Microsoft Pulls A Wii U With Xbox One

JUNE 20, 2016 • The biggest E3 surprise of 2016 was clearly Microsoft Corp. announcing a new console system for release in holiday 2017. It was no surprise that Microsoft was working on something like what is now officially known as Project Scorpio. Rumors about such new hardware are always floating in the air and are what drive excitement in the game category. The surprise was that Microsoft ann.....

Xbox One Now $50 Off

JUNE 1, 2016 • Just as it dropped $50 off the price of an Xbox One bundled with selected titles during promotions during the holidays and last March, Microsoft Corp. has done so once again, “for a limited time.” The move puts 500GB Xbox One bundles at $299, with the 1TB models going for $319. Titles in the promotion include: Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Bundle, Name Your Game Bundle, Quantum Break Bundle, Rainbow Six Siege Bundle, Rise of the Tomb .....

Halo 5 Map Tools Go to PC

MAY 20, 2016 • Microsoft Corp. is bringing its Halo 5 Forge map editing tool to Windows 10 PCs as a free application later this year. Forge was first introduced with Halo 3 back in 2007 and was redesigned for Halo 5 to add more control. Forge – Halo 5: Guardians Edition takes that control philosophy another step forward by embracing mouse and keyboard control, which allows users a better opportunity to create higher-quality map levels. What sets the Windows 10.....

The Fall of Microsoft’s Game Business

MAY 16, 2016 • The recent news that Microsoft Corp. was shutting down its highly ambitious Project Spark game/service received only muted attention but it is a sign of how the company is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the game space. Project Spark was a virtual world building game along the lines of Minecraft. It was hampered by a clumsy freemium business model and never could gain much trac.....

Ubisoft Drops Last Generation Support

MAY 14, 2015 • A year and a half after the arrival of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. disclosed during a financial conference call that it is dropping development on the PS3 and Xbox 360. For the publisher’s fiscal year 2016 all of its AAA releases, with the exception of the Just Dance franchise, will be on current generation systems and the PC. For the fiscal year 2015, Ubisoft reported sales of €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion), up.....

China Xbox One Systems Region Unlocked

APRIL 8, 2015 • This week a firmware update went out to China Xbox One systems, after which consumers there reported their consoles were no longer region locked and screenshots of international versions of Xbox One games running on Chinese systems soon appeared. Microsoft Corp. and its local partner, BesTV, have not officially commented on the update. The disabling of the region lock on imported discs comes less than a month after the .....