Microsoft Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Xbox is hosting a livestream to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the console, which will be held next week.The Xbox Anniversary Celebration will be held on November 15 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Xbox. The stream will air at 6pm GMT (10am PST/1pm EST) on the official Xbox YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook steam channels.The steam will be available with subtitles in various languages, with the announcement page listing German, French, BR Portuguese and more.

Forza Horizon 5 becomes the highest-rated game first released in 2021 on Metacritic. This tops the charts alongside Psychonauts 2 with a score of 91/100.The latest title in the racing franchise currently rates fifth on the review aggregate website after reviews dropped earlier today (November 4).

Halo Infinite has been shown, with Streets being set in the famous Halo universe city of New Mombasa.You can see more about it in the IGN First video below.

Xbox Game Pass, and racing game Forza Horizon 5 is racing ahead to the front of the pack.As outlined in a blog post, the upcoming open-world racer from Playground Games is the major release for the month, launching into Game Pass on November 9, the same day it goes on sale.

Halo Infinite isn’t due for release until December 8, but developer 343 Industries may be gearing up for an early access window for the much anticipated game.Earlier today (November 1) Twitter user ALumia_Italia posted a screenshot of an “Early Access Digital Bundle” for Halo Infinite, seemingly taken from the Microsoft Store (thanks, GamesRadar).

Sega has announced that it is entering a “strategic alliance” with Microsoft to explore creating new strategic games together.In a press release posted earlier today (November 1), Sega has shared that it has “agreed in principle” with Microsoft to explore “ways for Sega to produce large-scale, global games in a next-generation development environment built on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform”.The statement mentions the phrase “Super Game”, which Sega details will be “a new initiative for

Microsoft’s Age Of Empires 4 has hit 69,000 peak concurrent players on Steam three days after launch, overtaking Destiny 2 and Ark: Survival Evolved.Age Of Empires 4 was released on October 28 and has rapidly climbed the Steam rankings. According to Steamdb, the game has peaked at 69,366 concurrent players in the past 24 hours.

Banjo-Kazooie composer Grant Kirkhope has released a 10-track album featuring remixed versions of the original 1998 songs.The new album, titled Banjo-Kazooie Rejiggyed, was reported on by VGC and features modern remixes of themes such as Gobi’s Valley, Freezeey Peak, Click Clock Wood, and more.This album release comes as fans of Banjo-Kazooie learned that the N64 classic platformer will be available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online N64 library.

Xbox Insiders, will let players stream their gameplay directly to Twitch from their console.Insiders who are currently part of the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring will be able to experience the new update, which includes new features as well as the ability to stream to Twitch.Xbox users will be able to stream via the “Capture and Share” menu, where they’ll then be able to select “Live Streaming”.

Xbox gamers can now access PC games directly on their consoles through streaming service GeForce NOW – but Death Stranding, which is a PlayStation exclusive on console, is blocked from running on Microsoft’s devices.The GeForce NOW service provides cloud gaming on “nearly any” device, from laptop to smartphone. While an Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S isn’t specifically catered for, GeForce does offer browser-based streaming through Microsoft’s Edge web browser.

Nvidia‘s GeForce Now service means that it will soon be playable on Xbox consoles.The latest GeForce Now client rolled out on October 21 and offers beta support for the Microsoft Edge browser – the same browser that is available on Xbox games consoles as well as PC.Currently, Nvidia claims that GeForce Now can outperform an Xbox Series X and it brings with it the benefits of being able to play a number of PC games that are not yet available on the Xbox.

343 Industries highlights plenty of the features coming to Halo Infinite on PC later this year.Releasing across Xbox consoles and PC on December 8, the game aims to highlight Microsoft’s commitment to a interconnected ecosystem between all methods of play.

Xbox is apparently working with Finnish developer Mainframe on its cloud-based massively multiplayer online (MMO) title codenamed Pax Dei.This was first mentioned by Windows Central reporter Jez Cordon on The Xbox Two Podcast, when he said “Microsoft is working with a studio in Finland, or at least I’ve heard, called Mainframe on making a cloud native game.”“I have no details about that,” he added, “it could be tied up to one of the codenames that I do know about the project info for, but that

Forza Horizon 5, Playground Games‘ upcoming entry in the Xbox Game Studios series, is now available to pre-load, but it requires over 100GB of hard drive space.In a recent developer update, the install sizes on each platform were confirmed:Xbox Series X|S: 103 GB Xbox One: 116 GB Windows: 103 GB Steam: 103 GBThe statement explains why the Series X|S has a smaller file size than the older Xbox One console, reading: “With the high-speed internal SSD storage found on Xbox Series X|S consoles, we’ve

Xbox‘s October update began rolling out yesterday (October 21), with a 4K dashboard finally available for Xbox Series X owners.Previously, the Xbox Series X had been rendering the dashboard and other UI elements at 1080p and then upscaling to 4K.“We know players with an eye for detail and an appreciation for 4K wanted a crisp experience even when navigating the dashboard,” read the Xbox Wire post.

Windows Blogs yesterday, with a sneak peek available to Windows Insiders who can download a preview of the next Windows 11 update.“The first preview of Android apps on Windows 11 is now available for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel in the U.S.” revealed Microsoft.If you want to try out Android apps on Windows, there are a few things you’ll need to do:Unfortunately, it looks as though you won’t be playing Pokémon Unite on your PC just yet – the mobile apps you can load are currently

Xbox Game Pass is regularly cited as one of the best deals in gaming, but it appears that the service has not attracted as many subscribers as Microsoft had hoped.According to a filing for the financial year ending June 30, 2021 (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz), Microsoft had aimed to grow Game Pass’ subscriber base by 47.79 per cent.

Xbox Game Studios, the coalition of developers owned by Microsoft, already boasts more than 20 studios under its umbrella – but that number may be set to grow, according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer.Speaking to Wall Street Journal as part of its Tech Live event (paywalled; as spotted by VGC), Spencer said Xbox is “always out there looking for people who we think would be a good match and teams that would be a good match with our strategy”, and that the company is “definitely not done” acquiring

Microsoft has launched pre-orders for an Xbox Series X-style mini fridge, but scalpers have already started reselling the item for triple the retail price.Pre-orders for the mini-fridge – designed to replicate the shape and style of the console – launched today, October 19. Like the actual Xbox Series X though, stock ran out rapidly.

Microsoft has announced the next wave of titles heading to its Xbox Game Pass service, with eleven new games joining the lineup.As announced on the Xbox blog, sci-fi shooter Outriders is available through Game Pass for PC, while new indie title Into the Pit – described as a “fast-paced retro-FPS roguelite” – launches on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and cloud gaming.

Minecraft developers Mojang has put a strong emphasis on preserving players’ worlds in the new 1.18 update which will be coming in “a month or two”.During its Minecraft Live showcase on October 16, it announced that the new 1.18 update featuring ‘Caves and Cliffs part 2’ would be released soon as it is almost finished.

We Happy Few developer, Compulsion Games, is working on a new third-person narrative-focused single player game.The news comes from an interview with French gaming website, Xbox Squad, and via VGC. In the interview, community manager, Naila Hadjas, explained that “I think we gave ourselves a little time to learn.

Xbox Series X|S has sold over 100,000 units in Japan, which means that the console has already outdone what it took the Xbox One four years to achieve. Initially reported by Japanese publication Famitsu (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz) the Xbox Series X has sold 64,283 units, whilst the Xbox Series S has sold 38,307.

Xbox mini fridge is going up for pre-order, and it’ll be available and in homes by December this year.According to an Xbox Wire post, pre-orders go live on October 19, and arrive across multiple retailers globally in December.

Obsidian Entertainment‘s studio head Feargus Urquhart said that he had been approached by another publisher looking to buy the company before Microsoft. Ultimately, he turned down the offer as it “has to be a cultural fit,” and this offer was not.In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, recorded during October 7’s GI Live London, Urquhart spoke at length about being acquired by Microsoft and what studios should consider when being bought.

Xbox games could be coming to Game Pass through Xbox’s backwards compatibility program, and a datamine of the Microsoft Store potentially confirms it.As reported by TrueAchievements, XboxEra’s Nick Baker tweeted earlier this year claiming the backwards compatibility program wasn’t done, and that there would be a new batch of original Xbox and Xbox 360 games later this year.Baker has tweeted again, saying a datamine has revealed the names of some games, but “sometimes OG and 360 games are tested

Microsoft, it looks as though Sky is determined to resurrect the motion controls of Xbox Kinect with this new device – set to launch sometime next year.Announced alongside a new line of Sky Glass TVs (with built-in cameras and motion control capability), the Sky Glass camera is just the start.The 4K Sky Glass camera includes motion controls and gestures support, works across games and TV apps, and utilises a new social TV sharing feature and a built-in partnership with Microsoft.“Working with

Windows 11, the newest update to Microsoft’s long running series of PC firmware, is available now to download for free.Available from the Microsoft website, users can either install it using a bootable DVD, a USB drive, or an ISO file.In a blog post from August, Microsoft claimed that “Windows 11 delivers the best Windows ever for gaming and unlocks the full potential of your system’s hardware with technology like DirectX12, Ultimate, DirectStorage and Auto HDR”.This is all part of Microsoft’s

Halo Infinite is currently running one of its insider weekends (October 1 to 3) where players can get an early look at the multiplayer, and it looks like someone has figured how to play it splitscreen.According to head of creative at 343 Industries Joseph Staten, local splitscreen isn’t going to be available for the game until it launches on December 8, but one Reddit user has found a rather convoluted way to have splitscreen players face off against bots in the beta.Outlined in this Reddit post

Microsoft announced that it is adding a series of new accessibility features to the Xbox range in the coming months.The series of plans include improvements to all things Xbox, such as the Microsoft Store, the Xbox app on PC, Xbox Game Pass apps, and Xbox.com.The Microsoft Store for Xbox will receive a new accessibility panel for each game listing. It’s designed to make it easier for players to find games that include certain accessibility features.