Price hikes! Get your price hikes here! Hot on the heels of Apple's upward push of dollar figures, ganging up with Framework, and harnessing the disillusion caused by the price of Valve's Steam Machine... It's now Microsoft's turn. The ailing division is enacting yet another increase to the price of the Xbox Series consoles, at $100 more for the 512 GB versions and $150 more for the 1 TB model. The pricing will come into effect in roughly a month and change, on August 1st.

The firm is also killing the 2 TB version of the Xbox Series X, in an echo of Apple slicing away the higher-RAM variants of its Mac Studio computers. If you were on the fence about buying one of those, it would be wise to rush, as at the current price of "only" around $799.99, stocks are unlikely to last. Here's the new pricing, in all its glory:

• Xbox Series S, 512 GB, Digital Edition: $499.99
• Xbox Series S, 1 TB, Digital Edition: $599.99
• Xbox Series X, 1 TB, Digital Edition: $749.99
• Xbox Series X, 1 TB: $799.99

Microsoft is also adding a few options for payment and alternative purchases. Buy Now, Pay Later for splitting purchases across short-term installments for consoles bought at the Microsoft store, confirming rumors of a partnership with well-known payment processor Klarna. If that's not quite your jam, there's also interest-free 12-month financing available at Amazon for Xbox hardware.

The company is expanding Xbox trade-ins, stating that it's "working with retail partners" to enable players to sell their consoles to stores for cash or store credit. This isn't a new thing in the gaming world, as GameStop and Amazon have historically had this feature, but Microsoft's wording makes it sound like the program will be expanded to more retailers. As always, you can buy a certified refurbished console from the Microsoft Store and a number of retailers.

The highly anticipated Steam Machine is being shot down by flak due to its high release price, but all of a sudden, the $1,349 on ask for the 2 TB version doesn't sound so absurd, considering the superior hardware, gigantic game library, and low prices for games. Following Microsoft's logic, the upswing for the now-dead 2 TB version of the Xbox Series X would be $300, putting it at a nice round $1,099.99. Are you not entertained, if not excited, to be living in such interesting times?

Game speedrunning enthusiasts once discovered that a greasy disc was the key to enabling a big time-saving trick in SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom on the original Xbox. Speedrunner SHiFT, the current leaderboard champ in the game, reveals how, with the right console generation choice, the right drive, the right configuration of greasy smudges, and with mastery of the 'lag clip' technique, you could complete SpongeBob running from the optical drive in record time.

The above video is partly a detective story, as the competitive speedrunning community focuses intensely on any not-so-obvious speed advantages that can be achieved. The dream is to slice seconds off the completion time of this game and achieve a speedrun of under 40 minutes. SHiFT discusses how the gunked-up game disc tactic was confirmed as a winning strategy, while not breaking any community guidelines.

The original Xbox version of the SpongeBob game is the default choice of the speedrunning community, as it has faster loading than the PS2 and GameCube versions. However, there were various versions of the Xbox, too. For example, there are four different optical drive manufacturers, among other nuanced differences. So, detective work and experience were used to narrow down the best vintage machine.

Speedrunners, including SHiFT and Zim, worked for hours testing various combinations of optical drives, laser modules, and connector cables. They even wondered if the video chip (which varies between production years on Xbox) or the TV connector method had an impact on timings. In a daze from a super-long streaming session, they eventually decided to look at the condition of the disc. It was smudgy, but it could be worse...

An inspirational moment then occurred, and they tried making the disc filthy and smeary with grease and sweat. However, it was ultimately found that a strategically placed pattern of smears, with eight strokes emanating from the center like the petals of a flower, was a winning choice. This grease config made it easy for the player to induce the elusive lag clip timesaving technique – no hardware tinkering necessary – without making the optical disc unreadable.

They had found “the holy grail” of SpongeBob lag clipping speedrunning. SHiFT’s conclusion was confirmed in some correspondence with the then-champion among SpongeBob speedrunners, who goes by the unimproveable handle swagmasterdoritos. The master admitted, “I clean my discs via licking them then using a pillowcase to wipe and clean.” An image shared by swagmasterdoritos showed the spit-cleaned disc featured petal-like streaks. That’s how they had been enjoying super-slick lag clipping throughout the game: there was nothing particularly unique about their original Xbox.

Two new entrants have broken into the top five of the leaderboard in the last five days, but SHiFT's time of 40m 27s is still more than 90s ahead of the nearest challenger. Nowadays, the community has given up on optical disks. You will see that all the top SpongeBob speedruns play the game from the Xbox HDD. Some thought lag clips were too inconsistent, and that potentially damaging game discs by smudging or scratching them was unethical.

Xbox embarked on an impressive course-correction spree earlier this year, thanks to a leadership swap bringing in Asha Sharma as the new CEO. A hundred days later, she has penned a candid internal memo along with Xbox strategy chief Matt Brody, going over the future of the company. It was released online as a blog post, with the main takeaway being the surge in component costs — even a giant like Microsoft will be forced to pay over 5x more for storage next year, compared to 2025.

The situation is a bit ironic considering Microsoft is one of the biggest constituents of the AI boom, and a central player in the AI phenomenon that is driving up storage and memory prices globally. Despite that, in February 2026, Xbox paid 2x as much for storage as it did last fall, and those costs have already doubled since then. By 2027, the price hike is set to the 5x multiplier; Xbox will shell out more than 500% of what it originally used to pay two years ago. RAM has followed a similar trajectory, Sharma says.

The blog post explains how everyone in the industry is affected by the component crisis, but that Xbox is impacted more harshly because of "the choices [we] made over the last half decade." Such dire circumstances have made it harder for the company to make as many consoles as the players want, forcing "a new business model and partnerships for hardware" to be considered.

"Going forward, this cannot continue," said the Xbox executives while revealing the company has invested over $20 billion in the past five years, but lost $500 million in annual revenue during the same period. That wording suggests that perhaps the next-gen console needs to be built by someone else. Third-party OEMs can help offset some of the cost that would otherwise be spent subsidizing the console.

The blog post reaffirms that the team is still committed to Xbox Helix through all the hardships, but it doesn't seem like it would be a direct competitor for the PS6 anymore. The console-PC hybrid approach has likely pushed it well past affordable territory. CEO Asha Sharma has even recently talked about how spending thousands of dollars in a single console generation is not feasible.

So, it'll be interesting to see how the Xbox Helix would be justified during this era, especially with component costs piling up. Current estimates put it well over $1,000, which sounds egregious in a vacuum. Unfortunately, a PS5 Pro now costs $900, and a 1TB Steam Deck OLED will run you $950 today. The Xbox Helix almost doesn't sound bad by comparison when you take into account the massive generational leap.

The rest of the blog post talks about how Xbox only has a 3$ operating margin — for every $100 made, only $3 are left as profit after everything is deducted, for example. Realities like those are what pushed the company to only have two exclusives for 2026 and 2027. Bloomberg also reports that a layoff is on the cards, claiming it will be announced on June 30, 2026, right after Microsoft's fiscal year ends.

The radical new business models being teased at the moment could point toward more subscription services, deeper financing plans, or simple hardware partnerships, as we mentioned earlier, where OEMs build the console for Xbox. It's a bit too early to speculate all that, but it's clear that the company is not giving up easily. A lot hinges on the success of Xbox Helix next year, which is now all but confirmed to be a luxury device.

The Steam Machine seems to be everything that the gaming world is talking about right now, partially because PC building took a nosedive thanks to high prices, and also because it's a Valve product. The console/PC hybrid (PConsole, maybe?) remains a highly anticipated product despite rumors of a price hike. The release is now set in stone and imminent, as Valve has officially confirmed the summer 2026 launch window and expanded its Verified program to include Machine and Frame alongside the Deck.

"Today we are expanding the Verified program to include Steam Machine and Steam Frame, both of which are shipping this summer," the company stated. The news should ease the worries of many an expecting gamer, given today's constant worries about AI servers slurping every RAM and NAND chip on the face of the earth, as well as Valve's own statements about component scarcity delaying the release. Plus, the company always works on its own schedule, so much so that Valve Time is a term.

The release of the Machine has been taking flak, given that while Valve was initially hoping for an estimated $600 to $800 price — in the ballpark of the higher-end consoles — the rumored pricing is climbing around or over $1000. This fact is somewhat corroborated by a February statement from a Valve executive who, like most anyone in the world, stated the price revision was due to the AI-driven component shortage.

No manufacturer can escape that particular black hole, as even the PlayStation 5 Pro is currently going for $899. Paying a slice more for seemingly superior hardware and a gigantic library of cheap games arguably makes more financial sense if you're a frequent gamer.

Steam Verified is a developer-focused program where game makers ensure that their titles are capable of running on the Deck (meaning they'll run fine under Linux), that the UI elements and text are readable at standard resolutions, and that sensible default graphics settings are used. The baseline performance target was 30 FPS at 1280x800 resolution for the Deck, and now 30 FPS at 1920x1080p for the Machine.

Since those latter figures are bound to cause some confusion, it should be double-noted that they're a baseline — the Machine is advertised as capable of 4K, 60 FPS gameplay with the use of upscaling, or in other words, business as usual. The specifications bear this out, as the CPU therein is a six-core unit with a 30 W TDP target, and the GPU is an RDNA3 design with 28 CUs, a 2.45 GHz clock speed, and a 110 W TDP. For comparison's sake, the entire Steam Deck has a 15 W maximum TDP. The rest of the Verified recommendations for the Machine are exactly the same as the Deck's.

Despite price hikes, Steam hardware remains popular. Just recently, the Steam Deck instantly ran out of stock even after its price was bumped up to $789 and $949, depending on the version. Given that zeitgeist and the general thirst for new hardware, it looks like the Machine will do just fine. We just hope that Valve makes enough of them and does its best to prevent scalping.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced on X on Tuesday that the company is winding down its Copilot for Gaming feature on mobile and canceling its planned console launch.

Sharma also unveiled a broad leadership overhaul, bringing in four senior executives from her former CoreAI engineering group at Microsoft, according to an internal memo reported by CNBC. Sharma called the Copilot pullback part of a push to "retire features that don't align with where we're headed."

Microsoft first unveiled Copilot for Gaming at GDC in March 2025, positioning the AI assistant as a real-time sidekick that offers gameplay tips, coaching, and session recaps. A beta rolled out to the Xbox mobile app, then expanded to the PC Game Bar in September, and the ROG Xbox Ally handheld. Then came a privacy backlash in October after a user discovered that it was sending screen-activity data to Microsoft's servers by default.

Sharma hasn’t addressed the status of Gaming Copilot on the PC Game Bar or the ROG Xbox Ally handheld, leaving the future of those versions unclear. In the memo, Sharma wrote that Xbox needs to "evolve how we work" and acknowledged the division spends "too much time inward instead of with the community."

She appointed four executives from CoreAI: Jared Palmer, formerly VP of product at CoreAI and a senior VP at GitHub, will serve as VP of engineering and technical advisor to Sharma; Tim Allen, previously CoreAI's VP of design, becomes head of Xbox design; Jonathan McKay, who held growth roles at OpenAI and Meta before leading CoreAI growth, takes on the same function at Xbox; and Evan Chaki, a CoreAI general manager, will lead a new team focused on simplifying development workflows. A fifth hire, David Schloss, joins from Instacart to oversee Xbox's subscription and cloud business.

Two senior Xbox executives are departing. Kevin Gammill, corporate VP of gaming ecosystem organization, is leaving the company. Roanne Sones, corporate VP of Xbox devices and ecosystem, will take a leave of absence after the summer, then transition to an advisory role.

Sharma took over as Xbox CEO in February after Phil Spencer retired following 38 years at Microsoft. Since then, she has axed the "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign, cut Game Pass prices, rebranded Microsoft Gaming back to simply Xbox, and outlined a back-to-basics strategy focused on console and community. The leadership changes arrive as Xbox continues to struggle financially: gaming revenue fell to $5.3 billion in the most recent quarter, down from $5.7 billion a year earlier, and hardware revenue dropped 33%.

Microsoft announced yesterday that Xbox Mode is rolling out to Windows 11 PCs, bringing the controller-optimized, full-screen gaming interface to desktops, laptops, and tablets for the first time. The feature, which consolidates games from multiple PC storefronts into a single dashboard, launched in select markets on April 30 and will expand to more users over the coming weeks.

Xbox Mode replaces the standard Windows desktop with an Xbox-style interface designed for gamepad navigation. It pulls together installed titles from Steam, Epic Games Store, Battle.net, and the Xbox Game Pass catalog into one unified library. Users can browse, launch, and switch between games without touching a mouse or keyboard, then return to the regular Windows desktop whenever they want.

The feature runs on top of Windows 11 and, when active, suppresses background distractions and presents a streamlined UI modeled on the Xbox console dashboard. Microsoft is marketing it as an optional layer that doesn’t lock users out of the full desktop environment, and switching between the two is seamless.

Xbox Mode originated as the Full Screen Experience, a feature initially exclusive to the Asus ROG Xbox Ally handheld. That version leaked to other handhelds via registry tweaks in September 2025, and Microsoft officially expanded it to all Windows 11 handhelds two months later. The jump to desktops and laptops was confirmed at GTC 2026 in March, alongside the reveal of Project Helix, Microsoft's next-generation Xbox console built on a custom AMD SoC.

The expansion to full-sized PCs puts Xbox Mode in direct competition with Valve's Steam Big Picture mode and, more broadly, with SteamOS itself. Valve's operating system has attracted a following among handheld and living-room PC gamers for its low-overhead, controller-first design. Xbox Mode's advantage is native access to every Windows-compatible game and storefront without the compatibility layers that Linux-based SteamOS requires.

Xbox Mode is also a building block for Project Helix, the next-gen Xbox that Microsoft confirmed will run both console and PC games on a custom AMD SoC, and development kits are expected to ship in 2027. Rolling the same interface across existing Windows 11 hardware gives Microsoft a head start on software maturity before that console arrives.

Xbox Mode is being deployed via Windows Update in a phased rollout. To get access as early as possible, users need to open their settings, navigate to Windows Update, and toggle on "Get the latest updates as soon as they are available." Once the update reaches a given device, Xbox Mode can be launched directly from the PC.

Microsoft didn’t specify which markets are included in the initial wave or provide a timeline for full global availability. The company said it plans to continue evolving the feature based on user feedback.

Xbox has gone through a tumultuous period these past few years, rarely enjoying a high while being burdened with many lows. But it seems like the new leadership at Microsoft Gaming — the division that runs Xbox — is pivoting to a back-to-basics approach to fix the damage. In a new open letter titled "We are Xbox," chiefs Asha Sharma and Matt Booty have announced that Microsoft Gaming is rebranding to simply Xbox.

The letter goes over the past, present, and future of Xbox, while addressing the things that went wrong. The first subsection is called "We have work to do," and goes over the lack of feature drops on console and how pricing is getting harder to keep up with. Just yesterday, Game Pass prices were slashed for some tiers, showing us what this new strategy to regain trust looks like. Previously, the "This is an Xbox" campaign was killed off to streamline the brand as well.

Now, it's a bit harsh to say that Xbox has lost trust as a whole, but the fans have certainly not been happy with how the company has seemingly given up on the console. The next-gen Project Helix device has been proof of that since it's a PC-console hybrid, bridging the gap between the two platforms and letting people play their PC games on an Xbox console that runs multiple storefronts. This is at a time when Sony is pulling its games from PC and gatekeeping them once again for PlayStation only.

Hence, the common sentiment in the community has been one of inferiority, that Xbox simply cannot compete with the likes of Sony and Nintendo when it comes to hardware and exclusives, so it's switched to this "Play Anywhere" model that sidesteps the rivals entirely. Well, the new letter doesn't exactly walk back those decisions, but it shows a bit more confidence in the brand as it begins to course correct.

"Console is at the foundation," says the memo, outlining four main objectives that the company is focusing on getting right. The first is hardware; it begins with delivering Project Helix and stabilizing the 9th generation of consoles with a healthy player base. Xbox wants to "build a strong ecosystem that expands choice and reach," while leading in performance, comfort, and personalization.

Then there's content; this is what the players will be most excited for since the letter explicitly mentions growing and extending existing franchises. That could mean finally paying attention to IP beyond just Gears, Halo, and Forza. Remember, Xbox owns both Activision Blizzard and Bethesda — two absolute behemoths of the industry — so it's about time some of that investment pays off.

Moreover, Xbox wants to "elevate creator-centric platforms" such as Minecraft, The Elder Scrolls, and Sea of Thieves, calling back to how a new generation of gamers is coming online. The console wars likely never even happened for this audience, and their attention is up for grabs by different forms of entertainment everywhere. Optimizing Xbox for them is one of the primary goals for the company's future.

Thirdly, we have experience that aims to "fix the fundamentals" for players and partners. The letter mentioned earlier mentioned how developers are increasingly looking for better tools and insights to not only make their games, but also grow them, too. Xbox is working toward becoming the best place for devs and creators since the new generation of gamers are not just consumers; they're prosumers who want to create as well. The brand will also overhaul discovery, optimization, social, and personalization to better connect with the community as part of the "experience."

Lastly, there are services, which sounds exactly like what it is. The new leadership wants to fortify Game Pass with "cost discipline," which basically means looking at the bigger picture instead of only considering short-term profit maximization. The recently cut prices are an example of this.

Cloud gaming has been a huge push from Xbox for almost a decade now, and the brand wants to continue to make it faster and more reliable, matching native fidelity, as if you were playing on the hardware in-person. As all these things are set in motion, the letter also says that Xbox will reevaluate its approach to exclusivity and AI. Those are likely two of the most polarizing topics concerning the Xbox brand, given just how insistent Microsoft has been with shoving AI everywhere.

But, hey, even the Redmont giant, too big to fail, has admitted Windows is a mess right now and vowed to fix it, so perhaps the ethos is trickling down. The letter ends with a similar admission of being in a tough place, and how "meeting this moment will require a level of self-critique that should feel uncomfortable." There are ten short taglines included at the very bottom describing what Xbox is at its very best, and we felt like the most important one out of those was: "Core before more."

After several years of subsequent price rises and management restructuring that led many gamers to believe the Xbox brand was on its way out, Microsoft has pulled off a surprise move. The company announced today in a press release that it would bring the price of Game Pass Ultimate back down from $29.99 to $22.99, while the PC Game Pass goes from $16.49 to $13.99 a month.

It's not all good news, though, as those who subscribed to Game Pass for the sole purpose of playing Call of Duty (CoD) will now have to wait around a year for new titles to appear on the platform. The change does not affect existing CoD releases, and all other day-one game releases will continue.

The now-nullified decision to include CoD in a monthly subscription was widely deemed as particularly gutsy. The game sells tens of millions of copies a year. At $70 a pop for the standalone title, it's possible the company was leaving hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, on the table.

Even still, in the broader scheme of things, this development is quite the volte-face for Microsoft, which repeatedly hiked the price of both the consoles and subscriptions over the past couple of years. Those decisions led to wide speculation that the company could be preparing for the end of the Xbox brand, in light of a minority market share versus the PlayStation.

As a quick recap, Microsoft raised the price of the Xbox twice in the 2025 calendar year alone, with the first raise in May and the second in September. The Game Pass subscription had seen a dollar hike in 2024 along with added limitations, and salt was further rubbed on the wound in 2025 with a 50% raise with nary any benefits — a move that led to so many cancellations that the Microsoft website was reportedly having issues processing them.

This Game Pass price drop is the first big commercial move since Asha Sharma took over the division. The choice of executive was a move out of left field, as she was previously managing the Core AI business. Nevertheless, Sharma is reportedly spearheading an effort to revitalize the brand, and bringing down subscription prices to more reasonable prices is a decision that will definitely be appreciated by gamers.

Several delisted Xbox 360 games briefly reappeared on the Xbox Store this week before being pulled again, according to the Better xCloud datamining account, which monitors Microsoft's cloud gaming backend for changes. This follows Xbox Vice President Jason Ronald's commitment at GDC 2026 in March to revive the company's backward compatibility program as part of Xbox's 25th anniversary later this year.

The titles spotted include Aegis Wing, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Mars: War Logs, all of which had been removed from the store previously. The Prince of Persia title resurfaced with its original release date, along with an apparent placeholder price of $100, and the 2003 shooter Armed and Dangerous also reappeared and vanished shortly before the latest batch. Mars: War Logs was delisted around the same time.

One or two accidental relists might mean nothing, but the pattern across four titles in quick succession has understandably caught attention. The Better xCloud account, run by the developer behind the browser plugin of the same name, first flagged Armed and Dangerous as a possible mistake before noting that subsequent appearances looked intentional.

At GDC 2026 in San Francisco, Ronald told attendees that the game preservation team would be "rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from our past" as part of Xbox's 25th anniversary celebrations. Microsoft discontinued its backward compatibility program in 2021, citing licensing issues and technical limitations that prevented further titles from being added to the catalog.

The program originally launched in 2015 and brought hundreds of original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles to Xbox One and later Xbox Series X|S. At its peak, the catalog included over 600 titles spanning two console generations. Since the hiatus, fan demand for its return has remained high, with the community-run Xbox Game Preservation website tracking which Original Xbox titles players most want to see come back. Top-requested games on the site include Jet Set Radio Future, Sonic Heroes, and The Simpsons: Hit & Run.

All this raises questions about how backward compatibility will work on Project Helix, Microsoft's next-generation console powered by a custom AMD SoC. Microsoft has confirmed that Helix will play both Xbox console and PC games, and Ronald described the machine as delivering an "order of magnitude" leap in ray tracing performance at the same GDC presentation.

Speculation has centered on the possibility that Microsoft's preservation team is working to bring Xbox 360 emulation to Windows PCs, which would keep older titles accessible on both Helix and standard Windows 11 machines, but Microsoft hasn’t confirmed that.

Yesterday, on GTAForums, user MGGames100 posted a message saying, "something big has dropped," only for MapleEllie to respond with a link to a 118 GB archive for a dev build of GTA IV that appeared out of nowhere. What has since followed is one of the biggest info dumps in the history of the "Grand Theft Auto IV Beta Hunt" collective, and it was all possible thanks to an unassuming Xbox 360 devkit.

The story starts with user "janmatant" who apparently went to a random car boot sale in Edinburgh and purchased an old Xbox 360 for just $5. From the pictures, we can tell it's a revised model based on the original "fat" design from 2005, but with an updated motherboard, likely from the Xbox 360 Arcade era. Anyhow, the important bit is the "Rockstart North Ltd." asset tag, which shows this console belonged to the company.

If that wasn't enough confirmation, the back of the console says, "Xbox 360 XDK," and it runs Xshell, an operating system that was only issued to developers. This devkit came with a 120 GB hard drive, which only contained one game — Grand Theft Auto IV. It's a pre-release version of GTA IV from November 2007, just a few months before the game's official launch. Hence, it includes a bunch of stuff that never made it into the final cut or was changed for official release.

One of the biggest discoveries were assets for the ferries that were shown in trailers (and appear in cutscenes) but are otherwise unusable in the game. You can't get on these ships since the game focuses on car and taxi travel on the basis of its grounded storytelling. Speaking of which, people found out that about half of the radio stations are completely different from the release version, featuring different songs.

The final version of GTA IV also omitted the revolver, and over the years modders have found leftover assets for it in the game, but it hasn't been seen in this version so far. There's a silenced pistol included in this build, along with some other unused weapons, lots of unfinished animations for them, and some audio placeholders. People have found beta NPCs and an early model for Michelle, too, which looks quite creepy.

Speaking of creepy, there was apparently a zombies mode cut from the game that's been the stuff of legends for years. There's no official confirmation on this, but the dev build sheds some light on the matter as it includes assets such as hospital beds referencing zombies. There are also early versions of zombie models in the files along with some animations.

There's a ton of other stuff to get through — it's a full build after all — but a playable version is not yet ready, though efforts are fully underway. This is a huge win for the preservationists in the GTA IV Beta Hunt community who've been looking for pre-release builds of the game for almost 12 years at this point. The thread in GTAForums was created in 2014, with the original creator still active as recently as last year.

Since its creation, only about 105 pages of messages had been sent in the thread, but over 14 new ones have spawned in just one day of this leak. People are talking on the forum as we speak, pointing out cool new findings every hour. Now, we have to keep in mind that this is an Xbox 360 version of the game, so it'll be more effort to get it working on PC despite such a feature-rich (and important) build.

As for the sacred Xbox 360 devkit that made all this possible, janmatant is trying to sell it for $800 on eBay, which seems criminally low for what this thing is. But you have to realize that the main selling point, the GTA IV build, has already been pulled and uploaded to the internet for free, so it's just novelty hardware at this point. It's still an important piece of game history, though, so we hope it goes to a loving home.

In late 2024, Microsoft debuted a new marketing campaign called "This is an Xbox," showcasing various devices that were definitely not Xbox consoles. From TVs to laptops, and even VR headsets, everything was being branded this way as part of an ecosystem play to make Xbox synonymous with gaming anywhere. The ads have since been killed for good, and we now know that Asha Sharma was behind them.

Talking to Windows Central, a Microsoft spokesperson said, "Asha retired 'This is an Xbox' because it didn't feel like Xbox," confirming it was a personal decision from the new Xbox chief. The campaign has been met with widespread backlash from the start, including from the company's own employees. People criticized its implication that Xbox was just giving up on the console and switching to a software- or service-first model.

Of course, that won't come as a surprise, considering how Microsoft has seemingly abandoned the idea of competing on the hardware level with Sony, choosing instead to embrace the PC platform. The next Xbox, Project Helix, is already confirmed to be a PC-console hybrid capable of running multiple storefronts, such as Steam and Epic, and platform-agnostic products like Game Pass have become a focus for the brand.

Once-great Xbox exclusives like Halo, Forza, Gears of War, and even the upcoming Fable are all coming to PlayStation, at a time when Sony is pivoting away from PC to bolster its console. The cost of focusing on hardware first is often borne by consumers, so it's a pick-your-poison situation in the current economic climate. Nintendo might be the only console maker left that's not apprehensive.

Speaking of the future, Sharma was appointed head of Microsoft Gaming earlier this year after long-time veterans Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond left the outfit. Sharma comes from an AI background, which raised even more concerns given Microsoft's insistence on pushing AI everywhere. But she's reportedly leading a massive reset for the Xbox brand internally that, so far, signals a return to consoles and hardware.

That's important because sales for Xbox, especially this generation, have been nothing special; fewer Xbox Series consoles have shipped than the Xbox One at the same point in their life cycles. It's too late to turn that around, especially with all the external factors, so Sharma's focus is on Project Helix, which is still a PC-console hybrid — but likely one that's proud of its hardware rather than merely an access point to the Xbox platform as a whole.

U.S. gaming retailer GameStop has “officially” declared that the Sony PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii U are, “for all practical purposes, now officially retro consoles.” This new classification, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, references the consoles’ age, lack of Fortnite, and their use of component cables as justification.

This isn’t just a joke, however. The change in policy means that gamers are now free to trade in these old timers, even if they’re defective or “aesthetically unfortunate,” as long as they power on. These consoles will likely go on sale in larger stores that cater to displaying old school consoles and games, as well as via its website, with GameStop also referencing other “beloved legacy hardware” like the Sega Saturn and Nintendo DS on its list.

The company shared its message in a letter shared on its social media channels. In the message, GameStop also confirmed that from now until March 21, anyone who trades in a Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or any other retro console, game, or accessory will gain an extra 10% in trade credit on the transaction.

While confirming that these consoles are “still very cool” and that anyone who owned one at launch is “absolutely not old,” which is a relief to this writer, who happens to be among them, it’s not a huge surprise to see GameStop do this. Both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 launched in 2005 and 2006, respectively, and while the Wii U launched in 2012, that console has also been long superseded by the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. All three consoles are products of a different era, and modern gaming has simply moved on.

Of course, a retro console isn’t the only way to play games from this era. PlayStation 3 emulation has long been possible, although tricky to optimize, while emulators for the Xbox 360 and Wii U have also grown in strength and quality over the years. However, the best option remains, in many cases, to run these games on their native consoles —as long as they still work, that is.

Old or not, there’s likely to be a significant number of still-working PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U consoles out there ready for a second life, and it looks like GameStop is preparing to support the transition. You can view GameStop's full list of retro consoles, games, and accessories over at GameStop’s Retro website.

At its GTC 2026 keynote, Microsoft took the wraps off Project Helix, announcing the first hardware details for the next-gen Xbox. The company reiterated how Helix will run both console and PC games, while confirming a partnership with AMD for its custom silicon, as expected. The biggest new info from the presentation was a surprise reveal for AMD's next-gen FSR "Diamond" stack that will be deeply integrated within Project Helix. The new "Xbox Mode" that debuted on Asus' Xbox Rog Ally devices will also be heading to Windows 11 this April.

First, let's go over the list of now-confirmed building blocks for the upcoming Xbox console-PC hybrid. It will feature a custom SoC developed by the Red Team — likely featuring an RDNA 5 GPU — with a focus on next-gen raytracing performance. Microsoft namedrops next-gen DirectX, too, but it could be referring to a newer iteration of DirectX 12 that only ships on PC for now.

Current-gen Xbox Series consoles already run a version of DirectX 12, but they don't support a lot of the latest features, namely "work graphs" that let the GPU itself drive code execution instead of relying on the CPU. The custom AMD silicon in Project Helix would support this, alongside neural texture compression. Microsoft is also combining DirectStorage and Zstd to accelerate SSD-to-GPU communication in the console.

Now we come to the juiciest bit, "FSR Next." It seems like Project Helix is being built around neural rendering, and the next-gen FSR stack will play a big part in achieving this. In the slide, Microsoft mentions next-gen ML-based upscaling and ray regeneration for both ray tracing and path tracing, which will be a first for consoles. The company even says Helix will support multi-frame-gen thanks to FSR Next.

After the show, AMD graphics lead Jack Huynh revealed that FSR Next will be called FSR "Diamond" in a separate tweet. He also described Project Helix as a multi-year engineering collaboration between AMD and Microsoft. That certainly makes it sound like an evolving process, something that's more indefinite and supposed to get better over time.

On the other hand, we could infer the above multi-year comment as simply a reference to the development time for the hardware. Huynh also mentions that FSR Diamond will be "natively optimized" for Helix and be a core tenet of the Xbox SDK. Upscaling has always been a key part of how some machines operate and how they're able to hit advertised performance numbers, but never quite so publicly before.

Since the debut of current-gen Xbox and PlayStation devices, AI-based upscaling has taken over the industry with every new game shipping with some version of the tech. It's become a default part of the system requirements, so it makes sense that, years later, consoles — which are basically locked-down x86 computers, too — will also hop on the trend. After all, Project Helix is a PC-console hybrid.

Speaking of consoles that are also just PCs, the new "Xbox Mode" that debuted on Asus' Xbox Rog Ally devices will be heading to Windows 11 this April. To jog your memory: in this console-like mode, Windows limits background processes and telemetry to reduce overhead and squeeze as much out of the hardware as possible. Xbox Mode has already been available as part of the Insider program for months.

It was previously known as Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE), but the name has been updated since. Xbox Mode will roll out to "select markets" first and likely represents the first step in the PC-console unification Microsoft hopes to achieve by the time Project Helix's launches. The Xbox Play Anywhere program, which allows for cross-progression between platforms, was mentioned at the show as another sign of this future.

Speaking of which, "alpha" kits for Project Helix will begin heading out to relevant parties in 2027, which implies a late 2027 launch at best, but component shortages could push that back. A 2027 release would be in line with the typical seven-year cycle that consoles follow, as the Xbox Series S|X debuted in Q4 2020. The only thing left now is to wait and see what kind of response Sony is preparing with its PS6.

Even though the base hardware and neural rendering-first approach would likely be similar between Sony and Microsoft, the former has no interest in appealing to PC anymore. In contrast, Microsoft is almost forcing PC and console together to eliminate the need for even picking a platform. It even told developers at GDC to "build for PC" going forward, further implying that Project Helix is just moonlighting as a console.

Microsoft has confirmed that its next generation Xbox — codenamed Project Helix — will be capable of playing both Xbox and PC games. New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma took to X to tease the next-gen console, saying it "will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games."

Microsoft has continued to welcome PC gamers over the past several years, attempting to unify the experience across console and Windows. We've seen a greater focus on the Xbox App for Windows, broad publishing initiatives on third-party platforms like Steam, and hardware collaborations like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X. It's been rumored that Microsoft's next-gen console would be able to play PC games, but this is the first time we've gotten confirmation.

Sharma says she'll be talking with partners and studios about Project Helix (and presumably its ability to play PC games) at GDC, which kicks off in San Francisco next week. The tease sets Microsoft up for a proper Project Helix reveal soon. Last month, AMD confirmed that it was working with Microsoft on a semi-custom SoC for Project Helix, and said it would be ready to support a launch in 2027.

Although Microsoft has confirmed Project Helix will be capable of playing PC games, there are still questions about how that will look. Microsoft sells PC games not only through Steam, but also through the Microsoft Store. Many titles even come with Microsoft's Play Anywhere feature, which allows you to carry your progress across PC and console. Critically, these features are only available through the Xbox app on PC; Steam versions don't support the same features.

Project Helix may not be able to play all of your PC games, but Microsoft confirms it's at least capable of doing so. Given the underlying hardware — a semi-custom x86 SoC from AMD — there's little reason why Project Helix would be able to play PC games from one storefront but not another. For now, all we can do is wait until Microsoft has more to share on that front.

Sharma recently assumed the role of Xbox CEO, taking over for Phil Spencer who has stood as a cult of personality for Xbox over decades of representing the brand. In addition to Spencer's retirement, Xbox President Sarah Bond was replaced by long-standing Microsoft executive Matt Booty.

In taking over the role, Sharma laid out a simple goal in open letters published by Microsoft: "Understand what makes this work and protect it." Despite serving as President of Microsoft's CoreAI division from 2024, Sharma said, "We will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us."

AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su let out a hint about when a next-gen Xbox could launch during the company's Q4 2025 earnings call. Providing commentary on client revenue, the top executive said, "Development of Microsoft's next-gen Xbox featuring an AMD semi-custom SoC is progressing well to support a launch in 2027."

AMD has been a long-term partner with Microsoft on its Xbox consoles. Both the Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles sport semi-custom AMD SoCs. More recently, AMD and Microsoft partnered for the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, and the two companies announced a partnership for the next-gen Xbox console in June 2025.

Neither AMD nor Microsoft have confirmed a release window up to this point, but rumors have pointed toward a 2027 for the past several months. In August 2025, leaker Moore's Law is Dead suggested the next-gen APU, reportedly codenamed "Magnus," would leverage Zen 6 and Zen 6c CPU cores, along with an RDNA 5-powered GPU.

The 2027 window runs counter to what we previously expected from the next-gen Xbox. During Microsoft's trial against the FTC concerning its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, internal Microsoft documents surfaced suggesting a 2028 release. In the documents, Microsoft refers to the device as a "next generation hybrid game platform," and suggested Microsoft was looking at the differences between an ARM64 and x64 ISA.

However, the leaked slide backs up some of the rumors we've heard since, including the partnership with AMD to the use of Zen 6 CPU cores and a "Navi 5" GPU. A road map that was shared as part of the leaked documents showed Microsoft targeting an early 2026 tapeout for silicon, with the first development kits shipping in late 2026 / early 2027. These internal roadmaps are interesting, though internal plans are always subject to change.

Although it sounds like Microsoft is set to launch a next-gen Xbox in 2027, the wording here is important. Su says AMD is ready to "support a launch in 2027," which hedges against AMD out-right confirming the release year. The comment came as part of AMD's prepared remarks for its quarterly earnings call, so the wording is important to take into consideration.

AMD's full financials are live now. Su suggested during the call that AMD is focusing on the enterprise in response to rising RAM costs.

AAA gaming has been having a rough go of it the last few years. Microsoft's latest fiscal reports revealed a whopping $623 million drop in gaming revenue, compared to the same fiscal quarter last year.

The figure is bad enough on its own, but it gets worse when you realize that it represents a 9% year-on-year drop. Microsoft attributes the financial hit to "declines in Xbox hardware and Xbox content and services", letting on that Xbox consoles, games, and Game Pass sold 32% less than the same quarter a year ago.

Xbox fans have faced their share of struggles recently, with Microsoft hiking Game Pass prices three times in as many years, and increasing the price tag on the Xbox consoles not just once but twice in the same year (making them much pricier than the PlayStation) all while removing benefits.

If you're an Xbox gamer, Microsoft still promises it's in it for the long haul, as last October the company pinky-promised that it's not exiting the gaming market.

Microsoft is making more money than ever, but the "More Personal Computing" category, where the gaming income is included, represents only about 20% of the company's revenue. Some back-of-envelope math puts the Xbox section at around a third of that, thus at best an estimated 7% of the company's total revenue, depending on how you run the figures.

With Azure, cloud services, and the investment in OpenAI all seeing meteoric rises every quarter, it's not hard to see where the focus of the company is right now. Predictions that "gaming is dead" might be ten a penny, but the harsh reality is that just as with Nvidia, Intel, or AMD, Microsoft dropping a small portion of its business (or at least putting a hold on it) would hardly matter that much for its bottom line. At least the silicon shortage may lead to more optimized, and hopefully, original games.

Microsoft just announced that you can now install the Xbox app on all Arm-based Windows 11 devices. The Windows Experience Blog said that more than 85% of the Game Pass catalog is compatible with Windows 11 devices that run on Arm-based processors, and that it’s continuing to expand compatibility with the remaining titles. This news comes as Nvidia is reportedly debuting Arm-based N1X gaming laptops this quarter, challenging the established x86 architecture that still dominates the gaming PC industry and offering an alternative to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X SoCs.

“Players can now download and enjoy a wide range of titles from the Xbox PC app game catalog on Arm-based Windows 11 PCs,” the company said in its blog post. “Today, more than 85% of the Game Pass catalog is compatible with these PCs, and we’re actively working with partners to expand support even further. For titles not yet supported running locally, Xbox Cloud Gaming remains an easy way to jump in while we work with partners to broaden compatibility.”

The company achieved this with the continued development of Prism, an emulator designed to run x86/x64 apps on Arm hardware. The addition of AVX and AVX2 support has expanded its compatibility with several modern games, while Epic Anti-Cheat support means that you can continue playing popular multiplayer titles on Arm-based Windows 11 PCs.

This is going to be excellent news for gamers, as it will allow them to have more hardware options when it comes to gaming. Even though many feel that x86 processors still deliver more raw horsepower, the efficiency of Arm-based chips is certainly attractive to those who prefer gaming on the go. Handheld console maker Ayaneo has been making Arm-based devices for several years now with the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2-powered Pocket S, but the lack of PC titles for Arm SoCs meant that it’s designed for Android gaming. This announcement would likely push handheld gaming console manufacturers to develop Arm-powered options, giving us the option to play PC games on battery for much longer than what we usually get from x86-powered devices.

Arm’s threat to x86’s dominance has got long-time rivals Intel and AMD cooperating, with the two companies forming the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group in 2024. By the time of its first anniversary, we’ve already seen AMD and Intel agreeing to support some technologies, like the Advanced Matrix Extension, AVX10, Flexible Return and Event Delivery, and x86 Memory Tagging, for upcoming and future processors.

The Xbox app’s support for gaming on Arm-based processors will pose a threat to x86, especially now that a lot of games are compatible with the system. Even Steam is experimenting with Arm compatibility, with the client app adding native support for Apple silicon in 2025. But while this might make Intel and AMD nervous about their duopoly, especially in the gaming PC space, this is just going to be good news for gamers and consumers, as it drives competition between different ISAs and could even be the engine that would lead to more innovations in processors.

How can you connect your new gaming controller to a Windows 11 or 10 PC, and what can you do with it? Let us show you how to get your game on as quickly and simply as possible.

Years ago, gaming on PCs was restricted to the arrow keys, or W,A,S,D and a mouse. Over the years, game controllers made their way to the PC. Some connected via serial interfaces, others via your sound card’s MIDI/game port. This is when we usually ended up in driver hell, which often ate into our gaming time. The advent of USB eliminated this issue, and modern Windows operating systems now detect and configure the controller automatically. Here's the fastest way to complete this process.

Using a Wired Connection for your Controller

The simplest way to connect your controller to a Windows 11 PC is via a USB cable.

1. Using the correct cable, connect the cable to the controller. Older Xbox controllers use Micro USB. The newer Series X/S pads use USB Type-C. Remember to purchase a good, quality data cable, as some cables are only for charging.

2. Connect the controller to the PC. Windows will detect and configure it ready for use.

3. Press the Xbox button to launch the Xbox Game Bar, proving that your controller is connected.

5. Start playing games!

Connecting Your Controller Via Bluetooth

1. Press the Xbox button until it turns on and starts flashing slowly.

2. Press and hold the connect button until the Xbox button starts flashing faster. This signifies that the controller is going into pairing mode.

3. On your Windows PC, go to the system tray and click on the Bluetooth icon, select Add a Bluetooth device.

4. Make sure that Bluetooth is on, and then click Add device.

5. Select Bluetooth.

6. Select Xbox Wireless Controller and wait until it is connected.

7. Click Done.

8. Press the Xbox button to launch the Xbox Game Bar, proving that your controller is connected.

9. Start playing games!

The Xbox Game Bar

Windows 11 and 10 both have a Game Bar mode that provides quick access, inside and out of games, to

Launch a game.

Record your gameplay/desktop.

Take screenshots.

Control audio.

View performance statistics (FPs, GPU, CPU, etc).

Open in-game social features.

Open the Xbox app or Game Pass (if you are subscribed).

Long-press to switch Steam into Big Picture mode.

Press the Xbox button to launch the Xbox Game Bar, and you will see the following.

1. Home: Access game capture, Co-Pilot “chat,” gallery of images and video captures, and general settings.

2. Quick-launch: Launch your most played games without opening Steam, etc.

3. Game Libraries: Open your many game libraries to play your games.

4. Settings: Access gaming-focused settings without delving through the Control Panel / Settings menus.

Press A to select the appropriate option. Pressing the Xbox button or ESC will close the Game Bar.

The Xbox Game Bar is a useful addition to the Windows operating system, and by using an Xbox controlle,r we get fast and convenient access to features critical to our gaming success.

Microsoft has announced that it will continue to deliver significant updates for Windows 11 in the coming year, in an effort to make the platform more optimized for gaming. “We’re committed to making Windows the best place to play, and we will continue refining system behaviors that matter most to gaming: background workload management, power and scheduling improvements, graphics stack optimizations, and updated drivers,” said the company in a Windows blog post.

Throughout this year, we saw Microsoft being more committed towards gamers with the launch of the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, their first handheld consoles made in collaboration with Asus. These consoles came with exclusive features, including the Xbox full screen experience (FSE) and Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD). Microsoft also improved the Windows gaming experience on Arm devices by enabling local game installs through the Xbox app, expanding compatibility and performance in the Prism emulator, and providing native anti-cheat solutions.

With 2026 fast approaching, Microsoft has announced that it will be expanding Xbox FSE to Windows PCs, including desktops, laptops, and 2-in-1s, next year. The feature is currently being tested in a preview and can be accessed by updating to the latest Windows 11 build and signing up for the Windows and Xbox Insider programmes.

Xbox FSE is a controller-first interface that essentially allows you to launch games faster, with minimal distractions. It can also consolidate all of your game libraries from various online stores, including Microsoft Store, Steam, Epic Games, and Battle.net, into one place. Additionally, one can expect a boost in gaming performance as booting into FSE instead of Windows Explorer results in less RAM usage.

Microsoft also plans to expand Auto Super Resolution to handheld gaming devices next year, starting with a preview for the ROG Xbox Ally X. Auto SR was first introduced on Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X processors, with an aim to deliver sharper visuals and smoother framerates in DirectX games running at lower resolution.

Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) is also set for an expansion to more Windows 11 devices that allows the system to preload game shaders during download, thus allowing supported games to launch faster, run smoother, and consume less battery when you first launch the game. Lastly, Microsoft says that it is working on improving system behaviors that matter most when you are gaming, including background workload management, power and scheduling improvements, graphics stack optimizations, and updated drivers. The company will be sharing more information during the upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC) scheduled in March 2026.

A couple of days after the 20th anniversary of the Xbox 360, Microsoft collaborated with Crocs to release limited-edition Xbox Classic Clogs for $80. This controversial footwear features the ABXY, D-Pad, and menu buttons from the Xbox controller, along with its thumbsticks, giving your feet that screaming “I’m a gamer!” look. Microsoft also said that you can get a 5-pack Xbox + Jibbitz charms, allowing you to stick your favorite characters from Doom, Fallout, Halo, Sea of Thieves, and World of Warcraft to your feet — although you’ll have to pay an extra $20 for the privilege.

Another interesting detail is that each clog is marked either “Player Left” or “Player Right”, giving a nod to the multiplayer capabilities of consoles. If you’re into both the PlayStation and Xbox, you can also get the Game Controller 5 Jibbitz charms with your order, allowing you to replace the Xbox ABXY and D-Pad layout with PlayStation-style face buttons. The Xbox Classic Clogs will set you back $80 — a $30 premium over the traditional pair you can get from Crocs. And if you get the Xbox 5 Pack Jibbitz for $20, you’re paying an even hundred bucks to be a walking advertisement for Microsoft and its gaming console.

The Classic Clog is already a controversial fashion choice, and adorning it with Xbox branding will likely not give you any plus points with your trendier friends. Nevertheless, we’ll have to admit that this footwear can be relatively comfortable, so it might be the perfect pair to put on your feet when you’re reclining on your coach and firing up your console (hopefully, an Xbox-branded one). However, these clogs aren’t likely what most gamers have in mind when the Xbox President said that the next-gen console will offer a “very premium, high-end experience.”

The Series S and X are the latest Xbox generation, which was launched in 2020. This makes them 5 years old now, and with consoles being replaced every 5 to 7 years, some fans expect to see or hear about the next-generation Xbox soon. Microsoft’s push to combine Xbox with PC gaming has scared a few gamers into thinking the company will abandon the beloved console. Still, Microsoft has released assurances that it remains committed to an AMD-powered successor to the current-generation console.

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, despite its odd name, is the first contemporary Microsoft-sanctioned handheld gaming device. The power-packed portable play powerhouse is a pretty performant bit of kit, as we found out in our review. One of the most interesting aspects is the alternative to the stock Windows interface that Microsoft calls the Full Screen Experience (FSE) for short. This was a feature exclusive to the ROG unit, but as of today, Microsoft will make it available to "all gaming handhelds currently in the market".

Additionally, the blog post on the Xbox site says that FSE ought to become available for testing in "more PC form factors," probably meaning home-theater and console-like PCs. Interested testers can enroll their Windows computers in the Xbox/Windows Insider program to give FSE a spin soon.

As we remarked on the review, FSE makes the experience of using Windows for gaming much more streamlined and intuitive than the stock UI. This new development should brighten the day of owners of other Windows handhelds, such as the Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw 8 AI+, and AYANEO 2/Next machines. They should very soon be able to boot straight into FSE and not have to fuss and fumble with the Start menu.

Particularly proficient power users could already force-enable FSE with a handful of registry hacks, provided they're running Windows 11 version 25H2. If you've never tried it, FSE consolidates all your games from multiple online storefronts, like Windows Store, Steam, Epic Games, and Battle.net, into one place.

On the performance side, it's also a small step beyond simply activating Game Mode in Windows, as booting into FSE instead of Explorer should skip at least some RAM-hogging components. If you're really hardcore about performance optimization, as an alternative, you can try installing Bazzite Linux or a variant thereof and reportedly enjoy even higher, more stable FPS in many titles.

Steam has had its Big Picture Mode for ages now, and it was an easy argument to make that such an interface should be a baseline feature of any gaming PC, handheld or otherwise. Better late than never, as they say.

As the Xbox 360 turns 20, the first images showing an exclusive edition of the console, which some claim kicked off the HD gaming era, have been shared on social media. Larry Hryb, Xbox GamerTag Major Nelson, and long-time Xbox community figurehead at Microsoft, posted a quartet of photos showing his prized ‘Launch Team 05’ console. However, perhaps sacrilegiously, Hryb admits this custom personalized machine has never ever been powered on. We hope it doesn’t have the Red Ring of Death (RRoD)…

Larry Hryb moved to Unity Technologies in 2023 and currently works as the firm’s Director of Community.

Expect official festivities to mark the 20^th anniversary of the Xbox 360 launch on November 22. If we’re lucky, Microsoft will have some classic 360 titles, game bundles, and more in promotions. If we’re very lucky, the firm might even have some ‘anniversary’ hardware prepared for launch to appeal to fans of the 2005 classic design.

HD(MI) era claims on shaky ground

The Xbox 360 was indeed an important console gaming milestone, beyond the HD-era claims of Major Nelson. However, even on this precise point, one could argue that the Sony PlayStation 3 was the HD-era pioneer as its 2006 release was the first major console to come packing HDMI at launch. It wouldn’t be until 2007 that Microsoft added HDMI to the new Xbox 360 Elite edition, and it subsequently trickled down to later revisions. The PS3 also famously included Blu-Ray, a huge advantage it held over Xbox.

While HD-era claims might ring a little hollow, it is hard to deny the importance of other Xbox 360-led movements. It could be credited with pioneering online console gaming as we know it, with the popularisation of Xbox Live and its achievement systems. In a similar always-connected vein, the 360 popularized digital downloads, DLC, and the era of consoles being entertainment hubs (supporting services like Netflix and YouTube).

An architectural escapade

Though it might have been of little interest to gamers at the time, one of the most fascinating things about the Xbox 360 from a technological standpoint was its architecture. The designers went on quite a side quest if you consider the console’s generational timeline.

The original Xbox (2001) was somewhat PC-like, with its Intel Pentium III CPU and an Nvidia GPU as its key performance components. Similarly, the Xbox One (2015) used PC-like components as the thrusters behind its gaming performance. However, the Xbox 360 (2005) was based on a triple-core IBM PowerPC CPU, with ATI GPU graphics acceleration.

Nevertheless, Microsoft ensured it supported some level of original Xbox backwards compatibility, via built-in emulation. The 360’s muscle was a significant step above the original, moving from a single CPU core to triple, with an advanced GPU featuring unified shaders and embedded DRAM. There was a huge jump in system RAM (from 64GB DDR to 512GB GDDR3), too. Its complex, lesser-known architecture would make it a little trickier for devs to cross-develop games and learn how to optimize for the 360. But the same was true of Sony’s PlayStation 3 and its notorious asymmetric Cell processor, a collaborative work between Sony, IBM, and Toshiba.

Kinect-ic energy

Kinect, which debuted in the Xbox 360’s reign (2009), could also have been a killer innovation for Microsoft. At launch, gamers were mesmerized by its possibilities, and a record-breaking eight million units were sold in its first two months.

Sadly, this controller-free gaming experience didn’t live up to its potential. That was partly due to its innovative motion tracking hardware being a little too laggy and inaccurate for gaming in some genres. Compounding Microsoft’s misstep on the hardware side was the limited supporting game library, centered around party games and fitness apps.

By the time of the Xbox One (2013), Microsoft’s efforts to make motion controllers a standard, with the Kinect 2.0 forcibly bundled at launch, weren’t greeted happily by console gamers. The accessory was eventually unbundled to make the Xbox One more competitive with the PS4, and even the dedicated port was removed in later models. By then, the significant damage to Xbox fandom and sales seems to have been done.

Microsoft released the original Xbox back in 2001, a whole year after Sony debuted the PS2, but what we saw at launch was a very different console from what was first showcased. The initial design was starkly different—a metal monolith built literally in the shape of an "X"—and served only as a proof-of-concept. It was unique, expensive, and most importantly, unlike a PC, but it never left the prototype stage. That was until now, as Macho Nacho Productions has just brought back the console in an epic project that not only pays tribute to the OG, but elevates it for the modern era.

The video is almost documentary-length, but it's one of those pieces of content that transcends YouTube's quality standards. It's got insanely high production value, an original score, and expert-level storytelling that recounts the events and legend surrounding the original Xbox. You don't even need to be a retro gaming fan to appreciate the work here. The video is divided into eight easily digestible parts with timecodes, and we highly recommend checking it out in full.

Context matters

Despite the vitriol surrounding the Xbox brand these days, it's still a pillar of the gaming community, part of the trifecta of console makers that shaped many childhoods. Unlike Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft was a late bloomer, joining the party in the sixth generation of console gaming with the original Xbox. At the time, though, the Redmont giant was known strictly for PCs — and, by extension, business — so it needed to come up with something so out of left field that no one would second-guess the company's entry into this market.

That's where the Xbox prototype comes in. It was built from a single block of aluminum, weighed 40 lbs, and cost Microsoft $18,000 to build, which comes to around $36,000 today after adjusting for inflation. So, obviously, it wasn't commercially feasible—it didn't even have proper Xbox hardware inside because it was so early in development —but it did show the world that Microsoft could do it. Fast forward two-and-a-half decades, and three units of that prototype sit in important Microsoft offices/stores around the world, enclosed in glass for curious peepers.

Xbox Prototype, rebuilt

Macho Nacho collaborated with a bunch of other modders to bring this project to life. The journey starts with Wesk, who created a CAD model of the Xbox based on real measurements extrapolated from Gaussian splatting. Our host visited the Microsoft Experience Center in New York, where one of the prototypes was on display, and took as many pictures as possible from all angles, even measuring the glass box with a tape measure for accurate results.

The render was tested multiple times with local prints before a final file was sent to PCBWay, which milled it from a solid block of aluminum, just like the prototype. This time, though, it only cost ~$6,000 for two pieces (the front and back halves of the housing) and a rear cover, which is honestly a steal considering what Microsoft had to pay.

While the chassis was being machined, fellow Xbox connoisseur Redherring32 designed a custom USB-C power supply (USB-PD) that was properly shielded, rather than the original, larger, and less safe PSU for the original Xbox. This allowed Macho Nacho to power the Xbox with just a regular PD power brick —the same one that can charge your phone and is smaller than your palm.

This is the point where we should mention that Macho Nacho is putting actual Xbox hardware inside this thing; no emulation trickery. The original disc drive, motherboard, and controller are reused alongside the redesigned power supply. To modernize it all, Bingus modded the Xbox from the inside as well, jailbreaking it so it could run Homebrew, and added an HDMI output in place of the now-outdated composite, a reminder of the prototype's age.

Once the interior and exterior were both ready, it was time to assemble the components. As the screenshot above illustrates, the individual components were placed in custom frames that would then slide onto small fixtures inside the shell. This made it so that all the parts were almost suspended across the X shape, while still easy to swap out in case a repair was needed. Everything was carefully placed inside the front and back of the body, after which the front half was screwed on and secured with bolts.

Finally, the rear cover was added, and the console was fully ready — except, there is one more thing: the jewel at the center of the Xbox.

One detail we intentionally left out was the green core at the center of the Xbox prototype, which the final launch model retained. It was supposed to represent a nuclear reactor, inside which lies unlimited power, symbolizing the Xbox's capabilities. In reality, it was a green light behind a domed lens that gave it a jewel- or orb-like appearance. Macho Nacho had so far recreated everything as authentically as possible, down to polishing the metal to give it a mirror finish. Still, this core was the one area where they saw major room for improvement. Instead of just a simple light, what if it were a screen?

Developer StuckPixel wrote custom code for a Pico 2 Raspberry Pi to power an off-the-shelf circular screen, perfectly sized to fit in the center of the Xbox. The screen had a custom looping animation wired to turn on right as the console does and turn off when it powers down, giving it that factory feel. Bingus made sure to include connections at the back of the Xbox to access this screen to add/change videos playing on it, too. Now, with the upgraded jewel on the front and back, the Xbox prototype was finally, faithfully recreated.

Bingus plans to bring it to various gaming conventions and expos around the world to share it with people, and to facilitate that, a custom case was designed by My Case Builder that fits the prototype and all its accessories for safe transport. It's projects like these that truly become the poster boy for the retro gaming world, showcasing the sheer talent and creativity that exists in the community and how far it can go with a little bit of resources. Despite numerous challenges and setbacks, Macho Nacho's redux Xbox prototype is a sight to behold and a proper achievement.

Next-gen consoles have been the talk of the town recently, with both Sony and Microsoft starting to put forth their first official teases for what's to come. It's slowly becoming clear that Sony intends to stick to its hardware-focused strategy, while Microsoft wants to continue with the Xbox Play Anywhere program by opening up the platform to be synonymous with gaming at large. Now, Xbox President Sarah Bond's choice words in a new interview have added even more credence to this narrative.

Sarah Bond sat down with Mashable to talk about the present and future of Xbox, and part of that discussion was the next-gen Xbox, along with the team's latest release — the Rog Xbox Ally. Sarah calls this Xbox's first handheld device, disputing the rhetoric that it's really Asus who led development, with Microsoft just lending its brand as part of the collaboration. More importantly, though, Sarah said the Xbox Ally is a hint of what's in store for the future, which is an extension of her prior statements.

The Rog Xbox Ally runs Windows, even though it's technically an Xbox, and Sarah specifically said "Windows is the number one platform for gaming" in the Xbox + AMD partnership announcement video months ago, which tells us a lot about the next-gen Xbox already: how it might run Windows and, therefore, have access to multiple stores. Today's Mashable interview brings this full circle with Sarah revealing that "the next-gen console is going to be a very premium, very high-end curated experience."

Consoles offer a deeply integrated experience that feels more curated than PC, so that checks out, but they're seldom defined as high-end, and almost never as premium. Those labels suggest that the next-gen Xbox is going to be more like a PC, reinforcing months of speculation and potentially serving as a warning to budget-conscious gamers. The Xbox Series S is a great value proposition, but Sarah's verbiage suggests Microsoft is shifting focus to a more hybrid PC-console–like device, the cost of which could be more in line with typical midrange PCs (~$1000).

That shift paradoxically opens up the console to more users and sheds a loyal fanbase simultaneously. With a more open operating system — likely an "Xbox experience" running atop Windows — that offers all the storefronts, including Steam, a lot of PC players yearning for a more polished, coherent experience would be enticed to jump ship. At the same time, Xbox players who've stuck by the console's side even through trying times could feel betrayed by the lack of a new, value-oriented Xbox.

Xbox has recently been doused in a wave of negativity, mostly brought upon itself by hiking up prices for Game Pass and even dev kits. Not to mention, the reception to the Xbox Rog Ally hasn't been a resounding success, partly because of the premium price, which is concerning because that's the direction Microsoft seems to be heading with the next-gen Xbox console. One can only hope that at least Sarah's promise of a "curated" experience materializes in a more refined one than the current Xbox FSE on the new Ally devices.

Microsoft has issued a statement reassuring customers that Xbox is, in fact, here to stay. In response to a gust of rumors stemming from Xbox's much-maligned Game Pass Ultimate price hikes, Xbox has confirmed in a statement to Windows Central that a next-generation Xbox powered by AMD hardware will be coming to market after all.

Microsoft offered the following statement to Windows Central concerning its plans to remain within the hardware space: "We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox. For more details, the community can revisit our agreement announcement with AMD." The statement throws cold water on any rumors circulating about a possible Xbox hardware exit, relevant though they may have been.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a series of price hikes across the Xbox Game Pass subscription tiers. The tech giant is raising its flagship tier, Game Pass Ultimate, from $19.99 to $29.99 per month, a 50% price increase. The PC Game Pass subscription also saw a 38% price increase from $11.99 to $16.49, with the lower two Game Pass "Premium" and "Essential" (née Core) tiers remaining at $14.99 and $9.99, respectively.

These price hikes were paired with hardly very little in the way of upgrades or improvements in service to warrant the new costs. Ultimate members are now eligible to receive up to $100 in rewards points "simply by gaming," and Xbox Cloud Gaming has exited beta for all Game Pass subscribers. Additionally, the $30 tier now also includes a free Fortnite Crew paid membership, representing a $12 per month value for Fortnite players.

In response, many online speculators began bandying the idea that the Xbox Game Pass price increases were part of a subtle exit strategy for Microsoft, to squeeze every dollar out of the gaming sector before exiting it for good. However, as Microsoft's statement today reaffirms, this ignores the highly publicized Microsoft/AMD deal from June, where the two companies confirmed that the next-generation Xbox, likely to arrive around the holiday season 2026, will be powered by AMD's hardware.

"I am thrilled to share we have established a strategic multi-year partnership with AMD to co-engineer silicon across a portfolio of devices including our next-generation Xbox consoles, in your living room, and in your hands," said Sarah Bond, president of Xbox at the time. AMD has committed to designing a slew of semi-custom processors for both the next standard console for Xbox, as well as an upcoming Xbox handheld offering, that will remain backwards-compatible with the Scarlett SoC powering the Xbox Series line.

Of course, the future of Xbox will not be a hardware-first venture. Microsoft's heavy investments across the last decade into buying up game studios like Bethesda and Activision/Blizzard, as well as its gamble on Xbox Cloud Gaming, have been touted as the primary wings of the Xbox strategy for the upcoming generation.

AMD fans can perhaps breathe a sigh of relief at the recommittment to a new Xbox generation powered by AMD, though perhaps they've grown used to winning today. Earlier this morning, OpenAI and AMD announced a close partnership where AMD will outfit OpenAI's newest data centers with Instinct MI450 accelerators in a deal that will secure "tens of billions of dollars" in revenue for AMD over the next five years, per AMD CEO Lisa Su.

Microsoft is significantly restructuring its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, and whether these changes are viewed as beneficial or detrimental depends on individual perspectives. The reality of the situation is that gamers will face a price increase of up to 50% for Game Pass Ultimate and roughly 38% for PC Game Pass plans.

Remember when the Game Pass Ultimate tier used to cost $16.99 before Microsoft increased it to $19.99 last year? It appears that the company aims to maintain this tradition, as it has announced a price increase from $19.99 to $29.99, a 50% increase, effective immediately. Microsoft's rationale for the price increase is the addition of more titles, which the company claims to be the "biggest upgrade yet" for Game Pass Ultimate.

Microsoft has expanded the access of Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to over 400 titles, including offerings from Fortnite Crew (valued at $11.99 per month) and Ubisoft+ Classics (approximately $15.98 per month). Enthusiasts of the former will also benefit from access to the Fortnite Battle Pass and receive 1,000 V-Bucks each month starting November 18. Additionally, subscribers will have access to over 75 launch day titles annually, featuring high-profile releases such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, High on Life 2, Keeper, Ninja Gaiden 4, and The Outer Worlds 2.

As part of the Xbox Game Pass revamp, Ultimate subscribers are now able to earn up to $100 per year (100,000 points worldwide) simply by gaming. Microsoft emphasizes a 30% increase in value on selected Game Pass titles, along with fourfold points on purchases of games and add-ons, a 10% return in points on select Game Pass library titles and add-ons, and discounts of up to 20% on select Game Pass games.

Microsoft has also announced that Xbox Cloud Gaming has officially exited its beta phase after five long years. Upgrades include support for 1440p (2560x1440) resolution and enhanced bitrates, although these improvements are available only for select titles. All Xbox Game Pass subscribers gain access to Xbox Cloud Gaming. However, logically, the highest-paying customers of Game Pass are granted priority access and experience the shortest wait times.

In contrast to the Ultimate tier, Microsoft has maintained the price of the Premium tier at $14.99 for the present period. Among the new benefits are access to over 200 games and unlimited use of Xbox Cloud Gaming. Regrettably, day one launches remain unavailable. Premium subscribers have the opportunity to earn up to $50 per year, which is half the potential amount of Ultimate subscribers.

Microsoft has rebranded Game Pass Core to Game Pass Essential, maintaining the $9.99 monthly price point. Subscribers within this tier now have access to over 50 games, doubling the number available under the previous Core subscription. Additionally, they can utilise Xbox Cloud Gaming and have the opportunity to earn up to $25 annually.

YouTuber James Channel set himself quite a challenge: to transmogrify the “biggest, heaviest, power-hungry console anybody had ever seen” into a handheld. However, as you can see from the video below (h/t PC Gamer), his quest was a success. It might not be the most elegant conversion we’ve seen, with the cut-up and pared-down console largely held together using duct tape and hot glue, but it is a sight to behold. The bare DVD, spinning at ~10,000RPM, that sits central to the design, adds a bit of a danger-thrill to the retro gaming experience, too.

The video starts with James grabbing an original Xbox from his shelves stuffed full of iconic consoles in various states of disrepair. But the chosen black and green box from Microsoft isn’t ready to be converted, just yet. It has a number of faults that need repairing while it is in its native state, before the hacksaw and hot glue-driven modding begins. Starting with a known working sample will simplify any troubleshooting further down the line.

Once repaired, the original Xbox is cut down with a view to portability by James, who tosses unwanted components and shards of case to the floor. This isn’t going to be a mod that solely relies on the original Xbox, though. James also pillages an old iPod portable video dock for screen and speakers, replaces the "huge heavy" 3.5-inch HDD with a Compact Flash drive solution, and saws Xbox controllers in half to flank the central screen/console area.

James gave up on this project for three weeks, but reenergized, returned to it to complete the job. A hurdle that had stubbornly stood in the way of a success was overcome when he discovers that seven out of eight Xbox drives he bought as donors for this project were DOA... After putting this bad luck in the used components lottery (and a miss-crimped IDE connector) in the rearview mirror, the admitted "portable monstrosity" can come to life.

The ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X, the latest handheld consoles developed by Asus and Microsoft, are now officially available for pre-order. The ROG Xbox Ally X is priced at $999, while the standard ROG Xbox Ally comes in at $599. Customers can reserve either of the models by visiting Asus’ or Microsoft’s respective online stores,

Several third party retailers are also taking pre-orders including Amazon, Best Buy, Ant Online, and Walmart. Interestingly, the ROG Xbox Ally X is going to sell exclusively on Best Buy, while the ROG Xbox Ally is open for other retailers.

Microsoft has announced a new price increase for its Xbox Series X and S consoles coming on October 3, a scant five months after the previous hike in May. The already-pricey Xbox Series X now commands $649.99, the Series S goes for $399.99 (with 512 GB of storage), and the capacious Series X 2 TB Galaxy Black Special Edition has a price tag as long as its name, at $799.99.

However, this time around, things are a little different. The sting is pointed only at U.S. customers, and mercifully covers only the consoles. This is in contrast to the May increase, when Microsoft raised prices on its console wares across the board, including accessories and games, and applied them worldwide.

A Microsoft Xbox 360 console that refuses to play games due to ‘bad debt’ has raised a few eyebrows on social media. Cody, a co-owner of a retro and import video games retail business, remarked upon his surprise at booting up this particular Xbox 360 and finding “an error I’ve never seen before.” However, a Microsoft MVP has piped up to explain that the system’s 17559 update removes any such restrictions.

The tide of collective wisdom following Cody’s post suggests that the restricted Xbox 360 was purchased through an affordable offer from Microsoft. Under the program, you would maintain monthly payments for a minimum term to eventually own your console, without further restrictions.

According to an Xbox 360 era report published by GamesRadar, Microsoft launched the new easy payment schemes for wannabe console owners in Q4 2012. Under the agreement, purchasers would put down a modest initial sum, starting from $150. Then they would commit to “a contractual obligation for two years of Xbox Live membership, adding up to $360 by the end of the agreement.”

The article doesn’t say what would happen if the contract were broken. Now, 13 years later, we are seeing what would happen. Perhaps people generally stuck to their obligations, as this ‘bad debt’ message has stirred a lot of interest.

Why not just hack it?

Many commenters suggested that Cody ‘hack’ the Xbox 360 to bypass any restrictions. Just two weeks ago, Modern Vintage Gamer (MVG) published a video on the Badupdate Exploit. The hack has now reached version 1.2, and is enhanced so that “Any Xbox 360 can now be hacked in less than one minute,” he explained.

However, there’s a little problem with that plan. The exploit requires the user to run the Rock Band Blitz trial from a USB flash drive. This particular Xbox 360 appears to be so locked down that even running a trial wouldn’t be possible.

Microsoft MVP proposes an elegant official solution

Asus is finally giving its upcoming handhelds, the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, release dates. Both PC gaming handhelds will hit shelves on October 16.

However, Microsoft and Asus have yet to announce pricing information for the co-branded systems. Asus' press release only states that price and pre-order details are set to be revealed "in the coming weeks."

The Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X are set to launch in the US, as well as internationally in markets across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, with the devices set to eventually land in every region where you can buy the existing Asus ROG Ally and Ally X.

The Asus and Microsoft collaborations were announced in June at Microsoft's Xbox Games showcase. That hardware was somewhat surprising, as Microsoft had been hinting at its own Xbox gaming handheld for a long time.

Instead, the hardware was handed to Asus, while Microsoft is working on a version of Windows 11 with a special Xbox view that will allow for easier control with joysticks and buttons. The system will only play PC games, however, not games for Xbox consoles.

There has been quite a bit of speculation surrounding the pricing, and it's surprising not to see the announcement alongside the release date. In Europe, stores have accidentally leaked €599 and €899 prices, putting them in the range of the existing handhelds. That being said, with no reveal, it's possible Asus and Microsoft are still figuring things out behind the scenes, especially as the ever-changing tariff situation affects U.S. price tags.

Microsoft has announced an update for its Xbox app for Arm-based Windows 11 devices, allowing users to download and play games natively. Arm users, including those on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X-powered machines like the Surface Laptop 7, were previously limited to streaming titles through Xbox Cloud Gaming. The latest preview update will now allow select compatible games from the Xbox app to be installed and played locally on these devices.

To access the new functionality, users must be part of both the Windows Insider and Xbox Insider programs. Enrolled Arm-based Windows 11 PCs in the PC Gaming Preview will receive the updated Xbox PC app (version 2508.1001.27.0 or higher) via the Xbox Insider Hub. Those who are not enrolled can join by downloading the Xbox Insider Hub from the Microsoft Store. Simply sign in with your Microsoft account, navigate to the “PC Gaming” option under “Previews,” and select “Join.”

Additionally, Microsoft mentioned in its blog post that it is working on new features to ensure game compatibility on Arm-based Windows PCs and expand the number of playable titles in the coming months. This has been one of the biggest reasons why gaming on Windows PCs with Arm processors has long been a major headache. Since a majority of PC games are designed for x86 chips from Intel or AMD, Arm devices rely on emulation. This usually leads to a drop in performance and sometimes restricts games from launching at all, especially those with strict anti-cheat mechanisms.

On top of that, Arm-based SoCs (System on Chip) typically rely on integrated GPUs, which aren’t exactly performance powerhouses. Yes, Apple has shown promising improvements in gaming on its latest M4 chips, but they’re still a long way from matching the capabilities of discrete GPUs or even the latest integrated graphics solutions from AMD and Intel.

Interestingly, Microsoft’s latest push to improve native gaming on Arm could also be an indication of bigger hardware plans in the future. We all know Nvidia is co-developing an Arm-based SoC for Windows PCs with MediaTek, which many expected to debut at Computex 2025 before its reported delay to late 2026. Last month, an alleged engineering sample of the N1X Arm-based SoC was spotted on Geekbench, suggesting a 20-core CPU and a Blackwell GPU with 48 streaming multiprocessors and 6,144 CUDA cores, which matches the desktop RTX 5070.

If Microsoft is indeed laying the groundwork for improved game compatibility on Arm, it could position Windows to fully support such upcoming hardware from Nvidia, as well as systems from OEMs like Asus, Dell, and Lenovo that are reportedly developing devices around the new chip.

Gaming accessory maker Turtle Beach has announced the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded, a new modular game controller under its Victrix esports brand. Successor to the original Victrix Pro BFG, the new controller builds on the design by Performance Designed Products (PDP), the manufacturer behind the original model which was acquired by Turtle Beach in 2024.

The latest Reloaded model now comes with a reconfigured Fightpad module with improved ergonomics, as well as updated Hall Effect thumb sticks and triggers. The company will be offering it in black and white color variants with a dedicated model for Xbox which is compatible with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows. An officially licensed PlayStation version will also be available, offering compatibility with the PS5 and PS4 consoles alongside Windows, again.

The modular aspect of the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded controller allows it to adapt to various genres and play style, including fighting games, first-person shooters, and RPGs. Users can swap between three modules and 11 interchangeable components including various thumb sticks, a selection of D-pads, and thumb stick gates that can attach to the bottom of a joystick or thumb stick limiting the directions in which the stick can move.

The controller also comes with patented 5-stop hall-effect clutch triggers with a Hair-Trigger mode that allows adjustable sensitivity, which makes it suitable for FPS gamers. Additionally, there is a 6-button Fightpad module which features Kailh microswitches that are claimed to deliver tournament-level accuracy.

The included USB Type-A dongle offers low-latency and a range of up to 30-feet, while the 2,000 mAh inbuilt-battery offers up to 20-hours of backup. Alternatively, players can use the included braided USB-C cable for wired operation. There is also a 3.5mm audio jack with Sony 3D Audio support on the PlayStation variant.

The Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded is on sale in the UK and EU regions starting at £179.99 and €199.99 respectively. For customers in the US, the controller is now available for pre-order on Amazon at $209.99, and will officially start shipping on September 28.

Leaked prices for the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X hint that Asus may keep its upcoming Xbox-branded handhelds in the same ballpark as existing ROG handheld offerings. Listings spotted by 3D Juegos indicate that the ROG Xbox Ally will launch at €599 (approximately $700), while the higher-end ROG Xbox Ally X could be priced at €899 (around $1,050).

These line up closely with the current ROG Ally range in Europe, where pricing is currently between €500 and €700, depending on the chip variant, while the ROG Ally X retails for around €900. It is important to note that the final retail price isn’t always a direct conversion across regions, which means U.S. pricing will likely be different, as manufacturers often need to adjust for taxes, import costs, and market response. Asus hasn’t officially confirmed any details yet, so these early listings are more or less placeholders.

Announced early last month, the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X handheld consoles mark the first official collaboration between Asus and Microsoft to launch Xbox-branded hardware. Both models feature a redesigned chassis with contoured grips similar to the Xbox controller, along with impulse triggers for added haptic feedback. According to Asus, the addition of Xbox controller ergonomics makes them the most comfortable handhelds yet, despite being slightly thicker and heavier than earlier models.

The ROG Xbox Ally X is the high-end variant, powered by AMD’s new Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor with 8 cores, 16 RDNA 3.5 graphics cores, and 24GB of LPDDR5X-8000 memory. It also packs a 1TB SSD, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, USB 4 ports, and an 80Wh battery. Meanwhile, the standard Xbox Ally is a more affordable model, equipped with a slower Ryzen Z2 A chip, 16GB LPDDR5X-6400 RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a smaller 60Wh battery. Both devices come with the same 7-inch full-HD 120Hz VRR IPS display from the Ally X and include a new dedicated Xbox button for quick access to the Game Bar.

Running on Windows 11, both handhelds are expected to boot directly into an Xbox-style interface to deliver a more streamlined, console-like experience. Users will still have full access to Windows, making it possible to install third-party launchers like Steam, Epic Games, and others.

Speaking of which, Microsoft recently announced in a blog post that it’s testing a new version of the Xbox app for Windows with support for aggregated game libraries. This update will be rolled out to Windows users as a preview and will eventually roll out to the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X later this year. The updated app will let users view installed titles from supported third-party storefronts such as Battle.net, EA, and Riot Games, with support for more stores like Steam and GOG likely to arrive at a later stage.

Microsoft announced this week that it had extended its partnership with AMD, who will be designing the chips to go in the company’s next-generation Xbox games consoles. While it might seem like an obvious bet, this is still a big win for AMD, and potentially for consumers, too.

For AMD, this represents a long-tail partnership with likely tens of millions of chip orders over the life of the next-generation console, and even more when you factor in Microsoft’s language around expanding portable gaming options.

But for the end-consumers, who have increasingly felt like an afterthought to gaming graphics (and now AI) giant, Nvidia, this is a commitment from AMD to maintain a significant stake in the gaming segment. Microsoft’s approach with Xbox is a far cry from Nintendo, whose console designs don't require cutting-edge hardware. In general, Microsoft’s Xbox lineup has always aimed at higher-end enthusiast users, rather than the lifestyle segment, which Nintendo targets.

The next-gen Xbox will need to be powerful, which means that AMD needs to continue to remain competitive in terms of both graphical performance and efficiency.

What this means for Xbox

As much as Microsoft’s announcement was likely a welcome one for AMD, this is what many industry pundits expected of a future next-generation Xbox console. Microsoft has used AMD hardware for its past two generations of the console, starting with the Xbox One. Combining AMD CPUs with AMD GPUs has proven a potent combination, despite Nvidia’s dominance in GPUs on PC. Sticking with AMD for another generation might also help keep things straightforward for Microsoft and game developers.

Sticking with AMD might ease backward compatibility between different generations of Xbox consoles, which ensures that the new-generation system has a large software library on day one, even if the launch lineup isn’t extensive. Game developers who have been working on Xbox games in the past will also find it easier if the hardware is just new-generations of the same thing. The Xbox Series X/S uses a custom Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2 GPU, so a next-generation Xbox may be likely to use newer generations of both those architectural designs.

As for what that new hardware will be, all we have is speculation for now. However, with AMD’s regular release cadence and a history of launching new consoles with new hardware around the same time as their desktop counterparts, we can make some educated guesses about what the “Next Xbox” will have under the hood.

The Xbox One featured a custom AMD APU using Jaguar modules, which launched in mid-2013, a few months before the Xbox One hit store shelves. The Xbox Series X used Zen 2 and RDNA 2, which launched in mid-2019 and end-2020, respectively. All very close to the console’s November 2020 launch.

With rumors pointing to a late 2026 or early 2027 launch for a next-generation home Xbox console, that would put it in line to leverage AMD’s latest hardware at the time: purportedly Zen 6 CPUs and RDNA 5 graphics. Or, it might even potentially use the first iteration of AMD’s planned UDNA architecture, which it teased last year.

It’s less clear what hardware we might see in future Xbox handheld systems that were also hinted at in the partnership announcement. But considering AMD’s Z-series mobile APUs have been used in many recent handhelds, including the Xbox Ally X from Asus, it’ll probably be a successive generation of that. Zen 6 APU, anyone?

Windows on console?

Arguably, the greater speculation for the next-generation Xbox is what software it will run. Where Xbox consoles to date have run a custom Xbox System Software package, it has grown increasingly tied to Windows with each successive generation. The latest Xbox Series X/S console is based on the Windows 11 core operating system.

Microsoft’s recent tie-in with Asus for its Ally X handheld Xbox gaming system just runs on a standard Windows install, too, raising speculation that the next Xbox may be based on Windows. It might have an Xbox theme or UI flourishes, but ultimately, it’ll likely be something very similar.

It makes sense, given the way consoles have become increasingly capable and PC-like in recent generational releases, and Microsoft has started shifting its marketing to potentially lay some groundwork for this shift.

It has recently started using the “Xbox PC” branding, or it could be an effort to encourage game streaming from Xbox. But, it also sounds very much like it’s attempting to unify the message that anything could be an Xbox, including Windows.

This could be crucial for Microsoft, as Linux has become a real competitor in the gaming space, especially thanks to devices like the Steam Deck, and the more widespread adoption of gaming on Linux using desktop PCs. It could also be the case that Microsoft would be looking to leverage its console’s name recognition and existing install base to shore up support for gaming on Windows.

In a callback to console exclusivity, which was more common in consoles of generations past, Microsoft could pitch Xbox and Windows as coexistent and comingled gaming platforms, shunning SteamOS and other Linux-based equivalents, which have their own unique selling points.

Indeed, consoles are often pitched as simpler and more streamlined than PCs for gaming. Microsoft could use Xbox to make the case that Windows is still that option for gamers, too.

A boon for AMD

AMD has announced future plans to expand its roster of gaming-centric chip designs beyond the Xbox and PlayStation ecosystems. The company announced on YouTube that it is creating a full roadmap of gaming-optimized chips, powered by Ryzen and Radeon, that are tailor-made for consoles, handhelds, PCs, and the cloud. How this differs from its current lineup remains to be seen.

This news comes days after Microsoft announced its extended partnership with AMD to build its next-generation Xbox console (codenamed Xbox Next) and future Xbox handheld gaming PCs. AMD's announcement is somewhat vague, but it reveals the company wants to expand its existing portfolio of gaming chips, such as the Z1 and Z2 series, to build a whole ecosystem of gaming-focused chips tailor-made for all platforms in the gaming industry.

After numerous reports and speculation, Microsoft has finally come up with its very first Xbox handheld. Well, sort of. The company has paired up with Asus to launch the new ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X at its ongoing Xbox Games Showcase. Both models feature an updated design that includes large, contoured grips similar to those found on an Xbox controller.

In fact, that’s the route both companies are taking. According to Asus, they have worked on the feedback received for the original ROG Ally and Ally X, and went ahead to create this fusion that is part ROG Ally and part Xbox controller. It also includes an updated textured pattern as well as impulse triggers that add haptic feedback to the trigger buttons.

Asus also claims that the new ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X are the most ‘comfortable and immersive’ handhelds that they’ve ever built, even though they are thicker and slightly heavier compared to the previous ROG Ally models, as well as the Steam Deck. The joysticks are similar to the original ROG Ally X, and even the button layout seems similar, apart from the addition of a new dedicated Xbox button near the left joystick. This can be used to bring up the Game Bar, which has been updated to be more useful on a handheld device.

Notably, the launch coincides with AMD’s latest announcement, where it added two new models to its Ryzen Z2 series of processors. The new ROG Xbox Ally X will be powered by the latest Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chipset, which features an 8-core/16-thread CPU, 16 RDNA 3.5 graphics cores, and an NPU capable of offering up to 50 TOPS of AI compute power. It will also feature 24GB of LPDDR5X-8000 memory, a 1TB M.2 2280 SSD, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.4.

The I/O port layout is pretty much the same as last year's model, although one of the two USB Type-C ports on the ROG Xbox Ally X is now upgraded to USB 4. As for the battery, there’s an 80Wh unit, which should last longer than most handheld devices on the market.

On the other hand, the ROG Xbox Ally appears to be a budget-friendly option, as it is powered by the entry-level Ryzen 2 A processor. The chip features a 4-core/8-thread CPU based on AMD’s aging Zen 2 architecture, 8 RDNA 2 graphics cores, and a configurable TDP ranging from 6 to 20W. It also comes with slower 16GB LPDDR5X-6400 memory, a 512GB M.2 2280 SSD, and a smaller 60Wh battery.

Asus hasn’t made any changes to the display, hence you get the same 7-inch display as the ROG Ally X, offering a 1080 resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, 500 nits brightness, and support for VRR and FreeSync Premium.

Signs of Microsoft’s efforts to bring its Windows and Xbox platforms closer together have started appearing online. Case in point, the just-dropped YouTube trailer for MIO: Memories In Orbit shows the game’s availability on both Steam and "Xbox PC." Microsoft’s press release for Gears of War: Reloaded also mentioned that it's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, PlayStation 5, and Steam this summer. This shows how the company is pushing for gamers to use the Xbox app on their gaming PCs instead of just installing a title directly, with Redmond aiming squarely at Steam.

Aside from these mentions, the Xbox App also received a massive change — Xbox users can now see their Xbox console games in the Xbox app library on their PCs. The Verge believes that this was intentional on the part of Microsoft to “closely combine its Xbox and Windows stores.”

Microsoft on Thursday announced price hikes for its latest Xbox Series S and Series X consoles, their controllers, headsets, and even first-party games amid "market conditions" and rising development costs. As a result, an Xbox Series X console now costs $599.99/€599.99, the base controller is priced at $64.99/€64.99, and a first party game launched this holiday will carry a price tag of $79.99. Xbox Game Pass is not seeing an increase. 

"As of May 1, we have adjusted recommended retailer pricing for our consoles and controllers worldwide. We also expect to adjust the pricing of some of our new, first-party games [which could be played both on Xbox and PC] starting this holiday season to $79.99," a statement by Microsoft reads.

The Xbox Series X with 1TB of storage now costs $599.99, an increase of $100. The more premium Xbox Series X with a 2TB SSD and in Galaxy Black color is now listed at $729.99, up $130 from its original price. The Xbox Series X without an Ultra HD Blu-ray drive also got a $100 hike and is now priced at $549.99. The 512GB Xbox Series S is raised by $80 to $379.99, while the 1TB version is priced at $429.99.

Rumors about an Xbox handheld have been flying around, and Asus just fanned the flames by dropping a teaser on its X (formerly Twitter) account.

The video shows an animated robot programming improvements on a terminal for itself. Just as it was about to implement the changes, a device that looks like an ROG Ally X gaming console and an ROG Raikiri Pro controller fell in with the character. After the dust settles, the robot apparently turns into a gaming console that looks vaguely similar to the company’s current top-end handheld.

What made this social media posting even more interesting was that the official Xbox account replied with the side-eye meme. Nothing official has been announced yet, by any means, but Microsoft’s response likely refers to Project Kennan — the gaming handheld it’s developing with Asus that’s designed to unify Xbox and Windows as one platform.

While neither party has revealed anything specific, the video gave us a preview of what to expect from this planned Xbox handheld. This includes a longer battery life, better performance, and bigger storage, alongside a new look for this handheld.

Asus posted the video on March 31, 2025, at 2 pm EST. The company likely did this to avoid the teaser from being misconstrued as an April Fool’s prank, especially as many other tech companies are posting jokes of their own. However, just like its April 1 ROG Ally reveal a couple of years ago, it seems that this teased Xbox console is legit.

Another thing we should note is that the much-anticipated Switch 2 is set to be announced at Nintendo Direct on April 2. This Asus reveal could therefore be an attempt to steal Nintendo’s thunder — and while it did not have much information, it likely caused a stir among PC gamers and handheld gaming enthusiasts. It still probably won’t sway hardcore Nintendo enthusiasts, though.

We’re not expecting a new Xbox console until 2027, but the arrival of an 'Xbox handheld' will certainly be most welcome. We just hope that this will run Xbox games natively, and not just be a Windows 11 device with an Xbox skin on top of it.

Xbox thinks AI can make you a better gamer. Xbox has announced its new "Copilot for Gaming", dropping the news this morning on The Official Xbox Podcast. A new AI assistant for console, mobile, and perhaps PC, Copilot for Gaming promises to help with all parts of the gaming experience — from picking a new game, to picking up where you left off in an old save file, to getting good at skill-based games.

Fatima Kardar, Xbox's CVP of Gaming AI, and Jason Ronald, VP of Next Generation, joined Xbox's in-house podcast to explain what an AI assistant for consoles looks like. Copilot for Gaming comes as a way to help address common pain points for gamers, like returning to an old save file completely lost in the narrative or hitting what feels like the skill ceiling in an FPS. "Gaming is the only form of entertainment where you can get stuck," shared Kardar. "So that’s where you want something to show up to say, 'let’s help you get past that.'"

Copilot for Gaming seeks to be a multi-device helper, living on both the console and the Xbox mobile app (no clarification was made as to whether Copilot for Gaming will come to PC gamers, but as the podcast also highlighted Xbox's "Play Anywhere" initiative, it is likely to arrive on PC as well). As new generations grow used to using multiple devices at once, Xbox aims to be a simultaneously multi-device experience.

No features of Copilot for Gaming are locked-in or official at the time of writing, with Kardar and Ronald selling Copilot on the promises of what can be and extremely early-access video clips. In the podcast and accompanying blog post, Xbox shows off a wide array of possible features: giving personalized game recommendations, recapping your save file progress as it downloads an old favorite, or giving tips in between respawns in Overwatch, from what hero to counter-pick against a dominant enemy to how exactly you misplayed in an embarrassing clip. (see 15:19 and 17:59 in the video below for a staged Overwatch concept and live Minecraft demo)

In total, Copilot for Gaming claims no fewer than 10 unique features. Some are expansions of existing features, like adding the save-file recap as you download games to your Xbox from your phone or suggesting new titles to play next, while others are wholly game-specific. Copilot can give Minecraft game tips, including helping you retrace your steps to find ores you missed in your peripheral vision when cheats are enabled in-game. Ronald even claims Copilot will also help players pick new characters or playstyles based on their tastes in different game titles.

While Xbox's Copilot claims should be taken with a grain of salt, as Kardar clarifies that no features are final or shippable just yet, the pitch does make some points that are innovative in the gaming AI space. Razer's Project Ava and Nvidia's Project G-Assist, two other gaming-focused AI helpers announced as concepts in the past year, share some of Xbox's general gameplay advice claims, but lack the meta-experience features that Xbox can offer by "Recalling" old game files and advising new games to play.

"It's not just about AI showing up to help you. It's about AI showing up at the right moment," Kardar continued. "I think we have to really think of the experience that we build; it can't be intrusive." An extremely early-access version of Copilot for Gaming will come soon to Xbox Insider Program members via the Xbox mobile app in the coming days. Kardar and Ronald both clarified that Copilot for Gaming will be hitting early access shockingly early in its development cycle, for the benefit of receiving player feedback to lay the foundation of what to focus development on.

Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant for PCs has been justifiably critiqued for having a name that writes checks its performance cannot cash; with very few novel features beyond the controversial "Recall", Copilot can feel more like an untrained, uninvited passenger on your PC. Copilot for Gaming so far seems to come much closer to living up to its Copilot name, assuming Xbox can provide the breadth of promises they made today.

Xbox will share more about Copilot for Gaming at GDC 2025 next week, so be sure to tune into our coverage of the event for more details on this and any other hardware-related announcements at the gaming trade show.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said late last year that an Xbox gaming handheld was years away. However, that doesn’t mean other OEMs are not working on building one with the approval of the Redmond software giant. According to The Verge’s sources, Microsoft is working to unify Xbox and Windows as a single platform, and Asus is one of its launch partners for this effort. As for the OEM, it’s working on Project Kennan — the codename for a gaming handheld that will likely benefit from Redmond’s efforts with the possibility of launching this year.

Aside from the hardware that Asus is building, Microsoft is also working on Project Bayside, a framework built to standardize the Xbox user interface across different devices. This will run the gaming handheld that Asus is building and is based on Windows but with an Xbox skin on top. Both Kennan and Bayside seem to be a part of Microsoft’s effort to integrate the best of Xbox and Windows.

Jason Ronal, the company’s VP of Xbox gaming devices and ecosystem, mentioned to The Verge earlier this year that the company is focusing on this integration and expects to see results later this year. However, while we hope these rumors are true, we still don’t have an official announcement (or maybe even just an official teaser) from either company.

Valve inspired a renaissance in handheld gaming consoles with the launch of the Steam Deck in 2022. However, Microsoft still currently has an advantage over it in terms of options, as most of the best PC gaming handhelds were and are powered by Windows 11. The tide may be changing with Lenovo announcement of the Legion Go S - Powered by SteamOS, though. You can get the Lenovo Legion Go S with Windows 11 today for $729, but the SteamOS-powered version, which will arrive in May, is expected to be much cheaper at just $499. The company said that it will launch a more affordable version of the Windows-powered Legion Go S around the same month for $599, but the $100 price difference might drive many gamers to the SteamOS version instead.

This development would have caught Microsoft’s attention, especially as one of its largest long-time OEM partners is introducing a rather popular OS substitute this May. It also shows that Valve is starting to face off with Windows with its SteamOS. Microsoft is already struggling to compete with the PlayStation 5 in the gaming console space, so it likely doesn’t want to let Valve and its SteamOS challenge it in handheld consoles. So, if it wants to ensure that it does not lose market share, it has to take steps to ensure that Xbox and Windows would remain the preferred operating system for handheld gaming.

Almost a full sixteen years following its initial November 2008 release, Sonic Unleashed finally has a fully-blown native PC port, dubbed Unleashed Recompiled. This is a Recompiled PC port, specifically, thanks to fan efforts pioneering the XenonRecomp and XenosRecomp tools used to do it, allowing for PowerPC code and Xenos shaders to be converted into x86 PC-compatible C++ and HLSL code, respectively.

This also means that, in theory, any Xbox 360 game should now be fully Recompilable for native PC port goodness, including those unsupported by modern Xbox Backward Compatibility, effectively freeing several games from the graveyard — and opening the doors of modding wider than ever. If this sounds familiar to you, it might be because a similar endeavor gave us Zelda 64: Recompiled and N64: Recompiled, which we've covered previously.

Locking in on Sonic Unleashed specifically, one may be left wondering what exactly pushed fans so far as to make a native PC port before Sega did. In truth, Sonic Unleashed has long been something of a white whale for the Sonic modding community on PC — the Unleashed Project and several related mods have long existed to port most of the game's highlight content (Daytime stages, which inspired all future Boost formula gameplay) into the original PC port of Sonic Generations. Until Xbox Series S/X Backwards Compatibility and FPS Boost capabilities were added, modding Generations PC was the only way to play these levels at a silky-smooth 60 FPS, since the original PS360 hardware could often dip below 30 FPS trying to run Unleashed's massive levels flush with graphical flourishes like full Global Illumination (though pre-baked rather than today's modern RTGI).

In more recent years, progress on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 emulation through Xenia and RPCS3 has also progressed significantly, providing a venue through which players could play the full game on PC, albeit with a performance loss compared to Generations modding thanks to emulation overhead.

But finally, fans of Sonic Unleashed can enjoy the game in a form truly unleashed for modern platforms thanks to Unleashed Recompiled, which uses recompilation tools built on top of Xenia's emulation progress, now refined fully into a much easier-to-run PC port. The PC port adds all the staple features one would expect, including uncapped resolution support and proper graphics settings. There are even some nifty extras, like a "Music Attenuation" feature that automatically mutes in-game music whenever you're playing audio off a music player. You can also raise the FPS cap above 60 FPS, but due to the physics issues introduced by doing this, I highly recommend employing the use of Lossless Scaling or your GPU's own universal Frame Generation solution to play above 60 FPS, instead.

Of course, those hoping to play with Unleashed Recompiled or wanting to make their own Xbox 360 recompilations will need to legally secure their own copies of the Xbox 360 titles, DLC, etc, as with any emulation-adjacent project. But compared to having to play these games on consoles — particularly considering the fact that Unleashed Recompiled even supports fully-blown graphics and gameplay mods like Foreign Input System and Improved Progression via the HedgeModManager — the best choice for playing Xbox 360 games is now more obvious than ever.

Welcome to PC, Sonic Unleashed — we've been waiting for you.

Yesterday, Microsoft Xbox debuted Muse, "a generative AI model designed for gameplay ideation," alongside an open-access Nature.com article and corresponding blog post with a YouTube video. Not sure what "gameplay ideation" means? While Microsoft defines it as generating "game visuals, controller actions, or both," its actual functional purposes are pretty limited and certainly don't do anything like skipping an actual game development pipeline.

That said, some of the data is still interesting. The training was done at scale on H100 GPUs. It required about 1 million training updates to extend just one second of real gameplay into an additional 9 seconds of responsive, engine-accurate simulated gameplay. Training data was primarily extracted from existing multiplayer gameplay sessions, though.

Instead of just running the game on a single PC, Microsoft had to train this model on a cluster of 100 Nvidia H100 GPUs, which is an order of magnitude more expensive and power-consuming while still only producing an output resolution of 300x180 pixels for about nine more seconds of extrapolated gameplay.

The most interesting thing the team demonstrated with Muse was duplicating existing props and enemies within the environment and having Muse replicate their functionality. All this hardware cost, electricity toll, and AI training instead of, you know, using development tools to spawn enemies or props instead?

While it's interesting how Muse eventually maintained proper object permanence and duplicated the original game's behavior, its final use cases seem downright wasteful compared to the already effective, traditional video game development pipeline.

While future developments of Muse may be capable of pulling off more interesting feats, it ultimately ends up on a long list of other projects trying to simulate gameplay entirely within AI. While it's nice to see some degree of engine accuracy and object permanence still present here, it's such a sub-optimal way to develop, test, or play a video game that I genuinely don't understand why anyone would want to use this, even after hours of poring over the relevant material.

Since Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard and its smorgasbord of development studios, Microsoft (and thus Xbox) has become the largest third-party game publisher ever. So, recent comments from Xbox head Phil Spencer in an interview with Gamertag Radio indicating that forthcoming Xbox games will be released on other platforms, including Nintendo and PlayStation, have caused a large ripple but also make a lot of sense.

These statements ("I want people to be able to experience the games that we build, the services that we offer on as many devices as we can" and "We obviously love the native experience that we have on our own platform and our own hardware, and that's something that will continue for us") come from Danny Peña's Podcast Interviews on YouTube, where he and Parris of Gamertag Radio discussed the future of Xbox with Phil Spencer. The twenty-six-minute interview is chock-full of industry insights and nostalgia on older periods of Xbox history, including the original Xbox and 360 eras.

Now, a small brief on console history is needed for those who don't know why these statements are controversial. You know Sonic The Hedgehog? The movie character? That guy's actually from a long line of sometimes-beloved and sometimes-hated video games. Until Sonic Adventure 2 got a GameCube port, those video games and many others were always exclusive to Sega consoles. Dreamcast was the last Sega home console, and unfortunately, was met with a quick death at the hands of Sony's far more powerful PlayStation 2, quickly relegating Sega to a mere third-party developer...whose place in the market was swiftly taken by Microsoft's Xbox.

In the earliest stages of the "DirectX Box" that would eventually become the first Xbox, the system maintained backward compatibility with Sega Dreamcast titles (it likely helped the Dreamcast was already compatible with Windows CE). While the final system did not keep this functionality, several Dreamcast-era sequels, like Jet Set Radio Future, were released exclusively for Xbox.

These comments may initially sound like the dying words of a flailing, failing console manufacturer, but Microsoft, at large, is a much greater beast than that. Now that Xbox has become the de facto largest third-party game publisher of all time, the focus is shifting toward selling as many games as possible rather than forcing players onto the Xbox platform.

As Phil Spencer says, "We want everybody to be able to play on Xbox and it does mean more of our games shipping on more platforms, not just PlayStation. We love the work that we do with Nintendo, we love what we do with Valve on Steam, and that's going to continue."

So, is Xbox going the same way as Sega? Absolutely not— Microsoft's big wallet has made sure of that. However, the next generation of Xbox consoles is going to need to offer a lot to bring people based on hardware versus the (likely) hybrid portable focus of "Switch 3" and the sure-to-be-yet-more-powerful PlayStation 6, which will both be sold based on their exclusive titles, as is tradition for the console business.

But if Microsoft isn't careful with the idea that Xbox is not a hardware platform but rather a collection of games and services owned by Xbox, well, "When everybody's on Xbox, no one will be."

Today's deal is absolutely fantastic news for Xbox console owners new and old. If you already own either of Microsoft's Series X or Series S consoles then you are already aware of the limited storage capacity of the console and the constant need to micromanage the games stored.

You may have even been gifted a new Xbox console from Santa recently. If so, you can pick up this 2TB Western Digital WD_Black C50 expansion card for just $189 from Amazon. This is the lowest-ever price the 2TB version of the C50 has ever been and works out cheaper than picking up two of the lower capacity 1TB expansion cards. The MSRP price of the 2TB WD_Black C50 is $259, with the typical sale price being $220, so this discount of $189 is a great deal.

The only option to increase this storage capacity on the latest Xbox consoles is with a proprietary expansion card slotted into the rear of the console. Options are limited and nothing compared to the choice of M.2 SSD options you can pick for the PlayStation 5, but installation is far easier and more convenient.

The WD Black C50 expansion card is designed to use the "Xbox Velocity Architecture" and perform as well as the already installed internal storage. You can also use the drive to transport games and save data to friends' consoles by just unplugging and popping it in your pocket. To avoid any dust or damage affecting the C50 it comes with a cap/cover to protect the drive during transport - all in Western Digital's WD_Black livery and ribbed aesthetic.

Don't forget to look at our Amazon coupon codes for December 2024 and see if you can save on today's deal or other products at Amazon.