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CultureHere’s What’s Inside The Xbox Series X
Last month Microsoft posted a lengthy article talking about what the upcoming Xbox Series X console can do. Today the company details the hardware inside the box that’s getting it done, including a custom eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU running at 3.8 GHz and its powerful RDNA 2 GPU. The technical jargon runs thick in…
By Mike Fahey Published March 16, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformOri And The Will Of The Wisps: The Kotaku Review
During my time with an early reviewable version of Ori and the Will of the Wisps,, I experienced multiple lockups, intense framerate stutter, and a bug that warped me to the other side of the map after a death. I had a boss battle I’d attempted a half-dozen times reset completely as I landed the…
By Mike Fahey Published March 12, 2020 -
CultureMicrosoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft Respond To The News Of E3’s Cancellation
Earlier today, the Entertainment Software Association said it will cancel the video game trade show E3 this year amid growing concerns over the spread of COVID-19, aka coronavirus. Since the announcement, major game publishers have said they still plan to share news about upcoming games, but in a different format. Despite Sony pulling out of…
By Ethan Gach Published March 11, 2020 -
CultureMicrosoft, Bungie Enact Work-From-Home Policies In Response To Coronavirus [Update: Nintendo, Too]
The ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic has hit the video game industry in a major way, most notably resulting in the postponement of the Game Developers Conference last week. As a response to the virus spreading to Washington’s King County, Microsoft and Bungie, both of which have offices in the area, have decided to enact work-from-home…
By Ian Walker Published March 5, 2020 -
CultureI Like One Of Xbox’s Two New Controller Colors
Look at this beautiful piece of gaming equipment. Microsoft calls it Phantom Magenta, but we’re calling it “purple.” Not the Atomic Purple of Nintendo fame, but a richer, more mature hue. I want to uncork it and drink deeply from it’s hand oil-caked reservoirs. It’s up for preorder today, along with a white camouflage number…
By Mike Fahey Published March 2, 2020 -
CultureMicrosoft Drops Out Of GDC, Too [Update: And Epic]
Following in the footsteps of several other major tech firms including Sony and Facebook, Microsoft and Epic both said today that they will no longer be attending this year’s Game Developers Conference due to the growing health risks posed by COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus. “After a close review of guidance by global health…
By Ethan Gach Published February 27, 2020 -
CultureMass Effect Returns To Minecraft Seven Years Later
Minecraft players can now once again explore Mars as their favorite Mass Effect players on modern platforms. The Mass Effect Mash-Up Pack adds 36 unique skins for characters like Commander Shepard and Garrus, as well as a bunch of custom textures, menus, and some of the best music from Mass Effect 3 because what better…
By Ethan Gach Published February 26, 2020 -
CultureThe New Xbox One Home Screen Is A Lot Cleaner
Microsoft released a new update for the Xbox One home screen yesterday that makes recently played games easier to find and removes a lot of the extra junk that had previously been taking up real estate. The three rows that used to make up the home screen have been condensed and moved. Now, in the…
By Ethan Gach Published February 25, 2020 -
CultureMicrosoft Unveils Xbox Series X Specs And Shares Some Cool Details
Did you know the Xbox Series X runs on a custom next-generation processor with four times the power of the Xbox One? How about the fact that it can save and quick resume from multiple games at once? Well now we know those things, along with the rest of the specs and details Microsoft shared…
By Mike Fahey Published February 24, 2020 -
I Finally Got My First Xbox
I’ve never wanted to own an Xbox console, if I’m being completely honest. For the past 19 years Microsoft has put out exclusive after exclusive that don’t appeal to me in the slightest. The consistency is actually kind of impressive. Not that Xbox consoles or exclusives are poorly made—they’re just usually not for me. Even…
By Ben Bertoli Published February 9, 2020 -
CultureMicrosoft’s Bug Bounty Program Will Pay Players To Find Security Flaws In Xbox Live
Xbox Live has never suffered a major hack, and Microsoft would like to keep it that way, in part by rewarding people who report vulnerabilities in the gaming network with cash. “The Xbox Bounty Program invites gamers, security researchers, and others around the world to help identify security vulnerabilities in the Xbox Live network and…
By Ethan Gach Published January 31, 2020 -
CultureFirst-Party Xbox Series X Games Won’t Be Exclusive For A While, Microsoft Says
First-party Xbox Series X games won’t be exclusive for at least the first year or two, if a new interview with the head of Xbox Game Studios is to be believed. Speaking to the website MCVUK, Xbox’s Matt Booty confirmed what many have been assuming—that Microsoft’s games will be both forwards and backwards compatible. “As…
By Ethan Gach Published January 10, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsI Feel Ready For The Future Of Video Game Streaming On Xbox One With This $15 Piece Of Plastic
Power A’s new mobile gaming clip looks like the sort of accessory I might have bought for my Game Boy Color back in the 90s. It’s a mess of black plastic that makes weird clicking noises and, to the untrained eye, looks like garbage. But it’s made my Xbox One controller into an excellent portable…
By Ethan Gach Published December 17, 2019 -
CultureOne Man’s Quest To Collect Every Classic PC Game In Existence
They’ve been outdated since the arrival of Windows 95, and aren’t always easy to get running on a modern PC. But MS-DOS games—those designed to launch from Microsoft’s old text-based operating system—are still very much worth preserving. One man is on a quest to archive every single one of them, from the biggest project down…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 16, 2019 -
CultureThe Next-Gen Xbox Is Called Xbox Series X
The next Xbox console is called the Xbox Series X. It has a weird new shape, a practically identical controller, loads of backwards compatibility, and it’s out in the 2020 holiday season. Here’s the debut trailer: I…really like that box. And the fact the controller looks identical, because really, Xbox controllers have been pretty much…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 12, 2019 -
CultureMicrosoft Cancels Streamer’s Partnership After ‘Sex Offender’ Tweet
Harrison “HarrisonJr” Patrick Stewart had, until last week, been a verified streamer and partner on Microsoft’s Mixer platform. His deal has since been cancelled after he tweeted an image of himself alongside the text “Come watch a registered sex offender plays Fortnite with 10 year olds!!” As The Hollywood Reporter…reports, Stewart—who had around 80,000 followers—posted…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 12, 2019 -
CultureMinecraft PS4 Players Are Finally Getting The Latest Version Of The Game And Cross-Play
At long last, Minecraft’s Bedrock Edition, the latest version of the game, is coming to PS4. PS4 players who couldn’t play with their friends on other platforms, as well as being barred from Microsoft’s latest version of the game, will be brought back into the fold on December 10. Previously, Minecraft players on PS4 were…
By Ethan Gach Published December 9, 2019 -
CultureYouTubeMinecraft Is The Top YouTube Game Of 2019, Thanks To A Boost From PewDiePie
It’s not like Minecraft ever really went anywhere. But it definitely spent the past handful of years less firmly entrenched in the zeitgeist than in the first half of the decade. Not so in 2019. The blocky game about digging holes and punching the ever-loving shit out of trees is back on top of YouTube,…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 6, 2019 -
CultureHalo: Reach, As Told By Steam Reviews
Halo: Reach, Bungie’s final entry in its second (of three, so far) series about armored space knights, is finally on PC. People are clearly excited, so much so that they managed to propel it to the third most-played slot on Steam earlier this week. But do they actually like the port? Yes and no. For…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 5, 2019
