Xbox One indie program now include projects from Limbo, Crush, and Tony Hawk devs

By Adam Rosenberg February 27, 2014

xbox one possible 360 backward compatibility screen 1 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Microsoft’s ID@Xbox program continues to grow, with the company revealing in a new Xbox Wire post a diverse assortment of indie developers now signed up to create content for the Xbox One. You’ll see a whole bunch of familiar names on the list, which includes more than 60 different studios with varying degrees of experience. The Behemoth is perhaps best-known for its one-time Xbox 360 exclusive brawler Castle Crashers (later released for other platforms). Playdead is the team behind Limbo. Zoe Mode created the inventive PlayStation Portable/Nintendo 3DS platform-puzzler Crush. Robomodo worked on several latter-day Tony Hawk titles, including the most recent, an HD re-release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

There are plenty of other familiar names as well. Just run down the list and search out each one, and you’ll see big teams, tiny teams, and virtually everything in between. This is only the latest ID@Xbox reveal for Microsoft. A December update confirmed that more than 30 different studios are working on Xbox One content, including Crytek and Double Fine. Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer revealed a month later that a new Worms game from Team17 and Ninjabee’s Nutjitsu will be among the first ID@Xbox releases. Sure, some of these games actually have to come out before we get too excited, but there continues to be lots of promise in Microsoft’s under-explored, under-discussed indie publishing initiative.

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Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

Gaming

Microsoft pledges to bring Xbox PC games to Nvidia GeForce Now

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Microsoft has been under a lot of regulatory scrutiny even since it announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in January 2022. It's trying to win over industry peers with deals like this one with Nvidia. This week, the Communications Workers of America voiced its approval of the deal, and Microsoft has signed a binding agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms as well. Previously, Nvidia had raised concerns about Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition, but the press release announcing this agreement states that the deal "resolves Nvidia's concerns," and that Nvidia now gives "full support for regulatory approval of the acquisition."
Regulatory bodies in the U.S., U.K., and Europe are worried that Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard will hurt the game industry and sabotage Microsoft's competitors in both console and cloud gaming. Nvidia GeForce Now is seen as one of the biggest competitors to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's cloud service offerings, which makes it surprising that it reached an agreement with Nvidia. However, this deal also demonstrates how Microsoft is willing to make concessions so that its acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved.

Deals

Live now: Save $50 on the Microsoft Xbox Series S Digital Edition deal

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This content was produced in partnership with GameStop.
It's been notoriously difficult to find some great deals on game consoles this year, and that's if you could find them in stock. Rejoice, because Black Friday and Cyber Week are officially underway, and it's the best time to get deals on just about everything. If you've been waiting for a solid deal on Microsoft's Xbox Series S, listen up. Right now -- yes right this instant -- GameStop is offering $50 off the purchase of a Microsoft Xbox Series S Digital Edition console. That means it's all yours for $250. Brand new. Go ahead and shop that deal below if you're interested, or keep reading for some more details on the console and the offer.

The Xbox Series S Digital Edition is completely digital and does not support physical discs. Going all digital isn't as big of a deal these days, especially if you have Xbox Game Pass for immediate access to some of the best and newest titles available. Even if you don't have Game Pass, it's super easy to get your digital game collection going. Not to mention, GameStop is also hosting some incredible deals this week on controllers, games, and other accessories. Be sure to take a look after you lock down your Series S order.

Gaming

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The expansion of the Xbox app means that you can not only access Xbox Game Pass on recent models of the aforementioned devices, but that the app is also supported on older PCs that were originally not able to support cloud streaming in the first place, including PCs running software as far back as Windows 7. ARMS64 gets its name from the fact that the old PCs are capable of running on 64-bit Windows -- so can the Google Chromebooks.