Articles about Xbox Live

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.

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Microsoft is no stranger to using bug bounty programs to track down security problems and other issues with its software and services. Now the company has launched an Xbox bug bounty program, offering payouts of up to $20,000 to anyone finding vulnerabilities.

The particular aim of this bounty program is to find issues with the Xbox Live network and services. Microsoft says the amounts it will pay gamers and security researchers who report problems will depend on the severity and impact of the vulnerability, as well as the quality of the submission.

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Microsoft has announced that it is introducing new filters that will enable Xbox Live players to avoid language they may find offensive or unacceptable. It is hoped that the AI-powered system will help to reduce trolling and bullying.

The system will be optional and will offer three levels of language filtering, as well as the option of remaining unfiltered. It's an expansion of Microsoft's family settings, and the company says it recognizes "that while some adults use profanity without any ill intent while gaming, parents with small children likely won't find this same experience acceptable".

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Microsoft's in-house game development division has undergone a rebranding. Previously known as Microsoft Studios, the division's new moniker is Xbox Game Studios.

Made up of a total of 13 game studios purchased by Microsoft over the years, and the division's corporate vice president, Matt Booty, promises that they are all "working hard to deliver incredible exclusives, original IP and all-new chapters from your favorite franchises".

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On November 7, the Xbox One X will become available. Want to know a secret? It plays the same games as Xbox One and Xbox One S. In other words, the $500 "X" console gives a similar experience as the $250 "S" variant. While both can play 4K media, only the X model can display actual games in that resolution, however. If that doesn't matter to you, why spend the extra money? You can use the savings to buy more games!

Today, Microsoft announces a trio of deals that will make buying an Xbox One S even more attractive. Not only can you get the console itself for $249, but you can also score a $50 gift card or free Xbox Wireless Controller. While the promotion also includes the "non-S" variant of the console, that is becoming harder to find, so you should probably stick with the S at this point. Any savings would be negligible anyway.

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Gaming can be an expensive business, with games often costing $60. Starting later this spring, however, things are set to get cheaper. Microsoft is about to launch Xbox Game Pass, a $9.99 per month subscription that gives unlimited access to over 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games.

Fears that this might just mean access to a substandard set of titles appear to be unfounded -- games such as Halo 5: Guardians, Payday 2, NBA 2K16 and SoulCalibur II are to be found on the list. Microsoft is quick to stress that this is not a streaming service; subscribers will be able to download full games to the console.

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Having a good password can make the difference between your account being hacked and receiving a notification informing you of a failed login attempt. Even though this should be common knowledge, it seems that many folks are in the dark about this. You do not need to look hard to find evidence of this, as there are many reports that reveal passwords like "1234567890" to be very popular still.

Since it is clear that it cannot rely on its users to make the right decisions about their account security, Microsoft is taking a proactive approach by "dynamically banning commonly used passwords". So, if you think that "qwerty123" is good enough to keep all your emails private, luckily you will not have to find out whether you are right or not.

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Many customers of Microsoft's Xbox gaming platform utilize the company's Live service so that they can play against others from the comfort of their own home. And, like any service, when you set up an account you choose a user ID, in this case, it’s a gamertag, which is what you become known by when online.

Many of these handles have been used up over the years, and some of those early ones have since become inactive for a variety of reasons. Now Microsoft is going to be opening those monikers up again to allow other customers to grab them.

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There will no doubt be many new games and consoles under trees this holiday season. That means a lot of people joining the online gaming community and trying to get started with their new toys. The networks need to be ready for the vast influx of users. Now a hacker group is vowing to prevent all of this.

This isn't a new thing, as last Christmas Lizard Squad knocked both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network offline. This time around it's Phantom Group planning to do exactly the same thing. The group announced its intent on Twitter with such threats as "We are going to shut down Xbox live and PSN this year on Christmas. And we are going to keep them down for one-week straight #DramaAlert".

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A lot of Xbox customers shill out the extra money for a Live account to improve the gaming experience. With the vast amount of Xbox consoles out there, that is quite a few customers. Now Microsoft is acknowledging that the keys for some of those faithful users have been exposed.

Before you panic, this doesn't necessarily mean you've been hacked, but the possibility is there. In a new security bulletin the company claims that the SSL/TLS digital certificate keys for xboxlive.com were exposed and that this could be used by hackers for man-in-the-middle attacks.

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Living a Microsoft lifestyle is pretty convenient. Not only is Windows 10 a wonderful operating system, but the company's services are great too. For example, you can't go wrong with the fabulous Office 365, Xbox Live Gold and Skype to name a few.

Unfortunately, paying for each Microsoft service individually can be a costly affair. Luckily, a refreshed Microsoft Work and Play bundle is once again available, just in time for the holidays, and you should totally take advantage. Seriously, you are getting more than $360 in value for a paltry $149 -- it is a no-brainer. It would even make a great Christmas present too.

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Gaming consoles have become exceedingly more powerful over the years, offering more realistic graphics. While better-looking games are appreciated, I would argue that the more important advancement is online multiplayer. Thanks to Xbox Live Gold, playing games against people all over the world could not be easier. True, Microsoft's consoles were not the first to gain online multiplayer support, but the company was arguably the first to get it right.

While Xbox One is all the rage nowadays, its predecessor, the 360, is still a great console. In fact, its low price and huge game library makes it a very smart buy. If you own an Xbox 360, but haven't invested in Xbox Live Gold (are you crazy?), today is your lucky day. Starting today, and through Sunday (October 9-11), you can play online for free.

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Revenge porn has become quite a problem online, and Microsoft has now made it easier than ever to report cases. Today the company says that it will happily remove links to revenge porn photos and videos from Bing search results, and has set up a dedicated form to make it easier to get in touch.

Like Google's Right to Be Forgotten, there is little that can be done to remove the offending content from the internet, but Microsoft's action should make it easier to prevent the spread of damaging content. The removal process goes further than just obfuscating links in research results as the company does what it can to help stem the flow of privacy-violating photos and videos.

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Xbox One is probably the best console on the market, although I'm sure PlayStation 4 fans will disagree. Before you call me an "Xbox One fan boy", please know that I don't even own it. So why do I consider it the best? Besides games, its multimedia capabilities and Kinect compatibility put it over the edge for me.

While I don't own Microsoft's latest console, I did buy the Xbox 360 last year. Why? I had never owned one, and got it for a steal at $99. Unfortunately, even though I have a Live Gold membership, that only entitles me to the free 360 games through my console; not Xbox One. This changes today, however, as you can now get free Xbox One games on your Xbox 360 console with a Live Gold membership!

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Microsoft has released its earnings report for Q2 FY2015 (that's Q4 CY2014 for everyone else), revealing figures that closely match analyst expectations. The software giant achieved $26.5 billion in revenue, with operating income coming in at $7.8 billion. Gross margin and diluted earnings per share were $16.3 billion and $0.71, respectively. However, in after-hours trading, Microsoft's shares dropped by $2, or 4.28 percent, to $45 per share.

Microsoft has delivered some good news through its earnings report concerning its Devices and Consumer part of the business. Surface revenue reached $1.1 billion at the end of the quarter, which translates to a healthy increase of 24 percent over Q2 FY2014. Lumia sales topped 10.5 million, which, again, is better than the same quarter from a year prior as well as the previous quarter, Q1 FY2015. And the list goes on.

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