Ming-Na Wen has been a hugely valuable addition to the Disney Plus Star Wars sandbox, with the actress bringing her winning blend of steely determination and natural badassery to the role of Fennec Shand. Equal parts ass-kicker and tightly-coiled ball of barely-contained fury, the stoic bounty hunter has provided an excellent foil to The Mandalorian‘s disparate band of rogues and thieves so far.
The 57 year-old is taking second billing to Temuera Morrison in The Book of Boba Fett, the spinoff series that was confirmed for a December 29 premiere yesterday. The dynamic duo are poised to take Tatooine’s criminal underworld by storm, and we’re already feeling sorry for anyone who gets in their way.
Disney has increasingly been awarding the green light to sequels for live-action remakes of the studio’s animated classics, which is corporate synergy at its finest. Emma Stone’s Cruella de Vil will be returning for another adventure, Angelina Jolie’s third Maleficent already has a script and Barry Jenkins’ follow up to The Lion King is gathering a cast as we speak, but official news on another Aladdin has been hard to come by.
Guy Ritchie’s blockbuster earned over a billion dollars at the box office, even if reviews weren’t universally glowing. Perhaps the most surprising thing about Aladdin was that Will Smith’s Genie was arguably the best thing about it, despite all of the backlash and negativity during the buildup that described his big blue alter ego as the stuff of nightmares.
Mere hours had passed since James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli revealed earlier this week that the casting search for the next iteration of the iconic secret agent would begin in 2022 before Henry Cavill found himself trending, with the internet once again backing the erstwhile Superman and Sherlock Holmes as 007.
It’s something he’s become accustomed to over the years, especially when everyone knows he came agonizingly close to landing the role last time out, before Casino Royale director Martin Campbell opted to go with Daniel Craig instead. Of course, the vacancy is coming up once again, so Cavill’s name has instantly returned to the forefront of the conversation.
Today Xbox returned to the Tokyo Game Show 2021 virtual stage to celebrate the latest regionally relevant news for our fans in Japan and across the Asia region.
‘We’ll always have games’ was the theme of this year’s show, and we continue to be humbled and inspired by the power of games to connect our community around the world. Today, we were excited to showcase how we offer players more freedom to play the games they want, with the people they want, on the devices they choose through the launch of Xbox Cloud Gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in Japan.
With appearances from Forza Horizon 5, Bethesda’s Todd Howard with Starfield, a showcase of Japanese Minecraft creators, a fireside chat with Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, and Shinji Mikami, Head of Tango Gameworks, and a variety of third-party updates including Sarah Bond, Head of Creator Experience and Ecosystem unveiling Bandai Namco Entertainment’s SCARLET NEXUS available to play now with Xbox Game Pass globally, the Tokyo Game Show 2021 Xbox Stream had something for everyone. Here is a roundup of the news and content we shared with our fans during the Xbox Live Stream:
Xbox Cloud Gaming launches in Japan, Australia, Brazil and Mexico
Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, and Kareem Choudhry, Head of Cloud Gaming, shared that Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is officially launching in four new markets – Japan, Australia, Brazil and Mexico – starting tomorrow.
The evolution of Xbox Cloud Gaming means that players can now decide how they want to play, whether on PC, mobile device or tablet. Over 100 games in the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate library are localized and will be playable from launch on October 1.
For more details on the Xbox Cloud Gaming launch, please read our full post.
Cloud Celebration with Japanese Minecraft Creators
We were proud to celebrate Japan’s Minecraft creator community with a fun showcase of Minecraft Dungeons through Cloud Gaming to demonstrate the new ways to play across devices such as PC, tablet and mobile.
Forza Horizon 5 reveals PC specs
PC fans were given a taste of what they can expect from Forza Horizon 5. Players will soon experience breath-taking expeditions across the vibrant and ever-evolving open-world landscapes of Mexico with limitless, fun driving action in hundreds of the world’s greatest cars in the latest and greatest iteration of the series to date. The game’s PC specs can be found at ForzaMotorsport.net.
Mike Brown, Creative Director of Forza Horizon 5 at and Ben Thaker-Fell, Principal Game Designer from Playground Games showcased a demo on the new Surface devices. Players can explore Mexico beginning on November 9 when Forza Horizon 5 releases for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC on Windows and Steam, and Xbox Game Pass including console, PC and Cloud Gaming (Beta) with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (where available).
Commitment to Japanese creators and PC gaming experience on Windows 11
Sarah Bond, Head of Xbox Creator Experience and Ecosystem, took to the stage to discuss our commitment to creators in Asia, sharing that Xbox is partnered with over 200 independent developers based in Japan through our ID@Xbox program, providing a stage for exciting indie games and experiences to come to our platform in the future. Many of these games can be discovered with Xbox Game Pass.
We also provided a look into gaming with the new Windows 11 beginning October 5. Games can look better than ever thanks to Auto HDR, a unique capability with Windows 11 which automatically updates your games’ lighting and color from standard dynamic range (SDR) to high dynamic range (HDR). Windows 11 can also soon load your games faster, thanks to the technology DirectStorage. This means you’ll get to experience incredibly detailed game worlds, without long load times.
New Content Coming to Xbox Game Pass: SCARLET NEXUS and more
We also showcased an array of exciting titles, including SCARLET NEXUS, Back 4 Blood, AI: Somnium Files and Mighty Goose which will be available with Xbox Game Pass.
We announced that fans will be able to play SCARLET NEXUS today with Xbox Game Pass from the award-winning team at Bandai Namco Entertainment in Japan. The title is playable on console, PC, tablet and Cloud Gaming, where available, with touch controls.
A Brand-New Back 4 Blood Trailer
Click the image above to view the trailer on YouTube.
From Turtle Rock Studios, the critically acclaimed team behind the Left 4 Dead franchise and published by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment showed off more of Back 4 Blood, a thrilling cooperative first-person shooter launching on day one with Game Pass on October 12.
Bethesda announces full Japanese localization for Starfield: Bethesda Game Studios biggest localization in history, and Redfall
Starfield is the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4.
Todd Howard, executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, shared that Starfield will be localized into Japanese and will be the largest translation project in Bethesda’s history, incorporating over 300 actors and over 150,000 lines of dialogue. Starfield arrives exclusively on Xbox Series X|S and PC on November 11, 2022. Play it day one on Game Pass.
Harvey Smith, studio director of Arkane Austin, also confirmed full localization and language support for Redfall, the immersive open-world FPS that brings the studio’s signature gameplay to the co-operative action and FPS genres. Redfall arrives Summer 2022 exclusively on Xbox Series X|S and PC, and will be available day one on Game Pass.
Phil Spencer and Tango Gameworks founder Shinji Mikami discuss the present and future of gaming in a fireside chat
With over three decades of experience in the gaming industry, Tango Gameworks founder Shinji Mikami has introduced fans to legendary games like Vanquish, The Evil Within, and the iconic Resident Evil franchise.
Mikami-san sat down with Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, to engage in a candid discussion on the present and future of creativity and game development in Japan.
Exciting Third-Party Title Updates: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV and more
Our showcase revealed more from the teams behind Eiyuden Chronicles, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Re:Legend, Ghostrunner and THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV .
Marvel fans were also treated to Square Enix’s upcoming Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game. The trailer showcased the incredible Marvel universe created by the developer team, giving us a strong glimpse into the wild ride of legendary characters, colorful backdrops and 80s mixtape madness that fans can expect at launch this October.
New experiences coming to Xbox from independent developers in Asia
The ID@Xbox team also spotlighted independent titles from the region set to arrive with Xbox Game Pass through the acclaimed program, sharing trailers for must-have titles from developers and publishers. Indie titles from Japan and Korea such as Craftopia, The Good Life, RPG Time, Mighty Goose, Lapin, Unsouled and Eternal Return were also on display.
We’re incredibly excited about everything that’s on the horizon for Xbox, and we are humbled by the growth of our Xbox community in Japan and across the wider Asia region. We look forward to welcoming even more players and creators to join Xbox this holiday and beyond.
Related: Xbox Cloud Gaming Launches in Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Mexico Echo Generation Arrives with Xbox Game Pass on October 21 Microsoft Flight Simulator Releases First Aircraft in the “Local Legends” Series Today with Junkers JU-52
At Xbox, our mission is simple: bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. To achieve that, we aspire to empower everyone to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want.
We are creating a future that combines the gaming heritage of Xbox and the power of Azure. A future where we bring high fidelity, immersive games to more than 3 billion players around the world. We’re now taking another step forward to reach that vision: Xbox Cloud Gaming as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is launching in Brazil and Mexico later today, and Australia and Japan on October 1, as announced at Tokyo Game Show.
With this launch, players in each of these countries can play over 100 Xbox Game Pass titles that are cloud-enabled and localized for their country on supported Windows PCs, Android phones and tablets, and Apple phones and tablets. This means players have the ability to continue their Gears 5 campaign on an entry-level laptop even if it’s not a gaming rig, jump into a Sea of Thieves game with a friend using just an iPhone, or try out a brand-new title on an Android tablet. Players in these countries will also be able to play highly-anticipated upcoming Game Pass titles like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and Back 4 Blood from the cloud.
With the expansion of Xbox Cloud Gaming to gamers in Australia, Brazil, Japan and Mexico, we’re now opening the opportunity for over one billion people in 26 countries across five continents to be able to play Xbox Game Pass games from the cloud on their phones, tablets and PCs. Since cloud gaming is powered by custom Xbox Series X consoles, that means these games are being played on an Xbox in the cloud, bringing faster load times and improved frame rates to the gameplay experience.
While cloud gaming supports a range of controllers, we also want to be sure all players feel welcome or can play if they find themselves without a controller. To do so we’ve built support for touch controls on select games like Minecraft Dungeons and Hades, with more games gaining touch support over time.
This journey to bring Cloud Gaming to these four new countries has been a true community partnership. As we’ve tested through our preview program, we have learnt so much from the gamers who participated. Thanks to players in Brazil, who filled our cloud gaming servers even before we announced our Preview launch. And gamers in Mexico who made Gears 5 our most played game in preview. In Australia and Japan, it has been awesome to see the embrace of touch controls with Minecraft Dungeons. We simply wouldn’t be here today without this partnership, thank you.
To learn more about Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) and how to get started, visit xbox.com/cloudgaming.
Related: Tokyo Game Show 2021 Recap: Xbox Cloud Gaming Launches in Japan Xbox Game Pass Members Assemble! Marvel’s Avengers Coming September 30 September Xbox Update: Play Later Discovery, Updated Microsoft Edge, and More
