Mages released another trailer of its upcoming game Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix.

The trailer showcases three of the actresses featured in the game, Ayaka Ichijou, Aika Aikawa, & Mutsumi Koashi.

We get to see their customization and a brief look at battle gameplay.

As usual, the video appears to be recorded from the Nintendo Switch of the game, as shown by the button prompts at the bottom of the screen.

You can check out the trailer below.

Today Japan held the election for the House of Councillors, the upper house of the National Diet, and popular mangaka Ken Akamatsu managed to win a seat.

Akamatsu-sensei, who debuted as a professional mangaka all the way back in 1993 with Hito Natsu no Kids Game, is mostly known for Love Hina, the romantic comedy serialized on Kodansha’s Weekly Shounen Magazine between 1998 and 2001, which sparked an anime series, several OVAs, light novels, and even video games.

In today’s election, he ran with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party following a campaign mostly centered on protecting creators’ freedom of expression, artistic freedom from censorship and undue external influences.

Akamatsu-sensei is the first manga artist elected to the Japanese National Diet and announced his victory on Twitter, mentioning that he will work hard to fulfill his promises not to betray his voters.

He ran for the election within the national proportional representation block, which is a nationwide district that elects 50 members per election by single non-transferable vote.

Professional gamer Philip "ImperialHal" Dosen hit the headlines this weekend after he held off from shooting an opponent in a competitive match when he realised the enemy player had been disconnected.

As spotted by Apex Legends Intel, ImperialHal was competing in the Apex Legends Global Series 2022 - a championship with a cool $2 million up for grabs - when he spied a lone player off in the distance. After monitoring them for a couple of seconds, he told his TSM teammates: "Dont shoot him. Don't shoot him, bro! He's crashed".

You can watch the full exchange in the tweet below:

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PMDG is one of the most well-known and popular third-party developers for flight simulators and following their Douglas DC-6 and Boeing 737-700, they have a sizable development pipeline for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

CEO Robert Randazzo spoke at length during an interview on Sky Blue Radio this week, providing interesting information on the company’s business and what we can expect from them in the future.

Speaking of the 737 NG series, we learn that the 737-700 has done “exceptionally well” in terms of sales.

Randazzo mentioned a rough estimate (clarifying that they’re not real numbers but provided for the sake of conversation only), opining that the number of active simmers may have increased 20-fold in the two years following the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Over the years, he has created has a predictive revenue model based on social media, forum, and trailer engagement that allowed him to predict sales within a 2% margin of error in older simulators.

When he plugged the data related to the 737-700 for Microsoft Flight Simulator into the model, he thought the model was broken because the prediction was way off the scale. Indeed it turned out to be broken, as actual sales exceeded even that.

Randazzo believes right now is probably the most exciting time in the history of flight simulation.

In Dear Polygon, we answer your burning questions

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A developer who worked on Naughty Dog's upcoming PS5 remake of The Last of Us Part 1 has hit back at claims it's "just a cash grab".

In a tweet on his personal Twitter account, Robert Morrison - whose credits also include Resident Evil 7, Injustice 2, and Santa Monica Studios' 2018 God of War reboot - countered such claims by insisting it is "the most meticiously built and crafted project" that's had "the highest level of care and attention to detail possible".

Animator Morrison - who worked on The Last of Us Part 1 and now works at fellow Sony studio, Bend - said: "Actually, it’s the most meticulously built and crafted project that I have ever seen or been a part of in my entire career.

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Kojima Productions, the studio headed by Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima, publicly denounced "fake news and rumors" in a statement on social media. The statement comes after Hideo Kojima was falsely identified as the alleged assassin of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The statement was delivered by the official Twitter account of Kojima productions in Japanese and English. They do not reference the misidentification incident directly, but state that "[Kojima Productions] do not tolerate such libel and will consider taking legal action in some cases." Kojima himself did not comment directly on the incident, but shared the Tweet via his personal Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/KojiPro2015_EN/status/1545751079685484544

Monetizing a loot game isn’t just predatory, it’s not fun

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Sony's PlayStation 3 first launched in November 2006 and right from the get-go, the platform holder faced a stiff challenge in the form of Microsoft's Xbox 360. Here we were looking at two machines of the same generation, Sony's fiercest rival launching a full year ahead of the competition - and packing a hardware advantage in the form of its Xenos GPU from AMD. With hardware locked years prior, how did Sony react? Part of the marketing response was to concentrate on something Xbox could not deliver: full support for the new HDMI digital video standard, including the ability to output at full HD - 1080p.

Of course, in the years since, we know exactly how this situation played out - or do we? I'm really excited to reveal the public launch of DF Retro's biggest project yet: a generation-wide analysis of just how well PlayStation 3 delivered on its initial 1080p promises. Split into four parts, with a new episode launching every Sunday at 3pm BST, John Linneman aims to cover every single PS3 title we've managed to track down that supports 1080p resolution, to rank them all, and then - at the end - to see which year was best for full HD gaming on the 'Triple'.

First up, a disclaimer: we can't cover every single 1080p game. Some may have slipped through the net, others supported 960x1080 output (or even lower on the horizontal axis) as a fallback option when 720p was not available, and we're not particularly interested in those. However, across the four episodes, we cover a total of 88 titles. In an era where many PlayStation 3 (and indeed Xbox 360) games struggled even to deliver native 720p rendering, the full HD credentials of Sony's machine were left in tatters across the years, but perhaps surprisingly, there are many, many highlights - as you'll discover over the weeks.

Sony's PlayStation 3 first launched in November 2006 and right from the get-go, the platform holder faced a stiff challenge in the form of Microsoft's Xbox 360. Here we were looking at two machines of the same generation, Sony's fiercest rival launching a full year ahead of the competition - and packing a hardware advantage in the form of its Xenos GPU from AMD. With hardware locked years prior, how did Sony react? Part of the marketing response was to concentrate on something Xbox could not deliver: full support for the new HDMI digital video standard, including the ability to output at full HD - 1080p.

Of course, in the years since, we know exactly how this situation played out - or do we? Today, I'm really excited to reveal the public launch of DF Retro's biggest project yet: a generation-wide analysis of just how well PlayStation 3 delivered on its initial 1080p promises. Split into four parts, with a new episode launching every Sunday at 3pm BST, John Linneman aims to cover every single PS3 title we've managed to track down that supports 1080p resolution, to rank them all, and then - at the end - to see which year was best for full HD gaming on the 'Triple'.

First up, a disclaimer: we can't cover every single 1080p game. Some may have slipped through the net, others supported 960x1080 output (or even lower on the horizontal axis) as a fallback option when 720p was not available, and we're not particularly interested in those. However, across the four episodes, we cover a total of 88 titles. In an era where many PlayStation 3 (and indeed Xbox 360) games struggled even to deliver native 720p rendering, the full HD credentials of Sony's machine were left in tatters across the years, but perhaps surprisingly, there are many, many highlights - as you'll discover over the weeks.

Surprise! Valve has pushed out another update for its beleaguered bot-ladened shooter, Team Fortress 2.

Whilst not quite as impactful as the last patch, the game's Steam page explains how the update hopes to address "exploits and stability issues".

The long bulletpointed list includes mostly quality of life (QoL) fixes, but some new game server settings will now enable server operator to "limit the amount of processing time the gamer server can spend on processing packets for each client per tick". Clients that send packets causing server CPU processing time to exceed the configured number of milliseconds will be kicked.

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Respawn has a new singleplayer FPS set in the Apex Legends universe in early development.

Known only as "Apex Universe FPS Incubation Title", the game is clearly in the very early stages, but already the team is looking to bring a host of new developers on to what seems to be a singleplayer shooter that will be a "brand new Respawn single-player adventure".

Respawn's careers page, first noticed by Dextero, is currently hiring for numerous projects, including Apex Legends, its Mobile equivalent, the upcoming Star Wars FPS, and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Fallen Order's recently announced sequel. But also included in the list is that Apex Universe FPS Incubation Title, too.

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Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom is coming in 2022. To promote the release Bandai Namco uploaded a new trailer that shows off its second Doraemon-themed take on farming. This follows the initial Doraemon Story of Seasons announcement at the June 28, 2022 Nintendo Mini-Direct.

Check out  out below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyelIfpvO1E

The Doraemon Story of Seasons trailer sets up the game's peaceful premise. As it's the second farming sim based on the long-running anime and manga franchise Doraemon, the game brings its cast to a new locale. Noby, Doraemon, and their friends continue their pastoral existence on an unfamiliar fantasy planet. They'll set up their farm, harvest crops, tend to their animals, and go fishing.

The sequel promises additional gameplay courtesy of Doraemon's famed gadgets. These gadgets include items like the Time Kerchief, which can speed up the hatching of an egg. Other gadgets allow Noby to move planted trees or harvest unusual crops. Other new tools like a "Mini Raincloud" and a "Farm Restaurant" expand the homestead management options available to Doraemon and crew. Further, the trailer showed scenes of the gang sharing a meal, enjoying seasonal events, and doing what looked to be some underwater exploration.

Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion will reportedly run at 120fps on PC.

That's according to producer Mariko Sato, who told IGN (via NME) that the remaster will be "visually aligned and up to the standards of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake", meaning it should run at 120fps on PC, and 60fps on PS5 and Xbox Series X.

As for Nintendo Switch? Sato reportedly didn't expand on that, only saying that there would be “differences” in the resolution and FPS on Nintendo's handheld system.

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Powerpyx has revealed the full list of trophies and accomplishments that you will be able to obtain in Stray. The upcoming indie game will have you take on the role of a nameless cat in its journey through a post-apocalyptic world, with a robot as your only companion.  In total, there are a total of 25 trophies for Stray.

You will be able to obtain 7 Gold, 9 Silver, and 8 Bronze trophies in Stray. There will also be, of course, the one Platinum trophy after you finish collecting everything else. You will be able to obtain trophies by completing missions in a certain way. For example, ‘Can’t Cat-ch Me’ is the accomplishment for completing the first Zurk pursuit without being caught. The description did not elaborate on what a Zurk actually is, though.

However, there are also trophies you can get for completing mundane tasks a certain amount of times. Meowing for 100 times, jumping for 500 times, and sleeping for more than one hour will each net you a Silver trophy. You can get trophies for dying a certain amount of times, or completing the game for under 2 hours. As a reminder, the Stray developers have said in the past that it would take 8 hours to finish the game.

Stray will come out on July 19, 2022 for the Windows PC, PS4, and PS5.

Blizzard has confirmed that it will be tweaking both Mercy and Symmetra in the Overwatch 2 beta mid-cycle patch.

In a blog on the official website, Blizzard said that the team has been hard at work "compiling player feedback, [and] squashing bugs", and revealed that part of this will be revisiting Mercy's changes in light of fan feedback.

Healer Mercy received some minor nerfs when the beta test kicked off, such as her character automatically launching into the air when reaching an ally. Now, however, Blizzard is changing it so that you can decide if and when to jump… even though it seems as though that particular ability was a complete accident in the first place.

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Sundays are for accidentally rubbing your eyes after handling chilli. Before you cry, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

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There hasn’t been a James Bond game that captured the superspy’s spirit as perfectly as Everything or Nothing. GoldenEye 007 remains the fan favourite, sure, but I’ve always preferred 007’s original experiences to direct adaptations. When EA had the Bond licence in the Pierce Brosnan era, 007 got creative. Not always successfully, sadly. Excluding spin-offs like 007 Racing, Agent Under Fire was a middling first attempt, though Nightfire brought a considerable improvement. For me, it never got better than this.

Many fans unofficially consider for Everything or Nothing to be Brosnan’s fifth Bond film, and it’s not hard to see why. Having worked on GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World is Not Enough, Bruce Fierstein was brought back once again, penning a script fitting that era. Linking back to A View to a Kill, we found Max Zorin’s apprentice, Nikolai Diavolo, seeking revenge on Bond for Zorin’s death. That, and he’s trying to recreate the Soviet Union with the help of Nanobots. Because… well, it's worth a go, I guess?

It wouldn’t be a Bond film without the star-studded cast, and the game didn’t disappoint. While Nightfire simply used Brosnan’s likeness with a different voice actor, Everything or Nothing brought back the Irish actor one more time, marking his last ever appearance before Daniel Craig took over. Judi Dench, John Cleese, and Richard Kiel returned as M, Q, and Jaws respectively, while fresh faces like Heidi Klum’s Dr. Nadanova and Shannon Elizabeth’s Serena St. Germaine rounded this out. Willem Dafoe’s casting as Diavolo was particularly inspired though. It’s a damn shame we’ll likely never see him cast in a main film but for this, he played Diavolo well. We can’t forget Mýa either, nor her high energy theme song that I still remember now.

Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek is hailed as one of the best FPS players of all time. The 27-year-old veteran has won multiple tournaments during his career, and following his recent signing to Sentinels’ Valorant roster, is now set to make a surprise return to esports. No wonder, then, that many players are curious to learn about Shroud’s Valorant settings that he is using right now. So without any further delay, let’s jump into the details.

Shroud’s Mouse Settings for Valorant

Shroud has a Logitech G303 mouse, and here are the mouse settings that he is currently using in Valorant:

• DPI: 450
• In-Game Sens: 0.78
• Scoped Sens: 1
• Polling Rare: 1000
• eDPI: 351
• Windows Sens: 6

Shroud’s Keybinds for Valorant

Except for a few controls, Shroud prefers the default keybind settings while playing Valorant. You can have a look at them below:

Third-party developers delivered news about add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator today.

First of all, LatinVFR announced that it will continue its Airbus series after the recently-released Airbus A321neo.

The next one in line is the smaller Arbus A319 CEO (with the older CFM56 and IAE engine options). More aircraft from the A320 family will come at a later time.

They also confirmed that there will be no implementation of the FlyByWire systems (albeit modders have us covered there) and they will continue to use the default A320neo systems as a base. They have no intention to compete with more advanced addons and their target is the Xbox and PC marketplace market.

Next, we get the release of Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (KFLG) in Arizona by UK2000 Scenery.

You can find it at the developer’s own shop and SimMarket for $15.23 plus applicable VAT.

Following a rare one-day break Atlus resumed its daily trailers of the upcoming JRPG Soul Hackers 2, focusing on one of the demons that will be featured in the game.

This time we get to take a look at Cerberus, one a demon which originally debuted in the popular Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne and which also appeared in the recent Shin Megami Tensei V.

Like most daily trailers, we also get the daily horoscope, which sees Pisces at the top of the fortune ranking and Virgo at the bottom.

You can check the video out below.

Soul Hackers 2 releases for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC (Steam and Windows Store) on August 26, just one day after the Japanese launch on August 25.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am honored to be your host as we look back at the best community-created works from the last week. If you are reading this during the weekend, be aware that the Giant Bomb staff and community are running an emergency community fundraiser for the National Network of Abortion Funds! Expect plenty of exciting streams all weekend, which you can watch in the Giant Bomb chat! If you want a schedule of the planned events, feel free to check out the announcement thread. Also, please click the team page and help out some of the people on the team still looking for their first donation!

The Giant Bomb staff were active around the internet beyond your regularly scheduled content this week.

• Jess and Jeff Grubb were guests on a RiffTrax livestream where they played more of the RiffTrax video game.
• Jeff Bakalar was a guest on a recent episode of Nextlander's Never Been a Better Podcast! For that particular Nextlander podcast, you need to be a $10 or more contributor to their Patreon.

Finally, last weekend marked the 9th anniversary of the passing of Ryan Davis. In the Tweets section you will find a handful of touching tributes to one of the original members of Giant Bomb. Consider sharing your memories of the man in the tribute thread linked.

Team Fortress 2 has received another update, one which apparently addresses "exploits and stability issues" with Valve's aging but popular shooter. It's the second TF2 update in as many weeks after the game's players began protesting a lack of action to address the large number of exploits plaguing the game.

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2022 is the year of golf, specifically wacky golf. Cursed To Golf leads the pack: it's a 2D club 'em up in which you're attempting to escape golf purgatory with the aid of supernatural power-ups. A new trailer brings news of its release date next month.

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Hitman 3 and its closely-related predecessors already contain more murder sandboxes than I can handle, but IO Interactive continue to add more for free. Later this month, Hitman 3 receives Ambrose Island, a tropical island home to a "dangerous pirate syndicate" and whole new level level for Agent 47 to wreak his sneaky havoc within.

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Heroes Of The Storm, Blizzard's take on the MOBA, is entering its dotage. In a short news post, Blizzard say they're going to keep the game running, but "there are no plans for new for-purchase content" and future patches will focus on bug fixes.

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Yesterday Japan was shocked by the tragic murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but a relevant game developer had to deal with the proverbial insult on top of injury.

A distasteful joke that originated on the internet included pictures of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima, misidentifying him as Abe-san’s murderer.

Unfortunately, as it often happens in this case, the prank went too far and was actually echoed as accurate by some, including a French politician named Damien Rieu and Greek TV Station ANT1.

While they have since removed the misidentifying media, it’s understandable that this likely caused a lot of grief for Kojima-san.

The death of Shinzo Abe has been a source of extreme shock in Japan, as it threatens the core of the local democratic process, which is firmly rooted in the tradition that sees politicians hold their speeches in close contact with the population, either from the roof of vans and trucks or even on the street, usually with minimal security.

It’s also a tragic hit on the sense of security born from the fact that gun violence is extremely rare in the country.

This caused a strong emotional response in many Japanese people, and being misidentified as the culprit very likely made the experience even more shocking for Hideo Kojima.

While the developer has not responded on his personal social media accounts at the moment of this writing, his studio, Kojima Productions, did.

While the response does not name names or the specific case, it “strongly condemns” the spread of fake news and information, going as far as threatening legal action, as you can see below.

DNF Duel is another fighting game made in collaboration with powerhouse Arc System Works. For those who are fairly deep into the early MMORPG scene or play a lot of Korean MMOs, Dungeon Fighter Online remained a staple since its original release in the mid-2000s. Arc System Works adapted the core strengths of this title and incorporated its signature style into what turned into an exciting and approachable fighter.

Ark System Works managed to retain the essence of each of the original classes from Dungeon Fighter Online in DNF Duel. I was particularly surprised at how well the Ranger, which was my main during the short period of time I played the MMORPG, translated into a fighting game. Staple attacks from the MMO appear in his move list, with animations almost identical to the sweeping kick he can perform.

Each animation is particularly punchy, with snappy, over-exaggerated movements making each action feel particularly dynamic. In retrospect, it almost feels natural that a fighting game would somehow manifest from the Dungeon Fighter Online series. Arc System Works nails the general feel of each of these classes. Every character looks good and works well. The Hitman is the standout for me among the roster. Mostly because I loved his design, his ability to balance medium range projectiles (which are really just short bursts of rounds sprayed from his SMG), and the long, sweeping slashes of his sword.

Kadokawa released the trailer of the second cour of the popular romantic comedy anime A Couple of Cuckoos.

The trailer has the obvious summery theme, with swimsuits, yukata, and fireworks, which are very common elements in this kind of story when the summer months hit.

The second cour of the anime will immediately follow the first (which is currently airing), and it’ll debut on July 23.

Western viewers will be able to continue enjoying the anime on Crunchyroll which is currently airing the first cour.

You can check out the trailer below, alongside the embeds of the credits-less opening and ending songs (“Glitter” performed by Sumika and “HELLO HELLO HELLO” by Eir Aoi), which will debut next week on July 16.

Yes, there are actually that many!

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Star Trek should’ve let Captain Pike suffer more

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A new leak has given us an early peek at what games may be coming to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium next month.

According to ResetEra's BlackBate - a mysterious poster who's correctly leaked games ahead of schedule before - it looks like subscribers to Sony's top two PS+ tiers will see the following games join the collection: Stray (which ties in with what we already knew), FFVII Remake Intergrade + FF7R EPISODE INTERmission, Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag, Assassin's Creed Unity, Assassin's Creed Rogue Remastered, Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry, Assassin's Creed The Ezio Collection, and Saints Row IV: Re-Elected.

BlackBate reckons the games will join the PS Plus library on 19th July - yes, Stray's release date - and states that these are only "some of the games", perhaps hinting there are more to come.

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Award-winning writer and narrative designer Anna Megill has taken over as narrative lead on Playground Games' Fable reboot.

Megill - who was previously lead writer for the project and is who we have to "thank" for those nightmareish puppets in Control - made the announcement on Twitter, saying she had some "exciting news to end the week".

Megill's CV is an impressive one, featuring story-rich games such as Control - for which she was also narrative lead - Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, and Ubisoft's upcoming Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

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2K Games and Firaxis Games revealed a new trailer of the tactical game Marvel’s Midnight Suns. dedicated to one of its playable characters.

The character showcased today is the first Avenger, Steve Rogers A.K.A. Captain America.

Of course, his gameplay is focused on his shield, but this doesn’t make him a purely defensive character. He can generate Block and then use it to unleash massive damage.

His “Taunt” ability allows him to protect his allies as any good tank should do.

We also see how the player-created hero Hunter can grow their friendship with Captain America to increase his effectiveness in combat.

His shield also gives Captain America the ability to knock enemies back.

You can build heroism during gameplay to play heroic cards, and the Captain’s most expensive card of that type is Shield Charge, which turns Block into pure damage dealt to all the enemies in a line pattern, as mentioned above.

You can enjoy the trailer below.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns is coming on October 7, 2022, for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

League of Legends will soon launch a brand new Star Guardian event, and today Riot Games released a new animated trailer.

The event starts on July 14 promising “a star-studded music collab, new stellar skins, Nilah’s epic arrival, out-of-this-world event experiences, and more.”

If you’re wondering about Nilah, she’s a new character revealed back in June.

Star Guardian is one of the most iconic event series in Riot Games’ popular MOBA League of Legends, and it has been going on for quite a while, bringing forth obvious anime inspirations and lots of magical girl-inspired skins for popular characters.

The new trailer features well-known heroines and likely several hints to what we can expect from the event, albeit Riot Games is holding its card close to its collective chest.

Below you can watch the trailer alongside another video featuring the official orchestral theme of the event.

From The Boys to Black Adam, we’re obsessed with the idea of evil Superman

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The late 90s were many things - but for me, it was all about Pentium PCs and Windows 98. That being the case, I was delighted to learn that the DOSBox Pure RetroArch core had recently received support for the venerable OS, opening the door to a range of classic PC games that can now run on today's Microsoft console hardware. Quake, Half-Life, Turok: The Dinosaur Hunter, Command and Conquer... put simply, any Win98 game is now available to play on Xbox Series hardware and there's even emulated support for 3dfx Voodoo Graphics too.

Be prepared for a lot of installing, however, via a somewhat torturous procedure. That starts with an unusual workaround to get the RetroArch emulation system installed on Xbox, which in turn runs DOSBox Pure. I used this video guide to get going, without the need for developer mode. Once you have DOSBox Pure running on your Xbox console, you also need to - get this - install Windows 98 itself. It was a surreal moment to install this 20th century operating system on a vintage 2020 Microsoft console, but this must surely be the bright future that Bill Gates envisaged back in the day... but perhaps not in such a user-unfriendly manner. All software, including Win98 itself, has to be sourced and loaded via RetroArch's support for disc ISOs. I chose the FTP approach in beaming these ISOs across from my PC to my Xbox consoles - unfortunately, the more logical approach of the Xbox optical drive isn't possible.