Xbox Wireless Headset Review

The new Xbox Wireless Headset is Microsoft’s flagship audio device for the the Xbox Series X and its family of consoles. The bottom line is that for $100, this headset delivers almost everything you’d want from high-end audio. It also has some useful features and impressive build quality to boot.

In the video above, we review the Xbox Wireless Headset after spending a few days using it in games such as Gears 5, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Tetris Effect Connected, Forza Horizon 4, and Lost Odyssey. We also cranked up some music to see how the headset handled the finer audio details. Bass sounds bold while mids and highs came through clean, even at higher volumes.

It’s also quite comfortable to use for long sessions, thanks to the pleather upholstery and foam padding on the ear cups–although those with very thick hair or larger heads may have trouble getting these on since they don’t extend that far. You can stretch and twist the headset without worry as well thanks to it’s durable and flexible frame.

There are other perks like intuitive volume control on the ear cups, Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone:X, a flexible low-profile microphone, and strong battery life.

Overall, it delivers what you need out of a high-quality gaming headset. For more details on our experience, check out the full Xbox Wireless Headset review.

You Should Cancel Your Outriders Pre-Order If You’re A Console Xbox Game Pass Subscriber

Now that Microsoft has confirmed that the upcoming shooter Outriders will come to the Xbox Game Pass library on console, if you’re a subscriber who pre-ordered the game, you’re definitely going to want to cancel that. Publisher Square Enix recently posted a FAQ to Reddit that clarifies that people in this situation must manually cancel the pre-order in their Microsoft account in order to get a refund.

However, those who pre-ordered the game get the Hell’s Rangers DLC, which includes some guns and other content, which isn’t included in the base Game Pass version of the game. Subscribers will have to buy it individually, though they will receive the usual 10% discount for being a Game Pass member. If you can’t find the pre-order in your Microsoft account history–which is certainly possible, due to the vagaries of online storefronts–Square Enix says you should file for a refund on the Microsoft Xbox website.

Outriders developer People Can Fly and Square Enix released a big demo for the game in February. However, though Outriders supports cross-play across platforms, it does not support importing one save to another, meaning that if you played the demo on another platform, you’ll have to replay its first few hours. Also, it’s worth clarifying that PC Game Pass subscribers are once again out of luck, since Outriders is only coming to the console version of Xbox Game Pass and streaming on Android.

Now Playing: Outriders Game Demo Breakdown Livestream

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GTA Online Update Coming To Fix Load Times Thanks To Modder’s Proof-Of-Concept

Rockstar will be implementing a fix to GTA Online‘s notoriously long load times, thanks to a modder who found the problem and made their own DIY fix. Though Rockstar isn’t committing to the 70% reduction that modder tostercx found in tests, the studio did acknowledge that they had correctly identified poor optimization that can be fixed.

“After a thorough investigation, we can confirm that player t0st did, in fact, reveal an aspect of the game code related to load times for the PC version of GTA Online that could be improved,” the company said in a statement to PC Gamer. “As a result of these investigations, we have made some changes that will be implemented in a forthcoming title update.”

The original mod fixed a bottleneck in the load sequence as it’s running checks, leading to the long load times. The modder tostercx aka t0st suggested that a relatively simple fix could be implemented within a day or so. Rockstar’s official fix will take a little longer, but it did confirm that it has been in touch with t0st and expressed gratitude for the find.

GTA V and the connected online game GTA Online have ballooned in size since release, due to steady releases in content and increased fidelity on newer platforms. It’s coming to Xbox Series X and PS5 later this year and Rockstar is also planning a standalone GTA Online release, following the lead of Red Dead Online. It has now reached 140 million copies which has led to market saturation, according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. That’s at least part of what prompted the move to make it a standalone release.

Now Playing: Come Play Grand Theft Auto Online With Us (PC) | GameSpot Community Fridays

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Elon Musk Is Now Tesla’s “Technoking,” Apparently

Telsa Inc.’s chief executive officer has a new title, as Elon Musk becomes the company’s “Technoking,” according to a filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Alongside Musk’s change in title, the company’s chief financial officer Zach Kirkhorn is now the “Master of Coin” over at Tesla. There’s no explanation for why both Tesla execs have new job titles at the company. However, Musk and Kirkhorn will retain their current positions as chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively, according to the filing.

The Wall Street Journal reports that both men’s title changes are a response of sorts to “signs of a bumpier road ahead” in the coming years. Rivaling companies like Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio are starting to cut into the company’s “market-share lead in electric-vehicle sales.”

This alteration comes not long after Tesla invested some $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in February, announcing that the company will accept the cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Musk–who has now surpassed former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person–has also been an advocate for cryptocurrency, often tweeting about Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and NFT.

New Call Of Duty Gun Looks Like A Dragon

The items in an upcoming Call of Duty store refresh for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone have seemingly leaked ahead of time, and one weapon in particular is one of the game’s most unique to date.

Coming to the in-game store on March 21 will be the NecroKing Mastercraft bundle, which includes the “Ice Drake” AR, according to the leak. As you can see in the image below, this gun is meant to look like a dragon, with the rounds emitting from the dragon’s mouth. It looks like something out of Game of Thrones. A Dragon Claw charm is also reportedly included with this bundle.

The images come from COD Tracker and CharlieIntel. Also coming to the in-game store is the Super Charged Reactive bundle, according to the leak; it supposedly launches on March 18.

Activision has yet to formally announce these new store bundles, but that information should come shortly as part of the developer’s latest weekly update blog post.

In other news, zombies are beginning to spread across the Warzone map, and Activision has released a warning to players to be on high alert. It’s expected that this is part of an ongoing tease for a nuke event that will destroy Verdansk before it’s relaunched with a Black Ops theme.

Now Playing: Black Ops Cold War & Warzone – Official Season Two Gameplay Trailer

Taika Waititi’s Reaction To Winning A Grammy Is Incredible

Director and actor Taika Waititi won a Grammy for Jojo Rabbit, and he had a delightful and on-brand response to taking home the honor.

Posting on social media, he said, “Lol wtfffff” in response to the win. During his acceptance speech, Waititi said, “Well, thank you very much for this honor. I guess they’re just giving Grammys to anyone now. I’ll take it. Thank you.”

The director went on to say he can “barely remember anything” from Jojo Rabbit because he made it so long ago. “It seems like it’s never gonna go away,” he said of the Oscar-winning film. He gave his speech from his trailer in Australia where he’s currently filming Thor: Love & Thunder.

Waititi won the Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Visual Media for Jojo Rabbit. As people have mentioned, Waititi is now half-way to the elusive EGOT, which is the designation for people who have earned an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award.

As mentioned, Waititi’s current project is Thor: Love & Thunder, which is due for release in February 2022. Recently, on-set photos emerged showing Matt Damon, Melissa McCarthy, and others.

Shadow Complex Remastered Is Now Backward Compatible On PS5

Shadow Complex Remastered is now playable via backward compatibility on PS5, developer ChAIR Games has announced. According to the tweet, both the PS4 digital versions and the Limited Run Games-published physical edition of the game will now work on PS5.

Shadow Complex Remastered is a highly-regarded Metroidvania that was originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2009, breaking several sales records at the time. The game was remastered and published by co-developer Epic Games and released on every major platform in 2015 and 2016.

Fans have lobbied for a sequel to Shadow Complex for years at this point, but so far their pleas have gone unheeded. In a 2016 interview with GameSpot, ChAIR Games creative director Donald Mustard stated that Shadow Complex 2 already exists in a rough form, but will require at least “a year to a year and a half” of work to complete. Currently, ChAIR Games is working on Spyjinx, an espionage-themed strategy game for mobile devices. Since ChAIR is owned by Epic Games, the beta version of Spyjinx was taken off of the iOS App Store due to the ongoing legal battle between Epic and Apple over Fortnite revenue share.

Now Playing: Shadow Complex Remastered – Announcement Trailer

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The Outer Worlds Now Runs At 60 FPS On PS5 And Xbox Series X With Next-Gen Patch

The Outer Worlds has been patched to include next-gen enhancements for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. People on social media are reporting that The Outer Worlds received an update today, March 15, that boosts the game’s frame rate up to 60fps.

A video posted on Twitter shows that the 1.0.7 update makes The Outer Worlds look a lot smoother on PS5 with the higher frame rate. An Xbox user reported that the update is about 26 GB big.

Developer Obsidian has not released any official patch notes for a new update to The Outer Worlds, but we’ll report back with all the key details when they are released.

It’s going to be a big week for The Outer Worlds, as the game’s Murder on Eridanos expansion is coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on March 17. This endgame-focused expansion centers around a classic murder-mystery on the planet Eridanos, with your character having to solve a complex and strange “whodunit” to uncover who assassinated the spokesperson for a new brand of space vodka.

The $15 USD expansion will mark the end of content coming to The Outer Worlds. For more on the game, be sure to check out our gameplay video above that showcases the opening sections of the DLC, along with a look at one of the side quests.

Now Playing: 23 Minutes From The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos DLC

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New Fortnite-Themed Switch Joy-Cons Revealed

Epic and Nintendo are releasing another piece of special-edition Fortnite hardware, a pair of themed Switch Joy-Con controllers. The controllers come with a Fortnite-themed paintjob, and just for good measure, they include some cosmetic DLC as well. The Joy-Con two-pack is coming on June 4.

The package includes a blue left Joy-Con and a yellow right Joy-Con, and the yellow one has an extra design element to look like Peely the banana. The set also includes the Fleet Force bundle, which grants you back bling, glowing weapons, and 500 V-Bucks. The announcement didn’t give a price for the set, but Joy-Con bundles typically cost $80.

Nintendo has offered special hardware based on the popular battle royale game before, having made the system itself sport a Fortnite makeover. The Wildcat bundle also included a yellow-and-blue color scheme, but reversed and with other Fortnite design elements on the Switch itself and the dock.

Meanwhile, Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 6 is on the horizon, set to release on March 16. Epic has started to issue teasers hinting at how the story may handle the big seasonal changeover. Downtime for will begin at midnight ET on March 16, and the patch is said to be larger than usual.

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RTX 3060 Mining Restrictions Circumvented By Nvidia’s Own Drivers

Just a few weeks after its launch, Nvidia’s RTX 3060 has had its Ethereum blocking measures circumvented by a beta driver the company issued itself to users.

The latest 470.05 driver for Nvidia GPUs has lifted the restriction on Ethereum mining on the company’s latest card, which was marketed as the first in the RTX line to feature silicon-level restrictions for mining. Various outlets have now confirmed that the driver overcomes this without any additional tweaks, with ComputerBase, HardwareLuxx, and PC Watch all confirming hash rates well over double previous rates before the driver update.

This is bad news if you were planning to secure the already scarce card, and it drastically reduces the value proposition of Nvidia’s planned mining-focused CMP GPU range. Gaming GPUs are more valuable on the secondhand market given their ability to output video and still play games without issues even after extended mining periods, giving miners options to recoup costs if profitability dives over the next few months.

Coupled with the silicon shortages that have been making GPU production difficult for both Nvidia and AMD, both companies have taken aim at miners to try and find a solution around stock issues for gaming clients. AMD is planning to launch its new RX 6700 XT in waves on its own website to prevent day-one sell outs, but it’s almost impossible to determine who is buying up cards in large quantities regardless.

This is especially embarrassing for Nvidia, which tried to market the security measure as more sophisticated than just a driver limitation. “It’s not just a driver thing,” wrote Nvidia’s head of communications Bryan Del Rizzo on Twitter last month. “There is a secure handshake between the driver, the RTX 3060 silicon, and the BIOS (firmware) that prevents removal of the hash rate limiter.”

Now Playing: NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU Announcement – CES 2021