Games

Microsoft increased the price of Xbox Live Gold yesterday, albeit briefly. The company announced that the cost of one-month membership would go up by $1 per month, with three-month membership increasing by $5.

Unsurprisingly, gamers were not happy at the prospect of paying more, and there was a vocal outcry at what Microsoft had planned. Ever conscious of keeping the customer happy, the company has now backtracked and said that pricing will stay the same. But more than this, it is now possible to play free-to-play games without an Xbox Live Gold subscription.

The launch of Cyberpunk 2077 has been one of the most disastrous in recent history. In production for what seems like forever, the game comes from the same stable as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the Polish developer CD Projekt.

The game was eventually launched just over a week ago, and the reception was... well... less than good. A seemingly endless string of bugs -- as well as performance issues on some platforms -- has led to widespread disappointment. Now Sony has taken the extraordinary step of yanking the PlayStation 4 game from its store, and is offering refunds to buyers.

The popular game Animal Jam, enjoyed by millions of children around the world, has advised parents of a hack which has exposed the personal details of 46 million account records.

The company behind Animal Jam, WildWorks, has issued a warning that details revealed in the attack include 7 million email addresses used to create accounts, and 32 million player usernames. A proportion of the 46 million accounts affected have had full name and billing address details exposed.

The launch of Sony's PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series X are fast-approaching, but ahead of availability, would-be buyers have a lot of questions.

As well as queries such as which games will be PS5 or Xbox exclusives, there are also questions about noise and heat. Just which of the two consoles is the quietest and coolest running remains to be seen, but to give you a glimpse of what is inside its latest gaming machine, Sony has gutted the PlayStation 5.

Microsoft is taking steps to improve game performance in Windows 10 by implementing some of the Velocity Architecture used by the Xbox Series X.

Specifically, Microsoft is bringing the DirectStorage API to Windows 10 to help overcome NVMe bandwidth bottlenecks. With compatible hardware, the change will not only mean that games load faster, but also that graphics can be even more detailed.

Fans of Microsoft’s famous Flight Sim won’t have long to wait until the latest incarnation arrives. This promises to be the most detailed and authentic version to date, with incredibly accurate landscapes that are ever-changing, coupled with highly detailed aircraft, covering everything from light planes to commercial jets.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has been around since 1982 -- feeling old yet? -- and the new version will be available in three editions -- Standard ($59.99), Deluxe ($89.99) and Premium Deluxe ($119.99).

While video games on PCs and consoles can be great, the titles released for smartphones are often quite bad. On-screen controls can be inaccurate and hard to use, leading to a very frustrating experience. Alternatively, developers can "dumb down" their games for mobile with simpler controls, but this often makes them nothing more than time-wasters -- something to do while sitting on the toilet, for instance.

Today, Turn 10 Studios (a Microsoft-owned game studio) releases Forza Street for iOS and Android. The racing game is "free" to play, which is cool, but sadly, it does offer in-game purchases to try and suck some money from your wallet. I installed it on my iPhone, and from what I can tell, the game kind of stinks. In my time "racing" I didn't even get to steer the car! Seriously. Instead, you just hold down a virtual gas pedal. Around turns, you let go of the pedal when the road turns yellow and then hold it down when it turns yellow again. That's pretty much it -- that seems to be the game. Maybe it gets better later, but I won't be finding out. Does the game look good? Absolutely. Is it fun? Heavens, no!

The internet is currently straining under the pressure of millions of people around the world working from home or self-isolating because of the coronavirus pandemic. There is additional strain because of people using homeworking as a reason to using streaming video services and online gaming more.

Many tech companies have had to take steps to meet increased demand, with the likes of Netflix reducing video quality to cut back on bandwidth. Now Microsoft is asking that developers limit the updates released for Xbox games.

Proclaiming that "it is time for DirectX to evolve once again", Microsoft has revealed DirectX 12 Ultimate which unifies the graphics technology for Xbox Series X and PC gaming.

There are a number of graphic hardware features for developers to take advantage of, including DirectX Raytracing 1.1, Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders and Sampler Feedback. But Microsoft stresses that the new API will not reduce compatibility. DirectX 12 Ultimate is described as an "additive initiative"; hardware that does not support it will still be able to run next-generation games, but without some of the visual enhancements.

We always knew that the Xbox Series X was going to be an impressive, powerful device, and now Microsoft has confirmed this. The company has revealed the full specifications for the upcoming game console... and it's a beast!

The console is more like a high-end gaming PC (it's not without good reason that Microsoft bills it as its fastest, most powerful console ever) and it offers hardware-accelerated raytracing, 4K output at 60 fps, and support for up to 120fps. All of this is driven by an 8 core AMD Zen 2 CPU and an RDNA 2-class GPU -- and you'll be able to buy it this year.

Apple has sent out invitations to a surprise event to be held on December 2 in New York City. It has the tagline "Loved by millions. Created by the best".

The event is billed by Apple as a "special event honoring our favorite apps and games of 2019". It is more usual for end of year app picks to be simply highlighted in the App Store so, while it is unlikely that we'll see any new hardware unveiled, it's possible the bigger staging will be used to reveal just when the new Mac Pro will be released.

At this year's Game Developers Conference in March, Google took the wraps off Stadia, a new, instant-play cloud-based gaming service.

With Stadia, games are "played" on Google’s servers, and streamed to compatible devices in the home, including smartphones, tablets, desktops, laptops, TVs and more. Google claims Stadia servers are capable of providing 4K, 60 frames-per-second performance.

There's no denying that recent updates for Windows 10 have caused more problems than usual. In the last few weeks, updates have led variously to issues with the Start menu, screenshots, high CPU usage and more.

Gamers found that the KB4515384 update for Windows 10 version 1903 was causing problems with in-game audio. The company was fairly swift to suggest some workarounds, but it is only now that a proper fix has been released to address the issue.

Following complaints from a number of users about problems with audio in games, Microsoft has acknowledged that the KB4515384 update for Windows 10 version 1903 is to blame.

The company is working on a proper fix, which it says should be released later this month. In the meantime,  however, it has suggested temporary workarounds for anyone irritated by the sound issues.

Microsoft recently released the KB4515384 update for Windows 10 version 1903, and this was supposed -- among other things -- address the high CPU usage problem caused by the earlier KB4512941 update. Unfortunately, this cumulative update was found to cause issues with the Start menu and searching for some users, and Microsoft is currently looking into addressing these problems.

But these are not the only issues with KB4515384. Complaints are also mounting about problems with audio in games after installing this particular update. [UPDATE: Microsoft has acknowledged the issue and suggested a workaround]