Microsoft - Page 207 of 239

Report: Nintendo Said “No, Thank You” To Project Natal Tech

Nintendo executives were reportedly given the option to snatch up the technology that powers Microsoft’s controller-free Project Natal but passed, worried that the camera tech was too expensive and not responsive enough for the Wii maker. CVG cites an anonymous source at Nintendo—specifically “a top insider (and we mean top insider)”—as saying that Nintendo bossman…

By Michael McWhertor Published January 26, 2010

New Xbox Japan Ads Are Reminiscent of Old Dreamcast Ads

For those living outside Japan, the country’s Xbox 360 commercials have been interesting. There have been a boy band and a song about kicking the shit out of the recession. The latest series of ads features a trio of salarymen from the “Xbox Mission Department”. The guy with the Xbox 360 logo for a noggin…

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 26, 2010

Microsoft Facing Lawsuit Over Xbox Live Pricing

Samuel Lassoff, an attorney in Philadelphia, is taking Microsoft to court over claims that the Xbox 360’s currency system – Microsoft Points – exists to “unjustly enrich” the console manufacturer. The basis of Lassoff’s complaint will no doubt also the basis of many of your complaints over the system. Namely, that prices are engineered so…

By Luke Plunkett Published January 26, 2010

X10 Sees Microsoft Return To Hosting Its Own Game Show

Having abandoned the show to the Canadian wilderness in recent years, Microsoft is bringing its “X” event back into the limelight in 2010, with a showcase night planned to take place in San Francisco next month. The last proper “X” event was all the way back in 2006, when Peter Jackson was in attendance promising…

By Luke Plunkett Published January 26, 2010

Gaming: The Fifth Network

The very public, very messy late-night fight between Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and NBC didn’t just offer interesting insight into the inner workings of network television, it reminded everyone that the TV isn’t used only for watching shows anymore. Video games, right behind bad programming and bad decisions, are television networks’ biggest threat these days.…

By Brian Crecente Published January 25, 2010

But What Does Modern Warfare 2’s Timed Exclusive DLC Mean?

At last year’s E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced that the first two downloadable maps for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 are timed Xbox 360 exclusives. Timed? How long is that? “We have a 30-day timed exclusive on the Modern Warfare content packs,” a spokesperson told website Eurogamer. “So it will be…

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 21, 2010

Microsoft Points Were Never Meant To “Mislead People”

Like Nintendo’s currency of the same name, Microsoft’s “Points” have been confusing people since they were first released, humans being accustomed to think of money spent in terms of, well, money spent. Not some abstract points scheme. If it makes you feel any better, Microsoft never meant for MS Points to confuse you. To mislead…

By Luke Plunkett Published January 21, 2010

Some Halo: Reach Screen Shots

Game retailer EB Games has uploaded the first direct feed Halo: Reach screens onto the game’s product page. Anyone with the most recent issue of Game Informer magazine has seen these screens — not everyone has the latest GI, though! That, and these are some of the first proper screens for the game. Halo: Reach…

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 20, 2010

The Big Three All See Revenues Drop in 2009

Revenues were down for most video game companies in 2009, and the big three platform holders were no exception. Pretty clear, but if you need it spelled out a little clearer, nice graphs tend to do the trick. Put together by NPD fetishist Matt Matthews over at Gamasutra, it shows the decline in revenue all…

By Luke Plunkett Published January 19, 2010

Mass Effect 2 “Super Elite” Console Bundle Announced

This is the Mass Effect 2 Limited Edition console bundle, announced today for the Australian market and selling for AUD$599 (USD$550). It includes a black Xbox 360 with a 250GB HDD, two wireless controllers, a headset and a copy of Mass Effect 2. No custom paintjob on the console, sadly, but the inclusion of a…

By Luke Plunkett Published January 18, 2010

How Xbox Could Have Helped The Dreamcast Survive

There have been rumors for years that Microsoft planned to buy Japanese game maker SEGA. But did you know SEGA hoped to make the original Xbox compatible with Dreamcast games? The SEGA Dreamcast was launched in late 1998 to great fanfare. The console — featuring dial-up online — was years ahead of its time. Then…

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 14, 2010

GameStop Looking To Offload Its Xbox 360 Elites?

On Monday, we wondered where all the 120GB hard disk drives for the Xbox 360 had got to. This GameStop promotion may help explain what’s going on. It’s offering a $50 GameStop gift voucher with every Xbox 360 Elite console sold. Out of the blue, not long after official price cuts and the holiday season.…

By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2010

More Fable III Concept Art

Still want some Fable III screens? Once again, there are no Fable III screens. Sorry. There are images of , a queen, a king and his family and chimney sweeps. The action role playing game, which allows players to choose between good and evil, moving on from a stylised renaissance and is, Dickens novels in…

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 12, 2010

Microsoft: No Need to Launch New Console

The Xbox 360 launched in November 2005. The original Xbox launched in November 2001. It is now 2010. About time for a new Xbox, right? Not necessarily, Microsoft says. “I think it’s important to say that the Xbox 360 is the console of the long future for us,” David Hufford, senior director of Xbox product…

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 12, 2010

Where Have All The 120GB Xbox HDD Gone?

Last fall, Mircosoft released a new addition to its Xbox 360 console line: the “Super Elite Bundle” Bundled with either racing game Forza Motorsport 3 or military shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the Super Elite Bundle includes a black “Elite” Xbox 360 console as well as a detachable 250GB hard disk drive. The…

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 11, 2010

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…

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 11, 2010

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…

By Luke Plunkett Published January 11, 2010

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…

By Michael McWhertor Published January 10, 2010

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’…

By Brian Crecente Published January 10, 2010

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…

By Mike Fahey Published January 8, 2010