Xbox Chat - New Dashboard update, Blizzard signs new deal in China & limits on Game Pass subs in certain countries.

[rinks]

It’s to mark Pride month. I already had it downloaded and figured it was from Gsme Pass. Went to add it to my permanent collection and it said I already owned it. So I think they gave it away once before.

[more heat than light]

It’s to mark Pride month.

Ah that makes sense, nice. It's a game I've always wanted to play, but at least now I don't have the stress of it coming off Game Pass.

[Peter Crisp]

Direct neural interface.

I've decided the reason I'm gooseberry fool at online PVP is the lag between my brain and fingers.
Without that I'd be world champion at every game no problem.

[Monkey Man]

twitter.com/Xbox/status/1532021783783612416

343 Industries Celebrates Pride with New “Unity” Emblem and Nameplate!



343 Industries celebrates Pride with a brand-new emblem and nameplate! During the month of June, any players logging into Halo Infinite will receive the “Unity” nameplate and emblem, created for any Spartan who wants to show their true colors!

The Forza Franchise Celebrates Pride



Coming soon in June, an exclusive Forza rainbow livery adorning the 2009 Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster will be gifted in-game to players in Forza Horizon 5 and Forza Horizon 4, as well as Forza Motorsport 7. Keep an eye on the Turn 10 Studios Twitter to see when it’s been delivered to your in-game Message Center.

A lot more on Pride month here - https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/06/01/ ... team-xbox/

[kazanova_Frankenstein]

Not sure if this is a bonus GWG or not, but Tell Me Why (chapters 1-3) currently showing as free to own.

https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/ ... f83przk6k3

It's also on Game Pass, so make sure you select 'buy to own' rather than 'install'.

That’s a very sensible inclusion for Pride Month. Well done Microsoft.

Also - it’s a good game.

[Photek]

Leak about Gears of War Collection from a guy who has form for getting some stuff right:

Gears of War Collection coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC this September. Includes 4 games:

Gears of War Ultimate Edition (2015) Remastered Gears of War 2 Ultimate Edition (new for this collection, like Halo 2 Anniversary was for Halo MCC) Gears of War 3 Remastered Gears of War Judgment Remastered

New horde mode, beast mode from Gears 3 will be returning with some changes. Some modes like Survival and OverRun from Gears Judgment will not be returning. Includes most multiplayer maps from the original releases on Xbox 360.

Campaign modes will run 1080p 30fps on Xbox One S and Xbox One X. Multiplayer will support 60 fps.

Xbox Series X version will have support for 120fps multiplayer and 60fps in campaign.

All 4 games will have universal control scheme, bringing control changes to Gears Judgment so it will play like the original Gears trilogy. You will be able to carry a rifle, shotgun and handgun all at once in Judgment Remastered, like you could in the original trilogy. DBNO will be implemented in Gears Judgment Remastered multiplayer modes and maps

[Victor Mildew]

Huge if true

[Monkey Man]

Microsoft is announcing today that it won't stand in the way of company employee efforts to unionize, putting it in stark contrast to other tech companies.

Why it matters: The announcement comes amid a growing movement to unionize parts of the tech workforce, and as Microsoft seeks to close a deal to purchase Activision Blizzard, some units of which have pursued unionization.

"We’re not asking our employees to go form a union, but we will meet people where they are at," Microsoft president Brad Smith told Axios.

In a just-published blog post, Smith said that the company is "committed to creative and collaborative approaches with unions when employees wish to exercise their rights and Microsoft is presented with a specific unionization proposal."

Smith stressed that the company is focused on a collaborative relationship with all employees, whether unionized or not. "Our employees will always have direct access to this company’s senior leaders," he said. "They don’t need to form a union to be heard."

At the same time, Smith said that it is inevitable that unions will touch more businesses. "We don’t need to make contentious things that can be handled more amicably," he said in the interview.

Between the lines: Microsoft has been evaluating its stance toward unions for several months, Smith said, saying that the Activision Blizzard deal was among many factors that led the company to explore the issue more deeply.

Quality Assurance workers at Activision-owned Raven Software recently voted to form a union. The vote followed a strike within Raven that lasted nearly seven weeks.

While Microsoft told Axios in March it would not stand in the way of Activision Blizzard recognizing a union, Xbox head Phil Spencer said last week that he would recognize Raven's union once the deal closes.

"It’s a good time to step back and recognize there is a lot we can learn from not just business leaders but labor leaders," Smith said.

https://www.axios.com/2022/06/02/micros ... activision

Blog post - https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issu ... r-economy/

[KK]

The Xbox doughnut is back from today, alongside a Forza themed one. 1 month free Game Pass included for the 4 people still yet to try it out:



I think the 3 pack is encroaching on £6.

[rinks]

Ping me when they give one month of free Krispy Kreme with each purchase of Game Pass.

[KK]

I saw them in Sainsbos today - they're actually £6.35.

Wouldn't want to be a parent when the kids see these at the entrance of stores. Proper expensive.

[KK]

I noticed this afternoon that the Xbox Series S appears to have had a very minor price cut down to £240 at Amazon and Microsoft.

[rinks]

Yeah, I had an email yesterday from MS, selling them for £243. No explanation. Maybe because the pound is so strong at the moment lol. Or maybe they’re starting to clear out stock ahead of a hardware revision. How small would a Series S Mini be?

[Monkey Man]

twitter.com/krispykremeUK/status/1534158353450127361

[Monkey Man]

Rumour from Tom Henderson -

Microsoft To Announce Xbox Game Demos & More On June 9th

Sources have said that Microsoft will be announcing several big announcements before Summer Game Fest on June 9th.

One of the bigger announcements is that Microsoft will be launching a new service to seemingly compete against PlayStation Plus’ time-limited game trials that were announced earlier this year.

The feature will be coming to Xbox Game Pass members within the next year and will begin with a focus on helping independent game developers across the globe.

Developers that choose to enroll in the project will not only get the necessary data needed for game development, but Microsoft will reportedly also be compensating developers for participating (exact details not disclosed).

In addition to this announcement, Microsoft will also be announcing an extension to their Samsung partnership, which will allow people to stream Xbox games on their Samsung Smart TV’s without a console via Cloud Gaming.

They’ll be several smaller announcements too, including the expansion of cloud gaming to other countries to make the service more accessible.

It’s expected that the announcements will be made several hours prior to the Summer Game Fest show on June 9th.

https://exputer.com/news/industry/micro ... ame-demos/

[Carlos]

I saw them in Sainsbos today - they're actually £6.35.

Wouldn't want to be a parent when the kids see these at the entrance of stores. Proper expensive.

I actually brought some yesterday. The Xbox donut is the same as last year with the chocolate filling. The Forza one had a peach jam inside and was quite nice.

[Monkey Man]

9 new Xbox Game titles leaked -

twitter.com/ALumia_Italia/status/1534423701113946112

[Moggy]

9 new Xbox Game titles leaked -

twitter.com/ALumia_Italia/status/1534423701113946112

NoMeaDN2OCG4nLAe.

No mead?

strawberry float you MS, I'm not drinking ale.

[Parksey]

9 new Xbox Game titles leaked -

twitter.com/ALumia_Italia/status/1534423701113946112

That would be a good way of ending the fanboy wars. No-one is going to start defending your exclusives if they have to type those titles out each time.

Well, except maybe Photek, who's probably still going to bring them up in random Sony threads.

[Robbo-92]

Are we meant to know what on earth games they’re referring to? As I have no idea