kantaroo

@Kezelpaso thanks for flagging this change.
Another change I've noticed is with MS Rewards, at least for non GPU subscribers. For example, just checking in daily on the app used to give me 5-25 points (depending on streak length). That now seems to have dropped to 2-18 points. Same on the Bing app, rewards points also nerfed. Can you look into this, or is it just me that's experiencing this?
Thanks for all the good work.

@BAMozzy thanks, I see it now in the screenshot.

Did they drop EA Access?
Edit: I see that it's still included in the Ultimate tier.

Back compat and FPS boost are the key reasons I stuk with Xbox this gen (not forgetting auto HDR).

I'd love to see an expansion of the FPS boost program, eg for those games being held back by rights issues - particularly if those rights are held by Activision!

Satya may want to pause and ponder why it is Xbox has fans in the first place. Most companies out there don’t have them, heck Microsoft’s other divisions don’t either (MS Office fan anyone?). By going fully multiplatform, he is killing the reason people were fans of Xbox in the first place.
In fact, the closest analogy is Activision, a company that didn’t have a lot of fans (individual games of course had very faithful communities, with little connection between CoD and Spyro fans for example).
Let’s see how it works out for him, but I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years they simply rebrand as Activision.

Yakuza Kiwami 2. All of the other Yakuza games play at 60 fps except for that one.

The real question is: why doesn't Yakuza 2 run at 60 fps? You can't even use FPS Boost on Series consoles like you can with Yakuza 6.
Come on SEGA & Microsoft, make it happen!

While this game is not for me, I appreciate the variety it brings to the Xbox ecosystem.

The reality of the industry is that a platform needs to have unique, high-quality (sometimes referred to as "prestige") titles for it to thrive. Blockbusters will come, but people will remember these other titles too.

And who knows, maybe one day my tastes will change and I'll enjoy it. It's happened before.

The 120 Hz display option is good if it lets you play the game at 40 fps. It's a huge improvement over 30, and often the visuals are similar to Quality mode. A Plague Tale Requiem is a good example.

The Hot Wheels DLC was for Forza Horizon 3, not 4 as stated in the article.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition. At £5.99, it was a steal!

The thing I've found disappointing about Gamepass Core is the price. Compared to Ultimate I mean. It always seems that getting Ultimate is almost just as cheap as getting Core. I'm talking if you hunt around for deals naturally, not the list price which is of course more for Ultimate. But I don't think I've ever paid list price for Gamepass of PS+ for that matter.
This may just be a reflection of the fact that Ultimate is incredible value, but it rather feels like Core is an afterthought. Or rather that its intended market is the impulse purchase "I want to play online for the holidays" sort of thing. Which is not my market - so it feels that Core is not for me (even though in principle I wouldn't mind trying it out).

They've really tightened the rules over the past year. It would be a good idea for an article comparing what the Rewards were like before vs now.

But looking at the glass half full, if there was one Reward I don't mind them cutting it's this one. It used to annoy me when I got more than one achievement per day as I had a feeling that I was wasting 50 points. A version of FOMO I suppose. Now I basically won't care.

I don't want to be cynical about this. But might we see future additional content as paid DLC not included in GP?

If it hits 60 sometimes, can they work on a 40fps option for 120Hz TVs/monitors? They are becoming more and more common and it makes a massive difference (just look at Plague Tale Requiem).

@KilloWertz I think they said it was 2 hours total. The 90 minutes show + 30 minutes Starfield was speculation from this site (and maybe others) based on the length of previous showcases. At least that's what I recall.

Can you get the achievement on PC (e.g. for Undertale)? Or does it have to be on Xbox?

Does it have to be done by 15 August as it says in the article? Or do we have all of August to do it?

@Mr-Fuggles777 I had forgotten about the discless PS5. That's another reason: they can have a platform-agnostic special edition (which is cheaper for marketing and manufacturing).

I suppose they want you to buy the digital edition of the game. Or at least not disadvantage those who want that. So instead of having one version of this with a code, and another with disc, they just have one with no game and let you source the game in any format you want.

Any OG Xbox games?

It saddens me that Kinect is being consigned to the scrapheap of gaming history like this. It had some good games!
I suppose it's for the same reason that Nintendo didn't give us any Virtual Boy on 3DS virtual console. They'd rather people forgot it ever existed.

I don't understand the singling out of Kinect for lack of support. Believe it or not it had some good games, both on the One and 360. I know it didn't catch on, but neither did many games that have BC support. If one of the advantages of BC is videogame preservation this feels like a large gap.

@Thretosix Thanks for the info - makes sense!

Don't you also need a 48Gbps HDMI cable to get 4k/120Hz?

I think it would be a great fit. Stranger things have happened...

How about a trade-in program where you bring in your XB1 and you get a discount on Series X | S?

I'd actually be interested in an upgrade program for my original VCR Xbox One. Might anyone be offering a trade-in option for XB1 at all?

What if they just came out and said "Series X will cost $50 less than PS5".
Or just say "$499 but we guarantee a refund up to the value of PS5 (if lower), whenever that's announced".

Gutted to read about this. Like many have commented this was my go-to site for Xbox news.
I will need to go searching for another Xbox site now, but it is difficult with all of the fanboyism that prevails in many other places.
All the best to the team here at PX, you've done a great job.
Thank you for your work on this great website.