Xbox Music: Windows 8 plays lead as Microsoft debuts new service

Xbox Music_My Music

It’s called Xbox Music, but make no mistake — the frontman in this band is Windows 8. Microsoft is taking another run at digital music with a new service called Xbox Music, unveiling the details tonight. Xbox Music will include free, ad-supported music streaming on Windows 8 PCs and tablets, starting with the Oct. 26… Read More…

Sesame Street goes interactive on Kinect, our kids give it a try

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This is better than regular television. But it’s very hard to beat the good old-fashioned real world. That was the conclusion in the Bishop and Cook households this weekend after our kids spent some time getting a preview of “Kinect Sesame Street TV,”  a new interactive TV experience on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console. It… Read More…

Late at night in private club, Nintendo tries to win back the love of longtime fans

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The line out the door at this trendy venue wasn’t for a band — it was for Mario. Nintendo fans packed a rented space in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood Friday night for their first official date with Wii U, the next big thing from the iconic game company. The main attraction: Wii U’s motion-sensitive, touch-screen,… Read More…

It’s official: Mobile gamers outnumber the console ‘core’

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It’s no secret that the rise of the iPhone, Android and other mobile devices have shifted the attention of gamers away from traditional game consoles in the living room. But the mobile gaming phenomenon just reached a notable milestone in the United States. Numbers out today from the NPD Group research firm show that people… Read More…

Sony hides PlayStation 3 sales data as profits fall

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Maybe I’m a nerd, but one of the things I look forward to each quarter is the release of Sony’s earnings, because they provide the final data point that we need to update the status of worldwide game console sales — showing how the PlayStation 3 stacks up against the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360…. Read More…

Apple TV outsells Xbox 360 in latest quarter, still a ‘hobby’

Apple TV

Apple sold 1.3 million Apple TV devices during the June quarter, an increase of 170 percent over the same quarter a year ago. That still qualifies as a “hobby,” according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who disclosed the number in response to an analyst’s question on the company’s earnings conference call. But here’s an interesting… Read More…

Xbox 360 marks 18 months atop U.S. console market

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Microsoft’s Xbox 360 sold 257,000 units in the U.S. in June, topping Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii for the 18th consecutive month, according to NPD Group research cited by the Redmond company. That translates into 47 percent market share among current-generation consoles. The latest numbers were down considerably from the 507,000 Xbox 360 units… Read More…

Legislators rally against possible Xbox 360 import ban

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It’s not often that Congress argues in favor of video game consoles, but it appears all bets are off when the issue is patents. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from both parties have been writing letters to the International Trade Commission, siding with Microsoft and others in the tech industry on the issue… Read More…

Microsoft exec: Xbox 360 has ‘a lot more than two years’ left

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In an interview with GameSpot down at the E3 video-game convention in Los Angeles this week, a Microsoft Xbox executive made an attention-grabbing statement about the Xbox 360, saying that the console has “a lot more than two years” of life left in it. The quote from Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer doesn’t necessarily mean that… Read More…

Microsoft unveils Xbox SmartGlass, Xbox Music, IE for Xbox, and Nike+ Kinect

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Microsoft just confirmed plans to release new technology that will let the iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Windows Phone and Windows 8 computers serve as companion devices for games and entertainment on Xbox 360 — aiming to extend Xbox Live to become a more universal cloud-computing service for consumers. The announcement came a short time ago… Read More…