Category Archives: Microsoft

Microsoft Responds To November NPD Sales, Seems Pleased [Corporate Gloating]

The Xbox 360 had a solid, more spectacular November than it did last year, which Microsoft is calling its “Biggest November Ever.” It took a few shots at its PlayStation competition while doing so.

According to MS, the Xbox 360 is “continuing to widen its installed base lead over the PS3,” with the company pointing out that its box outsold the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 combined. It brought out the number 8.1 again, still hoisting up that record-setting software attach rate.

It also points out that Fable II sold another 184,000 in November, bringing the game’s total sales up to 974,000 in the U.S.

Senior VP Don Mattrick said Microsoft has “created the optimal line-up of experiences this holiday season for families seeking lasting entertainment value, particularly during rough economic times in the U.S.

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Microsoft promises to keep Xbox Live up through the holidays

It looks like Microsoft doesn’t want a repeat of last year’s post-holiday Xbox Live outages, when the service was basically unusable for two weeks — according to 360 product manager Aaron Greenberg, MS is “well prepared for the type of growth we expect this holiday,” and that more Live staffers than ever before will be on hand to fix things if things do go bonkers. From what we’ve heard Live is more robust than ever now that the NXE and the associated backend changes have been rolled out, so we’re hoping things go well — but we wouldn’t necessarily say no to another free Arcade game.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

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Microsoft promises to keep Xbox Live up through the holidays originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:21:00 EST.

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Reader meetup update: ‘Fallout 3′ bundles, Nokia N-Gage / Ovi, Make, and more!

Say there, perhaps you’ve heard about that little Engadget NYC reader meetup / holiday party happening on December 19th? Well we’ve got a little more info for you (and some important details) that might be of note. First we wanted to show off some of the stuff we’re going to be giving away, and we thought there would be no better illustration than these amazing Fallout 3 “Nuclear Winter Survival Kit” bundles from Microsoft (pictured above). Some details:

PC bundle

  • Alienware Area 51 m15x laptop
  • Fallout 3 Collector’s Edition (PC)
  • Fallout 3 Token (redeemable for Operation: Anchorage premium downloadable content in January ‘09)
  • SideWinder mouse
  • Wenger Impulse Notebook Case by SwissGear
  • Emergency blanket

Xbox 360 bundle

  • Xbox 360 Elite console
  • Fallout 3 Collector’s Edition (Xbox 360)
  • Fallout 3 Token (redeemable for Operation: Anchorage premium downloadable content in January ‘09)
  • 1-yr Xbox LIVE Gold Subscription
  • Emergency blanket

These are just two of many, many succulent giveaways you could walk away with if you attend.

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Get Close (Maybe TOO Close) To A Jasper 360 [Xbox 360]

OK, so it’s confirmed. The all-new, all-improved Jasper model Xbox 360s are out there. Want to see their insides? Want to find out how to get your hands on one? Ben Heck’s got your back.

Writing on Engadget, the modder extraordinaire has broken down just what it is that makes the Jasper better, and more importantly, how you need to check the back of the unit to make sure you’re getting one.

It’s all in the amps. If the back of a 360 says 12.1 amps, it’s a Jasper, and you’re free to enjoy the cooler, safer experience that brings with it. If it’s any higher than 12.1, it’s an older unit, you lucked out.

Inside an Xbox 360 Jasper: Ben Heck dissects the mythical console, then tells you how to find one
[Engadget]


Did Peter Molyneux Just Spill The Beans On Full 360 Game Downloads? [Fable II]

Maybe. Just maybe. Speaking with Gamesindustry.biz, the Lionhead boss got surprisingly lippy about his dream of seeing Fable II become a wholly-digital download for the Xbox 360.

“I think it would be a great thing for this studio to work on”, he told them. Bypassing the retail sector entirely, so developers and publishers could keep all the profits for themselves? Well of course it would be a great thing, Pete!

Interestingly, rather than play it cool, he immediately followed that up with “I can’t say anything else on it – I would be killed to death”. Which is over-excited-Peter-Molyneux for “oops, shouldn’t have said that first bit”.

That or there was an office bet to work Motorhead song titles into Pete’s interviews.

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Microsoft Expects They Doubled Playstation Sales in November [Xbox 360]

With a casual-friendly interface, a low-priced console and a bevy of games, Microsoft believes that their Xbox 360 may have more than doubled Playstation sales last month, Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360 said today.

And we won’t’ have long to wait to see if they are right, official NPD numbers are expected tomorrow.

“The PS3 is a third player, they are at risk of reaching a single digit market share,” Greenberg added. “They are a premium priced product in a tough economic time. They have a tough position to try and sell a product.

“The window of time when they were the cheapest Blu-ray player, those days have passed now.”

Greenberg says that the key to success in a three console market is to differentiate your console, something he believes Microsoft has managed to do while Sony hasn’t.

“The type of experience we are delivering is very different than the Wii,” he said.

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NYU Offering Degree In Games [Nyu]

New York University is to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in video game design, research and development.

From next autumn, NYU will offer courses via its new NYU Games Center, which was also announced today.

NYU is no stranger to videogames, having opened the Microsoft-funded Games For Learning Institute which aims to research the use of games in education.

NYU launches video gaming degree [Crain's NY]


Free Holiday Xbox Theme [Xbox Live Marketplace]

Shhh, don’t wake tiny virtual Crecente. He’s fast asleep, dreaming of sugarplums and waiting for Santa to arrive in the middle of Microsoft’s free holiday theme, now available on Xbox Live Marketplace.

The festive winter evening theme showed up today on the Xbox 360, offering up tons of holiday cheer for the low price of just under 10MB of hard disk space. Once downloaded it places your friends in a winter wonderland of snow, where hopefully they’ve taken advantage of last week’s ski outfits lest they freeze to death like the Little Match Girl.

Hit the jump for a larger pic of the new theme in action.


Dell raises cost of Windows XP downgrade option to $150

As you’ve no doubt noticed, the deadline for the Windows XP downgrade option keeps getting pushed back and back, and it looks like it’s now also getting more and more expensive, as Dell has now tripled the cost of the option on its consumer laptops and desktops to $150. As TG Daily notes, this latest move follows a similar increase to $99 on Dell’s more business-minded Vostro laptops and desktops which, for the time being at least, seem to be remaining as is. Of course, you can always put that $150 towards a Windows XP-equipped netbook instead, which seems to be fast becoming the primary home for the venerable OS.

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Dell raises cost of Windows XP downgrade option to $150 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:15:00 EST.

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Microsoft Sued Over Scratched Xbox 360 Game Discs [Legal]

A Madison County, Illinois man has had it up to here (hand at chin level) with the Xbox 360 that scratched three of his video game discs. He’s suing Microsoft, seeking more than $50,000.

Xbox 360 owner Jason Johnson filed suit against the company after his console scratched his copies of Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV, rendering all three unplayable, according to the Madison County Record. Johnson claims he heard “unnatural, grinding noises while the game disc was spinning,” determining that his console was defective and to blame for the damage.

Johnson’s defective console was a replacement for a Xbox 360 that red-ringed in 2007.

The complaint contends that Microsoft “violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act” and that Microsoft stands to profit from issuing paid-for replacement discs to compensate those harmed by Microsoft’s own product.

Microsoft was hit with a class action suit for the same issue in 2007.

The suit also claims that “the Xbox 360 was not of merchantable quality or safe or fit for its intended use, because it was unfit for the ordinary purposes for which it was used, because the Xbox 360 cannot play any discs during normal use without permanently damaging those discs.”

Johnson is said to be claiming $50,000 in punitive damages on top of attorney’s fees and regular costs.

Man claims Xbox 360 scratched games in suit against Microsoft [Madison-St. Clair Record]