Microsoft

Microsoft’s Kinect Is Now Guarding the Korean Border

North Korea and South Korea are separated by the most heavily armed border on Earth. But rest easy, there’s a new guard on the lookout: Kinect. Self-taught South Korean programmer Jae Kwan Ko developed a Kinect-based software system to monitor the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), which separates the two countries. It was deployed at the border…

Dead Island Headlines February’s Games With Gold Offerings

Starting tomorrow, Xbox LIVE members will be able to download the original Dead Island for free. Two weeks later on the 16th, Toy Soldiers Cold War will take Dead Island’s place and be available for free until the end of the month. [Major Nelson] 1-year LIVE Memberships are currently available for $40. With Sony offering…

Soon We’ll Be Able To Buy GoPro Cameras With Our Xboxes

The GoPro line of action cameras generate some amazing footage, but who has time to navigate a search engine to find them? That incredibly inconvenient means of watching first-person bird videos will be a thing of the past later this year, when the GoPro Channel app launches for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It’s…

Report: Windows 8 Update Will Bring Back The Desktop (By Default)

Here’s where embarassing corporate backpedalling is a good thing: according to The Verge, the next update for Windows 8 will see every machine boot straight to the desktop mode by default. You know, like we used to, in the good old days. While there’s long been an option to boot straight to the more conventional…

Microsoft Wants To Buy Your…PS3s?

Trade-in offers are rather common—many retailers, including stores other than Gamestop, will take in old equipment in exchange for money or credit. This includes Microsoft—which will currently take your old 360s…and your old PS3s, too. In fact, there are reports of Microsoft emailing this ad to people: …which almost makes it sound as if it’s…

Massive Xbox One Rumor Dump Is Filled With Juicy Details

Plans for a disc-free Xbox One? Halo 5 in 2015? A Halo 2 remake this fall? A massive dump of rumors posted on NeoGAF last night hints at all that and more: a new Forza Horizon this fall; a game called Shangheist that was cancelled when the studio Black Tusk started development on a new…

Better watch out with those Skyrim mods. If you’re not careful you could end up with a glitched skeleton with Hatsune Miku hair. On the other hand, this opens up a whole new category in the catalog of terrifying, modded Dovakhiins. Dayshot is an image-based feature that runs every morning, showcasing some of the prettiest,…

​One Next-Gen Voice Command I Can Do Without

I can understand why game developers working on next-gen games might be psyched to play around with voice commands. They represent an interesting and relatively new way to let players interact with games. But there’s at least one next-gen voice command I can happily do without. Every Xbox One owner (and every PS4 owner with…

​Tomb Raider On PS4 vs. Xbox One: An In-Depth Look

When I wrote up my own impressions of the next-gen version of Tomb Raider, I hoped I’d soon see Eurogamer‘s Digital Foundry doing their trademark deep-dive into the technical underpinnings of both the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game. And here we go Today, they’ve published their first look at the next-gen versions,…

Cliff Bleszinski, the creator of Gears of War, has some things to say about the sale of the series to Microsoft. No, he’s not coming back to work on it. Will it ever go to PlayStation, though? “Safe to say that’s not likely to happen.”

Epic Says They’re Still Making Video Games

With the sale this morning of its iconic Gears of War franchise, Epic Games felt compelled to say it still is in the business of making video games, not just the technology that drives them. “For people saying Epic isn’t making games anymore, we currently have multiple games in development, including [Fortnite],” Wes Phillips, an…

Microsoft Snags Gears of War

It looks like Gears of War isn’t going to the PlayStation any time soon. Microsoft said this morning it had bought the series from Epic Games, assuring that the only console Gears will call home will continue to be Xbox. Development of the series will continue at Black Tusk Studios of Vancouver, B.C. Additionally, Rod…

​Tomb Raider On PS4 Is More ‘Definitive’ Than On Xbox One

And both versions look better than the PC version. For the most part, I really liked last year’s reboot ofTomb Raider. As time has gone on, my feelings about it have only increased, both for the stuff I liked—A main character with a real arc! Nods to my favorite horror movie! A sick bow!—and the…

Bill Gates Plays Chess With The World’s Best, Loses In 71 Seconds

The stunned face of Bill Gates, as he realises he has no chance to win against the Norwegian chess grandmaster, Magnus Carlsen, is priceless in the above video. The two met on a TV show last night, and you don’t have to wait a lot for the checkmate. Skavlan: Magnus Carlsen VS Bill Gates [YouTube]…

Did the Ghast from Minecraft just reach its final form? It sure did. Things couldn’t get creepier in digital artist Burmak‘s fan art, made for a video game artbook. This makes the original, in-game Ghast (and everything else) look like a puppy. Dayshot is an image-based feature that runs every morning, showcasing some of the…

Smash Bros. Creator Loves Lightning Returns‘ Battle System

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, the third and final(?) chapter of the Final Fantasy XIII saga, came out in Japan last November, and what do you know, it’s pretty good. At least Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai thinks so. I think at this point, saying Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is the best installment of…

​Kids Talking About Which Game Console Is the Best Is Hilarious

Adults talking about which video game machine is better can be annoying and downright stupid. Grade-schoolers doing it, though, is adorable. This video from YouTuber Game Dave rounds up letters from a bunch of kids stating the reasons they believe a PlayStation, Xbox or Wii console is superior to its competitors. They get some of…

Hey that’s cheating! 15 yards penalty for the triple frontflip. Glitches like this in Madden NFL 25 are inspiring. I’d totally play a football game where you can pull off ridiculous stunts like this. Dayshot is an image-based feature that runs every morning, showcasing some of the prettiest, funniest game-related screenshots and art that we…

Bill Gates Just Took Over Late Night With Silly Costumes

It’s seems like Bill Gates is still in shape and his sense of humor is the same as 20 years ago. He was Jimmy Fallon’s guest last night, promoting his website, GatesLetter.com with the help of this little clip. Here’s the complete segment: Did they remove Fallon’s Macbook during Gates’ visit? Don’t worry, it was…

Those YouTube Promo Plans Are A Lot More Common Than You Might Think

“This happens every day on YouTube.” Boogie, a popular gamer and personality on YouTube, is right. He’s talking about the Xbox One promotional contract that YouTubers were recently offered to sign in exchange for extra cash. But in the world of making YouTube videos, these kind of promos are actually a lot more of a…