Tag Archives: microsoft

PS4, Xbox One take painful body blow from Watch Dogs delay

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Chris watchdogsMorris looks at the ramifications of Ubisoft’s last-minute delay of one of the hottest new IPs in the industry

Nintendo will be the first company to tell you about the importance of must-have titles at a console launch. The more you have, the better – as it not only increases the initial frenzy (attracting the wandering eye of the mass media), but keeps demand alive long after Christmas has come and gone.

With Ubisoft’s announcement on Tuesday that it would be delaying Watch Dogs until Spring 2014, both Microsoft and Sony saw their new systems take a painful body blow.

Read more at GamesIndustry.biz

Forget Siri: Microsoft bringing Halo’s Cortana to its phones

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Helping cotrana-windows-microsoftMaster Chief out of perilous predicaments is one thing, but can Cortana help you get to your meeting on time?

Microsoft is working on a digital personal assistant for its Windows Phones to compete with Apple’s Siri and Android’s Google Now. And it has chosen the beloved Halo artificial intelligence character as its namesake.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Xbox One-80: Behind Microsoft’s multiple about-faces

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Strategies xbox onefor video game console are typically planned years in advance, but the course has been anything but clear for the Xbox One. In the months since Microsoft introduced the next-generation system, the company has made four major policy reversals—and there’s no telling if it’s done yet.

At stake is Microsoft’s leadership position in the $70 billion video game industry. For the past 30 months, the Xbox 360 has topped console hardware sales, but Sony’s PlayStation 4 is resonating with gamers as the next generation looms. And investors are trying to determine whether the Xbox team is scrambling to catch up or is simply showing a willingness to preemptively respond to market feedback.

Read more at CNBC.com

Former Steam boss Jason Holtman lands at Microsoft

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Jason holtmanHoltman, who spearheaded Valve’s Steam business for eight years before leaving the company in February, has a new job.

The former lawyer has taken a job with Microsoft, with a focus on PC gaming and entertainment strategy. Because he has just started at the position, Holtman declined an interview request, but confirmed the move.

Read more at GamesIndustry.biz

Xbox One can still win the next console war

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Chris xbox one vs ps4Morris notes that “the embankment Microsoft faces is a lot smaller than it was a short time ago”

Coming out of E3, the momentum for the next generation was clearly on Sony’s side. Microsoft, through a series of unpopular decisions and confusing, conflicting public statements, was quickly wearing down the goodwill it had built up with the Xbox 360 – at least among core gamers.

Within a week of the industry trade show’s close, though, Microsoft started making changes – big ones – to win back the doubters, reversing its DRM and used game policies. Last week, those changes continued as the company changed its mind on indie game self-publishing. And with an estimated four months or so before the Xbox One hits shelves, who knows if Microsoft is finished?

Read more at GamesIndustry.biz

Xbox One: Julie-Larson Green May Fit In Just Fine

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Gamers larson-green– and the games media – hate the unknown. They thrive in a biosphere where leaks pre-announce major moves and no one is all that surprised when its made official.

That’s what made Microsoft’s decision to replace Don Mattrick with Julie Larson-Green so frustrating for some. She was, to many, an unknown. And that quickly led some to question her qualifications, which eventually led to prophecies of doom for the Xbox in some forums.

Read more at GamesIndustry.biz