Microsoft

Report: “Large Scale RPG” Being Made For Microsoft

While the Xbox 360 isn’t exactly setting Japanese retail on fire, Microsoft Game Studios has made a valiant effort to release Japanese-style role playing games like Blue Dragon. That doesn’t look to be stopping. In a classified listing on Japanese language job site DODA, Tokyo-based developer feelplus Inc., a subsidiary of AQ Interactive, announced that…

2009’s Most Popular Xbox Live Titles

You’ve seen the most popular Xbox Live titles of 2009 in Japan. Now see the most popular Xbox Live titles worldwide. Major releases, Arcade titles, Indie games, the works. Microsoft’s Larry Hryb released this list late yesterday, showing the top 20 games overall (based on the number of unique users), the top-selling Indie titles, best-selling…

Microsoft: Natal Focus On “New Original Games,” Not Motion Control For Existing Ones

Microsoft says that it’s planning on bringing “entirely new original experiences to life” with the addition of Project Natal‘s controller free add-on later this year, not on reworking already existing games to make them Natal ready. When Microsoft first showed off the controller-free Project Natal tech at E3 2009, it did so with both new…

Sinbad, But No Seven Seas, Spotted At CES

Overheard asking a Microsoft rep if they’d like his son to playtest games for them, Sinbad was seen wandering the Microsoft booth at CES this weekend. Other celebrities, B-list and below, who made appearances or were spotted perusing the gadget show included Stan Lee, Drew Carey, zombie Marilyn Monroe and Elivis and Pauley Perrette, NCIS’…

Halo Meets Appleseed Meets Cowboy Bebop

In case you missed the Halo Waypoint preview of “The Package”, the Halo Legends short created under Shinji Aramaki of Appleseed fame and written by Cowboy Bebop’s Dai Sato, here’s a short clip of the CGI Spartans in action. I missed the Waypoint preview, and now I’m kicking myself. I love the art style used…

So, Who’s Behind Microsoft’s New Game Room Service?

Microsoft’s reveal of an Xbox 360 & PC “Game Room” is one of the bigger surprises of CES, but also surprising is the revelation of the development team behind the retro arcade store/service. It’s not Microsoft Game Studios, nor as you’d expect is it Rare, the studio responsible for the creation of the avatars in…

More Hands-on Details From Xbox 360’s Game Room

Microsoft’s newly announced Game Room for the Xbox 360 and Games For Windows platform was available to play on the CES show floor today, giving attendees a chance to go hands on with classics like Pitfall, Scramble and Tempest. Those old school arcade and Atari 2600 games played mostly as one would remember them, 8-bit…

‘Green’ Cases Don’t Do Much for Greenpeace Rankings

Doesn’t look like cutting a bunch of plastic out of the standard game cases did much for anyone’s Greenpeace ratings. The environmental advocacy group released its quarterly rankings of electronics companies, again tsk-tsking Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Nintendo, I guess because it goes whaling in its spare time or something, again clocked in with a…

Playing (Casual) Games on Microsoft’s Surface

They weren’t exactly impressive, but the Microsoft Surface tables set up at CES did have games running on them. Too bad they all seemed like the sort you’d find on an iPhone and not a $10,000 interactive computer thingie.

U.S. Xbox 360s Get IPTV Through AT&T Uverse This Year

Three years ago, Microsoft unveiled its IPTV plans for the Xbox 360, offering a working preview of the service at CES 2007. And, finally, IPTV is coming to the Xbox 360 in the United States by way of AT&T Uverse. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer announced at the company’s pre-CES keynote that, later this year, AT&T “will…

Halo Legends DVD Release Dated And Detailed

Halo anime anthology Halo Legends is coming to North American DVD and Blu-Ray on February 16th. Which of the three versions will you be picking up? The Halo Waypoint previews have come to an end, and now the only way to get your anime-style Halo fix is coming on February 16th in three different flavors.…

Report: Microsoft Drops Natal Chip

Microsoft has dropped a chip from its upcoming Natal motion control hardware, reports website Games Industry. The chip processed data for Natal’s “bone system”. In its place, Microsoft will use a software solution. Back in late December, David Ellis and John Davison from the 4 Guys 1UP podcast mentioned that this is something Microsoft would…

Take A Look At How Project Natal Actually Works

You’ve got questions about Project Natal, we’ve got questions about Project Natal. And, for once, Microsoft have some answers, providing this behind-the-scenes look at the development and technology behind their upcoming motion-sensing peripheral for the Xbox 360. Sure, most of it is fluff, but you’ll catch glimpses of how the camera is able to “read”…

Xbox 360: 39 Million Consoles Sold, Only Half Are On Xbox Live

To go with their big address at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier today, Microsoft released some statistics on Xbox Live and the Xbox 360‘s install base. To date, around 39 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide, while there are 20 million people on Xbox Live (no disclosure was made on how many are…

Xbox Game Room To Feature “Over 1000” Classic Arcade Games

Although its cover was blown a little early, there’s still new info coming out of the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas concerning Microsoft’s Xbox Game Room. Microsoft’s press release concerning the new Xbox Live service says the Game Room will be a “place to relive the glory days of arcade games”, and over the…

Project Natal Launching This Holiday Season

It’s always been strongly hinted at, but today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft’s Robbie Bach has confirmed it: Project Natal will be out this “holiday season”. Nothing more specific than that was offered, but we take “holiday season” to be “November”. Guess the motion-sensing peripheral’s other important aspects – namely its…

CES 2010 Keynote Starring Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer

Microsoft will kick off CES 2010 with its annual opening keynote, delivered by the energetic Steve Ballmer and presumably with the aide of a few high ranking Microsoft executives. We’re there live, waiting for Project Natal and Xbox Game Room news. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised to see some more firm dates applied to…

Bach Explains To Be Announced Xbox Game Room

In case we needed further proof of the Xbox Game Room concept, here’s Microsoft’s Robbie Bach explaining exactly what it is, complete with Journey reference.

Microsoft To Announce “Xbox Game Room” At CES [Update]

Today’s Microsoft CES keynote is likely to make mention of the arrival of the Xbox Game Room, a retro-themed game space, at least according to a video interview with Microsoft’s Robbie Bach, president of the company’s Entertainment and Devices Division. More specifically, that’s from the quickly pulled video, originally posted on Microsoft’s On10.net and Channel…

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts & On Demand

Rare’s 2008 platformer meets vehicle builder Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is the latest addition to the Xbox 360 Games on Demand library, a perfect opportunity to see what all the genre fuss was about by way of digital download. Pricing for me, in these here United States, is $19.99 USD and the downloadable version…