Xbox

Best Buy to open hundreds of Windows stores within its stores

Microsoft has cut a deal to open Windows stores within 500 Best Buy locations in the United States and 100 more Best Buy and Future Shop locations in Canada.

The store-within-a-store sites, which will be 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet, will offer a wide selection of Windows tablets and PCs, Windows Phones, Microsoft Office, and Xbox consoles. There will also be space set aside specifically for Microsoft's Surface tablet computers.

The deal, announced Thursday, also calls for more than 1,200 Best Buy sales staff to receive Microsoft training, in addition to the Microsoft specialists … Read more

Microsoft exec on Xbox One: No Internet? Get an Xbox 360

Bummed out because the Xbox One requires an Internet connection? Microsoft has some advice for you: stick with an Xbox 360.

In an interview with Spike TV at the E3 show Tuesday, Xbox executive Don Mattrick responded to the complaints about the Xbox One's demand for an Internet connection. Mattrick described the $499 Xbox One, coming in November, as "a future-proof choice," saying that a console designed to be used online offers certain advantages, such as the ability to link games and entertainment.

And for those people without Internet access?

"Fortunately we have a product for … Read more

Xbox One Asia launch set for late 2014, no word on Japan

Microsoft's Xbox One might be making a splash at the E3 Gaming expo this week, but it won't be making a splash in Asia until later next year.

The Xbox One won't launch in Asia until late 2014, Microsoft confirmed to The Wall Street Journal in an article published Tuesday. Microsoft's regional vice president of sales and marketing in Asia told the Journal that his company is following a "staged approach," noting that Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and India will be first ones in Asia to get the console next year.

Interestingly, … Read more

Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4

We've still got about five months before the new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launch in North America, and already blood has been spilled.

From Microsoft gathering an arguably more impressive stable of exclusive games, to Sony revealing the lack of restrictions on PS4 games and a $100 lower price -- effectively, not only kicking the Microsoft brand when its down, but also knocking out a few teeth.

This next console launch may be one of the most exciting and brutal yet, and I can't wait to comfortably watch from the sidelines, praising Thor I'm not in either of their shoes.… Read more

Xbox One restricts disc resales, requires daily gaming check-in

Gamers using Xbox One will find new, and more restrictive, rules regarding selling used games when the console debuts later this year.

Microsoft will let game publishers set the rules for reselling games to retailers.

"We designed Xbox One so game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers," the company posted on the Xbox news Web site. "Microsoft does not charge a platform fee to retailers, publishers, or consumers for enabling transfer of these games."

The company doesn't say, though, if those publishers will be able to take a fee … Read more

Microsoft to partner with Sky on Xbox One deal? Nope.

Microsoft's strategy for its Xbox One console might rely on help from broadcasters, according to a new report.

Microsoft has been in talks with satellite TV broadcaster Sky in the U.K. to bring its Xbox One to the company's customers, MCVUK reported on Thursday, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the deal. It's possible that the Xbox One will be a companion set-top box that sits atop Sky's service, those sources said. The Xbox One could be sold at a heavily reduced cost, according to the site's sources.

However, a Sky representative … Read more

Analyst: Xbox One to cost $399, PlayStation 4 priced at $349

When Microsoft's Xbox One goes on sale before the end of year, it should cost $399, $50 more than the Sony's PlayStation 4, likely to debut at the same time, according to estimates by Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter.

The analyst made his estimates in a research note prepared in advance of next week's E3 video game conference. He based those estimates on the cost of materials needed to build the consoles, taking into account speculation about the specifications for each box.

Pachter also took into account the launch prices for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. … Read more

Xbox One controller: Button-mashing goodness designed to last a decade

Microsoft's Xbox One controller will be one hardened piece of hardware.

Speaking to tech news site Pocket-lint in an interview published Wednesday, Microsoft accessories and hardware manager Bob Brown said his company has been testing the Xbox One's controller by pressing its buttons "over and over, between 4-5 times a second." Twenty controllers are being mashed with 2 million button presses each, according to Pocket-lint.

As each button is pressed, a computer analyzes its function to ensure it's sending a signal back to a console. If it doesn't operate correctly anymore, its errors are … Read more

Microsoft said to go after Xbox One domain name squatters

Microsoft appears to be unhappy about a couple of domain name owners that nabbed xboxone.com and xboxone.net before it did.

The software giant is said to have launched a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum to get those domains into its bevy, according to Fusible.

Hot on the heels of Microsoft unveiling its new gaming console, Xbox One, the company reportedly filed the complaint with the NAF. According to Fusible, Microsoft kept the name of its console a secret, presumably to avoid various domain name squatters.

However, both xboxone.com and xboxone.net have been registered since 2011. … Read more