Destin Legarie Podcast | Save State Plus

Huge Xbox news today from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. Platinum Trophies! Xbox is rolling out several long-requested console improvements, including party and game chat audio in captures, better achievement sorting, cloud-save restoration, and larger wishlists. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma also teased a new achievement reward similar to PlayStation’s Platinum Trophy for later this year.Meanwhile, reports claim Microsoft’s next Xbox could support games across all five generations, although that backward-compatibility detail remains unconfirmed. Xbox also surprised players with Quake: Dawn of the Machine, a free new episode created by MachineGames and released for existing Quake owners.After years of criticism, is Xbox finally listening to its core audience and rebuilding the console experience?

Beast of Reincarnation is finally here, and Game Freak’s new action RPG is unlike anything the Pokémon developer has made before. After spending time exploring its post-apocalyptic Japan, fighting alongside Koo, and learning its parry-focused combat system, I’m sharing my early review thoughts with Sarthe.The game combines fast katana combat with command-based abilities from your canine companion, creating something that feels inspired by games like Sekiro, NieR: Automata, and Stellar Blade while still trying to establish an identity of its own.Here’s what I think works, what still concerns me, and whether Beast of Reincarnation is worth playing.Beast of Reincarnation launched August 4, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. It is also available through Xbox Game Pass.

Xbox is developing a new Disc-to-Digital program designed to let players use physical Xbox One and Xbox Series game discs across the wider Xbox ecosystem, including devices without disc drives.
According to information sent to ID@Xbox publishers, players insert an eligible disc into an Xbox One or Xbox Series X console with an optical drive. Xbox then grants a digital license connected to both the player’s account and the physical disc. That game can subsequently follow the player to other supported Xbox devices.

Xbox is testing a new ad-supported way to play games through Xbox Cloud Gaming without paying for a Game Pass subscription. I tried the experience with Gears of War to see how the ads work, how well the game performs through the cloud, and whether this could become a legitimate alternative to buying an Xbox console.The current Xbox Insider test allows players to stream select games they already own in one-hour sessions. Ads appear before the session rather than interrupting gameplay, but the actual experience still depends heavily on streaming quality, latency, image clarity, and your internet connection.In this video, I break down what worked, what didn’t, and whether Xbox’s free ad-supported streaming model feels like the future of gaming or another compromise.

Xbox and PlayStation outages are offering an unsettling look at gaming’s increasingly all-digital future. During a recent Xbox network outage, some players reported being unable to launch digital games and even certain disc-based games. Microsoft says physical games should not have been affected and blamed a licensing issue that failed to recognize locally stored entitlements. A permanent fix is reportedly being developed. That incident came shortly after a PlayStation Network outage disrupted access to PSN and the Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls open beta. Meanwhile, Sony is moving forward with plans to stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation releases beginning in January 2028, despite the backlash. New games released after that date will instead be sold digitally through the PlayStation Store and retailers, potentially through download codes sold in boxes. In this video, I discuss why these outages expose the risks of an all-digital gaming industry, why buying a game should guarantee meaningful long-term access, and why consumer-protection legislation may now be necessary.