World News – AU – How to get the most out of Xbox Game Pass

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription comes as close as possible to « Netflix for Games ». And just like with Netflix, there are ways to get the most bang for your buck. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of a Game Pass subscription.

Like many other media subscriptions, Game Pass comes in multiple tiers. The standard tier is $ 10 per month, which gives you access to the Game Pass library and not much more. The PC version, which has its own library of lots of overlapping games but some exclusive ones, like Crusader Kings III, is also $ 10, although it cost $ 5 when it was in beta earlier this year.

For $ 15 a month, you can get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which gives you access to both the console and PC Game Pass libraries. You also get a subscription to Xbox Live Gold, Microsoft’s online service that offers four additional games per month through the Games With Gold program. Ultimate members can also stream games directly to Android devices (and iOS devices for the next year too). . Starting in November, Ultimate will be included with EA Play, a games-on-demand service that includes EA video games and sports ads. Game Pass Ultimate also offers first-party expansions at no additional cost, a benefit not available to standard tier members.

It is clear that Microsoft wants to include subscribers in the higher price range. Except for a serious spike in sticker price, the math is calculated first to justify the jump – in most cases. Switching from the basic level to Ultimate is worthwhile when. . .

The $ 15 monthly price tag can be daunting, especially in times of heightened subscription fatigue. However, there are a few methods that can be used to reduce costs. For starters, your first three months are currently only a dollar (total). After this period, Microsoft will automatically charge your card a monthly renewal at a higher price. Canceling the Game Pass will not delete your saved data for any games that you have played with the Service. You can pick up any game right where you left off by purchasing the game, either physically, digitally, or re-subscribing to Game Pass.

Digital retailers sometimes offer three-month or one-year passes for Ultimate that are less than the total cost. You can also convert codes for other Microsoft subscriptions to Ultimate months, assuming you are already an Ultimate member, which can reduce costs somewhat. Let’s say you’ve been sitting on a code for Xbox Live Gold for a year. You can redeem this for four months of Game Pass Ultimate. (Here is a full list of exactly how many months of Ultimate your codes will display. )

Finally, consider finding a PC friend – one you trust – and sharing the cost. At the moment the PC player is getting the short end of the stick because EA Play has not currently been folded into the PC library. (That will happen sometime next year. ) Sure, you and your friend can get a fair split and you can both play at the same time with the same account as long as you don’t try to play Halo multiplayer for example.

The main attraction of Game Pass is that you can play big games without hitting GameStop or handing more money over to the Bezos Empire. First party games like Gears 5 and The Outer Worlds land on the first day of service. The Halo Infinite planned for next year will be too. If you want to start playing all of the biggest Xbox games without spending $ 60 a pop, Game Pass is the way to go. Big third-party games – like Control, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and Tales of Vesperia – are also constantly driving in and out of the library.

Xbox Game Pass is one of the best deals on gaming today. For $ 10 a month you can get access to a …

Many of Microsoft’s first-party games have been optimized for the Xbox Series X and S to provide faster load speeds, higher frame rates, and sharper resolutions. And those with compatible displays can take advantage of the 120 fps modes for Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Gears 5, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Game Pass is a great excuse to play old games again or to try them out for the first time.

As good as Game Pass is for accessing large games, the better it is to discover smaller games. For every third-party Forza or Halo or blockbuster, there’s a gem under the radar that you wouldn’t have looked at twice otherwise. The following dozen, if you missed it, are at least worth a visit:

Most of the best games on Game Pass are relatively small – a handful of gigabytes at most, and typically less than 1 GB – so even those with strict data limits can download them with little impact. If you just skim the surface and play the biggest hits, you are missing out on a ton of great games.

With hundreds of games in the library, it can be a hassle to scroll alphabetically. However, you can narrow it down with some helpful filters. All you need to do is access Game Pass through My Games and Apps, not the standard Game Pass dashboard icon. When you scroll to Full Library in My Games and Apps, you should see two tiles: one for Xbox Game Pass and one for EA Play. Viewing the library through these enables robust categorization options not available in the standard Game Pass console app. However, you need to view the EA Play and Game Pass libraries separately, not the collection point that you can find in the Game Pass app.

You should see an icon on the top row that looks like an inverted funnel for high school science classes. When you click on it, you can browse by genre (platformer, shooter, RPG, etc. ), Console (Xbox and Xbox 360 games, Xbox One games or next generation « optimized » games) and filter multiplayer features (online or local, cooperative or competitive). If you just want to use Game Pass to review all the games that have been redesigned with next-gen upgrades, you can. If you’d rather see what puzzles local co-op has to offer, you can too.

In some cases, Game Pass allows you to preload high profile upcoming games. For example, at the moment you can preinstall The Medium. After a delay, the Bloober team’s upcoming multi-dimensional nightmare won’t be revealed until Jan.. Land on Game Pass on January 1st, 2021, but you can now get the 38GB download out of the way.

Xbox Game Pass, like many of the on-demand games on offer, has side quests. It is true: From . . .

Gears 5 is getting a new campaign expansion next week. It’s at no additional cost to . . .

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Not enough users are taking advantage of Microsoft Rewards. They also incorporate this into GamePass with GamePass quests that award reward points. I have an average of 20. 000 to 30. 000 points a month without trying that much, and it’s only 35. 000 points for 3 months of GamePass Ultimate, so I never pay out of my own pocket and build up additional months. Even if you let your GamePass / Ultimate Sub expire, you can still pick up a 12-meter XBL Gold card from retailers. If you import again afterwards, the whole year will be converted into GamePass / Ultimate. However, this will only work if you leave your current Sub EXPIRE before running it. Otherwise, the year will be converted to 4 Months Ultimate as mentioned in this article.

Xbox Game Pass, Ubisoft, Uplay, EA Play, Microsoft Corporation