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Biggest conference in gaming is going online

Instead of its usual Los Angeles location it will be held digitally and free for everyone to attend due to the pandemic.

Nintendo, Xbox, Konami and Ubisoft are some of the developers which have agreed to participate.

Notably absent are EA, Activision and Sony, but this isn't unusual and often happened before the pandemic too.

The show, which connects developers and publishers with gamers was forced to cancel last year due to global lockdowns.

Entertainment Software Association, which runs the event, hasn't yet given any clues about how it will take hold.

Xbox sales boom as virus maintains grip on economy

Its Azure cloud computing services also got a boost due to a surge in working and learning from home.

The gains helped push the firm's overall revenue up 17% to a record $43.1bn (£31.4bn).

But its growth came as the virus continues to weigh on other industries.

Microsoft boss Satya Nadella said the firm is benefiting from a long-term shift in behaviour.

"What we have witnessed over the past year is the dawn of a second wave of digital transformation sweeping every company and every industry," he said.

The biggest e-sports event in the world

It's the biggest event of its kind in the world with a prize pool of nearly $24m (£18.4m) and is hosted by Valve.

Sixteen teams, with players from all over the world, are competing in the season climax for online battle arena game Dota 2.

For many of them the prestige of lifting the trophy at this ultra-competitive event is far more important than the cash.

Alex "machine" Richardson is Dota 2's answer to Gary Lineker and has been hosting the live stream of the group stages, which are taking place in Seattle.

Microsoft to crack down on 'terrorist content' across Xbox, Outlook

In a blog post, the company said it would focus on services such as gaming tool Xbox Live, the consumer version of its Outlook email service, and its consumer documents-sharing service.

But for its search engine Bing, Microsoft cited free expression and said it would remove links only when that "is required of search providers under local law".

Initially, Microsoft will rely on consumers to report objectionable content.

The company also said it would fund research of a tool that scans content and flags images, audio and video.

Xbox One gets another firmware update

The new update largely gets things ready for this year's new Windows 10 dashboard and speedier user-interface.

According to Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb, the update also fixes some known party chat issues.

Microsoft's new WIndows 10-inspired dashboard will launch alongside Xbox 360 backwards compatibility in November.

The dashboard will place an emphasis on speed and community, and also features Cortana integration.

Microsoft is also planning to introduce an early access scheme to Xbox One, similar to the one found on Steam.