Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) now supports Bitcoin as a payment option for its digital store, allowing users to fund their accounts with the cryptocurrency.

In a surprising move, the Redmond-based tech giant Microsoft has become the first major console maker to embrace the virtual currency known as Bitcoin, letting users add money to their Microsoft accounts via the virtual currency. Ouya, the failed Android console, added Bitcoin support some time ago.

But how does it work? Essentially the Bitcoins are “cashed in” from the user’s digital wallet and then converted into money, which is then added to the user’s balance.

The news was originally spotted on Reddit, and it appears that the funds are limited to Xbox credit. That means you can buy “apps, games, and other digital content from Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox Games, Xbox Music, or Xbox Video stores”.

Microsoft has added a detailed how-to section that has more information on the stipulations and process of the new payment feature.

According to the article, users can only use their Bitcoin funds to buy “digital goods at select Microsoft online stores”, and that you can’t use Bitcoin to “purchase Microsoft products and services directly at this time”.

So far only users in the United States can take advantage of this payment option, but we’ll likely see Microsoft add more territories as well as full Bitcoin support across all stores.

It’ll be interesting to see if Sony (NYSE: SNE) or Nintendo (TYO: 7974) adopt Bitcoin for their respective online marketplaces, and as the digital currency continues to grow in popularity and value, we’ll likely see more major retailers honor the cryptocurrency same as cash.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

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Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) have a very big problem with digital downloading on their next-gen consoles.

Both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One suffer from some of the most ill-designed handling of digital content in any generation of gaming, making what was once a convenient feature into a troublesome waiting game.

Instead of being straightforward and streamlined, downloading a full game on next-gen systems is awkward, clunky and utilizes some very nasty underhanded tactics. Often gamers are surprised mid-game by having their session interrupted because their download hasn’t finished, or spend hours upon hours staring at a barely moving progress bar on a home screen.

First let’s take a look at how the PlayStation 4 handles digital downloads.

Play as you download: Crutch or convenience?

Usually PS4 games will be bigger than Xbox One games — Dragon Age: Inquisition clocks in at 44.28 GB on PS4 and 41GB on Xbox One — and as we all know, a bigger game means more waiting. The sheer size of next-gen games like Wolfenstein: The New Order‘s 51GB’s is the main reason to stay away from digital, as you’ll be spending a lot of time waiting for the downloads to complete.

There’s nothing more frustrating than spending the same amount of money and then having to wait half a day to play your game.

It’s also important to remember that having an ultra-fast internet connection doesn’t always translate to super-fast downloads.

Digital games are hosted on Sony’s PlayStation Network servers, which control the maximum bandwidth — that is the transfer rates of the downloads themselves — capping your download speeds by default. So in essence your speed does come into play, but it can’t top the designated cap set by Sony’s servers.

In my experience the PlayStation Network is quite bad. The downloads have taken needlessly long -- Wolfenstein, for example, took most of a day and a night to complete — and it’s something that will vary from person-to-person, but all-in-all Sony doesn’t have a very optimized network environment.

The main problem with the PS4’s digital downloads isn’t the speeds, however: it’s the play-as-you-download feature.

Play-as-you-download was meant to be a huge innovation for digital gamers. But as we’ve seen in the past, Sony’s big ideas are often handled badly in terms of actual execution, and this is certain the case here. The big frustration is that the PS4 only shows you the minimum required download to play as soon as possible–in other words, it shows you how little you need to download in order to jump right in the game.

But it doesn’t tell you the actual full download size.

Instead of being upfront and just informing gamers that there’s about 40GB left to go, it lets you jump right in and start playing. Little do you know that you only have about 10% or so of the game on your console; it tricks you into thinking the full game is ready to go.

Shortly enough you’ll be met with an error prompt that interrupts your game by informing you that the game isn’t done downloading. Huh. So you check the Notifications–> Downloads section, but there’s nothing there.

This is where things get really underhanded. You actually have to navigate to the main PS4 menu and check Settings –> Application Saved Data Management –> and then check the game in the listing. Only then will you see what you’ve actually downloaded.

So not only does the PS4 make you believe you’ve got the full game by letting you play, but it doesn’t even tell you how much you’ve downloaded. You have to prod through menus and search in tedious trial-and-error methods just to get the information you want.

Why can’t the PS4 just tell you both the play-as-you-download install as well as the full game install? Why do gamers have to jump through hoops? Oddly enough the new system update patches haven’t addressed this at all, and it still is a sort of “hidden” feature that irks gamers.

The physical install speeds are incredibly fast. You only need to stick the disc in and you’ll be playing in no less than 3 minutes or so — sometimes it takes as little as one minute — with the full game zipped right onto your hard-drive. No hassle, no mess, just gaming.

The post The Problem With Digital Downloads on the Xbox One And PS4 appeared first on VR World.

For those of you that didn’t hop on the Titanfall Xbox One Edition deal for $399, it looks like there’s a new way to get ahold of an Xbox One for $399. Microsoft appears to have gotten rid of the requirement to buy a Kinect with an Xbox one for the wholesome price of $499 and are selling just the Xbox One alone for $399. Obviously, this made the Xbox One a solid 25% more expensive than the PlayStation 4 and as a result will naturally mean fewer sales. Microsoft seriously believed that because they bundled the Kinect with the Xbox One it would somehow justify the additional $100. Even though, many gamers simply don’t care for the Kinect and don’t want to pay the $100 premium for it. The diehard Xbox One fans have already paid their $499 and bought their Kinect whether or not they wanted it.

Microsoft clearly made this move as a result of the fact that Sony has been absolutely murdering them in terms of sales globally and in the US, traditionally Microsoft’s strongest market. The last update, a month ago, indicated that Sony had sold just over 7 million consoles world wide, while Microsoft had stopped announcing their numbers and were estimated to be between 3 and 4 million. Considering the momentum Sony has had since the launch in November, I would only expect these numbers to have gotten worse for Microsoft which may have prompted today’s decision.

In addition to today’s ‘price drop’ of the Xbox One, there is also news that Microsoft will drop Xbox Live Gold (paid subscription) requirements for services like Netflix and Hulu. While this may prove to be a bit counter productive towards Microsoft’s ultimate business model, it appears to be a clear push towards improving console sales. It really seems like Microsoft is desperate enough to get rid of their Xbox Live Gold subscription requirement which they’ve required since day one of Netflix being made available on Xbox. However, this is a great thing for a lot of people that currently use their Xboxes as Netflix streaming boxes, which are A LOT of people. From my personal experience, a lot of people end up spending more time streaming Netflix or Hulu over their Xboxes than they actually do playing games on it.

For those that still wish to have an Xbox Live Gold membership, they will get access to free games along with a whole slew of Xbox Live Gold premium features that should make the service more attractive to pay for.

If you want to purchase a Kinect-less Xbox One, all you have to do is head over to the Microsoft Store’s website and pre-order a Kinect-less Xbox One. Which to be honest, seems a bit ridiculous considering that Microsoft probably has a plethora of Xbox Ones already laying around ready to sell. Either way, you’ll have to wait until June 9th if you do want one of these cheaper Xbox Ones even if you do pre-order it. Will it help Microsoft’s sales? Probably a little bit, but not enough that it’ll make a dent in the gap between them and Sony.

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