Microsoft

So Why All The Microsoft Game Group Firings?

Microsoft said they were sacking 1,400 people across the entire company, yet a disproportionate number of those cuts fell upon the (relatively) small gaming group. What gives? Did somebody piss in Steve Ballmer’s coffee? In the literal sense, no, but somebody looking at Micosoft’s research & development budget may well have exclaimed “oh man, the…

Fallout 3 DLC is Live

Fallout 3’s “Operation Anchorage” DLC is now out on the 360 marketplace, if you’re interested. It’s 800 points, and gives you access to new missions, new gear and an abundance of frozen, radioactive-free water.

Games For Windows Live Boss Sacked

We heard last week that Microsoft’s Games for Windows team was facing layoffs. Weren’t sure how many were going to be affected. Turns out that one of the group’s bosses is among the casualties. VentureBeat report that Chris Early, former general manager of Games for Windows Live, was among those given their marching orders last…

360 To Get Special Resident Evil 5 Console

Ars Technica have a 360 mole, who’s previously been fairly solid, so we’ll run with this: Capcom and Microsoft have teamed up to offer a special edition Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360. And that console will come as part of a larger bundle, a bundle that includes: * Red 360 * Red control pad *…

Flight Simulator Series May Live On

Microsoft’s Flight Simulator series has been running since 1982. Hell of a long time. But news yesterday of the sacking of the game’s development team cast the future of the series in serious doubt. Chin up, Flight Sim fans! While the most recent group behind the series are no more, the series itself may well…

More Microsoft Layoffs Hit Game Testers, Games For Windows Group

Sorry. More Microsoft layoff news. Seems in addition to the Flight Sim and Gamerscore sackings, Microsoft have also laid off a number of testers, as well as members of the Games for Windows team. According to Venturebeat, around 30% of Microsoft’s video game testers have been shown the door, so if your next Microsoft Games…

U.S. Senator Doesn’t Want Microsoft To Fire People

Yes, Microsoft is slashing 5,000 jobs: 1,400 of them this week and another 3,600 over the next 18 months. U.S. Senator Charles Grassley wants to stop this bloodletting right now. “I am concerned that Microsoft will be retaining foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American employees when it implements its layoff plan,” the Iowa…

Don’t Blame the Recession, Blame the Developers

News of game developers slashing thousands of jobs this week and shutting down studios, seems to dispute the notion of a recession-proof video game industry. But video games are indeed recession proof, it’s the developers and publishers who aren’t. “A recession is about the impact on sales, and layoffs are a function of profitability,” said…

Halo Wars The Video Documentary: Part 1

For those of you who’d rather not fill your Xbox 360 with a nice-sized chunk of video, here’s the first in a series of video documentaries for the real-time strategy game Halo Wars. It almost serves as an introduction to the real-time strategy genre for those fans of the series who are used to the…

Halo Wars Is Golden, Demo Drops February 5th

Ensemble Studios’ real-time strategy take on the Halo universe is heading to the printer, with a single player demo of Halo Wars ready to strike Xbox Live Marketplace on February 5th. The Halo Wars gold master is on its way to manufacturing, well in time for its late February / early March release dates. While…

“Bulk Of” Microsoft’s 1400 Job Cuts To Strike Entertainment Division

According to sources speaking with ZDNet’s resident Microsoft blogger, Mary-Jo Foley, “the bulk of [Microsoft’s] immediate 1,400-person cuts” are going to fall on the Entertainment & Devices Group. Which includes the Xbox team. We were told the same thing earlier today, and when contacted Microsoft PR issued the following statement: “This is a company-wide action,…

Gamerscore Blog Team Let Go As Part Of Microsoft Layoffs

Sorry to keep hitting you with these bad news stories. Maybe things will get happier next week. But today, things are bleak, with news now that Microsoft’s Gamerscore blog team have been laid off. We heard last week that the blog had been shut down, but there was always the chance that was simply part…

Flight Simulator Devs Grounded By Microsoft Job Cuts

Microsoft are slashing jobs. 5000 of them. While most of those won’t affect gaming divisions, some of them are, with sweeping cuts announced for the company’s Flight Simulator development studio. According to sources speaking with Gamasutra, “a large portion” of the staff at ACES Studio – based in Redmond, and wholly owned by Microsoft –…

Microsoft Slashes 5,000 Jobs

Microsoft is cutting 1,400 jobs today and another 3,600 over the next 18 months in the wake of today’s news of a 11 percent drop in fiscal second-quarter net income, the company announced today. The cuts will be in R&D, marketing, sales, finance, legal, HR, and IT. These reduction will reduce the company’s annual operating…

Pachter Breaks Up Fight Between Kaz, Greenberg, Claims Both Are Right

Gentlemen, gentlemen, please. Why don’t we stop all this console manufacturer bickering and make peace? Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter says that PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai and Xbox 360 director Aaron Greenberg are both right. How can that be? Surely both mouthpieces, whether they’re boasting “official leadership in this industry” or whether they’re claiming the…

Only One Xbox 360 Game Made Top 100 Sellers of 2008

Crunching the sales data from game publication Famitsu, we have a breakdown by platform of the 100 biggest selling games of last year in Japan. Here goes: DS: 47 games Wii: 15 games PSP: 15 games PS2: 12 games PS3: 10 games Xbox 360: 1 game And that one Xbox 360 game is Tales of…

Aaron Greenberg Disagrees With Kaz Hirai, Bites Him In Face

Gotta love this harsh economic climate. It’s dragging executive shit-talking back to its 2006-07 heyday. Latest example? Aaron Greenberg’s response to Kaz Hirai’s “console leadership” quips to the Official PlayStation Magazine. Not liking what he’s read, Greenberg does not politely rebuff the Sony man’s point of view. He does not choose to ignore the man.…

Maybe Microsoft WILL Fire Some People (Like, 8000 People)

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reckon Microsoft will hold off on massive job cuts. But analysts speaking to Reuters think otherwise, and believe the company will lay off between 6000 and 8000 workers. And that might just be a start. While those numbers would put a dent in the company’s 95,000-strong workforce, McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Sid…

Microsoft Cuts Likely to Focus More on Buildings Than People

Still no word on when or if those rumored major cuts will be hitting Sony in the next month, but the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that Microsoft’s cuts will be laid out later this week. The cuts will be detailed during the company’s second-quarter earnings report on Thursday, the P-I reports, but no word yet…

What Does Windows 7 Mean To You?

Will the upcoming new version of Windows be yet another Vista for PC gamers to worry about, or will Windows 7 be a boon for the mouse and keyboard set? TechRadar takes a look. When I first upgraded to Windows Vista, I wasn’t just disappointed. I was depressed. It looked lovely, had all these new…