Shreveport Chapter of The Stacks Gets out for Gears Of War Action! By: Brandon Buckalew Stack events come in many different forms and ESports events are no exception. Members of the Louisiana chapter of The Stacks, John Perez, David Coston and Andrea Labor along with their Stack Lead Brandon Buckalew attended the New Orleans Gears of War Pro Circuit recently. A few of the attendees took the opportunity to play some games with representatives from the Microsoft Store. The week

The fireworks may no longer be exploding in the skies, but that doesn’t mean the July 4th holiday is over. Coming out of America’s birthday, Stack Director Stephanie Owens along with volunteers from Stack Up gathered together under the roof of Microsoft’s store for a very special event. The flagship store for the company,  the NYC Microsoft Store boasts a secret area where few have access too, but has great power: The eSports and Gaming Studio. Stack Up and DammmitRooster alo

When I first played the original State of Decay from Undead Labs, I was immediately hooked on its amazingly clever fusion of zombie slaying action and base building survival. Plenty of other games feature these same mechanics, but not quite in the same way. Controlling a full group of survivors instead of the lone-wolf made for quite a refreshing and engaging experience. Though I enjoyed my time with the original State of Decay, something was missing. This was an experience t

The Fayetteville Chapter of The Stacks Has Far Cry 5 Fun! by: Alexander Lynne On March 31, 2018, the Fayetteville North Carolina chapter of The Stacks teamed up with Microsoft to play FarCry 5 on the game’s release weekend! They live streamed gameplay right from the mall while spreading the message and mission of Stack Up to people passing by! Microsoft also had 5 Xbox One’s set up for people to play, to help drive people our booth and help generate buzz. Microsoft was so ple

The Boston Stack Celebrates Its Most Heavily-Attended Event Outside PAX East! Way back in November, the Boston Stack leads had started planning with their friends at Microsoft to hold a big event in their store at the start of the new year. Microsoft’s community outreach programs state that if any employee volunteers for a local nonprofit, Microsoft will donate an hourly amount of money to that organization, per person. The store’s Game Manager explained that if the Boston St

Boston Stacks Up at the Microsoft Store! by Tanner Hastings The Boston chapter of the Stacks on-the-ground Call to Arms event had a bit of a shaky start. Out of the 6 Stack members interested in attending, only 3 (including Ben and myself) managed to make it. There was a bit of miscommunication between us and the store, so we couldn’t secure copies of the new COD WW2 game that released last week, which dissuaded a few potential players from participating. That said, after an

Game Night with the Sonoma Chapter of The Stacks! By Anthony Keeton On November 11, 2017, The Sonoma County Stack traveled to Applebee’s in Corte Madera to enjoy a delicious meal together. It was an amazing sight seeing all the Veterans together at the same table. From there, we traveled to the Microsoft Store in Corte Madera for a night of gaming. Once we arrived, we were shown to the table set up with eight GAEMS Vanguards each coupled with Xbox One S. There were many choic

On Sunday, March 26th the Queens chapter of The Stacks headed out to the Huntington, Long Island, Microsoft Store for a look at the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The store provided a table for the Stack, so we could hand out information cards and spread the word about Stack-Up. At the same time, the store had an Oculus Rift demo for all comers, so as to attract more foot traffic. Wladyslaw Labuda, a filmmaker from Poland came to help, and took footage of the event for what we hop

Between music, television, movies, and the limitless supply of loot boxes, more and more mediums are embracing the monthly subscription format. Sony tried their hand at it with PlayStation Now, but the limited scope of releases and functionality of the service didn’t do them well. Now, we see Microsoft’s attempt, and it’s looking much stronger already. You can discover and download the full titles directly on your Xbox One. That means continuous, full-fidelity gameplay withou

Stack-Up’s Boston chapter will be holding its first event this Friday, 10-14 at the Natick Mall. With Gears of War 4 finally out on the shelves, it’s time to dust off your Lancer and face your friends in our Gears 4 Tournament! Our friends at the Microsoft Store have provided everything we need to break in the new game, including eight separate game cases to allow 4 vs. 4 matches! Registration for the first round of matches will begin at 5:00pm, which can give you up to an ho

Ever since Gears of War 2 sliced and diced its way onto Xbox 360s in 2008, Horde mode has been a staple of the series and of the third-person shooter as a whole. The mode was straight-forward and got to the fun parts relatively quick. With Gears of War 3 and Gears of War: Judgement, changes were made to make the mode more engaging, thought-provoking, and difficult, and Gears of War 4 is shaping up to go even further in that direction. Horde 3.0 is the most “game-y” feeling Ho

I am sure many of you reading this have poured countless hours into Minecraft. Placing blocks brick by brick and surviving against the zombies and creepers has been a lot of fun for many gamers over the last few years. It became so popular that Microsoft stepped up and purchased the whole kit and kaboodle for 2.5 billion dollars in 2014. Since then we have seen Minecraft used to show off some upcoming tech such as HoloLens, and Microsoft has even made it a big part of the new

Microsoft isn’t hitting the E3 stage until tomorrow afternoon, but we’re already seeing images leaked out ahead of time. Toting a significantly smaller machine in a stark, white finish, the Xbox One Slim (named Xbox One S for naming purposes) has been leaked via NeoGAF. “Introducing the Xbox One S, featuring a 40% smaller console, a 2TB hard drive, 4K Ultra HD video, High Dynamic Range, a new controller, and vertical stand.” Source: NeoGAF, Kotaku #E3 #E32016 #Microsoft #Xbox

Listen up Chicken Chasers, if you’re a fan of the Fable franchise and were saddened by the closing of Lionhead Studios then there is a Kickstarter project by Flaming Fowl Studios that is sure to make you smile. You will hopefully be able to return to the world of Albion soon through Fable Fortune a new game set in the Fable world but with a twist on gameplay, it is a Collectible Card Game. The project video tells us that Fable Fortune had been in development for about 18 mont

I am a big fan of Remedy titles. Alan Wake and Max Payne were amazing series that I really enjoyed. I still have vague memories of the comedy relief character whose name I can’t recall in Alan Wake wrapping himself in Christmas lights because the demons in the game are averse to light. So when Quantum Break was announced, I was hopeful for another really well put together shooter with a compelling storyline. Not so much. Quantum Break’s story revolves around the main characte

Killer Instinct is Microsoft’s flagship fighting game for the Xbox One and is just about to enter its third “season” in March with a slew of new fighters. What better way to drum up excitement for this than by announcing a crossover with one of Microsoft’s biggest franchises, Halo? The clip is brief, but any eagle-eyed Halo fan will instantly recognize the distinct armor and energy sword (“The Prophet’s Bane”) of The Arbiter, a notable alien character from the series. Conside