microsoft

One of Microsoft’s earliest-announced Xbox One features might finally be added to the console later this year. Citing nebulous “sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans,” The Verge reports that Microsoft will …
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Microsoft shelled out $2.5 billion to acquire Minecraft studio Mojang, and now we’re starting to see why. In its published earnings report, Microsoft announced a revenue of $171 million for its …
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Playing games from the comfort of other devices in one’s own home holds promise in itself if implemented properly, and with the Xbox One aiming to be the all-in-one …
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As reported in XBLA Fans’ review of Funk of Titans, which was released today on the Xbox One, the price of this title was believed to be $8.99. If you went to purchase the title today, though, you may be surprised to find it priced at $12.49. While this created some confusion for gamers, and even some other gaming websites, XBLA Fans contacted A Crowd of Monsters public relations representative for clarification.

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Boyd Multerer has left Microsoft after 17 years of working for the company. He marked the occasion by tweeting, “Goodbye Microsoft. It was a good run. Xbox was Great! …
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Like millions of other Xbox gamers, you may have had trouble logging onto Xbox Live during Christmas. That’s because both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network were victimized by DDoS attacks that took them offline, but authorities may be closing in on the parties responsible.

YLE reported last week that a supposed member of Lizard Squad, the group claiming responsibility for the attacks, had been apprehended by Finnish authorities. A 17-year old identified only as “Ryan” was brought in for questioning, but Chief Inspector Tero Muurman of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation has since stated that Ryan was not detained, only questioned about his possible involvement.

During his questioning, Ryan denied direct involvement in the attack, claiming to only be a spokesperson for Lizard Squad. He played the part during an interview with Sky News in which he said the actual team of attackers consisted of only one or two individuals.

Although Ryan said the group may contain members younger than the age of 20, one of them may be 22-year old Vinnie Omari, who The Daily Dot reports was arrested by UK authorities on December 29 in connection to the DDoS attacks. Omari was later released on bail, with no formal charges having yet been filed. Omari told the Dot that a forensics team was pouring over his “Xbox one, phones, laptops, computer USBs, etc.”

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All good things must come to an end. True to their word, Microsoft ended their holiday price drop for Xbox One on January 3rd. The deal started back in …
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Its first time on top in 2014.
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In the eight months immediately following the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launches in November of 2013, Sony, riding high on major public relations victories over Microsoft, led next-gen console sales by a supposed margin of nearly two to one. Despite selling at a pace much quicker than the last-gen-market-leading Xbox 360 did during the same point in its life cycle, the Xbox One was lagging far behind the PlayStation 4 in market share.

So Microsoft made some changes.

Executives Don Mattrick and Marc Whitten left the company. Phil Spencer took over as the head of the Xbox team. Kinect was unbundled from the console. Larger multimedia initiatives were cut entirely or made ancillary in favor of a focus on gaming first and foremost. Finally, the Xbox One’s price was temporarily (for the holidays) dropped to $350 with a $60 retail game bundled in.

Those maneuvers seem to be paying off, as data reporting firm InfoScout found that the Xbox One enjoyed a Black Friday sales lead of 22 percent over the PlayStation 4, according to data compiled from more than 180,000 sales receipts. InfoScout followed up by conducting a survey of 350 consumers who purchased a console on Black Friday, and found that 71 percent of Xbox One buyers cited cost as a major influence on their purchase. Comparatively, just 48 percent of PlayStation 4 buyers surveyed indicated that price played a major role in their purchase decision.

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Available now, in a galaxy not far, far away — Star Wars skins come to Minecraft. There are 55 total skins, which include characters from Episodes IV, V and VI …
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