What a fun week it has been! Plenty of video games, and brand new toys upon which to play them! We chat through it all in the XboxEra Podcast Episode 285!

This week, Jon, Nick and Jesse are joined by the always legendary MVG to chat about the latest in gaming, and as per usual, there's plenty of topics to cover if you're an Xbox fan. On the games to play side of things, we've got plenty of content for you to devour, from our impressions piece on the recent Call of Duty Black Ops 7 beta, to the final, full Battlefield 6 Multiplayer Review.

We're also headfirst into Microsoft's big three for the month, with the absolutely lovely Keeper already out now in Xbox Game Pass. If you've , to be swiftly followed by NINJA GAIDEN 4 and then shortly after that, the awesome looking The Outer Worlds 2. We also finally got to talk about BALL x PIT, which has arrived on Game Pass too. That's a lot of games, and what's even crazier - that's just some of the 50+ games coming to Xbox next week. Madness.
The biggest topic of the week is of course Microsoft and ASUS's foray into Xbox-centric gaming handhelds. The ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X are here, and I got hold of one thanks to the team at Xbox to bring you our verdict on the more powerful version of these two new handheld devices. Is it an Xbox? What does that even mean, anyway? If you're keen for even more Xbox Ally X content, I hosted a quick Q&A for folks, so feel free to tune in and check that out here.
In sad news, this week also saw the passing of a video game industry legend - The father of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, Tomonobu Itagaki died, and quite rightly there was an outpouring of love and support on social media. Thanks for all the great games, Itagaki-san.
All this and more to listen in the XboxEra Podcast Episode 284! As always, if you value what we do, consider supporting us directly on Patreon. Just head to patreon.com/xboxera to make a difference and keep your favourite independent Xbox-focused publication alive – for now, at least!