The Rainbow Six series is sort of the antithesis to many modern shooters. It values teamwork, patience, and careful decisions over showmanship and guns-blazing heroics. And while Ubisoft’s upcoming entry to the series, Rainbow Six Siege, takes the game in a new direction, it is still very much a Rainbow Six game in all the best ways. What really sets the Rainbow Six series apart from other games is the tense, heavily teamwork-based missions, and Rainbow Six Siege keeps all of that intact. This is not a game where each player can do their own thing; you need to work together to complete missions. Communication is key, and during our recent play session, every member of the team was constantly chattering, scoping out locations, requesting backup, and keeping teammates posted on the situation. Even with a group of strangers, you’ll likely find yourself adapting quickly to the scenario... and it’s amazing what a bonding experience it is to work so intensely as a team.

Whether it’s the slow string build-up in “Jaws” or the grand blast of fanfare in “Star Wars,” music can not only inspire and captivate fans, but often help define entire franchises in entertainment. However, few franchises in entertainment – and even fewer in gaming – approach the level of prestige and cultural relevance as Halo, with millions of fans growing up to the sounds of Gregorian Monks chanting mysteriously in the background, and heart-pounding cellos pushing players to dive into battle. It’s those epic gameplay moments paired with exquisitely crafted music that defines what Halo means to many fans, and Halo 5: Guardians has these moments in spades. If you can’t hold out to launch, 343 Industries is making the entire Halo 5: Guardians soundtrack available to stream for an entire week.

Over the years, Halo has enjoyed, or endured, depending on your perspective, all sorts of socially cohesive tools. But back in the day, through the moist mists of time to 2001, Halo wasn’t even online. You see back in 2001, Social Media referred to a dirty old newspaper that four hobos had slept in. Back in the day, actual humans used to put hundreds of pounds of CRT televisions into cars and drive them across town to somebody’s wood-paneled basement, and blow out the circuit breakers by playing System Link games (imagine the internet as a series of ACTUAL tubes) right there with each other.

Rock Band 4 has finally hit Xbox One, and the new era of party-game rock-fests has begun. Now, maybe you used to be a Rock Band master, throwing awesome parties and impressing everyone with your guitar skills (or singing voice!). But if you really want to make sure you have the best Rock Band 4 experience, you’ll need to follow our simple instructions for how to properly prepare yourself – and your band – for the rock revival. It’s possibly been a few years since you last rocked out, but we know you kept those instruments. And good thing you did: Rock Band 4 is compatible with most of your old Rock Band instruments. Sure, someone in the house may, at one point, have tried to convince you to throw them out, telling you to give up on your dreams of being a fictional rock star. But (if you’re anything like us, at least) you didn’t listen. Dreams like that never die. So get up to the attic, or the back of the garage behind those golf clubs and tennis rackets (also dreams you shouldn’t give up on), and blow the dust off that plastic Stratocaster!

In Three Fourths Home – out now for Xbox One – players assume the role of Kelly, a woman in her mid-20s who has just moved back to her parents’ house in Nebraska. The story opens as Kelly is driving during an intense thunderstorm, and you have to get her home. The focus of Three Fourths Home is its narrative, conveyed through an extended conversation between Kelly and her family. You must navigate the conversation while travelling through a stylized representation of rural Nebraska, set against rumbling thunder and the music playing from the car's tape deck. This game is a look into a specific moment of these characters’ lives and their relationships. The narrative touches on a variety of issues affecting Kelly and her family, including disability, adulthood, familial obligation, nostalgia, and loss. Pretty heavy, huh? Digerati Distribution’s Nick Alfieri, who created Three Fourths Home, recently shared some insight into how his life inspired the game and informed his design. Three Fourths Home’s design began to take shape somewhere on Interstate 35, between Minneapolis and Omaha. My work computer and hard drives – and with them, the prototype that I had been working on for months – were stolen only a couple of days prior. And with a suitcase and a single box, I was moving back to Nebraska.

The launch of Halo 5: Guardians is nearly upon us, with just two short weeks left before fans can hunt the truth. On the heels of announcing that the game has gone gold, 343 Industries has released a new launch gameplay trailer for Halo 5: Guardians. Check out the video to see more gameplay and cinematic footage from the most ambitious Halo campaign experience in franchise history. Halo 5: Guardians launches exclusively on Xbox One on Oct. 27. You can pre-order the game here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire and Halo Waypoint for the latest updates.

This week, we’re at the Brazil Game Show in sunny Sao Paulo. It’s a passionate group of fans and consumers alike, drawing crowds upwards of 300,000. And it continues to grow in size, energy and importance each year. It is, by far, the largest gathering of Latin American gamers and this year, Phil Spencer and developers from 343 Industries, Crystal Dynamics, Remedy Entertainment and several others made the trip to South America to experience the excitement first hand. Here’s what we’ve been up to so far. On Wednesday night, we gathered with about 400 lively Xbox fans and media at MuBE, the Brazilian Sculpture Museum. Phil took the stage and spotlighted our games lineup this holiday – Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, to name a few. And, of course, Forza Motorsport 6, featuring its hero track destination: Rio. Brazil boasts some of the industry’s most supercharged racing fans, and its legacy of Formula 1 champions is unmatched. That’s why Xbox fans at the Premier were stunned when Phil welcomed two-time F1 world champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi to the stage.