biteho.com

Xbox ANZ, the gaming giant’s Australia/New Zealand division, has launched a unique promotion to support the launch of Sea of Thieves this week on Xbox One and PC. The company has partnered up with Australian pirate band Captain Hellfire & The Wretched Brethren to create what Microsoft is calling the first-ever “sing us a shanty” service.

As part of this, gamers in Australia and New Zealand will be able to request a personalised song from the Aussie pirate band, with the shanties broadcast via Facebook, Mixer, and Twitch. Here’s how it works:

On March 24 and 25, gamers in Australia and New Zealand can watch the Xbox ANZ Facebook page to find out ho to book a session through Eventbrite. The songs will then be played in the above-mentioned channels from 10 AM to 6 PM AEDT on March 24 and 25. The songs will be “personalised to the unique adventures and stories created by gamers in the Sea of Thieves multiplayer world,” Microsoft said.

“Sea of Thieves is already such an immersive game by design, so it’s only fitting we give fans the chance to get their very own shanties from a real-life pirate band,” Xbox Australia boss Jeremy Hinton said. “We’re really looking forward to seeing and hearing the tales of adventure on high seas, shanties and treasured stories created between players and the band.”

Sea of Thieves launches on March 20 for Xbox One and PC. You can buy it outright for $60 on either system or get it on Xbox One with an Xbox Game Pass subscription ($10/month). Starting with Sea of Thieves, all of Microsoft’s first-party games will launch into the Game Pass catalog, including the next Halo and Gears of War titles.

In other news, Microsoft has announced a promotion where you can get a free copy of Sea of Thieves when you buy a new Xbox One X. Additionally, you can check out this schedule to see when servers go live where you live, and find out what’s in the game’s cheeky day-one patch.

Sorry! Your browser is not one that we can support in chat any longer. Its either too old or your IT guy really did a job on it and its ‘too safe’ for us. We thought a lot about this and its just too darn hard to support your browser while we support newer browsers that play so much better with others on the internet. We really hope you can upgrade. If Mel the IT guy riding high on his little power trip sez no then we got nothin for ya man.

You can still watch the live stream so at least you have that going for you. Which is nice…

We strongly suggest
Chrome
We’re totally cool with
Safari (no private browsing)
We deal with
Firefox
Oh and there’s
Internet Explorer (10 and newer)

Initially, the Nintendo Switch was not compatible with wireless headsets; if you wanted to use an audio device separate from the HDMI connection, you needed to use the 3.5mm jack atop the console itself. That changed with software version 4.0.0 when a few headsets began to work. The 5.0.0 update that released earlier this month expanded compatibility, and a handful of wireless USB headsets now work with the console. However, since it’ll require a USB port for the dongle, these headsets will only work when the Switch is docked.

Not every wireless USB headset is guaranteed to work, though. This prompted us to test out the 30+ wireless headsets in our inventory to see what’s compatible with Nintendo’s new console. With the help of our sister site CNET, we compiled the following list.

Wireless Headsets Confirmed To Work With The Nintendo Switch

• Logitech G533
• Logitech G933
• Plantronics Rig 800HS
• Plantronics Rig 800LX
• Sony PlayStation Gold Wireless (Stereo)
• Sony PlayStation Gold Wireless (2018 reissue)
• Sony PlayStation Platinum Wireless
• SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless (set to PS4 mode)
• SteelSeries Siberia 800
• SteelSeries Siberia 840 (discontinued)
• Turtle Beach Stealth 450
• Turtle Beach Stealth 520
• Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (PS4 model only)
• Turtle Beach Stealth 700 (PS4 model only)
• Turtle Beach Elite 800

Nintendo Switch with the Logitech G933 wireless headset connected via USB.A handful of the wireless USB headsets that work on the Nintendo Switch.

Wireless Headsets That Work, Under Certain Conditions

• Astro A50 Gen 3 (only by plugging 3.5mm into the base station)
• LucidSound LS30 (if you trick the dongle by plugging in a 3.5mm cable first)
• LucidSound LS40 (if you trick the dongle by plugging in a 3.5mm cable first)
• SteelSeries Arctis 7 (only by plugging 3.5mm into USB dongle)

Wireless Headsets That DO NOT Work

• Astro A20
• Astro A50 Gen 3 over USB
• Asus Strix Wireless
• Corsair Void Wireless
• Corsair Void Pro Wireless
• HyperX Cloud Flight
• Razer Man O’ War Wireless
• Razer Thresher Ultimate Xbox
• Razer Thresher Ultimate PS4
• Razer Thresher 7.1 for PS4
• Turtle Beach Stealth 420X
• Anything that requires an Xbox One wireless adapter for other devices
  • Razer Thresher
  • Turtle Beach Stealth 600
  • Turtle Beach Stealth 700

Wireless Headsets Not Yet Tested

• Astro A50 Gen 2
• Astro A50 Gen 1
• Corsair Gaming H2100 (does not work, according to Reddit user SeraphisQ)
• Logitech G930
• Plantronics Rig 800HD (will work, according to Reddit user Hylje5000)
• Skullcandy Plyr1 and Plyr2
• SteelSeries H Wireless
• Turtle Beach Stealth 400
• Turtle Beach Stealth 420X (does not work, according to Reddit user Pantoner)
• Turtle Beach Stealth 500P (will work, according to Reddit user 3600CCH6WRX)
• Turtle Beach Ear Force PX4
• Razer Chimaera

Note that the Switch does not transmit audio through Bluetooth, which may change in the future, though latency is a big concern with Bluetooth audio. Of course, this is not a complete list of wireless USB headsets that are available. We’ll be updating this list as we put more headsets to the test and when new ones come in.

For more on what’s new with the Switch, check out our story on the version 5.0.0 software update. The latest Nintendo Direct had plenty of exciting announcements; catch up on what’s coming next for the Switch.

Sea of Thieves is the next big game from Microsoft, and as such, the company is throwing a lot of marketing effort behind it. Today, Microsoft released a new trailer for the Xbox One and PC game featuring The Goonies, Rudy, and The Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin. The actor plays the curator of the “Museum of More Pirate.” He wanted to be a pirate–“Fame, fortune, scurvy–I wanted it all,” he says–but he has asthma so his dreams of swashbuckling adventures never worked out.

Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg said Astin is a “perfect” fit for this Sea of Thieves cinematic trailer for a number of reasons, one of which was that The Goonies was in fact one of the early inspirations for the game overall. Greenberg also said Astin has a certain level of charm and enthusiasm that fits with the tone of the game.

This is the cinematic launch trailer for Sea of Thieves. The gameplay launch trailer was released last week, and it includes a tease of a mighty kraken.

Sea of Thieves launches on March 20 for Xbox One and PC. You can buy it outright for $60 on either system or get it on Xbox One with an Xbox Game Pass subscription ($10/month). Starting with Sea of Thieves, all of Microsoft’s first-party games will launch into the Game Pass catalog, including the next Halo and Gears of War titles.

In other news, Microsoft has announced a promotion where you can get a free copy of Sea of Thieves when you buy a new Xbox One X. Additionally, you can check out this schedule to see when servers go live where you live, and find out what’s in the game’s cheeky day-one patch.

Atari has shared some more details about its upcoming “Ataribox” system, including a new name and logo for the device. The retro-inspired console has been rechristened the Atari VCS, and it won’t be long until we hear when players will be able to pre-order one.

Atari revealed the system’s new name alongside the start of this year’s Game Developers Conference, where the company will show off the Atari VCS along with prototypes of its classic-style joystick and more modern controller. You can take a look at those, along with some new images of the hardware and its retro-inspired logo, in the gallery below.

Atari says the VCS hardware was inspired by the “iconic silhouette” of the original Atari 2600. It will be powered by a custom AMD processor and feature “lots” of classic Atari games, along with “current titles from a range of studios.” An Indiegogo campaign for the system was originally scheduled to begin back in December, with a full launch following sometime this spring, but that was delayed because the company felt a “key element” was still missing.

“With the Atari VCS name, we know how important it is to get everything completely right and that’s why we briefly paused an imminent launch late last year,” said Michael Arzt, Atari COO of Connected Devices. “It was a difficult decision with the countdown underway, but we weren’t willing to go forward with even one thing out of alignment. We hope that Atari’s fans appreciate our extreme attention to detail and are as excited about the Atari VCS as we are.”

Atari plans to announce when pre-orders will begin for the VCS sometime in April. The company didn’t share any more details about when the console will launch or how much it will cost, but it was previously estimated to retail for $250-$300.