Michael Hoglund
Michael has been gaming since he was five when his mother first bought a Super Nintendo from Blockbuster. Having written for a now-defunct website in the past, he's joined Windows Central as a contributor to spreading his 30+ years of love for gaming with everyone he can. His favorites include Red Dead Redemption, all the way to the controversial Dark Souls 2.
Latest articles by Michael Hoglund

Fortnite's new game mode "Ballistic" takes on Valorant and Counter-Strike. Here's what you need to know.
By Michael Hoglund published
Bomb Planted Epic Games looks to tackle Counter-Strike with Fortnite Ballistic, a new dedicated first-person mode that takes everything Counter-Striker and puts it in the world of Fortnite.

"This console saved my life guys." An Xbox Series S goes full Nokia to save a man's life — Microsoft responds.
By Michael Hoglund published
"S" for Safe A man on reddit shared how Microsoft's pint-sized Xbox Series S actually saved his life, complete with pictures.

The best Starfield Xbox mods so far: Performance, gameplay, cheats, and more
By Michael Hoglund last updated
Modding Existence With the Creation Club having been out for only a few weeks, here's some of the best mods available for Xbox so far.

The best Starfield PC mods so far: Graphics, gameplay, DLSS, and more
By Brendan Lowry, Michael Hoglund last updated
Modding the Stars Even though it's only a few weeks old, there are already tons of amazing Starfield mods.

What exactly is Once Human? Whatever it is, it's really good
By Michael Hoglund published
Preview Buckle up for a ride in the Mystery Machine while you try to solve this crazy story.

The First Descendant FAQ: Release date, cross-play, microtransactions, and other questions answered
By Michael Hoglund published
FAQ The First Descendant is the latest free-to-play game developed by NEXON. A third-person looter-shooter that looks to take on the titans of Destiny 2 and Warframe. Here's everything we know.

The latest free-to-play looter shooter will start preloading early on Xbox and PC
By Michael Hoglund published
F2P looter The First Descendant, an upcoming free-to-play third-person looter-shooter, will launch on July 2. Preloading will start early, presumably to help alleviate server launch issues.

Elden Ring's DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, surpasses 5 million tarnished in less than a week
By Michael Hoglund published
5 million The Elden Ring train has no stops. The new DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, just surpassed 5 million sales. What's the next milestone?

This 'Elden Ring' edition Xbox controller might not be enough to make you git gud, but it sure is pretty (and pricey)
By Michael Hoglund published
Elden Ring Thrustmaster has a new variant of its popular eSwap X2 Pro controller. For $199, you can have a dope-looking controller that literally performs better than its competitors.

Elden Ring DLC: Don't miss this secret new spell you can get early in Shadow of the Erdtree
By Michael Hoglund published
Watchful Spirit Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has dropped and it's full of items to discover! Here's how to grab an early incantation that you won't want to miss!

The best weekly deals and sales for Steam
By Michael Hoglund published
Steam Sales Come check out our curated list of Steam deals. Each and every week, we curate a select list of games that are either topical or unmissable due to their price!

A single Dune: Awakening map will be almost ten times the size of Conan Exiles, where you can "meet hundreds of players"
By Michael Hoglund published
Huge map In an interview published on their YouTube page, Funcom announced some rather big news that was previously unknown. The game will feature a PvP zone almost ten times the size of Conan Exiles.

You can now play Starfield at 120 frames per second on Xbox Series S, with a small sacrifice
By Michael Hoglund published
120Hz Series S Through the use of mods, gamers can now get Starfield to run at or near 120 frames per second on Xbox Series S. Here's how it's done!

Elden Ring best talismans: Best for mages, melee, and more in 1.12
By Brendan Lowry, Michael Hoglund last updated
Builds Perfected There are tons of talismans in Elden Ring, but which ones are the best? Here's a list of our favorites, as well as a breakdown of where you can find each one.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard director says, "you can play this game entirely offline," and there won't be any microtransactions or battle passes
By Michael Hoglund published
Offline Alert! A really good dedicated single-player game might be on the way!

Seven of the top ten most wishlisted games from Not-E3 are coming to Game Pass on Xbox and PC
By Michael Hoglund published
Game Pass Rules Gamesindustry.biz reports that seven of the top ten most wishlisted games are coming to Game Pass, here's what that list entails!

Best Enshrouded builds: For Wizard, melee Barbarian, Warrior tank, and Ranger for Melodies of the Mire update
By Brendan Lowry, Michael Hoglund last updated
Built Different Here are the best builds you can put together with Enshrouded's many different skills, weapons, and armors.

Elden Ring is about to be freaking huge; as Miyazaki says, "We wanted an experience for the player that was going to match that of the base game."
By Michael Hoglund published
Stupendous FromSoftware seems to be severely under-promising how big their next expansion is going to be.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard director says having to wait until the end of the game to max a specialization is lame, "We're the exact opposite."
By Michael Hoglund published
Overpowered You'll get to play your endgame specialty before the game is nearly over.

Using guides is "a perfectly valid playstyle" according to Elden Ring's top boss, Hidetaka Miyazaki
By Michael Hoglund published
Bing it If you need more than the light of grace to direct you, Miyazaki approves.

XDefiant Season One is on the way, and it looks bangin'
By Michael Hoglund published
New Season XDefiant season one is coming, and it's looking pretty good. Come check out the latest information leading up to its release in July!

"Right now, we have more Xbox console users than we've ever had in the history of Xbox," that number is about to grow after today's showing
By Michael Hoglund published
The future In an interview with IGN's Ryan McCaffrey, Phil Spencer spoke at length about the past, present, and future of the Xbox platforms. Here's what he had to say.

This surprise new game from the makers of Sniper Elite is coming day one to Game Pass, Atomfall
By Michael Hoglund published
Gen Zero 2? Rebellion's latest game was shown at the Xbox Games Showcase, and it's coming day one to Game Pass. Come check it out!
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