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- Making Backward Compatible Games Even Better with FPS Boost
- No Man’s Sky: Companions Update Available Now
- The Future of Game Accessibility on Xbox
- Save up to 60% in the EA Sale on the Xbox Store
| Making Backward Compatible Games Even Better with FPS Boost Posted: 17 Feb 2021 09:00 AM PST When we were designing Xbox Series X|S, we knew we wanted to continue our commitment to compatibility we started back in 2015, enabling gamers to play their favorite titles from past generations on the new consoles. Nearly all titles benefit from next generation features like faster loading times and the ability to Quick Resume. Then the team went one step further; adding enhancements to many of our most played games so they look, feel and play better than ever before. As we detailed in October, with the increased CPU, GPU and memory from our new consoles, all of your existing games look and play better. With certain titles, we can make the experience even better, all with no work required by the developer, and no update needed by the gamer. To that end, the backward compatibility team has developed FPS Boost, which employs a variety of new methods for nearly doubling (and in a few instances, quadrupling) the original framerate on select titles. Higher, steadier framerates make games visually smoother, resulting in more immersive gameplay. We partnered closely with developers to enhance the experience while maintaining the game's original intent. And while not applicable to all games, these new techniques can push game engines to render more quickly for a buttery smooth experience beyond what the original game might have delivered due to the capabilities of the hardware at the time.  We're excited to announce the first assortment of backward compatible titles that will support FPS Boost – available beginning today – are Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky's Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4, and Watch Dogs 2. We chose this initial collection of titles not only because they are popular among fans, but to highlight several different ways that FPS Boost can improve your experience. For example, New Super Lucky's Tale can now run up to 120 frames per second (fps) and UFC 4 delivers improved framerate performance specifically on Xbox Series S and can now run at 60fps. This is just the beginning. We will announce and release more titles featuring FPS Boost soon, as well roll out new menu icons and system settings in an upcoming system update. Starting this Spring, you can go into the "Manage Game" section for any title, where you'll be presented with a new "Compatibility Options" button that will allow you to toggle FPS Boost (as well as Auto HDR) on or off. There will also be a new indicator informing you when a game is running with FPS Boost whenever you hit the Xbox Button on your controller. You decide how you want to play your favorite games, whether in its original form or with FPS Boost.  And FPS Boost doesn't only benefit gamers who own these titles – you'll be happy to hear that many of these upcoming FPS Boost games will be available in Xbox Game Pass. From this initial release of updates, New Super Lucky's Tale and Sniper Elite 4 are currently available with Xbox Game Pass. We're very excited for fans to experience FPS Boost and in the coming months, we'll be announcing more and more games that support this function. At Xbox, we believe your gaming investments should come with you, which is why we've brought forward thousands of games from four generations to look and play better than ever on the Xbox Series X|S. We can't wait for you all to give these titles a spin, and to reveal more FPS Boost games very soon. Related:No Man's Sky: Companions Update Available Now The Future of Game Accessibility on Xbox Save up to 60% in the EA Sale on the Xbox Store  |
| No Man’s Sky: Companions Update Available Now Posted: 17 Feb 2021 06:00 AM PST Hello Everyone, Our little Hello Games team had a big year in 2020, releasing six huge, free updates for No Man's Sky. We are even more excited for what 2021 has in store! Today, we're very pleased to release our first major update of 2021: Companions. Ever since travelers encountered their first creatures on their first planet in No Man's Sky, it seemed inevitable that you would want to befriend them and invite them to join you on their inter-galactic journeys.  The Beyond update in 2018 introduced the concept of feeding, riding, and even milking a vast range of animals in the game. Companions takes this to a whole new level in a huge new update. Travelers are now able to adopt the creatures they encounter and form close bonds with them. They will travel side-by-side with you as you adventure through the universe, both as a friend and as a valuable aide on your voyage. Train them to scan for resources, mark out hazards, provide light, hunt dangerous fauna, find settlements, excavate buried treasure or even mine for materials with their own shoulder-mounted mining lasers.  If properly nurtured, your companion will lay eggs which can be collected and incubated. Watch in wonder as the new-borns hatch and grow from babies to full-grown adults! Use the Space Anomaly's new Egg Sequencer to genetically modify your companion's eggs into ever-wilder species. Give your companion a unique look with a wide range of customisable accessories and decals. Created a rare and noteworthy creature? It could be valuable and sought-after. Why not trade their eggs with fellow travellers?  Creature personalities are defined by their species and ecosystem such that no two creatures are alike, and their personalities develop further as you deepen your bond with them. Your faithful friend will roam the planet with you as you explore, and can be patted, fed, and played with. Upon encountering other travellers and their companions, they may become frightened, playful, or even aggressive, based on their own unique personality. Every adopted creature is equipped with a neural harness that connects directly to the Exosuit. Your companion's innermost thoughts will be translated and sent directly to your internal communication channels. Feel the connection with them grow as you play with them, feed them, and go on adventures together.  2020 for our small dev team proved to be one of our busiest yet with no fewer than six free updates to No Man's Sky, including our big variation update Origins, our introduction of cross-play and the Xbox Series X|S Next Generation update. On top of that all was our entry into Xbox Game Pass in June which saw several million new travelers warp into the universe for the first time. The Companions update is the first update in another busy year for No Man's Sky and is available to download free to existing owners from today. Our journey continues.   No Man's SkyHello Games $59.99 Xbox One X Enhanced PC Game Pass Xbox Game Pass No Man's Sky comes complete with all 12 major updates up to and including Origins, our 3.0 update which dramatically expands the universe. Inspired by the adventure and imagination that we love from classic science-fiction, No Man's Sky presents you with a galaxy to explore, filled with unique planets and lifeforms, and constant danger and action. In No Man's Sky, every star is the light of a distant sun, each orbited by planets filled with life, and you can go to any of them you choose. Fly smoothly from deep space to planetary surfaces, with no loading screens, and no limits. In this infinite procedurally generated universe, you'll discover places and creatures that no other players have seen before – and perhaps never will again. Embark on an epic voyage At the centre of the galaxy lies a irresistible pulse which draws you on a journey towards it to learn the true nature of the cosmos. But, facing hostile creatures and fierce pirates, you'll know that death comes at a cost, and survival will be down to the choices you make over how you upgrade your ship, your weapon and suit. Find your own destiny Your voyage through No Man's Sky is up to you. Will you be a fighter, preying on the weak and taking their riches, or taking out pirates for their bounties? Power is yours if you upgrade your ship for speed and weaponry. Or a trader? Find rich resources on forgotten worlds and exploit them for the highest prices. Invest in more cargo space and you'll reap huge rewards. Or perhaps an explorer? Go beyond the known frontier and discover places and things that no one has ever seen before. Upgrade your engines to jump ever farther, and strengthen your suit for survival in toxic environments that would kill the unwary. Share your journey The galaxy is a living, breathing place. Trade convoys travel between stars, factions vie for territory, pirates hunt the unwary, and the police are ever watching. Every other player lives in the same galaxy, and you can choose to share your discoveries with them on a map that spans known space. Perhaps you will see the results of their actions as well as your own… Making Backward Compatible Games Even Better with FPS Boost The Future of Game Accessibility on Xbox Save up to 60% in the EA Sale on the Xbox Store  |
| The Future of Game Accessibility on Xbox Posted: 16 Feb 2021 11:00 AM PST Passion for game accessibility has grown exponentially among developers and gamers alike in the past decade. According to the ESA Foundation, there are nearly 46 million gamers with disabilities in the U.S. alone, so we're heartened to see that game developers are actively seeking out resources that guide inclusive game design to ensure that their games are fun for everyone who wants to play. At Microsoft, accessibility is a core aspect of how products are built. The implementation of inclusive design principles is a foundational part of the overall development process across Team Xbox. In early 2019, members of the Microsoft Gaming Accessibility team set out on a mission to create the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAGs); a comprehensive set of best practices to support the game industry in driving accessibility efforts forward. The XAGs are intended to be used by designers to generate ideas and as a guiding checklist for validating the accessibility of a game. Leveraging years of accessibility research in the gaming industry as well as close partnerships with industry experts and members of the Gaming & Disability community, the original XAGs were launched in January 2020. Feedback Received! Post-launch, the team has been committed to ensuring that feedback from our Gaming & Disability community is both encouraged and heard loud and clear. There was an understanding from the beginning of this process that the only way to truly ensure that the needs of developers and members of the Gaming & Disability Community were met was to partner with these groups during the creation of the XAGs, as well as after they launched. Over the past year, developers have expressed enthusiasm for the XAGs, but also asked for additional context and clarification as to how to ensure these guidelines are properly implemented in their games. Additionally, there has been a clear desire for more content that helps a developer understand "where to start," or "how to focus efforts." Finally, there have been requests for help understanding the impact that XAGs will have on the gaming experience of players with disabilities. The Improvements Given all of this exciting feedback, the team developed a vision of how the XAGs could be improved to be even more helpful. Kaitlyn Jones, of the Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Team, led the project. As a gaming accessibility expert with a background as an occupational therapist, Kaitlyn focused on the following improvements: • Improved Language: The language used in the XAGs has been improved to ensure that guidelines are clear and easily understood. A focus on removing overly technical terms, or adding additional context to help readers understand terms, was a top priority. • Clear "Goal": Each XAG now has a succinct "goal" statement. Readers can more easily find XAGs relevant to their current work by quickly reading through goal statements. • Improved Overview: To ensure that developers understand the importance of each XAG guideline, improved overview sections now provide key contextual information including a summary of the impact a XAG can have on gamers with disabilities as well as those facing situational impairments. • Scoping Questions: High level questions ask developers to identify whether certain elements are present in their game. This yes/no determination can help developers more easily identify which XAGs are key priorities to be focused on first. • Key Areas to Target: Helps developers identify areas across their game experience that should be addressed when implementing XAG guidelines. • Background and Foundational Info: As some XAGs are more complex than others, additional background and foundational information has been provided to help make certain XAGs easier to comprehend. • Implementation Guideline examples: To help clarify guidelines that were difficult to understand, numerous examples (in the form of images and videos) have been created and aligned with various guidelines to demonstrate real-world examples of specific guidelines in action. Using Our Guidelines to Improve Games Once all of the updated Xbox Accessibility Guidelines were ready to go, the team realized that it could take further steps to ensure that developers have a way to find out whether or not their games were actually reaching the level of accessibility they targeted. With that in mind, the Game Reliability Engineering team and the Gaming Accessibility Team have collaborated to put together an industry-first, platform-provided game accessibility testing program that can validate games using the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines. Mike Gamble, principle software engineering lead in Game Reliability Engineering and 25-year game industry veteran, led the project. Developers now have the option to send Microsoft their Xbox or PC title and have it analyzed and validated against the recommendations provided in the XAGs. Where issues are found, they are noted with reproduction steps, screenshots, and other information to help the developer understand what aspect of a given experience may be challenging for certain gamers with disabilities. They also wanted to make sure that developers understood the potential impact of a given issue on our gamers. To that end, the reports include additional information such as links to gaming accessibility and inclusive design documentation, non-profits and industry-recognized subject matter experts, platform-specific technical documentation, and more. Perhaps the most important aspect of the program, however, is the inclusion of gamers with disabilities as part of the testing project. Every test pass includes members of the Gaming & Disability Community to not only run test cases against games, but to provide their feedback and insights as well. We have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback we've received from the developers who partnered with us in trials of the testing program–their feedback has shaped it. That's why we are confident that whether a developer is just starting to dip their toes into game accessibility or if they are already far along in their inclusive design journey, this program has something to offer them and, ultimately, their customers. The Journey Continues The Xbox Gaming Accessibility Team is incredibly grateful to all of the game developers and Gaming & Disability Community members, advocates, and experts who have provided feedback to us over the last year. But our work isn't done yet. We are continuing to take feedback from developers as well as the Gaming & Disability Community. It's important for us to ensure we are constantly improving and raising the bar for inclusive gaming. This is just a single point in that journey. Related:Making Backward Compatible Games Even Better with FPS Boost No Man's Sky: Companions Update Available Now Save up to 60% in the EA Sale on the Xbox Store  |
| Save up to 60% in the EA Sale on the Xbox Store Posted: 16 Feb 2021 10:00 AM PST The time has come, Xbox fans! FIFA 21, Madden NFL 21, Apex Legends, The Sims 4, and many more Electronic Arts games are on sale as part of the Electronic Arts Sale on the Xbox Store for a limited time! Combine speed, skill, and savings up to 60% on EA’s top games! Here's a couple of highlights to look for: EA Sports FIFA 21 Madden NFL 21 The Sims 4 Snowy Escape Expansion Pack Apex Legends – Legend Editions Check out these games and more during the Electronic Arts Sale on the Xbox Store. Related:Making Backward Compatible Games Even Better with FPS Boost No Man's Sky: Companions Update Available Now The Future of Game Accessibility on Xbox  |
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