-
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 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI’ve Had To Kick My Modern Habits To Stop Dying In Halo: Reach Multiplayer
A little figure wearing red space pads flickers onto my screen from behind a pillar and I immediately pull the left trigger on my Xbox One controller to zoom down my rifle’s sights. Except this is Halo: Reach, and there are none. My blue space dude lobs a grenade instead. The red man disappears again.…
By Ethan Gach Published December 4, 2019 -
CultureSources: Microsoft Is Still Planning A Cheaper, Disc-Less Next-Gen Xbox
In June, Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, a new iteration of the Xbox that the company said would “set a new bar for console power, speed and performance.” What Microsoft didn’t say is that it is also working on a lower-cost, disc-less version of Scarlett, code-named Lockhart, according to four people briefed on the company’s plans.…
By Jason Schreier Published December 4, 2019 -
CultureHalo: Reach Launches On PC, Becomes Third Most Played Game On Steam
The remaster of Halo: Reach came out on PC today, marking the series’ return to the platform after 12 long years, and Steam users have given it a Spartan’s welcome, with over 100,000 people playing at the same time making it one of the top five games on Valve’s storefront The game’s only been out…
By Ethan Gach Published December 3, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of Xbox One In 2019
Nearing the end of its life, the Xbox One feels less like a box for spinning video game discs and more like a platform for selling digital subscriptions. The pitch of a mostly-digital future that blew up in Microsoft’s face the year the Xbox One launched is now mostly here in 2019 and it’s not…
By Ethan Gach Published December 3, 2019
