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

How do i toggle animations on or off?

I went back and checked, its definitly selected. As i say, it worked once, i remember being impressed how it matched my personalised colour selection (something i did not even know about for the 20 months i have owned my 1X).....

Are you supposed to see the animating background no matter what app / game you had open prior to selecting "home" from the pop out menu?

Just a thought - its not my 1X resetting it to the "game" picture background when i booted that console up is it (due to not supporting dynamic backgrounds)? I noticed that my colour personalisation choice had copied over to the 1X. Has it tried to copy over the dynamic background choice, failed and then writen over the Series X choice with the default menu selection?

Or maybe it will just work now...

My original 360's disc drive is dead. I was going to just buy another from CEX but decided there's no harm in trying to fix it first, but can't believe how hard this thing is to take apart. Not as much dust inside as I was expecting given the state of most of the ones in the tutorial videos I watched.

Only just got around to loading up Outer Wilds about 10 minutes ago, I’m already feeling very much not sold on it? I mean I’m playing it via Game Pass so haven’t lost anything of a monetary value. Anyone got any tips for it? Feel like I’m just running around the planet looking to start exploring space but can’t even find my way to the observatory to get the launch codes to actually go into space. I’ll persevere with it for a bit anyway! If not then it’ll get moved to the external HDD and I’ll make a start on Plague Tale!

I played it for a few hours at launch (heh), and although I made a bit of progress, I could not shake the feeling that I was aimlessly lost. Was a big disappointment for me, others absolutely love it.

Smash.gg has been acquired by Microsoft

Since we started in 2015, our goal has been to build active esports scenes around the games people love to play. Today we’re excited to take the next step in that journey by joining Microsoft to help strengthen our existing relationships and explore new opportunities. Smash.gg will continue as a self-service esports platform available to tournament organizers from all game communities. If you have any questions about existing tournaments please reach out to hello@smash.gg.

https://twitter.com/ayuha167/status/133 ... 69828?s=20

Yeah played a little more of Outer Wilds this afternoon and still really not feeling it, so I’ve transferred it into storage and now started A Plague Tale: Innocence, another stunning looking game judging from the little I’ve played so far! Might try No Mans Sky to see if that is more what I’m after from a space adventure.

Maid of Sker completed. Whew. That was a properly tense ordeal. It felt rough as hell on XB1S, but it was transformed on Series X, with an uncapped framerate, slightly reduced FOV and massively reduced loading times. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who likes creepy horror with a LOT of stealth (no combat). Some of the achievements were downright evil, though (complete without getting hit, complete only saving once).

rinks wrote:Maid of Sker completed. Whew. That was a properly tense ordeal. It felt rough as hell on XB1S, but it was transformed on Series X, with an uncapped framerate, slightly reduced FOV and massively reduced loading times. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who likes creepy horror with a LOT of stealth (no combat). Some of the achievements were downright evil, though (complete without getting hit, complete only saving once).

Glad you enjoyed it. I thought it was a thoroughly decent Gold game. Very atmospheric. My god I died a lot near the end where that massive twat comes through the wall though.

So as a mate of mine picked up a Series S, I have actually been able to play some multiplayer sessions for the first time ever. All good, but I have found that the headset I am using (Sony Golds with the 3.5mm lead connected to controller jack) has very little mic monitoring, even if I turn it all the way up in the audio options in the Xbox dash. It makes a very small difference, but not enough to really help.

Is this a common issue? Doing a search suggests a fair few people have mentioned it for various headsets, but I’m not sure if it’s just because they are not looking through the settings properly (which I believe I have done).

Feels bad not being able to hear myself at all when talking.

I have an official Turtle beach wireless Xbox headphones that work perfectly fine.... maybe it's not optimized for other devices?

Could be that. I suppose i can plug in a set of cheap ear buds that feature a mic and see if they work better with the option. I thought any wired headset would work with the setting though (like Windows Sonic etc does).

I have a big test on Sunday so of course I've been ~~studying intensely~~ playing 20 year old N64 games on Rare Replay.

I intended to have a nostalgia fest and replay Banjo 1 and 2 after the test, but ended up getting tempted by Blast Corps and Jet Force Gemini.

The former is definitely quite tough around the edges and looks like an early N64 game. Looks markedly worse than even Mario 64. But, the simplicity of it actually helps in a way. It's just big block vehicles destroying big block buildings. It's quite tactile and playable, in a lightweight arcadey sense. The idea still has some traction and could work on current consoles.

Jet Force Gemini... doesn't work on current consoles. Even with the controls patched, it feels archaic. You can tell it's before third person, twin stick controls were standard. It's a pig to control and a bastard to aim. Way too sensitive in the zoomed in, almost-first-person-mode. It's a shame as I remember really enjoying it back in 1999, but time has just left it in the dust.

Corazon de Leon

I actually got quite into JFG when I went through it for the first time last year. I was furious with it for the first four hours and then it sort of clicked back into place.

I didnt enjoy it much when i tried it a year ago. I had no nostalgia for it either.

That being said i had never played Blast Corps either, and i thought that was great fun!

Website

Microsoft have a Christmas advert. It starts off predictably but has a laugh in way you don't normally see in its ads. It's funny! I like the returning of the grenade to Master Chief and the Windows background.

Limited time demos for Song of Iron & Echo Generation out now, available until 15th December.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/song- ... verviewtab

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/echo- ... verviewtab

Venom wrote:Microsoft have a Christmas advert. It starts off predictably but has a laugh in way you don't normally see in its ads. It's funny! I like the returning of the grenade to Master Chief and the Windows background.

Good advert. That part was great too. Chief’s “face”! :lol:

They’ve made the dogs’ Minecraft map available to download too.

From Xbox Game Studios, 2021 will see the Master Chief’s return in Halo Infinite, a new brain-bending odyssey in Psychonauts 2, and some surprises we haven’t announced yet. Your favorite games will also continue to grow with you, with 30 pieces of new content coming to several of our franchises next half, including Forza, Sea of Thieves, Grounded and much more. Looking further ahead, you will also hear more from teams across Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda.

Stay tuned, starting with The Game Awards tomorrow, for more surprises.

In Spring 2021, we will take the next step in our journey to reach more players around the world by making cloud gaming as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate available on Windows PCs through the Xbox app and browser, and iOS devices through mobile web browser.

Announced Titles Coming to Xbox in 2021

CrossfireX
12 Minutes (console launch exclusive)
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Far Cry 6
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Quarantine
Chorus
Ruined King: A League of Legends Story
Scarlet Nexus
Balan Wonderworld
Resident Evil Village
The Artful Escape
Echo Generation
Songs of Iron
Tunic
Sable
Bright Memory Infinite
Way to the Woods
Echo Generation
Outriders

Coming to Xbox with Xbox Game Pass

Halo Infinite
Psychonauts 2
The Ascent
The Medium (console launch exclusive)
The Gunk (console launch exclusive)
Warhammer 40K: Darktide (console launch exclusive)
Exomecha (console launch exclusive)
Shredders (console launch exclusive)
Scorn
Skatebird
Dead Static Drive
The Good Life

It’s the billions of hours and over 3,800 different games you played in the last month that is the foundation for our success at Xbox.

You’re also getting the most out of the Xbox Game Pass library – compared to the prior year, in November, Xbox Game Pass monthly engagement more than doubled. We also saw:

Over 1.6 million seamless upgrades delivered to Xbox Series X|S owners with Smart Delivery.
Over 40% of you joining Xbox for the first time are playing on Xbox Series S.
One of the fastest selling Xbox Series X|S markets out of 40+ launch regions, Europe saw record sellouts in a matter of hours across the UK, France and Germany.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/12/09/ ... ices-2021/

The Good Life coming to Game Pass?!? Get in!

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

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