Microsoft - Page 197 of 238

Here’s Your Special Launch-Day Halo: Reach Hat

Halo fans who pick up Reach on its September 14 release date will score this attractive exclusive in-game Spartan Recon Helmet. Fans who wait until after launch day aren’t really fans, now are they? Just in case you needed incentive to pick up Halo: Reach on launch day, Microsoft offers it in the form of…

By Mike Fahey Published May 24, 2010

Maybe The Greatest Baseball Pitch You’ll See Today

Politicians. Actors. Singers, too. What do they have in common with Xbox Japan mascot Sanrokumaru? They have all thrown out the first pitch at baseball games. Sanrokumaru stars in a new series of TV ads in which he and the rest of the “Xbox Mission Department” attempts to secure titles like the new Virtual-On for…

By Brian Ashcraft Published May 24, 2010

Xbox Live Unlikely to Approve Vagina Adventure Game

Micro-marines in condom helmets tromping through a landscape of pubic hair will not be part of your Xbox 360 experience, according to a Microsoft statement on Privates, a title being developed for the PC and Xbox Live Arcade. Zombie Cow, the studio, uh, behind Privates says the game may be irreverent in tone, it was…

By Owen Good Published May 22, 2010

Crackdown 2 Gets A Cartoon Series

Crackdown looks like a cartoon. I guess. With the cel-shading and everything. Not sure it needed an animated prequel series, though. What is this, 2008? It’s not like anyone cares about the fiction of Crackdown. About its universe. They care about setting people on fire, and collecting green orbs, and doing those things with their…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 22, 2010

The Father Of The Xbox Leaving Microsoft?

Say. It. Ain’t. So. Reports indicate that J Allard, a driving force behind the design of the Xbox (and the Zune) is leaving Microsoft, after his latest dream project was binned by the company. Having been the former pin-up boy of Microsoft’s video game consoles, especially in the lead-up to the launch of the Xbox…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 22, 2010

Fable III’s Kingly Collector’s Edition Is Xbox 360 Only

Microsoft confirms a holiday release for Fable III on both Xbox 360 and PC, but if you want a royal amount of Collector’s Edition swag, you’re going to need to go the console route. Last week’s box art wasn’t kidding when it proclaimed that Fable III was coming to the Xbox 360 and PC. Today…

By Mike Fahey Published May 21, 2010

Turning Executive Mistakes Into Art

Heeeeeeeeeey, guess what. Video game executives, whether on purpose or not, fib. And they do it all the time. What’s important is not to get upset! You need to get constructive, and turn those fibs into works of art. These fake propoganda posters, put together by Brian Altano and Brian Miggels for IGN, take some…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 21, 2010

Gee, You Guys Must Really Hate Using Credit Cards

According to retail research firm the NPD Group, the biggest-selling accessory in the United States is not a controller, memory card or chatpad. It’s a pre-paid points card for an online gaming service. Yes, for the months of both March and April, the top-selling accessory was a 1600 point Xbox Live card, the equivalent of…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 20, 2010

Aussie Xbox 360s Get Cable Television

Australian Xbox 360 owners will later this year get access to what Americans would call cable television, with a deal struck between Microsoft and Foxtel, a provider of satellite TV. While exact details like pricing and, more importantly, exactly what channels are available are thin on the ground, we do know that for a monthly…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 20, 2010

Exclusive Showdown Reveals…Pointlessness Of Exclusives

Here’s something to fire your synapses on a Tuesday night: a comparison of the average review scores of Xbox 360 exclusives vs PlayStation 3 exclusives. The figures, of course, do nothing to somehow magically settle the argument over which console has the “better” exclusives. So don’t go into this expecting them to. What they do…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 19, 2010

If You See This Gamertag, RUN

Daigo Umehara, fighting game superstar, isn’t only tearing up tournaments. He’s also kicking ass on Xbox LIVE. Beware! Daigo is, of course, famous for this clip. Let’s have a look at the Super Street Fighter IV worldwide “Player Point” rankings. Hrm, number one is Japan. “gameinn”? Now, let’s have a look at the global “Battle…

By Brian Ashcraft Published May 19, 2010

You Just Got An Extra Day To Play Halo: Reach

While originally scheduled to end tomorrow – May 19 – Bungie has decided to keep the Halo: Reach beta open a little longer. “Our official plans as of now are to turn off the Reach beta on Thursday, 5/20 at 10AM PDT”, Bungie’s Brian Jarrard told Joystiq. Since an exact time for the beta’s shutdown…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 19, 2010

This Spartan’s Greatest Challenge

As seen by reader Chris. Thanks!

By Brian Ashcraft Published May 18, 2010

The Growing Spectacle of Gaming’s International Spotlight

Last year featured Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Tony Hawk and Stephen Spielberg. This year there will be Cirque du Soleil and perhaps others. Each year in the days leading up to E3’s international gathering of video game makers and publishers in Los Angeles, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo host press briefings to lay out the year’s…

By Brian Crecente Published May 17, 2010

Project Natal Is…White? [UPDATE]

Released last year, this is the official concept promotional image of Microsoft’s upcoming motion control system Project Natal. It is black. Update: Microsoft comments, clarifies nothing. “Project Natal” is the code name for Microsoft’s controller-free motion controls that, as the promotional clip states, makes the players the controller. But even when the device was on…

By Brian Ashcraft Published May 17, 2010

Swedish Retailers Spill Project Natal Price, And It’s Expensive?

At least three Swedish retailers are listing a price for upcoming Xbox 360 motion controller Project Natal, and it’s not good. While UK sources were telling MCV that the motion controller would run $80, perhaps less, the three Swedish retail sites are all listing the device for 1,499 SEK, which works out to just under…

By Brian Crecente Published May 16, 2010

At Least The Zune HD Can Play Game Boy Titles

Microsoft’s support for the Zune HD as a game playing device has been pretty abysmal. Luckily there are hackers, one of which has the beginnings of a serviceable Game Boy Advance emulator working on the device. I purchased a Zune HD the first week the device was available, after my bother spent the better part…

By Mike Fahey Published May 15, 2010

John Cleese Will Serve You In Fable III

I may be slightly biased in saying this, as I have British family, but games – or, at least fantasy games – always sound more professional to me when they hire a good, English cast to handle the voice work. Case in point: this is John Cleese, of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame, recording…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 14, 2010

Project Natal “World Premiere” To Be Complete Media Cirque Du Soleil

Microsoft is holding the “world premier” of Project Natal the Sunday before E3 2010, with a special performance by Canada’s own Cirque du Soleil adding an air of magic, wonderment, and subtle creepiness to the evening. Sunday, June 13 is the date of what Microsoft is calling the “world premiere” of Project Natal, the camera-based…

By Mike Fahey Published May 13, 2010

Playing Alan Wake in a Haunted Quarantine Station

Five lucky Australians were allowed to play Alan Wake before it went on sale. The catch? To play they had to be blind-folded, driven to one Australia’s most haunted sites and strapped to heart rate monitors. Sure, it’s all a bit of marketing by Microsoft for the upcoming Xbox 360 thriller, but that doesn’t make…

By Brian Crecente Published May 12, 2010