Microsoft - Page 234 of 239

“Worst Of Xbox 360 Hardware Failure Behind Us”

Three flashing red lights on the Xbox 360 represents “general system failure.” Nicknamed “The Red Ring of Death,” this system failure has plagued the Xbox 360 console for years. While Microsoft pegged a low percentage rate of system failure in the early moments of the Xbox 360’s launch, the numbers of customers suddenly experiencing the…

By Brian Ashcraft Published February 17, 2009

Microsoft To Buy Motion-Sensing Company

Here we go again. Fresh off speculation Microsoft were working on a motion-sensing controller for current generation hardware, seems the company is now in talks to buy a firm specialising in motion-sensing tech. Israeli site Haaretz reports that the makers of the Xbox console are in talks to buy locally-based company 3DV for $35 million.…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 17, 2009

Crap Economy Will Affect Microsoft

Times are hard. For you, for me and especially major international corporations like Xbox 360 maker Microsoft. While at a trade show in Barcelona, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told Reuters, “Revenues in our industry, and in our company, will be affected by the economic conditions.” Will be? What was last January? A lark? To…

By Brian Ashcraft Published February 17, 2009

Rare “Restructuring”, Job Losses A Possibility

In January, Microsoft started “reviewing” a few things. Cut some jobs, that sort of stuff. That “review” now shines its light on Rare, where belts are to be tightened, and jobs might be lost. In comments released to the British press today, the company stated a number of aims going forward that seemed a tad…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 17, 2009

Microsoft Says Xbox 360 Lead In Europe Now 1 Million

Europe Land has long been Sony country, with the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 dominating sales charts in their respective generations. But the PlayStation 3 had a tougher challenge—a head start from Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Now, says Microsoft, it has pulled ahead in the region, giving the Xbox 360 a lead over its PlayStation 3 competition…

By Michael McWhertor Published February 16, 2009

This Week On Live Arcade: Death Tank

Old school gameplay gets an upgrade this week on Xbox Live Arcade, as Snowblind Studios releases Death Tank, a shiny new take on the classic tank-on-tank angle shooter. What’s an angle shooter, you ask? It’s any game that involves calculating the angle of projectiles based on terrain velocity in order to efficiently dispatch your foes.…

By Mike Fahey Published February 16, 2009

Ex-Ensemble Staff Form New Studio

Ensemble Studios, developers of the Age of Empires series and Halo Wars, are dead. But the developers who comprised Ensemble? They’re still alive, and some of them have formed a new studio. It’s called Robot Entertainment, and has been established by Ensemble co-founder Tony Goodman, along with “a number of veterans” from the former Microsoft-owned…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 13, 2009

Halo Wars: Making Console Real-Time Strategy Work

The third in a series of video documentaries covering the upcoming Xbox 360 game Halo Wars features members of the development team explaining how to make a console real-time strategy game that works. Having obviously not paid enough attention during the early days of Halo 3 development, I was a bit surprised to learn that…

By Mike Fahey Published February 13, 2009

Massage Your Love Over Xbox Live

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the natural evolution of the Rumble Massage program we posted last month, Remote Masseuse, a Xbox Community Game that lets you reach out and massage someone via Xbox Live. Where Rumble Massage allowed you to use your Xbox 360 controller as a personal massager, Remote Masseuse lets folks activate…

By Mike Fahey Published February 13, 2009

Ninja Blade Is Available In English Right Now

Xbox 360 exclusive Ninja Blade may not have a North American release date yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t own an English version. Right now. The Asia region has English language support (text and voice). It’s also region free. Interested parties, import away! Ninja Blade Ready In English, Just Not Here [Siliconera]

By Brian Ashcraft Published February 13, 2009

Microsoft Responds To January NPD Sales, Seems Pleased

Microsoft sold over 300,000 Xbox 360 consoles in January. That’s cause for celebration in the halls of Redmond, as the company’s gloating presser boasts of not only strong software sales, but record Xbox Live numbers. Seems January 2009 was the “single biggest month ever for Xbox LIVE”, which leads us into a presser which sees…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 13, 2009

Yup, Microsoft Are Opening Microsoft Retail Stores

Last month, we took a tour of Microsoft’s “fake” retail store. Meant to show what it would look like “if” Microsoft ever decided to open a dedicated store. Like the ones they’re now actually opening. The company have announced that, yes, they’re going to follow Apple into the dedicated retail space, and will be opening…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 12, 2009

Lips Delivers Xanadu Magic For Valentine’s Day

The classic 1980 film Xanadu finally gets some video game loving, as Microsoft announce Olivia Newton John’s “Magic” as part of their Valentine’s Day downloadable content for karaoke game Lips. Three new tracks drop for Lips on February 13th, celebrating the holiday of love with the songs such as Avril Lavigne’s “My Happy Ending” and…

By Mike Fahey Published February 12, 2009

360 Commercial Banned Over Movie Purchase Claims

Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority say 99% of video games ads are responsible. This commercial, however, for the Xbox 360’s video marketplace, is part of the remaining 1%. The ad (which particular ad it is goes unnamed) basically claims you can buy movies. Which you can’t, you can only rent them. A single user complained to…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 11, 2009

Xbox Live Goes Free Of Charge For Grand Theft Auto IV Expansion

Displaying the same kind of “throw that money away” attitude that won them exclusivity for the Grand Theft Auto IV expansions, Microsoft have announced that Xbox Live Gold will soon go (sort of) free. Between February 17 and February 22, anybody playing either Grand Theft Auto IV or its upcoming expansion, The Lost & The…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 10, 2009

Crippling Gears Of War Glitch All Fixed Up

Few days back, Gears of War on PC stopped working, courtesy of an expired Windows digital certificate. Meant people owning the game couldn’t play it. Few days later, it’s OK! Everything’s fixed. Epic have since released a patch for the game, which will turn up as a mandatory update. If by some chance you were…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 9, 2009

No More Xbox Support For Japan

Starting March 3, Microsoft Japan will no longer service first generation original Xbox consoles (not Xbox 360s). This includes Xboxes that are under warranty as well as out-of-warranty consoles. Microsoft Japan, however, is offering an upgrade to those owners with still-under-warranty first generation Xbox consoles in need of repair: Swap that busted console for an…

By Brian Ashcraft Published February 9, 2009

Rare Teasing User-Generated Avatars For The 360

The 360’s avatars are, all copy-cat jokes aside, surprisingly endearing. Only problem is, some of the wardrobe and body options are a little…limited. That’s something user-generated content could address. So, uh, will it? According to the team behind the little guys, the answer is a resounding maybe. Rare’s Dale Murchie says: User-generated content is a…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 6, 2009

Electronic Arts Won’t Run From Risk

Despite the cuts, despite the layoffs, despite the economic apocalypse, Electronic Arts will continue to take chances with its upcoming games. That was the message Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello delivered to the more than 9,000 employees earlier this week at the company’s annual town hall meeting. The company-wide meeting came just a day after…

By Brian Crecente Published February 6, 2009

Go Get Your Halo Wars Demo

It’s a Halo game without Bungie! It’s a real-time strategy game on a console! Halo Wars is all kinds of unexpected. So with a demo now out, feel to try before you buy/vomit opinions. It’s well over 1GB, and while at time of writing there were still a few kinks in downloading it (namely, despite…

By Luke Plunkett Published February 5, 2009