Microsoft has officially announced Halo 5: Guardians ahead of its E3 presentation in just a few weeks. The game is in development at 343 Industries and is currently on track for an Autumn 2015 release. The next big title is described as a “massive and exciting project” and according to …
Read More »Microsoft ‘unbundles’ Kinect from Xbox One, console now starts at $399
In a rather unexpected move Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced a new version of Xbox One video game console that comes without Kinect and thus costs the same amount of money as the arch-rival PlayStation 4: $399 in the USA. The move outlines a major strategy change for the console. …
Read More »Microsoft may be removing the Xbox Live Gold requirement for media
Microsoft might be planning to remove the Xbox Live Gold requirement for media apps, something Xbox users have been asking for since the launch of the 360. The change in policy is said to be directly linked to Don Mattrick leaving the company, who has since been replaced by Phil …
Read More »EA to reveal six new titles at E3 next month
EA may not be everyone's favourite company but it does have some good developers up its sleeve, which is why you should still be a little excited that six new games are going to be announced at E3 next month. We'll also be getting a closer look at Star Wars …
Read More »Microsoft has no plans for portable Xbox – company
Microsoft Corp. has no plans to create a portable game system, the head of Xbox division said. Instead, the company plans to focus on advancing smartphones and tablets. This is not the first time when Microsoft denies any plans to develop a handheld Xbox dedicated video game console. “I don't …
Read More »IDC: Sony’s PlayStation 4 to win this round of console wars
Sony Computer Entertainment’s PlayStation 3 was not a particularly successful product partly because one of its rivals was considerably less expensive and other was available for a longer time and at lower price. But with the PlayStation 4 the company is projected to make a comeback thanks to the fact …
Read More »Sledge-Hammer won’t be bringing CoD to last gen consoles
During the development of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Sledge-Hammer will be skipping the Wii U, Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 in an effort to create the first “Next Gen” game in the franchise. Call of Duty has usually come to all available platforms in an effort to reach …
Read More »Xbox boss confirms that Microsoft is working on virtual reality
Since Sony revealed its Oculus Rift competitor, Project Morpheus, many have been wondering if Microsoft has any virtual reality plans up its sleeve but the company has so far been pretty quiet on the subject. However, Xbox boss, Phil Spencer has mentioned that Microsoft is testing it and realises that …
Read More »Analyst: PC games revenue has surpassed console games globally
Many believe that video game consoles are preferable platforms for game publishing because of the lack of piracy and therefore better opportunities to earn higher revenue. However, since PCs are so widespread these days that even with piracy the market of PC video games is now larger than the market …
Read More »AMD’s x86 processor market share rises, thanks to game consoles
New-generation video game consoles from Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. not only help AMD to offset declines of PC chips sales, but actually drive the company’s share on the market of x86 microprocessors. In the first quarter of 2014 AMD managed to gain share, whereas Intel Corp. lost some ground. …
Read More »Windows 8.2 may be due this Fall, Windows 9, Windows 10 are en route
Microsoft Corp. has just released Windows 8.1 update 1, but the work in Redmond, Washington, continues. Based on a new leak allegedly made by Wzor, a well-known source of Microsoft-related news with a good track record, the software giant may release a new Windows 8 update this year. The general …
Read More »Microsoft Xbox One total sales exceed five million units
Microsoft Corp. early on Friday said that total life-to-date sales of its Xbox One video game consoles have totaled five million units. The company is about two million units behind its arch-rival Sony Computer Entertainment, which has managed to sell over seven million PlayStation 4 consoles to date. It appears …
Read More »Game sales figures still very strong in the UK
While rumours of the demise of computer gaming abound, the underlying numbers are remarkably strong. Sure, we're not reliving the glory days of all night queues for new releases, but the market is certainly seeing some revenue. KitGuru puts its gourd in the river to check the cash flow. When …
Read More »Microsoft demos new Windows 8.1: like Windows 7, but without beauty
At this week’s Build conference, Microsoft Corp. demonstrated the look of the new Windows 8.1 update 2014 as well as a number of new capabilities of the modernised operating system. As expected, Microsoft returned a number of “classical” Windows elements and added some new features. Key features of the Microsoft …
Read More »Microsoft unlikely to budge on ID@Xbox launch requirement
Microsoft has been keeping the Indie developers in mind this generation with its ID@Xbox publishing programme. Unfortunately, in order for your game to qualify it must launch on Xbox One first or at the same time as other platforms, a requirement that is causing some developers trouble. While there has …
Read More »Xbox’s Ed Fries thinks VR will be a bust, like 3D
There's a lot of talk of Virtual Reality at the moment, with the announcement of Facebook's Oculus acquisition, Sony's debut of the Morpheus prototype and the news that there's a new kid on the block, the next year is looking quite exciting for VR enthusiasts. However, not everyone thinks the …
Read More »Xbox head vows to bring leading games to all Microsoft platforms
Satya Nadella, the newly appointed chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., continues to re-appoint executives in an attempt to create an efficient executive team at the software giant. In addition to the new team, we are starting to see changes that Mr. Nadella wants to bring to Microsoft. For example, …
Read More »Dell licenses Android-, Chrome- and Xbox-related patents from Microsoft
Dell and Microsoft this week announced a patent licensing agreement that covers a broad set of intellectual property and also causes a lot of questions. Under the terms of the deal, Dell will obtain licenses to use Microsoft IP that covers Google Android and Chrome platforms. Moreover, Dell may get …
Read More »Microsoft: We have been playing with VR technology for quite a while
Microsoft Corp. has been quiet about virtual reality technologies and their support by its new-generation Xbox One console. However, it would be short-sighted to think that the company has not played with the tech. It certainly has. Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft Game Studios, confirmed this during a conversation …
Read More »Native DirectX 12 games to emerge in late 2015 – reports
While Microsoft Corp. revealed yesterday that it will release preview version of its DirectX 12 application programming interface this year, its press materials did not disclose when to expect the final version of the API and games that take complete advantage of it. According to various media reports, it looks …
Read More »Xbox CPO jumps ship
Microsoft's chief product officer for Xbox, Marc Whitten, has left the company after a near 15 year stint in which he helped build the Xbox brand, create its bustling Xbox Live platform and of course helped sell each of the successive platform's systems. Now he's moving on to Sonos, the …
Read More »Electronic Arts plans to support virtual reality technologies
Andrew Wilson, chief executive officer of Electronic Arts, said that the game publisher would definitely support various virtual reality technologies since gamers clearly want to “immerse” deeper into video games. The problem is that at present it is unknown what exactly to support, which is why some things are put …
Read More »Analyst: Microsoft will offer Kinect-free version of Xbox One in 2015
While Microsoft Corp.’s Kinect 2 sensor is significantly better than its predecessor and can enable not only new types of games, but new usage models for the Xbox One game console in general, it also makes the new system more expensive and thus less popular. Moreover, many consumer functions of …
Read More »Games with Gold is ‘fundamentally different’ to PS+
SXSW was on this weekend and Microsoft Sudios Vice President, Phil Spencer, was in attendance speaking about Xbox's Games with Gold program that launched last year. During his speech, Spencer noted that Microsoft's program is supposed to be “fundamentally different” to PS+. Playstation + offers subscribers an instant library of …
Read More »Here’s the Titanfall launch trailer
With the release of Titanfall just six days away in the US (and nine here in the UK), Respawn has gone ahead and debuted the launch trailer, showing not only some more of the frantic action that we've come to expect from the game's multiplayer mode, but also a hint …
Read More »Xbox Live to come to Android and iOS?
Microsoft has Xbox Live features included in the Windows Phone OS, in-fact, you can even earn achievements for your account on some mobile games but now the company wants to make Xbox Live cross platform by bringing the functionality to Android and iOS devices. Some details of the plan were …
Read More »Microsoft announces changes to executive team
Microsoft Corp. on Monday announced significant changes to the leadership team. As a result of the changes, the software giant will lose Tony Bates and Tami Reller, who played significant roles at Microsoft in the recent years. Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft, wants to ensure that the senior …
Read More »Xbox boss interested in Knights of the Old Republic Anniversary
Microsoft Studios Vice President, Phil Spencer, has expressed some interest in making a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Anniversary edition, something I'm sure a lot of fans of the RPG series would like to see happen. Image Credit: RetroGamingAus Things started off when a fan tweeted the Microsoft …
Read More »$15.39 billion spent on video games in the U.S. in 2013
Gamers spent whopping $15.39 billion (£9.1894 billion) on PC and console video games in the U.S. last year, according to a new report from NPD Group, a leading market tracker. Due to changes of the ways people get new content, the overall market grew just 1% annually amid increasing interest …
Read More »Microsoft vows stronger support for PC games
Microsoft Corp. has mostly concentrated on Xbox video games throughout the last decade or so. While the software giant has continued to advance DirectX, a multimedia application programming interface for PCs, the first party titles from Microsoft Studios have been designed primarily for the Xbox platform. Nonetheless, Microsoft promises that …
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