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If you’ve been lucky enough to get your hands on the Xbox Series X or Series S during this next-gen console launch week, congrats. It’s an exciting time. You’re also probably eager to jump into the latest games that really let the console’s powerful hardware shine, such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, or you’re probably hyped to see how games on Game Pass have improved.

However, there are a few things you should do and be aware of the first time you set up your new Xbox. Here, we’ll outline the various settings and options available on the new Xbox platform that can improve or streamline the overall experience, and also ensure that you’re actually getting the most out of its feature set.

Check Your TV Settings Through Xbox

Before jumping into games, you’ll want to make sure your Xbox and TV are in harmony. Go into the Settings menu and on the General tab, go to “TV & Display Options”–make sure the console is outputting the right resolution for your display or TV. If you happen to have a display that can do 120Hz, enable the 120Hz option just below resolution.

You can also check the specs and capabilities of your setup by going over to the “4K TV Details” button, which will give you a read-out of these details. This will detect any discrepancies in your setup in case HDR or 120Hz refresh rate isn’t working right if it should be.

The “Calibrate TV” option does just that and this will help you make sure brightness, contrast, and color levels are proper for your display. Some TVs may put out a picture quality that’s a bit too blown out, which can be harsh on your eyes, so this will help you to avoid that.

The Different Video Capabilities On Xbox

The options under the “Video Modes” button is important. Check this to make sure the console has “Allow 4K” enabled for 4K displays, “Allow HDR10” if you’re using an HDR display, and “Auto HDR” to let older games shine with a basic HDR overhaul. “Allow variable refresh rate” enables VRR for TVs and displays that have the feature–this mitigates screen tearing by forcing refresh rate to adapt to the frames-per-second output of games.

“Allow auto low-latency mode” attempts to ensure that your TV is using its “Game Mode” or equivalent–enabling this forces your TV to switch to that picture mode if it’s available when booting up a game. It’s a nice way to ensure you’re getting the fastest input response, but just be sure your TV is properly color-calibrated for that setting.

HDMI-CEC Options And Power Modes

For those who have set up their entertainment centers with CEC (consumer electronics control) in mind, definitely check the “Device Control” options here. Enabling HDMI-CEC gives you the options to have the Xbox turn other devices on and off (and vice versa), and/or have volume control done through the console.

Going back to the General tab, under the “Power Mode & Startup” options, you can change when the console automatically shuts off and choose between the instant-on (default) or energy-saving power mode. Instant-on delivers the ultra-fast system startup and lets you manage and install games from the mobile app, whereas energy-saving uses less power (“environmentally friendlier” as the system says)–in my experience, the system is still quick to boot and snappy from startup even with this setting.

Customizing To Your Liking

One thing you can easily overlook is some of the personalization options available. The first thing I did was rearrange the order of the tabs when I press the Xbox home button–this is called the Guide menu. Since I like capturing screenshots, I made sure my capture and share menu was one tab-over away from the main Guide tab, and I did the same for Profile and System options in case I needed to access my settings quickly.

You can also customize what shows up on your Xbox home screen–when you’re on this main screen, just hit the View button and it’ll open up your customization options. Here, you can add or remove certain modules, change the background theme and color.

Set Your Series X|S As Your Home Xbox

One last thing you should do under the General tab in Settings is to set your brand-new Xbox as your home Xbox. This makes it so Microsoft store and Xbox Live account stuff defaults to this particular system, and it grants access to all of your perks for all other accounts tied to this Xbox. This is particularly useful if you have multiple people using the system and want to play the games you’ve downloaded or use Xbox Live Gold as well.

Accessibility Options

The Xbox Series X|S features a similar suite of accessibility features as the Xbox One systems, available through the Ease of Access menu. You can enable things like a narrator that reads out text and button prompts in case you need to hear them instead, a magnifier to zoom in to see menus better, closed captioning, high contrast modes, and game transcription (with speech-to-text and text-to-speech options). You can also switch up button mapping, change sticks and trigger behaviors, turn vibration on or off, and set co-pilot settings if you need that.

Settings For Capturing Screenshots And Clips

One of the coolest features of the new Xbox controller is the dedicated Share button. You’ll definitely want to make sure you know how to use this new button and its features properly before jumping into games to save those great in-game moments.

By default, pressing it once takes a screenshot and saves it to storage, and holding it saves a clip of what happened moments ago, which really helps you preserve those unexpected gameplay moments. You can also extend the length of time the system goes back to capture gameplay (15 seconds all the way up to one minute). However, you can change what the share button does; for example, you can set it to start and stop a recording by holding the button. You’re also able to set the resolution of the clips you capture–there are limitations on how long they can be depending on the resolution: 4K (SDR and HDR) at 30 seconds, 1080p at one minute, and 720p at three minutes.

If you have a separate drive connected, you can assign that to house your screenshots and gameplay clips.

Transferring Games If You Have An Xbox One

One thing to keep in mind is that all Xbox One games will play on your new Xbox Series X or S. Some will have to download an update if they have Series X|S optimizations (some of which are relatively small, others that are much bigger), but it’s not like downloading an entire game.

So, if you have an external USB 3.0 storage drive, copy or move your Xbox One and other backwards compatible games from your old system onto that drive and then transfer them onto the Xbox Series X or S. Since everything Xbox is all part of the same ecosystem, games and files will be recognized across the different systems. It’ll save time and bandwidth.

Start Gaming

I know most of you probably just booted up your system and immediately started installing, downloading, or transferring games right after the initial console setup–I know I did. But what I mentioned here should help make sure you’re aware of the console’s capabilities and that all the features you want out of the gaming experience are working properly.

We have so much more coverage of next-gen consoles so be sure to check out my full Xbox Series X review and Xbox Series S review. I also tested how different storage devices work with the new Xbox systems to give you a better idea of which options are best for expanding storage capacity. If you still want to get a new console, keep up with our Xbox Series X|S buying guide–we are continuing to update it as availability and stock from different retailers changes.

November came in hot, with Microsoft dropping two next-gen consoles and a bunch of other companies releasing a slew of games ahead of Black Friday 2020. And now that we’re starting to see Black Friday ads come in, it’s about to get a lot more wild. There are a ton of deals this year, most of which beat out what we saw last year. GameStop in particular is going hard in the paint, beating out prices at Best Buy and Target. There are even a couple discounts on some Xbox Series X games, not even a month after its launch. Of course, the Xbox One didn’t get as many exclusives as the PS4 this year, but there are still plenty of great games that are well worth playing, no matter which Xbox you own.

All physical Xbox One games can also be played on the Xbox Series X via backwards compatibility or next-gen upgrades. However, no physical games can be played on the Xbox Series S due to that console not having a disc drive.

When will Black Friday PS5 game deals be available?

At the moment, there are some excellent early Black Friday deals already available, though that hasn’t extended toward many game discounts as of yet. Thankfully, we’ll see that change as we get further into the month. Each retailer has its own schedule, and while places like GameStop and Best Buy are offering great prices, we expect Amazon to price-match or even beat them throughout November.

• GameStop: Online deals for Xbox games begin November 25 at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT. You can shop deals in store starting November 27. GameStop’s Black Friday sale ends November 29.
• Best Buy: Online deals run from November 22 to November 29. You can head to your local Best Buy store to shop for deals November 27-29.
• Walmart: November 25-29
• Target: November 22-28

Best Xbox Series X and Xbox One Black Friday game deals so far

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In this clip from an early section of the Demon’s Souls remake, we head through the Gates of Boletaria to see what Bluepoint’s game has to offer. You’ll see us fight against dangerous soldiers, avoid traps, and guard our precious souls as we attempt to move forward without getting killed. The game is running in performance mode at 60 frames per second on the PS5.

This version of Demon’s Souls is a PS5 exclusive, having originally released more than a decade ago exclusively for PS3. The game’s structure and enemies remain unchanged, but its visuals were rebuilt from the ground up to take full advantage of the PS5’s hardware. It releases alongside the system on November 12.

While 2020 has been a rough year for movie and TV production because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. FX’s American Horror Story Season 10 is coming but we just aren’t sure when. Luckily, a new poster was revealed for the upcoming season, giving clues as to what we can expect.

The American Horror Story Twitter account revealed the new image, which features someone getting a tattoo on their tongue, ouchie. More importantly, the person in question has some jacked-up teeth. Check out the photo below.

The scary teeth might lend a few clues to what the next season of AHS is about. The very first image for Season 10 was revealed by showrunner Ryan Murphy back in March with the caption “Things are beginning to wash up on shore…” It featured some dead-looking hands coming out of the sea. It led many to wonder if the next season will be tackling sea zombies.

However, with this new photo, it seems like Season 10 of American Horror Story could feature sirens or mermaids–luring people on the sea to their death and eating them.

For Season 10, Macaulay Culkin will appear on the series. This is the first time the Home Alone star will appear on the show. He’ll be joining Kathy Bates, Billie Lourd, Finn Wittrock, Lily Rabe, Adina Porter, Leslie Grossman, and Angelica Ross, along with fan-favorites Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters.

Additionally, there is a spin-off show coming in the near future. It’s called American Horror Stories and it will consist of one-hour-long, stand-alone episodes. And if you love the main show, get ready for more as American Horror Story has been renewed through Season 13.

The spin-off series brought together the real-life survivors of Roanoke as well as the actors that played their counterparts in the original series. Think of it like The Real World mixed in with Big Brother and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It turns out the spin-off series doesn’t go exactly as planned. That’s because they decided to film during the Blood Moon, which we know, is a horrible mistake.

If you love American Horror Story as well as reality TV, there’s no way you’re not going to enjoy this mid-season twist in AHS: Roanoke.

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Twitch has put out a statement responding to the massive amount of DCMA notifications that streamers have received over the past year. The company apologized for its poor response to the issue and reiterated the need for streamers to stop playing recorded music on their streams.

“If you play recorded music on your stream, you need to stop doing that,” a post on the companies official blog reads. “And if you haven’t already, you should review your historical VODs and Clips that may have music in them and delete any archives that might.”

Streamers have been receiving many DMCA notifications for playing recorded music in the background of their streams and have been forced to manually delete old clips that could possibly infringe on copyright. Twitch also apologized in this post (which was also emailed to streamers) about the “frustratingly little information [Twitch] provided” and the lack of content moderation tools that streamers could use to respond to these notifications. The company said that they are working on more tools, including ones that can detect copyrighted audio.

Streamers have been receiving DMCA takedown notifications since March, with thousands coming in waves in July and October. Streamers, some with livelihoods depending on Twitch, were stressed about their channels possibly being shut down for good. Twitch’s user guidelines, say that accounts the company deems as “repeat infringers” will be terminated. Due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Twitch is legally obligated to penalize repeat offenders and accounts.

Streamers have been quick to criticize Twitch for this response, adding that there must be a better solution than to not play recorded music and delete hundreds of old clips, especially since streamers are still receiving DMCA notifications for clips they’ve already deleted. Twitch advised that streamers use libraries with rights cleared music like Soundstripe, Monstercat Gold, Chillhop, Epidemic Sound, and NCS.

The Suicide Squad is one of 2021’s most anticipated conic book movies, and it’s also getting a TV spin-off for HBO Max. Peacemaker will focus on the titular character, played by John Cena, and it will be written by the movie’s director James Gunn. Several new cast members have now been announced for the show.

According to Deadline, Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), Jennifer Holland (Brightburn), and Chris Conrad (Patriot) will all appear in Peacemaker.

A few details have been revealed about who they will play. Patrick will appear as Auggie Smith, while Brooks’s character is named Leota Adebayo. Holland will reprise her role in the movie as NSA agent Emilia Harcourt, and Conrad will play the DC antihero The Vigilante. The new cast members will join Cena and Steve Agee, who will reprise his role from the movie as John Economos.

Peacemaker was announced in September. It will be an eight-episode series that explores the origins of the Peacemaker character, who Cena described as a “douchey Captain America.” The Suicide Squad director James Gunn will write all the series and direct multiple episodes, including the pilot. The show is expected to start production early next year.

The Suicide Squad hits theaters on August 6, 2021. The movie also stars Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Alice Braga, and Michael Rooker. While a trailer hasn’t been released yet, a behind-the-scenes video was released during DC FanDome in August.

For more, check out GameSpot’s guide to all the upcoming DC movies we know about to date.