Over the last few months, Microsoft has been sharing a series of testimonials from professionals using its portfolio of Surface products to be more productive in their daily lives. From SMBs managers to attorneys to creatives, the company has been showcasing a lot of use cases proving that its hybrid devices, especially the Surface Pro range really deserves its “Pro” moniker.

Today, Microsoft Surface Product Marketing Manager Sohana Punithakumar published another blog post to reveal how the Surface Pro 4 allows writer and crafter Kathy Capeluto to balance life, work and crafting. “I met Skimm’bassador Kathy Capeluto recently through our partnership with popular e-mail news brief theSkimm,” explained Punithakumar, before adding that “she’s been a diehard Surface Pro 4 fan since she got it last year as a birthday present from her family.”

A former MacBook Pro user, Capeluto recalled her excitement when she discovered her birthday gift a year ago. “When I first started using Surface Pen, I shrieked with joy and immediately went to hug my mom to thank her for the gift she unknowingly gave me: my time back!”

Indeed, the hybrid tablet allowed her to transform her crafting passion into a successful side business. A firm believer in the fact that “work craft balance” is better than “work life balance,” she used that same motto to create her own professional website that features some of her creations.

As she explains, being able to draw and edit her creations on the Surface Pro 4 allows her to save time, explore more creative options and manufacture better products

“I draw on my Surface and then upload my work into the Cricut Design Space plug in, where I can clean up the images with ease thanks to the Surface Pen. Then my Cricut (imagine a printer that has a blade instead of an ink cartridge, and can cut cardstock, vinyl, and other materials) brings the digital shape to life.”

“Surface Pro 4 is everything I never knew I needed and can’t live without now,” explained Capeluto. To learn more about her crafting activity, we invite you to check her creations on her seasonal Etsy shop.

Major Nelson had the opportunity to share an FAQ with Program Managers Jasmine Lawrence and Keith Kline on his website. The two new features highlighted, Clubs and LFG, are both part of the upcoming Xbox Holiday Update. Gamers will be able to connect and play with the Xbox Live community in more ways than ever before thanks to these additions inspired by other gaming networks.

Clubs

If you weren’t in the loop, Clubs are community groups on Xbox Live that will combine people of like interests. This means searching for a specific video game will result in a list of clubs that you can join that play that game often. The gamer-created groups can be set to Public, Private, and Hidden depending on the owner’s preferences for joining. Jasmine explained that there were many suggestions to add into the Clubs feature and it was difficult to decide which ones to go with first.

As it stands, Clubs are able to be filtered by a variety of tags from having a microphone to deciding if trash-talking is allowed. This lets the user find exactly the community that they want to be part of, building comradery across multiple games in different user-moderated hubs.

There are already unique groups for more than just specific games, however. From sharing awesome screenshots to a club specifically made for meeting new gamers, the community already has thousands of players testing the realm of the feature’s possibilities. The team hopes to add more integrations with Arena and Gamerscore Leaderboard in the future to further customize the community’s experience in Clubs.

Here is a new video with Jasmine giving us a full walkthrough of Xbox Live’s Clubs.

Looking for Group

A term more often used in multiplayer games rather than on Xbox Live, this new community feature will pair up players of the same game. Users can request to join other groups or create their own groups for others to join by choosing a game, tags that determine what the group is for and posting it to either their friends list, club, or Xbox Live. This can be particularly useful if you’re setting up a team to take on daily quests or finally get that hard achievement you’ve been trying for.

Another feature of the LFG that is a game changer is setting your listing in advance. Gamers will be able to schedule a group event up to seven days in advance.

Keith Kline, a.k.a Kramer on Xbox Live, shared with Major Nelson that the LFG feature was created with a balance in mind for older titles. This means gamers can easily use the method they are so used to along with finding matches with the new tool. After finding all of the players your group needs, you can gather your group with a button to send out their party invites and then proceed as normally.

Check out the new LFG walkthrough presented by Keith.

Both of these Xbox Live Features that will become available to Windows 10, Android, and iOS applications in the holiday update for Xbox. Current Insiders with the Xbox Preview Program can already create, join, and play with them. Read more about the team’s thoughts of the LFG and Clubs through the FAQ on Major Nelson’s blog.

Ron Markezich, the corporate vice president for Microsoft, has taken to the Office blog to detail how Microsoft’s cloud services are enabling the digital transformation at the UK’s Ministry of Defense.

Overall, the post addresses how a government entity such as the Ministry of Defense can find the right balance between enabling employees with anytime, anywhere data access while also ensuring security.

Other areas covered include the fact that thanks to Microsoft’s Cloud Services, more than 95,000 UK Ministry of Defense mailboxes will be protected with Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, and the fact that staff will stay productive and secure around the clock. Of course, Microsoft’s Advanced Threat Protection, Customer Lockbox at a UK data center, are also addressed. A statement in the post from Mike Stone, chief digital and information officer (CDIO) at the Ministry of Defence also reflects how Microsoft’s Cloud Services fit with the Ministry:

“The MOD chose Microsoft cloud technologies to support our transition to a more cost-effective, modern and agile organisation. Microsoft offers the security, privacy, control and transparency that meets our stringent criteria for cloud services—all available from data centres in the U.K. Additional cloud-based services such as Advanced Threat Protection provide us with complementary capabilities to keep our employees productive and our network secure.”

To learn more about Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, and the Microsoft Cloud be sure to check out our news hubs for the subject here and here. As always, please do let us know what you think by dropping us a comment below!

It’s not every video game series that needs to lay out a timeline of events to explain the span of their story. But for Metro, the convergence of digital to text between games and books has prompted an online spread. Of course, the timeline makes it easier for players that aren’t up to date on the Metro universe but for die-hard fans; it had something even more exciting.

“The next Metro video game” it announced at the bottom set for a 2017 release date (via ICXM). The brief description reads: “It all adds up to something. Where the books end their story, the game will pick it up. An era of great discoveries lies ahead…”

It seems that the new game will take place directly after the events of the Metro 2035 book. The post World War 3 plotline follows the events of Metro: Last Lididght, a video game released for Xbox 360 and PC.  Metro 2035 is described as the final part of the trilogy that brings together characters from all the books and games together and intertwines them to turn the reader’s knowledge of the Metro world upside down.

This is just another piece of the puzzle, so to speak, for Metro fans. “Do you want to know the truth?” a tagline teases on the site. If you’re looking for hints into the next video game, you can check out the first look of Metro 2035 for free or pre-order it via Amazon. The book will be released on December 10, 2016.

In our modern world where cyber breaches are becoming ever so more common, cyber security is very important. It is fitting then that Microsoft has just announced that it has launched a new Security Updates Guide in order to provide its customers with better security updates information.

The new guide marks the company’s commitment to bringing comprehensive security updates to customers and comes after many asked for better access to update information, and simpler ways to customize and view security related information. The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) investigates all reports of security vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft products and services, and provides this information as part of the ongoing effort to help you manage security risks and help keep your systems protected.

Seen here, this month’s Security Updates Guide is now in a single destination. According to Microsoft, the new portal will “let customers search security vulnerabilities in a single online database.” Uses for the portal include:

• Sort and filter security vulnerability and update content, for example, by CVE, KB number, product, or release date.
• Filter out products that don’t apply to you, and drill down to more detailed security update information for products that do.
• Leverage a new RESTful API to obtain Microsoft security update information. This eliminates the need for you to employ outdated methods like screen-scraping of security bulletin web pages to assemble working databases of necessary and actionable information.

It is worth noting that Security updates will continue to be pushed on both the Security Bulletin and the Security Updates Guide until January 2017. According to Microsoft, after the January 2017 Update Tuesday release, update information will only be pushed to the Security Updates Guide.

Teams that decide that they want to coordinate using SharePoint have a ton of options to do so. If the existing options don’t quite do it for you, however, you can now set up a site for your team that can serve as a hub to work within. To help potential users get used to creating their own team sites through SharePoint, Microsoft has added a post to the Office blog that explains a bit about how it’s done.

If you’ve ever needed to organize a team for any reason, whether it be for a school assignment or a team project at work, Microsoft seems convinced that this is going to be the tool for you. All you need to do is fill in some information, and you’ll be ready to start collaborating online through SharePoint.

This functionality has now completely rolled out to every Office 365 First Release customer, so if you’re one of them, you should give this a shot. Microsoft’s full blog post pretty effectively holds your hand through the process.

The Xbox One Backward Compatibility program just keeps rolling on, with 250+ Xbox 360 titles that will run on Microsoft’s newest console and climbing. Today, two new titles rolled into the program, Guardian Heroes and Operation Flashpoint: Red River.

As usual, the word comes via Major Nelson’s Twitter account:

Guardian Heroes and Operation Flashpoint: Red River are coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility today https://t.co/qPMRNrLoTQ pic.twitter.com/9UMgkMlvNZ

— Larry Hryb ????????☁ (@majornelson) November 8, 2016

If you’re a fan of either title, then you’ll want to get them installed pronto. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the addition of these two new titles, and which Xbox 360 games you’re most looking forward to making their way to the Xbox One.

Onesies are some of the most comfortable clothing and what better outfit to bunker down in for a bout of gaming than an Xbox version. Unfortunately, according to Neowin, the popularly requested Xbox Onesies revealed by the Australian branch are no longer available.

Originally given away as the Xbox One S launch across social media, these personalized Onesies could be customized by size, color, and gamertag/name on the breast. Even Major Nelson had the opportunity to pass out a limited amount to give away on his blog.

Neowin reached out to Microsoft spokesperson that had some unfortunate news for comfort lovers:

The Xbox Onesies were for a limited-time activation led by our Xbox Australia team and are no longer available at this time.

Gamers are still able to get the digital version for their Xbox Live avatar. For now, the comfortable cloth cocoon is out of stock. Maybe the high demand will bring Microsoft to distribute some more in the future. Until then, we’ll have to settle with our normal pajamas.

If you’re looking for some nostalgia, it’s time to look no further. You can now travel back in time to 1997 with a free WordArt generator (via The Verge.)

As seen here, designer Michael McMillan has created a free WordArt generator that you can use to spice up plain old boring text and words. The format of the online generator brings back memories of the Windows 95 days with it’s Windows 95esque user interface. Of course, the generator also features Clippy, who can either get in your way or guide you to choosing the right WordArt style.

Anything that is created using the generator can also be resized, or shared online via Twitter, Tumblr. And, for those who truly love their design, you can even use the generator to buy custom swag and order a t-shirt, mug, sticker, mouse pad, or hat.

Will you be making any custom WordArt designs? What do you think of the design we created above? As always, let us know what you think by dropping us a comment in the section below!

Fon Wireless, a global provider of wireless services, has announced today that Windows 10 users will be able to pay for accessing to the company’s 20 million WiFi hotspots by using their Windows Store credentials. According to the company, purchasing WiFi passes through this new Windows 10 OS integration will offer “a seamless, secure user experience” to consumers as it doesn’t require them to install a dedicated app.

Windows 10 users with registered payment details will be able to pay with just one click. These customers will not need to login every time they start a session or go to a different Fon Hotspot – connectivity will be seamlessly enabled by Windows 10 throughout the validity of their WiFi pass.

In a press release published today, Microsoft’s Windows Store Core Program Management Director Gregg Harmon shared that “We’re thrilled to be working with Fon to bring a better WiFi experience to millions of hotspot locations globally.” However, it’s worth reminding that Microsoft is competing with Fon with Skype Wifi, a service that lets Skype users use their Skype credit to access 2 million Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide. Last year, the company announced the launch of a simpler Microsoft Wifi service which works with a Windows 10 app for now.

If you’re looking forward to trying this new payment method to access Fon WiFi hotspots, the company shared that the roll-out started today and “will gradually be extended throughout the Fon network.”

Bill Baer, the senior product manager for the SharePoint team, has taken to the Microsoft Office Blog to announce that Microsoft has launched Feature Pack 1 for SharePoint Server 2016. The availability will bring several new features, all of which were based on the feedback of customers.

Overall, the new features will be delivered through the November 2016 Public Update. The new features cover a broad range of areas, and as described by Bill Baer, can be seen below.

• Administrative actions logging for common SharePoint administrative actions.
• MinRole enhancements to support small and medium-sized farms.
• A OneDrive for Business modern experience.
• Custom tiles in the SharePoint app launcher.
• SharePoint hybrid auditing unified across site collections on-premises and in Office 365.
• Hybrid taxonomy unified across on-premises and Office 365.
• OneDrive API for SharePoint on-premises.

For the complete details and a bigger look at each of these features, be sure to check out Bill Baer’s full post on the Office Blog. Once you’ve checked it out, let us know what you think by dropping us a line in the comment section.

Blockchain technology has plenty of potential to redefine how many different markets interact with data. Including Webjet, a travel booking website that handles transactions for hotels and sunhotels.

Today, ZDNet reported that Webjet has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to reinvent hotel bookings. For them, the cost of data mismatches is getting too high. The industry standards currently leave much to be desired with millions of transactions that can result in 5%-10% discrepancies and cost billions of dollars.

The company hopes to use the blockchain technology released by Microsoft earlier this year as a means to correct those errors and make the industry more efficient. As John Guscic, managing director of Webjet, explained:

“Blockchain eliminates transaction errors by having an indisputable record of truth. As we’ve tested the technology, we quickly realized it had the potential to improve processes with the rest of our travel partners who face similar complexities. It didn’t just benefit the Webjet environment; it could potentially assist every one of our partners in the supply chain to improve their efficiency.”

Currently, Webjet is still in the proof of concept phase. Soon, it will be switching over to phase 2 where trials of blockchain’s automated features to process transactions weekly will roll out across Hotels and Sunhotels. This all works forward to the ultimate goal of establishing the technology across the travel industry.

Microsoft threw its hat into the 3D ring in a big way a few weeks ago during its Fall Windows 10 Event. Aside from its Surface Studio hardware geared for touch manipulation of 3D creations, Microsoft also revamped its Paint software to now be the home of consumer-facing 3D creation.

Microsoft isn’t satisfied hanging its hat on its Fall announcements and is bolstering its 3D offerings with a new patent for full-color 3D printing with mixed CMYKW materials.

Thanks to 3ders.org we get summation of the patent in laymen’s terms:

So how does it work? In a nutshell, this patent covers various techniques for mixing CMYKW (cyan, magenta, yellow, key or black and white) 3D printable materials and expressing the design from computer software to a physical device – from CAD model to 3D printed object.”

Understandably, 3D printing is a bit more complicated and requires new processes to get solid results, but it looks like Microsoft and its Windows 10 operating system is attempting to get out ahead of the potential complications to make it as assessable as possible.

Hundreds of Skype accounts have been hacked and it didn’t just happen overnight. Thanks to a tip sent by one of our readers, we’ve found that users have been reporting messages from hacked accounts since August. Users say that they have received multiple Baidu links from their friends’ accounts, even if they didn’t send it themselves. This includes those that have Microsoft’s two-factor authentication security measure in place.

So what is the hack exactly? For those users that linked their Skype accounts to Microsoft accounts, the former Skype password is still activated. This leaves a security hole that can be used to break into your account and use it as you would. But it isn’t a breach in Skype security according to a statement to The Verge.

“Some Skype customers have reported their accounts being used to send spam,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. “There is no breach of Skype security, instead we believe criminals are using username and password combinations obtained illegally to see if they exist on Skype. We continue to take steps to harden the login process and recommend customers update their Skype account to a Microsoft account to benefit from added protections such as two-factor authentication.”

The Verge also  reached out to an anonymous Microsoft employee whom also got their Skype account compromised. The solution, they pointed out, was to shirk the former Skype account password and opt for a Skype alias. Haven’t heard of the setting? No, neither had most people. The feature is hidden and not publicized even towards the users that have been repeatedly reporting the hacking.

Here’s how to secure your Skype account:

• Go to https://account.microsoft.com, if you’re already signed in, sign out.
• Enter your Skype name, not your Microsoft Account email address, and use your Skype password to sign-in
• If you’ve linked your Microsoft Account previously, you’ll be prompted to sign-in and merge the accounts to create a Skype alias

Once the two accounts are properly merged, Microsoft creates a Skype alias to let you keep signing in with a Skype username. You can continue using this or disable it under the aliases preferences, to ensure nobody can try to sign in with your Skype username. Either way, you won’t be able to use your old Skype password anymore, and attackers will have to know the email address associated with your account.

Hopefully, Microsoft’s attempts to integrate Skype with their accounts won’t cause troubles as we look forward to the new Microsoft Teams application with built-in Skype chat, video, and voice. Let us know if this solution worked for you.

Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming console has had an interesting year so far. Back at E3 2016, Microsoft unveiled two new Xbox consoles: the sleeker Xbox One S (which was the best gaming console in the US for the third time in a row in September) and the 4K-enabled Project Scorpio which won’t be released until late 2017.

Additionally, Microsoft made significant efforts this year to make Xbox a more powerful consumer brand. Indeed, following the launch of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update the Xbox app has become a true gaming hub on Windows 10 PCs. Furthermore, Microsoft has been promoting cross-platform gameplay experiences through the new Xbox Play Anywhere initiative which lets consumers buy a game once and play it on both the Xbox One and Windows 10 for free.

However, Microsoft reportedly had other plans to make Xbox a bigger consumer play this year. Just a few weeks before E3 2016, blogger Brad Sams revealed on his podcast that Microsoft could release two Xbox streaming devices this year, one about the size of a Chromecast and a larger one which could have been able to run apps and games. Considering that Microsoft’s Xbox One S is still a $300 purchase, both products would have been a more affordable way to access the Xbox and Windows ecosystems on your TV.

According to a new report from Windows Central, Microsoft may have ultimately decided to change its plans as rumors about a more powerful Playstation 4 started to materialize:

“Hobart” was the codename for Microsoft’s Xbox streaming stick, and the device was pretty much ready to go. Microsoft was due to order 300,000 units for manufacture, set to launch a few weeks after E3 2016. A change in plans led to the device being canned, however, and while we don’t know the exact reason why the leak of the PlayStation 4 Pro might have had something to do with it.

A source familiar with Microsoft’s plans also told Windows Central that Project Hobart would have been priced at $99 and support Windows 10 Universal apps as well as some UWP games. “The stick would also be capable of streaming your Xbox One or Project Scorpio over your home WiFi, presumably via the Windows 10 Xbox app,” added Windows Central.

We may never know why Microsoft scrapped Project Hobart, though it wouldn’t be the first time that Microsoft canceled a product late in its development cycle. Microsoft reportedly canned the Microsoft Band 3 earlier this year while Surface fans may remember that a Surface Mini model powered by the unpopular Windows RT was also canceled back in 2014.

As Microsoft UWP ecosystem is still immature, the company may well have been right not to release a product targeted at a niche market. Indeed, it probably wouldn’t have been easy to compete with other streaming sticks from Google, Amazon, and Roku. However, bringing Xbox and Windows 10 experiences to the big screen at a cheaper price point than the current Xbox One models should remain on the company’s agenda. Let us know in the comments if you think Microsoft was right to cancel Project Hobart this year.

Microsoft created the digital assistant Cortana to keep your calendars, notify you of texts and emails, and launch your applications through voice activation. But a new patent discovered by Network World reveals that her artificial intelligence might be getting improved in the future.

The patent published on November 3, 2016, is titled Providing Personalized Greetings on a Digital Assistant. Microsoft Technology then shares that the premise is to build greetings that draw from user-specific and contextual information. This means that Cortana would know the account’s name, birthday, work, weather, hobbies and more to say ‘Hello’ in different ways.

 “A goal of the personalized greeting system described herein is to mimic a human experience with the user. Providing the same greeting to the user twice in one day is not typical of how the user would be greeted by a human. As such, embodiments provide for mechanisms to alternate or rotate through a list of personalized greetings so that the experience is heightened for the user.”

One example is to say Happy Birthday to the user when they first check their email for the day, but then to wish them a wonderful day the second time they interact with Cortana.

Another example shows that the personalized greetings aren’t exclusive. Some could be combined such as “Welcome Home! The temperature is expected to be above 85 today!” loading location values and weather. Interests, hobbies, and even how busy you are on your calendar will all play a part in the selection of greetings thanks to a ranking system.

It looks like Cortana’s personalized greetings would be available across all devices and includes audio, text, voice, images, etc. This very well could be the next step for Cortana but as it is still a patent, we might not see it too soon.

Steve Lasker, the Program Manager at Azure Developer Experiences has taken to an official Microsoft Blog to announce that Microsoft has issued Azure Container Registry preview. The move brings major upgrades to Azure Container offerings, and makes Azure a cloud provider with the broadest support for container deployments.

The Azure Container Registry Preview also comes after Microsoft made Azure Container Service generally available in April 2016, and after Microsoft announced container support for Azure Batch and Azure Service Fabric container support. Azure Container Registry Preview will also include a preview of Azure Container Registry, which is a private registry for hosting container images. According to Steve Lasker, Azure Container Registry has several uses such as:

• Store and manage images for all types of container deployments
• Automated Container Builds, Testing and Security Scanning
• Support for Store your container image in local, network-close storage on Azure
• Use Common Command Line Interface (CLI) to interact with the registry
• Use Azure Active Directory to manage access, including Service Principals for headless connections like automated CI/CD and vulnerability scanning
• Manage Windows and Linux container images in a single registry

To learn more about Azure Container Registry Preview, you can visit this official Microsoft website and also stay on the watch for more details during Microsoft Connect().  Once you’ve checked it out, let us know what you think by dropping us a comment in the section below.

While Microsoft is currently busy transitioning its Skype messaging service from a peer to peer infrastructure to a cloud-based one, the Skype team has announced today the launch of a new Skype Insider program. Just like the company’s Windows Insider and Office Insider programs, the new initiative will allow Skype enthusiasts to get access to preview releases and provide feedback to improve the messaging app:



As a Skype Insider, you can help us shape your Skype experiences as:

• You will have early access to Skype software and services updates and improvements.
• You will be able to give early feedback on these improvements and as well as help us iron out any quirks before we release them broadly.
• On top of that you will be able to submit your suggestions on what you would like to see in the Skype app in the future

You can join the Skype Insider Program right now by signing up online at the Skype Insiders Registration From and you’ll be given the choice to indicate the platform you want to sign up for. The Skype team notes that this program doesn’t include the Skype Preview UWP app for Windows 10 devices (Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring can already test preview builds of the messaging app) and that you’ll be able to install preview versions alongside the regular Skype app.

This announcement comes just a day after the Xbox team announced the rebranding of the Xbox Preview Program as the Xbox Insider Program and we applaud the company’s naming consistency. Sound off in the comments if you’re looking forward to see what’s next for the popular messaging app.

Vector Unit, the developers behind Riptide GP: Renegade, have just announced that their upcoming game will be one of the first third-party Xbox video games to release under the Xbox Play Anywhere label.

“Riptide GP: Renegade is going to be one of the very first third-party titles released with the “Xbox Play Anywhere” label.  That means you’ll be able to buy it once and you’ll get it on both Xbox One and Windows 10.  You’ll also be able to sync your game progress, earn Xbox Achievements and Gamerscore, and play online multiplayer across both Xbox One and Windows 10. (And of course, don’t forget that the Xbox One is the ONLY version that lets you play local split screen with up to SIX players!),” a statement on the Vector Unit website said. “We’re very excited to finally be bringing our latest game to the Xbox platform, and we hope you agree that when the game finally releases — it will have been worth the wait!”

Here’s the official game description:

Riptide GP: Renegade drops players into a futuristic world of illicit hydro jet racing, where armored riders kick out death-defying stunts over massive waterfalls, outrun cops, and boost at breakneck speeds across surging waves.  With a deep career mode and both split screen and online multiplayer, Riptide GP: Renegade is the first game in the popular racing series designed especially for modern consoles.

No release date has been revealed yet for the release of Riptide GP: Renegade but the game is now in final certification testing at Microsoft apparently so a date should drop soon.

Are you excited to see the announcement of another Xbox Play Anywhere video game? Would you like to see more? Let us know in the comments below.

Two-Factor Authentication is on its way to Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 Desktop versions of the popular WhatsApp chat app according to leaked emails concerning translation requests between app developers. The emails, via MicrosoftInsiders, which you can see below, clearly show that documentation concerning Two-Factor Authentication is in production for a future update.

Two-Factor Authentication adds an extra layer of security for accessing an app or service. The process involves the use of the traditional user password but also something else, such as a code sent to the user’s mobile device, for a successful login.

Do you prefer Two-Factor Authentication or are you fine with the good ol’ name and password? Let us know in the comments below.

Microsoft finally brought Mass Effect 2 and 3 to the Xbox One via the system’s backwards compatibility functionality yesterday and now both titles have arrived on the Xbox One EA Access program as well. Alongside Mass Effect 2 and 3, the original Mass Effect video game is also now on EA Access.

As an extra treat for fans, the original Mirror’s Edge and its sequel, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, are both set to launch on EA Access sometime tomorrow and EA Sports UFC 2 the day after. Star Wars Battlefront is also expected to appear on EA Access before the end of the year though no date has been set yet.

EA Access is a paid subscription service that lets Xbox One owners play select previously released EA Access titles for free and also offers early access to many EA video games before their public release.

Do you subscribe to EA Access? Which games are you playing right now? Share your thoughts with the community below.

Microsoft has announced a special Xbox promotion for the holiday season which will be run in collaboration with Pizza Hut. From November 7th through December 24th, customers who purchase the restaurant chain’s Triple Treat Box will receive one entry into a draw for a new Xbox One S console and exclusive Pizza Hut-themed Xbox One controller with one console being given away every hour within the campaign period. Participants will also have the opportunity to win $10 Xbox One discount coupons.

Xbox’s general manager, Aaron Greenberg , said of the promotion, “Xbox One S is the now best-selling console in America with over 100 exclusive games, the only system with a built in 4K Blu-ray player, 4K video streaming, and HDR gaming. We are excited to partner with Pizza Hut on their Triple Treat Box, an offer like this is definitely going to make a lot of holiday dreams come true.”

Are you going to try win a new Xbox One S console and Pizza Hut controller? Let us know in the comments below.