Microsoft - Page 218 of 239

Liveblogging Microsoft’s Gamescom Press Conference

It’s time for Microsoft’s Gamescom press conference! Let’s all pull up a chair, grab a cup of tea and see what’s happening, yes?

By Luke Plunkett Published August 19, 2009

Report: Xbox 360 Failure Rate Over 50 Percent

It’s that time again! Time to talk about Xbox 360 failure rates — you know, the Red Ring of Death and all that jazz. In a survey of the print edition of Game Informer, nearly 5,000 readers were surveyed about the consoles. Here’s how console failure broke down: ¥ Xbox 360 has a 54.2 percent…

By Brian Ashcraft Published August 18, 2009

Inside GamesCom’s Halls One Day Early

Koelnmesse, home to Gamescom, is a mammoth, sprawling complex of buildings, streets and boulevards, so it’s not surprising that Mike and I got lost on the way to the press room. Our wanderings had us walking through GDC Europe and all four of the show’s halls, where we couldn’t help but notice what we’d be…

By Brian Crecente Published August 18, 2009

Elite 360 No Longer Ships With HD Cables

One of the things I appreciated most about my Xbox 360 Elite was that it shipped with an HDMI cable in the box, letting me get the most out of my system’s visuals without the need for further expense. Thing is, I got my Elite years ago. If you plan on picking one up in…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009

Britain Gets A 360 Price Increase

While there are 360 price cuts on the horizon in the US market, in Britain, consumers don’t have things as easy, because instead of price cuts, Microsoft have instead announced an impending price increase. According to a report on Eurogamer – who spoke with ShopTo and another “corroborating independent retail chain source” – Microsoft sent…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009

Xbox 360 Hits 9 Million In Europe

Much like the US in recent months, in Europe the Xbox 360 has been bucking the 2009 trend of downward sales, registering positive sales growth as it moves past the 9 million sold barrier. That’s according to Xbox Europe’s Chris Lewis, at any rate, who says that so far in 2009 the 360 is the…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009

1vs100: 2.5 Million Downloads, 200k+ Playing In A Single Night

No doubt flushed with the unexpected success of it all, Microsoft this morning released some statistics for their Xbox Live party/quiz title 1 vs 100. Most importantly, that it’s been downloaded 2.5 million times. Also disclosed were the records for players in one night (230,000 in North America, 215,000 in Europe), as well as simultaneous…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009

Halo 3 Still Being Played, By The Truckload, Every Day

We’ve noticed. Many of you are sick to death of Halo. To a certain extent that’s understandable, but then, sometimes you have to applaud the efforts of a game that, two years on from release, is still so damn popular. How popular? According to Bungie, on average, every single day, there are over 1,000,000 unique…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 13, 2009

Buy Avatar Clothes From Your PC

Now you don’t even have to leave your computer to buy clothes for your little Xbox person or purchase full 360 titles, as Microsoft adds the Avatar Marketplace and Games on Demand to Xbox.com. I’m not sure if there are people who sit around work all day, watching the clock for their opportunity to rush…

By Mike Fahey Published August 13, 2009

Gameplay Footage Of New Halo 3 Multiplayer Maps

Developer Bungie is including three Halo 3 multiplayer maps in a add-on disc shipping with the upcoming Halo 3: ODST. The new Heretic map revisits Halo 2‘s Midship map, allowing players to plasma grenade each other all over the interior of the Pious Inquisitor. From purple reign we move on to the Forerunner Citadel, which…

By Brian Ashcraft Published August 13, 2009

Xbox 360 Games on Demand Region Locked [Update]

The Xbox 360 summer system earlier this week made it possible for users to buy and download titles directly to their console. But don’t go looking to digitally import games. The US Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the Japanese Xbox LIVE Marketplace have different titles. For work, I have an American Xbox 360 with a US…

By Brian Ashcraft Published August 12, 2009

So, What Was The World’s Very First Gamertag?

While there are millions and millions (and millions!) of gamertags out there now, in the beginning, there was but one. The alpha, the creator, Xbox Live’s Adam, before he lost a rib. So, who was it? As part of a little Q&A about the new Xbox dashboard, Microsoft’s Larry Hryb has disclosed that the very…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 12, 2009

Bad Company Xbox 360 On Demand Offers PS3 Manual

Microsoft’s summer system update has brought games on demand to the Xbox 360. Via LIVE, you can now buy titles like retail packaged title Battlefield: Bad Company for the Xbox 360. Xbox LIVE Marketplace has the game’s manual available for downloading, and, as of time of posting, Xbox LIVE has the game’s PS3 manual available…

By Brian Ashcraft Published August 11, 2009

Xbox 360 Triumphs Over PS2 In Nielsen Ratings

Microsoft claims victory over the PlayStation, as the latest Nielsen ratings indicate that the Xbox 360 is the first current-generation console to top the PS2 in terms of minutes played per month. According to the graph provided by the Niesen website, which we explored earlier in terms of Wii usuage, the Xbox 360 actually came…

By Mike Fahey Published August 11, 2009

Xbox 360 Has “Exclusive Partnership” For Consoles With Netflix

The summer dashboard update for the Xbox 360 has gone live, bringing new Netflix features to the Microsoft console — and only that console. According to the Xbox.com site, “This exclusive partnership offers you the ability to instantly stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix to the television via Xbox 360. Xbox 360 will be…

By Brian Ashcraft Published August 11, 2009

Doom Creator On Whether New PlayStation Or Xbox Will Be First

You know John Carmack. He’s the programming wizard responsible for games like Doom. You know what John Carmack thinks? He thinks that Sony could release a new console before Microsoft. Here’s his rationale: “The whole jockeying for who’s going to release the first next gen console is very interesting and pretty divorced from the technical…

By Brian Ashcraft Published August 11, 2009

360 Update Brings Star Wars, BioShock Avatar Outfits

While drumming up support for the new 360 avatar marketplace, Microsoft showed off how your little guy could dress up as a character from Gears of War, or Monkey Island. Turns out those were just the tip of the iceberg. Now that the marketplace is live, we can see that there are clothing options available…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 11, 2009

Xbox 360 System Update Now Updating

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 summer system update has gone live for all Xbox LIVE members. It’s a mandatory update. The update is being rolled out worldwide over the next few hours. Company spokesperson Major Nelson also points these three points out: • While you can browse and purchase Avatar items and full Xbox 360 games in…

By Brian Ashcraft Published August 11, 2009

Microsoft: Halo Movie Still “On Hold”

There was an enjoyable rumour posted over the weekend that a Mr. Steven Spielberg was currently in talks to produce the Halo movie. A movie Microsoft will only say is “on hold”. Responding to questions we had over the Spielberg rumour (and indeed the future of the movie itself), a Microsoft spokesperson told Kotaku: We’re…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 11, 2009

Report: Halo 2 Is Holding Back Your Xbox Live Friends List

The current cap on your Xbox Live friends list is—and always has been—set to 100, a paltry figure for some Live social butterflies. The reason that number hasn’t budged in four years is reportedly due to one game. According to G4, that game is Halo 2, built on the old Xbox Live architecture and a…

By Michael McWhertor Published August 10, 2009