Microsoft Family Safety, the parental control app that was introduced on mobile as a preview back in May, is now available for everyone. The app gives parents more control over their child's devices, the ways they are used, and how much time is spent staring at a screen. Unlike some digital wellness apps, Microsoft Family Safety is available for both Android and iOS.
Yesterday, Sony revealed the PlayStation Plus free games lineup for August, and now Microsoft is following suit. Today the company revealed the Xbox Live Games with Gold for the month of August, and we've got something of a strange sight: not a single Xbox 360 game is included. It isn't often that happens, but nevertheless, August's Games with Gold lineup is comprised of two Xbox One games and two Xbox games.
It wouldn't be surprising to discover if the world's energy consumption significantly spiked this year due to the abrupt change in lifestyles and working conditions. At the same time, restrictions in movement and travel may have made traditional energy sources like diesel and fossil fuel more difficult to process, maintain, and even transport. The need for accessible sustainable energy is becoming even more important and Microsoft has just tested one such solution on one of the world's biggest consumers of power: datacenter servers.
A new Xbox controller leaked this week with photos showing changes from the original that are ever-so-slight yet significant enough to note. This device seems to be reminiscent of an Xbox Series X controller, but here the controller is white - not black - and has a slightly different feel to it. Of course, the only time most gamers have been allowed to see the next-gen controller from Microsoft is from afar.
Minecraft has become a seedbed for creativity and ingenuity that has seen no end of extraordinary creations, from recreations of fictional locations to mapping the real world to scale. There have also been attempts at creating a computer out of these blocks, though those computers are more like the calculating machines of centuries past. Thanks to a mod, however, it has actually become possible to run a real computer inside Minecraft, a computer that not only runs Windows 95 but can even run DOOM on Windows 95 inside Minecraft.
Perhaps rumors of its delay were slightly exaggerated. Or perhaps Microsoft is just trying to drum up hype considering Samsung's big event in two weeks. Either way, it definitely doesn't sound like a coincidence that three of Microsoft's top brass teased the Surface Duo in the span of a few days, just as the device has reportedly passed some certification agencies. If anything, these seem to hint that Microsoft's first dual-screen foldable device is just around the corner, ready to prove it might be a better solution than the Galaxy Z Fold 2.
Earlier today, rumors claiming that 343 Industries was planning to ship the multiplayer and campaign portions of Halo Infinite separately began circulating. The rumor seemingly stemmed from the fact that we didn't see any multiplayer gameplay during yesterday's Xbox Series X showcase, as the entire demo centered around one portion of the campaign.
One big question heading into the release of Halo Infinite and, indeed, many major game releases, is what post-launch monetization will look like. While first-person shooters like Halo used to make additional money after release by launching map packs, more recently a lot of the major games in the space have moved to a microtransaction-focused approach.
Smartphone notifications have long been regarded as the bane of productivity but they aren't the only things that try to grab our attention every day. Desktop notifications are another source of distraction but web browsers have now become even worse. Following the lead of the likes of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft is putting notification requests on mute in its Edge browser. That said, it seems to be planning something that could make an exception for certain sites.
Generally speaking, the console wars come down to one of two things for a lot of people: hardware and games. Some people compare spec sheets to determine which console is for them, while others look at launch titles and exclusive game lineups to make their decisions. This generation, though, subscriptions may wind up being the difference maker for some, specifically in the case Xbox Game Pass.
As we head into the next generation, there have been a few rumors claiming that we'd see a revival of the Fable franchise on Xbox Series X. With today's showcase, Microsoft confirmed those rumors, announcing a new Fable title for the Xbox Series X and Windows PC. It's been a long time since the last mainline Fable game, so excitement for this new title will probably be high.
Today Microsoft announced that Xbox Game Pass will have access to Destiny 2 and all of its expansions in the near future. The release date for Destiny 2 on Xbox Game Pass is somewhere in the month of September, that that includes Destiny 2: Shadowkeep as well as Destiny 2: Forsaken.