A number of websites and services have experienced issues today, including the multi-hour outage over at Reddit this morning followed by a brief outage at Twitter. Microsoft is among the companies having trouble, in this case with its Xbox services. Though most services remain operational, one is limited, and that's causing big problems for players who want to download purchased or new content.
These days, people usually equate "online identity" with things like avatars or bitmojis. At the most basic level, however, an online user is almost always identified by their online handles or nicknames. In the Xbox world, that name is called "Gamertag" and it's going through a rather major change. Now only will it now let gamers use characters from among 10 new supported alphabets, it will also let you grab a Gamertag that might already be used by someone else, but with one minor catch.
A day after Sony revealed the free PlayStation Plus games for June, Microsoft is following suit by announcing its upcoming Games with Gold lineup. As always, there will be four games up for grabs - two for Xbox One and two for Xbox 360 - and there's at least one very recognizable name in this group. Tell us: How do you feel about portals?
It may not be long before we see Microsoft combine two Xbox subscription services into one monthly bundle. We're talking, of course, of Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass, the first being more or less essential to play games on Xbox One and the second being a still-relatively new subscription service that Microsoft has been promoting heavily. If you're subscribed to both, it may not be long before you'll have the opportunity to combine those two subscriptions into one and potentially save some cash.
Today, Microsoft announced that it's bundling together all of its game development platforms into one initiative called Game Stack. The idea behind Microsoft Game Stack is to give developers the tools they need to make their games all in one place, whether it's Azure for cloud services, PlayFab for matchmaking and parties, or Xbox Live for community and identity. Game Stack is a significant move in itself, and it has big implications for Xbox Live in particular, which is heading to iOS and Android as part of this initiative.
Nintendo has proven it wasn't out of the running yet in the gaming console race by breaking records last year with the Switch. But while Sony seems to be unfazed by the threat and remains bullish on its current strategies, Microsoft may be trying to take on the gaming market from a different angle. While the fruits are still a few years away, the company seems to be planting the seeds for an Xbox gaming experience that spans multiple devices and platforms, even those from its rivals.
It's been a rough couple of days for Xbox Live. Yesterday morning, Xbox Support alerted users to possible issues with downloading games, and though that problem was at least mostly solved by the early evening, this morning brought some new issues with it. For a while this morning, Xbox Support was reporting problems with Xbox Live sign-in and accessing previously purchased content.
Microsoft has revealed the Xbox Live Games with Gold for February, and it seems that we've got a pretty solid month ahead of us. As is usually the case, Xbox One owners will be getting four games in February, as the two Xbox 360 titles are backwards compatible with the console. There's a bit of something for everything this month, whether you're into multiplayer, classic games, or even Star Wars.
January is set to be a pretty big month for Xbox Live's Games with Gold, but it appears that you don't need to wait for the calendar to roll over to 2019 before you can get to playing. Microsoft has sent a couple of the month's games live a little bit early, meaning you can start playing them right away. One of those games is Celeste, which is definitely the headliner for January.
Microsoft is going start strong with Xbox Live's Games with Gold in 2019. The company has announced the line-up of free games for January, and among the roster is one of 2018's best games: Celeste. If you're a fan of challenging platformers and you own an Xbox One, you'll definitely want to download Celeste while it's free next month.
Microsoft has just rolled out a new Xbox Live Gold deal open to all new customers and anyone who dropped their subscription before October 1: three months of service and 1,000 V-Bucks for a total of $10. That price essentially makes the V-Bucks free, as 1,000 V-Bucks would cost Fortnite players ten bucks when purchased separately.
With the end of October upon us, it's time to look forward to all the free games coming up in November through Xbox Live Games With Gold and PlayStation Plus. You Xbox One owners are actually in for a treat in November, as Battlefield 1 will be headlining the free games on offer. Its appearance on Games With Gold likely isn't a coincidence, as Battlefield 5 is set to release on November 20.