The Red Dead Redemption 2 Online Beta rolled out at the end of November. Since then, the team at Rockstar has been relasing updates for the mode with new content alongside fixes and other improvements. Next week, the team will be introducing another update that adds more game modes, weapons, clothing, emotes, and more.

In a console industry first, Paradox Interactive and Microsoft are allowing Xbox One players to get direct access to game modifications created on the PC without any pre-approval from the console maker or publisher. This isn't the first time players have been able to add their own modified content to a console game. Bethesda enabled Fallout 4 mods on Xbox One back in May 2016 and on PlayStation 4 months later.

The days of exotic, bespoke console hardware are almost certainly over.

Microsoft’s Xbox One family of consoles has enjoyed a host of great improvements in the years following the original console’s underwhelming launch. And this spirit of innovation is showing no signs of slowing down, as it’s now emerged that Xbox One owners will soon be able to have their gaming enhanced by DTS:X sound. Rumors that this feature might be inbound have been circulating for some time within the Xbox Insider community, but it was confirmed today in a tweet by Steven Wilssens, one of Microsoft’s lead audio team.

It’s the perfect time to get prepped for a 2019 filled with gaming! Starting today, you can save $50 on any Xbox One bundle, including Xbox One X, the world’s most powerful console, and Xbox One S, the best value in gaming and entertainment. And there’s no shortage of amazing bundles to choose from at a participating retailer near you.

Nintendo has released a new Nintendo Switch system update worldwide, with the portable home console’s current version now 7.0.0. While we once again get the usual “system stability improvements” that promise to enhance your experience with the console, there are new additions to accompany that.

Nintendo sold 9.41 million Switch consoles in the three months leading up to December 31st, 2018, bringing lifetime sales to 32.27 million. That's just 660,000 short of the immensely-popular Nintendo 64 and well beyond both the Gamecube and Wii U. The holiday quarter was a big improvement over 2017, when the company shifted 7.23 million Switch consoles. Still, it seems unlikely that the company will hit its 20 million sales target for the current financial year.

Microsoft plans to expand Xbox Live to other platforms, including Nintendo Switch and mobile. The company says bringing the network to more consoles will "enable game developers to connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs." The move was teased in the description for an upcoming session at GDC, where the plans will presumably be revealed in more detail.

The Xbox One X is doing incredibly well - at least, that's what we can infer if an industry analyst working with NPD has to say. The Xbox One X - the most powerful console on the market right now - launched late last year, and though Microsoft doesn't make a habit of sharing sales figures, NPD is one group that tracks the data, and one of its analysts has recently lifted the lid on the console's performance.

PlayStation Classic owners can easily tweak the settings of their console if they have the right keyboard. The PlayStation Classic launched yesterday, and as expected, people are poking around the hardware looking for ways to hack the console. It turns out it's as easy as plugging in a keyboard and hitting the Escape key while inside a game.

Recently, Microsoft launched support for mouse and keyboard input on Xbox One. Epic Games detailed how Fortnite is one of the first titles to offer mouse and keyboard input alongside previously-announced Warframe. However, Bomber Crew, Deep Rock Galactic, Strange Brigade, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, War Thunder, and X-Morph Defense also received support.

We have discovered a listing for Anthem's closed alpha which reveals the game's file size and the nature of its Xbox One X Enhancements. Although the alpha download has been code-named "ECA", Anthem screenshots are attached to the download page.

Nintendo's NES and SNES Classic systems have had an interesting time on the market over the last couple of years. Initially, consumers struggled to get their hands on the NES console as shipments sold out faster than they arrived, but things slowly started to improve over time and the SNES had a much smoother launch overall. Despite some fans being left out early on, the consoles have shifted more than 10 million units between them.

Nintendo’s NES and SNES Classic consoles are going away after the holidays — probably for good this time. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter this week, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé said that the mini-consoles will be going out of production, and once the holiday season stock sells out, they won’t be restocked. Nintendo isn’t new to supply issues. The NES Classic immediately sold out when it was first released in November 2016, with resellers charging hundreds of dollars for the popular product.

Cold hard numbers will tell you that 2018 was not the start of the Xbox comeback. There were some good games, certainly. And Xbox One X established itself as a great console. But whether you're looking at Metacritic or the sales charts, the last 12 months has proceeded in much the same as the previous four years -- a generation entirely dominated by PlayStation.

Nintendo Switch has become the fastest-selling video game system of this hardware generation through 21 months, according to The NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. From its launch in March 2017 through November 2018, Nintendo Switch has sold more than 8.7 million units, outpacing U.S. sales of all other current-generation systems at the same point in their life cycles.

Apparently, Germany agrees with Norway: Nintendo's no-refund pre-order policy isn't only harsh, it's also illegal under European law. According to Eurogamer, the German Consumer Protection Authority is taking Nintendo to court over a policy that doesn't allow pre-order cancellations, even if the game hasn't been released yet and even if you still haven't downloaded it. In short, all sales, including pre-purchases, are final -- and, yes, Nintendo of America has the same rule.

Earlier this year in July during a shareholders meeting, Nintendo assured shareholders that it was on its way to ship 20 million Switch consoles before the year ended March 2019. In a new interview with Kyoto Shimbum (via) Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa stated that the company was confident in selling 100m software units for the year but the 20m hardware goal is “not easy”.

Some may have thought of this year as a down year for Nintendo. They came out with a number of ports for the Nintendo Switch from the Wii U, and although they were good, they lacked original titles. That all changed at the end of the year though. Torna: The Golden Country, which was a DLC add-on for Xenoblade Chronicles 2, was also released as a standalone game. Octopath Traveler was one of the best games of the year.

For those that aren't aware, I'm a proper wuss. I have an irrational fear of spiders and other creepy crawlies, and I'd much rather watch the works of Walt Disney than Tobe Hooper. The scariest film I've ever seen is probably Alien, and I'd say the scariest game I've ever played, until recently, was The Last of Us. Halloween for me is carving pumpkins and hoping trick-or-treaters don't arrive to steal my chocolate. I'm not into horror on any level, really.

Microsoft has renewed the IP trademarks for Xbox 360 exclusive JRPG Lost Odyssey. Lost Odyssey, developed by Mistwalker with help from Feelplus, was one of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s first games after he left Square Enix. The game released in late 2007 in Japan and two months later in February 2008 in the West. Featuring a traditional turn-based battle, Lost Odyssey had the familiar Final Fantasy “feel” with many dubbing it the “real” Final Fantasy XIII. Many to this day including me consider it one the best JRPGs of the 7th generation consoles and easily the best JRPG on the Xbox 360.

What a year it’s been for Xbox. Microsoft had started the year trailing badly in the great Console Wars of this generation; while it was broadly accepted that the company’s recently-released Xbox One X was a superb bit of kit, its potential remained untapped as 2017 slipped into 2018. Meanwhile, the Xbox was in dire need of some worthy exclusives to rival Sony’s console.

The Nintendo Switch had an impressive launch, with Nintendo reporting that based on its first week's numbers, the Switch was the company's fastest-selling console. Now the hybrid console has set a new record of outselling the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 silm sales combined in Japan, according to the latest Media Create sales numbers.

The Xbox One’s ability to natively capture videos and screenshots is both impressive and convenient. Sharing those captures? Now, that’s a different story. While now you can instantly share your clips to social media, it’s still a bit of a hassle to get those clips onto your computer any other way. Most people either post their captures to social media and then download them from there, or slowly upload the file to OneDrive.

Microsoft is set to debut a new Xbox Insider build for select Xbox One owners, packing a refined on-screen keyboard. Rolling out to Skip Ahead and Alpha rings of the test program, the addition falls under the console's next planned feature update, internally codenamed "19H1." While details on the Xbox One's next OS refresh are limited, today's release focuses on a revamped virtual keyboard. Dubbed the "Mini Keyboard," its redesign aims to condense occupied screen space, paired with adaptive positioning.

We all know that the Nintendo Switch is a fantastic little piece of hardware. However, there is a smattering of small complaints about the device. One such gripe I have heard about more than a few times is that the Switch does not offer any sort of built-in web browser. As far as I am concerned, it is totally justified to expect just about any handheld device to come with a browser.

The latest NPD video game hardware sales in the United States have started to trickle in for December 2018. Obviously it was an extremely busy month for the three console manufacturers during the Christmas period and it was the Nintendo Switch which came in first. The Nintendo Switch was followed by the Xbox One console and then Sony’s PlayStation 4.

Kingdom Hearts 3 will offer two different gameplay modes that prioritize performance or visuals. You are free to pick between any of them depending on your tolerance to the frame rate. As Kingdom Hearts 3 is out on January 25th in Japan, it is now playable through the digital pre-order on PlayStation Store. For the rest of the world, they will have to wait until January 29th.

Skype, SkyDrive, Office Web Apps could let the system serve productive purposes.

If you unbox and turn on an Xbox One on November 22nd, make sure you have an internet connection nearby. Microsoft has revealed that a day-one patch for its upcoming next-gen console will be a requirement to play games and access basic apps on the console. "Functionally, you will be able to do very little without taking the day-one update," said Microsoft’s senior director of Xbox product management Albert Penello in an interview with Engadget recently.

The new Kinect is kind of awesome. Just by the numbers, it's a huge upgrade. You can see (most of) the full walkthrough we saw just a bit ago here at Microsoft's Redmond campus in the video above. Parts are jaw-dropping.

We're sat opposite Palmer Luckey, 21-year-old inventor of the Oculus Rift. There's so much we want to ask him but right now he's too busy explaining his plans to build the ultimate Pokemon team.

After its launch on Friday, the PlayStation 4 has come under fire from some gamers who say their units have been dead on arrival. The most troubling reports describe a so-called "blue light of death" syndrome, in which the console's light bar flashes blue but never outputs a video signal or boots up.

Can't make up your mind? We're here to help.

There are a lot of very unhappy PS4 owners right now, as reports of bricked consoles and no available replacements come in from all over the web.