Xbox

It’s official: Microsoft is scared of the PlayStation 4. Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it will sell the Xbox One without the Kinect for $399, starting on June 9. The price cut levels the playing field and drops the Xbox One’s sticker price to the same level as Sony’s PS4. It also eliminates one of Continue Reading →

Microsoft already has an online file-storage service, OneDrive, and its own streaming music platform, Xbox Music, and the company appears to be combining the two to create a music locker in the cloud. LiveSino has discovered references to a OneDrive Music folder in source code files from Microsoft’s cloud-storage site. The files describe the new Continue Reading →

Microsoft’s new Xbox head Phil Spencer doesn’t think an Xbox gaming handheld makes sense. Spencer took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon in a surprisingly candid conversation with fans, one of whom asked if Microsoft is pursuing, “a handheld Xbox One-like gaming device at E3 or in the future.” Spencer responded with a frank, “I don’t Continue Reading →

Xbox Entertainment Studios is deep in negotiations with Showtime to develop a live-action “Halo” drama series that is a high priority for the Microsoft production unit headed by Nancy Tellem. Xbox Studios has been developing a drama series spin on the vidgame franchise with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin TV banner for more than a year. It’s Continue Reading →

Oscar-winning documentary filmmakers. Legendary soccer players. The guys who make Robot Chicken. These are the people that Microsoft’s throwing money at to help them make TV shows. Despite the fact that their plans to create all-new filmed entertainment have long been rumored and confirmed, it’s kind of weird to think that the same company that Continue Reading →

The Xbox One April update has begun rolling out to systems and will continue over the next few days, according to an announcement on the Major Nelson blog. The latest update initially rolled out last month to users in Microsoft’s beta program, an initiative that lets console owners test system updates prior to their official Continue Reading →

Heart rate, temperature, respiration, and perspiration: These are our autonomous functions–our core physiological processes–that signal stress or arousal and can betray our otherwise cool exteriors. Stanford researcher Gregory Kovacs is reading these signals through a modified Xbox game controller. By adding a new, sensor-laden back plate, he can measure heart rate, blood flow, rate and Continue Reading →

Microsoft is going Hollywood with a cast including comedians Sarah Silverman and Seth Green, aspiring World Cup players and eerily human robots. All are involved in shows that Microsoft’s new Xbox television studio plans to roll out globally starting in June. Helmed by former CBS Corp. honcho Nancy Tellem, who Microsoft hired 19 months ago Continue Reading →

When the Xbox One was announced last year, many Xbox 360 owners were upset that the system wouldn’t be backward compatible with 360 games. Now, there’s some indication that Microsoft is looking to remedy this situation through emulation, though the specific timing or form that the emulation will take is still unclear. Microsoft’s still-nebulous plans Continue Reading →

A young Ocean Beach boy is in the spotlight after he discovered a back door in to one of the most popular gaming systems in the world. When 5-year-old Kristoffer Von Hassel is playing his Xbox, his feet don’t touch the ground. But something he did has made the smartest guys at Microsoft pay attention. Continue Reading →