Items tagged with Xbox Live
Microsoft is cooking up something for GDC that will make gamers very happy. It has an entire GDC session where it will debut and talk about its new cross-platform development platform that will bring support for Xbox Live to platforms including Android, iOS, and the Nintendo Switch in addition to the Xbox and PC platforms that it already supports. Notice there is no mention of support for the PS4 from Sony. Microsoft noted in its GDC session description that when the new SDK rolls out for all the other platforms, it will reach over 2 billion devices, a massive gain from the 400 million gaming devices...
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Microsoft has gone all-in when it comes to the subscription model. It has found success with Office 365 and is even looking to recurring revenue for certain versions of its Windows operating systems. On the gaming front, it has Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass to keep the money flowing in from customers. But what about hardware? Microsoft is reportedly working on a new Xbox bundle called Xbox All Access. For a monthly subscription fee, you will be able to get a brand-new Xbox One S console, Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass for roughly $22 per month. You will pay this monthly fee for two years,...
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Gamers and tech enthusiasts have had their fair share of sales this summer from Amazon Prime Day to the Steam Summer Sale to the Google Store Summer Sale. If your bank account is still in decent shape, here is one more sale to entice you. Microsoft is offering deals on over 700 Xbox One and PC games, consoles, and subscriptions in its Ultimate Game Sale. The biggest draws of the Microsoft Ultimate Game Sale are the discounts on Xbox One games. Gamers can get up to 65% off while Xbox Live Gold members also save an additional 10% off the already discounted prices. There are many games on sale, but...
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Your mama, and now Microsoft, wants you to watch your mouth. Microsoft "may stop providing Services" or "close your Microsoft account" if you "publicly display or use the Services to share inappropriate content or material". "Offensive language" was listed as potentially inappropriate content. The new services agreement was posted this month and will go into effect Tuesday, May 1st for U.S. users. The service agreement applies to a number of Microsoft services such as Bing, Cortana MSN.com, Office, Skype, and Xbox Live. If one's Microsoft services are cancelled, either by themselves or by...
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If you have an Xbox 360 or Xbox One, Microsoft today just launched its “Biggest Sale Ever” for the Xbox Store. The 19-day sale lasts through January 9th and encompasses all type of digital media ranging from games to apps to movies to TV shows. But we know that all you folks care about are the games! The first round of sales for Xbox 360 and Xbox One games only lasts for a week, but those who choose to participate stand to reap some pretty large savings (up to 75 percent off). Here’s just a small sampling of some of the Xbox One game deals that are available through December 28th (prices shown...
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Microsoft, in collaboration with Twitch, just announced capture card support for Twitch Xbox One broadcasters on Xbox Live. Hereafter, any Twitch user who has linked their Xbox Live and Twitch accounts together and is broadcasting an Xbox One game using a capture card will be able to benefit from Xbox Live features. Previously, only Xbox One players broadcasting their gameplay via the Xbox Twitch app could take advantage of all that Xbox Live has to offer. If gamers used the Twitch app they benefited from Xbox Live integration, but made do with lower-quality graphics. Streamers who chose to...
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Gamers were ready to launch a petition for Microsoft to build avatars in wheelchairs for Xbox Live but it turns out they won't need to. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer tweeted out that no petition is needed, that the voices of gamers requesting wheelchair avatars have been heard, adding "this is something that we've already looked at, not far off."Mike Ybarra, a 15-year Microsoft employee who now serves as the Partner Director of Program Management for the Xbox platform chimed in on the conversation with a sneak peek of two new avatars, a male and female, both in a wheelchair with flag attached sporting...
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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...
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Microsoft dropped a bombshell earlier this week when it announced at the 2016 Game Developers Conference that Xbox One would support cross-network play, paving the way for Xbox One gamers to compete against (or with) PlayStation 4 and PC gamers. That announcement essentially put the ball in Sony's court to end console segregation in terms of online play, and the good news is Sony seems open to the idea."PlayStation has been supporting cross-platform play between PC on several software titles starting with Final Fantasy 11 on PS2 and PC back in 2002," Sony told GameSpot in a statement. "We would...
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It what seems to be an increasing occurrence for gaming consoles (on both the Microsoft and Sony sides of the aisle), Microsoft experienced an extended Xbox Live outage yesterday that affected millions of gamers across the globe. The outage affected both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One game consoles, making it impossible for console owners to hit up their family multiplayer games or even perform simple tasks such as chats. While such service interruptions are annoying, we can’t really see it as a reason to get incredibly worked up about an outage that lasts for just a few hours. However, someone...
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Here's a bit of a strange issue. Microsoft, via its TechNet website, has said that the encryption keys used to secure the connection between a Windows PC and the xboxlive.com domain have been "inadvertently disclosed." At the current time, Microsoft isn't telling us exactly how that happened, but the fortunate thing is that the company has been rather quick in issuing a fix. With encryption keys that are used to validate a security certificate in the hand of malicious users, man-in-the-middle attacks could be performed. A MITM attack is when a connection is interfered with to either fetch the traffic...
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If you've been experiencing super-slow downloads on Xbox Live, don't fret: you're not alone. That's the upside; the downside is that while Microsoft is on the case, it doesn't seem to understand the rhyme or reason behind the cause. If there's a secondary upside; you can at least relish the fact that it's merely slow, and not down entirely, as has happened before. It's a Sunday, so maybe you're lounging around waiting for Xbox Live to fully restore itself. If that's the case, you might be interested in helping Microsoft diagnose the issue. Misses Quinzel, an official support rep for Microsoft,...
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Look playa, you should never pay full price for an Xbox Live Gold membership, not when there's almost always a sale price to be had. Even Microsoft hawks its Xbox Live Gold subscriptions for a discount on occasion, like it's doing now -- for a limited time, you can purchase a 12-month Xbox Live Gold membership for $39.99 from the Microsoft Store.That's $20 off the regular price of $59.99 and represents the typical sale price that third-party vendors often mark these things down for. Every once in awhile you can find them for a few dollars less, and if you're lucky, you can snag one for about $30...
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An 18-year-old man living in the U.K. was picked up and arrested in Southport as part of an investigation into distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that brought down Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) and Microsoft's Xbox Live service on Christmas Day. The investigation is part of a joint effort between U.K. cybercrime authorities and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).The DDoS attacks carried out by members of the hacking group Lizard Squad caused both services to be overwhelmed with online traffic, which disrupted access. Both Sony and Microsoft were forced to shut down their...
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