Whether this is into the awkward teenage years of Mord and Ben in Wide Ocean Big Jacket, the grandparent-escaping Tiger and Bee in Kissy Kissy, the fractured heartbroken body in Gris or the haphazard movement of Octodad we have a chance to reassess our own physicality and how we respond to and treat other people's physicality. Stepping into the shoes of a vulnerable, small or endangered character can help us understand for a short while some of what it is like to be someone else. This is not only an enjoyable way to escape the reality of daily life but a chance to reflect on and understand ourselves, and our bodies, better. Whether we step into the powerful frame of a trained marksman or brave adventurer, while we play we have a different sense of our physicality. Video games offer an opportunity to inhabit another body. They can provide parents, carers and young people with common (non-confrontational) ground and are a unique way to gain understanding of this complex area of life. The games in this list all offer space to consider these topics and themes through different lenses and experiences. Then there are games, like The Last Of Us II, that include trans, non-binary, gender diverse characters. Other games, like A Fold Apart, allow players to combine genders, roles, careers and relationships as they want.

Some games, like Animal Crossing, offer a chance to step out of the common binary choices and instead play as a character without having to define a specific gender identity. The games in this list offer a chance to play as a wide range of genders as well as assigning various roles to characters regardless of their identity. Mermaids has been supporting trans, non-binary and gender-diverse children, young people, and their families since 1995. вЂњI do get super excited about the idea of high-fidelity gaming on a phone thatвЂ™s the carrot I keep chasing, for sure.We've worked with the Mermaids charity to find games that create space for gender identity including trans, non-binary, gender diverse perspectives. He emphasized again that this should include players on all different platforms. вЂњ Phil always talks about that journey of getting the 3 billion players,вЂќ Wyse said. вЂњKim is going to build a team focused on new experiences in the cloud, something thatвЂ™s going to support our mission of bringing our Xbox games to connect 3 billion gamers to play our games,вЂќ said Wyse. Swift was most recently a game design director at Google Stadia. To help envision the answer to that question, Portal and Left 4 Dead developer Kim Swift will join the Xbox Cloud Gaming team as a senior director. вЂњWe donвЂ™t know exactly what that looks like today, or what that even plays like.вЂќ

The companyвЂ™s next big goal is to create вЂњcloud-native games,вЂќ Wyse said. MicrosoftвЂ™s renewed focus on cloud gaming is similarly aimed at making games more accessible to people who donвЂ™t have or want a gaming console or computer. For instance, Microsoft senior audio director Elise Baldwin is talking about the studioвЂ™s inclusive audio practices with Tell Me Why at the Game Developers Conference this year. These initiatives, as well as partnerships with women-led studios and opportunities for creators to speak up about diversity in the industry, lead to XboxвЂ™s more diverse set of games. Microsoft has a relationship with Gameheads, a technology training program that prepares low-income youth and youth of color, ages 15 to 24, for jobs in the video game industry. It speaks to our values around LGBTQIA+ representation, mental health awareness, and more.вЂќДЄccording to Wyse, this mentality extends to XboxвЂ™s development partners and recruiting processes, too. вЂњYou can see this come to focus in a game like Tell Me Why,вЂќ Wyse said. Image: Dontnod Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios Inclusivity is a core tenet for the company, beyond its games.

But the companyвЂ™s focus on inclusivity goes deeper than that, Xbox Game Studios publishing head Peter Wyse told Polygon. Then thereвЂ™s the temptation of a good deal with Xbox Game Pass, and ease of access via Xbox Cloud Gaming. Now, Microsoft has something to show for those seemingly slow years.Д«ased on the Xbox and Bethesda E3 showcase, there appears to be no one вЂњtypeвЂќ of gamer that the company is targeting, with games both big and small in the mix. The companyвЂ™s higher-ups have spent years building to this future, quietly toiling away at acquisitions and refining the Xbox platform while competitor Sony flashed its major cinematic games, like God of War and Spider-Man. In MicrosoftвЂ™s E3 2021 presentation last week, the Xbox maker finally revealed the fruits of its five-year plan to forge an empire.

Games like tell me why