by Rainier on Sept. 1, 2008 @ 1:34 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
While the weekend is being dominated by PAX, Microsoft Japan held its 4th annual press conference in Tokyo, where it ran through its fall lineup of titles. Starting off with showing that hardware sales have spiked, especially since the Tales of Vesperia launch last month, Microsoft revealed it is bringing over Fable 2, Fallout 3, HAWX, Mass Effect, Oblivion and Winning Eleven. New titles revealed are Namco-Bandai/KOEI's mecha game Dynasty Warriors GUNDAM 2 and From Software's cinematic action game Ninja Blade, produced by Lost Planet's designer Keiji Nakoka. Microsoft also announced it is cutting the price of the Xbox 360 Arcade model by 8,000 yen ($73.92) to 19,800 yen (making it cheaper than the Wii), as well as the 2 hard drive-enabled models by 5,000-8,000 yen.
by Rainier on Aug. 27, 2008 @ 3:06 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Announced way
back in 2003, Microsoft Train Simulator 2 provides the opportunity to command a 200-ton modern diesel locomotive or operate a steam-breathing behemoth from the past.
by Rainier on Aug. 26, 2008 @ 6:47 p.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Remember that rumble lawsuit that went on between Sony and Immersion? Everybody wondered why Microsoft did not get sued as well, but the software giant cleverly and quietly settled. There was more to it than met the eye: In the 2003 settlement, an odd clause offered Microsoft $15 million if Immersion sued Sony and obtained a settlement, which, they did in 2007. However, Immersion never paid Microsoft, which led to another lawsuit; Immersion agreed to pay Microsoft $20.75 million and enroll in Microsoft's Certified Partner Program.
by Rainier on Aug. 19, 2008 @ 5:12 p.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Yesterday SCEA's Director of Publisher Relations Michael Shorrock stated that PS3 guitars and drum sets will all feature a basic level of gameplay compatibility, and today Microsoft chimed in saying that this is also the case for the Xbox 360 editions, meaning Guitar Hero: World Tour’s guitars and drums will work with Rock Band 2 and Konami’s Rock Revolution software.
by Judy on Aug. 5, 2008 @ 12:03 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Check out the following new screens & trailers from Microsoft's E3 2008 lineup:
by Rainier on Aug. 1, 2008 @ 2:29 p.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Last month Microsoft revealed that it was reducing the price of its 20GB unit to $300 while at the same time introducing a 60GB edition for $380. According to Ars Technica there might be more as its sources revealed Microsoft might hack off another $50 off the entire model lineup, the HD less Xbox 360 Arcade would go from $279 to $199, while the 60GB Xbox 360 Pro gets reduced from $ 350 to $299, and the high end 120GB Xbox 360 Elite would be sold for $399 instead of its original $449 price.
by Rainier on July 22, 2008 @ 1:21 p.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Shortly after a similar Sony announcement, Microsoft revealed at Gamefest 2008 that it will allow anyone to turn the hobby of game-making into a full-fledged career by allowing members of the XNA Creators Club to create, sell and share in the profits generated by their unique creations.
Microsoft's pre-E3 briefing began with a roundup of some of their upcoming triple-A titles, and moved on to discuss their new dashboard and several new functionalities for Xbox Live. If one thing was emphasized over the course of the briefing, it was a renewed focus on cooperative play. Many of the games that were shown were either party games meant for multiple players or otherwise introduced an unexpected cooperative element for an upcoming title.
by Rainier on July 13, 2008 @ 4:32 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Microsoft is giving consumers more gigabytes for their buck, as it announced an X360 with triple the storage space of the original, but for the old price of $349 (U.S.), at the same time dropping the previous 20GB model's price to $299 (while supplies last).
by Rainier on July 10, 2008 @ 1:35 p.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Microsoft is bringing E3 home to its Xbox LIVE members across the globe by providing breaking Xbox 360 news directly from the event to their TVs, including the surprising announcements at the Microsoft E3 keynote, as well as various demos such as for Silicon Knights' Too Human.
by Rainier on June 27, 2008 @ 12:55 p.m. PDT | Filed under
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On June 27, 2008, Bill Gates transitions from his day-to-day role at Microsoft to focus more time on his work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates will remain Microsoft’s chairman and will be involved in select projects based on direction from Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer and the leadership team.
by Rainier on June 26, 2008 @ 4:04 p.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Got a new X360 console or had one repaired, but maybe you downloaded games or other content from Xbox Live Marketplace onto an older X360 console, and now you want all that content on your new system. With the
license transfer tool, you can transfer the licenses of all your previously downloaded content from your old console to the new one.
by Rainier on June 24, 2008 @ 12:17 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Microsoft announced that marketing veteran Michael Delman has been named corporate vice president of global marketing for the Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB) in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft.
by Rainier on June 12, 2008 @ 5:17 p.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Microsoft announced its corp. VP of Global Marketing Jeff Bell will resign to pursue other opportunities while Shane Kim will assume the newly created role of corp. VP of Strategy and Business Development. Current GM of Microsoft Game Studios Europe, Phil Spencer, will return to Redmond from the U.K. to take on his new role as GM of the global Microsoft Game Studios business.
by Rainier on May 22, 2008 @ 4:57 p.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten
revealed to Next-Gen that Microsoft is going to give its Xbox Live Arcade service a makeover by "delisting" unpopular XBLA titles (6+ months old, less than 6% sell through, less than 65% score average). On top of the
recent size limit hike, Microsoft will also tackle the DRM issue (couldn't move over purchased titles when the X360 died) by releasing a tool that will let people consolidate their titles to a new unit. Last, but not least, the software giant will also start up a first-party studio that will solely develop Xbox Live Arcade titles. Unfortunately, this means there will be no Spring dashboard update.
by Rainier on May 20, 2008 @ 10:11 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Xbox Live Arcade's worldwide games portfolio planner David Edery
revealed that Microsoft is planning on raising the limit for XBLA titles to 350mb, saying "We've been listening to our partners, listening to our customers to try and get a feel for what's right. We don't want the size limit to hit the roof because we think there's some value in promoting small pick and play experiences that don't cost USD 20 million, it's good for the ecosystem."
by Rainier on May 13, 2008 @ 10:06 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Check out the following new screens and trailers from Microsoft's Gamers Day 2008 lineup:
by Rainier on April 24, 2008 @ 2:21 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Rumored since Microsoft's X06 event, and confirmed last year when it partnered up with Peter Jackson to form Wingnut Interactive, a new Halo title is in the works, but not "at" Bungie. Microsoft Game Studios is currently recruiting a Creative Director, Producer, Game Engineers and more to “help develop a new experience in the Halo universe,” and "partner with key Hollywood talent." Once that cat was out of the bag Microsoft
confirmed these positions are to work with Lord of the Rings producer Peter Jackson and Bungie.
by Rainier on April 23, 2008 @ 3:41 p.m. PDT | Filed under
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Microsoft announced a new partnership with nonprofit organization Companions in Courage Foundation to provide fun, interactive entertainment for children by supplying hundreds of Xbox 360 game kiosks to playrooms in children's hospitals across the United States.
by Rainier on March 17, 2008 @ 6:39 p.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Gaming performance is strongly influenced by video drivers and gamers will likely see improvements after installing SP1 if they had not yet installed previously released updates that address issues regarding virtual memory space and multi-GPU systems. Windows Vista SP1 also includes an updated DirectX runtime which supports all current DirectX 9 and 10 hardware, as well as new 10.1 class hardware. All Direct3D 10.1 class video cards fully support Direct3D 10 features in addition to new capabilities, and games that use Direct3D 10 will work on both 10 and 10.1 class hardware.
by Rainier on March 13, 2008 @ 4:16 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Despite
rumors and rumblings that Microsoft has been in talks with Sony to add Blu-ray support to the Xbox 360, with even Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
recently stating it will support Sony's standard, it may all be just smoke and mirrors. In a
recent interview Group Marketing Manager for Xbox Aaron Greenberg made it clear "Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray" and may instead be putting its focus on "digital distribution of entertainment content."
by Rainier on March 10, 2008 @ 10:11 a.m. PDT | Filed under
News
Microsoft announced it is lowering the estimated retail price for its Xbox 360 family of consoles in Europe. From Friday, 14th March the X360 will retail at an entry-level of £159.99 for the Arcade version, £199.99 for the standard edition, while the Xbox 360 Elite will have an ERP of £259.99.
by Rainier on March 7, 2008 @ 9:53 a.m. PST | Filed under
News
During a Q&A session at the Mix 2008 web developers event, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer revealed that the software giant plans to support Sony's Blu-ray HD disk format now that Toshiba's HD-DVD has thrown in the towel. Steve Ballmer said, "... as the industry moves forward, obviously we're going to support Blu-ray in ways that are important. I want to make sure there's the right support. We've already been working on, for example, in Windows device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like."
by Rainier on March 3, 2008 @ 3:18 p.m. PST | Filed under
News
Revealed on the
official Xbox.com web site earlier today, but quickly removed, Microsoft is will be organizing a new Grand Theft Auto IV sweepstakes, offering four trips to NYC to attend the GTA IV launch party for Rockstar Games' upcoming open world action game. The next 100 lucky winners all get a prize package which includes a custom Xbox 360 Elite console. Schedule to start today, running until April 15, winners announced on April 23 (
thanks FiringSquad).
by Rainier on Feb. 24, 2008 @ 5:02 a.m. PST | Filed under
News
The writing was on the wall, as Microsoft officially announced that it "will no longer manufacture new HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to provide standard product and warranty support for all Xbox 360 HD DVD Players in the market. "