Xbox 360
Microsoft has delivered its improved Kinect for Windows, a motion sensor device that aims to bring Kinect entertainment to the PC masses. But unlike its Xbox 360 forefather, the Kinect for Windows comes sans any utilities or games. So for now at least, it's a plaything for developers only.
more In a special live event Monday night, Mary Jo Foley and I did our best "Mystery Science Theater 3000" imitation and provided color commentary to Microsoft's final Consumer Electronics Show keynote address. Microsoft discussed Windows Phone, Windows 7, Windows 8, Xbox 360, and Kinect during the speech.
more In this fourth and final look at the Fall 2011 Dashboard Update for the Xbox 360, I examine the new TV and entertainment services that Microsoft and its partners are adding to Xbox LIVE, a move that finally puts the software giant's console over the top as a living room set-top box.
more In the third part of my review of Microsoft's latest Dashboard Update for the Xbox 360, I focus on three new features--Beacons, new cloud storage features, and Windows Phone integration--that are important to furthering Microsoft's goal to make the console a cohesive, integrated part of a wider ecosystem of products.
more With its Fall 2011 Dashboard Update, Microsoft has thoroughly overhauled the Xbox 360's software underpinnings, providing new platform-level capabilities to the Dashboard and all of the apps that run on top of that platform. Key among these capabilities is new Bing search integration and improved Kinect motion and voice control functionality.
more Microsoft this week released its Xbox Companion App for Windows Phone 7.5, which can be used as a remote control for your Xbox 360-based entertainment, and as a mobile hub for discovering more about all of the content that can flow through this console, including games, TV shows and movies, and music.
more The Xbox 360 Fall 2011 Dashboard Update brings Microsoft's video game console inline with Windows and Windows Phone from a user experience perspective but is in many ways an evolutionary update over the previous UI, called NXE. And while the exciting stuff is happening largely under the hood, it's understandable that many are overly focused on the UI changes. So I'll examine those first.
more While I'm not going to review the recently released Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, I did want to offer up some quick thoughts on the history of this franchise, and the impact it's had on the video game world generally and on the Xbox more specifically. And then I want to explain why I've moved on.
more Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 arrives as the most eagerly-anticipated video game of all time. Fortunately, it's also the high-water mark for the Call of Duty series, and the single best Xbox 360 title of 2011. Battlefield 3, you've met your match.
more At midnight last night, standing in line at the local Best Buy with hundreds of fellow "Call of Duty" fans and my son, I wondered, briefly, why people do such things. And then I got home and spent the next several hours playing the latest Modern Warfare title into the wee hours of the morning. This is a special game, and while I'll need more time before I can formulate a full review, here are some screenshots to get you excited. I know I am. See you online!
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