Discord’s Voice Chat Function Finally Coming To Xbox Consoles

Discord has announced that local and cross-platform voice chat is finally coming to Microsoft gaming consoles, namely the Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. Though not widely rolled out just yet, the feature is now available to testers under the Xbox Insiders program.

At its current state, the platform only offers limited functionalities on Xbox consoles – with its key feature, voice chats, missing entirely. One way to remedy this is by initiating or joining calls via the Discord app on your smartphone, but that also means you’ll be relying on multiple audio sources for the session – one for game audio and another for tuning in to voice chats, which is doable but not too practical.

The upcoming Discord voice call functionality that’s coming to the console, however, is not as straightforward as most users would’ve hoped. The long and short of it, this new ability is somewhat an improvement to the solution we’ve mentioned above, sans the need for an extra audio source for the experience. You are required to have the Xbox mobile app installed on your smartphone though, as it will be the platform that bridges Discord’s voice chat to your Xbox console.

First, you need to connect your Discord and Xbox accounts on both the former and latter’s apps. Even if you’ve already done so in the past, Discord notes that you’ll have to relink them again when this new feature is available. Once that’s done, initiate or join a call via the Discord app and tap “transfer to Xbox.” Activating this will then automatically bring up the Xbox app, where you’re required to confirm the process.

From here, both input and output for voice chats are handled directly by your Xbox console, provided that the device and your smartphone are connected to the internet. The platform adds that you can transfer calls from desktop or web clients to your Xbox console as well.

“While you are playing on your console, you will be able to see who is on the call and speaking,” explains Xbox principal program manager Eric Voreis via an official news release. “You’ll also be able to adjust the sound, and switch between Discord Voice and Xbox game chat.”

Both Microsoft and Discord say the new voice chat feature will expand to more testers in the coming weeks. Seeing that the former’s testing period often spans a couple of weeks to even months, it might take a while for it to be widely available to all Xbox users.

Spongebob Squarepants And TMNT Made Into Xbox Series X Special Edition Consoles

There have been plenty of special edition video game consoles over the years. Adding to that list, Microsoft has announced that it will be immortalising a couple of our favourite cartoon characters as upcoming special edition Xbox Series X consoles, namely Spongebob Squarepants and Leonardo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

These consoles were made specifically to celebrate the recently released Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl video game, which takes on a Smash Bros vibe of allowing players to battle it out using iconic characters from various Nickelodeon franchises. The all-star cast includes popular characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, TMNT, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, The Wild Thornberrys, Hey Arnold!, Rugrats, and more.

Gaze upon the sponge’s eyes when you push and prod them with your fingers on the controller, as he stares back at you from the console seemingly designed to fit hit pants. Leonardo’s Xbox console is, of course, outfitted with his favourite slice of pizza – pepperoni, with no anchovies.

Unfortunately, these limited edition Xbox Series X consoles aren’t up for sale. Instead, Microsoft is offering them through an ongoing Xbox sweepstakes on Twitter. The contest will run until 24 October but to be eligible, you must be living in a country where Xbox Live is officially supported, which sadly rules out Malaysia.

Video Games Cheats Invade Consoles With Machine Learning

Video game cheats have primarily been a plague on PC, not so much on consoles. But a new, relatively sophisticated method brings the disease to consoles. And it involves a PC, a capture card, and machine learning.

The Anti-Cheat Police Department, a bunch of volunteers who look out for and disrupt cheating groups, have shared on Twitter a new kind of cheating. As mentioned, it uses machine learning, The way it works is by having the cheat analyse your gameplay in real time, and the cheat adds in inputs so that your crosshairs snap to your enemies.

Because it’s not an aim bot or wall hack, you will actually have to see your enemies for the cheat to kick in. And even then, you’ll have to manually aim in the general direction of your targets until a certain threshold where it kicks in and does the aiming for you. Think of it as aim assist, but turned up to 19 and given a steroid overdose.

Making this even scarier is that this is usable even on consoles. All you need is a PC that’s running the cheat, and a capture card to allow your PC to see gameplay from your console.

There was a video promoting this on YouTube, presumably showcasing the cheat working in a Call of Duty. Activision has since made a copyright claim on the video, taking it down. But as Eurogamer reports, the cheat’s discord is still active, and the software is still up for sale. The good news is that it is still detectable. But even then, it will be awhile before any real action gets taken against this new breed of cheat. More so, it’s a sign of the evolution that cheats are currently going through

Steam Hinted To Port Games Over To Consoles Later This Year

 

There’s a chance that Steam, Valve’s popular digital storefront on PC, might be porting its exclusives to video game consoles later in 2021. This was hinted, albeit vaguely, by none other than the company’s president Gabe Newell a few days back during a talk at Sancta Maria College in Auckland, New Zealand.

“You will have a better idea of that by the end of this year,” Newell replied when asked by a student if Steam would be porting games to consoles. Seeing that the PlayStation 4 being the only console to feature virtual reality capabilities via its PSVR peripheral, it could be possible for Valve to port Half-Life: Alyx over to it. That, or to the PS5 since Sony had recently teased the next iteration of its virtual reality system for the new console.

It’s also worth noting that earlier in January, Newell revealed that several newer games are currently being worked on by his company. Although no further details were shared in regards to this, he did mention that Valve will announce them eventually. That being said, Newell’s response to the student’s question could be referring to these upcoming yet unannounced games, which may see a multi-platform release.

There’s also a long-shot speculation from others who believe that Valve might also bring its Steam digital storefront to consoles. However, such a move is quite unlikely and wouldn’t make sense as video game consoles feature their own closed stores such as Nintendo sShop, PlayStation Store, and the Microsoft Store on Xbox consoles.

Regardless, we’ll only find out what Valve actually has in store for home video game consoles in late 2021.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Pay Homage To Original 80s Cartoon; Coming To PC And Consoles

Tribute Games Inc., the studio comprising of members who gave the world Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game and Streets of Rage 4, has officially announced its latest project, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.

The game pays homage to both the original 1980s TMNT TV animation, as well as the 1991 arcade video game hit, TMNT: Turtles in Time, which was also based on the same animation. However, much like the original arcade game, Shredder’s Revenge is also a side-scrolling “beat ’em up”, complete with the same 4-player co-op system, allowing up to four players to take on the roles of Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo, and Donatello. As they take on their long-time nemesis, Shredder, and his minions Bebop and Rocksteady.

As per the official Steam page, Shredder’s Revenge starts off with our heroes heading over to the Channel 6 building, where an assault by the Foot Clan is fully underway. Beyond that, the page is lacking a whole lot of information about the game’s synopsis. Judging from the video, however, the feel and look of the game definitely sends waves of 16-bit nostalgia to this writer. That said, Tribute does promise that the game will feature “super-fresh mechanics” that should provide a more interactive and robust gameplay overall.

As for the when the game will be available, Tribute Games falls short of providing an actual release date, and the Steam page simply has the words “Planned Release Date: Coming Soon” written on the availability section. On that note, Shredder’s Revenge is expected to be available on both PC and consoles, which we’re guessing includes the Nintendo Switch.

Resident Evil Village Total File Size On PS5 and Xbox Series X Consoles Reportedly 50GB

Information pertaining to the install file size of Capcom’s upcoming horror title, Resident Evil Village – also known as Resident Evil 8 or its acronyms “REVillage” and “RE8” – recently made its way online. According to multiple sources, the game’s final file size could exceed the 50GB limit, and that’s for both the PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Xbox Series X.

The first sign of Village’s hefty size was spotted via a listing on the game’s official Microsoft store page. However, we should make clear that number is inclusive of Village’s single-player campaign and multiplayer mode, Re:Verse. As for the PS5, a tweet by PlayStation Game Size (@PlaystationSize) said that the PS5 version of the game would only take up 27.325GB, which is considerably less.

Mind you, that number could simply be what the PS5 can download when the console is allowed to preload the game on 5 May; alone, the single-player portion of the game is expected to be approximately 35GB, while the multiplayer segment of the game is rated at just 15GB.

In fairness, 50GB may seem large, but it is far from being the largest. That coveted honour belongs to Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops Cold War titles; updates for both games have consistently surpassed the 10GB mark, with the most recent update for Warzone being a 17GB patch, and that is on top of the base game’s already massive girth.

Then, as if to rub salt into an already gaping wound, Activision Blizzard says its two titles could ultimately surpass the 500GB file limit, leaving 500GB console owners capacity with little choice than to increase their current storage limit physically.

4.5 Million PS5 Consoles Were Sold In Q4 2020

Scaplers aside, the fact that it’s so difficult to get a PS5 is a sign that it sold very well. And according to Sony’s earnings report, the company said that it sold 4.5 million units of the console.

That many consoles being sold, among other things, brought JPY883.2 billion (~RM34.04 billion) in revenue for the company. Other sales that contributed to the figure ranges from 1.4 million PS4 consoles being sold, despite many versions of it recently getting discontinued.

Though despite the strong numbers, actual profit figures went downwards instead. This is because the company sold the PS5 at “strategic price points” that were lower than manufacturing costs. No real surprise there, as reports prior to the console’s launch already pointed that the company is either making a very slim margin or outright lose money for each console it sells, at least in the early days.

That being said, Sony expects to sell slightly better in the current quarter. The company predicts a one-percent increase in revenue by 31 March. This naturally means that the company intends to make more PS5 consoles. But beyond that, hopefully the company also has steps in place to ensure that the consoles actually get to consumers.