The biggest announcements from the Xbox Games Showcase 2023 and Starfield Direct

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By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.

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Microsoft just wrapped up its annual summer showcase for Xbox games, and it was a big one. Not only did Microsoft share tons of information about new titles coming to Xbox, but the company also showed a long look at Starfield, Bethesda’s long-awaited sci-fi RPG.

Here’s the biggest announcements from the show.

We got a lot of new info about Starfield during Sunday’s event. First, there was a sweeping new trailer promising grand adventures among the stars and with some footage of how the game will actually play. Then, during the 45-minute Starfield Direct, the development team went into detail about things like character creation, ship-building, companions, space exploration, and more. The game is on September 6th, and if you want some Starfield-themed accessories, you can pick up the new custom controller and headset or get a special watch with the game’s collector’s edition.

Microsoft finally showed more on the newest game in the Fable series. The trailer was pretty offbeat, which should be a relief for fans who love the series for its silliness. There was a brief look at some action as well — a hero tried to stay safe from a giant that was trying to attack them. The trailer didn’t include any sort of release window, though.

During the show, we got a cinematic trailer for a new Star Wars game from Ubisoft, titled Star Wars: Outlaws. The main character in the trailer didn’t appear to be a Jedi — they piloted a ship and wielded a blaster, but didn’t use a