@Fiendish-Beaver - 3 points per search, up to 90 per day. You don’t get any pints until you’ve done 3 searches in a day (and get 9 points when you’ve done that). I think you can get another 60 points per day on your phone for searching - but I rarely, if ever, search on my phone because it’s a bit naff! (I tend to search on my iPad).

There are other accumulators that build over time - provided you complete a minimum of 3 searches a day then after 7 days you get 100 bonus points. Every 12 weeks or so you’ll get a bonus 1000 points as well.

The daily Bing extras are really easy to complete (as I say I do it while drinking my first cuppa of the day) - if you keep a streak going then every 7 (might be 10?) days you get an additional 150 points.

It doesn’t sound much, but it all adds up and I reckon it’ll all pay for 9-10 months of GPU over a year.

To be honest I thought auto redeem had already gone…I used to auto redeem 35,000 points for 3m GPU but earlier this year (U.K.) I thought it had been removed.

Anyway, since then I’ve been manually redeeming 12,000 points for 1m GPU.

I know Rewards aren’t as generous as they used to be but since November 2024 I’ve only had to pay for 1 month of Gamepass. I bought an extra 6m via PureXbox last time you had it on offer - but that’s put me 7m ahead on my subscription.

I’m not a slave to Rewards and don’t play on PC This is all I do:

Open the Xbox app each morning.
Play on Xbox most days.
Search on Bing rather than Google.
Do all the Bing extras while I’m having a cuppa in bed each morning.
Simples!

I thought Borderlands 3 had gone (or was scheduled to go) already?

I enjoyed the base game but got distracted (and still need to go back and finish it). I will do that, but this sounds like a 6hr expansion - so probably c10hrs for me as I’m always slow! - I’ll wait until I get around to finishing the main game and the DLC drops below a tenner.

I’m sure this will be good, but like many I’m drowning in good games and an enormous backlog atm.

@ElkinFencer10 - 120fps is already in the PS5/Pro version, it was just the vrr that wasn’t working on XB that needed to be patched (Digital Foundry video for the details).

I’m generally happy at 60 but it’s sometimes good to have the choice to use 120fps - I use that option on F1 where it helps the sense of speed/smoothness. But I prefer the 60fps mode on GRID Legends as the drop in resolution and loss of screen-space reflections is too much of a trade off to get to 120.

Anyways, choice is always good and it’s good this is now fixed on XB.

Had a quick look and the graphics look decent but it all looks a bit 30fps to me? Hopefully there will be a performance mode.

Third time lucky for me - after 2 aborted attempts at Cyberpunk I’m now completely hooked. Playing on Pro and loving every minute - 40ish hours in and I can see there’s 100’s of hours of fun to be had before even contemplating Phantom Liberty.

If I can drag myself away from Night City then I shall get stuck into some Gears Reloaded on Series X.

Have a good one.

I could be tempted if the list included these…

Drop Zone - Atari 800xl, Uridium - C64, Ghostbusters - C64, Impossible Mission - C64, Blue Max - Atari 800xl, IK+ - C64, Montezumas Revenge - Atari 800xl, Shamus - Atari 800xl, Creatures 1&2 - C64.

Not sure I can go back to Starfield - I enjoyed parts of it after the 60fps update but the constant faffing around due to being “over encumbered “ every five minutes did my head in. Performance can be pretty wonky too, even on Series X.

I actually had to stop playing yesterday - the judder was so bad (XSX 120hz campaign). I thought it was a problem with the motion blur, but turning it on and off seemed to have no effect.

I’ll turn off 120hz and try again…I’m glad Digital Foundry got to the bottom of the issue and there’s an easy fix until it gets patched.

Herdling and AoE4 on XSX
Cyberpunk 2077 and Sword of the Sea on PS5Pro
Have a great w/end everyone

I use my Series X pretty much every day - a brilliant bit of kit and just such a shame that Microsoft gave up on Series consoles. I really think they missed a trick by not getting Series S down to £199 to tempt players across into a second console from other platforms. Need to see what Microsoft offer us next before deciding if XSX is my last console from them. Already have one foot in the Sony camp with PS5Pro but I’ve always had a soft spot for Xbox, having been there Day1 with OG Xbox and then 360.

Cyberpunk 2077 on Pro - my first proper playthrough after a couple of aborted attempts. I’m about 14 hours in - enjoying it but maybe slightly underwhelmed with the gameplay & overwhelmed with the amount of stuff to learn! WipeOut Omega Collection too.

XSX - AoE4, Assassins Creed Mirage & a few races on Forza Motorsport.

Have a good one everyone.

@Fiendish-Beaver - well said. I’m in a similar boat and enjoyed the first game more but the second was visually stunning enough for me to be curious about this update….certainly enough for me to take another look at 60fps.

Nice, I’ll definitely play Mirage and also take a fresh look at Hellblade 2 at 60fps.

@Millionski - I’m hoping exactly the same re the original Uncharted Trilogy. They look ok on PS5 but could definitely benefit from a current-gen coat of varnish. If it did happen I’d probably still play them on PlayStation but think they’d do really well on Xbox. More games everywhere is a good thing.

@Sol76 - great spot!

This is an absolute s h1 t show….

Before the update I had CoD HQ installed with BO6 and MWII campaigns installed - total 165GB + 25GB reserved space (190GB);

Now to have the same content installed I need 136.8GB on the COD app for BO6 + 25GB reserved, PLUS another 110.2GB just for MWII campaign (and no doubt it will want to reserve another 25GB the minute I’ve downloaded the game and load my save).

So prior to the update the same installed content was 190GB, now it is a minimum of 272GB and likely more when MWII reserves space once it is fired up.

You literally couldn’t make this s##t up!

Is that 6PM in old money (BST)? I must be one of the few people that didn’t mind the launcher - I actually quite like having the games grouped together and it is very easy to install/uninstall the various bits and bobs as required. Just hope the new system doesn’t force installation of parts that I don’t want on these older titles (mainly multiplayer) as otherwise that will surely end up INCREASING the amount of space these games take up?

@ScalenePowers - fantastic game, enjoy. Sounds like you’ve got some other great titles lined up but if you enjoy the genre don’t sleep on Deus Ex Mankind Divided- terrific game and runs super smooth on Series X thanks to fps boost.

Probably not my thing but it looks pretty so I’ll give it a spin on Gamepass. Most of those reviews are on PS5 so it will be interesting to see how it runs on Series X. There’s also an update today, maybe that addresses some of the performance concerns.

@Kezelpaso - thanks Ben, I’m sure an article like this takes a fair bit of research and time….thank you for putting it together. I’m hovering over The Outer Worlds Spacers Choice on the back of this!

@FraserG - lol, impressive but not quite as ‘sad’ as me….4TB external SSD, 1TB internal Series X and 2TB WD Black Expansion Card that arrived yesterday (Amazon Prime Day purchase). Oh, and a 1TB Seagate Expansion Card just in case!! 😂

I’m too embarrassed to mention the storage on my PS5Pro 😳

My first 360 had the dreaded RROD but Microsoft did a fine job replacing it with no fuss. No such luck with my original (fat) PS3 which suffered an orange ring (or was it a light?) of death - I just had to go out and buy a new one. Interestingly my replacement XB360 and (slim) PS3 are still working fine to this day.

2TB WD expansion card is down to £180 as well.

Getting multiple Xbox’s and TVs connected up for some original Halo system-link deathmatch takes some beating. The Silent Cartographer level from Halo CE is still right up there too. Happy Days!

@Nintendo4Sonic - that’s a sweeping generalisation and makes a lot of assumptions. I’d argue why shouldn’t people enjoy Gamepass? They are not doing anything illegal and I dislike the insinuation that somehow Gamepass subscribers are doing something ‘wrong’. For clarity, they are not. Look at it another way - they are enjoying their hobby and putting money each month into the gaming eco system. Whether that works financially for Microsoft and publishers/developers is a matter for them….not me as a user.

I subscribe to both Gamepass and PS plus, I also buy games from time to time - some of which I’d never have become aware of if they didn’t exist on those subscription services. If others choose to ‘rent’ games and not buy them then that’s fine too - it’s arrogant to suggest they shouldn’t make that choice. Back in the day the attach rate for purchased games per console was low single figures - I don’t recall anyone suggesting back then that there was a minimum number of games console buyers should buy to stop the industry ‘dying’. Studios have come and gone over the years, and the cream usually rises to the top.

Gamepass (and PS Plus for that matter) may not prove sustainable in the medium to long term, but in all honesty none of us really knows that - I repeat, dine out on it while you can and ignore the trolls who tell you it is some sort of evil.

It’s obvious Gamepass isn’t for everyone - both developers and gamers - but there are plenty of each that are perfectly happy with it.

Will it last forever? Probably not….but nothing in this world ever does. Dine out on it while you can and ignore the trolls who tell you that subscription to Gamepass is some sort of evil.

I’d like to see something great from Rare. Not talking about Everwild or Sea of Thieves - I’d love to see something innovative and creative to rival Mario Kart or AstroBot. Don’t think it’ll (ever) happen, but that’s what I’d like to see.

Been looking out for this, can’t wait to play on GP.

Haven’t played this, looking forward to it dropping on GP soon.

Excellent. I can’t keep up, but more Gamepass Goodness!
Happy Days 😃

Finally got around to buying Astro Bot for PS5 Pro - what a gem of a game.

Series X - Age of Empires 4 and some more Call Of Duty MW2.

Have a good one.

I’m really enjoying Modern Warfare 2 campaign - way better than I thought it would be. I’ll get to Doom TDA and Dredge when I can. Another really good month for GPU.

I have an old Atari 800XL in my loft, complete with disc drive, tape player and games - I guess that’s preserved, but I’m not sure it still works and even if it does I’m going to struggle to connect it to my OLED TV. The point I’m making is that there are lots of different ways of preserving games - in a loft, in a museum, emulation, reworking for modern hardware, remasters, streaming….and so on. I’m not a huge fan of streaming (dodgy connection in my part of the world) but am realistic enough to recognise that no one is going to make all old games available to download natively and at least this option offers another way to keep these old games alive for those looking for a drop of nostalgia, or an opportunity for new players to experience them for the first time.

@johnK - I played through the first game on Series X and had 2 crashes on my playthrough. It looks great and runs really well - you can manually save at any point, so if you buy just be sure to save every 20mins or so to avoid having to backtrack too far if you do get a crash. You can usually find the collection on sale for about £8 for all three games, so it’s well worth picking up.

Reward points have paid for my Gamepass ultimate for the past 6 months, so no complaints here. I play on Xbox most days, search on Bing, open the Xbox app every day and do the daily challenges/quiz while I’m having my morning cuppa in bed! Works for me and I think it will cover 75-85% of the cost of my Gamepass sub.

Great console, I’ve loved mine (XSX) I just wish it was cheaper to expand the ssd.

@Rog-X - great post 😂👏👏

I’m not sure what comes next but you’d have to say GTA6 slipping into next year has left a Halo sized hole for Christmas.

@FraserG - Halo is coming but I doubt they’ll release a MC collection. With Gears they have shown their hand and obviously want to milk PlayStation owners for every last $ they can get (and why shouldn’t they?) I think it’s more likely we will see them introduced as individual Unreal Engine 5 remasters @ £/$50 per game. I’m happy to play Reach and Halo 1-3 again on Series X Gamepass if that’s the case.

I hope not but inflation/tariffs might mean a rise is inevitable. Reward Points make it much cheaper.

Good news, glad to see this game still getting support. I often fire this up for a few quick races (I prefer it to GT7 which drives me nuts with all those plinky-plonk menus and cafe nonsense!)

@Millionski - Patience is a virtue my friend. It’s inevitable remasters of 2-3 are coming in due course - this is just Microsoft milking millions of $ from PlayStation owners, and why wouldn’t they?

I’ve never been a huge Gears fan but I’m happy to see this and will play when it drops onto Gamepass. I think you’d have had to be living under a rock to not expect Gears to end up of PlayStation so I really don’t get the surprise or disappointment.

This will sell well and that means the rest of the series will get the remaster treatment, so that’s good right?

And if Microsoft want to do a remaster of a remaster to bring it up to speed for modern consoles then that’s fine too - by comparison, how many times has Sony released and re-released The Last of Us at this point?…

One complaint - I’m drowning in games at the moment. Gamepass has been on fire for a while now.

I’m in the U.K. and I’ve been lucky to have gift cards on a couple of previous occasions. Sadly not third time lucky on this occasion. Nice for those that get a freebie.

It’s amazing how problems can exist where there aren’t any. Imagine this in a parallel universe - would WE be moaning if God Of War/Spiderman/TLOU were being released on Series X but the physical version only had 20GB on the disc.

I think we’d soon get over ourselves!

@Sol4ris - I noticed a patch for Atomfall earlier this week….not sure if anyone knows if that fixed the sound issues?

@RamiBalek - sorry, I just think of it as number 5 - I meant Lost Legacy.

I’ve not played TLOU p2 yet - just the first game, which I really enjoyed. You’re right, these games should be on Xbox too and would sell really well. Not going to happen anytime soon though and you can see why Sony don’t want to do that. I’ll pick up TLOU p2 on sale somewhere down the road, likely on 5Pro but who knows, maybe I’ll end up playing it on PS6 or even XBPrime if the PC version works on there.

PlayStation 5Pro - completed Uncharted 5 last night, not as good as 4 but it warmed up after the halfway point. Next up R&C Rift Apart, more God of War and Wipeout Omega Collection. Also need to check out RoboCop on PS Plus.

XSX - looking forward to South of Midnight next week but until then F1 2024, AoE4, and Forza Horizon 4 (just realised that’s quite a few 4s)

Have a good one everyone.