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Xbox's $1 Game Pass includes 'Gears of War 4' and 'Mass Effect'
If you've been thinking about trying out the Xbox Game Pass, but don't want to risk the normal $10/£8 price, Microsoft has a deal for you. It's offering the first month of membership for $1/£1, giving you access to well over 100 games. It's also offering Xbox Gold for $1/£1, so Xbox is clearly trying to push users onto memberships over the holidays. This month, new titles include Gears of War 4, Darksiders: Warmastered Edition, Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter and others.
Run the Jewels' video game tour continues in 'FIFA 18'
Killer Mike and El-P, collectively known as Run the Jewels, are no strangers to video games. Previously they appeared in Gears of War 4 as multiplayer characters, and now the duo are lending their talents to FIFA 18. Or, at least, their iconography. You can outfit your virtual footballer in kit featuring the group's trademark fist and gun logo on a teal jersey reminiscent of the album art for Run the Jewels 3, and there's also a black variant. More than that, the soundtrack features and exclusive track from the group, "Mean Demeanor."
Microsoft's existing games will play in 4K on your Xbox One X
You won't have to spring for new games to take advantage of the Xbox One X's 4K prowess. Microsoft is updating several of its own games to play in 4K on the newer console. In addition to the already-announced Minecraft upgrade, you can expect to see the higher resolution in Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Killer Instinct and Halo Wars 2 (what, no Halo 5?), among others. Unsurprisingly, all of the updates will be free -- Microsoft wants there to be as many One X-ready titles as possible.
Gears of War 4' retools its Horde mode in time for summer
Gears of War 4 dropped last October with more story, kinetic sound and a revamped version of its signature players-vs-AI Horde mode. Microsoft Game Studios has continued to refine the game in the months since to keep multiplayer fresh, from punishing rage-quitters to inexplicable DLC with rap duo Run The Jewels. But new gratis content is on the horizon: On June 6th, players get more goodies, maps and difficulty levels for Horde mode, along with a free trial for players on Xbox One or PC who haven't yet tried the title out.
'Gears 4' updated with new maps, support for multiple GPUs
It's taken a while since Gears of War 4's October debut, but Microsoft has finally added an often-requested feature for PC gamers: SLI support. That way they can take advantage of multiple GPUs to render the game at its maximum quality, instead of leaving silicon sitting unused. There's also a new map in the update called Dawn, and the return of a Gears of War 2 favorite: Security. Of course, competitors can take each other on via PC or Xbox and with the new multiple GPU support (make sure you have the latest drivers from AMD or NVIDIA) there's just one more reason to try it on the PC side. The update should roll out May 2nd.
The charity that wants video game karts in every hospital
In many ways, Jonathan Watson is like other 11-year-olds. He does his homework, dreams of becoming a doctor and plays video games when he can. Depending on the day, his favorite is either Minecraft or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Unlike most kids his age, though, Jonathan is at the hospital every three weeks for blood transfusions -- a procedure that can take up to six hours at a time. When I visited him at Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he wasn't slaying dragons or building a pixelated fortress; he was replaying the opening levels of Rayman Legends on a kart that had just been wheeled in. The kart was donated by a local Eagle Scout who raised funds through the Gamers Outreach Foundation (GO), a nationwide charity that puts medical-grade gaming equipment in hospitals around the country. The "GO Kart" Jonathan was using included everything needed to play video games: a modest Samsung television, an Xbox 360 (though any console will fit) and a pair of gamepads. The kit itself is hardly revolutionary, but anyone who's schlepped their gear to a LAN party can appreciate the simplicity of this rolling, self-contained setup. At Mott and 19 other hospitals around the country, they're the most popular "toy" available. And when you're a kid with a medical condition like Watson's, it's easy to see why.
'Gears of War 4' makes cross-platform multiplayer official
Last December Microsoft tried out something it hadn't done in quite awhile: adversarial cross-platform multiplayer. For a single weekend, there was a test between folks playing against each other in Gears of War 4 on PC and Xbox One. Now, that's moving from a beta to an official release. Before you reach for the pitchforks, though, this is only for the brawny shooter's (unranked) Social Quickplay mode. From a post on the Windows 10 blog:
'Gears of War 4' will punish rage quitters
Rage quitting isn't just a problem in fighting games. There's a good chance you've played shooters where teammates drop the very second it looks like they'll lose, dooming your team to defeat. And The Coalition wants to do something about it in Gears of War 4. The developer is rolling out Title Update 3 in January, and it'll introduce the first phase of efforts to punish those who bail prematurely. If a player quits a Core or Competitive round, they'll face a temporary matchmaking ban to "discourage drop out behavior" -- and the more they do it, that longer that ban persists. Moreover, Squads with a suspended player won't be allowed to do matchmaking until the offending player's penalty is over.
'Gears of War 4' marks the holidays with snowball fights
Destiny and Overwatch don't have a lock on over-the-top holiday gaming modes. Gears of War 4 just got a 99-cent Gearsmas Pack that adds some cheer to a mostly grim and dark game. The centerpiece is a special multiplayer event, Snowball Fight, where you have to fling snowballs at rivals using a custom Snowshot weapon. Akin to a real fight, you can't just reload -- you have to scoop up more snow ammo once you've run out of what little you have. There are also three ugly sweater-clad characters (JD, Kait and a Swarm Drone) and 24 holiday-themed weapon skins. Gearsmas lasts until January 4th, so you'll want to act soon if you're going to show off.
'Gears of War 4' gets cross-platform multiplayer this weekend
Since the dawn of time, comment sections have had vicious debates on which gamers own the superior platform. This weekend, Microsoft are giving them the opportunity to put their K/D where their mouths are. Between December 2nd and December 5th, Microsoft will be trialing cross-platform competitive play on Gears of War 4 allowing PC and Xbox One players to duke it out.
Gun through 'Gears of War 4' as Run The Jewels in new DLC
Earlier today, the acclaimed rap pair Run The Jewels announced a new single "Panther Like A Panther (I'm The Shit)" that played in a trailer for Gears of War 4's revamped horde co-op mode. Not long after, another video debuted showing both members of the group, Killer Mike and El-P, as playable characters available in new DLC for the third-person monster shooter.
The Morning After Weekend Edition: Happy Halloween!
Letter from the Editor Change is life. It's what keeps things interesting. It's also what keeps the cauldron of commerce at a full boil. And in the technology industry, change is constant. This week, Apple and Microsoft revealed new computers that'll tempt many — particularly folks working in the creative arts — even if they come with eye-watering price tags.
Microsoft Research helped 'Gears of War 4' sound so good
Popping in and out of cover has been a hallmark of the Gears of War franchise since the first game came out in 2006. It hasn't changed much because it didn't need to. What's always been an issue though is how thin the game sounds -- a shortcoming of the underlying tech, Unreal Engine, powering it. But Microsoft owns the series now and has far more money to throw at it than former owners/Unreal Engine creators Epic Games did. With help from Microsoft Research, Redmond's Gears of War factory The Coalition found a high tech way to fix that problem. It's called Triton. Two years ago Microsoft Research's Nikunj Raghuvanshi and John Snyder presented a paper (PDF) titled "Parametric Wave Field Coding for Precomputed Sound Propagation." The long and short of the research is that it detailed how to create realistic reverb effects based on objects in a video game's map, to hear it in action pop on a pair of headphones and watch the video below.
What's on your TV: 'Gears 4,' 'Falling Water,' 'Mascots'
Gears of War is back, and ready for players on Xbox One. We've had a chance to play it a bit, and the HDR graphics along with the audio are both impressive, while the gameplay brings the best of earlier entries in the series. Of course, that's not all there is this week, as Netflix drops its new series from YouTube star Miranda Sings, Haters Back Off, as well as Mascots. If you're looking for something sci-fi, USA is premiering Falling Water, and of course The Real World is back for a 32nd season. This is also the week PlayStation VR debuts, but if you prefer your action on a TV screen, we'd keep an eye out for the complete series of Miami Vice and Knight Rider on Blu-ray. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).
Recommended Reading: Behind the scenes of Google's Pixel phones
Behind the Pixel: Google's First Real Threat to Apple's iPhone Mark Gurman, Bloomberg Before Google's Pixel event had even started on Tuesday, Bloomberg already posted a behind-the-scenes article on how the phones were made. There's some solid perspective to complement all of the news and analysis you've likely already read, so this is certainly worth as you settle in for a relaxing weekend.
'Gears of War' is headed to the silver screen
Today Microsoft has announced that it's partnering with Universal Pictures to bring Gears of War's hulking soldiers and massive monsters to the big screen. There's no word on casting yet, but there is some information about who will be on the other side of the camera. Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark (Ted and the recent Planet of the Apes movies) will produce, and... well, that's about all that's known.
20-minute 'Gears 4' prologue playthrough looks very familiar
Even the most dedicated Gears of War fan might need a refresher course ahead of the franchise's fourth numbered sequel. And that's precisely what the new video from the developers at The Coalition is all about. What's more, it's direct feed footage of the first section of the game, aptly titled "Prologue." So, you can see exactly what sorts of trouble you'll be getting into in a few weeks.
The first Xbox 'Play Anywhere' games are up for pre-order
Through much of 2016, Microsoft has been working on an initiative to make your game library work across multiple devices, be it the current Xbox One, future consoles (like Project Scorpio) or a Windows 10 PC. As such, the company has a program called "Xbox Play Anywhere" that lets you buy a digital copy of certain games that'll work on both the Xbox One and a PC. Today, a handful of Microsoft's high-profile fall games went up for pre-order, and all three are part of the Play Anywhere program.
'Gears of War 4' Horde 3.0 trailer has a Run the Jewels twist (updated)
Gears of War 4 features Horde 3.0, an updated version of the series' classic five-player co-op mode, and today fans got the first taste of its gameplay with a bonus helping of hip hop courtesy of Run the Jewels. First, the gameplay: Horde 3.0 pits five players against swarms of enemies and has new features such as character classes and defensive structures. The new mode offers five character variations (Soldier, Sniper, Scout, Heavy and Engineer) and new enemies like the Swarm and DeeBees. The "Fabricator" is a mobile base that players can deploy anywhere on the map.
'Gears of War 4' writers are striving for a deeper story
Gears of War has never been known for its deep, imaginative storytelling. Each game is a popcorn-friendly thrill ride, pitting muscular soldiers against an army of bloodthirsty monsters. It's a simple concept: Grab an assault rifle, dive behind some cover and empty your clip until it's safe to move forward. Rinse and repeat. Gears of War 4, the first entry by a new developer called the Coalition, is trying to break that tradition. It's still a brutal shoot-'em-up, but the characters and plot are more complex this time around. More nuanced. So much so, in fact, that for people who have cooled on the franchise, it might be enough to reel them back in.
