!.07-Xbox Wire

!.07-Xbox Wire


Forza Horizon 4 Available Now on Steam

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 10:00 AM PST

Summary

  • Forza Horizon 4 is available now for purchase on Steam starting at $59.99/£54.99/€ 69.99
  • With cross-play, Steam players join millions of monthly Forza Horizon 4 players driving across Britain on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10 PCs and cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
  • Customize your Horizon Festival with the Standard, Deluxe, or Ultimate Edition digital bundles; content expansions and car packs are also available for purchase separately.

Last month we announced Forza Horizon 4 was headed to Steam for the first time, and today we welcome new players as Forza Horizon 4 is officially available for purchase. We're excited for Steam players to experience the joys of driving in beautiful, historic Britain alongside players across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10 PCs and cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

There are three ways to customize your Horizon Festival experience and car collection, with the Standard, Deluxe and Ultimate Editions offering players options in kickstarting their garages and seeing everything Britain has to offer. Choose one of the below bundles to get started, or head to ForzaMotorsport.net for more details. You can also purchase car packs and expansions separately.

Standard Edition digital bundle $59.99/£54.99/€ 69.99:

  • Forza Horizon 4 
  • Formula Drift Car Pack 

Deluxe Edition digital bundle $79.99/£69.99/€ 89.99

  • Forza Horizon 4  
  • Formula Drift Car Pack 
  • Car Pass 

Ultimate Edition digital bundle $99.99/£84.99/€ 99.99

  • Forza Horizon 4  
  • Formula Drift Car Pack 
  • Car Pass  
  • Best of Bond Car Pack 
  • Welcome Pack 
  • VIP 
  • Fortune Island 
  • LEGO® Speed Champions 

The world of Forza Horizon 4 has grown tremendously thanks to the support of the community, with game modes including The Eliminator and Super7 joining expansion content Fortune Island and LEGO Speed Champions alongside over 600 available cars to create an expansive and social driving experience. Players looking to add even more playful fun to their garages can also check out the Hot Wheels Legends Car Pack, which introduces iconic favorites such as the 1949 Ford F-5 Dually Custom Hot Rod and 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk 'Dream Roadster' to Forza Horizon 4.

Interested in adding a very special car to your garage for free? Starting today, all Forza Horizon 4 players across Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One, Windows 10 PC and Steam can add the 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS to their collections for free by playing Forza Horizon 4 while logged into their Xbox profile between now and March 14 at 10 a.m. PDT. Upon their next log-in, players will receive a message in their message center about the reward car, and upon opening the message it will redeem to their garage. More information on this promotion can be found on forzamotorsport.net.

New to Forza Horizon 4? Check out our beginner's guide filled with advice and tips from our community of seasoned and welcoming racers. With cross-play, you can cruise with a convoy of your friends no matter where they play—across Xbox consoles, Windows 10 PCs, cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and now Steam!

Check out Forza Horizon 4 on Steam and join the community at https://forzamotorsport.net/.

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March Xbox Update Rolls Out with the Upcoming Launch of the Xbox Wireless Headset

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 09:00 AM PST

Summary

  • The Xbox Accessories app on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows 10 is getting an update ahead of the launch of the Xbox Wireless Headset.
  • New toggle settings are available for FPS Boost and Auto HDR for backward compatible games.
  • Achievements are coming back to the Xbox app (mobile),
  • A new way to manage your Xbox subscriptions is coming to console.

Team Xbox is excited to continue bringing new ways to make Xbox even better with software updates designed to improve your Xbox gaming experience based on your feedback, including both delivering you new features and refining existing ones. This month's release includes updates to the Xbox Accessories app in advance of the launch of the Xbox Wireless Headset, new toggles for FPS Boost and Auto HDR for backward compatible games, achievements returning to the Xbox app, and an improved game management experience.

Tailor Your Xbox Wireless Headset Experience on Your Console or PC

On March 16, aligned with the launch of the Xbox Wireless Headset, the Xbox Accessories app on your Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows 10 devices is getting an update. With the update, the app lets you fine-tune the audio controls for a customized audio experience, including equalizer settings, bass boost, auto-mute sensitivity, mic monitoring, and brightness of the mic's mute light. Best of all, the headset can stay updated with the latest features via wireless updates from your console, ensuring you'll have a premium audio experience that continues to evolve.

Make sure you install all the latest Windows updates to enjoy audio customization features on the Xbox Wireless Headset when using the Xbox Accessories app on Windows 10 devices.

Backward Compatible Auto HDR and FPS Boost Settings

In February, Team Xbox announced backward compatible games were getting even better with FPS Boost. Choice is incredibly important when it comes to choosing how you play your favorite games. So this March, we're rolling out our new toggles for both FPS Boost and Auto HDR.

In your game's manage settings, you can choose your compatibility options and toggle on or off Auto HDR and FPS Boost. Once you restart the game, your selections will be applied – you can verify it by pressing the Xbox button and checking the indicators under the clock. Not every game will support these features, so the compatibility options may not be available for your game.

March Xbox Update

Achievements Are Coming Back to the Xbox app

Achievements are returning! We heard the fan feedback that our community wants achievements brought into in the Xbox app on mobile. This month we’re testing various achievement experiences in the app, starting with a limited set of players and then rolling out to everyone.

This first update will include a list of achievements in the app, an achievements details screen, and achievement unlocked notifications. We’ll also be releasing an additional update with popular features like leaderboards in the coming months.

A New Way to Manage Your Xbox Subscriptions

We're bringing subscription management to the Xbox console to make it is easier for customers to see all their important plan information, including last charge, next charge, end date, and more. It also allows customers to update their credit card or other payment information, learn about all the different subscriptions available, and change plans. You'll find all this in Settings under Account.

TV Listings in OneGuide Are Going Away

Based on customer usage and feedback, we're constantly evolving the Xbox experience. To that end, beginning this May we'll be sunsetting live TV listings for OneGuide on Xbox One. You can continue to use OneGuide to view your connected HDMI devices or USB TV tuner. You can also keep using OneGuide for HDMI-passthrough and to watch TV via USB TV tuners, but you won't be able to access the on-screen TV Listings guide.

Managing Games Experience is Getting Better

We've improved the loading performance of the Manage screens in My games & apps. After purchasing a game in the Store with both Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions, the Manage screen makes it more clear what parts of the bundle are best for your console if you select Choose what to install rather than just Install all.

Stay tuned to Xbox Wire for future updates and all the latest and greatest Xbox related news.

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Officially Welcoming Bethesda to Team Xbox

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 06:30 AM PST

Publisher of iconic gaming franchises will expand Xbox's diverse portfolio on Xbox Game Pass

This is an exciting day for Xbox. Today we officially complete the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks. It's an honor to welcome the eight incredibly talented development studios – Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios – and their passionate global communities to the Xbox family. Now that everything is official, we can begin working together to deliver more great games to everyone. At every step building toward this moment, I've been inspired and motivated by the creativity, insight, and community-first approach of the talented people at Bethesda. Our goal is to give these teams the best foundation for doing their greatest work and to learn from them as we continue to build Xbox into an inclusive platform for all players.

This is the next step in building an industry-leading first party studios team, a commitment we have to our Xbox community. With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.

As we shared previously, it's vitally important that Bethesda continues making games the way it always has. We look forward to empowering Bethesda's creative teams to reach even more players around the world, helping make future Bethesda titles the biggest and most popular games in their history. Xbox and Bethesda have long shared a common vision for the future of gaming. Both as fans and as creators, Bethesda understands the potential of Xbox Game Pass.

We would also like to honor the life and memory of my close friend Robert A. Altman, founder of ZeniMax Media. Robert believed deeply in the power of gaming and we are privileged to be able to continue his work by joining forces with the teams he built and led for many years.  I will miss the opportunity to work directly with him on the future of our combined teams but I know that his spirit will live on in the shared work we do and motivate us to make this partnership all he envisioned.

Thank you to all our players for joining us on this incredible journey and to the millions of Bethesda fans around the world. Now that we're one team, we can start working together on the future ahead. We will have more to share about what's next for our teams later this year. In the meantime, to properly celebrate this special moment, we are bringing additional Bethesda games into Xbox Game Pass later this week. Stay tuned for more details!

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