The XboxCast

#GameFace! AAC’23 Phase One

We're now onto Phase One of the April Achievement Challenge!
Join us in going over the current winners, the current losers and Kyle. 
 
Unlike normal years, we have bonuses to give to the Patrons and Discord Server Boosters. Which means that we get to drag out this challenge for another week. Aren't you lucky! If you're confused at what this means, never fear - Simone is here to explain everything. And we have graphs! Check out our graphs! 
 
At least we're able to figure out who got the most GamerScore, the most steps and the highest ratio right now. Right before the entire leaderboard gets turned on its head. So, who did what, and where do you rank?
 
If you're listening to this and think you can win the competition, then put your money where you mouth is - join our Discord server and jump into our monthly challenges. We run one every second month, and now that April Achievement Challenge is over, we're looking towards June's #Back2YourBacklog. 
 
Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. 
 
And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#NuNews: Take Your Ears, And Put Them In

Lee is the news master.
If you disagree with anything in this episode, make sure to tweet at him. 
 
Xbox Keystone has been shown off again! Spotted on Phil Spencer's shelf, the rumored, then canceled, then spoken about, then may be releasing, device is supposed to be the Xbox's version of the Chrome Cast. Made for XCloud (Xbox Cloud Gaming), this device is targeting a $99 price point. Allegedly. We are sure it's supposed to come out at some point. But it's not released yet. Maybe around E3 time? 
 
Ubisoft+ launched on Xbox. And it's more expensive than Game Pass Ultimate. Like what the heck Ubisoft? What are you even playing at? If you have had Xbox Live Gold in the last 10 years, you'll have all the Assassins Creed anyways... The only thing worth playing, in Kyle's opinion, is Anno 1800 Xbox Edition. But not for $20 a month! 
 
More people are leaving 343i. Could this be good news? Is Microsoft cleaning house? Or is Halo Infinite dead? We wait and see.
All this and more on this episode of #NuNews. 
 
Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. 
 
And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#GameFace! I Talked Like This And Giggled Less

Welcome to The Zoo. 
It's where we keep all our Patrons. 
 
We have an update on where the extra points go for the April Achievement Challenge. It will allow you to put your points into ratio, steps or ratio, and could put the entire competition on its head! Want to get more points? You'll have to be a Discord Server Booster or a Patron. Or both. If you do, you get double bonuses! 
 
In a change of gears, Kyle and Simone start Dying Light! What? Thats not a baby April Achievement Challenge game, we hear you say. No. No, it is not. But it's a great game, was on super special, and you should totally play it. If you disagree, just listen to Simone's review. It will sell you on this game. Can we convince Lee to avoid some baby games and join us? 
 
Lee's managed to get super confused with some controls. Right Button, plus Y, and you get healed? Like what even is this game? Have they never seen a human hand? Or is Lee just getting old?  
 
Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. 
 
And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#GameFace! White Men Can’t Drift

This year's April Achievement Challenge has us all going over different strategies. 
Lee's strategy is to fix one thing and break another.  
 
Kyle is going for pure Gamer Score, ratio be dammed. Lee is going for ratio. And Simone is going for "not being last". All great goals! How will they fare in the end? And where will the other challengers come? 
 
Lee is mastering the art of drift in Forza Horizon 5 and proving to himself that he can do it. Kyle's got some baby games that make no sense. Creatures come out of the darkness and speak to you. Then you feed a fish to a cat. And harvest its blood. Seriously, you need a guide for this game... Simone is probably the only sensible one and playing Her Story. So, we have more good games than bad this April. At least for now.
 
Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. 
 
And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#NuNews: Lee’s Going inna Truck!

Lee's about to spend the day inna a truck. 
And we couldn't be prouder. They grow up so fast. 
 
In this episode of #NuNews, we cover all the latest Xbox News. Some of the highlights are...
 
EA Football Club, or EAFC, is the new FIFA. And FIFA themselves are not too pleased. They sound very jealous that EA is getting all this great PR and everyone is ignoring them. Meanwhile, EA is showing off their shiny new FC logo, and saying things like "the best football game ever" and "you won't even need to eat!". Well, not really, but you know they would be saying it if they could get away with it. 
 
No Man's Sky has gotten another massive update! Featuring new infected sentinels that look very scary, new ships, a new backpack, and a bunch of more new stuff, we try go over the entire change log, but it's just way too big. What a great job Hello Games! You guys have really outdone yourself. Is this enough to pull you back into No Man's Sky? 
 
Square Enix is skipping Xbox. Again. How much money has Sony thrown at SQE to pretend that Xbox doesn't exist this time? But we're simple creatures - if your game is on our platform, we play it. If it's not, then we have so many other games to play. 
And we're back on the Achievement chat. Would you like Xbox to bring out Achievement 2.0 if it meant that Achievements 1.0 were discontinued? Is Microsoft brave enough to leave the legacy behind? It's an interesting discussion, and we're eager to hear your feedback. 
 
Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. 
 
And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#NuNews: Not Lazy. Efficient! (Again)

We value your time, and so, in an effort to be mindful of that, we strip out all the fluff from the news. 
It's not lazy. It's efficient! 
 
We recorded this podcast on First Contact Day. Apparently, that is a thing that happens. And if you never heard of it, then you are in luck - Lee is here to explain it to us.
There's a new Forza inspired controller! It comes with a little wheel that you can pretend to drive your pretend car around. And actually, it looks really good. This could be a game changer for those that aren't into the full steering wheel simulator scene. And you can even swap the button placements! Not a fan of the offset thumb sticks? Swap them out! Want four thumb sticks and no face buttons? Swap it out! The possibilities are endless. 
 
Vampire Survivors won the BAFTA Game of The Year award! Beating God of War and Elden Ring to take the award home. Well done to those guys on a job done well. And finally, some recognition for the amazing game it is. 
The Diablo IV Beta broke a lot of records. Bajillions of player deaths, hours played, demons slayed all add up to a very successful beta by the sounds of it. And the buzz around this game is tangible. Looks like Xbox has a future first party hit on their hands! 
And we finally have an option when we're looking at Storage Expansion Cards for the Xbox! Western Digital have released their own version and it's slightly cheaper than Seagate's one. Now we wait for the rest of the manufactures to release their version, and hopefully we'll be picking up two terabytes for $20! 
 
Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So, it's up to you guys to help out. 
And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#GameFace! We Are a Cultural Experience

It's only been one week, and Lee is already cheating! 
The April Achievement Challenge really does bring out the worst in us (Lee).
 
Today we thank our fantastic patrons! And we gift them their free 1000GS to aid them in AAC'23, in addition to our undying love and adoration. If you're taking part, there is still time to sign up - it's only a dollar a month and it may mean the difference between embarrassment and winning... 
 
As it's April, we have many, many bad games. Kyle is back with Bullet Beat, but it's very unstable. Crashing here, crashing there, crashing everywhere... Have you noticed Bullet Beat being crazy or are you one of the lucky few? 
 
Lee has changed his strategy and has decided to cheat in The Sims. Or has he? That's up to you! Is downloading someone's saved game to fast-track achievement earning cheating, or is it taking advantage of the tools? You need to let us know before April is over so we can either dock his points, or all jump into The Sims and destroy his ratio... But to make up for it, he's gone into Forza Horizon 5 and dived straight into the rally expansion. There's some great ratio there! 
 
Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch all our VODs there. We are trying to get our hours up and we need something like 10,000 before YouTube takes us seriously. As very serious podcasters, we're galled that YouTube doesn't agree with us. So it's up to you guys to help out. 
And please remember to leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 3 seconds and really goes a long way. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#NuNews: New Zealand is Full of Sheep

Let's get together and talk to people about stuff we know very little about. 
 
The Activision-Blizzard acquisition is still ongoing, and this week was very newsy. It's now escalated all the way to the US Congress, with politicians even calling the Japanese-US trade deal into dispute because of it. Real newspapers - like the Finacial Times - are even starting to cover it. With this step, it seems Sony's whining has turned the spotlight onto them. 
 
Australia is stealing New Zealand game devs. Ok, so that's a bit sensationalist. But it's really happening. A lot of Kiwi's are heading across the ditch as Australia is just proving to be a much better place for developing games. And it's happening across all industries. How will New Zealand compete when their neighbor offers a lot more lucrative options? 
 
Game completions are back as a talking point. How many people should play and complete a game? What is the general population that can play and finish these 80-hour monsters? Seems like it's a third of all gamers. Which is higher than we thought! 
 
These are just a few things we cover in this very informative episode of #NuNews! It's almost like we're doing a real news show. But with opinions. Our opinions. Which are the right opinions. 
 
If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#GameFace! Itchy Bum & The April Achievement Challenge

The April Achievement Challenge is fast approaching! 
Are you ready? 
 
This episode, we go all over The April Achievement Challenge - the rules, the way it works, and every other thing you could ask for. Get those baby games ready. Lace up your shoes. And check out our dedicated AAC'23 page on our website! 
 
It's been a quiet week for gaming as we're preparing our bodies for really bad games. Kyle jumps into Naraka: Bladepoint and finds it's gotten hard again. What are those devs playing at? It's easy, then it's hard, then it's easy again... At least the happy noises of unlocking new hats is around to give us that dopamine hit. 
 
Simone is playing Yakuza: Like A Dragon and it seems as if this game should not be real. Fighting fat American tourists, having a butch guy arrive to help you beat up enemies, and more! But she's really enjoying it and actually caring about the story, so it must be good. 
 
Lee is playing some very interesting games for his reviews over at NetizeNZ. Theres a game with a boy and a mask and terrible controls. And it sounds like his #GameFace! stories may start to become even more professional from now. Watch out world! The XboxCast is about to become good! 
 
If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#GameFace! A New Streaming Home?

Simone is still sick. 
And Lee is bored of Simone being sick. 
 
We have an update! We're streaming the podcast on Kick! Hopefully we'll have more reach than Twitch, but it's up to you guys to help us out. Let us know where you want to see us. Or if you even want to watch us. And remember, we're trying hard to get our YouTube views up, so please keep watching our VODs! 
 
Lee had the review for Defend the Rook published! If you'd like to read it, then check out this link. If you'd like to listen instead, then you're very lucky to have this podcast in front of you. You're welcome. Kyle gets back into Halo and even streamed some. And then he forces his poor mother to play Vampire Survivors, just for the lols. 
 
If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#NuNews: Couch Co-op Controller

Change. Change is the only constant. 
And we changed it up to record #NuNews first this week! 
 
Since we're doing the news first this week, Lee ends up mightily confused. He gets a new job and suddenly he's swimming in computers... Just diving into an Olympic sized swimming pool filled with chunky, beige boxes. That's not painful at all! 
 
Sea of Thieves is celebrating 5 years! Five years since Lee and I killed ourselves laughing at the utter ridiculousness of being pirates. And there's still so much stuff being changed every update. The map is being updated as well - growing and changing to provide environmental storytelling. It is something we really appreciate about this game. 
 
Jedi Fallen Order is at its lowest price yet! $5 to jump in and get yourself prep'd for the new one. And it's even got a next-gen update, so there's no excuse to not play it. Hogwarts Legacy has hints that there's supposed to be some sort of companions around. But be real - escort quests are almost the worst types of quests in any game! Unless they managed to get it right, then it may be worth it? 
 
Twitch is losing employees, including its CEO. Is Amazon just cutting staff, or is this because Twitch is in trouble? What do you think? And we even have an update in the Activision Blizzard saga! All this and more in this week's episode of #NuNews. 
 
If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter 

#NuNews: Catacombs and Cairns

Lee is the boss now?
 
Another quiet week on the news front sees us spend an hour on the news. So, spoiler alert, this is not a short podcast. And Lee is feeling a little bit posher after spending all week in Hogwarts Legacy. How do you pronounce catacombs? Catacombs or catacombs? It turns out English can be tricky... At least to us. 
 
Achievements are back as a talking point. Is it time for an upgrade? Or are you happy with the current state? And if you did want to change it, how should it be changed? So many questions, and don't come to us for answers. Each of us thinks that achievements need to be revamped but we just can't agree on how. Luckily, we're not in charge, because decisions are hard. 
 
And speaking of achievements, theres a game that has come up that stacks achievements based on the language. We think thats a bit cheeky. Oh, and while we're here, don't forget that the April Achievement Challenge is coming very soon! Make sure you sign up, make sure you join the Discord, and make sure to do your country proud. 
 
If you'd like to support the podcast, but don't know how, then just leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It takes 2 seconds and helps in more ways than you can imagine. 
 
--
For everything about the podcast, check out our official website! 
Follow us on Twitter, find all our links on LinkTree and support us on Patreon. 
 
--
Your hosts are:
 
Kyle: XarCrius on Xbox and Twitter
Lee: Leehoward on Xbox and Twitter 
Simone: GymBeanNZ on Xbox and Twitter