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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 -
CultureOver 70 More Games Just Got FPS Boost On Xbox Series X/S
Microsoft added its FPS Boost to over 70 additional games today, letting players on Xbox Series X or S enjoy dramatically better performance in older Xbox One titles like Yakuza 6, Assassin’s Creed Unity, Alien Isolation, Far Cry 5, and Mad Max. FPS Boost is a feature found on Xbox Series X and S consoles…
By Zack Zwiezen Published May 3, 2021 -
CultureMicrosoft Looked Into Reducing Its Xbox Store Cut From 30% To 12% [Update]
According to internal documents filed in the ongoing Epic Games vs Apple case, Microsoft has plans to reduce its cut on digital downloads on the Xbox console store from 30% to 12%. Found in court documents, first spotted by The Verge, Microsoft shares various information and data about its digital storefronts on Windows 10 and…
By Zack Zwiezen Published May 2, 2021 -
CultureMicrosoft Will Give More Of The Revenue To PC Developers
Game developers on the Microsoft store will soon get a greater cut of the profits, Microsoft announced today. The change comes at a time when many developers and storefronts are rethinking the way profits are split. “As part of our commitment to empower every PC game creator to achieve more, starting on August 1 the…
By Riley MacLeod Published April 29, 2021 -
CultureMicrosoft Fixes Windows 10 Updates That Hit Game Performance
Last week, the Windows 10 updates KB5000842 and KB5001330 made a bit more of a fuss than usual, because they were found to be at the heart of several gaming-related performance issues across various games and graphics cards. Originally rolling out in late-March, it took a few weeks for folks to track down the culprit,…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 26, 2021
