The headline is Gears of War: E-Day. The first multiplayer test runs from 6 August at noon Pacific time, which is 5am Friday 7 August for us on the east coast, through to 10 August. It is early access for anyone who pre-ordered on Xbox or Steam, and it is also included for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers. A second, fully open weekend follows from 13 to 17 August. The test carries Horde Siege, the new large-scale co-op wave mode, and after player feedback Xbox confirmed the classic 4v4 Versus PvP is in the first test window too. The full game arrives 6 October, day one on Game Pass.

The wave itself, in order: Monsters are Coming! and PowerWash Simulator 2 on 6 August, Bounty Star, Date Everything! and Grounded 2 on 11 August, Ball x Pit on 12 August, Cricket 26, Mio: Memories in Orbit and Sandustry on 13 August, and Egging On rounds it out on 18 August.

The one that matters most in this house is Cricket 26. Big Ant's cricket sim landing on a subscription service in the middle of an Aussie winter, right as the kids are counting down to the summer of cricket, is a genuinely good get for local families who did not want to pay full price for it.

Four games leave the service on 15 August: Menace, Atlas Fallen, Aliens: Fireteam Elite and Firewatch. If Firewatch has been sitting in your backlog, it is about three hours long. Knock it over this weekend.