Microsoft

My Xbox Dashboard Features People Eating McDonald’s Wraps On A Loop

So, this is happening. I booted up my Xbox 360 to snag some DLC and make sure Django Unchained was indeed available for rent, and then I sort of just left the dashboard sitting there. It wasn’t too long before I noticed… This ad has now been looping into my apartment for the past 30…

From 10am ET/ 7:00am PT on April 19 until 1p ET/10am PT on April 22, Microsoft will be running a free Xbox Live Gold weekend.

Heads up: Microsoft is rolling out two-step authentication for their accounts—useful if you want more protection for your Xbox Live account.

How Japanese Anime Brings Gaming Hardware To Life

Over the years, countless video games and video game consoles have appeared in Japanese anime. Sometimes, they are part of the story. Other times, they’re just games. It depends, really. This month, as new episodes are being broadcasted in Japan, fans are noticing when game machines pop up in anime. For example, people online were…

Report: Xbox Staff Working On Microsoft “Smartwatch”

According to a report on The Verge, former Xbox and Kinect staffers have for a year been working on a “wrist-worn device” for Microsoft. The watch, which the report says began life as an Xbox accessory for fitness games, has a 1.5-inch display. No idea on just what the device would do – whether it’s…

Looks like Microsoft is planning to break into the touch-enabled watch business

If you can’t sign into Xbox Live, it’s not because of your home networking setup. Microsoft acknowledges the problem and says they are looking into it.

My Little Age of Empires II: World Domination is Magic

With the release of Age of Empires II HD, Ensemble Studios’ classic strategy game is re-capturing the hearts of PC gamers everywhere. Turns out some of those hearts have gotten a tad bit more colorful since 1999. Youtuber Yudhaikeledai has taken the game’s distinctive intro and ponified it. Yudahaikeledai takes pony parodies a step further,…

The Next Xbox May Have An “HDMI In” Port. So?

A new source e-mails me several days ago. The source has access to a development kit for the next Xbox 360—the codenamed Durango. Accurately describes the look of the new controller, but mentions something he’s confused about. The Durango he’s seen doesn’t just send a signal out through an HDMI port (that’s normal). It has…

Microsoft’s Adam Orth, The “Always-On” Tweeter, No Longer With The Company

According to a report on Game Informer, Adam Orth, the Microsoft creative director who last week upset some folks with his comments about always-online technology, is no longer with the company. A source close to Orth tells Kotaku that Orth resigned from the company and was not fired. Respondingto a Kotaku report that claimed the…

There’s A Funny Side To Microsoft’s Next Xbox Rumors

Taiwanese news agency NMA TV, picking up on the internet’s growing dismay with Microsoft’s rumoured plans for the next Xbox, has done what it done best and make an animated video about it. It is incredible.

Here’s your round-up of Durango rumors for today: Bloomberg says the next Xbox won’t be backwards-compatible, and The Verge‘s Microsoft expert Tom Warren confirms a Paul Thurrott report that Microsoft plans to announce their new console on May 21

Life After Xbox

Over the weekend, I donated my Xbox 360 Elite to Goodwill. It represented a time in my life as a developer that I’m not overly proud about living. I worked for a couple years designing games at Microsoft. It is honestly difficult to say the exact group I was in since the organization was hit…

Microsoft Sells Off Its IPTV Business, Turns TV Focus to Xbox

Microsoft will sell its IPTV platform, Mediaroom, to Ericsson, and focus all of its consumer TV strategy on its Xbox division, the companysaid this morning in a statement. “With the sale of Mediaroom, Microsoft is dedicating all TV resources to Xbox,” the company said. Originally announced as far back as 2007, Mediaroom brought cable television…

Now This Guy Is Totally Pissed about the Xbox Always-Online Controversy

Think you are upset about that Microsoft creative director’s always-online remarks? No, you are not upset. Francis, however, is upset. Very upset. All of this comes in the wake of a piece Kotaku published earlier today, detailing how sources told Kotaku that the next Xbox requires an internet connection to start games. Francis is MAD…

A Microsoft Creative Director ‘Doesn’t Get The Drama’ Around Always-Online Consoles, Devices

Adam Orth is a creative director at Microsoft Studios. That places him pretty high up on Microsoft’s video game chain of command. Not the top, but he’s an important guy. Anyway, earlier today, Adam took to Twitter to seemingly talk about our report that the next Xbox console will require an always-online internet connection While…

The Next Xbox Will Require an Internet Connection To Start Games, Sources Say

Two Kotaku sources have added more credence to the rumor that the next Xbox, expected to battle the PlayStation 4 in late 2013 or early 2014, will be an always-online system, though it will be able to tolerate dropped connections. “Unless something has changed recently,” one of the sources told us over email, “Durango consumer…

The Next Xbox and Its Controller Are Currently Covered In Crazy Stripes

Controllers for the next Xbox as well as prototype versions of both Microsoft’s new, powerful console and the machine’s new, mandatory Kinect sensor have been in the hands of game creators since last month. But that’s not much of a surprise. What is a surprise is that all of that gear is covered in criss-crossing,…

Hackers Are Targeting High-Profile Employees, Says Microsoft

Microsoft has revealed that a “handful” of accounts held by current and former high-profile Microsoft employees have been hacking targets. In a statement issued to The Verge, Microsoft stated that a “group of hackers are using several stringed social engineering techniques to compromise the accounts.” While Xbox Live doesn’t ask for social security numbers for…

Six Critics Consider Gears of War: Judgment Fresh, Frantic and Fun

Gears of War has been around for a while now—seven years, with Judgment being the fourth game in the series—and it seems the franchise is not ready to slow down just yet. Most reviewers agree that the gameplay is exhilarating, the story is tight, and the war-torn world is prettier than ever. So what was…