Microsoft debuted the Xbox Series X/S during its fiscal Q2, and that pushed the company’s gaming revenue up 51% year-over-year. But the tech behemoth’s strength is not only in the console hardware — it’s also seeing continued gains in software and services.
Xbox hardware sales were up, of course. The Xbox Series X/S drove hardware revenue up 86% compared to the same quarter from last year.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood launches in June
January 27, 2021
ZeniMax Online Studios revealed information for The Elder Scrolls: Online’s yearlong Gates of Oblivion adventure, including details for the Blackwood chapter release.
The Elder Scrolls Online debuted in 2014 and has a dedicated following thanks to a steady release of…
Gorgeous RPG 'Haven' expands to Switch and PS4 on February 4th
January 27, 2021
Haven is centered around a pair of lovers on a lost planet, so it’s fitting that it’ll arrive on more platforms just ahead of Valentine’s Day. The sci-fi RPG will land on Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Epic Games Store on February 4th. It debuted on Steam, GOG…
Plex Arcade features a bunch of old-school Atari games
January 27, 2021
Media streaming service Plex is moving beyond TV, movies, audio and photos. Starting today, you can play a bunch of Atari games through a Plex Arcade subscription. Plex has teamed up with Parsec to offer classics like Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command and Super Breakout. You’ll also be able to add your own game ROMs and emulators to your library.
You can stream the games to Android…
Another quarter, another booming earnings report from Microsoft. But what’s notable for Q2 2021is that it isn’t just the cloud driving the company forward this time. The company reported revenues of $43.1 billion, up 17 percent from last year. That’s $2.9 billion more…
In machine learning, mel-filterbanks — fixed, hand-engineered representations of sound — are often used to train algorithms that classify sound. Decades after the design of mel-filterbanks, research shows that they exhibit desirable mathematical properties for…
On Friday morning, Microsoft announced it was increasing the price of its Xbox Live Gold subscription service. By Friday evening, it reversed that decision and then some. In an update to its news post about the price change, the company explained that it had “messed up.” And according to sources familiar with the matter, Xbox leadership came to that conclusion quickly after a loud public…
GamesBeat Decides: The best (and worst) ‘core’ Mario games
January 24, 2021
Many Mario games are some of the best pieces of digital entertainment ever created. The series seemed like an obvious choice for a new tier list-making video series … so here we are.
My cohort Jeff Grubb and I rank every game in the core Mario series. What does “core”…
Earlier today, Microsoft announced a price increase for Xbox Live Gold, the subscription service that lets Xbox users play games online. Somehow, Microsoft was surprised to find out that this was an unpopular move.
So less than 24 hours later, Microsoft is backtracking. Xbox…
In one of the first positive Friday night news dumps I can remember, Microsoft has not only reversed course on its poorly-received plan to raise the price for Xbox Live, it’s adding a treat. Soon, for free-to-play games (like Fortnite or Apex Legends), multiplayer access will be free, making the Xbox a much more attractive platform for gamers on a budget. Playing a game like Fortnite on…
