While Xbox Game Pass has been praised for providing a wide selection of titles for both PC and Xbox subscribers, it also supports Android gaming via the cloud. This allows for playing big-name games on tablets and phones. But what if you wanted to turn your phone into a retro gaming device? Microsoft has you covered.

On Xbox Wire, the company announced that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers could now play 16 Xbox and Xbox 360 titles on Android phones and tablets via backwards compatible. Check out all of the games below with some having touch controls enabled.

• Banjo-Kazooie
• Banjo-Tooie
• Double Dragon Neon
• Fable 2
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Gears of War 2
• Gears of War 3
• Gears of War: Judgment
• Jetpac Refuelled (touch controls enabled)
• Kameo
• Perfect Dark
• Perfect Dark Zero
• The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
• The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
• Viva Piñata (touch controls enabled)
• Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (touch controls enabled)

More games will be “coming soon” to the service, expanding on the retro functionality even more. Xbox Game Pass continues to grow with more games added each month. Even big new releases like People Can Fly’s Outriders are joining the service at launch. What the future holds for retro games remains to be seen but being able to take some of them on the go is a nice bonus.

We already know that Nintendo is getting into the mobile gaming business along with DeNA and that the NX is a part of that plan but news of the first game in this line-up is coming soon.

According to DeNA West CEO Shintaro Asako at the GamesBeat 2015 conference (via VentureBeat), “Soon, we should be able to announce the game.”

It was already announced that the first game would be announced before 2015 concluded so this is hardly a surprise. This will be the first of five new smartphone/tablet games to be announced between now and March 2017 so it should be interesting to see which franchise Nintendo places front and centre, especially considering Japanese industry analyst Serkan Toto’s recent tweet.

“About that first Nintendo-DeNA mobile game: Expect the unexpected, and soon.”

A hybrid between Mario and Fallout Shelter? We’ll find out in the coming days so stay tuned for more information and let us know what you want to see in the comments.

While Telltale Games first announced Minecraft: Story Mode back in December, we’ve heard almost nothing about the project since then. It appears we’re about to hear a good deal more thanks to a tease the company just tweeted out this morning. It appears the company is going to be waiting until this weekend’s MineCon in London to give people more information about a title that has intrigued the gaming community since its announcement.

Back when the game was announced, Telltale said, “Minecraft: Story Mode will be an all-new narrative-driven game series developed by Telltale in collaboration with Mojang. Set in the world of Minecraft, the series will feature an original story, driven by player choice.”

During that announcement, Mojang added that the game wasn’t going to look a lot like people might expect a Minecraft game to look, but Story Mode will definitely feel like part of that universe, in its own way. This kind of explanation especially has Minecraft fans as well as gamers who know the game but aren’t devotees interested in seeing what Telltale has come up with.

The company has been quite busy over the last few years with titles that expanded the universes of Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Borderlands. The difference between all those titles and this one is the stories behind the games already had a starting point and characters recognizable to players. Minecraft will likely have recognizable faces in the Telltale game but the story will be something fans of the game haven’t been privy to before. The first episode for Minecraft: Story Mode will be available on the Xbox One Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, PC, Mac, iOS and Android, later this year.

Nintendo will be partnering with mobile games publisher DeNA, known for Mobage, and developing gaming applications for mobiles based on Nintendo IP. This means we may finally get to see the likes of Mario and Zelda on smartphones. “Both companies will develop and operate new game apps based on Nintendo’s IP, including its iconic game characters, for smart devices,” said the company in a recent statement.

But that’s not all, as Nintendo has revealed it is working on “a core system compatible with a variety of devices including PCs, smartphones and tablets as well as Nintendo’s dedicated video game systems”. The hardware has been dubbed the “NX” and Nintendo will be working with DeNA to “jointly develop a membership service utilising this system, with a launch targeted for the fall of 2015.”

Nintendo has purchased a 10 percent stake of DeNA to make this happen (while the latter has purchased a 1.24 percent in the former) and we’ll need to wait to see how this brand new concept plays out. Regardless, Nintendo is finally coming to mobiles. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.

Telltale Games has been having an incredible run since the critically and commercially successful The Walking Dead Episodes. It released The Wolf Among Us and Season Two of The Walking Dead, is working with Gearbox Software and Mojang on Tales From the Borderlands and Minecraft: Story Mode respectively, and it’s also developing the Game of Thrones adventure series.

In the midst of all this, Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner told Digital Trends how it’s a great time to be a gamer, where coming home and playing games rather than watching TV is becoming the norm.

“That’s becoming normal. It’s not so ostracised to be a gamer anymore. I think it’s going to happen really, really fast, where people just don’t categorize themselves as much. They’re just media consumers, whatever that means. It’s a beautiful time for gamers, because we really get to shape the future of pop culture.”

Bruner explained that in storytelling terms, “Films and novels and television [aren’t] going away, but all the good stuff’s gonna be happening on your game console, on your tablet. That’s where the awesome stuff is going to be.”

Gaming is still a ways off from accomplishing true mass market appeal though. “Games are huge, right? But they’re not mass market huge, where all the great stories and the great storytellers work.” This is reflected in more people knowing about Game of Thrones the book and show before they know about, say, Tales From the Borderlands.

“So the games industry is huge and video games are huge, but storytelling at large – television, films, novels — is way bigger than games. And that was a big thing of moving to these [non-console/PC] platforms, places where people are consuming stories.

“Tablets are real interesting because there’s a lot of people who would never say that they’re gamers, but they stream Netflix on their smart TV and they’ll play Tiger Woods golf on their tablet. But they’re not gamers. They’re not techies. They would never go out and buy a game console.”

What are your thoughts on Bruner’s views? Let us know in the comments.

Tablets and smartphones have been making steady gains on home consoles in terms of processing power and resources for a while now, and EA thinks that by 2018, they may end up finally overtaking home consoles in terms of power, an outcome that leads to some real quality gaming  on them.

“What gets us the most excited is the power, the computing power, of mobile devices and the speed at which that’s growing,” Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen said at the 2015 Technology, Internet & Media Conference. “What that might mean is that a tablet, three or four years from now, has more power than what a typical console has. And that will open up a whole new set of people to console-style games that are much more immersive, much deeper, much more character-driven than simply a static mobile game that you might play for a small burst of time while you’re waiting for the bus.”

“And so we’re looking for ways that we can essentially blend those two models to have a more immersive but movable game experience,” he added. “Could be in your living room, could be on the bus, or it could be in a friend’s house. Much more portable than it is today. And that for us is a huge opportunity.”

Of course, I think this is a misguided line of thought- lacking power has never been the limiting factor in getting ‘console style’ games on mobile platforms, including tablets (current tablets already rival Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), the issue is how limited these platforms are in terms of input (with only inaccurate forms of input such as capacitive touchscreens and gyroscopes providing primary control) unless one invests in a bulky add on that negates the chief advantage of the platform to begin with- mobility.

Till such time that this problem is solved (basically, unless something like a Vita or Wii U takes off), I don’t think this is going to change any time soon.

After Borderlands and Game of Thrones, Telltale Games has now announced a collaboration with Mojang to create Minecraft: Story Mode, an episodic adventure series that will rely on player choice and have it’s own self-contained story. This means it’s not an expansion to the main game in any way.

Telltale stated that the series “will mix new characters with familiar themes, in an entirely original Minecraft experience, inspired by the Minecraft community and the game that continues to inspire a generation.”

Mojang further added that the game “won’t look exactly like Minecraft, but it will feel authentic in its own special way.”

Minecraft: Story Mode is set to release in 2015 for consoles and PC. It will also be heading to mobiles and tablets. Considering Telltale’s amazing track record thus far with Tales from the Borderlands, A Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead, it will be interesting to see how this specific collaboration works out.

Had fun completing those frustrating challenges in Trials Frontier on iOS and Android? Desperate to pub-stomp some noobs? RedLynx Studio has announced that Trials Frontier will be receiving its own PvP multiplayer mode.

You’ll find a new character named Zudina in town and compete in a month long season of matches set on three tracks. There won’t be any restarts so bring you A game and win PvP Chips for new stages, outfits and other items at the Chip Store.

Lead designer Justin Swan said that, “The PvP mode is the largest in-game update in Trials Frontier, and will be the first time a true competitive Player vs. Player has ever come to the Trials’ Universe.

“We’ve worked diligently to create a PvP mode that lets players race each other asynchronously while also keeping the competitive Trials spirit alive. We’re inviting all of our players to come fight for a spot on our Legends Leaderboard for fame, glory and in-game winnings.”

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

The Creative Assembly’s award winning Total War series continues to expand as the Digital Team will be bringing out Total War Battles: Kingdom. This will be a free to play, persistent world strategy title set shortly after the Dark Ages. Check out the trailer above.

In Kingdom, you’ll be tasked with building and expanding your realm as well as taking part in large battles. You’ll have to war with surrounding kingdoms which can lead to large multiplayer wars in a battle for the throne. You can even take advantage of tactics like spying and espionage, besides the usual betrayal and deception, in order to one-up your enemies.

Total War Battles: Kingdom is currently in closed beta for PC but will be releasing across other platforms like tablets and Mac. As for a release date, we only have the “coming soon” tagline to go by.

What are your thoughts on this announcement? Let us know in the comments.

Red Thread Games has brought out Dreamfall Chapters: Book One for PC and even though it’s received some average praise, fans will be happy to hear that the original The Longest Journey can be played on mobile devices.

The Longest Journey: Remastered is now available on the Apple App Store for iOS which includes touch-screen controls and an interesting new help system. Given that this is an old-school adventure, a help system wouldn’t be bad for players new to the franchise. If that weren’t enough, hardcore fans can revisit the game for some new (though small) story content.

The Longest Journey follows the story of April Ryan, an art student who becomes a central character when the realms of Arcadia and Stark begin to intertwine. What are your thoughts on The Longest Journey: Remastered for iOS? Will you be playing it? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned for more information.