Tag: Microsoft - Page 18
News Xbox Series X Back In Stock In Australia, Pre-Order Now
Secure yours today
If you still haven't been able to get hold of an Xbox Series X and happen to be located in Australia, certain stores around the country appear to have secured stock, and are currently taking pre-orders. EB Games is asking for a $200 deposit (the total price is $749.00). It's strictly one per customer and stock is expected to be...
News Xbox Had Its Highest Sales Year Ever In FY22, Analysis Shows
Continued growth
Microsoft has just detailed all of its big flashy financial results for Q4 of the company's 2022 fiscal year. While sales across the Xbox brand are down on the previous quarter, just, the year as a whole looks pretty damn successful. Games industry analyst DomsPlaying has shared some research indicating that while Q4 is indeed...
News Xbox Series X And S Have Been Next-Gen 'Market Leaders' In The US
Over the last 3 fiscal quarters
Yesterday, Microsoft laid bare its company-wide results over the last financial year, and things are looking pretty positive overall.
News Xbox Series X And S Console Sales Up Year-On-Year In Europe
Almost 10% higher than 2021
Over the course of 2022 so far, we've posted multiple stories about Xbox Series X and S console sales doing well in Japan. The pair of systems seem to be shifting fairly quickly in the region, although stock shortages have hurt PS5 sales somewhat. As it turns out, it's much the same story in Europe.
Feature Stray's Success Could Pave The Way For Everyone's Favourite Xbox Cat To Return
Blinx, baby
You might of heard of a little game called Stray — out now on PlayStation platforms and PC — featuring a whole bunch of our cute feline friends. (We say friends, but do cats really like us?) Anyway, let's not try and figure that one out because we'll be here for eons. Instead, let's ponder how Microsoft can fight back with the return...
News Xbox Pushes Out Update To Fix 'Empty Home Screen' Issue
As a server-side patch
Xbox Engineer Eden Marie has once again taken to Twitter to give us a little more info on a recurring Xbox home screen issue. Certain users have been reporting that the frontend dashboard often fails to load properly, resulting in the inability to access 'My games & apps' along with other sections of the OS. Thank
News Halo Infinite Art Director Leaves 343 After Near 15-Year Career At Xbox
New horizons
One of the core developers on Halo Infinite is moving on this year, following a mammoth career at the Xbox-owned studio. Art Director on various Halo projects including Infinite, 'Sparth' (real name Nicolas Bouvier) has announced their departure shortly after Infinite's launch, which finally arrived late last year. The well-known...
News Xbox's Activision Blizzard Purchase Could Be FTC-Approved By Next Month
Microsoft has reportedly submitted all relevant info
Xbox's monumental acquisition of Activision Blizzard is the biggest of its kind in the gaming industry. It's had multiple hurdles to jump over to get closer to actually happening, but one of the most noteworthy might be about to pass. According to a report by the financial analysts over at...
News Xbox Exec Wants To 'Celebrate' Other Console Platforms More
No more wars
It's no secret that Xbox has been pretty open about trying to break down barriers between console platforms. Xbox boss Phil Spencer routinely takes to the Twitter airways to celebrate the folks over at PlayStation and some of their high profile releases, not to mention Xbox's continued push for full cross-play support. Xbox's Aaron...
News 343 Developer Shares 'Halo VR' Concepts From 2017
This would be awesome!
It's no secret that Xbox has continued to shy away from VR in recent years, with Phil Spencer even publicly stating that there are no plans for the tech on the platform at present. However, that doesn't seem to have stopped past VR projects being worked on at Xbox studios, even if they never came to market. One such project...
News Former Microsoft Exec Was Supposedly Team Lead On New 1 Vs. 100 Game
Fingers crossed it's still in development
If you haven't been keeping up with the news, the classic Xbox 360 online gameshow 1 Vs. 100 appears to be back in development at Microsoft, although it seems the project might have changed its team lead recently. According to a discussion between reporters Jeff Grubb of VentureBeat and Jez Corden of...
News Xbox's Activision Blizzard Deal Is Being Scrutinised In The UK
Under the microscope
With the huge Xbox Activision Blizzard deal still going through various phases, it's beginning to face scrutiny in various markets. The latest of which is the UK, where the region's Competition and Markets Authority is now looking into the deal and whether it could harm competition in the market. CNBC reports that the UK...
News Microsoft Renews Trademarks For Rare IP Viva Piñata & Blast Corps
Business as usual, or something else?
Trademarks and renewals don't always lead to something, but they sure get fans excited whenever there's an older series or game mentioned. With this in mind, Microsoft has apparently renewed trademarks for two Rare IPs. As spotted by Game Rant, the first is Viva Piñata, starting out on the Xbox 360 in 2006,...
News Aaron Greenberg Teases 'A Lot More' Unannounced Xbox Games In The Works
Titles like Starfield & Fable are just the beginning...
It's safe to say that Xbox probably has the biggest line up of games on the way, even if some of them are still in the early stages of development. Despite this, it's still exciting to see so many games coming to the Xbox Series X|S in the future. If games like Redfall, Starfield and Fable...
News Xbox's Next Competitor Could Be An 'NFT Games Console', Apparently
If the 'Polium One' ever comes out that is
It's been a while since anyone has truly shaken up the console platform trifecta. Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo have held it down for decades now, with Google Stadia's limp attempt to enter the market via cloud streaming not going down all too well. So, how about an 'NFT games console'? That's sure to do...
News Xbox Has Created A Series X Console That's Literally Thor's Hammer
Love and Thunder
Xbox has moved over to the big brother of the Series S for its latest custom console effort. To tie in with the upcoming 'Thor: Love and Thunder' movie, Microsoft has built this beast of a Series X console that's literally a hammer, handle and all. As per usual this is a sweepstakes affair, where you have to enter a competition...
News Xbox Game Pass Is Coming To Smart TVs, Starting With Samsung
Update: Beginning to roll out now!
Update (Thu 30th Jun, 2022): Today is the day! The Samsung Gaming Hub is now rolling out to a selection of Samsung TVs in the 2022 range, allowing non-console owners to access Xbox Game Pass directly through the TV. This is the first step in bringing Xbox Game Pass to Smart TVs! Here's what Xbox's Phil Spencer had...
Feature Five Years Later, Game Pass Is Still Growing Alongside Xbox Game Studios
Xbox's most important program
Can you believe it's been half a decade since Xbox launched its Game Pass program? Well, you better believe it. Xbox's popular subscription service launched for the public in June 2017, which somehow is five years ago now! (We say somehow, that's just how time works...) Anyway, now that we've established that time...
News Xbox Series X|S Has Outsold PS5 In Japan, Again
Similar results came last month
Xbox Series X|S seems to be doing pretty well in Japan, all things considered. While beating out the PS5 for any given period is largely down to supply constraints, the fact that the system is really selling at all over there is a big improvement on last generation. Well, just as it did for a week in May, the console...
News Xbox ANZ Is Giving Away This Epic Elder Scrolls Series S Console
Taking to the High Isle
Bethesda is now getting in on the Xbox Series S custom console craze that seems to be going on over at Microsoft. There have been dozens of unique designs made over the last few months, and this latest one is all Elder Scrolls themed. Lovely. This High-Isle-inspired Elder Scrolls Online console has been designed as a...
News Microsoft Confirms Xbox Controller Shortage, UK Stores Out Of Stock
"We’re working as fast as possible..."
Xbox controller stock has been spotty, at least here in the UK, for a good few months now. In fact, since Microsoft revealed the 'Deep Pink' Xbox Series X|S controller, it's never actually been available to buy over here. Well, the company has now shed some light on the whole situation. Microsoft recently...
News Microsoft Is Again Handing Out Free Gift Cards This Weekend
It's been a common occurrence recently
It must be the season of generosity at Microsoft right now, as for the third time in recent weeks, we're hearing of Xbox users who have been receiving free Xbox Gift Cards via direct messages on their account over the weekend. This time around, it looks like people in the UK are getting £4 or £8 worth of...
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (June 16-19)
With an Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass Ultimate membership
Free Play Days for this coming weekend is now live on Xbox! From today, June 16th, through June 19th, you can play three games for free as part of your Xbox Live Gold membership. Here's what you can download and play right now with Free Play Days:
News Xbox Has Remastered A Bunch Of Classic 360-Era Gamerpics
Bubble gum boi is back
It's an odd thing to have nostalgia for, but we do remember those old Xbox 360 gamerpics quite fondly. There was the racing wheel, the random doggo and of course, the bubble gum lad, among others. Well, Xbox has been so kind as to remaster a selection of them for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. We definitely remember the panda...
Reaction Credit Where Credit's Due, We Got Plenty Of Gameplay At The Xbox Showcase
No more CGI
Well, the big Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase for 2022 is now behind us, and reactions across the web have been mixed so far. Looking at our own polling here at Pure Xbox, the show seems to have gone over very well generally, but opinions further afield are more mixed. However you personally feel though, one thing is for sure: Xbox...
News Hideo Kojima Is Partnering With Xbox On A Brand-New Game
"Like no one has ever experienced before"
As part of today's Xbox Games Showcase, famous creator Hideo Kojima announced his much-rumoured partnership with Xbox on a brand new title. The game wasn't fully revealed or even really spoken about in any detail, but much of the high-level concept was shared by Xbox. "Xbox Game Studios & Kojima...
News Xbox's Sarah Bond Talks About Bringing Demos To Xbox Game Pass
'Project Moorcroft' further explained
As part of yesterday's long list of Xbox announcements, 'Project Moorcroft' was revealed as a way to bring game demos to Xbox Game Pass players. In light of the announcement, Xbox's Sarah Bond has gone into further detail on the upcoming feature. Essentially, Xbox wants to recreate the 'show floor' demo...
News Xbox Plans To Release At Least 5 Exclusives Within The Next Year
The company is on track to match last fiscal year's output
After the unfortunate delays to Starfield and Redfall, we can't say we weren't a tad worried about Xbox exclusives over the next few months. However, from a recent media briefing, Xbox has raised our hopes once again. The company recently went ahead and detailed its plans over the course of...
News Xbox Cloud Gaming Will Soon Work Outside Of Game Pass
Although you'll still need to be subscribed
Among the swathe of Xbox announcements that Microsoft just unleashed on us, the company has revealed that Xbox Cloud Gaming is expanding in a big way. Not only is the service coming to Smart TVs, it's also moving beyond the boundaries of the Game Pass library. Later this year, "select games" will be...
Feature Looking Back: Xbox's E3 2012 Show Delivered Lots Of Gameplay, And Sports
The good, the bad and ugly of a 10-year old showcase
We're real close to Xbox's big 2022 summer Showcase, and what folks seem to want most this year is more gameplay. We thought last year's effort was one of Xbox's best 'E3' shows ever; jam-packed with looks at upcoming titles and Game Pass releases. However, the complaints about gameplay are valid...
News Xbox Design Lab Is Working On Something Exciting, Apparently
Update: Pride Month design revealed
Update: Xbox has revealed that Design Lab will be adding a new offering in the form of a Pride Month controller on June 9th, along with a selection of new colour options. It'll also be launching in a variety of new countries. Original story: The Xbox Design Lab website has been temporarily closed. It's unclear...
News Microsoft Is Giving Away Free Xbox Gift Cards For The Weekend
Have you received one?
Want a free Xbox gift card?! Microsoft is giving away another round of free gift cards to various Xbox users for the weekend, and it seems that multiple regions are getting them, including the UK, US, Canada and many others. In fact, even we received one for once here at Pure Xbox! Ours was in the form of a £4 gift card -...
News Microsoft Confirms Existence Of 'Keystone' - A New Xbox Streaming Device
"Our vision for Xbox Cloud Gaming is unwavering"
Back in March, a Microsoft file datamine revealed a mysterious project codenamed 'Keystone', which eventually led to a report about Xbox's plans to release a streaming device within the next year. Now, in a statement to Windows Central, Microsoft has officially confirmed 'Keystone' is the...
News Xbox Dev Confirms DLC Is Fully Supported For Cloud Gaming Titles
Convenient!
Xbox Cloud Gaming is becoming quite a big focus for Microsoft. Often, new Game Pass arrivals include cloud support, with touch controls also being added to new cloud gaming titles on mobile devices. However, did you know of this little bonus regarding cloud gaming DLC? Xbox's Eden Marie has once again taken to Twitter with a little FYI...
News Former Xbox Exec Questions Microsoft's Ability To Sell Xbox In Japan
"Microsoft just doesn't sell very many Xboxes in Japan"
While it's true that Xbox often falls behind in Japan to native gaming brands like Nintendo and PlayStation, it hasn't stopped the American company from trying in the region. However, former Xbox exec Ed Fries wonders why Microsoft really bothers with its Japanese push at all. In a recent...
News Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Confirms Attendance At FanFest 2022 In LA
The event takes place next month
Phil Spencer is probably hard at work gearing up for what Xbox will show at next month's showcase, but that's not stopping him planning exactly where he'll be when the show is broadcast. In a Twitter reply, the Xbox boss has confirmed that he'll be tuning in to the showcase live at Xbox FanFest. Phil will be in...
News Xbox Turned Down The Chance To Make Exclusive Marvel Games In 2014
What could have been
Back in 2014, Marvel's video game department was shopping around for potential developers to properly capitalize on its IP, following a disappointing period with Activision. Xbox was one of those options, but the company turned down the chance, according to excerpts from a newly published book. 'The Ultimate History of Video...
News Xbox Is Hiring Production Manager To 'Work With Partners In Japan'
More regional expansion?
Xbox Series X|S is gathering some much welcome momentum in Japan. Console units seem to be finally shifting in the region after the slow-moving Xbox One era, and now, the company is expanding on the software front too. A new job post is being advertised by Microsoft in Japan, looking for a 'Production Partner Manager' in...
News Xbox Series S Just Outsold Both PS5 Models In Japan
It's been a successful week for Xbox in Japan
2022 has been a good year for Xbox hardware sales. Back in February, Series X|S outsold PS5 in both the US and Europe, having never done so before in the latter region. Now, Xbox Series S has outsold PS5 in Japan for the very first time, and it didn't even need the help of its big brother. This data...
News Xbox Activision Blizzard Deal Is 'Moving Fast' Says Microsoft President
But it's not there yet
Microsoft shattered the gaming landscape earlier this year by announcing its intentions to acquire Activision Blizzard. We're a good few months on from the announcement now, and Microsoft thinks things are going well, at this stage. Microsoft president Brad Smith recently discussed the deal with Belgian outlet L'
News Check Out This New Minecraft 'Deep Dark' Themed Xbox Series S
If you want it, you'll have to win one
We've already seen lots of impressive-looking themed Xbox hardware this generation, but Microsoft just keeps on releasing more. The latest one is inspired by Minecraft's 'Deep Dark' update and appears to be based on The Warden enemy. It comes with a matching controller, too. Of course, like a lot of themed /...
News It's 2022 And Microsoft Just Deployed An Xbox 360 Patch
Going back in time
Xbox Series X|S consoles are being updated constantly, you know, as expected for a pair of systems that launched in 2020. However, did you know that Xbox 360 is still getting updates? That's right, Microsoft just issued a 'service fix' to Xbox 360 consoles as players reported issues with 'Pins'. Well, when we say 'players',...
News Take-Two CEO Talks Acquisition Rumours In New Interview
"we like being an independent organization."
Every week it feels like a gaming company is being acquired by another, larger gaming company. Take-Two has taken part in this cycle themselves recently, with the acquisition of mobile developer Zynga still being finalised. However, for now, it seems that Take-Two itself is keen to remain independent. In...
News Early Look At PS Plus Premium Shows How It Compares To Xbox Game Pass
Let the battle commence
Right, Sony has finally revealed more information on its huge overhaul of PlayStation Plus, and it's starting to compare quite heavily to Xbox Game Pass. While Sony has confirmed that its first party games won't launch on any tier of PS Plus, its newly revealed game list shows a huge reliance on classic PlayStation first...
News Xbox Appears To Be Working On A 'Dynamic Backgrounds Editor'
Do-it-yourself
If you've ever wanted to make your own custom backgrounds, you might want to read on. It looks like Microsoft could be working on an 'Xbox Dynamic Backgrounds Editor' for the Xbox Series X|S. Here's a tweet by known Microsoft Store scanner and Twitter user 'Aggiornamenti Lumia' demonstrating an early build, as also highlighted by The...
News Xbox Hardware Sales In The US Are Up Huge Amounts Over 2021
92% higher than last year's Q1 figures
It's looking like Xbox has had a great first quarter of 2022, especially regarding hardware. Dollar sales of Xbox hardware from January to March 2022 are up 92% on the same period last year. Basically, sales of Xbox hardware have almost doubled year-on-year. These figures are strictly for the US market, as...
News Microsoft Creates Patent That Enables Xbox Discs To Be Converted To Digital
Is the future upon us?
Update : It appears that this particular patent filing is the one in question, published on May 5th. Direct access to the patent filing gives us a little more info on Microsoft's potential moves with a 'disc-to-digital' feature. To address such challenges with playing previous generation physical video game media on next...
News Xbox Working On New Update To Fully Fix Network Outage Issues
Will be released in the "coming days"
It wasn't the best weekend for Microsoft or the team at Xbox. There were outages to Xbox Live, players couldn't access the cloud, and launching, purchasing, and signing into games was also a problem. While it seems most of these issues have now been "resolved" there are still a few other problems to resolve...
News Unsurprisingly, Xbox Is Expected To Be At Gamescom This Year
As the event returns in-person
As Xbox gears up for its own big summer showcase, we can't forget about Gamescom, the huge European convention that typically closes out the summer gaming season. This year, the event returns to in-person proceedings, and it's looking like Microsoft will return as well. Jez Corden spoke about Xbox's presence at the...
News Xbox 'Still Working On Resolving' Network Issues
Update: "Players should no longer be seeing issues"
Update [Sun 8th May, 2022 11:55 BST]: According to Xbox's official support account on social media, players should no longer be encountering these issues: Original story [Sun 8th May, 2022 02:30 BST]: As you might have heard, the Xbox Network has been experiencing all sorts of issues this...