Forza Horizon 5 launched nearly four years ago, and fans have been looking for news of the sequel. A recent Reddit thread suggested it might be set in Japan, due to a car company posting that the Forza team was scanning in a Kei truck. Take that with a grain of salt, though; it’s not confirmed, and it means the game might just have Japanese vehicles (or a Truck-kun crossover).
That said, rumors have pointed to the Forza Horizon 6 reveal taking place during Tokyo Game Show. The event is held annually, usually toward the end of September, and this year’s TGS is set to be the biggest one ever. More than that, Xbox has confirmed it’s attending the show and announcing news there.
Here’s a bit of historical context. Xbox, as a brand, has never done well in Japan, particularly in comparison to Nintendo and Sony. It has recently seen success with the Series S|X and a larger collaboration with Japanese game studios, but the platform still doesn’t perform on the same level as its competitors.
Phil Spencer has spearheaded a push to appeal to more of the Japanese market. While the scanning of a Kei truck isn’t proof that Forza Horizon 6 will be set in Japan, it’s a hint — and revealing the next title in the Horizon lineup at Tokyo Games Show makes sense if that is, in fact, the setting.
Developer Playground Games has a solid track record of post-launch support, releasing frequent content updates for games long after release. However, Forza Horizon 5 updates have seen a noticeable drop lately. Many fans take this to mean the studio is busy with development on the next entry and is gearing up for its announcement.
Japan has been a requested location for the franchise since day one, and it makes sense. The country has a vibrant history with car culture and an active underground racing scene (as seen in “Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift” and anime like “Initial D”). For now, these are just rumors, and these guesses are mere speculation. We’ll have to wait until next month’s show to find out one way or another.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?