Let’s face it, the majority of current games that are out now or soon-to-be released have some sort of killing or violence in it. The beauty and power of being pulled into the digital worlds of current-gen releases plays a big part in what makes them successful, making you feel as though you are truly playing the character portrayed in the story or, at least to certain degree, role-playing your multiplayer character to a certain persona. It may also be a little more of personal opinion here too, yet that special time we have with games seems to be even more inundated with options that have greater importance on making it seem “real” or more realistic, rather than the more fantasy and magical that gripped the minds of many gamers old and new.

Lost Ember draws you in immediately with its creative and colourful world as you follow the main character (so to speak), a wolf with the ability to control any other animal you come across. Your quest, to find out what happened to a fallen civilisation long gone by exploring the landscapes and ruins left behind.

Dark secrets pave the way to the fall of Machu Kila! The old capitol and hometown of the Inrahsi now lays in ashes, the ruins of the once pompous temples are overgrown by shrubs and trees and nothing remains of the old majesty.

Figure out what happened to the people of Machu Kila and get to know the characters behind its fall.

Well, if a civilisation has been destroyed, maybe there’ll be uncovered stories of violence or killing in here somewhere. But there’s little more information than that available and it’s something that makes the title that little bit more intriguing. It also took Second Place in the Best Newcomer category at the German Videogame Awards (or Deutscher Computerspielpreis if you speak German) this year and the small selection of those that have had a longer play on it have given positive reviews for this story-driven experience so we can’t wait to get our own hand on it! Until then, we’ll keep you updated with the latest and hopefully get more details on when to expect it soon – enjoy the teaser below!

Even before the Xbox One released there were plenty of ways to be able to combine your Xbox Accessories with your PC – I still use my 360 adapter on the odd occasion! Yet the “Xbox Family” has steadily grown since the release of the One with improvements in wireless items having recent Bluetooth additions when looking at the new Xbox Wireless Controller, though the Xbox Wireless Adapter has been a necessary accompaniment to have these run on a PC.

The new Bluetooth Wireless controller comes as a standard with the Xbox One S.

Today, the expansion continues as the first PC with integrated Xbox Wireless is announced in the form of the Lenovo IdeaCentre Y710 Cube. The first in many partner devices will allow all Xbox Wireless accessories to connect to your PC (providing it’s this one!) straight out of the box without any additional dongles or USB adapter thingies sticking out “your pc”. Other partners that are currently being worked with include those at the forefront of accessories; Astro, PDP (Rock Band Guitar), Turtle Beach, HyperX, Lenovo and more; so expect to see other third party items having the Xbox Wireless symbol becoming standard with the Windows 10 merge incoming.

It’s nice and starts at $1,299 – more here

Lower latency, enabled cross-platform play, wireless support for stereo sound and eliminating the need for adapters are all benefits to look forward to with the new hardware but it’ll require some testing to find out how much better the wireless quality really is. For the cube above, it’s the first time the adapter is integrated within the chassis, but Microsoft have bigger plans for the future and hope for direct integration onto PC motherboards with hardware partners.

Another step to continue the all-in-one progress that has continued since the Xbox One released or another item on the ever-expanding Christmas you may never get? Let us know below.

Warhammer Vermintide has been a bit of a hit on Steam since it originally released in October of 2015. Scoring top marks across many different opinion aficionado’s, I’ve also had a bit of playtime on the PC version after my first attraction to it at the EGX Rezzed event back in April (and tried to get information on the upcoming console version!). In its’ simplest terms, it’s Left 4 Dead in the Warhammer universe; with an RPG element of gear and varying difficulties, with a few different classes to play to boot. A more formal description though:

Vermintide is a four player co­op game pitting you against vile and endless Skaven hordes, which have overrun the city of Ubersreik. Players must fight the menace together as four out of five heroes, each with unique play styles, personalities and weapon arsenals. Players are dropped into the deep end of the pool, and the game will have you struggling to stay afloat until you finish the level ­or it finishes you.

Today, we have a confirmed date for the console version of October 4th 2016 with a little of the press release below.

“More than half a million PC gamers have already taken Vermintide to their heart, and this fall it’s time for console players to do the same. The consoles will get an extended version that includes all DLCs released for the PC version to date” says Martin Wahlund, CEO at Fatshark, and continues”. We are over the moon to be working with Nordic Games on this release as their experience and expertise are incomparable.”

“The combination of Fatshark and Warhammer seems too good to be true. We do have quite a few fanboys in our team, who played Krater, Lead and Gold, and – of course – also played the hell out of Warhammer Vermintide on PC. To say we are stoked to work with Fatshark on Warhammer Vermintide for consoles and the physical edition for PC is the understatement of 2016 in my book” comments Reinhard Pollice, Business and Product Development Director at Nordic Games.

So what will you get with the game? Well, there’s the addition of their “super challenging” Last Stand mode with two additional maps (think Halo Firefight/COD Zombies) as well as the Sigmar’s Blessing and Drachenfels DLC. So they’re not holding back wit ha stripped-down version, oh no, they’re giving you a healthy portion and then some. But what’s really got my anti-vermin blood going is that this is no ordinary PC port. Speaking to one of the developers at the aforementioned EGX Rezzed this year, they understood the complications and, shall we say, less-than-optimised alterations that a port from PC can include. Because of this, they regrew the game from the ground up to make sure it was made for consoles. No buggy controller issues or hotkey combinations, instead something that felt like it was an original member of the console family. We’ll also make sure to have a full review of the game closer to the time but until then, the console trailer follows.

Before you get ready to slash some oversized rats and alike, make sure you…

Kerbal Space Program isn’t exactly rocket science. Say what? Calm down, maybe it is, and in this particular instance pretty darn accurate too. With an eclectic mix of realistic orbital physics; from air resistance, gravitational pull and Newtonian dynamics (you might wanna Google that one); with witty humour around a humanoid race that stresses little importance to health and safety, this original space-explorer smashes that final frontier with as big a rocket as inhumanly possible.

The setting is loosely based on our own solar system and includes a total of 8 planets and 9 moons all with individual characteristics from size and mass (and therefore gravitational pull), atmosphere and landscapes. Kerbol (Earth) is where your story begins and, depending on which game mode you delve into first, missions range from simply getting off the ground safely to piloting ships around the cosmos and all the planetary presences within it.

The game originally released on Steam Early Access back in June of 2011 and if you take some time out to watch some videos (we’ll have one up soon by the way!) or get your hands on a copy anyway, there have been some major overhauls in physics and the sheer number of creative options in your armory. It was finally “officially released” in April 2015 and has now arrived on Xbox One, as of 15th July 2016. A lot of its adolescence has been spent on the mouse and keyboard and that certainly shows in some of the button combinations needed for particular commands. This is where one of the few criticisms is apparent – it is a port and, although it’s a damn good one, some functions can be a little tricky with a sometimes over-reactive joystick. Having played both versions for many hours, actual creation and flying  especially does feel easier rather than having to hit a multiple of 8+keys on the keyboard, so it’s only a minimal complaint.

The gameplay itself could certainly tick a number of boxes on a genre list. The freestyle sandbox element was the original and only version during early access and the rest of the game has been built around that pillar. Every part has its purpose, from a range of fuel tank sizes to communication arrays – and construction can easily lead to larger ships surpassing hundreds of parts. Sandbox lets you build with whatever the game has to offer but if you’re just getting started, beginning with the tutorials and then moving onto the Science game mode may be a good idea. This adds a small element of RPG with parts becoming unlocked via a gained resource, Science, which can be obtained by completing tasks and activities. It also eases you into the game with a slowly increasing catalogue of items so you get a better understanding of what pieces actually do. Career drops you into the hardcore science fanatic zone and, depending on the difficulty you set it at, is the most brutal. The biggest difference here is the addition of contracts; in-game missions which can usually require you to meet restricted criteria during a flight. For example, testing (ie. igniting) a rocket at a certain altitude while going a certain speed can mean having to retry from launch a number of times.

That’s a Rover right there, you just have to get it there!

Contracts reward you with one of three rewards or resources. Funds can be spent on rockets, building upgrades and astronaut employment (oh yes, if you send Mr Jebediah Kerbin on a mission that leads to him floating around space for the rest of his life, you’ll have to employ another). Reputation is another, and leads to better contracts with greater rewards, as well as some unlocks for buildings, while Science is here again for unlocking new parts.

Delving deeper into what you can do, landing and populating other planets with custom-made moon bases, creating a space station that could dwarf the ISS, or land on everything possible within the Kerbin System (including asteroids) are all loosely directed via missions. But what of pushes this game into its own individual territory is that you are reasonably free to do what you want, especially in Sandbox mode. Want to make the largest rocket possible? Just make sure you’re put enough struts in. There’s so much going on here that you can’t judge this game’s longevity by what’s on offer – only by your imagination and love for building rockets.

Created with the Unity Engine, Kerbals has been both developed and published by a small company based in Mexico; Squad. Previously focusing on digital and interactive services for a range of well-known companies, like Coca-Cola and Sony, KSP is Squad’s debut game. We’re huge – if envious – fans of the breadth of games available to our PC-loving friends. It’s great to see games like this making the leap to console, but at the moment there’s little to compare with Kerbals on the Xbox Store, unless you take Spore into consideration.

So KSP has its niche, and with it being a Top 5 Best Seller on Steam, gaining a number of gaming awards and getting ratings including an 84/100 on OpenCritic, what do we make of it now it’s landed on console?

Well, there are certainly improvements that could be made. The Node system (planning trajectory changes during flights) is one that could do with a little adjusting. And although you won’t be using is straight away, it’s a requirement when leaving orbit and heading off to the stars. During a number of hours play, there have been some occasional system crashes that seem to occur mainly from quick loading and a couple in the VAB – Vehicle Assembly Building. Although this has little long-lasting effects on saved data the initial loading time of the game can mean a 5 minute restart to get back where you were before. We do expect these bugs to be ironed out in the near future too. Finally, the price may dissuade you from what’s technically a five year old game, but in our opinion it’s money well spent!

Kerbal Space Program is available from the Xbox Store now, priced at £31.99.