Microsoft's game development teams are having a banner year. The company's gaming head Phil Spencer has revealed that Forza Horizon 5 had the best launch day of any Xbox Game Studios title. There have been over 4.5 million people playing the arcade racer across all platforms (Xbox, Windows and cloud) to date, and its peak concurrent players were three times those of its predecessor.

Horizon 5 is enjoyable, as you might have gathered from our hands-on, but it also helps that the game had one of Microsoft's widest releases yet. The new Forza launched simultaneously on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, the Microsoft Store on Windows and through Steam. It's much easier to pick up the game this time around, and it's a major showcase for both Microsoft's latest consoles as well as PCs with high-end video cards.

All the same, it's a significant moment for Microsoft after years of buying and fostering developers to make Xbox Game Studios a well-known brand. There's a real chance the company will eclipse itself, too, with Halo Infinite poised to launch in less than a month. It's just a question of whether or not these standout launches will translate to better Xbox sales.

In October, Microsoft and Adidas partnered to celebrate the Xbox's 20th anniversary with the first-ever pair of official Xbox footwear. For fans of the company's original 2001 console, the Forum Tech sneakers were a treat with their nostalgic green and black colorway. There was just one problem with the shoes: you couldn't buy them. Thankfully, that's not true of their latest collaboration, which will be available to buy in the US and Canada.

Microsoft describes the Xbox 360 Forum Mid as a "love letter to one of the most iconic gaming consoles in gaming history." That means plenty of details Xbox 360 fans will appreciate. Most noticeable is the Xbox button on the outer side of the shoes, but there are other fun touches, including the straps that replicate the console's optical drive. Another nifty inclusion is that each pair comes with four additional pairs of laces in red, yellow, green and blue, so all four controller face button colors are represented. Oh, and expect Easter Eggs. 

Sales of the Xbox 360 Forum Mid shoes will start on November 4th at 10am ET. You can grab them from the Adidas website. If you don't fancy yourself a sneakerhead, Microsoft is releasing other commemorative products to mark the Xbox brand's 20th birthday. On November 15th, the company will come out with a translucent Xbox Series X/S controller and headset.

Sony's PlayStation 5 sales remain relatively steady and strong, with 3.3 million units sold in fiscal Q2 compared to 2.2 million last quarter, bringing total sales to 13.4 million units, Sony announced. Game sales were also up significantly at 76.4 million units compared to 63.6 million in the previous quarter, due in large part to third-party sales.

All told, this amounted to a healthy 27 percent boost in gaming revenue to 645.4 billion yen ($5.68 billion). However, operating income of 82.7 billion yen ($728 million) was down compared to last quarter by 3.4 billion yen ($29 million). Sony's fiscal year ends on March 31, 2022.

So how can profit be lower when sales and revenue are up? While Sony did sell more games last quarter, first-party titles dropped very significantly, from 10.5 million last quarter to 7.6 million in Q2. That was offset in numbers by third-party games, but those don't tend to be as profitable. Both Microsoft and Sony have acquired gaming studios to boost their Xbox/PS first-party titles, but Microsoft has been more prolific in that regard. 

And while PS5 sales were up, PS4 units dropped considerably, down to just 200,000 from a half a million the quarter before. Other factors that Sony mentioned are a "loss resulting from strategic price points for PS5 hardware that were set lower than manufacturing costs." That means that Sony may have sold the PS5 with minimal or negative profits this quarter, although in August, the company said it was no longer selling the PS5 at a loss. 

Despite the drop in quarterly income, Sony's gaming division appears to be on pretty solid footing. In its August earnings call, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki told investors that the company believes it will eclipse the 14.8 million unit sales achieved by the PlayStation 4 in its first year. PS5 sales are tracking close to that figure.

The company also said at the time that it had secured enough components for 22.6 million units sold by March 2022. That would be enough to meet its sales projections, but if sales really explode during the holidays, it may not have a lot of margin for error — meaning shortages could continue through next year. 

Streaming to Twitch on the PS5 is relatively easy, but not so much on the Xbox Series X or S — you currently need to download the Twitch app and run through a series of steps. However, Microsoft is introducing "Console Live Streaming" on its latest update Xbox Insider preview, making Twitch access easier and more direct. It also added an Xbox Cloud Gaming beta to Xbox One, giving users of older consoles access to the latest games. 

To use the new Twitch streaming feature, you'll just need to navigate the "Capture and Share" tab and choose "Live streaming." Link your Twitch account using a mobile device or console settings, then hit the "Go live now" button to start streaming gameplay. "This feature only streams game play so viewers will see a pause screen if the user navigates to home or another app," Microsoft notes. 

If you're still on an Xbox One and want to play Xbox Series X/S titles or more hardware intensive games, the Xbox Cloud Gaming beta is also available to Insiders. Want to play an Xbox Series X/S exclusive like Microsoft Flight Simulator or The Medium on an Xbox One? It's now feasible if you're on the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring, launching today at 5PM EST. Both of these features will eventually come to everyone, as well.

Although Xbox owners are waiting for Microsoft to switch on its own cloud gaming service on consoles, they have other ways to stream games. An update in September brought the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser to Xbox One and Series X/S consoles, allowing players to access Google Stadia. Starting today, they can fire up PC games via NVIDIA's GeForce Now as well.

GeForce Now is now available in beta on Edge, as The Verge notes, creating a pathway for Xbox users to play hundreds of games they might otherwise miss out on. GeForce Now is free for one-hour sessions though the resolution is limited to 1080p. NVIDIA just unveiled a new, more expensive plan that promises "desktop-class latency" and gameplay streaming in 1440p at up to 120 fps on PC and Mac and in 4K HDR at 60 fps on NVIDIA Shield TV.

Microsoft said it will bring Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's cloud gaming feature to consoles this holiday season. Even so, thanks to GeForce Now, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S players now have a gateway to some major PC exclusives, such as League of Legends and Dota 2, without the need for a gaming rig.

Innersloth has been promisingfor months that it will bring Among Us to Xbox and PlayStation sometime this year. Sure enough, the Mafia-style social deduction game is coming to PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on December 14th.

Just like on PC, Among Us will be included with Xbox Game Pass on consoles. Those on PlayStation, meanwhile, will get an exclusive Ratchet & Clank cosmetic at a later date. Among Us has crossplay support, so you'll be able to play with friends across PC, Nintendo Switch and mobile.

Innersloth also revealed details about the physical editions of Among Us for PlayStation, Xbox and Switch. Along with the base game and all of the DLC, the $30 Crewmate Edition includes a poster of the Skeld map, stickers and a holographic card. That version will hit Europe on December 14, Japan and South Korea two days later, and then the US, Canada and Latin America on January 11th.

The $50 Impostor Edition includes the same gear as the Crewmate package, along with a purple crewmate plush, an enamel pin and a lanyard. The $90 Ejected Edition comes with even more goodies, including a steelbook case, a beanie and, best of all, a fleece blanket. Both of those editions will ship in spring 2022.

Among Usexploded in popularity in 2020, two years after its debut, as Twitch streamers and YouTubers started playing it en masse. People were also looking for ways to connect with their friends during COVID-19 lockdowns and, for many, lying to their buds about what they were doing in Among Us' med bay fit the bill perfectly. It's coming to Xbox and PlayStation just in time for more people to play and argue with their loved ones over the holiday season.

Over the weekend, accessory maker Dbrand made headlines when it stopped selling its PlayStation 5 “Darkplates” following a cease-and-desist letter from Sony. At the time, the company promised it would have more to say about the subject, and now it has. On late Monday evening, the company took to Reddit to announce a second version of the faceplates it says Sony won't have a legal case against.

“By creating a brand new design, Darkplates 2.0 successfully closes the loop on this dispute and neutralizes any future infringement claims from Sony,” the company said. It also claims its plates will make your PS5 look “considerably less ugly.” You can be the judge of that last one.

In addition to a new design, the panels feature cutouts for the PS5’s 120mm intake fans. Citing data from Gamers Nexus, Dbrand claims its new plates will maximize your PS5’s thermal performance without the need to run it naked. Sony’s latest console doesn’t have overheating issues. That’s true of both the launch variant and the new revised model that comes with a smaller and lighter heatsink. That said, running components at lower temperatures generally extends their lifespan over pushing them to the limit. If you’re worried about dust making its way into your console, each set of Darkplates comes with a pair of mesh dust filters you can mount inside of the panels.

The new panels are available to pre-order starting today for an introductory price of $59.05 for the set. You can choose from three colors: matte black, retro gray and classic white. Alongside the faceplates, Dbrand is selling lightstrips you can use to tint your PS5’s side LEDs. They’re available in nine different colors, with a single one priced at $5.95. Dbrand will release the panels in waves, with the first, sold-out set shipping in November, and then the second and third waves following in December and January.

We wouldn’t necessarily count on plates making those dates. Dbrand says Sony will “probably” sue it again. It’s bullish on its prospects, but then again, it’s up against a much larger company.

Sony has tweeted that it's testing a beta that will let PS5 players share screenshots and clips via smartphone using the PlayStation app. That will match functionality the Xbox has offered for a while now, though so far, Sony is only testing it in a limited release. 

One you turn it on, the new feature will automatically upload captures to the cloud. You'll then be able to access them on the PlayStation app for 14 days to save on your camera roll, share on social media, or send to PSN friends and parties. It should be less clunky than the current system of direct sharing from the console. 

On top of screenshots taken from the Create Menu or Create button shortcuts, you can share gameplay videos under three minutes in length up to 1080p (not 4K). For screenshots and videos to be auto-uploaded, make sure you've linked your PS5 console to the PlayStation app. It also needs to be left in rest mode and have the "Stay Connected to the Internet" setting enabled. For more details, check Sony's (region-locked) article.  

The update is now available in Canada and Japan only, and as with other beta features, "may not make it into the final version or may see significant changes," Sony notes. However, it seems as likely as any new feature to come out of beta, so hopefully it will be released to everyone soon. 

For the first time in nearly three years, the Nintendo Switch wasn’t the best-selling console in the US. In September, that distinction went to Sony’s PlayStation 5 instead. In a tweet spotted by GamesRadar, NDP analyst Mat Piscatella said the PS5 outsold Nintendo’s portable last month both in terms of unit volume and dollar amount, thereby ending the Switch’s impressive 33-month streak as the best-selling console in the US. The last time the Nintendo Switch wasn’t at the top of the sales charts was back in November 2018 when the PS4 held that position.

Piscatella didn’t say what helped push the PS5 past the Switch, but a variety of factors likely contributed to the shift. With 10 million units sold in only eight months, demand for Sony’s console has always been there, but ongoing global chip shortages have made it difficult for the company to maintain a steady supply of consoles. On Nintendo’s side, the announcement of the OLED Switch, which only became available at the start of October, likely meant some consumers decided to wait on buying the portable. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if the Switch can reclaim the top spot. Demand for the PS5 isn’t likely to cool down anytime soon, but the chip shortage isn’t expected to resolve anytime soon either.

It's not just small companies facing Sony's wrath over aftermarket PlayStation 5 faceplates. Dbrand told The Verge it stopped selling its PS5 "Darkplates" after Sony issued a cease-and-desist letter earlier in the year threatening legal action over alleged design and trademark violations. Visit Dbrand's product page now and you'll only see links to news stories and testimonials.

Dbrand isn't going down quietly. In a Reddit thread, the company claimed it was submitting to the "terrorists' demands... for now." It believed customers had the right to modify hardware with third-party components, and speculated that Sony might be clamping down so that it can either sell its own covers or charge licensing fees. The company didn't definitively say it planned to resume sales, but did say it would "talk soon."

Whatever Dbrand's intentions, this takes away a major option (though not your only option) for customizing the PS5. The question is whether or not Sony can completely halt third-party faceplate sales. After all, the faceplates are designed to be easily removable and aren't much more than plastic sheets. Dbrand likened this to replacing a broken F-150 truck bumper with an aftermarket part — you have the right to choose the parts you use for fixes or cosmetic upgrades, and Ford can't sue simply because you're using an unofficial bumper. It won't be surprising if there's an eventual court battle over Sony's policy.