Microsoft

Xbox One uncertainty, earnings drag down GameStop

GameStop is having a pretty rough week.

First Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One but didn't provide much clarity into how used games will work with its new console. Then the video game company reported its fiscal first-quarter profit dropped by a quarter as its revenue fell 6.8 percent.

Neither of those factors is pleasing investors, who had sent shares soaring more than 100 percent over the past 12 months through last Friday. GameStop's shares tumbled 11 percent Friday to $32.10, putting the week's drop at 19 percent.

Particularly worrisome is what GameStop's business will … Read more

How Xbox One opens the door for the next Apple TV

Imagine this.

It's 2014. Apple has gathered everyone together for a special event. As Tim Cook presents, he says, "Today we're introducing three revolutionary new products. The first one is a cable box. The second one is a revolutionary streaming-media device. The third is a new way to play games on your TV. So, three things: a cable box, a streaming box, and a game console. Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we're calling it iTV."

The next Apple TV, that long-fabled product, doesn't exist … Read more

Microsoft reportedly to take cut on used Xbox One game sales

Microsoft's policy concerning used Xbox One games has proven a bit confusing, but a new report may have spilled more concrete details.

Citing information from "retail sources," gaming news site MCV claims that Microsoft and gaming publishers will take a bite out of the sale of each used Xbox One game. In the process of selling a used game, original owners would also see the game wiped from their online accounts so they no longer can play it.

Microsoft has already confirmed that Xbox One users who install a game on the console's hard drive will no longer need the disc … Read more

Game over for used games: How Xbox One and PS4 could gut gamers' wallets

In case you missed it, Microsoft unveiled a new game console the other day, the Xbox One. We now know a lot about it, but as with most game console launches, we were left with a few unanswered questions that my colleague Dan Ackerman summed up nicely in his "Unanswered questions about the Xbox One" piece.

It's the last one that seems to be generating the most controversy: "Will used games work on the Xbox One?"

Simple question, complicated answer You'd think the answer would be a simple yes or no, but alas, it'… Read more

In risky new tack, Microsoft stacks Surface against iPad

Microsoft's "iPad vs. Windows" campaign now includes iPad vs. Surface RT. Is Microsoft picking the right fight?

On the back of new ads that zero on the iPad's (purported) weaknesses, Microsoft has thrown up a comparison page that stacks the iPad against four Windows 8 tablets.

Microsoft isn't using the Surface RT in the anti-iPad ads. Rather, the Asus VivoTab is its weapon of choice.

But Surface RT is front and center on the comparison page. One small problem: the (highly-selective) Microsoft feature chart doesn't necessarily portray Surface RT as the clear winner (see … Read more

Microsoft cleared in Xbox patent spat with Google

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday said it won't review a final ruling that found Microsoft to be in the clear of infringing on patents held by Motorola Mobility, which Google acquired last year.

The ruling (PDF) follows an initial determination in favor of Microsoft on March 22 of this year, as well as a final initial determination from last month from an ITC administrative law judge.

At stake were potential future sales of the console in the U.S., which could have been halted if Motorola had won.

"This is a win for Xbox customers … Read more

Xbox One's unexpected pitch: It's the Dad Box

For years we've heard about the ever-widening appeal of video games and game-playing devices. Women gamers, senior gamers, casual gamers, and even the kind of social/mobile gamers who would never refer to themselves with the dreaded G word.

But, when it was time to reveal its first major gaming hardware of the post-iPhone era (the first-gen iPhone was released in 2007, the Xbox 360 in 2005), what did Microsoft do? It narrowcast the launch presentation of the Xbox One to a very targeted demographic group. And no, it wasn't the cliched teenage or twentysomething twitch gamer, it … Read more

Pad this, Apple! Microsoft blasts iPad yet again in new ad

The story so far: Microsoft has dispensed with defense and is throwing at least five (very) wide receivers at Apple -- and Google, Samsung, and whoever else stands in the way of it and nirvana.

Wednesday, Redmond released an ad in which it kidnapped Siri and persuaded her to denigrate the iPad, as if it was, oh, the rotund man in glasses who used to represent Microsoft.

Thursday, the company decided to release another ad offering that the iPad was nothing other than a slab of old bloat. At least when compared, for example, to the slightly lesser-known Asus VivoTab. … Read more

Microsoft to launch Kinect for Windows sensor in 2014

Microsoft will finally deliver a Kinect sensor for Windows sometime next year.

The company announced Thursday that the Kinect for Windows sensor will use the same set of technologies key to the new Kinect sensor for the Xbox One, both of which will allow people to issue commands using voice and gestures.

The sensor will include a high-definition color camera and a noise-isolating multi-microphone array. Also part of the system will be a technology called Time-of-Flight, which measures how long it takes for photons to bounce off a person or object. Combined, these features promise greater accuracy and precision in … Read more