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Xbox One – Digital Midnight Launches Are The Future Microsoft Is “Building Towards”

While Titanfall‘s recent launch is proving to be a successful cure for the FPS itch, it has also left a number of Xbox One owners yearning for improvements with regards to digital game releases.

As you may have experienced, Titanfall’s digital launch schedule resulted in lot of early 3am risers (or night owls) on the East Coast, eager to start their game download as early as possible. Meanwhile, physical sales began right on cue at 12 midnight in the same regions, giving a three hour head start to consumers attending brick and mortar launch events or openings.

The situation isn’t ideal, but luckily, Microsoft sees things the same way.

Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer recently remarked on Twitter that a future of midnight launches on Xbox Live is also the future the company is “building towards”.

Expect to hear more in the coming months.

Chief product officer Marc Whitten says a future Xbox One system update is in the works that focuses on external hard drive storage, notification improvements, and more.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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EverQuest Next to Make Good Use of PlayStation 4’s Social Features

EverQuest Next is coming to the PlayStation 4 and will be taking advantage of the console’s unique social features.

Speaking to Polygon, EverQuest franchise director of development Dave Georgeson confirmed that Sony’s console will make it easier for players to share content using through a wide range of social media integration.

The PlayStation 4 version of EverQuest next will function with services like Twitch, Facebook, and Twitter, said Georegson, who expects the features to be widely used.

“Reaching out to other people through social media…it’s a given, it’ll be in Next,” he said.

In addition, as EverQuest approaches its 15th birthday, Sony Online Entertainment is prepared to add brand new content to both EverQuest and EverQuest 2.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Rumor – Mirror’s Edge 2 Will Have An ‘Open World Multiplayer Playground’, According to Insider

If the latest rumors are to be believed, Digital Illusion CE’s sequel to the unique free-running game, Mirror’s Edge, will include a “multiplayer playground” within its always online open world.

The info comes from “verified sources”, says Rocketchainsaw, who states that part of Mirror’s Edge’s open world environment will include include “a persistent, ‘always online’ component.”

“The open world is considered a multiplayer ‘playground’ where other plays can drop-in/drop-out seamlessly, freely choosing their level of interaction with other players and the game world. A comparison to Journey‘s online feature was given as the closest example.”

According to the info, a co-op mode of sorts and competitive time trials will also make an appearance in the game.

Sounds pretty awesome. But, you know, take this one with a pinch of salt.

Would you take a side of multiplayer with your Mirror’s Edge 2?

 

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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“When You Push Innovation, You Miss Other Things” – EA on Battlefield 4 Issues

A few days ago, the CEO of Electronic Arts, Andrew Wilson, took the stage at the SXSW event in Austin to show off Titanfall and reflect on previous titles published under the company.

“Building games is very hard… when you push innovation, you miss other things. We’ve changed our process,” Wilson stated in response to a fan tweet questioning launch issues that marred popular EA titles, specifically Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, and Sim City.

Exactly how EA’s process has been changed with regards to that topic remains unclear.

“Our focus is on the player experience …. at the center of every revolution in our industry is the gamer,” Wilson added. “I came from a small studio, figuring out how to drive innovation. The indie spirit is important to the industry.”

He continued: “The games I was involved in were played by millions of people. EA gave me a chance to do that. I have a deep desire to re-inject two things into EA: one is the entrepreneurial spirit and two is a ‘why’ we do what we do.”

“Why is it we come to work everyday? We believe interactive games are the single best form of entertainment on the planet,” he concluded.

Recently, EA’s Chief Financial Officer shared that the Battlefield franchise hasn’t “seen any damage”.

“Clearly we’re very focused on protecting the brand,” he said.

Fahed Jaradat

Senior Editor and Co-Founder. Multiplayer runs in my blood. Don't believe me? Ask for a sample! Subscriber

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Watch Dogs PC Minimum System Requirements Revealed

With Watch Dogs finally being released this May after it was mysteriously delayed just weeks before it’s initial November launch, the game’s Creative Director, Jonathan Morin, has announced the PC minimum requirements on Twitter.

  • Processor: IntelCore 2 Quad Q8400 2.66Ghz or AMDPhenom II X4 940 3.0Ghz
  • Memory: 6GB RAM
  • Video card: 1024 VRAM DirectX 11 Shader 5.0
  • Sound Card: DirectX9
  • Hard drive: 25 GB

Additionally, Morin has reassured that despite the graphical differences of how Watch Dogs looked in recent footage, those who are eager to play the title on PC will find it stunning. “[Watch Dogs PC version] on very high setting [is] REALLY stunning if you ask me. As for density it [is] also very high of course.”

The recommended specs for the PC version haven’t been revealed as of yet unfortunately, but keep your eyes peeled on MP1st for more information.

Recently, a closed beta for Watch Dogs has been spotted, and you can read all about it here.

Joel Santana

Gamer for the past 20 years who loves anything ranging from RPGs, Fighters and of course FPS games. Author

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Xbox Live Services Limited, “Not a Titanfall Issue,” says Microsoft

Xbox Live us currently experiencing technical issues as multiple users are reporting difficulties signing in and getting online.

The issue certainly rears its ugly head at unfortunate time, during the launch day of Respawn Entertainment’s debut shooter, Titanfall. But Xbox Live’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb assures users that the troubles are not related to the game and that Microsoft is actively working on a fix.

Similarly, according to Respawn Producer Drew McCoy, PC users reporting issues with multiple GPUs can also look forward to a fix in an upcoming patch.

As for Xbox Live, keep an eye on this page to find out the current status of the service. We’ll have updates as they come in.

Update

According to the official Xbox Support Twitter handle, it appears that services are back online.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Battlefield 4 Naval Strike Map Preview Images

Naval Strike, Battlefield 4’s third multiplayer expansion, is arriving later this March.

Earlier today, we learned about some of the new assignment rewards that the ocean combat themed DLC will offer, as well as more info on the mysterious “Phantom Trainee” assignment.

Now, reddit user Jrb1x has posted these brand new images of Naval Strike’s four maps; Lost Island, Operation Mortar, Nansha Strike, and Wave Breaker.

Lost Island

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Operation Mortar

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Nansha Strike

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Wave Breaker

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Thanks, Jrb1x!

Naval Strike will also offer up new weapons, gadgets and vehicles, along with the new Carrier Assault game mode.

All we’re waiting for now is an official Naval Strike trailer along with a solid release date, which is hopefully incoming soon. Keep your sights on MP1st for all things Battlefield.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls “The Crusader Arrives” Trailer

Blizzard is showing off the brand new Crusader class being introduced in Diablo 3‘s upcoming expansion, Reaper of Souls, launching this March 25.

In addition to the new shield, flail and mid-range spell-based class, Reaper of Souls will offer an entirely new act, level cap, Adventure Mode, and more. You can learn more about the DLC here.

Blizzard recently outlined the latest updates to the game, including new social features and improvements to the loot system.

Check out the Crusader and his or her new skills and abilities in the trailer above. Excited to try out the new character?

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Even Bungie is Playing Titanfall

Even Bungie, creators of one of the most ground-breaking shooter series of all time, Halo, is playing Respawn Entertainment’s recently launched sci-fi shooter, Titanfall.

The team published this tweet earlier today, showing off the massive “loot drop” left at their studio:

Bungie is currently gearing up for the beta of their debut project, the massive shared-world sci-fi fantasy shooter, Destiny, launching this September 9.

Not that it’s important news, but it’s kind of cool to see a well-respected studio like Bungie enjoying the work of the talented men and women now working at Respawn Entertainment, despite the fierce competition between publishers Activision and EA.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Battlefield 4 Naval Strike – New Assignment Rewards Discovered, “Phantom Trainee” Spotted

Along with a number of new assignments, it appears Battlefield 4’s Naval Strike expansion will also offer up a handful of brand new rewards and dog tags.

Our friends over at Symthic have discovered a few of these items by data mining the latest Battlefield 4 files, including an award for the mysterious Phantom Trainee assignment, presumably a continuation of the “Phantom Prospect” assignment.

Check out the new items below:

Assignment Awards and Vehicle Line Art

Update

Phantom Trainee Assignment:

  • Score 200 kills with pistols
  • Score 20 kills in a jet
  • Get 2x Shotgun Ribbons in a round
  • Unlocks Phantom weapon and vehicle camo

Thanks, Mechcell.

Dog Tag Awards

Premium Dog Tag Awards

Battlefield 4 Naval Strike launches later this month for Premium members first.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Report – Is High Moon Porting Call of Duty 2014 to Xbox 360 and PS3?

Sledgehammer Games is the studio heading up this year’s Call of Duty.

As Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg noted earlier, this year’s development focus will shift to next-gen consoles and PC, making Call of Duty 2014 “a next-gen-first production” while “the current-gen game will be a version of that,” he said. Could this mean work on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game will be delegated to another studio?

Enter Activision studio High Moon, who is reported to be hiring for its new “high profile first person shooter” for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

“High Moon Studios, part of Activision Blizzard, is developing a high-profile, First Person Shooter for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3,” the listing reads. “Based in Carlsbad, we offer a creative and challenging environment that fosters collaboration, mentorship and camaraderie. We’re dedicated to making successful high quality games, and we are looking for outstanding candidates to join our talented team.”

Another listing for Senior User Interface Engineer asks for proficiency in the Radiant Engine, a level editor heavily used in the development of Call of Duty games.

High Moon studios is known for their work on various Transformer games; War for Cybertron, Dark of the Moon, and Fall of Cyberton, as well as last year’s Deadpool.

However, the news might not mean that Sledgehammer won’t have any input on developing the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions whatsoever, as we have learned recently.

Recent rumors have suggested that Call of Duty 2014 might be a new entry in the Modern Warfare series.

Thanks, VideoGamer.

Fahed Jaradat

Senior Editor and Co-Founder. Multiplayer runs in my blood. Don't believe me? Ask for a sample! Subscriber

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Titanfall ‘Will be a Great Experience on Xbox 360,’ Claims Microsoft

Yusuf Mehdi, Xbox Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Microsoft, shares his excitement for the Xbox 360 version of Titanfall at SXSW’s launch event yesterday.

“I think we struck the right balance — it was Respawn, really, and the developer who struck the balance — which is, it will play great on Xbox 360. Believe me, we are thrilled about it,” Yusuf Mehdi told Polygon.

“Xbox 360 is in, obviously, all the markets including the top 13 with Xbox One; we’re in 48-plus markets for [Xbox 360]. For many markets, that will be the game. So, we’ve worked together to have that be a first-class experience.

“At the same time, on Xbox One you can get some of those extra features that set it apart, and there will be people who want to do that, and there will be enough encouragement to go — but it will be a great experience on Xbox 360,” concluded Mehdi.

Titanfall for Xbox 360 is being developed by Bluepoint Games. The game was delayed last month, and it will release on March 25th in North America, March 28th in Europe.

Fahed Jaradat

Senior Editor and Co-Founder. Multiplayer runs in my blood. Don't believe me? Ask for a sample! Subscriber

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Respawn Deploys Server Update to Smooth Out Titanfall Launch

Titanfall has dropped on the Xbox One and PC and developer Respawn Entertainment, along with Microsoft, is doing everything it can to ensure a smooth launch day.

Things can get a bit hectic when players start filling servers, so the team is deploying a new server update that will hopefully smooth over a few of the game’s launch day troubles.

“We’re aware that some users may have experienced early issues on PC and Xbox One,” the studio writes on their Facebook page. “We’ve just pushed a patch that’s now recovering servers quickly. Players will load into Private Lobbies much faster and we’re continuing to monitor.”

What has your Titanfall launch day experience been like so far? Getting some good games in?

If you haven’t yet, be sure to read up on everything you need to know about Titanfall here.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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DayZ Standalone Patch 0.37 – Bug Fixes, Physics For Vehicles, and More Survival Mechanics

DayZ is about to see a crucial update as the team behind the title plans on implementing better collision physics in the coming weeks.

The patch was originally planned to be released this Wednesday, however the developers of DayZ standalone took to their blog to state that patch 0.37 has been pushed back due to being unstable and having some new bugs that made players invisible.

Their main focus for the next few weeks is getting the patch stable along with implementing cooking and other survival combat mechanics.

The main beef of the patch though is fixing the network issues, collisions and their new physics system implementation, which is crucial when they implement vehicles later on in the Alpha.

There’s still a long ways to go with the Alpha, but things are beginning to take shape. Here are some details, as seen on the official blog:

Trying to get 0.37 to stable

Our main focus this week was to deploy a new version of the game to stable branch. We have two public “branches” of code, stable and experimental. A deployment to stable branch of the latest version of the game was scheduled for Wednesday, however we were not happy with some of the issues that remained.

Three major code changes have been occurring. We have been changing the way collision works to solve a number of bugs, such as shooting while prone colliding with the world and zombie collisions. Also our new physics system has been implemented, allowing us to have throwing, dragging, ragdoll, and even vehicles. In addition, a new guaranteed network message system has been developed to solve network issues, improve client/server performance, as well as reduce the “desync” issues experienced by many.

A number of bugs came out of these developments, two of which cause situations where players and zombies can become invisible to some clients. We want to solve this issue before we deploy to stable. You can try the current version out for yourself on experimental branch.

Survival Cooking

Progress continued with the development of several different kinds of fireplaces, and has moved onto creating assets for constructible ovens. These items will be persistent in the world, allowing the player to cook many things. The temperature system developed in the engine has been refined to have correct return from hot or cold to ambient temperature.

Survival Combat

A new area of work commenced this week is combat directly supporting survival. This includes throwing items, bows and arrows. We now have a great new animation for throwing, and the system developed for this will allow us to support proper animations for bows (e.g. drawing bow back, awaiting player input to fire).

Avatar photo

James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

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Battlefield 4 – New Battlelog and Server Updates Available, Notes

The Battlelog is getting a new update today that fixes a few bugs, adds a few new features, and introduces support for Battlefield 4’s upcoming multiplayer expansion, Naval Strike, as well as the new ranks.

There are also a few updates to the recently introduced Platoons. Similarly, a new server update addresses missing audio in Squad/Team Deathmatch when playing on high ticket Ranked Servers, and introduces a fix for vehicleSpawnDelay and roundTimeLimit being part of presets locked settings. Check out the full update notes below:

March 11 Battlelog Update

Announcements

  • Naval Strike content is now available on Battlelog in most areas, so you can see upcoming weapons, assignments, etc. This also includes support for rank 111 to 120

Features & Improvements

  • Platoon founders (only the original founder) can now change the name of their Platoon
  • Platoon leaders and founders can now cancel invites that have been sent
  • We now show a cogwheel/gear icon instead of the report icon in Platoons, if you are a member
  • The details box for Platoon Battle Reports will now follow on page scroll
  • Recommended Servers will now never include servers that contain less than 10 players
  • Sounds for new Battle Reports and Mission notifications will now no longer be heard, when you’re playing multiplayer (since it was redundant)

Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with the Live Scoreboard not loading for the new game servers that went live last week
  • Fixed an issue where Battlelog Soldier Portraits wouldn’t be available after unlock for soldiers that had stats transferred from a current-gen to a next-gen console
  • Fixed an issue where Mission Dog Tags wouldn’t unlock after the requirements had been met
  • Fixed an issue where tracking a Suggestion in the in-game Battlelog on PC, PS4 or Xbox One caused the progress bar to reset to zero
  • An assignment will now always show all criteria as completed, if the assignment itself has been completed
  • Fixed an issue where the details bar on the Awards page would sometimes have broken positioning
  • Fixed an issue where clicking on an emblem for a soldier that uses a Platoon emblem would take you to your own emblem page instead of the Platoon page
  • Clicking a BF4 Platoon notification in the BF3 or MOHW section will now correctly redirect you to the BF4 section
  • Various smaller fixes and tweaks for Platoons
  • Various other minor fixes

R29 Server Update

  • Fix for missing audio on Squad/Team Deathmatch when playing on high ticket Ranked Servers
  • Fix for vehicleSpawnDelay and roundTimeLimit being part of presets locked settings

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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PvZ: Garden Warfare DLC possibly Teased On In-game Billboard

Although PopCap already hinted that their upcoming DLC for Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will be amazingly hilarious last week, it appears the latest update to the in-game billboard for Garden Warfare has giving us an official first look at what’s to come.

check out the image below:

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Even though it’s hard to spot what’s new in the image above, the Zombot, Tall-nut, and Pea Shooter helmet models are different from the ones currently available in game. In fact, they appear to be upgraded versions, possibly hinting at what’s to come in the near future.

Furthermore, C-jo, the lead designer for Garden Warfare, has announced that the studio will continue to balance out the character classes in the future, depending on user feedback as they will be watching and evaluating everything as they plan to release more patches. In addition, the Garden Warfare team is also looking into adding Legacy and Legacy Southpaw control layout in the future.

Recently, Garden Warfare received a balance patch that buffed the All-Star class and the coins earned for completing a game, check out the notes here.

Joel Santana

Gamer for the past 20 years who loves anything ranging from RPGs, Fighters and of course FPS games. Author

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Titanfall: Free the Frontier Teaser – New Project from Respawn and Playfight

Check out the first teaser from Respawn Entertainment and Playfight’s recently announced collaboration.

The video, called “Titanfall: Free the Frontier” is the Toronto-based VFX studio’s live-action vision of the Titanfall universe with direct guidance from the guys and gals who made the game. Playfight is the same studio that brought you the impressive live-action short film, Call of Duty: Operation Kingfish back in 2011.

Hopefully, we’ll learn more about Respawn and Playfight’s future projects soon. Keep your sights on MP1st!

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Everything You Need to Know About Titanfall – Weapons, Abilities, Modes, and More

Being a multiplayer-only title without an extensive story-driven single player campaign, we actually already know quite a bit about Respawn Entertainment’s debut first-person shooter project, Titanfall, only mere hours away from launch.

Through various leaks, insider details, previews, and info from early releases of the game, there’s no hiding what Titanfall has to offer from the internet. So, through the efforts of NeoGAF user TheOddOne, we now have everything we need to know about Titanfall, from weapons and abilities, to multiplayer maps and modes. It’s all below.

All that’s left it to actually experience the game for yourself when it launches on the Xbox and PC tomorrow in North America, and on the Xbox 360 March 25. For now, here’s what there is to study before release. Check it out and be sure to drop your thoughts below.

Generations

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Pilots

Primary Weapons

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Anti-Titan Weapons

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Sidarms

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Tactical Abilities

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Ordinance

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Tier 1 Kit

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Tier 2 Kit

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Titans

Weapons

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Tactical Abilities

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Ordinance

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Tier 1 Kit

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Tier 2 Kit

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Perks

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Burn Cards

Booster Packs

  • Pack 1: Adrenaline Transfusion x 2, Smuggled Stimulant x 2, Prosthetic Legs, Amped EVA-8 and Amped Charge Rifle.
  • Pack 2: Ghost Squad x 2, Active Camo x 2, Rematch, Satellite Uplink and Personal Alarm System.
  • Pack 3: Map Hack x 2, Satellite Uplink x 2, Amped Mag Launcher, Amped Archer and Amped Sidewinder
  • Pack 4: Echo Vision x 2, Aural Implant, Packet Sniffer, Amped DMR and Personal Alarm System
  • Pack 5: Atlas Refurb, Reserve Ogre, Spare Stryder and Spectre Camo x 3

Multiplayer Modes

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Maps

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ib1rvRWpWdh5Mo

iZVxG5L671AsR

iylkA9nGyKSK5

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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List of Turtle Beach Headsets Compatible With Xbox One, Astro Working on Adaptor “Crackle” Fix

With the launch of the Xbox One’s official headset adapter, a number of previous generation gaming headsets are once again fully functioning and able to provide chat capabilities.

Sadly, due to either physical or technical limitations, not every previous generation headset out there is fully compatible with the new adapter. That said, Turtle Beach has been kind enough to list every one of their headsets that will function properly with the Xbox One while using the new adapter. View the image below and feel free to visit the official page to get more info on their products.

Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 4.39.21 PM

Of course, Astro headset users are also enjoying the benefits of fully functioning chat since the latest Xbox One controller update. However, reports have begun surfacing of a bug that causes crackling during in-game chat when using the Astro’s A50 headset.

For those affected, Astro forum moderator Mitchell has stated that the company has “found a workaround and will release a firmware update this week for both the A50 Wireless Headset and MixAmp Pro 2013 Edition which will stop the crackling from happening.”

Are you an Xbox One headset user? What is your weapon of choice?

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Watch Dogs “Closed Beta” Appears On Xbox One Games Store

Reports have begun surfacing of Xbox One users spotting a Watch Dogs Closed Beta in the Games Store.

Two occurrences were recently screen captured, one from reddit user mouse2012 and the other from AbleToFail:

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Upon clicking the application, mouse2012 says it just displays the message, “no clips to display”. According to the games store, the download is 23 GB.

It’s likely that an internal closed beta has somehow made its way to the Games Store on accident for a brief period of time. We were unable find it searching ourselves after hearing about the reports. Ubisoft has made no such announcement to date, but does the news hint at a Watch Dogs beta to come?

Perhaps we’ll hear something official soon as we approach Watch Dogs’ new May 27 release date.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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