Items tagged with phil spencer
There's no love lost between Sony and Microsoft on the console front. The companies are fierce competitors, and things are heating up now that the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 have been battling it out on the market for the past six months. One point of friction between the two comes concerning games and how they're delivered to consumers. Given that Microsoft has its Windows PC and Xbox platforms to distribute games, it has the ability -- so far, with great success -- to release first-party games simultaneously only on both platforms. In addition, through Xbox Game Pass, gamers can play new releases on day one with their subscription -- not just old games from its existing PlayStation-exclusive...
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Have you tried buying a next-generation game console? If so, you might have a hole in your wall, from where you punched it out of frustration. The Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and both PlayStation 5 consoles have been almost impossible to buy, thanks to a combination of factors—high demand, not enough supply, bots, etc. If it comes as any consolation, Xbox boss Phil Spencer feels your frustration and wants to change the pre-order process for the better. The question is, how can Microsoft (and Sony) go about doing that? Let me share my own experience, before diving in to that. Having missed out on the initial pre-order run, I've tried a few times to order one of the next-gen consoles. But...
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Some of you reading this probably tried, in vain, to order a GeForce RTX 3070 this morning, only to be met with error messages, slow loading sites, and ultimately disappointment. Not that anyone should be surprised—it was always going to be that way, given the excellent bang-for-buck proposition, and how the previous launches went. But there is always the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S right around the corner, right? Technically, yes. Though if you did not jump on the pre-order train when it rolled down the tracks, you might have a tough time scoring one at a retail store next month, or even in December. That is not just a hunch, but essentially what Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently said,...
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At this point, Microsoft is looking to deliver the Xbox gaming experiences on as many platforms as possible. In addition to cross-platform games that work across Xbox One and upcoming Xbox Series S/X consoles, you can play many Xbox games on the PC. And with xCloud now becoming part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can even play fully-fledged Xbox games on your Android smartphone. Now, Xbox Chief Phil Spencer is dropping hints that Microsoft may release a streaming dongle that could plug directly into your TV to support xCloud game streaming. With this approach, Microsoft could provide a lower cost of entry to Xbox gaming, while still tapping into the gravy train of monthly subscription revenue...
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Pending any major hiccups along the way, we're roughly 6 months away from the global launch of the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5. Given that's it's been nearly 7 years since the last generation of consoles launched (Xbox One, PlayStation 4), there will likely be incredible demand for the new gaming duo. In the case of the Xbox Series X, Xbox Chief Phil Spencer seems confident that at launch, there will be enough consoles to go around. "In our supply chain, we feel good about the hardware side," said Spencer, while speaking with none other than former Nintendo of America chief Reggie Fils-Aime on his new Talking Games podcast. "It feels like we'll be able to get enough units. We're...
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This is a big year in the gaming console segment—Sony is set to release its PlayStation 5 in the holiday season (November or December), and around the same time, Microsoft will launch its Xbox Series X. Rumor has it the PS5 will debut at $399, or thereabouts. What about the Xbox Series X? Nothing has been announced yet, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer says he feels "really good" about how the Xbox Series X stacks up against the PS5 in both price and performance. In regards to performance, we already know he is justified in feeling good about where things stand. Both Sony and Microsoft have revealed detailed specs about the hardware insider their respective next-gen consoles, and while the PS5...
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Back in November, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said had "some issues with VR," and also claimed "nobody's asking for VR." His comments were in justification of skipping the feature on the next Xbox console, which we now know is the Xbox Series X, due out at the end of this year. Spencer has not changed his position since then, though he did recently clarify his position in response to the backlash. At this point, we can assume that VR functionality is definitely not headed to the Xbox Series X. Spencer has not wavered on this. Not when he made the initial comments in November, not when he expanded on his comments later that same month (in the wake of Half-Life: Alyx, a VR-only title, being announced),...
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Microsoft recently published a preview video of the Xbox Series X’s design. The upcoming console design has garnered both praise, concern, and confusion. Microsoft's next-gen game console appears to be rather large and bears many similarities to a PC. One critic included Gearbox executive Randy Pitchford, who took to Twitter to complain about the design and performance claims of the Xbox Series X. The Xbox Series X features a design that differs from its predecessors. Phil Spencer, executive vice-president of Gaming at Microsoft, claimed that the console’s design is due to the deceleration of Moore’s law. He tweeted, “As Moore's law slows down and our ambitions increase,...
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Last night, Microsoft surprised us all by spilling many details on its next-generation Xbox Series X roughly a year before it will even be released. The Xbox Series X has a tower form-factor, is powered by an AMD Zen 2 CPU paired with an RDNA GPU, and features GDDR6 memory along with an ultra-fast NVMe SSD for storage. The console will also ship with a revised wireless controller that is patterned after the Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller. In an interview with GameSpot, however, Xbox Chief Phil Spencer and Jason Ronald (Partner Director of Program Management for Team Xbox) provided some greater insight into the console with regards to local gaming, the cloud, and first-party...
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Earlier this week, Xbox chief Phil Spencer ruffled a few feathers in the gaming world when he spoke his mind on the state of virtual reality (VR) for consoles. Spencer at the time lamented problems that he saw with VR technology, and stated his reasoning for not pursuing the technology with Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Project Scarlett gaming console. "I have some issues with VR—it’s isolating and I think of games as a communal, kind of together experience. We’re responding to what our customers are asking for and… nobody’s asking for VR," said Spencer in an interview with Stevivor. "The vast majority of our customers know if they want a VR experience,...
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While many of the concrete details surrounding Microsoft's next flagship game console are still under wraps, much has already been made about its promised features, such as solid state drive storage and support for real-time ray tracing on the hardware level. If you are wondering how VR gaming might factor in Project Scarlett, however, Microsoft's answer is simple—it won't. As far as Microsoft is concerned, the demand is just not there yet. Or as Microsoft's vice president of gaming Phil Spencer puts it, "Nobody's asking for VR," so it's not a point of focus for Project Scarlett. "I have some issues with VR—it’s isolating and I think of games as a communal, kind of together...
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The console wars will enter a new field of battle late next year when Microsoft's Project Scarlett goes up against Sony's PlayStation 5. It is a war that will not be won by either side in short order. However, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has made it clear that things will be different next time around, and that Project Scarlett will be competitive in power and price. Comparing the current generation gets a little fuzzy because there are so many different iterations, and at this stage of the game, prices can fluctuate wildly (particularly with Black Friday right around the corner). But if we look at sales, the PS4 is the clear victor—it recently breached 100 million units sold, reaching the achievement...
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Do not hold your breath waiting for a version of Project Scarlett built exclusively for streaming. Xbox boss Phil Spencer threw cold water on what was becoming a hot rumor, fueled in large part by comments he previously made regarding the company's future console plans. As it stands, Project Scarlett will stick to the usual script. The speculation stems in part from Project xCloud, a streaming service Microsoft is working on that will allow users to play games on any device. This is not meant to replace power consoles like Project Scarlett, the codename of Microsoft's next flagship Xbox console, but rumors of a dedicated streaming SKU launching alongside the main console have persisted nonetheless....
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One thing that is a given whenever a new game console comes out is that it will have upgraded hardware that is leaps and bounds ahead of the previous generation—it comes with the territory of riding a console for several years before introducing an entirely new model. That is again going to be the case when the next Xbox arrives, but what will it look like? We do not know yet, but according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer, expect something "cool looking." The design of the next Xbox—codename Project Scarlett—has not been finalized yet, which is not surprising since it is more than a year away from launching. Nevertheless, Microsoft at least has a general idea of the overall design,...
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Contrary to some of the speculation that is out there, the Xbox One X is not the the end of the road for Xbox. Phil Spencer, executive vice president of gaming and head of the Xbox brand at Microsoft, confirmed as much during E3 earlier this year, and now he's followed that up by saying he is "very excited" about the future of Xbox. This has not always been a given. Game consoles have become more PC-like with the latest generation of game systems, and have also gone the way of incremental upgrades, like the Xbox One S followed by the Xbox One X. On top of it all, there has been a resurgence in PC gaming of sorts, with esports taking off the way that it has. For Microsoft in particular, the Xbox...
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Crackdown 3 is proving a bit more ambitious than its developers anticipated. As a result, it will not launch alongside the Xbox One X this November. Both were scheduled to debut on November 7, 2017, and while that still applies to the Xbox One X console, Microsoft Studios is pushing back the launch of Crackdown 3 until sometime in spring of next year (barring any further delays). Gamers have been waiting a long time for this one. Microsoft initially announced the third Crackdown title back at E3...in 2014. It was accompanied by a short trailer highlighting some of the dark humor and intense action the game series is known for. But as time went on, the game evolved and became a more complex project...
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When Microsoft announced the new Xbox One X on Sunday, the first thing to spring to mind of gamers was how will the console compare to the Sony PlayStation 4 Pro. The PS4 Pro, which hit the market late last year, became the first available “4K” gaming console and helped to solidify Sony’s lead in the current generation console race. However, Xbox Chief Phil Spencer doesn’t see the Xbox One X and the PS4 Pro as competitors. In fact, Spencer throws more than a little shade on the PS4 Pro, saying that it isn’t a true 4K gaming console and that it should be compared instead to the Xbox One S: I look at Pro as more of a competitor to S than I do to Xbox One X. This is a true 4K console. If you just...
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Console gaming is in a sort of interesting place at the moment. New generations of hardware are building on top of previous releases, such as the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One S, and later Project Scorpio. Rather than release brand new systems that leave the old ones behind, these incremental upgrades are faster and more capable versions. And on the software side, developers are spending more time supporting their games with extra DLC and graphical upgrades. These things combined have led to a sort of game-as-a-service model, which Xbox boss Phil Spencer would like to see evolve. Into what, exactly? Well, he envisions a subscription model similar to Netflix and HBO Go. "I’ve looked at things...
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There are plenty of competent first-person shooter (FPS) games on the Xbox One gaming console, but they all rely on Microsoft’s wireless controller. Any PC gamer worth his (or her) salt will tell you that the only way to truly become dominant in FPS titles is to use a mouse and keyboard. Microsoft has heard those cries, and mouse/keyboard support will be arriving on the Xbox One in the coming months. After last referencing mouse/keyboard support back in July 2015 in a tweet, Xbox chief Phil Spencer is once again talking up the feature. Given Microsoft’s Xbox Play Anywhere initiative, which is blurring the line between Xbox One and Windows 10 gaming, support for traditional PC peripherals...
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“Game over, man. GAME OVER!” After over ten years of production, it’s time to say goodbye to the venerable Xbox 360. The console celebrated its tenth birthday this past November and global sales for the console have surpassed the 85 million mark. Early in its life the Xbox 360 was fraught with quality control issues, as witnessed by the infamous Red Ring of Death that struck many consoles (and subsequently resulted in lawsuits). And we can’t forget the HD DVD add-on debacle, which saw Microsoft on the losing side of the next-generation, high-definition optical disc format war. Sony eventually won the standards battle with Blu-ray and Microsoft was forced to hang its head in defeat (the...
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The latest buzz from the gaming community is that Sony might be working on an upgraded version of its PlayStation 4 console, one that's built with a burlier GPU capable of playing games at 4K Ultra HD resolution. Nothing is yet official, but if Sony makes a bombshell announcement, will Microsoft follow suit with a beefier Xbox One? Don't count on it.Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, poured water on the fire just as it was getting lit. The inevitable question came up at Microsoft's 2016 Build conference last week, and rather than offer a canned response that would have left the door open to rumors and speculation, Spencer flat out said there are no plans to release an incrementally...
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Are dedicated gaming consoles here to stay? The ever-increasing performance gap between garden variety PCs and consoles is leading many to question whether the gaming console as we know it will even live to see another generation. However, there’s no need to worry according to Xbox Chief Phil Spencer. Spencer is confident that there will be another Xbox-branded console in the future. "I fully expect that you’ll see another console from us,” said Spencer in a new, wide-ranging interview. “Our best customers are Xbox console customers, and I want to keep those people engaged both on the Xbox One and anything we might do in the future. I’m 100 percent committed to that." That’s a tall order considering...
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