Xbox

Xbox Boss On Microsoft’s Struggles With Game Quality And Efforts To Improve It

Whatever the strengths of the Xbox platform, it’s long lagged behind Nintendo and Sony in terms of homegrown, exclusive video games. There have been highlights in its history and even some stellar games of late, such as last year’s Forza Horizon 4, but the Xbox One era has been rough. There have been prominent cancellations,…

‘Xbox Live Is Not A Free Speech Platform’: Xbox Boss Promises New Features To Make Online Gaming Less Hostile

You can learn a lot about a person by the values they express, and possibly something about an entire gaming platform by the blog posts the person running it writes. That’s why I was so eager at E3 last week to ask the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, why he recently wrote a 1200-word essay…

Phil Spencer On Xbox’s Unusual Strategy, Working With Sony, And More

Xbox chief Phil Spencer has heard from the skeptics. They think that what he’s doing with Xbox means that Microsoft is giving up on consoles, or even going third party. That’s all wrong, he told me during an extensive interview in Los Angeles last week, where we discussed his vision for Xbox, the recently announced…

Xbox Players Can Now Have The Same Gamertag, If They Don’t Mind Numbers At The End

Frustrated that someone else got the Xbox Gamertag you wanted before you did? Thanks to changes implemented by Microsoft this week, players can now choose a Gamertag that’s already in use, as long as they don’t mind having a hashtag and random numbers next to their display name. There can be only one MasterChief, MajorNelson…

Microsoft Ends Xbox Backward Compatibility Efforts With A Final Batch Of Games

Some bittersweet news this E3: Microsoft has announced another batch of games from the original Xbox and Xbox 360 that it will bring to the Xbox One via backward compatibility—but it’ll be the final batch. “After this week, we have no plans to add additional Original Xbox or Xbox 360 titles to the catalog on…

Hands-On With Microsoft’s New Elite Controller

The current Elite is already the best controller (a lot of) money can buy, but Microsoft is showing off a new and improved version at E3, which you can get a closer look at in this video. Stephen got some time with the controller earlier today, and aside from some general specs and features rundowns…

Whoever owns this truck is really into Xbox! As spotted in a parking lot near Microsoft’s big E3 showcase last night. It could be a promotional truck or one owned by a dedicated fan. We’re not sure.

Everything Microsoft Announced At E3 2019

The first details on a powerful new Xbox console, release dates for anticipated games like Cyberpunk 2077, and another developer acquired by Xbox Game Studios led Microsoft’s packed slate of announcements for its E3 briefing on Sunday. Project Scarlett, the next-generation Xbox console, will be released for the 2020 holiday season. Halo Infinite will launch…

Microsoft Announces Project Scarlett, The Next-Gen Xbox

Microsoft today teased some of its first plans for Project Scarlett, the next-generation Xbox, and the buzzwords make it sound impressive: up to 120 frames-per-second, a solid state drive, ray-tracing, and so on. It’ll be out in the fall of 2020. And of course, Halo Infinite will be a launch title. “For us, the console…

It’s Official: Elden Ring Is A Collaboration Between George R.R. Martin And The Developers Of Dark Souls

Game of Thrones and Dark Souls are colliding. A trailer for a new From Software game called Elden Ring was shown at E3 2019’s Microsoft press conference today. The catch: it’s set in a fictional world designed by Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki and best-selling author George R.R. Martin. Elden Ring’s announcement isn’t a complete…

Watch Microsoft’s E3 2019 Presentation Live, Right Here [Update: It’s Over!]

E3 is even more upon us with Microsoft’s press conference at 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific. We’re expecting new games and updates from the numerous studios Microsoft has picked up in the last year, some Game Pass news, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new Xbox with both Sony and Google upping their hardware game.…

We Need More Star Wars Games Like Revenge Of The Sith

Today, Star Wars games are usually very serious and dedicated to authenticity. Nearly all Star Wars game released these days are also canon, connecting to other comics, movies, books, and TV shows. Which is cool, I love modern Star Wars. But I can’t help but miss the days when we got games that were less…

Fans Find Huge List Of New Games Coming To Xbox One And PC Game Pass

It seems Microsoft has released some E3 news a bit early. Fans have found a large list of games that are now available to play via Game Pass, ahead of an official announcement later today at their E3 Media Briefing. Over on ResetEra and Reddit, fans are putting together lists of all the new Game…

Xbox Apparently Thinks Gamers Want Neon Green Body Wash

Actual marketing copy for Xbox’s upcoming body wash: “Lift Your GAME.” According to GameSpot, Xbox will release a line of personal hygiene products this summer called Xbox Lynx. Lynx is the name that Axe is marketed by in Australia, New Zealand, China and elsewhere outside the U.S. My Xbox isn’t something I associate with the…

One Year Later, Did Microsoft (And Friends) Keep Their E3 2018 Promises?

E3 2019 is just around the corner, and it’s going to look very different this year without PlayStation. Before we look to the future and are blinded by the razzle-dazzle of trailers and announcements at this year’s event, we need to address what happened in 2018. As we ask every year: Did the three big…

Microsoft will have 14 games from its internal studios to show at this year’s E3. That’s according to a new tweet by the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer. Microsoft has been busy acquiring a bunch of new game studios recently. It sounds like we’ll finally get to hear what they’re working on.

Portal Headlines June’s Xbox Games With Gold

There’s a fun mix of games in June’s Xbox Games with Gold, from sports to puzzles. As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active Xbox Live Gold subscription. June’s Games with Gold are: Xbox One EA Sports NHL 19 (June 1-30) Rivals of Aether (June 16-July 15) Xbox 360 (compatible with…

Microsoft has hinted at this for a while, but now it’s official: Xbox Game Pass is coming to PC. No word on timing or any other details just yet; Xbox boss Phil Spencer says they’ll elaborate more at E3.

The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, says the platform is committed to fighting the “growing toxic stew of hate speech, bigotry and misogyny” people experience in their digital lives in a blog post today. It goes on to lay out the principles and actions Xbox will pursue to be inclusive environment.

Report: Microsoft And Sony’s Cloud Gaming Collaboration Caught The PlayStation Team By Surprise

It was a surprise to say the least last week whennews broke of a vague agreement between Microsoft and Sony—normally arch rivals in the console gaming space—to team up on “new cloud-based solutions for gaming experiences”. If you think you were shocked, though, spare a thought for the PlayStation team. According to this Bloomberg report…