Xbox Game Bar updates and cats in Sea of Thieves announced by Inside Xbox
New tools for PC gamers, more games on Xbox Game Pass and cats in Sea of Thieves were all announced in the latest episode of Inside Xbox.
Following feedback from the gaming community, the Xbox Game Bar on Windows 10 will now support widgets from popular apps such as XSplit’s Gamecaster and Razer’s Cortex. This will allow gamers to access additional functionality without leaving their games, facilitating professional streaming and letting people shut down background spaces, making way for smoother gaming.
Insiders can get access to these widgets today by signing up to the Game Bar flight here, and developers can begin building their own widgets straight away.
Six new games will be added to Game Pass, including independent games from ID@Xbox. Stranger Things 3 (PC), the TV series’ retro, adventure game counterpart, is among those, alongside role-playing games Mistover (PC) and Alvastia Chronicles (PC and console).
Other titles coming to Game Pass include Football Manager 2020 (PC) and Journey to the Savage Planet (console).
The Xbox Game Bar on Windows 10 will now support widgets from popular apps such as XSplit’s Gamecaster and Razer’s Cortex
Updates to Sea of Thieves were also announced, with pirates in the game now able to play as an Emissary for one of the game’s Outpost Trading companies. This gives them an opportunity to earn bigger rewards and compete with counterparts in the Emissary Ledger. They must be cautious, though, as other players will know they have bigger bounties aboard their ships and will hunt them down, as will the new Company: The Reaper’s Bones.
To provide moral support on these missions, players can now adopt a friendly cat – either a scruffy Wildcat, fluffy Ragamuffin or slinky Mau. Outfits and colours can also be chosen for the kittens, so they can best match the player’s ship décor.
The update, named “Ships of Fortune” will be available for all players on April 22.
Finally, Obsidian Game Studios revealed that the survival adventure game Grounded will enter Xbox Game Preview with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Steam Early Access on July 28.
The survival game sees players waking up in their backyard, only to find that they’ve been shrunk to the size of an ant. With many mini dangers, such as man-eating ants, spiders and flying insects, the back garden is no longer fit for sunbathing and players must use everything available to them to survive until a machine can return them to their normal size.
A new trailer and gameplay footage were revealed on broadcast.