Microsoft

Limbo Is Currently Free On Xbox

It’s raining free Xbox games! Only a few days after Fallout 4 accidentally went on sale for $0.00 on the Xbox Store, the brilliant death simulator Limbo is now also free. Though this reduction looks more deliberate. The “try it free” and strike through the $9.99 price clearly show that this is meant to be…

Last year at Gamescom, Microsoft said that the Xbox One was going to get DVR functionality in 2016. Yesterday, the company shelved those plans, saying they were going to instead “focus our attention on launching new, higher fan-requested gaming experiences across Xbox One and Windows 10″.

When Windows 10 Updates Install In The Middle Of A Counter-Strike Livestream

All Erik Flom wanted to do was stream Counter-Strike for nine hours. Microsoft had other ideas. Flom, aka fl0m (he’s a former pro CS player) had been livestreaming the game on his Twitch channel earlier this month when, whomp, Windows 10 did its thing, interrupting his session right in the middle of a game to…

Windows 10’s Upgrading Tricks Have Gotten More Insidious

In the next few years, Microsoft wantsWindows 10 running on a billion devices. One way it’s making sure that happens is by tricking users into upgrading in shady ways. But here’s the real problem: Windows 10 is a good operating system, and Microsoft’s tactics are giving it a bad rap. Those stories about people getting…

Sources: Smaller Xbox One Coming This Year, More Powerful Xbox One In 2017 [UPDATE]

Microsoft is preparing at least two new Xbox models for release in the next two years, sources tell Kotaku. Later this year we’ll see a cheaper, smaller Xbox One, and next year Microsoft will release a more powerful version of their premiere console. The 2017 Xbox, which is codenamed Scorpio, will have a more powerful…

Spontaneous Windows 10 Update Prevents Game Dev From Checking Out Of Hotel

Microsoft really wants people to upgrade their machines to Windows 10, to the point that computers will now install the new operating system without your knowledge. This lead to a frustrating (but darkly humorous) situation today for Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail, while checking out of a hotel. “I woke up all chill and relaxed and…

That Time Bill Gates Starred In A DOOM Promo Video

Yes, that’s Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates pretending to walk around in a level from DOOM and firing a shotgun at a demon marine. When the original DOOM was released, it was installed on millions of PCs across the country. Microsoft, interested in pushing Windows 95, wanted id Software (and DOOM) involved in the OS. Microsoft…

Xbox Live Is Freeing Up A Million Gamertags

This week, Microsoft will release close to a million Xbox Live gamertags to the public, the company said today. These handles, which Microsoft says have been inactive since the original Xbox era, will start going free on May 18 at 2pm ET. Microsoftwon’t give the full list, so you’ll have to use trial and error…

Microsoft Kills Project Spark

Project Spark is no more. Microsoft announced Friday afternoon—prime news-burying hour!—that their online game creator is no longer for sale as of today. Online services will end in August. “For existing users of Project Spark, online services will be unavailable after 8/12/16,” community manager Thomas Gratz wrote on their website. “Without services, players will no…

An Inside Look At How Lionhead Collapsed

Two months ago, in a stunning and surprising move, Microsoft shut down the renowned British studio Lionhead. Now, details have emerged about how it happened: in short, Fable Legends cost too much money, and nobody really wanted to make it. Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole today published an extensive, remarkably well-sourced story about the demise of Lionhead.…

Becoming A Mimic In Dark Souls III Is A Good Way To Confuse Invaders

Mimics are just the worst in Dark Souls III. So, role-playing as one during invasions is a fantastic way to have some fun and troll invaders. The rules are simple: After dressing up as a Mimic (more or less), wait patiently guarding loot. If the invader approaches and takes the item or attacks, you have…

Former Xbox Japan honcho Takashi Sensui has joined Tokyo-based game company Marvelous as Executive Vice President, Nikkei reports. Previously, Sensui had returned to the U.S. to work at Microsoft after Xbox Japan went pear-shaped.

Google’s Self-Driving Car Goes Wild In GTA V

An autonomous, self-driving car in Los Santos? What could go wrong? YouTuber pizzaforbreakfast made a clip imagining how this new technology would work in the precisely designed environment of GTA AI drivers. It’d be a disaster. Although, on second thought, it’s not much different from GTA Online To contact the author of this post, write…

Fallout 4‘s World Map As A Globe

Suddenly, Fallout 4‘s Commonwealth, which feels pretty big in first-person view, shrinks when we can see most of it from above. An awesome idea from kidaXV, who used a panorama photo stitcher on 45 carefully selected screenshots to make this unique projection. Slightly bigger pic above, and there’s an even larger one (it’s 50 MB…

Massive Update Fixes A Lot Of Quantum Break‘s PC Problems

When Quantum Break launched earlier this month the PC version had plenty of problems, including poor performance, forced upscaling and the lack of a button to exit the game. Today’s 27GB update goes some way towards making the port not as horrible. First off, that’s a very large update. I’ve seen folks on various forums…

Microsoft Officially Kills Lionhead

In early March, Microsoft announced plans to cancel Fable Legends and put forth a “proposed closure” of the iconic studio Lionhead. Today, it’s official: Lionhead is no more. “We can confirm that after much consideration over the six week consultation period with Lionhead employees, we have reached the decision to close Lionhead Studios,” Microsoft told…

Tony Stark Was Able To Build This Xbox In A CAVE! With A Box Of SCRAPS!

Xbox France had three of these consoles made up as a promo for The Latest Comic Book Movie™. You can’t buy them, but you can look at them and wonder why we can’t at least get that controller. The console itself is…a bit much, though the arc reactor effect in the middle is nice. I’m…

GTA V Player Pulls Off Absurd Stunts With A Vespa Bike

The Enduro bike isn’t the only suitable vehicle in GTA V for wild custom stunt maps. The Vespa bike might be sluggish, but when handled correctly it’s a good choice for parkour maps as well. This is Dark Stunter, showing his skills and sliding through a pretty technical scooter trial, in record time. To contact…

Microsoft Ends Xbox 360 Production

After a successful ten-and-a-half-year run, the Xbox 360 is officially saying goodbye. One might even say it’s turning around 360 degrees and walking away. Announcing the news on the Xbox Wire today, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer wrote a few paragraphs about the console’s success. And it has indeed been successful, selling upwards of 78 million units…

Dark Souls 3 Party Steamrolls Everything With Armor Of Thorns

That’s a lot of players getting rolled to death. The “Armor of Thorns” is a special set in Dark Souls III, covered in thorns, that does damage when rolling into enemies. The damage is minimal, but not when a whole group of players are wearing it in 4v1 pvp. Iron Pineapple and his friends teamed…