“Xbox Live Is Celebrating Its 20th Anniversary Today. On November 15, 2002, Xbox Live launched, bringing online capability to the original Xbox one year after its release. Now, the service continues to go strong 20 years and four consoles later, and long-time subscribers will get a badge on their profile to celebrate. Xbox was the first company to bring online play to consoles when Xbox Live launched in 2002, making use of the ethernet port built into Xbox consoles. The online service saw a lot of popularity off the back of Halo 2's success, with Xbox Live seeing a peak of around 20 million users in the console's first generation. Xbox Live technically goes by a different name now, with "Xbox network" intended as an umbrella term to catch all the company's online services, including Game Pass, and Xbox Live Gold. Just before this rebranding, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live had passed 100 million monthly active users in the wake of the Series X|S release.
From Xbox
“The Xbox November Update Rolls Out Today. Just in time for the holidays, the Xbox November update will start to rollout later today. Team Xbox is excited to continue bringing new ways to make Xbox better, with you at the center, as we refine the experience and deliver brand new features based on your feedback. This month’s update provides the ability to connect your Discord voice channels directly from your Xbox console, updates to wish list gifting and sale notifications, an improved captures experience for your game clips, and a lot more. Starting today, we’ve made it even easier to chat with Discord friends across mobile, console, and PC. When your Discord account is linked to Xbox, you can now join voice channels from your Discord servers directly from your Xbox console. To try it, open the guide, scroll to Parties & chats, and select Discord. Then scroll through your available Discord servers and pick a voice channel. You’ll see a preview of your friends who are in a Discord server and voice channel before you join.”
From IGN
“Xbox Put Its Streaming-Only Console On Hold Due to High Costs. Microsoft's streaming-only Xbox console, codenamed Project Keystone, was put on hold because it was too expensive to produce. Speaking to The Verge (and spotted by VGC), Xbox boss Phil Spencer said Microsoft couldn't create a streaming-only console it could sell for a cheap enough price. Spencer hoped to sell Project Keystone for around $99 to $129, and even though Microsoft takes a hit on every console it sells, the streaming-only machine simply cost too much. "The console we built that people have seen, Keystone, was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside," Spencer said. "We decided to focus that team’s efforts on delivering the smart TV streaming app."
From The Verge
“Samsung’s 2021 smart TVs are getting Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now apps. Samsung is expanding access on its older smart TVs to Xbox Cloud Gaming, Nvidia’s GeForce Now, and other game streaming services. Starting next week and rolling out through the end of the year, apps for Xbox Cloud Gaming, Amazon Luna, GeForce Now, and Utomik will be available on select 2021 Samsung smart TVs.”
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