Microsoft Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Toys For Bob, the developer of Crash Bandicoot 4 and the remastered Spyro collection, has confirmed it’s going independent.Toys For Bob was founded in 1989 before being acquired by Activision in 2005, where they worked on Skylanders. As well as heading up a number of sequels, Toys For Bob also developed Crash Bandicoot 4 and was behind 2018’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy.As part of the recent wave of layoffs at Activision Blizzard, Toys For Bob lost 89 members of staff and saw the closure of their Californian offices.In a new blog post though, Toys For Bob has confirmed it has broken away from Activision.

Microsoft has announced it has set up a special team dedicated to Xbox game preservation as work continues on the successor to the Series X/S.According to an internal memo shared by Windows Central, the team was created by Xbox president Sarah Bond and is out to “ensure the future-proofing of the current Xbox game library against future hardware paradigm shifts”.“It’s been nearly six months since we came together as an organisation,” she explained. “Our collective achievements in that timeframe are tremendous.

Final Fantasy 14 players are reportedly being banned by Microsoft for using the phrase “free company”.In Final Fantasy 14, a free company is a player-operated organisation within the game, similar to a guild in other online titles. Players can only be a member of one free company at a time, with each company limited to 512 members.As well as the community aspect of being part of a free company, members also get access to shared rewards, group buffs and company housing.To help the system, Square Enix has also created an official community finder tool, which helps players find and join the free company of their choosing via Final Fantasy 14’s messenger service.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has explained that the company’s focus is on attracting “younger audiences”.Over the past few months, Spencer has spoken at length about making Xbox-exclusive games available on “rival” platforms. Last weekend, while at the Game Developers Conference he spoke to Polygon about the possibility of an Xbox handheld console as well as having digital storefronts like Itch.io and the Epic Games Store available on Xbox, alongside their own store.“This notion that Xbox can only be this one device that plugs into a television isn’t something we see in the Gen Z research because nothing else is like that for them,” he explained.“Some of them will have an iPhone, some will have an Android, but all the games and everything is the same [for both of them].

Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation worldwide Shawn Layden has spoken about the importance of platform-exclusive games.The discussion around platform-exclusives has heated up in recent months after Microsoft confirmed a number of Xbox-exclusives would be made available on “rival” consoles. Both Grounded and Pentiment are due to come to Nintendo Switch while Hi-Fi Rush and Sea Of Thieves are coming to the PS5.Speaking on the What’s Up PlayStation podcast, Layden said (via VGC): “Exclusivity will always be important, it helps focus and highlight the features of your platform. What can you do here technically that you can’t do someplace else.“But, as your platform becomes established as the market recognises where you sit in that pantheon of gaming options, I think the necessity of exclusivity becomes a little bit less,” he added.Earlier this month, Layden described exclusivity as a studio’s “Achilles’ heel” due to increasing production costs.

dilemma. Kelly Rowland is finally dishing on the “flack” she’s received after trying to send Nelly a text message via Microsoft Excel in the 2002 music video for “Dilemma.” “Do you know how much flack I get from that?” Rowland, 43, said during an appearance on Mystical Kitchen’s “Last Meal” series after being introduced as “the only person in history to successfully send a text message via Microsoft Excel” by the show’s host Josh Scherer.“I’m so used to it now,” the former Destiny’s Child singer added. The viral scene shows Rowland attempting to text Nelly, born Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., “Where you at? Holla when you get this,” on the Microsoft spreadsheet editor — and then getting annoyed when he doesn’t respond.

SpongeBob SquarePants special edition of the Xbox Series X.The console has been created in conjunction with Best Buy, Paramount Game Studios and GameMill, and is only available to purchase in the United States through set drops on the Best Buy Mobile App, and won’t be available when stocks run out.The bundle comes with an Xbox Wireless Controller featuring characters from the Spongebob SquarePants franchise, while the Xbox Series X itself features Spongebob smiling at the user.A digital download of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is also included in the bundle. This Super Smash Bros-like game featuring classic Nickelodeon cartoons allows players to pit characters such as Invader Zim, SpongeBob SquarePants, Jimmy Neutron and Aang against each other, among many others.The bundle retails for £550 ($699) and is only available in the United States through the Best Buy Mobile App.

Hi-Fi Rush has been officially announced for release on PlayStation 5 next month, alongside several other formerly Xbox console exclusive titles.The title will launch on March 19 on PlayStation 5, with physical versions for the platform available exclusively through Limited Run Games. While a Switch release for Hi-Fi Rush has been rumoured, there is currently no official notice on if those rumours were actually true.Alongside Hi-Fi Rush, Xbox is also bringing three other previously exclusive games to new systems.

Larian Studios has hit out at a number of companies laying-off development staff to maximise profits for shareholders.2024 has started with a number of studios cutting huge swathes of employees. Microsoft laid off 1,900 staff shortly after its acquisition of Activision Blizzard was approved, Riot Games laid off over 500 members of staff, and today (February 19) it was confirmed that Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM has cut a quarter of its staff.Elsewhere, the Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch claimed it wasn’t making a profit after another massive round of layoffs, while Embracer Group admitted that its “overruling principle is to always maximise shareholder value in any given situation” after cutting 1,400 jobs over the past 12 months.Last week, Baldur’s Gate 3 picked up a number of trophies at the DICE Awards including Outstanding Achievement In Story, RPG Of The Year, Outstanding Achievement In Game Direction, and Game of the Year.

(MSFT.O), opens new tab acquired Activision last year for $69 billion, in a deal that still faces U.S. Federal Trade Commission scrutiny.Activision in 2016 paid $46 million to buy Major League Gaming, which the lawsuit called the leading Call of Duty competition organizer.League and tournament play for Call of Duty was a “vibrant, competitive product market” until 2019, when Activision moved to open its own league and eliminate competition, the lawsuit said.Activision then imposed “draconian” contract provisions on teams and players, according to the lawsuit.“Teams that did not (or could not) accede to Activision’s extortionate demands were cut out of the professional Call of Duty market entirely,” the lawsuit said.

Microsoft has begun to tease the successor to the Xbox Series X/S, promising the “largest technical leap” in Xbox console history.Following rumours Xbox was set to make a number of exclusive titles available to both PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch gamers, many fans assumed Microsoft could be about to follow the lead of Sega and pivot away from hardware to become a software-only studio.However during a podcast presentation about the “vision for the future” of the brand last night (February 15), Microsoft confirmed it was set to continue to manufacture consoles.“There’s some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we’re going to share this holiday and we’re also invested in the next generation roadmap,” said Xbox president Sarah Bond. “What we’re really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation”“That makes it better for players, and better for creators and the visions that they’re building,” she added.

Microsoft has confirmed that Diablo 4 will be the first Activision Blizzard title to come to Xbox Game Pass.Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was finally approved in October 2023 after being announced in January 2022 via a deal thought to be worth £50billion.Now the first of Microsoft’s new franchises is coming to its subscription-based Game Pass service. Head of Xbox Sarah Bond confirmed the news during an official Xbox podcast last night (February 15).Diablo 4 will be available to play via Game Pass from March 28 and is said to be the first of multiple Activision and Blizzard-developed titles coming to the service.Elsewhere in the podcast, Xbox boss Phil Spencer announced that Game Pass now had 34million “fully paid” subscribers compared to 25million in 2022.

Xbox has confirmed that four exclusive games will be released on rival consoles, after weeks of speculation.Earlier this month, several reports emerged that Microsoft was planning on releasing several big exclusives like Starfield, Indiana Jones & The Great Circle, Halo and Gears Of Wars on the PlayStation 5. Microsoft then confirmed a press conference to discuss the “vision for the future” of Xbox, which finally took place last night (February 15).Those rumours were swiftly debunked, but Microsoft did announce their intention “to take four games to the other consoles [PS5 and Nintendo Switch]”.

Gears Of War creator Cliff Bleszinski said he’s “moved on” from the series after Microsoft didn’t take him up on his consultancy offer.Bleszinski worked at Epic Games between 1992 and 2012 and was lead designer for the first three Gears Of War games.Despite not working on the franchise since 2011’s Gears Of War 3, Bleszinski has released a statement about his involvement in the series going forward.Taking to social media, Bleszinski wrote that he is still “down to consult” on the series and share his “two cents” but has heard nothing but “crickets” from Microsoft and current Gears Of War developer The Coalition.“I understand that Gears will always be an enormous part of my legacy. I appreciate and respect that. That said, Microsoft and Coalition haven’t hit me up.

Microsoft has spoken out against the new AI-generated deepfakes of Taylor Swift that have been spread widely on social media this week.A new AI filter, which changes users’ faces to look remarkably like Swift’s, went viral. Danae Mercer, a journalist and ambassador for the National Eating Disorder Association, said: “The technology used here is only going to get exponentially smarter.

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata.Iwata was president of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015 and oversaw both the Nintendo DS and the Wii.However, he was also CEO during the turbulent Wii U era of Nintendo, which was considered a flop by many. Following the failure, he took a 50 per cent pay cut while other executives reduced their salaries by 20 per cent.Speaking about the decision in 2013, Iwata said: “If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease.

Xbox Developer Direct is fast approaching, bringing with it a lot of early-year looks at upcoming games. But how can you watch the show and what should you expect?The Xbox Developer Direct takes place today (January 18) at 8 PM GMT / 3 PM EST / 12 PM PST.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox save woes should be over from today following a new update.Baldur’s Gate 3 launched on Xbox in December 2023 after winning Game of the Year at the 2023 Game of the Year awards. However, it wasn’t released without several issues, such as reports of save files deleting themselves after a crash.

Microsoft has begun to unban players who accidentally uploaded NSFW clips from Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox servers.Baldur’s Gate 3 has quickly earned a reputation for being the horniest game on the market, thanks to a huge number of adult romance options and nudity that players are presented with.However, last week it was reported that players received bans from Microsoft due to captured NSFW clips being automatically uploaded to public Xbox servers. According to Microsoft’s rules set out to protect players from offensive imagery, “nudity and sexual content” is banned from public servers but captured clips are uploaded by default.“This shouldn’t even be possible,” wrote one fan on Reddit.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is to leave his role next week.Kotick became CEO of Activision in 1991 after purchasing a 25 per cent share in the near-bankrupt company the previous year. Over the next 32 years, he headed up the company as it grew to become one of the biggest and most influential pillars in the world of video games, acquiring a number of other studios on the way.However, it was claimed Kotick knew about cases of sexual misconduct happening within the company and kept it secret, even after state regulators started investigating the company in 2018.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has hinted that a new Banjo-Kazooie title could be in the works.The original Banjo-Kazooie was released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64 and was followed by three sequels and a spin-off racing game with the last game in the series (Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts) coming in 2008.Since then, the games have been re-released for Xbox while the original Banjo-Kazooie was added to the Nintendo Switch Online library at the start of last year, but there’s been no news about further additions to the series.However, in a new interview with Windows Central, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has hinted that new Banjo-Kazooie adventures could be on the cards. “You’ve seen from our history that we haven’t touched every franchise that people would love us to touch,” he said, before he added “Banjo fans, I hear you.”“But it is true that, when we find the right team, and the right opportunity, I love going back to revisit stories and characters that we’ve seen previously,” he continued.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed the company has “no plans” to bring Game Pass to Nintendo or PlayStation.Game Pass currently allows gamers access to hundreds of PC and Xbox titles on a subscription-basis. In a new interview with Windows Central, Spencer confirmed that the company had spent over a billion dollars in 2023 (£780million) “supporting third-party games”.“What we see in Game Pass is a service that supports all kinds of games, from the biggest games, to the unknown indie games that you didn’t know you would love until you played it,” he continued (via Eurogamer).“Game Pass is an important part of the Xbox console identity.

Microsoft has officially announced the games that are coming to Xbox Game Pass in December.Twelve new games will be joining the popular subscription service, with many of the titles available across consoles, PCs, and the cloud.sneak peek at your holiday gifts this december

Starfield has already vanished from many people’s collective consciousness, but Bethesda has begun defending the game from criticism in Steam reviews by replying to certain users.As spotted by YouTuber JuiceHead on X (formerly Twitter), Bethesda has started replying to Starfield reviews using the handles Bethesda_FalcoYamaoka and Bethesda_Kraken.In a reply to one review that criticised the number of loading screens in the game, a Bethesda developer wrote that “while there may be loading screens in between fast travelling, just consider the amount of data for the expansive gameplay that is procedurally generated to load flawlessly.”In a reply to another review, which called the game “wide as an ocean- shallow as a puddle”, the same developer wrote that “if you feel that things are getting boring, there is so much more to do than just the main mission! There are many side missions where you can learn more about the people and story of Starfield.”There’s currently no word from Bethesda as to why they’ve suddenly decided to reply to Steam reviews, however.Starfield launched in September of this year, releasing on the same day as the PS5 version of Baldur’s Gate 3, to fairly positive reviews. The game is currently sitting at 83 on Metacritic, with an 85 on Opencritic.NME’s own review of Starfield was positive, writing that “Starfield promises so much, but comes up short of perfection.

Quake players in the world has confirmed Elon Musk’s claims that he once played with the game’s top-level competitors, though he “wasn’t very good”.In a podcast with computer scientist Lex Fridman, Elon Musk stated that he has a “lifetime of playing video games”. Musk then said that “at one point I was, you know, maybe one of the best Quake players in the world”, and mentioned that he “actually won money” in “the first paid esports tournament in the US.”Posters on X (formerly Twitter) doubted the claim, with many questioning whether Musk was simply trying to brag.

Xbox players switch on their console, the first thing they see is a prompt to purchase Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and some people have not reacted well to this splash screen.“Fight against the ultimate threat. Play the Campaign now.

Xbox controllers and accessories will no longer work after November has concerned disabled gamers who use their own controllers.Error “0x82d60002” has popped up for those using an unauthorised controller to play on the Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles, stating that the controller “will be blocked from use on [November 12]”.Microsoft provided a statement to clear up the confusion, saying that “unauthorised accessories can compromise the gaming experience” and this new policy is part of maintaining “quality standards for performance, security, and safety”.Yet, disabled gamers who play with controller and accessory combinations that use third-party technology have aired their aggravation at the announcement.“Xbox I urge you to give a statement on if this will affect the disability community and if so, how is this in line with your vision for accessibility in gaming,” said streamer Elisabeth “Arevya” Sivertsen in a post to X.Another said it was a “step backwards in inclusivity” for Xbox, as the release of the Xbox Adaptive Controller in 2018 won it several awards for the innovation in its design.“For a company that touts their accessibility and inclusion efforts so hard, this move by Xbox is really confusing and disappointing,” added X user and game developer jasonthinks.Fortunately, it appears that conversations about the impact of this policy on disabled players are occurring.

Microsoft will not allow players to use unauthorised third-party controllers and accessories for their Xbox from November in the interest of “performance, security, and safety”.Windows Central reported that players have been encountering error “0x82d60002” when they attach a third-party accessory in an article from October 29.“Using unauthorised accessories compromises your gaming experience. For this reason, the unauthorised accessory will be blocked from use on 11/12/2023,” read the pop-up on the console.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 or Modern Warfare 3 are on their way to Xbox Game Pass this year, Microsoft has confirmed, as there wasn’t enough time to sort out a “secret celebration drop”.Activision Blizzard stated that there were no intentions for its “upcoming and recently launched games” like Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Diablo 4 to be playable through Xbox Game Pass this year.Yet, rumours swirled that there was something in store. In the latest episode of the official Xbox podcast, Microsoft CEO of gaming Phil Spencer explained that there simply wasn’t enough time to arrange the games’ arrival on Game Pass.The acquisition of Activision Blizzard was only finalised last week following repeated revisions to the terms of the agreement.

Microsoft‘s Phil Spencer has shared that special Call Of Duty content or events on Xbox would exclude the rest of the “Call Of Duty nation”, and therefore is not a part of the company’s plans for the series.On October 13, the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft was finalised, passing on properties like Crash Bandicoot, Diablo, Overwatch and World Of Warcraft as well as the immensely popular shooter series to the corporation.In spite of repeated insistences from Microsoft that it would not exclude players on other platforms from the future of Call Of Duty, there were still some concerns from fans.Spencer addressed these in the latest episode of the official Xbox podcast, reiterating that exclusive content for Xbox is not in Microsoft’s vision for the series (via Video Games Chronicle).“For Call of Duty players on PlayStation, and in the future Nintendo, I want you to feel 100 per cent a part of the community,” said the CEO.“I don’t want you to feel like there’s content you’re missing out, skins you’re missing out, there’s timing that you’re missing out on… that’s not the goal.”Historically, the series has prioritised those on PlayStation – Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 offered players exclusive monthly double experience point events, weapon bonuses when playing in parties with other PlayStation players, and additional loadout slots, to name a few features.This will not be replicated in future entries on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.