Tag Archives: microsoft

$499 in the US. 499 euros in the EU £429 in the UK. I know we always have to pay a little more for things, but really? For those who don't fancy Google converting those currencies, here's the breakdown: we're getting screwed. $499 works out at about £320. This is …

Cementing the idea of the future that we won't own any console games, merely rent licenses to play them, Microsoft has announced that while it personally won't stop you selling Xbox One games, game publishers will have the right and the ability, to opt out from resales as a feature …

Microsoft has made it quite clear that it's taking a pickaxe to the used game industry and it's mining a chunk of change from it before dismembering it over the next few years. At least that's the plan, but not everyone is keen to let the software giant have all …

If you thought Microsoft was pussy footing around with its commitment to no backwards-compatibility with the Xbox One, you are sorely mistaken. The Xbox One will not only not be able to play Xbox 360 games, but you won't be able to play your XBLA games on it either. Speaking …

It's been a long time since games consoles were solely about playing games. Since they started adding CD playing functions, consoles have been more than just a tool for gunning down digital enemies, but you'd have been forgiven with the recent Xbox One reveal for thinking that nobody uses them …

Let's face it, there's very few people that don't think the idea to make people pay full price licensing fees for games they borrow from friends for their Xbox One is a dumb idea. Everyone's talked about it, from consumers, to journalists, to analysts. No one wants it. Microsoft has …

Microsoft has announced that it will have 15 exclusive games during the Xbox One's first year, with eight of those being brand new IPs. It's also said that its upcoming E3 presentation, will be all about games and understandably so, as it's apparently going to be spending around a billion …

So the Xbox One was revealed yesterday and the consensus from a huge numbers of gamers, is that they hate it. While Sony isn't doing everything right with its next-gen system, it does seem to have done one thing: listen to consumers and developers. But Microsoft, it just seems completely …

The PS4, as we all expected, will be making its big debut at E3 this year. Microsoft is of course jumping the gun and getting in its next-Xbox unveiling tomorrow, so just to remind you that Sony is waiting in the wings, it's released a teaser video that shows blurry …

Remember Windows ME? Windows Vista? Windows 8? Microsoft would rather you didn't and to help brush your memory of the last one further under the mat, it's already planning the release of the sequel. It's called Windows Blue and it's coming later this year. It's not a complete overhaul like you might …

Let's crank out the rumour mill on this Tuesday morning, because it's time to speculate on the next-gen. According to some reliable sources over at Kotaku, the next-generation Xbox console from Microsoft, is as much as six months behind in its development cycle. On top of that, a handful of …

Adam Orth, the Microsoft creative director that a few days ago posted tweets that seemed to sarcastically suggest anyone complaining about always-on DRM was an idiot and should just “#getonwithit#, no longer works for Microsoft, having resigned his position. It isn't known at this moment if he resigned by choice …

A few separate sources are confirming some very specific information about Microsoft's next-gen console, suggesting that it won't be called the 720, or Durango, but in-fact, just Xbox – taking the John Rambo and Rocky Balboa route – and will be revealed for the first time on 21st May, a few weeks …

Last Friday, we covered how Adam Orth, a creative director at Microsoft was bashing those that complained about always-online systems, suggesting people should just put up with it. This annoyed Microsoft and Xbox fans, as well as many gamers in general – especially coming off the back of EA's Sim …

Microsoft's next console has been rumoured for some time to be an always online system, something fans haven't been too happy about – in many instances, claiming that it means they would buy a PS4 instead. That's even more likely now, after Adam Orth, a creative director at Microsoft, suggested …

Microsoft may have leaked the date that Battlefield 4 is set to launch, after it revealed it on the official Xbox blog, before immediately removing it. Fortunately, some intrepid users were able to snatch a screenshot, so we can confirm that the rumoured date is 29th October, 2013. Whether this …

Well I say hacked, in reality I mean social engineered. It turns out that some high profile Microsoft employees have had their accounts taken over by a nefarious few, who used the employees' social security numbers and other services' customer support to gain access. Microsoft has been keen to point …

Microsoft's Entertainment Rewards voting procedure has been blighted after it was revealed that the information of everyone that had voted in order to become eligible for a prize draw, was freely available to anyone that knew a few simple steps. According to MCV, one of its readers sent over a …

Microsoft's Hotmail and Outlook services went down for a big portion of the user base earlier this morning and over 12 hours on there's still a lot of people unable to access their email. While this writer has no problem accessing his old Hotmail account, the Microsoft Status page is …

When you look at the number of consoles sold in this generation, with the 360 selling over 76 million units, the PS3 around the same and the Wii just shy of 100 million, it's hard to imagine that the last generation saw such reduced figures – unless you look at …

A botnet that hijacked the clicks and search results of millions of net users has been shut down by Microsoft and Symantec. Apparently the group responsible was netting over a million dollars a year through advertising revenue, generated by the misappropriated traffic. In order to achieve the shut down, the Microsoft Symantec …

Looking at the hardware field these days, with Sony no way near the big player it used to be in TVs, it almost seems unnecessary, however according to ex vice president at Microsoft, Joachim Kempin, the software giant created the original Xbox to curb Sony's advance as the top media …

In response to a very poor showing around the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft has decided that it must squeeze whatever pennies are available from the few sales that are left in the desktop version of its tablet operating system. Expect big price rises for an operating system you have …

Android's huge growth hasn't been solely caused by flagship devices such as Samsung's Galaxy S III. Much of the platform's success is also owed to lower-cost devices such as the ASUS Nexus 7 and various other value-orientated devices. Thus far, this is a market that Microsoft's Windows Phone platform has …

Ex-Microsoft senior executive, Joachim Kempin, has written a tell all book that claims the software giant's long standing CEO, Steve Ballmer, has mainly retained his position by ousting those that could potentially take over from him at some point in the future. Describing the rise and fall of Microsoft COO …

We've talked a lot recently about all of the companies that are looking to get into the console market with small form factor, low cost gaming machines. Whether it's the Ouya, the Game Stick, Nvidia's Shield, Valve's Steam Box, there's plenty of new players in this game. Microsoft though has …

Two ex-Microsoft employees have spoken out about losing their positions as Xbox support staff, suggesting that the reason they were let go from the company was because they spoke about their experiences in a comment thread on Kotaku. Now granted, some of what these guys say is a little derogatory …

$8 billion – that's just under £5 billion. These figures were put together by Ben Cousins over at Kotaku, who points out that if you take the figures from two years preceding the launch of both the PS3 and Xbox 360 – to account for development and R&D – it …

If you've ever moved abroad and attempted to take your Xbox Live account with you, you'll know what a headache it can be. It might take weeks to sort and you might need to actually use the telephone to talk to someone. Fortunately the days of that sort of interaction …

Microsoft has bought up R2 Studios, a startup from the makers of the Slingbox, in a deal that had both Apple and Google in the running for highest bidder. However it looks like Microsoft was able to secure the top spot, winning itself several patents in the process. Combined with …