Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. He's been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you'll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he's not writing or gaming, there's a good chance he's either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once. Follow him on X (Twitter).
Latest articles by Brendan Lowry

Xbox's Forza Horizon 6 gets its first Festival Playlist next week with 10 new cars
By Brendan Lowry published
Forza Forza Horizon 6 will soon get its first Festival Playlist, and while it's live, players will be able to earn 10 new cars in the hit Xbox racer.

Xbox Game Pass' Subnautica 2 blew up the Steam charts in minutes at its Early Access launch
By Brendan Lowry published
Gaming Subnautica 2 has finally arrived on Xbox, PC, and Xbox Game Pass, and has already become a colossal hit on Steam alone. It's enjoying a huge launch right now.

Microsoft's Xbox CEO Asha Sharma polls nearly 20,000 gamers on the brand's title
By Brendan Lowry published
Xbox Xbox or XBOX? CEO Asha Sharma asked nearly 20,000 fans that question in a recent poll, and their preference for the title of Microsoft's gaming brand was clear.

The amazing Dark Souls 2 path tracing mod is now available to download
By Brendan Lowry published
PC Gaming A long-awaited path tracing mod for Dark Souls 2 has been released publicly, and gives FromSoftware's ARPG a massive graphical glowup.

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic director won't use AI because he's "unimpressed"
By Brendan Lowry published
Gaming Casey Hudson, director of the upcoming RPG Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, has noted its devs have no plans to use AI while making the game.

Here are Xbox's official Forza Horizon 6 release dates and launch times
By Brendan Lowry published
Forza Forza Horizon 6 is releasing in under a week, and ahead of its arrival, Xbox and Playground Games have announced its official release dates and launch times.

Forza Horizon 6 was the best-selling game on Steam last week, well ahead of launch
By Brendan Lowry published
Forza Xbox's Forza Horizon 6 is slated to be one of this year's biggest games, and ahead of its launch, it's become a top seller on the PC gaming store Steam.

Minecraft Java just got two massive multiplayer features we've all wanted for years
By Brendan Lowry published
Minecraft The latest Minecraft Snapshot brings two huge multiplayer features to Java Edition, finally giving it parity with Bedrock Edition in that regard.

Fallout Season 3 just added one of the best actors from my favorite TV show to its cast
By Brendan Lowry published
Bethesda Amazon has announced that for Fallout Season 3, Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad and Westworld fame is joining the show's star-studded cast.

Xbox and PC may get the sequel to this hit PS5 exclusive at launch — its devs are ditching Sony
By Brendan Lowry published
Gaming The dev behind the hit PS5 exclusive Stellar Blade is going independent and making a sequel — and it sounds like the series could be headed to Xbox.

Microsoft and Xbox hardware ban a Forza Horizon 6 pirate for 8,000 years
By Brendan Lowry published
Forza Forza Horizon 6 leaked early and cracked builds are online, but Xbox and Playground Games say you're getting a hardware ban if you're caught playing them.

Helldivers 2 reviews crash to 'Mostly Negative' on Steam after controversial update and AMA
By Brendan Lowry published
Gaming Helldivers 2 players have review bombed the game's Steam reviews to "Mostly Negative," with many extremely frustrated with its current state.

Xbox posts the Forza Horizon 6 launch trailer a week before its Early Access release date
By Brendan Lowry published
Forza A week ahead of Forza Horizon 6's Early Access release date, Xbox has posted the game's official launch trailer — and it's got some neat references.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma vows to deliver Xbox updates every two weeks to "fix the fundamentals"
By Brendan Lowry published
Xbox Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is planning frequent updates for Xbox on both console and PC as part of Microsoft's efforts in "restoring our core."

Microsoft teases a new Xbox dashboard UI for console and PC — here's how it looks
By Brendan Lowry published
Xbox Microsoft seems to be teasing a new Xbox dashboard UI with less ads as it aims to address "a lot of fragmentation within the experience" across devices.

Xbox architect Jason Ronald says we'll see more of Project Helix "later this year"
By Brendan Lowry published
Xbox Microsoft's Xbox architect Jason Ronald says we'll get to see more of the next Xbox console, Project Helix, later this year.

Fallout co-creator says many gamers parrot content creator opinions instead of forming their own
By Brendan Lowry published
Gaming In the age of content creators, Fallout co-creator Tim Cain believes that players increasingly don't think for themselves and parrot influencer opinions.

Halo Infinite's new Gauntlet mode is an absolute blast, and something I've wanted for ages
By Brendan Lowry published
Halo Don't sleep on Halo Infinite's new Gauntlet co-op mode. It's some of the most fun I've had with Halo PvE in ages, and a must-play if you like a challenge.

Subnautica 2 dev says it's still working with publisher Krafton despite Steam page removal
By Brendan Lowry published
Gaming Many believe Subnautica 2 dev Unknown Worlds and publisher Krafton are severing ties, but devs have confirmed that the two are "co-publishing" the title.

Valve laments that the Steam Controller went out of stock instantly, restocks on the way
By Brendan Lowry published
PC Gaming The Steam Controller sold out instantly when it launched this week, but Valve has issued a new statement confirming it's working hard to get a restock.

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic's dev team is full of Mass Effect and KotOR talent
By Brendan Lowry published
Gaming Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic director Casey Hudson announced the game's lead dev team on Star Wars Day, and it's full of KotOR and Mass Effect talent.

Bethesda considered using UE5 for Xbox's Starfield, stuck with Creation Engine to be mod friendly
By Brendan Lowry published
Bethesda A former Bethesda artist has said the studio thought about swapping to Unreal Engine 5 for Xbox's Starfield, but stuck with Creation for its mod support.

New Halo leak claims Xbox is making Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes after Campaign Evolved
By Brendan Lowry published
Halo A new report claims that Xbox and Halo Studios are developing remakes for Halo 2 and Halo 3 that are similar in scope to Halo: Campaign Evolved.

Analysts report exclusive games are the "number one reason" players use consoles like Xbox
By Brendan Lowry published
Xbox New data shows that exclusive games are the "number one reason" people use consoles like Xbox, showing why Microsoft is considering bringing them back.

Xbox's April Update brings awesome improvements to Xbox and PC, including one I've wanted for years
By Brendan Lowry published
Xbox Xbox Series X|S consoles and the Xbox on PC app just got big upgrades to customization and gameplay options, refining the user experience on these platforms.
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