The XboxCast

#NuNews: Xbox Series eXtreme Streaming

#NuNews is all the Xbox news you need to know about. 
If you have to think about it, you've already lost. 
 
Are you cleverer for playing video games? A study thinks games help with intelligence in the youths of today. However, Kyle disagrees. If you're smart, you tend to not waste time on TV, and instead use your noggin to smash demons in the face in DOOM! 
 
Top Gun stuff has come to Microsoft's Flight Simulator, and it brings with it the super-secret SR-71 Darkstar! Now you can travel at Mach 10 in the upper stratosphere while your plane slowly glows all around you. And could this be the new multiplayer experience? Just have someone yelling at you about turning right! 
 
A game dev has come to bat for Xbox Game Pass. He is a massive Game Pass fan as a person who actually uses the service, and completely destroys the narrative that Game pass is bad for the industry. Not like Microsoft has been saying this since 2018... 
 
All this and more, including the charts, in this episode of #NuNews! 
 
We're now going to the Xbox Bethesda Fanfest Watch Party *AND* PAX in Melbourne this year. Want to come meet us? Now is your chance! We may even have some sneaky stickers to give away... 
Speaking of stickers - check out our merch! 
 
Remember to pay the fee - if you got any value out of this podcast, sahre it! Word of mouth is how we grow. And if you really like what we do, consider supporting us on Patreon! 
 
--
If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Official XboxCast Website
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, check out our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#GameFace! The Achievement for Love

Lee now has automation - he presses buttons and things happen. 
Is this the beginning of having computers take over the podcast? 
 
We have a question from our community! How exciting! People want to know things about us and make us think. What do you think? Do you have any questions? Join our Discord, or Tweet at us, and we'll do one a week. We promise we'll answer all the questions. Maybe. Let's see if we remember this next podcast! 
 
Twas the night before #backToYourBacklog, and all through the podcast, we played a lot of games. Lee played them all, Simone played some and Kyle played a bit. We're still very confused about Tiny Tina's Attack on Dragon Keep and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. Since they are the same game. But with differnet names. And different stories. And maybe different characters. Other than that, it's exactly the same which is why we're so confused. 
 
CyberPunk 2077 is still Kyle's go to game, and if it wasn't for the podcast, he might have finished it by now. But with June so close, it looks like that is going into the backlog... Simone is still a shark, doing shark things, living her best shark life. But now with electric teeth! If that's not an upgrade, then what is. 
 
Are you looking for a soundbar to go with your brand new LG C1 or CX? Lee has bought a nice new shiny 11.1.4 surround sound system and rubs it in. If you like your sound and want to make your gaming experience better, then join our Discord and have us help you! Because at the end of the day, we're all a bunch of geeks.  
 
We're now going to the Xbox Bethesda Fanfest Watch Party *AND* PAX in Melbourne this year. Want to come meet us? Now is your chance! We may even have some sneaky stickers to give away... 
Speaking of stickers - check out our merch! 
 
Remember to pay the fee - if you got any value out of this podcast, sahre it! Word of mouth is how we grow. And if you really like what we do, consider supporting us on Patreon! 
 
--
If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Official XboxCast Website
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, check out our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#NuNews: June is Soon!

Breaking news: June is soon. It rhymes, so you know it's true. 
Hey, we don't make the rules. 
 
#BackToYourBacklog is kicking off in June, and we're getting ourselves super excited about that. Not sure what that is? Well, we have a handy event's page that will break it down for you. 
 
With E3 going away this year, it's time for the Summer Game Fest. And it seems like this year might actually be the year it takes off. Xbox socials clapped back at Kotaku and it was great to see. Sometimes you just need to put the clickbait back where it belongs. Now we'll wait for them to write a story about how terrible that Twitter ratio was.
 
No Man's Sky got an update and made its way into the charts, which made Kyle's heart very happy. And Game Pass is getting more games. Just a few games. Not many at all. EA is trying hard to sell itself off. Practically standing at the traffic lights with a sign reading "game publisher for $3.50" at this stage. Who do you want to buy EA, or should they spin off all their studios? 
 
And Ed Fries thinks Game Pass is not a great idea. Comparing it to Spotify which helped the music industry increase by 75% over the last few years. Yet, gaming and music listening are quite different... 
 
We're going to be at the Xbox Fanfest Watch Party and then PAX Melbourne! So, if you're a listener and hoped to meet us, well now if your chance! We may even have some stickers to give away... 
 
Remember to pay the fee. 
If you got any value from the podcast, share it around! 
 
--
If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Official XboxCast Website
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, check out our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#GameFace! Early in the Today

We're going to Fanfest in Melbourne! 
Are you going? Will we see you there? Are you excited? Will you get some stickers? 
 
We have a store! Do you want some merch? So far we have stickers. And stickers. And more stickers! Get your merch now. 
 
Lee has played a game every day this past week... Someone needs to tell him to settle down. A few quick games and one broken Twitter later, Lee now sits at 45 games completed. He has no idea what happened. Look at him go, turning into our very own Achievement Hunter! 
 
Simone and Kyle have officially completed the story for Anthem - only 3 years later. We all mourn for what this game could have been. Beware of spoilers! And Simone is still hunting men in Maneater! She now has shiny teeth. We're all very envious. 
 
Kyle is still going through CyberPunk 2077. Nothing quite like taking a game nice and slow and absorbing all the game has to offer. But it frustrates Lee. He just likes to shoot things.
 
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! Share this podcast with your friends and support us on Patreon! 
 
--
If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Official XboxCast Website
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, check out our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#NuNews: Freshly Baked News, Slightly Moist

This is not just the news. 
It's the news! The NuNews. Fresh out the news oven. 
 
A very quiet week leads to some interesting discussions. The Stanly Parable devs are disappointed with achievement hunters, who have changed the console date and time to unlock the Super Go Outside achievement. Check out the story on TrueAchievements and let us know what you think. 
 
Xbox Live going down was a massive story last week, but now the engineers behind it have spoken out and have cleared up what really went wrong. Lee thinks this was a bug which wasn't supposed to roll out, while Kyle still blames Fortnite coming to XCloud. 
 
EA Sports is dropping FIFA and becoming EA Sports FC, and FIFA is not bitter at all. Like they are totally cool with it. So cool, in fact, that they put out a statement saying FIFA is THE BEST football experiance. This breakup was completely FIFA's idea, and they are the ones that dropped EA. They just want to let you know that. 
 
And do you want 3 years of Game Pass Ultimate for $1 (if you're new) or at a discount? We have the inside scoop! There's a loophole, which is totally not publisied, on how to do it. If you're confused, we have an amazingly easy walkthrough for you. You can thank us later. 
 
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!
 
--
If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Official XboxCast Website
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, check out our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#GameFace! Don’t Live in Your Toilet

Welcome to the AkwardCast.
We're bringing Kiwi humor to the world... Awkwardly. HashTag En Zed represent! 
 
Lee has gotten back into The Division 2 because of all the cool new content. Season 9 is here and comes with a bunch of interesting challenges, but still manages to only last a night worth of playing... So, it's back to Jedi: Fallen Order for him. Story Mode has saved the day once again! Beware spoilers for Jedi: Fallen Order. 
 
Simone is back in Stardew Valley! Thanks to the game now being on the Windows Store and part of Xbox Game Pass, it now has achievements. And it picks up your Steam save game, so you don't have to restart. And then she decides to be ultraviolent in ManEater. Because what's better than just munching on heaps of people? 
 
Kyle has been way to social and only managed to play Halo Infinite Multiplayer - and he's figured out how to activate his Season 2 pass! Even better. But has he found a bug with the Double XP Boost? Is anyone else experiencing this? At least we have Last Spartan Standing to help the game along. 
 
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!
 
--
If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Official XboxCast Website
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, check out our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox
 

#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. 
 
--
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 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!
 
--
If you liked this episode, don't feel ashamed. 
Rather, join the dozens of others that are following us.
The Official XboxCast Website
 
For everything else, including everywhere our podcast is hosted, check out our LinkTree! 
 
--
 
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. 
 
--
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. 
 
--
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
 

#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. 
 
--
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! 
 
--
 
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! 
 
--
 
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox
Lee: Leehoward on Twitter and Xbox
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Twitter and Xbox