Xbox One News: Games with Gold for August Announced; Updates for Progress in China

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer answers questions at the company's annual shareholder meeting in Bellevue, Washington in this file photo taken November 19, 2013. Reuters

Coming in before the announcement of the PS Plus August 2014 lineup, Microsoft is the first to break the news for its Games with Gold.

Announced via the Xbox Wire, Xbox Live Gold members will be seeing four games for the month. For the whole month of August, two games for the Xbox One will be available for free. The first is "Crimson Dragon" from Grounding. This title is a shooter game with a fantasy world setting and co-op battles online.

The other Xbox One game is Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut from Born Ready Games. Originally sold at $20, this Kickstarter project turned ID@Xbox program title will put you in space battles.

For Xbox 360 owners, the two titles will be divided for the month. For August 1 to 15, the free title is "Motorcross Madness," a Bongfish GmbH game that lets you race against others or time and makes use of tricks and obstacles to put a more interesting spin on motorcross gaming.

Arkhane Studios' "Dishonored: will be coming in on August 16 to 31, again for Xbox 360 owners. "Dishonored" will require you to protect the princess at all costs, and to do this successfully, you have an entire array of weapons and magical powers at your disposal.

The Xbox One: Progressing Into China

As the first gaming console to get into China after the long ban on consoles, the Xbox One is now readying to tap into what could be a very big market share in gaming.

There are already plans for preorders for the September launch of the Xbox One, starting with China Telecom via an exclusive contract with Microsoft.

Reuters reports that, despite no definite price tag on the Xbox One, China Telecom has already prepared to offer exclusively the Xbox One to its 30 million broadband customers. There's also still no word on whether the Kinect-less Xbox One bundle will be featured in China.

"When Xbox One launches in September, in addition to the China Telecom consumer offer, it will also be available to the general public for purchase at retail," said Joanna Li, the spokesperson for Microsoft China to Reuters.

Apart from China Telecom, JD.com is also reportedly offering preorders for the Xbox One. Similar to China Telecom, the console still has not price via JD.com, reports The Wall Street Journal However, it seems that JD.com will have another target market in its sphere, as the preselling will be offered to customers who will be connecting to their Tencent's QQ and WeChat networks, which would mean a focus on the younger market.

Given the very large market base, and the fact that Sony has yet to announce the release date of the PS4 in China, it could be another round of sales fight between the two next-gen consoles.