Microsoft gives Groove for iOS and Android a facelift
Microsoft’s Groove apps for iOS and Android weren’t quite as good as the Windows version, but this update was designed to change that. The company has given its music apps for both platforms a facelift that makes them look more like their Windows counterpart. It also bundled a handful of new features with it. The apps now have an Explore view listing the most popular songs, and they now take on a higher resolution when scaled up on big phones. Microsoft also promises faster downloads for offline playbacks and various improvements.
By the way, don’t be alarmed if your app starts rebuilding your collection from scratch after installing the update. Microsoft support engineer Ellen Kilbourne says the changes are so big, their database “must be rebuilt in order to move forward.” It will only take a minute or two anyway — you can start using Groove as usual after it’s done.
Via: The Digital Lifestyle
Source: Microsoft, iTunes, Google Play
Microsoft’s earnings show its future is in the cloud
While Microsoft’s phone business remains in freefall, its cloud offerings are stronger than ever. For the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016, the company’s Intelligent Cloud (which covers all of its cloud services) revenue jumped seven percent compared to last year, reaching $6.7 billion. Its Azure Cloud, which competes directly against the almost ubiquitous Amazon Web Services, also continued its strong growth for the past year with more than double the revenue (102 percent growth) compared to last year.
But, as we saw for the last few quarters, Microsoft’s mobile business is going nowhere fast, falling another 71 percent from the previous year. That led to a four percent earnings decline for Microsoft’s More Personal Computing division. Otherwise, that group remains a strong area for Microsoft, with Surface revenue up 9 percent, Xbox Live monthly active users growing 33 percent (reaching over 49 million) and Windows non-Pro revenue to manufacturers growing 27 percent.
Microsoft’s overall revenue for the quarter came in at $20.6 billion, with profits of $3.1 billion. That’s down from the $22.1 billion in earnings the company reported a year ago. It’s also projecting that its annualized revenue run rate for cloud products (a calculation for the next year’s performance) will be more than $12.1 billion.
The earnings report is particularly interesting for Microsoft, as it’s the first since its $26 billion LinkedIn purchase. That was Microsoft’s largest deal ever, and despite making plenty of synergistic sense, many considered it a curious move for a company that’s trying to double-down on its productive relevance.
Source: Microsoft
Museum uses ‘Minecraft’ to visualise the Great Fire of London
Minecraft and its ‘build what you want’ mentality has made it an effective tool in the classroom. The game, developed by Mojang and owned by Microsoft, has been used to teach art, geology and now history, thanks to a new project by the Museum of London. It’s called “Great Fire 1666” and will portray the historic blaze that swept across the city 350 years ago.
The tragic event will be portrayed through three different maps; the first, available for free on July 29th, will show the city as it stood before the fire, complete with iconic landmarks such as London Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral. Audio clips will be scattered throughout the world, containing some explanations (the long, dry summer and the city’s wooden houses, for instance) for why the inferno spread so quickly. The second, to be released in September, will put you in the middle of the crisis and include basic mini-games about saving residents and fighting the flames. You’ll also be able to make “crucial decisions” by talking to historical figures.
The third, set for February next year, will allow players to rebuild London using the architectural plans drawn up by Christopher Wren, John Evelyn and others. Playing all three should, the museum hopes, create an experience that’s both unique and informative. The “Great Fire of London” is a popular classroom topic in Britain, so the maps should make for a refreshing departure from musty textbooks and TV documentaries.
The unique Minecraft worlds are being put together by Adam Clarke, a Minecraft artist and digital producer, Blockworks, a professional Minecraft map building team in the UK, and “Dragnoz,” a YouTuber and world creator deeply involved with the Minecraft community. A teaser video has been released showing off the group’s interpretation of London, and it’s quite a sight; the scale and detail means it’s easy to envision the city in the 17th Century, even if everything is made from rudimentary blocks.
Via: Kotaku UK
‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’ comes to the PS4 on October 11th
Rise of the Tomb Raider has spent much of the last year as one of the best Xbox One exclusives out there, but soon PlayStation 4 owners will get in on the fun. As part of a 20-year Tomb Raider celebration, it was just announced that Lara Croft’s latest adventure will come to Sony’s console on October 11th. As is often the case with delayed releases like this, the game will feature a bunch of extra content to help make up for the wait.
Most significant among the new stuff here is the inclusion of a virtual reality mode. A new DLC story chapter called “Blood Ties” will work with the PS VR system; it’ll also work as a standalone chapter without the VR headset. There’s also a second new story mission called “Lara’s Nightmare” and a co-op addition to the game’s “endurance” mode. That co-op mode lets two players team up and try to survive as long as possible to get onto the game’s leaderboards.
Another new addition to the game is an even harder difficulty level for the single-player campaign known as “extreme survivor.” All of the game’s checkpoints have been removed, so the only way to survive is to find enough resources to light campfires where you can save your game.
There are a few other extras included, mostly just new visual outfits to pay homage to the way Lara Croft has evolved over the years. Somewhat hilariously, you can replay the main story with five different low-fi polygon-based character models, which will surely look goofy as hell next to the more realistic, high-resolution characters and environments.
Naturally, all of the game’s previous DLC is included, as well — that includes another three-hour story mode expansion, and a bunch of custom outfits and weapons. And if you bought the season pass for Rise of the Tomb Raider on the Xbox One or PC, you’ll get all of this new content for free, as well.
Source: PlayStation Blog, Xbox Wire, Tomb Raider Blog
Microsoft’s 2TB Xbox One S arrives on August 2nd
You don’t have to wait much longer to get Microsoft’s higher-end 2TB Xbox One S. Microsoft has confirmed that the capacious console will reach both pre-order customers and retail shelves on August 2nd. As before, the $399 you’ll pay largely reflects that 2TB of storage. You’ll get 4K (and HDR) video playback, the Bluetooth-capable controller and that more compact design on all Xbox One S models, including the more affordable 500GB and 1TB versions arriving sometime later this year. There’s a bigger question looming, though: do you buy this and enjoy it right away, or wait for the supercharged Project Scorpio late in 2017?
Source: Xbox Wire
Gaming headset review roundup: Five options, one favorite
As much as we’d all love surround sound in every room where we have a TV, it isn’t always feasible. Be it budgetary reasons or living in an apartment with roommates who don’t share your enthusiasm for late-night explosions, sometimes 5.1- or 7.1-channel audio is out of reach. Luckily, there are plenty of headphones to pick from. But that too comes with its own set of conundrums: Where does one even begin in that sea of choices?
We’ve rounded up five options at a variety of price points to help make your decision a little clearer. With this edition, we’re looking at the PlayStation Gold wireless headset, the Xbox Wireless Stereo Headset, the Astro A30 and A40 and, finally, the Blue Lola as a wildcard.
PlayStation Gold ($100)
The PlayStation Gold is extremely simple to set up: Plug the included USB receiver into an open spot on your PlayStation 4, power the headphones on and that’s it. Overall, the build quality is a little flimsy (one of the trim pieces on the headband fell off when I was unboxing the unit), and the hinges on the foldable portion of the band aren’t very firm. Add in the stiffness of the volume rocker and chat/audio rocker — not to mention the garish blue accents on the band — and it’s clear that the Gold won’t be winning any design awards.
Downloading the companion app from the PlayStation Store gives you access to custom presets for a smattering of games including Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Destiny, Batman: Arkham Knight and Ratchet and Clank. There are also some generic presets for shooters and fighting games, along with options for custom equalizer settings, movies and music.
The headset itself only has room for the built-in preset and one custom setting. That makes it cumbersome to swap from one game-specific setting to another. First you need to quit your current game, open the app, then wire the headset to the PlayStation 4 to transfer the new preset. It’s clunky, and honestly, the presets feel a little gimmicky anyway. Sure, some have more bass than others, or gunfire sounds a little different, but for me it wasn’t worth going back and forth. If there were room for more than one user-chosen EQ curve, it’d be a different story, but as it stands, I used the “Custom 3” setting for the majority of my testing.
How does the Gold actually sound? Pretty good. The virtual surround was plenty convincing, but at the highest volume, the ear cups were rattling on my skull. It was uncomfortably loud, even to my concert-deafened ears. The good news is that the sound field was detailed and there wasn’t any white noise at high volumes — an issue with other, more expensive headsets. As far as voice chat quality goes, my friends said I sounded distant, even though the built-in mic was only a few inches from my mouth.
My favorite feature is that the headset automatically turns off with the PS4 itself as a battery-saving measure, which is perfect for late-night gaming sessions when I fall asleep with the controller in my hands. The headset basically requires this: After two four-hour sessions I had to recharge it. It’s very much like the DualShock 4 controller in that respect.
Xbox One Stereo ($60)
Of all the headphones I tested, the Xbox One Stereo Headset surprised me the most. They’re the cheapest of the bunch, at $60, but for the money they offer well-balanced sound and solid build quality. Sure, they’re only two-channel, but a vast majority of (if not all) headsets boasting “surround sound” use software to simulate a 5.1- or 7.1-channel sound field from a few drivers. That’s because it’s tricky to cram multiple drivers into each ear cup while keeping the size, price and weight down.
Insert the relatively lightweight headset into the 3.5mm jack on your controller (or use the included headset adapter for older paddles) and you’re good to go. Unlike plugging a headset directly into the PS4’s DualShock 4, there are no momentary audio cutouts when onscreen action gets heavy. What’s more, the Xbox’s headset volume is incredibly loud.
I didn’t expect this amount of bass either. I’ll almost always ask for more, of course, but as I plumbed the depths of the research facility in Inside, the lab groaned pretty convincingly. Was the sound as deep as what my 12-inch Klipsch subwoofer reproduces? Of course not. But for a cheap pair of headphones, the Xbox One Stereo is impressive.
If I have one gripe, though, it’s that the highs sound clipped. In Forza Horizon 2, that makes squealing tires sound cheap and not nearly as distinct against the game’s rock and dance-music radio stations.
Astro A30 ($160) and Astro A40 TR ($250)
Astro has long made my favorite gaming and media headphones. The problem is price. With the home-theater-replacement A50s running $300, the number of people spending as much on headphones as they would on an Xbox One S is likely pretty low. For $160, though, you can get the A30 on-ear model with a Mixamp Pro. Or, for $250, the new A40TR and matching Mixamp Pro TR — which uniquely has a few streaming-specific audio options. These Mixamps are essential to Astro’s gear, as they’re an inline amp for the headset. They provide the power and sound processing and are basically what makes Astro’s gear sound the way it does. To bypass the Mixamp and plug either pair of headphones into a gamepad would be missing the point of why you bought Astro stuff in the first place.
As much as I love my pair of battle-worn MLG Edition A40’s from 2011, they had one problem that Astro still hasn’t solved: Each Mixamp or base station supports only one digital optical input apiece. The input situation is the lone caveat affecting anyone with more than one console, because switching between a PlayStation and an Xbox while retaining full audio fidelity means getting up and swapping fiber-optic cables. This quirk persists with the A30 and A40 kits I tested as well. Not only that, but the amps are powered via USB, which halves the number available on the PS4. This also means you’ll be stretching cables across the living room if you want to use either system from your couch.
The build quality on both headsets is top-notch, as always. But I had a hard time keeping the A30 from sliding off the back of my head unless I was sitting up straight. The ear cups also felt tight on my admittedly large skull. The bass response here never felt overbearing; rather, it complemented whatever was happening on-screen. Bass notes are deep and help round out the soundscape. Running around the Scottish countryside in Uncharted 4 with enemy dynamite exploding somewhere off in the distance sounded great, with tons of ambient detail standing out against thunderous booms.
Same goes for spelunking around a pirate cave full of dripping water and creaking suspension bridges in Uncharted 4. Both the A30 and A40 share another trait in that, in the Battlefield 1 alpha, the high-pitched brap at the end of a machine gun’s fire sounds a little crispy. Fully automatic weapons in Uncharted 4 sounded fine, however.
The over-ear A40 uses a different Mixamp that has an altogether unique sound versus that of the A30. Everything is deeper, with impressive dynamic range. For an A/B comparison, at one point I swapped the A30 into the TR amp and got an altogether different sound than I did with the stock Mixamp. Expectedly, they took on characteristics present in the A40, albeit a little less clear and defined. When plugged into their respective inline amps, both headsets sound great, and effectively block out the sounds of early-morning bird chirping and the fountain outside my window.
Neither is a bad choice; it’s just a matter of how much you want to spend.
Blue Lola ($250)
One of the best aspects of new video-game consoles is that you can simply plug a pair of normal headphones right into your gamepad. My coworker Billy was a big fan of the Blue Lola headphones, so I figured I’d give them a shot as a gaming headset. The biggest problem here is that on the PS4 the max volume level out of the controller is actually pretty low. That isn’t an issue with the Xbox One, however. The Lola accurately picked up subtle details like a hiss of white noise coming from behind a newly opened door in Inside, for instance. Meanwhile, the honk of a goose passing over France in Battlefield 1 alpha was distinct among the sounds of tanks, biplanes and other weaponry.
The plush over-ear design means that the relative quietness doesn’t detract from keeping ambient noise from polluting the onscreen action. Even better, the design and relatively light weight make the Lola comfortable for extended sessions. If you already own a pair, don’t hesitate to plug them into your gamepad of choice. That said, there isn’t a compelling reason to buy it specifically as a gaming headset — especially without a built-in mic for chat.
Wrap-up
Picking a “best headset” here is hard. That’s because the decision mostly comes down to how much you’re willing to spend. Each headset performs well and has its idiosyncrasies, but none are what I’d call bad. The Xbox headset happens to be my personal favorite, due to its sheer simplicity. But as you might expect, it’s at its best when paired with the Xbox One.
The overall crown ultimately goes to the Astro A30’s, on account of how versatile they are. Their lightweight, understated design makes them easy to wear outside of your living room, and at $160 you’re getting access to the best-in-class audio quality that Astro is known for.
‘The Solus Project’ is Xbox One’s sci-fi exploration game
We’ve seen a few games graduate from the Xbox Game Preview program and become full-fledged Xbox One titles, but perhaps none as intriguing as The Solus Project. Earth is a goner, so humanity takes to the stars, with what’s left of the human race hanging out near Pluto. From there you’re shipwrecked on an even more distant planet while looking for a suitable colonization site.
“You are completely and utterly alone on the deserted planet Gliese-6143-C,” a post on Xbox Wire reads. “You will have to unravel the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of an ancient alien race, survive the harsh and hostile environment of the seemingly deserted planet and find a way to send a signal home, to finally save humanity.”
Developer Grip Digital’s marketing manager Petr Ciesarik describes The Solus Project as a narrative-based exploration experience with touches of survival game elements (think Don’t Starve or Rust). The rude among us would likely dismiss it as a “walking simulator,” but how many of those featured rooms ripped straight out of Prometheus? Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture certainly didn’t. It lacked a huge otherworldly tentacle and didn’t equip you with a crowbar, either. Don’t believe me? There’s a trailer below.
If you’re an Xbox owner feeling jealous of the PlayStation faithful finally getting to play No Man’s Sky next month, this might be the closest thing you’ll get to that sci-fi exploration game without buying a PS4. At the present, The Solus Project is available for $15 on the Xbox Store.
Source: Xbox Wire
Exploring the limits of good taste with Xbox Design Lab
A gamepad is the part of a game console people have the most intimate relationship with. You’re holding it in your hands for hours on end, and you know it so well you can control its every function without even looking at it. When the action gets intense, your hands start to sweat from twiddling the thumbsticks. For plenty of people, it’s the first thing that comes to mind when they want to throw something out of rage over a cheap death. Microsoft wants to make that connection even deeper by handing you the keys to the factory with its aptly named Xbox Design Lab.
The folks in Redmond are following the well-worn path forged by Moto Maker, Nike’s iD shoe-customization web app and countless sites that let you make one-off game controllers. The value proposition is straightforward: For $80 — a $20 premium over the stock gamepad — you can create a personalized controller for your Xbox One. Back during E3, Microsoft said 8 million color combinations would be possible. In practice, though, I found that keeping my choices simple was the best way to design a gamepad that won’t embarrass me when company comes over.
The design process breaks down into seven steps: picking colors for the controller body, bumpers and triggers, D-pad, thumbsticks, face and menu buttons, and the back panel. The same rainbow of 15 colors is available for the body, back and D-pad. The thumbsticks have eight options, the face buttons have five, while the ancillary view and menu buttons have four.
On paper, that sounds like a lot of room for creativity, but once I got down and dirty designing my joypad, it was anything but. My coffee table is littered with black remotes and gamepads, and I was feeling nostalgic for the controller that shipped with the Xbox 360 at launch, so I opted for a “robot white” body.
From here, the choices become much more difficult because there isn’t enough granularity. Both thumbsticks have to be the same color. The view and menu buttons, too, and the face buttons all have to be the same style. The latter bit crushed my dreams of having X, Y and B in black with the A button a contrasting lime green.
In fact, the backside’s battery cover isn’t customizable on its own either, which is a shame considering how much space whatever color you choose takes up. What’s more, the installation at Microsoft’s E3 booth had custom Guide buttons on display. Unfortunately, those different-colored, illuminated jewels that take you to the main menu didn’t make their way to the final product.
After a few hours of fiddling around, making garish looking mock-ups and trading screenshots back and forth with my coworkers, I wound up with the understated beauty above. The key to making a good-looking controller is restraint. Sure, I could’ve made something with more colors, but I didn’t want my creation to look like someone vomited confetti on a gamepad. Hence, I opted for “photon blue” thumbsticks instead of “regal purple,” “oxide red” or “deep pink” and matched them to my back panel.
Next, I paired an “electric green” D-pad with matching shoulder buttons and triggers. That’s because, quite frankly, throwing a fourth color into the mix would’ve been a bad idea if I wanted to follow the rules of design. The shoulder buttons and triggers butt up against the back panel, so I had to pick something complementary there as well. Sorry, “lightning yellow,” maybe next time. To keep with my theme of restraint, I went with a white face, menu and view buttons.
For an extra $10, you can have a few words laser-etched into the spot between the D-pad and right thumbstick. Before you get your hopes up, though, be warned that expletives aren’t allowed. Basically, anything that would get your Gamertag flagged for vulgarity won’t work here. Had I realized that sooner, I could’ve saved myself 10 minutes.
While I wish there were more options and granularity in the design process, I have to commend Microsoft for the 360-degree 3-D rendering of the gamepad. Every time you choose a different color, it appears instantly on the mockup, replete with realistic lighting, shadows and reflections. It’s really cool and helps ease any anxiety one might have over how their choices will look in real life.
Sure, $80 to $90 for a gamepad is steep, but compared with other online custom shops it’s actually cheap. Building a one-off pad from Evil Controllers offers greater customization, but there’s an upcharge for most colors and finishes every step of the way. A black matte grip for the sides of the controller is $15, while nondefault choices for the face range from $20 to $25. What starts as a $70 gamepad can cost more than $250 by the time you’re finished. On top of that, the static 2D design interface for Evil Controllers or The Controller Shop are no match for Microsoft’s interactive mockups.
And now, I wait. The order confirmation email says I should have my white, green and blue gamepad by September. Until then, I just need to be patient and use my Elite controller for Inside and repeat runs through Quantum Break. Hopefully I don’t throw it.
Source: Xbox Design Lab
Microsoft hopes 1080p Netflix makes Edge your next browser
As Microsoft continues to nudge folks into trying its new Edge browser on Windows 10, its latest tease is the promise of better looking, more efficient video streaming. Just like Apple’s Safari browser on OS X, it turns out that on Windows only Microsoft’s browsers stream HTML5 Netflix in 1080p, while Chrome, Firefox and Opera all max out at 720p and a much lower bitrate. It also claims the browser makes use of Windows 10’s enhancements to offload video and audio processing to the right hardware in ways that save significant battery life.
Microsoft’s blog post even says chipsets able to handle the hardware-based DRM required for 4K are already shipping, and the software should come this fall to move further beyond the reach of other browsers. Of course, if all that streaming prowess and the addition of extensions aren’t enough to drag you away from Chrome, you don’t necessarily need to use a backup browser even on your PC — Netflix’s Windows 10 app can handle 1080p streaming all on its own.
Via: PC World
Source: Windows Blog
Behold the ‘Gears of War 4’ custom Xbox One S
The Xbox One S isn’t even out yet but that hasn’t stopped Microsoft from taking the smaller console to the custom shop for the first time. If the base model’s white exterior doesn’t match your decor, maybe a Gears of War 4 blood red one will. It’s ugly as sin (now we know what the “S” actually denotes), packs 2TB of internal storage and has laser-etched “claw marks” left by Gears of War 4’s new enemies, the Swarm. Of course, HDR video is here as well, and GoW4 is the first game to take advantage of it.
The $449 bundle includes a digital version of the game’s Ultimate Edition, a custom gamepad, advance access to the game starting October 7th (four days ahead of its retail launch on the 11th) and some in-game weapon skins. The controller didn’t make it out unscathed either, as it follows the design cues of the console, with faux-scratch marks and a bloody thumbprint on the D-pad.
If you don’t want a pre-scratched red paddle, Microsoft has a blue one inspired by protagonist JD Fenix — son of original trilogy star Marcus Fenix — and his armor. Each are $75 and will be available to pre-order August 1st while reservations for the console bundle are open now.
Source: Xbox Wire
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