Microsoft

You Play This Xbox One Game By ‘Mashing To Mastery’

Things aren’t looking too hot for Ryse, the Roman Empire action game and Xbox One exclusive slated for later this year. Our down-under buddies at Kotaku Australia panned the game when they saw it at E3 this year. And now… well, speaking to GameReactor, Ryse design director PJ Estevez paints a bleak picture of gameplay…

FACE, MVPC, 11-X—the Original Xbox had Some Ridiculous Alternate Names

We’re all familiar with the etymology behind “Xbox”—it’s a truncation of “DirectX Box.” But, as one of the console’s creators told Edge, Microsoft lawyers at first weren’t too sure of “Xbox” for some reason, and the alternatives favored by the suits were all hideous. The final stage of naming the console “was a battle between…

Japanese Gamers and Retailers on the Next-Gen Consoles’ Pricing

This year’s E3 turned out to be one of the more interesting and exciting conventions in recent memory. Unfortunately for yours truly, I was stuck across that pesky barrier, commonly referred to in geography classes as the Pacific Ocean. But that didn’t keep me and other interested peoples here in Japan from checking in on…

Microsoft is currently accepting sign-ups for their public Xbox Live Update 2013 beta. “It will include updates to improve overall performance and the ability to conduct transactions with local currency,” wrote Microsoft. If you’re interested, you can apply via the Xbox Beta Program tile on your Xbox 360 dashboard.

CNBC Calls Zynga a ‘Buy’ Now That Former Xbox Boss Is CEO

Sure, some people think that former Xbox czar Don Mattrick isn’t going to turn Zynga’s miserable fortunes around. But, other individuals— business-minded folk—think the exact opposite. The most interesting thing about this clip is the perceptions being quickly flung around about the executive leaders of companies like Microsoft, Zynga, EA and Activision. It’s one thing…

College Humor Takes On The Xbox One

Best part of this wonderful video, produced by the very funny folks at College Humor? The blurb: “Microsoft is screwing everybody, especially us by retracting all these policies one day after we filmed this.” Whoops. Still, this is awesome. “Alls I wanna do is be sad and alone in my basement!”

Why Xbox Fans Are Called “Gropers” in Japan

The Xbox consoles are not popular in Japan. That doesn’t mean those game machines lack hardcore fans. They certainly exist in the region. And online in Japan, there’s a disparaging nickname for them: “gropers”. The Japanese word is “chikan” (痴漢), which translates as “groper” or “molester”. “Chikan” is certainly not something anyone wants to be…

Microsoft’s New Control Pad For Flashy Rappers, Russian Oil Tycoons

I can’t think of anyone else who would consider owning one of these ostentatious fingerprint magnets. Announced earlier today, its full product name is the “Xbox 360 Special Edition Chrome Series Gold Wireless Controller”. It’s out next month and will retail for $55 “at GameStop and Microsoft Store locations in addition to select regions worldwide”.

Don Mattrick Is Now the CEO of Zynga [UPDATE: Mattrick weighs in]

After an earlier report said that he’d be leaving Microsoft, Don Mattrick has just been announced as CEO of Zynga. Here’s Mark Pincus’ letter detailing the changes at the Farmville company: To our Zynga employees, players and shareholders, Today is a big day. I’m excited to announce that Don Mattrick will be joining us as…

Report: The Man in Charge of Xbox Is Leaving Microsoft

Don Mattrick, who’s been the public face for all things Xbox for the last few years, will be leaving Microsoft to take a top leadership role at Zynga, reports All Things D Most recently, Mattrick’s been visible as the person who introduced the Xbox One, Microsoft’s next-gen successor to the best-selling Xbox 360. But the…

Microsoft Sends a Halo Warthog to the Seattle Pride Parade

Is it cool that Microsoft turned out for the Seattle Pride Parade? Sure, but some support of diversity is a basic expectation of such a major employer. Now, what is cool is the fact Microsoft rolled in the Seattle Pride Parade with a Warthog and Master Chief. The folks in blue are wearing pride-themed T-shirts…

A Look Inside the Xbox One Controller [Update]

We’ve seen the Xbox One controller. We’ve seen it compared to the PS4 controller as well as learned about its features. What about a look inside? Chinese site Xbox Skyer has what’s reported to be a teardown of an Xbox One controller picked up in Dongguan, China. That’s a major port city where many goods…

Arguing Console Specs is Pointless, Says Xbox Exec, Who Does It Anyway

Debating which console’s guts are more powerful is “a pointless argument,” says one Xbox executive, “because people are debating things which they don’t know about.” By and large, he’s right. He then went on to tout his console’s innards. They [Sony] actually go out and they talk about how proud they are about their off-the-shelf…

The Xbox One’s Kinect Won’t Work On PCs

The Xbox One’s Kinect is a cool piece of hardware—it can do awesome things like read your heart rate by looking at you, as well as track your muscles. But unlike the first Kinect,it won’t work on PCs according to Ars Technica. “The Kinect for Xbox One sensor will not have an adaptor that allows…

Microsoft’s development conference, Build, just got underway but don’t expect big Xbox news. “Probably won’t show you a lot of … Xbox because we’ve been kinda sharing that” news among other events, CEO Steve Ballmer just told attendees.

Crackdown Hint at Xbox One Event ‘Wasn’t Accidental’ Says Exec

A month ago at the Xbox One’s debut event, Crackdown fans thought they spied a sly visual reference to the game’s agility orb collectibles. They did, according to Phil Spencer, the boss of Microsoft Studios. Spencer told IGNthe inclusion (above, as originally spied by NeoGAF) was on purpose. “The homage to Crackdown in the reveal…

The Xbox One Controller Side-By-Side with the PS4 Controller

We’ve seen the Xbox One controller. We’ve seen the PS4 controller. Now, we see the Xbox One controller stacked up with the PS4 Controller. Well, what do you think? The PS4 controller looks kind of big in comparison to the Xbox One controller! The above image comes courtesy of website GameChup (via IB Times), but…

Develop reports that Microsoft is investing $700 million in a new Iowan data center. The data center will power both Microsoft’s online Office 365 suite and the Xbox One’s online Cloud features. According to Microsoft’s Christian Belady, the expansion “supports the growing demand for Microsoft’s cloud services.”

An Xbox 180 Drags Sports Back From the Future of Gaming

Until Wednesday there seemed to be very little selling the Xbox One to a sports video gamer. The questionable ability to rent, share or re-sell its games—fundamental to a culture built on annual releases and punching friends on the couch—was only the beginning. It’s a console that cost $100 more than its competitor, with no…

One Indie’s Troubles With Microsoft

The common, popular narrative is that companies like Microsoft are eeeeevil. All they want is money! Or something like that. Maybe it’s not so clear-cut? This quote in the image above comes from a piece on Rock Paper, Shotgun on Skulls of the Shogun. (Edit: the quote comes from Borut Pfeiffer, who works for Plush…