Microsoft

Some Last.fm 360 Pricing Details

Last.fm is coming to the Xbox 360, sticking another multimedia feather in the little beige box’s hat. But we’re left with two burning questions: how much will it cost, and can we stream the music in our games? The most important of those questions is the streaming one, and sadly, we don’t have an answer…

Ads Coming To Xbox 360 Dashboard?

Sean Alexander, director at Microsoft’s Advertising Business Group, has suggested that you could soon be seeing advertisements every time you fire up your 360 dashboard. Apparently, Microsoft “plans to bring IAB specifications for rich media technologies, including Silverlight, to Xbox Live within the year”. With Silverlight being Microsoft’s version of/competitor to Flash, MediaPost say “Silverlight-powered…

Gears Of War 2 Continues In Jacinto’s Remnant

New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss picks up the story of Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago where Gears of War 2 left off, with next month’s release of Gears of War: Jacinto’s Remnant. As this novel is a direct sequel to Gears 2, those of you who haven’t finished it yet might want to…

Forza 3 Races Through Japan

We’re well aware that Forza Motorsports 3 looks amazing, but where will it look amazing? Microsoft highlights the legendary racing tracks of Japan in their latest update, revealing a handful of new cars in the process. The latest Turn 10 update for Forza 3 reveals four new tracks across three classic Japanese racing venues for…

Halo ODST Features An Open World, “Reach” Could Use Natal Tech

Upcoming Bungie shooter Halo ODST won’t be a straight-forward linear shooter, rather blending elements of traditional shooters with the open world exploration of Grand Theft Auto, Bungie told he Seattle Times in a recent interview. “We’re doing a lot of pretty neat things in terms of mixing it up, introducing some non-linearity, some free exploration,”…

Licensed Avatar Clothing Starts Rolling Out

Over the weekend, Microsoft’s Larry Hryb confirmed that the mysterious “Xbox 360 Beta” that a bunch of Microsoft employees were “testing” wasn’t a game. Wasn’t Natal. It was…licensed avatar clothing. Here, we can see what he’s talking about, as MS employee “Randy No Arms” here is fully decked out in garish Halo threads, from his…

Win Prizes in 1 vs. 100 Next Week? [Update]

Last night on 1 vs. 100, it sounds like host Chris Cashman let slip that this coming week the game show’s beta is over, and players can finally take home Microsoft points. The accidental leak came after The One, as many have been wont to do during the beta, either ignored or didn’t remember the…

THQ Has Natal Dev Kits But No Sony Wand Dev Kits

Sony Computer Entertainment and Microsoft both showed off new motion control at E3 2009 and both appear to have designs on launching those offerings in 2010. And some third party publishers already have Project Natal dev kits. THQ’s Brian Farrell tells G4’s The Feed that his company already has Natal development tools. They’ve had them…

Halo 3 ODST Impressions: What Happened In Africa

The campaign of this fall’s Halo 3 ODST surfaced at an event in New York this week, right near a bowl of lime green jellybeans and a bunch of Zunes. Here’s what we learned. The demo being shown in New York was the same displayed behind closed doors at E3. We’ve previewed the game’s multiplayer…

Ever Wanted To See Microsoft Buy A Motion-Sensing Tech Company?

Microsoft were in buyout talks with Israeli company 3DV systems earlier this year. Now, a few months later, for the first time it’s been officially announced that Microsoft owns the motion-sensing company. So what does this actually mean? It’s hard to tell. Logic points towards Microsoft’s Project Natal motion-control camera having been built using technology…

360 Wireless Mic Stands Alone This Fall

Microsoft is taking the wireless microphone from their Lips and sending it packing, making its increased game support even more appealing by releasing it on its own this fall. With support recently introduced for both Guitar Hero: Metallica and Rock Band 2, the wireless microphone double-packed with copies of Microsoft’s karaoke game Lips are rather…

Colbert Mocks Project Natal, Debuts New Xbox

Microsoft’s Project Natal has been getting some of the best mainstream coverage to come out of E3, thanks to “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and, now, Stephen Colbert. He mocked the tech last night during his “Bears & Balls” schtick. But The Colbert Report’s teasing of the Xbox 360 motion-control camera tech wasn’t the most…

Rare Shopping For Project Natal Designers With Twitter

Rare dropped us a line to let us know that they were now active on Twitter, posting haiku movie reviews, new game teases, and fishing for game designers who might be interested in Project Natal. It isn’t exactly rare for a game developer to show up on Twitter these days, so why is Rare so…

Microsoft: There Will Be “No New Console”

Today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer indicated that the company would be releasing a new Xbox 360 in 2010, one featuring a built-in camera. That seemingly confirmed a new hardware configuration with the company’s Project Natal built-in. Microsoft’s official word? While Ballmer’s casual mention of a new Xbox 360 hardware iteration at the Executive’s Club of…

Report: Microsoft CEO Says New Xbox Arriving In 2010

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke at the Executive’s Club of Chicago today, reportedly informing attendees that a new Xbox 360 will arrive in 2010, one equipped with a “natural interface” and built-in camera. Sound familiar? According to TG Daily‘s recount of Ballmer’s talk, in which he discussed “the role of innovation in changing economic times,”…

Microsoft’s John Schappert Leaves Msoft For EA, Not Being Replaced

For the second time in three years, the man who led the E3 briefing for the Xbox 360 has left Microsoft to take a job at Electronic Arts. Microsoft’s John Schappert will once again become EA’s John Schappert when the founder of EA’s football giant Tiburon returns to the company as its Chief Operation Officer…

Microsoft Officially Doubling Xbox 360 Arcade Storage

The Xbox 360 Arcade is becoming a slightly more sensible purchase, as Microsoft is officially doubling the built-in flash memory for the console to 512MB, confirming a rumored hardware revision uncovered by members of the XboxHacker forums. We contacted Microsoft to double-check on the increase and received the following statement. “We are doubling the size…

Sgt. Johnson Reports For Halo 3: ODST Pre-Order Bonus Duty

Who would you rather have at your side against in a Master Chief-less battle against increasingly difficult waves of enemies than Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson? Yes, grizzled UNSC hero Sgt. Johnson may not have fared so well in Halo 3, but Halo 3: ODST takes place before the final installment of the trilogy, meaning…

Microsoft Pulls Plug On Xbox Originals

First launched in 2007, Microsoft’s “Xbox Originals” scheme seemed an easy way to re-release old Xbox titles on the 360 as a digital download, and make a buck off them in the process. Hasn’t worked out that way. After an initial flurry of titles, releases for the service soon slowed to the point where most…

New Xbox 360 Arcade Units Appear With Double The Built-In Storage

Microsoft may have stealthily released a new Xbox 360 Arcade configuration this Spring, as members of the XboxHacker forum point to a new “Jasper” model shipping with a built-in Memory Unit with double the storage capacity. By way of Xbox Scene, the new-ish Xbox 360 motherboard, sporting an April 2009 manufacturing date, features the more…