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Mid-Week Poll: Have You Changed Your Mind About the Xbox One?

Josh Zyber — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 13:00:56 +0000

In the poll we ran a few weeks ago, many of our readers expressed skepticism about the upcoming Xbox One videogame console due to Microsoft’s announced policies requiring an internet connection and restricting sales of used games. After facing a tremendous backlash, the company has apparently backed down and offered concessions in these areas. Is...

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Mid-Week Poll: Do You Plan to Buy a PS4 or Xbox One?

Josh Zyber — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:00:24 +0000

After an impressive seven-year cycle (eight for the Xbox 360), both Sony and Microsoft will finally release new videogame consoles by the end of this year. Are you ready to upgrade? If so, will you side with the PS4 or the Xbox One? Vote in this week’s poll. I suppose if you want to get...

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Microsoft’s War on Used Games

Brian Hoss — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:00:35 +0000

Microsoft’s new gaming console, code-named “Durango,” is expected to be revealed in the next few months ahead of an anticipated debut near the end of the year. Controversially, rumors claim that it’s been designed to eliminate the ability to share or resell games. These reports follow a similar set of concerns over Sony’s next console....

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Handheld Trouble in Redmond: Xbox Surface 7

Brian Hoss — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:00:37 +0000

A recent article from The Verge states that Microsoft has development well under way for a gaming-focused tablet under the branding of Xbox Surface. The question I have is: Are we talking about a Microsoft Xbox 360 product, or a Microsoft Zune product? First, let’s be clear about the product that’s being discussed. Microsoft has...

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Where Have All the Gamers Gone?

Brian Hoss — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:00:40 +0000

The NPD Group registered a blip in videogame industry news last week with a press release based on its “Gamer Segmentation 2012” report. Alarming numbers, including a 5% loss of gamers in the United States, appeared in media outlets all over the internet. But how did the NPD Group arrive at this determination? According to...

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Head Games: The Future of the Thought Police

Brian Hoss — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:00:01 +0000

By this time next year, I fully expect to see the Nintendo Wii U on sale, having proliferated homes through the holiday season. The successor to the Xbox 360, which will likely feature a built-in Kinect module, may also have entered the marketplace. The question today is how long it will take until neural interface...

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Final Thoughts on E3 and a Best of the Rest Round-Up

Brian Hoss — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 16:00:11 +0000

The nature of E3 is almost like a game industry version of the State of Union address, revealing what we should be excited about as an industry until next year’s conference, and in the short-term future. Of course, like the State of the Union, E3 is a throwback to a time when the internet wasn’t...

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Building an HTPC, Part 3

M. Enois Duarte — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:00:24 +0000

As we last left off on the HTPC discussion, I described the various parts needed to build a sturdy machine. After putting everything together, I must say that I’m very pleased with how my HTPC turned out and how beautiful it looks alongside the rest of my home theater setup. The next step is configuration...

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E3 2011: I Hope You Like Sequels!

Dick Ward — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:00:04 +0000

As any hardcore gaming fan knows well, last week was the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3. It’s one of the biggest events of the year for videogames, and it tends to be where all of the really exciting stuff gets announced. This year was no different in terms of scale, but in...

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Goodnight Zune

Josh Zyber — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:00:14 +0000

Chalk up one more victory for Apple. According to reports, Microsoft is about to pull the plug on the Zune. First released in 2006, the Zune music and media player was intended by Microsoft to be its iPod killer. Those plans didn’t exactly work out. The initial product launch was fairly disastrous. In 2009, Microsoft...

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Microsoft is Bringing Television to the Xbox 360

Dick Ward — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:00:20 +0000

Hulu Plus is more than a little disappointing, Apple TV is nothing but a punchline, and Google TV is being blocked by the networks. You’re not out of options, though. Microsoft is bringing TV right to your videogame system. Just when I thought that console makers had accomplished everything they could during this generation of...

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Evil Offers an Alternative to the 360’s Awful D-pad

Dick Ward — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:00:42 +0000

We’ve been struggling far too long with an inferior D-pad on the Xbox 360. Microsoft has a solution hitting shelves soon, but the folks at Evil are taking things in a different direction. I’m one of those who believe that the Xbox 360 controller is one of the greatest ever made for a console. It...

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