NEWS: Fitbit teams up with Xbox One to get gamers moving through new fitness app

Gamers get a bad rap when it comes to stereotypes about their personal fitness, with the reductive assumption being they're more interested in their headshots than their heart rates. But Microsoft has been trying to shift that perception for years.

The Xbox One launched with the now sadly deceased Kinect-enabled Xbox Fitness. But rather than give up entirely on the space, it's instead partnering with wearable giants Fitbit to bring a new fitness-focussed app to the Xbox One. It's called Fitbit Coach – which may already be familiar to mobile users who've enjoyed a version of the app for some time.

Also coming to all Windows 10 devices (including the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro) and it'll offer onscreen workout guidance to help you get into better shape, as well as integrating with select Fitbit wearables for advanced features.
Workout with wearables

Fitbit Coach is free on a "Basic" tier for all users. This gives you access to one personalised workout program, plus a few additional audio and video workout routines. But to get the complete package of available workouts, you're going to have to splash out $39.99 a year (roughly AU$50 or £28).

However, whatever tier you're on, if you've got a Fitbit tracker or smartwatch with a continuous heart-rate tracker, you'll be able to link it up to the Fitbit Coach app and see onscreen in real-time any changes in your heart rate.

Available now, it's a great reason to put down that controller and work on those new year resolutions.

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REPOST: 6 things you need to know about the Xbox One X

Microsoft’s newest console, the much-hyped Xbox One X, is nearly upon us. If you haven’t checked out our full review of the new console, then we thoroughly suggest you do so right now - it’s a complex beast.

There’s a lot to take in with the new console, and it’s also the most complicated piece of gaming hardware to try and describe. Like the PS4 Pro, it won’t have exclusive games, but instead it’ll have games that are ‘enhanced’ for the new hardware.

As if that wasn’t complicated enough already, the nature of these enhancements varies on a game-by-game basis, and some games even give you several options as to how you want them to use the additional horsepower the console provides.

We’ve put together this list of the top six things you need to know to get you up to speed with the new console as quickly as possible.

1. HDR, 4K and 60fps are the maximum, not the standard
2. Supporting the Xbox One X is completely optional for developers
3. You don’t need an X to get lots of its most interesting features
4. Non-enhanced games will still play better
5. Xbox One X patches are freaking huge!
6. VR is still a complete unknown on this console

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NEWS: Xbox One's new download delivery method will save time and hard drive space

The Xbox One X promises to usher in a new age of native 4K Ultra-HD gaming. This is, obviously, an exciting prospect as it means our games are going to look better than ever.
“But,” you give voice your concerns, “aren’t games chock-full of 4K assets going to take longer to download?” As it turns out, not necessarily.

To lessen the time it takes to download digital game titles and reduce the amount of space they take up on your valuable hard drive real estate, Microsoft has designed a system called Intelligent Delivery that delivers only the parts of the game you actually need.
Say, for example, you’re a proud, new Xbox One X owner with a 4K TV. As long as you’re home, you’ll never look at an HD screen again – so why download 1080p assets? With Intelligent Delivery, you won’t.

You could run the same scenario for 1080p TV owners with an original Xbox One and the console will only download 1080p assets but none of the 4K ones.

Essentially, Intelligent Delivery talks to your hardware before starting a download to see what settings you’re running and then optimizes delivery for those settings.

But, what happens if those settings change? Microsoft is prepared for that.
Save your game to an external hard drive and head over to a friend’s house with an Xbox One S or Xbox One X, and you’ll immediately be prompted to download the 4K assets you’re missing.

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