Minecraft update 1.20, the long-anticipated Trails and Tails update, brings a slew of new features to the best-selling game of all time. What’s new in Trails and Tales? See below.

• New Cherry Blossom Biome
• Archaeology
• Hanging signs
• Sniffer mob
• Bamboo wood set
• Chiseled bookcases
• Camel mob
• Mob sounds player

The Trails & Tales Update is out now!

Ride a camel and hatch a sniffer
Find a cherry grove and dig an archaeology site
Craft with bamboo and trim your armor

It's time to head out there and tell your tale! pic.twitter.com/MqGAumqsLP

— Minecraft (@Minecraft) June 7, 2023

A new biome is always exciting stuff, and the Cherry Grove is arguably one of the prettiest in the entire Overworld. And don’t forget it brings with it a new wood set.

Archaeology brings a whole new dynamic to Minecraft’s gameplay. Buried beneath suspicious sand and suspicious blocks players will find pottery shards, emeralds, bones, sniffer eggs and other loot. See more on the Trails and Tales update here.

Minecraft (Free⁺, Microsoft Store) →

Featured image via Minecraft.net. 

This is not a decorative item, but a real group of agile and dangerous robots.

Meet BEA-D, the new enemy group from the upcoming DLC#1 for #AtomicHeart!

Be careful, because this summer it is you who can become the jewel of their trophy list pic.twitter.com/FXVao43n4n

— @Mundfish #AtomicHeart (@mundfish) June 7, 2023

This is the second trailer for the DLC, the first releasing a month ago in early May. That trailer showcased a new location in the game called “Facility 3826.”

The DLC in question will release sometime this summer, though no specific release date has been announced. It will be the first of four upcoming DLC releases for Atomic Heart. Each of these will reportedly be single-player continuations of the main campaign.

Apparently Mundfish hopes to collaborate with Elon Musk to put Tesla bots in the DLC. There’s no official word yet on whether that idea will bear fruit.

@elonmusk , I am the founder of Atomic Heart. Thanks! Let’s work together to integrate Tesla bots in the upcoming DLC! pic.twitter.com/C46qG418eF

— Robert Bagratuni (@RobertBagratuni) March 10, 2023

Atomic Heart launched to mixed reviews back in February as a day one Xbox Game Pass release.

Atomic Heart (Free, Microsoft Store) →

As per the release notes over on the No Man’s Sky website,

The expedition sees players work alone and as a community to solve the mystery of the damaged Autophage heads found abandoned at harmonic camps…

We don’t want to spoil too much, but Travellers will be invited to unveil a little of the history and origin of the harmonic camps in a mystery that touches upon artificial intelligence, the will to exist, and the very nature of what it means to be alive.

Nada and Polo will be there to support and assist Travellers with the assembly of a robotic Construct, and with a communal goal that may shape the future of the universe…

Free for all platforms, Singularity will run for the next 5 weeks, and  includes new challenges, rewards and more. Among those rewards: a full-body customization set. Players will have to collect and assemble the set’s various parts.

Many more limited-time items and souvenirs will be available. Also, No Man’s Sky update 4.30 also includes a number of stability enhancements and bug fixes.

No Man's Sky (Free, Microsoft Store) →

Featured image via Xbox Wire. 

Welcome back to another OnPodcast show! We’re at episode 116 and we’re talking about all things WWDC 2023.

Thanks, as always, for joining us and see you again next week! Check out https://www.onmsft.com for more Microsoft content.

The announcement was made during Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) a year ago. And now, just ahead of WWDC 2023, Hello Games has made good on that promise with the inclusion of a couple enhancements, notably to the UI and in-game HUD.

No Man’s Sky is available to Mac users via Steam (with no need to pay anything extra for those who already own the game). The game will also be made available in the Mac App Store soon. Mac users will have access to cross saves, and can also cross-play with gamers on Xbox, PlayStation, Windows and VR.

That last brings us to the rumors that Apple’s VR headset, which has been long in the making, will finally be unveiled at this year’s WWDC. Likely today’s No Man’s Sky announcement is in anticipation of this. The game’s VR component is already compatible with PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Valve Index.

No Man's Sky (Free, Microsoft Store) →

Developed by Insomniac Games and originally released in 2021, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is the ninth and latest installment of the long-running and popular platform shooter series. The game is generally positively-reviewed and has been nominated for numerous awards. The franchise celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Steam: https://t.co/MwL2JHgSVi
Epic Games Store: https://t.co/zx9dpw7aJE

— Nixxes Software (@NixxesSoftware) May 30, 2023

As for the Windows port, Nixxes Software will be handling it. An internal team at PlayStation Studios, Nixxes Software specializes in PC ports and was the team responsible for bringing Marvel’s Spider-Man to PC. Sony’s most recent PC conversion—that for The Last of Us Part 1—was considered nothing less than a disaster with the game being plagued by a slew of technical issues at launch. Here’s hoping Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart doesn’t suffer the same fate.

Featured image via PlayStation Blog. 

Welcome back to another OnPodcast show! We’re at episode 115 and we’re talking about all things BUILD 2023.

Then it’s the headlines sections where we cover AI replacing humans, Bing overtaking Baidu in China, Surface Pro X cameras failing, and Windows 11’s latest Insider build.

Thanks, as always, for joining us and see you again next week! Check out https://www.onmsft.com for more Microsoft content.

The beta started back in early 2022 in only a few countries in East Asia. Google Play Games for PC allows users to run some Android games on Windows. There are currently over 100 games available in this beta, among them popular titles like Asphalt 9: Legends, Last Fortress: Underground and others. The games are optimized for PC by Google in partnership with the developers.

You can now play your favorite mobile games on PC! Download Google Play Games now, and enjoy uninterrupted, seamless gaming—no matter the screen: https://t.co/1YJKYYicH2

*Now available in over 40 European countries and New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/1Ymxf14q1K

— Google Play (@GooglePlay) May 24, 2023

Gamers can also still earn Google Play Points and redeem them on PC, via the Google Play Games app. It works the same way as on mobile. The minimum system requirements for Google Play Games on PC are as follows.

• OS: Windows 10 (v2004)
• Storage: Solid state drive (SSD) with 10 GB of available storage space
• Graphics: IntelⓇ UHD Graphics 630 GPU or comparable
• Processor: 4 CPU physical cores (some games require an Intel CPU)
• Memory: 8 GB of RAM
• Windows admin account
• Hardware virtualization must be turned on

While this isn’t the only way to play Android games on Windows (others being Android emulators like BlueStacks and…well, Android Emulator), it is likely the best. Look for Google Play Games on PC to come to even more regions soon.

A recent Game Informer interview shed new light on why Final Fantasy XVI won’t be coming to other platforms for awhile. The subject of the interview, game producer and designer Naoki Yoshida (aka “Yoshi P”) had this to say on the PS5 exclusivity.

Final Fantasy, being one of Square Enix’s very important franchises up there with Dragon Quest and the Kingdom Hearts series – when we do begin development, we do approach multiple platforms, multiple companies, about releasing the game. And when you approach them, they’re going to come back to us with their offers.”

Whether the same terms are put on the table for each of these platforms remains unclear. Square Enix has had a longstanding relationship with Sony going all the way back to the days of the original PlayStation and Sony’s entry into the video game industry.

Anyways, a Windows PC version of Final Fantasy XVI isn’t out of the question once the timed PS5 exclusivity expires. But for Xbox, it remains less likely considering that Final Fantasy 7 Remake never materialized for Microsoft’s console.

Via Forbes.

What a good looking group pic.twitter.com/eDZo8vTXtB

— Xbox (@Xbox) May 24, 2023

• The Talos Principle 2 (2023)
• Ghostrunner 2 (2023)
• Immortals Of Aveum (July 20, 2023)
• Neva (2024)
• Cat Quest: Pirates Of The Purribean (2024)
• Teardown (2023)
• The Plucky Squire (2023)
• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (TBA)
• Alan Wake 2 (October 17, 2023)
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage (October 12, 2023)
• Dragon’s Dogma (TBA)
• Marathon (TBA)

While these are all exciting, there are clearly a few standouts here. Perhaps most notable among them is the remake of Metal Gear Sold 3: Snake Eater. It was previously assumed that the game might be PlayStation exclusive, but it has now been confirmed that the game will also come to Xbox Series X|S consoles as well as PC via Steam.

Throw in an Alan Wake sequel, a new Dragon’s Dogma title and Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Xbox in 2023 just got even more exciting.

Via Forbes. 

Featured image via Pure Xbox.