Devs can now publish Windows apps straight to Xbox One
Microsoft is getting its proverbial development ducks in a row, with the addition of new capabilities to its Dev Center that should make multi-platform publishing a whole lot more straightforward, as well as provide more feedback to developers.
Microsoft’s been working towards this point for some time — it announced the plan in January last year and even before that had selectively been porting Windows apps to the console — but this is the first time devs have been able to offer apps built using the Anniversary Update SDK directly to Xbox One owners.
The Dev Center Dashboard has also been overhauled, meaning it should be quicker and easier to edit apps, as well as bringing notifications and personalized suggestions.
Ultimately, there are a whole load of new options aimed at giving developers more control over their apps and games across Windows and Xbox devices. These include the ability to only push an update to a small percentage of users or to make updating mandatory, which would be handy if, for example, a developer discovers a serious bug.
If you want to start making cross-platform games that’ll end up on the Xbox One, don’t forget that you’ll need concept approval too. We wouldn’t want you wasting all that effort.
Source: Windows Blog
Surface Pro 3 battery issues disappear in today’s update
The Surface Pro 3 has been plagued with a software problem that causes some tablets to quickly lose power once unplugged from a charger, but a firmware update released today squashes the battery bug. Microsoft first acknowledged the problem in July and confirmed it was a software issue, rather than a flaw in the tablet’s hardware, earlier in August.
In an update FAQ, Microsoft explains that the battery levels in some Surface Pro 3s were being misreported to the operating system and firmware, meaning the tablets stopped charging well before they hit full capacity.
“Think of this like a fuel gauge in a car, where the car looks to the fuel gauge to determine how much to fill the tank,” Microsoft says. “In this case, if the fuel gauge isn’t working right, the car would also not be able to fill the tank — even though the tank is fine.”
After applying the update, the battery issues will self-correct over “the next several charge and discharge cycles,” Microsoft says, and any tablets that weren’t able to run on battery power will be able to do so.
Source: Microsoft
Microsoft makes it easy to report hate speech
If you come across any racial and gay slur and just about anything that sounds like hate speech on Xbox Live, you can directly report the incident to Microsoft. The tech titan has launched a dedicated website where you can report hate speech not just on Live, but also on Docs.com, OneDrive, Outlook, Skype and Sway. This new website is similar to the portal the company built to report terrorist posts, except this one focuses on content “that advocates violence or promotes hatred” based on age, disability, gender, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, and sexual orientation or gender identity.
Microsoft signed up for the European Commission’s campaign against online harassment, along with Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The website accepts reports from anyone across the globe, though, not just people living in the EU. In the company’s announcement post, Microsoft Chief Online Safety Office Jacqueline Beauchere explained:
“We will continue our “notice-and-takedown” approach for removing prohibited content on hosted consumer services, and the new form aims to improve the quality and speed of our reviews. When hate speech is reported to us, we will evaluate each complaint, consider context and other factors, and determine appropriate action with respect to the content and the user’s account.”
However, since the portal can be abused, and Microsoft could delete legit, polite posts that aren’t really hurtful, the company also built another website where you can submit requests to reinstate disabled content.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Microsoft
Tech giants pledge to close the gender pay gap
To celebrate Women’s Equality Day, President Obama has announced a group of 29 major US employers who have signed the White House Equal Pay Pledge and promised to help close the gender pay gap. On the list are 10 top tech giants including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel and IBM.
According to the White House, the pledge includes five key points:
- Acknowledging the critical role businesses must play in reducing the national pay gap.
- Committing to conducting an annual company-wide gender pay analysis across occupations.
- Reviewing hiring and promotion processes and procedures to reduce unconscious bias and structural barriers.
- Embedding equal pay efforts into broader enterprise-wide equity initiatives.
- Pledging to take these steps as well as identify and promote other best practices that will close the national wage gap to ensure fundamental fairness for all workers.
While Facebook and Microsoft confirmed earlier this year that they have no gender pay gap, the acknowledgement from Obama is sure to add a little credibility to those claims. Rounding out the rest of the tech-focused businesses who signed on today are: Akami Technologies, Dropbox, LinkedIn, MailChimp and MuleSoft. One company is conspicuously absent, however: Earlier this year, Amazon claimed it pays men and women equally, but only revealed its salary figures when the SEC came knocking.
Source: The White House
Russia’s free, PC multiplayer Halo game has been cancelled
Remember that Halo game you heard about that wasn’t launching in North America? Well, now it’s not launching anywhere. Halo Online was originally intended to be a free, multiplayer game designed exclusively for the Russian market. Despite launching a closed beta in its target market, the project’s staff has announced that Halo Online is no more. The game has been cancelled.
According to the Halo Online page on VK, Russia’s largest social network, the future of the game was in question for the last six months — with both the team and fans waiting on Microsoft for an announcement. The post says that Microsoft failed to make a decision during the past six months, but said it knows now that “the current form of the game will not be released.” Players have until the end of the month to use any in-game currency they might still have.
The game’s social pages are also being shut down, with staff stating that it doesn’t want to give the community false hope for a revival. “This decision was not easy for us,” the staff wrote on VK. “But we understand that there is nothing worse than uncertainty.”
Via: Polygon
Source: Halo Online
CBS All Access hits Xbox One
If you have been patiently waiting to try CBS All Access on your Xbox One, there’s good news. CBS has announced that its streaming service is now available on Microsoft’s console. It’s perfect timing for Xbox fans, as the anticipated January, 2017 premier of the All Access-exclusive Star Trek series is only months away.
CBS All Access is similar to Netflix and Amazon Prime in that it offers thousands of on-demand episodes from the network’s old and new shows, including The Good Wife, for $5.99 per month. So far, the company’s heavy focus on All Access is paying off as it announced last month that its streaming service has one million subscribers. Xbox One’s large consumer base will surely further add to that number. But, the only people that are still missing out on CBS’ on-demand online content are PlayStation 4 fans, and hopefully that gets rectified soon.
Source: CBS
‘Halo 5: Forge’ reaches PCs on September 8th
It won’t take much longer before you can get a taste of Halo 5 on your PC. Microsoft and 343 Industries have revealed that Halo 5: Forge, the multiplayer level creation experience, will reach Windows 10 on September 8th. As mentioned earlier, it’s all about playing multiplayer matches on custom maps created either on the PC or the Xbox One. You won’t get either the single-player campaign (possibly a good thing) or the stock maps from the console release. You do get the perks of playing on more flexible hardware, though, such as support for 4K displays and a interface that takes advantage of finer-grained mouse and keyboard controls.
At the same time, Xbox One owners are getting a Halo 5: Guardians update (Anvil’s Legacy) that brings them in sync with the Windows release. You can play Forge maps from Windows creators, and you’ll get both two new maps (one for the Arena mode, one for Warzone) as well as new weapons, attachments and skins. No, it’s not the same as getting the exact same game on both platforms, but it’s clear between this, Forza and Gears of War that the days of Xbox-only flagship games are over.
Source: Xbox Wire
The highs and lows of Gamescom 2016
Gamescom is over. The publishers have packed away their booths, and the lingering smell of sweaty, Kölsch-fueled gamers (and sweaty, coffee-fueled journalists) has finally started to dissipate. In the closing hours of our trip to Cologne, Germany, the “team” (Nick Summers and I) sat down to chat about our time at the video game show.
Talking points include the lack of press conferences this year; the myriad ways I made a fool of myself in VR; Outreach’s fresh take on space exploration; Sea of Thieves actually looking pretty good; Metal Gear Survive really not looking good and Titanfall 2’s new focus on plot. That’s a wrap on our Gamescom coverage this year — if you missed any of our stories, you can find them all here.
Explore indie puzzler ‘The Witness’ on Xbox One in September
“Ideally we want the game to be in as many places as we can get it, but since we are a small developer and it’s a complicated game, we can only do so much at once.” That’s The Witness developer Jonathan Blow describing to us his desire for the indie puzzler to be available on more than just PlayStation 4. All the way back in February 2013. Now those dreams are coming to fruition as The Witness will make its way to Xbox One on September 13th — two and a half years after that interview with my coworker Jessica Conditt and six months after its debut on PS4 and PC. In a post on Xbox Wire, Blow lays out what new players should do when they get their hands on it.
Basically, if you get stuck on a puzzle, don’t look up solutions on YouTube or from a text-based walk through. Instead, explore another part of the island and you might find the solution while you’re at it. If you’ve avoided the game’s spoilers since January, it shouldn’t be too hard to resist the urge for a few more weeks, should it?
Source: Xbox Wire
Revisit 2005 by playing ‘Call of Duty 2’ on your Xbox One
Back before Call of Duty went full-on Michael Bay, the series focused on historical conflicts ignored by the then unstoppable Medal of Honor series. Xbox 360 launch title Call of Duty 2 was the last game in the series from original developer Infinity Ward to do such. And now, you have the chance to play through the Battle of Pointe du Hoc once again. How’s that? The objective-based WWII shooter is now backward compatible on Xbox One. If nothing else, it’s an interesting glimpse both at how much the franchise has changed and how FPS themselves have evolved over the past 11 years. Because, even in 2005, CoD 2 was considered a bit old-school in terms of design.
The best part is that it’s free — assuming you still have the original disc, of course. Everyone else can cough up $20 for it via the Xbox Game Store. Now’s a good of time as any to try finishing your run through the campaign on “veteran” difficulty, no? I can’t think of a better way to prep for Modern Warfare Remastered, myself.
Via: Eurogamer
Source: Xbox Game Store
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