THE BIG STUFF:

Xbox Sales Rising: Microsoft reported earnings this week and the Xbox numbers were strong. Overall Xbox Platform revenue was up year-over-year, including an uptick in console sales and first-party revenue. What’s more, Microsoft says the Xbox One is finally “building momentum.”

New Fallout 4 Details: Straight from Bethesda’s Quakecon event this week, director Todd Howard shared new details about the upcoming post-apocalyptic RPG. There’s new information about your dog, armor, and more. Get all the details here.

Rise of the Tomb Raider Is Coming to the PS4: You probably could have guessed it, but now it’s officially official. Square Enix announced this week that Rise of the Tomb Raider will launch in holiday 2016 for PlayStation 4. The game also now has a release date for PC.

THE OTHER STUFF:

There is an NPC in The Witcher 3 who looks just like actor Michael Cera. No, really. Check it out.

Did you miss Valve’s VR demo from the Game Developers Conference in March? If so, you’re in luck, as new videos published this week show off the entire Portal-themed demo. Watch them here.

Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet. There is an image of the supposed upcoming Games With Gold lineup making the rounds, but the picture “isn’t real,” Phil Spencer says.

US Women’s Soccer star Alex Morgan is the first woman to be on the cover of a FIFA game in the United States. She talked about it during a late night appearance this week with Jimmy Kimmel.

The next game from Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Desilets is mostly non-violent, he explains in a lengthy interview with Game Informer. The game is called Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey.

Following last year’s SXSW Gaming Expo, which drew a record-breaking 55,000 attendees, event organizers have announced that next year’s show will move to the much larger Austin Convention Center in Texas. The event will be held March 17-19, and organizers have also announced a VR/AR programming track to match the growing popularity of that field. You can read more about the SXSW Gaming Expo at the event’s website.

The next Conversations With Creators video from PlayStation is now online, this one shining a light on Call of Duty developer Treyarch, the studio that created Zombies and the Black Ops franchise.

Konami’s soccer game PES 2015 is now available in Brazil for GameFly’s cloud gaming service through Samsung Smart TVs. No console required!

According to Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda, some games need multiple sequels before they’re successful. Read his full quotes here. He also talks about the Final Fantasy company’s new IP, Project Setsuna.

Following Nintendo’s recent confirmation that it will indeed publisher Devil’s Third on Wii U in North America, the publisher has now posted a new gameplay trailer. Man, this game looks crazy! (In a good way–I think)

Legendary Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto will not succeed Satoru Iwata as Nintendo’s next president. That’s according to a poll of analysts done by GamesIndustry International. You can hear what they had to say in this feature.

OK, it’s not gaming-related, but it’s worth watching. Pixar this week released the first full-length trailer for its next big movie, The Good Dinosaur. Watch it here. Actually, the song you hear in the beginning is called “Leap of Faith,” and it was written by prolific video game composer Inon Zur. So there is a game connection!

Might college basketball games be making a comeback? In NBA 2K16? Possibly! That’s according to documents unearthed recently by Operation Sports. Get the full story here.

Following all the drama earlier this year about Peter Molyneux’s god game Godus, Molyneux stepped down from the role of CEO of developer 22Cans. Taking his place was Simon Phillips–and he’s now given a new interview to Eurogamer about how the company will move forward.

Ever want to listen to John Carmack talk about VR for two hours? It’s your lucky day!

Have a wonderful weekend!