Microsoft

Report: Microsoft Trying To Buy Mojang, Creators Of Minecraft [Update]

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, according to “a person with knowledge of the matter”, Microsoft is in “serious discussions” to buy Mojang, the studio that made smash hit Minecraft. The deal is reported to be worth a whopping $2 billion, and “could be signed as early as this week”. UPDATE – Bloomberg now…

Microsoft Says They’re Replacing Abnormally Noisy Xbox Ones

Is your Xbox One making too much noise? Send it to Microsoft and they’ll give you a new one. The folks behind the Xbox say they’re offering replacements for the “small number of customers” affected by a noise issue that seems to have grown more prevalentafter the Xbox One launched in a number of new…

A Good Game for Griefing

Playing IDARB made me feel a tiny, tiny little bit like a NBA player at the free throw line when fans are trying to mess with his focus. Except, in this case, what they did gave me diarrhea. On its face, IDARB—short for It Draws a Red Box—is a super-simple action/sports/platforming hybrid where up to…

In Japan, Xbox One Loses Another Game to the PS4

Earlier this year, Batman Arkham Knight was announced for the PS4 and the Xbox One in Japan. Things have, you see, changed. Xbox.com is hosting a Batman Arkham Knight‘s Japanese language site for the game’s Xbox One release. Sorry, was hosting. If you scrolled down just a teeny bit, you could see the game’s box…

U.S. Military Using Xbox 360 Controller For New Laser Gun

Controlling military hardware with video game input devices isn’t new. Drones, bomb defusal robots and other battlefield equipment have steered by Xbox 360 gamepads for a while now. But the newest weapon using a Microsoft-made controller might be one of the most powerful ones yet. It’s a laser on top of a truck that shoots…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Destiny Nonvertising

Earlier this week Microsoft did not run an advertisementfor this week’s hot new release, Destiny. Something tells me our Photoshop-savvy readers would do an amazing job of not advertising Destiny. Let’s find out! I am referring to the strange Microsoft ad that popped up last week featuring the Destiny logo on a bottle of cologne,…

The Resident Evil: Revelations 2 Teaser is Full of Hidden Spoilers

Confirmed on September 1st’s Sony pre-TGS press conference was Resident Evil: Revelations 2. From what can be seen in the teaser, it’s about a little girl running through a crowd of green wristband-wearing party-goers into a crowd of red wristband-wearing zombies. But there’s a lot more hidden in plain view. “That video was a ‘concept…

Japan’s Xbox One Launch Looks Sad As You’d Expect

Today, the Xbox One finally went on sale in Japan. The launch looked rather depressing. But maybe you saw that coming, right? Granted, these days, it’s really hard to tell how hardware does. People can order stuff online, so there isn’t the same emphasis on launch lines, like as in the past. That being said,…

How To Get Tons of Loot in Diablo III’s New Dungeons

Diablo III‘s patch 2.1 for the PC introduced new endgame content: Greater Rifts. These are tiered, higher level dungeons with a 15-minute timer and with a boss at the end who almost always drops awesome loot. And there’s a smart way to finish these dungeons and get huge amount of legendaries. Here’s Diablo III veteran…

Report: A Merger Might Cause an Xbox-PlayStation Monopoly in China

Media reports are coming in that Chinese media companies BesTV and Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group are merging. The two companies are respective joint venture partners of Microsoft and Sony for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in China. Sina.com, a major Chinese news portal, published an article early today confirming month-long rumours that the two…

Minecraft On Xbox One, Out This Friday, Has A Cool $5 Upgrade Program

First announcedlast year, Minecraft is making its way to the Xbox One this Friday. And because you’ve probably played it on at least one system before, Microsoft and Mojang have an interesting proposition. It’ll be $20 as a fresh download, but as a special offer anyone who already owns the Xbox 360 version of the…

State Of Decay Coming To Xbox One Next Year

State of Decay, Microsoft’s entrant into the ever-growing field of open-world zombie games, is coming to the Xbox One next year, the company just announced. The game is already available for the Xbox 360 and PC. But the Xbox Wire post assures zombie-curious gamers that the new version is the definitive edition of the game:…

Titanfall Introducing New Game Mode With No Titans

Titanfall‘s latest update will add a new mode that gives players the option of fighting without those pesky giant robots getting in the way. The new mode, called Pilot Skirmish, will be included in the game’s sixth major update, as detailed at the official Titanfall site. It’ll be an 8 vs. 8 shootout with no…

Once Again, Atlus Doesn’t Want You to Spoil the New Persona

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is out in stores in Japan right now, and once again, Atlus is asking that people be considerate. If you access the Japanese Persona 4 Arena Ultimax homepage right now, you’ll be greeted by an image overlay of the character of Teddy – or rather the shadow version of Teddy –…

Stand-Alone Xbox One Kinect Will Cost $150

In June, Microsoft started selling the Xbox One without Kinect. In October, you’ll be able to buy the Kinect on its own—but it’ll cost you $150. Standalone versions of the Xbox One’s Kinect will go on sale October 7, Microsoft said today. The motion-sensing accessory will come with a digital copy of Harmonix’s Dance Central…

Microsoft Digs Up The Corpse Of Age Of Empires

And the grave wasn’t even cold yet! I figured last month that it was “tough seeing where Microsoft will find the will (or developers) to try making another game using the [Age of Empires] brand any time soon”. Silly me, limiting my considerations to actual Age of Empires games. I totally overlooked the potential for…

Microsoft Says Free Xbox Live Game Download Was An Error [UPDATE]

For a while there, it looked like Xbox One owners might soon be able to download and try out even more games from Microsoft free of charge. But Microsoft says that the screen teasing this possibility was an error. First spotted overnight by Reddit users who who’ve downloaded the latest XB1 firmware beta, a tile…

Microsoft’s Pretty New Platformer Is Looking Great So Far

I went into Ori and the Blind Forest… well, blind. I had seen a trailer for it back at E3, but other than that I hadn’t bothered with any information. Nothing against it, I just hadn’t bothered. [This post originally appeared on Kotaku UK] I came out of my demo session with it at Gamescom…

The Xbox One’s August update will start rolling out today, Microsoft says. Improvements include a better friends list, new activity feed updates, and a low-battery notification for the controller.

How Xbox is Changing its Dudebro Image

You know the strange thing about my eight years with the Xbox 360? Despite the fact that I played it most days, I often felt kind of alienated by it. This post originally appeared on Kotaku UK The ads it was serving me, the language used on the dash and the games that Xbox always…