Xbox news recap: Xbox users warned against using power strips, Gears of War 4 heading to Xbox Game Pass and more

Welcome to our weekly Xbox news recap series, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Xbox. Let’s get started.

Xbox users warned against using power strips

If you’re like most people, you’re probably using your Xbox One plugged into a power strip. It’s a super common thing to do in a world where you need several power outlets for your entertainment center. Surprisingly, according to the Xbox team, this is not something you’re supposed to do. Apparently, the Xbox One (and this is everything in the Xbox One family, up to and including the X) is meant to be plugged into a wall, since there’s a surge protector built in. If you’re using a surge-protected power strip, you run the risk of hurting your console.

To be clear the console already has a built in surge protector. So just like having two surge protector's plugged into each-other, that would not be recommended. ^IS

— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) November 18, 2017

Gears of War 4 heading to Xbox Game Pass

Simple but big news here – Gears of War 4 will be among the games arriving to the Xbox Game Pass this December. The game is relatively recent and a pretty great time, so it’s a pleasant surprise to see it coming for free to people who are Game Pass members. Joining Gears of War 4 is Mass Effect (the original) and a plethora of other titles that you’ll be able to enjoy at no additional cost so long as you’re subscribed to the Game Pass.

Improving social sharing is a top priority for the Xbox team

Apparently, sharing gameplay on social media is a big priority for the Xbox Team. Jason Beaumont, the experience lead for Xbox, has recently tweeted about upcoming improvements to sharing when grilled about it by some fans. He says that details have come when “we’ve planned it out and talked to our partners.” Specifically, this addresses a request to add in a “quick share” feature, and give users a way to share clips and screenshots to Facebook and Twitter without too much thought.

One of the first things I asked the team to look at. Details will come once we’ve planned it out and talked to our partners. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

— Jason Beaumont (@jbeaumont) November 23, 2017

Man uses Xbox One X on a CRT TV

When’s the last time you saw a CRT TV? Whether it was 5 years ago or earlier this week when you visited your older family members for Thanksgiving, I can guarantee you didn’t see it running an Xbox One X. One person on YouTube actually managed to make the Xbox One X run on one of these ancient TV sets using a series of adapters, and it looks… Relatively okay. It’s definitely not something that you’re going to want to do for any reason other than “because you can,” but it’s fun to watch nonetheless.

Thanks for joining us. To keep up to date with all the latest Xbox news, keep a close eye on our Xbox One tag.