TrueAchievements Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Luke, Heidi and Sean get together to discuss the latest Xbox and PlayStation news.

They cover the pricing and launch date announcements for the Xbox Series X and S, and the PlayStation 5, as well as looking at all the launch titles coming for both systems, and the PS5 game showcase.

Yesterday Microsoft presented their long awaited Xbox 20/20 Games Showcase. It focused entirely on the games we will be able to play on the Xbox Series X and included a number of world premieres, console exclusives, and more.

We've recorded a special edition of the TrueAchievements Podcast to share our thoughts on the Xbox Games Showcase. We touch on most of the games in the event, discussing what we liked, what we didn't, what surprised us, and finally some predictions for the future.

Welcome to episode three of the TGN podcast. On this week's show, we get into the hot topic of game devs and working hours, we chat about the Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. and the change in direction for the series, Sam explains why he is surprised people are surprised at Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's positive reception, Ollie forgets the time that Sean Bean died in a game before, and I get excited over John Marston's short cameo appearance in the Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer, and we discuss what we're hoping to see at XO 2018 and what genres the Xbox really needs. We also give you the chance to win an Xbox One game code (leave us a comment in the thread below to enter), discuss this week's ID@Xbox streams, and answer your questions, including the question of the week. 

• Red Dead: 100 Hour Work Week, Employees Talk About Conditions
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Launch Trailer Released
• Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. Release Date and Info
• Kill Sean Bean in HITMAN 2
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Review
• Spider-Man Getting 2 New Trophies in NG+ Update
• PS4Share Forum
• [UPDATE] Five Titles Leaving Xbox Game Pass at the End of October 2018
• September 2018 Delistings: Forza Horizon 2, Telltale, NBA, and Some Relistings
• Crysis, Crysis 2 and Crysis 3 Now Backward Compatible
• Four More Xbox 360 Titles Are Now Enhanced on the Xbox One X
• CoD: Black Ops 4 Achievement Challenge in Association with Turtle Beach
• Giveaway: Xbox Wireless Controller – Grey/Blue (UK ONLY)
• Win a Copy of Red Dead Redemption 2

In a TA podcast first, Jack put aside every version of Bioshock 2 and stopped stacking Batman games to try out the latest iteration in the Resi Evil franchise, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, before anyone else, and we were also joined once again by our Editorial Manager, Mark, who shared his thoughts on the recently remastered Bioshock trilogy, Mafia III and Watch_Dogs 2.

On today's show, Rich shares details on an exciting new site development that should hopefully be going live later today, we share our thoughts on Candleman, the beautifully designed platformer that released this week via the ID@Xbox program, we get a rundown of the games Rich and Jack have streamed over the past week and find out which hipster songs Mark likes to sing in the shower. We also take a look at the biggest news stories from the past week, look at the games coming our way next week, and answer your questions.

• Dead Rising 4 to Receive Harder Difficulties, Free Costumes and One Hour Trial
• GTA Online Double Rewards Event, Last Chance to Transfer Last-Gen Characters
• Gears of War 4's Social Quickplay Now Crossplay Between Xbox One and Windows 10
• Dead by Daylight Announced for Consoles
• For Honor Open Beta Announced
• Final Fantasy XV's First Story DLC Dated
• Stardew Valley Patch Fixes Crashes
• The Elder Scrolls Online's Morrowind Expansion Detailed
• Meet Rainbow Six Siege's Jackal Plus a Free Play Weekend
• Stuntman: Ignition, Mad Tracks and JUJU Now Backwards Compatible

From next week, we'll be giving away two Xbox One download codes per show. One will be awarded to the person who submits the question of week, and entry for the second contest announced in the show.

It's been another busy week of gaming for the TrueAchievements podcast crew. We've streamed another five ID@Xbox games on our new Beam channel, Rich got hands-on time with an early build of DiRT 4 at yesterday's launch event and we've been earning lots of score to stay in GTASC.

On this show, we talk about the new Xbox update that is available to some Insiders and what that means for snapped achievements and the TrueAchievements app, Rich gets wood in Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition and why I've been playing Madden NFL games. We also take a look at the biggest news stories from the past week, look at the games coming next week, and answer your questions.

• We Are Switching Our Live Streams to Beam - Here's Next Week's Schedule
• February's Games with Gold Announced
• Play Free-to-Play Games and Get Rewarded with Xbox's New FREEdom Rewards
• New Xbox One Update Hits First Wave of Insiders
• Battlefield 3 & Bad Company 2 in the EA Access Vault, More Additions on the Way
• Square Enix And Marvel Announce Multi-Game Partnership
• DiRT 4 Announced for June Release
• Prey To Be Released On May 5th
• Alice: Madness Returns Now Backwards Compatible
• Shadows Of The Damned And Rocket Knight Coming To Backwards Compatibility

Welcome to the 53rd episode of the TrueAchievements Podcast, where despite the lack of any big games so far this year, we've managing to keep ourselves busy with games from our backlogs and the varied line-up of games releasing via the ID@Xbox program.

On this week's show, Rich and Jack discuss in detail their impressions of the five ID@Xbox games that they've been streaming over on our Twitch channel and why we're switching things up and moving to our new Beam channel from Monday, we talk about the other games we've been playing from our backlog including; how Payday 2: Crimewave Edition has improved in the months since its release, why Jack should pay attention to the story in Life Is Strange and the joys of easy GameScore in Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition, as well as taking a look at some of the big news stories from the past seven days, we take a look at the games that will be coming our way next week, and answer your questions.

• 2016 Leaderboards - How Did You Do?
• Game Of The Year 2016 - Stat Round Up
• Micro Machines World Series Announced for Xbox One
• Kitty Powers' Matchmaker Announced for Consoles
• I Am Bread Announced for Xbox One
• Age of Empires: Castle Siege Comes to Android
• Overwatch's Next Holiday Event is the Lunar/Chinese New Year
• Battleborn's Extensive Winter Update Lands Next Week

We go through this week's biggest news announcements, what we've been playing to hopefully stay past week one of this year's GTASC, take a look at what games will be coming our way next week, and answer your questions.

• Scalebound Has Been Cancelled
• New Xbox One Controller Colors Announced
• Elite: Dangerous Gets First Alien Contact
• Injustice 2 Release Date Announced
• For Honor Closed Beta Weekend Approaches
• ID@Xbox on Twitter
• ID@Xbox on Beam

Happy new year podcast listeners! Hopefully, our double length end of year review show meant that you didn't miss us too much over the holiday period.

On this week's show, we take a look at this year's Game of the Year winners, take a look at our 1 Billion achievement unlocks milestone and talk about the games we've been playing over the past couple of weeks. We also go through all of the big stories since the turn of they year, take a look at what games will be coming our way next week, and answer your questions.

• Mass Effect: Andromeda Arriving in March
• RiME Coming To Xbox One
• [UPDATE] 'Tis the Season to be Delisted: More Xbox Games Removed from the Store
• Diablo III's Anniversary Update and Event Now Live
• Seven New Vehicles Available in Forza Horizon 3
• The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth's Afterbirth+ Set for Console Launch This Spring
• Killer Instinct Will See a New Fighter
• Old Time Hockey Kicks Off The New Year with a Teaser

For the final episode of 2016, Rich, Jack and I were joined by Editorial Manager, Mark, as we take a look back at all the biggest news stories, site announcements and games from the past 12 months, as well as taking a look at what's to come in 2017.

Thanks for listening, sending in questions and providing feedback on the show throughout the past year. We'll see you in 2017.

• The TrueAchievements Game of the Year 2015
• 2015 Leaderboards - How Did You Do?
• I'm Getting Too Old For This
• Fable Legends Cancelled; Lionhead Studios May Close
• New Game and Achievement Notifications
• Microsoft's Vision for The Future - Where's the Benefit?
• Call of Duty: Consumer Warfare
• Microsoft is Retiring the Xbox 360 Console
• Homepage and News Story Redesign
• Play Anywhere Confirmed for ALL Future Microsoft-Published Titles
• TA Top Five: Absurd Xbox One Achievement Lists
• The Long, Silent Death of the JRPG
• Backwards Compatibility Is One Year Old - Has It Been A Success?
• TrueAchievements Game of the Year Awards

With the holiday season now almost upon us, today's podcast marks our 50th show (excluding specials) overall, and the final "regular" show of 2016. Have no fear, however, because we will be back next Friday with an end of year special where we'll run down all of the biggest news, games and site updates from the past 12 months with a special guest.

On this week's show, we get behind the wheel of the new "Blizzard Mountain" expansion in Forza Horizon 3, discuss the fifth and final episode of BATMAN – The Telltale Series, discover the joys of fishing and parsnip farming in Stardew Valley and go retro with Sky Force Anniversary. We also go through all of the big news stories, we take a look at the games that will be coming our way next week, and answer your questions.

• TrueAchievements Game of the Year Awards
• The Great TrueAchievement Score Challenge 2017
• Xbox One Update Increases Download Speeds Substantially
• The Walking Dead - A New Frontier's Official Launch Trailer
• Forza Horizon 3's Blizzard Mountain Out Now, Trailer Revealed
• Battlefield 1's First Free Map Previewed
• The BioShock Trilogy is Now Backwards Compatible
• Six Titles Heading To Backwards Compatibility Today
• YouTube Livestream Playlist
• True IDatXbox - our new account where we stream all the latest ID@Xbox releases