Microsoft

Cyberpunk Players Say They’re Getting Refunds For A “Broken” Game

For some lucky people (like me, sorry!), Cyberpunk is running great and looks amazing. For many, though, especially on older hardware, it runs like shit and looks like ass. Not an ideal situation! As a result, there are more and more people reporting that they’ve asked for—and been given—refunds on the game, on both console…

Microsoft’s 2021 Release Calendar Doesn’t Include Many First-Party Games

A month into the launch of the Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft has given a rundown of what people can expect to play on the new machines in 2021. There are a lot of games, but very few of them are from Microsoft’s own studios. A new post over on the Xbox Wire blog outlines some…

Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to Windows PC and iOS devices this spring. Available now for Android devices as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Microsoft today announced an official release window for PC and iOS (via web browser), furthering the value divide between regular and Ultimate Game Pass subscribers.

Halo Infinite Isn’t Coming Out Until Fall 2021 At The Earliest

343 Studios just announced that Halo Infinite—a game that was supposed to launch alongside the Xbox Series X last month—now won’t be released until at least Fall 2021. The lengthy delay was made in a long post on the studio’s site, and while it goes into all kinds of detail on features being added to…

Quick Resume Is Working For More Xbox Series X Games

Microsoft is slowly starting to roll out more Quick Resume support on Xbox Series X|S again, after it took the supposedly signature next-gen feature offline for some games right before the console’s launch last month. This is according to Xbox director of program management Jason Ronald. “As launch games were coming in, we identified some…

Fortnite Leaks And Teases Suggest Major Xbox, PlayStation Characters Coming To The Game (Update: Kratos Confirmed)

Update (12/03/2020, 4:11 p.m. ET): Fortnite has officially announced Kratos. God of War items are available now across all platforms. Our original story follows below. Kratos and Master Chief could be headed to Fortnite soon based on recent tweets and leaks that hint at a major new cross-over in Epic Games’ massive battle royale game. The…

Sea Of Thieves Is Getting A Battle Pass

Sea of Thieves will ditch its monthly update schedule and move to a Fortnite-style seasonal model starting next year, Rare creative director Mike Chapman announced in a new update to players. “After a year of updating the game [monthly], we’re moving to a new way,” Chapman said. “So from January, seasons are coming to Sea…

Trying To Buy A Next-Gen Console Is Still A Nightmare

The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are in high demand but short supply. That’s not completely surprising given the challenges of launching next-gen consoles in the middle of a pandemic. But trying to get a hold of one continues to be a bigger headache than it otherwise might be due to scalpers, scammers, and the…

Head Of Xbox Calls Out Toxic, Console War ‘Tribalism’

Xbox boss Phil Spencer said in a new interview that if there was anything that could make him quit the video game industry altogether, it would be the ongoing toxic fandom around consoles. Spencer discussed a number of subjects with Verge Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel on the latest episode of the Decoder podcast, from why Microsoft…

Here Are Japanese Launch Sales Figures For PlayStation 5 And Xbox Series X/S

Curious to know how the PlayStation 5’s launch went in Japan? What about the Xbox Series X and S? Well, good news, because Famitsu is reporting the first Japanese sales numbers for both new consoles. According to Famitsu, between November 12 and November 15, the PlayStation 5 sold 118,085 consoles in Japan. (Note these numbers…

The Xbox Elite Controller Was Premium, And I Respect That

For a multi-billion dollar industry that is supposedly at the vanguard of 21st-century technology advancement, video games sure like to keep things basic. Think about it: there’s very little that’s premium about console video gaming. You can’t buy a fancier version of the Switch with an OLED screen and stronger buttons. You can’t buy a…

Goodbye To The Xbox One, The Most Pointless Console I Have Ever Owned

I moved house last year, and while packing everything away my wife and I made a simple rule: if anything was still in its box 12 months later, we would get rid of it, because that meant we never used it and didn’t need it. Last month, I sold my Xbox One. I remember lining…

Next-Gen Consoles Keep Crashing, But No Single Issue Seems Widespread

There’s nothing more frustrating than spending half a grand on a video game console and having it start failing within the first week, but that’s the exact problem facing several early PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X adopters. Since the next-gen machines arrived last week, social media has been inundated with anecdotes of them crashing…

Vaping Trick Makes It Look Like New Xbox Is Blowing Smoke [Update]

Viral videos are circulating on Twitter showing the newly-released Xbox Series X seeming to billow smoke. While this would certainly be cause for concern, others have pointed out possible causes besides the console burning up, and Spanish Twitter news account Xbox Studio demonstrated how easy the effect is to recreate using an ordinary household vape.…

Xbox Series X: The Kotaku Review

The Xbox Series X does not feel like the kind of machine we usually get at the start of a new generation, when we’re used to clean breaks with radical new hardware that basically starts our time with a PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo device over. Instead, the Series X feels like another version of Microsoft’s…

Some Amazon Customers Might Not Get Their Xbox Series X Until Christmas

While some people are already opening up their brand new Xbox Series X consoles, for others—specifically those who ordered through Amazon—there might be a bit of a wait. As many on Twitter are now sharing, Amazon has today sent out emails to some customers telling them: Hello, We’re contacting you with an update regarding your…

There’s A Tiny Master Chief Inside Every Xbox Series S

When the Xbox One X and One S launched in 2017, it didn’t take folks long to notice that inside the consoles, stamped on the hardware itself, were tiny little homages to the Halo series. In 2020, with the launch of the Xbox Series S, that’s now a tradition. Having got their hands on a…

Suddenly I Feel The Need For A Faster Monitor For My Xbox Series X

So I’m booting up Ori and the Will of the Wisps, one of my favorite games, just after its Xbox Series X/S upgrade patch applied, and I’m greeted by a message that basically says I need a faster monitor as soon as humanly possible. The notion of 120 frames per second console gaming hadn’t hit…

PlayStation 5 Versus Xbox Series X/S: Ready, Fight!

The PlayStation 5. The Xbox Series X. The next generation of console gaming is upon us. As is our sacred duty, we must now compare the two in a variety of very important scientific categories: Size. Design. Molecular density. Usefulness at a picnic. And of course, the dreaded essay section. Which next generation console reigns…

Xbox Series X Has Too Many Horrifying Holes

As reviews for the Xbox Series X arrive, I’m here to talk about one aspect of the console that could impact your desire to buy one, as it has mine. I am a trypophobe, and I cannot own an Xbox Series X because of all its damn holes. [Since this post discusses a phobia, we…