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CultureXbox Celebrates Pride With A Controller You Can’t Buy
Along with a generous donation to LGBTQIA+ nonprofits, clothing featuring flag designs, and various digital rewards, Microsoft is offering a Pride 2021 Xbox wireless controller, a lovely rainbow-sporting custom gamepad that’ll only be available to select influencers and members of the media. Sporting bright red, yellow, blue, and green face buttons and a design inspired…
By Mike Fahey Published June 2, 2021 -
CultureMinecraft Removes Decade-Old 4chan Shoutout
Mojang Studios’ latest update to the Java version of Minecraft removes a random title screen message shouting out controversial website 4chan that existed in the game for over 10 years. While this change doesn’t appear in the official patch notes, the meticulous record-keepers of the Minecraft wiki noticed the splash text’s removal after digging through…
By Ian Walker Published June 1, 2021 -
CulturePSA: Tell Me Why Is Free During Pride Month [Corrected]
In celebration of Pride Month, Dontnod Entertainment is offering Tell Me Why for free through the month of June on Windows 10, Steam, and Xbox consoles. And anyone who picks up the game in that time will own the game permanently. Tell Me Why is an episodic adventure game about twins Tyler and Alyson Ronan,…
By Jonathan Lee Published June 1, 2021 -
CultureOh, Goody, E3 Will Have An Awards Show
Following a weeklong flurry of digital events, and a four-day spree of press conferences, E3 2021 will culminate in an awards ceremony, the Entertainment Software Association announced today. Yay… You might be thinking to yourself, “Wait a second, haven’t E3 awards always existed?” You’re not wrong. There’s a reason box art for games like Dragon…
By Ari Notis Published June 1, 2021 -
CultureHere’s Everything Coming To And Leaving Game Pass Soon
June’s initial Game Pass offerings are fairly slim. Honestly, this batch is far more a net negative than positive, what with the likes of Observation (terrific puzzle-exploration game) and Wizard of Legend (top-tier co-op roguelike) going away. Hey, maybe Microsoft is holding back for its E3 conference, scheduled for June 13. June 1 The Wild…
By Ari Notis Published June 1, 2021 -
CultureMicrosoft Flight Simulator Is Much Smaller Now
Video games are big, and as new technology supports greater visual fidelity, they’re only bound to get bigger. That’s why it’s always nice when the developers behind bulky games like Microsoft Flight Simulator figure out ways to decrease those download sizes. Microsoft Flight Simulator’s base file size was reduced from over 170 GB to just…
By Ian Walker Published May 28, 2021 -
Culture18 Years Later, Microsoft Is Fixing Halo’s Graphics On The PC
Halo’s original PC port, released in 2003 and handled by Gearbox, was mostly fine, but it also had some weird issues, mostly related to funky textures. Fans have just kinda put up with them ever since, but in 2021 Microsoft is finally getting around to fixing them. The video below shows a range of texture…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 24, 2021 -
CultureHere’s An Original Xbox Easter Egg That’s Remained Hidden For Nearly 20 Years
A developer who worked on Microsoft’s original 2001 Xbox console, who wishes to remain anonymous, informed Kotaku of a hidden “Easter egg” in the Xbox Dashboard that’s remained undiscovered for nearly 20 years. They told us how to trigger the secret, which displays a previously unknown credits screen. Sure enough, it works. “I didn’t really…
By Alexandra Hall Published May 21, 2021 -
CultureEven The Mormon Church Made Money On GameStop
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (known to everyday people as the Mormons) made bank off the boom in GameStop stock earlier this year, new SEC filings reveal. The Church saw a gain of over 900% on stock owned through its secretive investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors. AsBusiness Insider reports, Ensign Peak Advisors…
By Riley MacLeod Published May 19, 2021 -
Tips & GuidesXbox’s Quick Resume Might Mess Up Your Games’ Playtime Count
Last fall, while playing through Mass Effect 2 for the first time ever, I noticed that my endgame hour count tallied more than 87 hours. Weird, but whatever. Moving on. Turns out, Xbox’s ballyhooed next-gen Quick Resume feature appears to keep running the clock on some games. Of all the features introduced with the Xbox…
By Ari Notis Published May 19, 2021 -
CultureUnsurprisingly, Nintendo Switch Shipments Were Impacted By Stuck Suez Canal Boat
The global business trade seemed to grind to a halt this past March when the Ever Given container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal. Loads of product shipments were impacted, including the Nintendo Switch. During a recent investor conference call, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about regional demand for the Nintendo Switch. He…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 13, 2021 -
CultureXbox’s Quick Resume Will Finally Show You What Games Are Suspended
This month’s Xbox update will bring changes to Quick Resume, including, at long last, an ability to see what games you currently have suspended on your Xbox Series X or S. Last year, Microsoft’s next-gen Xboxes received attention for improved performance and graphical fidelity. But Quick Resume—a feature that allows you to juggle around half…
By Ari Notis Published May 11, 2021 -
CultureEverything That’s Happening In The Apple vs Epic Case
The big court case between Apple and Epic is one of the most important legal showdowns in the history of video games. It’s also throwing up a ton of very funny and interesting looks at how these billion-dollar companies do business behind the scenes. Epic instigated the lawsuit back in 2020, believing that the 30%…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 9, 2021 -
CultureApple’s Not Happy With Epic’s Xbox Witness
On Wednesday, vice president of Xbox business development Lori Wright testified in the ongoing trial between Epic and Apple. Now, Apple wants the court to make an “adverse credibility finding,” due to Microsoft withholding pertinent documents in her testimony. Apple’s lawyers took issue with Wright’s testimony in a motion filed yesterday, pointing out that Wright…
By Riley MacLeod Published May 7, 2021 -
CultureThese Are Your 2021 World Video Game Hall of Fame Inductees
After sifting through a field of finalists including classics like Guitar Hero, Pole Position, Portal, and…FarmVille, the Strong National Museum of Play has announced the 2021 inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Let’s hear it for StarCraft, Animal Crossing, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and Microsoft Flight Simulator Each year…
By Mike Fahey Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureHuh, The New Fable Runs On The Forza Engine
The next installment in the Fable franchise is being built with the ForzaTech engine, which as the name implies, is the foundation beneath Xbox’s popular Forza racing games. This detail was first spotted by IGN in a Microsoft job listing for Turn 10 Studios, the Xbox Game Studios subsidiary that’s developed the core Forza series…
By Ian Walker Published May 5, 2021 -
CultureEpic Tried To Convince Xbox To Make Multiplayer Free Alongside Apple Fight
An email between Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and Xbox head Phil Spencer, made public today as part of the ongoing Epic versus Apple trial, shows Sweeney trying to entice Spencer to take “free-to-play” multiplayer out from behind the Xbox Live paywall to coincide with Epic’s war against the App Store. In an emailon August 5,…
By Riley MacLeod Published May 4, 2021 -
CultureSony Plans To ‘Integrate’ Discord With PlayStation
Sony Interactive Entertainment has invested a minority stake in the popular communication app Discord, SIE president Jim Ryan announced today in a blog post. The companies plan to “bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year.” Sony didn’t detail much about what it plans to do with…
By Ari Notis Published May 3, 2021
