Xbox Celebrates 25 Years With Designs, FanFest Dates (Gaming Roundup)

Xbox is celebrating 25 years of play with new updates, neighborhood designs, curated Game Pass collections and the FanFest Tour schedule. Xbox’s twenty fifth anniversary is Nov. 15.

In partnership with neighborhood creators Klobrille and Ben Kenobi, Xbox is publishing a set of gamerpics, backgrounds and a dynamic console theme. The assortment is out there right this moment.

Beginning right this moment, gamers who signal into their Xbox account on console, PC or the cellular app will obtain the Xbox twenty fifth Anniversary profile badge, accessible by means of the tip of 2026.

Curated Game Pass collections convey collectively video games from franchises that outlined every Xbox technology, accessible on console and PC. Included are titles like “Fable Anniversary,” “Halo: The Master Chief Collection,” “Fallout 4” and “Psychonauts 2.”

Xbox FanFest Tour 2026 kicked off on the Xbox Games Showcase in Los Angeles June 7.  The tour continues Aug. 26 at gamescom in Cologne, Germany,  Sept. 17 throughout Tokyo Game Show in Tokyo, Sept. 26 in London, Oct. 17 in Mexico City, Mexico, Oct. 17 in Sydney, Australia and Nov. 6 in Toronto, Canada. More info is coming quickly for a date in Seattle.

See extra gaming information from this week within the roundup under.

PARTNERSHIPS/COLLABS

Addison Rae is becoming a member of the Fortnite Icon Series beginning Aug. 6.

Coming to the web gaming platform is the Addison Rae Outfit, which options her all-pink outfit from her “Fame is a Gun” music video, full with a sunglass toggle. Also arriving is the Famous Addison Rae Outfit impressed by her on-stage seems, accessible in white, Fame Brite (pink and yellow) and Soda Black.

The musician-turned-influencer can also be introducing two new Jam Tracks and emotes for her singles “Diet Pepsi” and “fame is a Gun.” The Turtle-on-Moon Back Bling and Addison’s Sundae Back Bling may also be bought, together with the Fame Scepter Pickaxe and the reactive Addison’s Biggest Fan Pickaxe.

IN-GAME EVENTS

KRAFTON, Inc. and CurseForge introduced the PUBG: Battlegrounds UGC Contest, a worldwide creator competitors with a $95,000 prize in celebration of the upcoming launch of PUBG: Playgrounds. The contest will launch Aug. 12.

Players and modders can submit unique experiences in three classes: fight, survival and inventive. Thirty profitable modes are deliberate to be launched by means of PUBG: Playgrounds, giving creators a platform to share their work.

Each class includes a $25,000 prize pool, together with a $10,000 first-place award and prizes for the highest 10 entries. Ten further creators will obtain $500 mid-contest prizes, and 6 neighborhood favorites chosen by means of public voting will obtain $2,500 every.

Submissions are open Aug. 12 by means of Sept. 2. Community voting is open Sept. 6-9. Winners might be introduced Sept. 14.

PUBG: Playgrounds is an upcoming recreation hub inside PUBG: Battlegrounds the place gamers can uncover and play community-created experiences. The hub might be accessible by means of the PUBG Play menu and provides player-created mods an in-game dwelling.

TABLETOP/RPG GAMES

Wizards of the Coast introduced Secret Lair Commander Deck: Hatsune Miku, a ready-to-play 100-card Commander deck. 

The digital singer joins the Commander desk for the primary Universes Beyond Secret Lair Commander Deck, which might be headlined by Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice as “Miku, Song of the People.” It will embody one Commander deck, ten double-sided tokens, one Trostani and one deck field.

Thirteen playing cards with new artwork will even be featured within the deck. There might be a 24-hour window to order Secret Lair Commander Deck: Hatsune Miku beginning Monday at 9 a.m. PT and ending Tuesday on the identical time.

“Built around a classic green-white lifegain strategy, Secret Lair Commander Deck: Hatsune Miku plays exactly like a great Miku performance feels: joyful, communal and bigger with every verse,” the Commander deck’s description reads. “Cards like Archangel of Thune, Aetherflux Reservoir, Crested Sunmare, Rhys the Redeemed, Voice of the Blessed, and Mirari’s Wake help players build an ever-growing board state, gain life in huge bursts and transform that life total into a win condition.”