see CyberPunk go. It's such a good game and it's been made even better with the next-gen patch. We may have been slightly obsessed... Lee has even managed to put in over 80 hours! Now that's dedication. Kyle can't stop buying clothes and guns and taking every screenshot known to man. Simone is sick of trying to rescue Little Sisters in BioShock, and finding some of the challenges, well, challenging... 
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
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If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Brand New XboxCast Website - Our new home on the internet
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, can be found at our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#NuNews: Stop Following Me Around, You Weirdo

How would you smuggle beer into a cricket game? 
Do you go the dig a hole and bury it, or wearing a high-vis and clipboard route? 
 
We have a brand-new website, which we're super proud of. You should totally check it out! And the April Achievement Challenge is coming up too... So many new and exciting things, we can hardly stay on topic. Now on with the news! 
 
We go through all the indie games announced at GDC including a fantastic wrestling game, which looks right up our alley. Party, turn based RPG where you fight the greats - Stone Cold the Giant, Andre the Steve, and even Hogan's Hulk! So many wrestling names and people who look vaguely familiar. And Floppy Knights - which contains a sentence we never thought we'd ever say out loud in public... 
 
An amazing Unity demo came out that blew us away in terms of graphics and gets us talking about the uncanny valley. How real can games really get? And do we want them to be that real? The fluffy Xbox controllers cause another existential crisis for Lee. Kyle loves them, but Lee just can't. Where do you sit? And speaking of controllers, there's some nice new ones from 8BitDo. All very pastel and calming. 
 
There's a bunch of new games that you should be excited about! We would list them, but then you wouldn't need to listen to the podcast... 
 
Come join our Discord and hang out with the best community in the world! 
 
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Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
 
Find us at our new home @ TheXboxCast.co.nz
 
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Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
 
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#GameFace! Unpeeling The Banana

Are you ready for the unpeeling of Project Banana? 
Because it's here and it's live and we're way too excited!
 
Thats right, #ProjectBanana has launched, and you can see it in all its glory right now! Click the link and check out what we have been hard at work on. Then jump into our Discord and share all your thoughts! We're super excited and super proud of what we built, and now we're going to build it with your input. So, we really want feedback - the good, bad, and ugly. 
 
Welcome to our brand-new home on the internet! 
 
#ParchMunk is in the home stretch now. Have you played all the punk games? Have you gotten as far, or even finished, CyberPunk? Or have you been a real punk and not listened to us at all? Either way, we have a lot to say. 
 
We're loving this months event, but that's no excuse to not talk about the very next one we have planned. It's back, and better than ever! We have a few days before the great April Achievement Challenge kicks off. Are you prepared? Have you been planning? We're going to need everyone to help us beat Neomaster (who just so happens to be the Game Score king in ANZ!). 
 
Remember to pay the fee!If you got any value out of this podcast, please rate it on your podcast platform of choice. And then share it with your friends. 
 
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Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
 
The Brand New XboxCast Website - Our new home on the internet
 
http://linktr.ee/thexboxcast 
 
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Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox