Tag: Microsoft - Page 8
News Microsoft Praises Sony's Efforts in the Digital Domain
Phil Spencer's fond of Journey
The console war isn’t all about competition. The likes of Sony and Microsoft can also learn from each other, and in a refreshingly complimentary comment, Microsoft Studios’ corporate vice president Phil Spencer has revealed that he feels that the PlayStation maker is doing a “nice job” of building content for...
News PS4 Pre-Orders Lagging Behind Xbox One in Some UK Stores
Bloodied nose
The response to the Xbox One’s unveiling may have been predominantly negative thus far, but data bubbling out of a handful of UK stores shows that Sony’s still going to have its work cut out if it intends to win the impending console war. MCV reports that pre-orders for Microsoft’s next generation machine eclipsed
News PlayStation 4 Has a Significant Power Advantage Over Xbox One
Sony's system leading the charge
It seems that there was a reason behind the hazy specifications that Microsoft released for the Xbox One – it’s not quite up to snuff compared to the PlayStation 4. The ever reliable technology gurus over at Digital Foundry have stripped back both consoles and come up with some fascinating conclusions – namely...
News PlayStation 4 Stomps Xbox One in Online Twitter Poll
Absolute bloodbath
With new consoles on the horizon, brave system warriors are marching onto online battlefields across the globe – but the outlook’s not looking particularly positive for the Xbox One following last night’s reveal. GameSpot has been running a somewhat childish – but fascinating – poll on Twitter, encouraging readers to...
News Sony's Share Prices Soar Following the Xbox One Reveal
Microsoft stocks consequently decline
It seems that many investors were left feeling a little cold after the recent Xbox One reveal, causing a shift in company shares shortly after Microsoft's conference had ended. The event had attempted to usher in a new generation of gaming with brand new hardware, a redesigned controller, updated Kinect camera,...
Reaction PS4 vs. Xbox One - Moving in Different Directions
Apples and oranges
Thirty minutes. That’s the length of time it took Microsoft to actually bring out a game developer to discuss games during its Xbox One games console reveal. Prior to that point, the manufacturer had gabbled on about television, music, and more. It wasn’t necessarily out of character – the Redmond-based company has been...
News How Do Xbox One's Hardware Specifications Compare to PS4?
A broad look
Games are by far the most important part of any new console, but the hardware is significant too. While Sony spent a lot of time discussing the internals of the PlayStation 4 at its own unveiling conference earlier in the year, Microsoft was decidedly more muted during its presentation. However, following today’s press conference, the...
Feature Five PS4 Announcements That Could Steal the Next Xbox's Thunder
Future combat
Sony knows that it’s got a battle on its hands. It may have hogged the limelight ever since its surprise PlayStation 4 announcement earlier in the year, but Microsoft will not allow that to persist. When the next Xbox is finally revealed on 21st May, the companies will at last lock horns – and it’s the outcome of that tussle that...
Reaction PS4 Looks Poised to Play Second Fiddle in the Call of Duty War
Console combat
Love it or loathe it, Call of Duty is an important cog in any console’s catalogue. The series may have peaked in popularity with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 still managed to rake in a cool $1 billion in just 15 days on the market – an impressive sum for a series that’
Opinion Next Xbox Development Woes Could Spell Trouble for the PS4
Modern warfare
Microsoft is supposedly struggling. According to reports coming out of Kotaku overnight, the platform holder is as much as six months behind on producing content for its next generation console. The site’s sources claim that the company recently canned a number of internally developed titles for its impending machine because they...
Feature Xbox Reveal - Microsoft's Biggest Threats to the PS4
Weapons and weaknesses
Microsoft has finally acknowledged its next generation console. After months of silence, rumours, and bad news, Sony’s closest competitor has confirmed that it will reveal a “new generation of games, TV, and entertainment” on 21st May. While some feel that the Redmond-based manufacturer may struggle to usurp the
News Let the Battle Begin: Next Xbox Locks Horns with PS4 in May
Ready, fight
We all knew that it was coming, but somehow Microsoft has managed to shock the industry by finally acknowledging its next generation console. The company sent out invites earlier this evening, confirming that it’s poised to uncover its impending system on 21st May. As you’d expect, the event will be livestreamed through a variety of...
Opinion Microsoft's Always-Online Debacle Is Playing into the PS4's Hands
Xbox manufacturer is in a pickle
No publicity is bad publicity, or so the old adage goes – but Microsoft executives must find themselves staring into a window of brutal GIFs wondering what to do next. The press surrounding the company’s next generation platform has not been rosy for some time, but things escalated overnight when Adam Orth, the...
News Why Is PlayStation More Popular Than Xbox in Japan?
Keiji Inafune puts it down to brand loyalty
While the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are more or less equals in most parts of the world, Microsoft’s machine struggles in Japan. It’s not uncommon to see the green-tinged device sell less than 1,000 units a week in the land of the rising sun, while Sony’s counterpart tends to teeter around the 15,000...
News Pachter: Microsoft Will 'Deliberately Trash' the PlayStation 4
Competitor will attempt to belittle Sony's machine
Controversial industry analyst Michael Pachter believes that Microsoft will "deliberately trash” the PlayStation 4 during its own next generation announcement event in order to give the impression that its console is stronger. With details regarding Sony’s impending machine readily available,...
News Microsoft Takes a Shot at Sony's PlayStation 4 Reveal
Arrogant or nervous?
Sony may cut a more humble figure following the catastrophic mistakes of the PlayStation 3, but it looks like Microsoft’s ready to step into the platform holder’s old shoes. Tweeting shortly after last night’s PlayStation Meeting press event, Xbox talking head Larry Hryb couldn’t resist chiming in on the announcements...
News Microsoft: PlayStation 3 Doesn't Do Entertainment As Well As Xbox 360
Everyone knows it, apparently
Microsoft must be starting to feel threatened. The company has already predicted that mainstream consumers "won't know” about PlayStation’s upcoming next generation console announcement, and now it’s insinuated that the PS3 is a poor choice for entertainment options – despite it being
Talking Point Could the Current Xbox Rumours Work in the PS4's Favour?
Speculation wars
You probably shouldn’t believe everything that you read online. We’re in what’s commonly referred to in other industries as the ‘silly season’ right now, an exciting period of speculation where even the most ridiculous rumours take on heightened meanings. With new next generation platforms looming, everyone wants a piece...
News Ex-Microsoft Executive Details Heated Relationship with Sony
Furrowed brows
Xbox only exists because of Microsoft and Sony’s heated relationship. That’s according to former executive Joachim Kempin, who was vice president of Windows Sales at the firm. Chatting with IGN, the outspoken suit explained that the computing company wanted to tackle PlayStation head-on due to the bad blood between the...
Rumour Microsoft Looking To Integrate Kinect Into Sony TVs
Take this one with a serious pinch of salt
According to a report on The Daily, Microsoft is looking to integrate its Kinect technology into next-generation televisions from the likes of Vizio and, erm, Sony. The report claims that Microsoft is looking to aggressively push the Kinect into as many living rooms as possible", including those...
News Sony Points The Gun At Microsoft's Content Policy
Last week, Microsoft admitted that it reserved the right to decline the release of XBOX Live Arcade titles if they release on the PlayStation Network first
In an interview with IndustryGamers, Sony's VP of public relations, Rob Dyer, pointed a loaded gun at the policy, accusing Microsoft of "protecting inferior technology". Meow. Dyer went...
News Microsoft Says, 'Nuh-Uh, PS3 Owners Can't Play Skyrim DLC For 30 Days'
An exclusive should stay an exclusive as far as we're concerned
Microsoft disagrees. In a move that's becoming all too familiar, the XBOX 360 platform holder has signed up for timed exclusivity on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's first two DLC packs. The content will be available "exclusively" on Microsoft's platform for a period of 30 days,...
On paper it sounds like a dream scenario: a future where Sony and Microsoft work together to build the ultimate system
Sony's knowledge of hardware architecture coupled with Microsoft's dominance in the software sector. Sony's outstanding first-party output supported by Microsoft's (supposedly) superior networking talents. Combining both Sony and...
News Bizarre: Microsoft Registers Sony Domains
Strange tid-bit coming out of Internet supersleuth Superannuation's Twitter account this morning: Microsoft has registered a slew of Sony-related website domains
The US company owns the URLs for Sony-Microsoft.com and Microsoft-Sony.com. We suspect this has got something to do with a non-video game related collaboration. After all, despite being...
News Microsoft Blocked PlayStation 3 Version Of Tales Of Vesperia In The West
Tales Of Vesperia has never launched outside of Japan on PlayStation 3
That's because Microsoft paid to keep the game exclusive in Europe and North America, according to a Facebook post made by a Namco Bandai community manager. "Microsoft paid for the exclusivity the same way Sony paid for having Heavy Rain only on PS3," said Namco Bandai...
News Cliffy Bleszinski Dashes Gears Of War PS3 Hopes
There's zero chance of Gears Of War coming to PlayStation 3, according to creative lead Cliff Bleszinski
There had been some speculation that Epic would make the franchise multiplatform once its exclusive publishing deal expired with Microsoft. Curiously, Epic retains full rights to the Gears Of War franchise so can feasibly do whatever it wants...
News Homefront DLC To Be A Timed XBOX 360 Exclusive... Whoopee!
Dear Microsoft, We know that you don't bother spending any of your resources developing an identity for your platform and we're cool with that
Honestly, doesn't bother us in the slightest. We just wanted to an extend a word of advice. While timed DLC might be a big deal for Call Of Duty and Grand Theft Auto IV, it's really a total waste of money...
News Sony Go Head-To-Head With Microsoft Over Non-Game Offerings
With the announcement of VUDU for the PlayStation 3 this afternoon, analysts are getting all hot and sweaty over Sony and Microsoft's latest console battle -- the war for non-gaming applications
Gamasutra note that with Netflix, Hulu Plus and Sony's own PlayStation Video Delivery Service already available on the XMB, Sony is making the integration...
News New Data Shows The PlayStation 3 Trailing The XBOX 360 By Just 3 Million Units Worldwide
The PlayStation 3 is seriously closing the gap on the XBOX 360's worldwide sales total, and it doesn't even look like the marketing clout of Kinect is going to stop Sony's resurgence
New worldwide hardware figures shared by both platform holders detail the PlayStation 3 as having shifted 41.6 million units worldwide. The XBOX 360 (which launched...
News XBOX Live Price Hiked To Keep Content Off The PlayStation 3
On the PlayStation 3, you don't have to pay for multiplayer
On the XBOX 360, you do. Many people cite the "greater" experience on XBOX Live as the reason for the cost, but the reality is that the services are roughly comparable, with Live offering a few extra bells and whistles. Microsoft recently increased the price of the XBOX 360's Live...
News Microsoft VP: "I Own a Move, but Kinect is Far More Immersive"
Technologies "fundamentally different"
Move and Kinect are two totally different technologies, offering widely varied gameplay experiences: we know this, you know this. Microsoft Game Studios vice president Phil Spencer knows this too, talking up his company's motion sensor ahead of its US launch next week. Whilst Spencer claims to own a Move...
News Microsoft Ask: "Who Needs Blu-ray?"
We ask: "Who needs HD-DVD?" Heyoh
Microsoft's PR department's been spewing ridiculous statements left right and centre this week. Normally we don't choose to report them because we're a PlayStation website and our opinion about the "competition" holds little weight. Who really cares what we think about Microsoft's games division? We're...
There's acres of difference between the PlayStation Move and Kinect platforms
Some bloggers might wish you to believe otherwise, as they compare every intricate difference between the platforms. But if E3 taught us one thing, it's that the platforms are distinctly unique. I see Kinect as a device to entice people into the XBOX platform. I don't see...
News Crytek "Considered" Making A PlayStation 3 Exclusive
The boss of Crytek, Cevat Yerli, has revealed in an interview that his company has "considered" making a PlayStation 3 exclusive in the past
But don't think because Cevat is speaking in the past-tense, that the idea is totally ruled out. The boss reckons a little something could well be on the cards — but first their first priority is Crysis 2 and...
News Sony Surprised By "Casual" Microsoft
While Sony's been forthcoming about making PlayStation Move seem like an extension to a variety of different game types and genres, Microsoft's been very much gearing their "controller-less" Kinect device as something for the casual audience
According to Sony's Worldwide Studuios boss, Shuhei Yoshida, this move has been a surprising one. "In...
The term "moneyhat" has long been used in conjunction with Microsoft, and indeed, businesses in general
But I believe, tonight, we saw the true meaning of the term. With a two-hour showing barely raising a muted clap at Microsoft's press conference tonight, we were treated to a range of mediocre to decent to downright poor presentations for the...
News Sony: Bungie Deal Is "Great News For Gamers"
Sony's issued a semi-gloating statement in regards to the announcement that legendary Halo developers Bungie will go multiplatform with their next IP
The company described the deal with Activision as "great news for gamers". This is great news for all gamers, said SCEA's Patrick Seybold in a statement. When Bungies amazing talent...
Bungie, the legendary development studio responsible for creating the entire Halo franchise (to date) has announced that they've signed a ten-year publishing agreement with Activision who will remain exclusive rights to the studios "next big action game universe"
The deal notes that Activision will have the rights to publish said games on...
News Microsoft "Exclusive" Hydrophobia Will Come To The Playstation 3... Eventually
Proving that once again a Microsoft "exclusive" is not quite what it says on the tin, Dark Energy Digital - developers of the episodic downloadable water-physics based shooter Hydrophobia - has confirmed about an hour into the GameHounds podcast that there will absolutely be a Playstation 3 version of the game
Going on past performance, Microsoft...
News Playstation Store Update Days Move Forward
We've known that it's been going to happen for a while, but Sony's now confirmed that Playstation Store updates are moving from their traditional Thursdays, starting in May
That's right, in response to XBOX Live's Wednesday updates, Sony has confirmed that Store updates will take place on a Tuesday in North America, with Europeans having to wait the...
Some interesting comments came out of Castlevania producer David Cox's pie-hole this week
The dev spoke candidly to PSM3 magazine about Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2 and its baring on the industry. In that interview Cox dropped a bomb of a quote, declaring that Uncharted 2 couldn't set a genre benchmark because it was a single-platform release. It left...
News David Cage Frustrated By Microsoft's "Sci-Fi" Natal Showcase
Remember when everyone went insane about five minutes after E3? "Oh man," they screamed, "Microsoft's created virtual life and science fiction technology via the XBOX 360
" Yeah - a PR masterpiece. The initial Project Natal showcase - Microsoft's controller-less gaming solution - was a bunch of smoke and mirrors, but it took most people a while...
News Are Bungie Considering Playstation 3 Development?
Bungie are a studio traditionally associated with Microsoft
But speaking about the companies' next move after Halo: Reach, they've hinted at the possibility of supporting Playstation 3."All options are open right now," Bungie's community manager Brian Jarrard told IndustryGamers. "So long as we find the best possible fit for our...
News Peter Molyneux's All Like, "Heavy Rain Is The Future And Stuff..."
Microsoft's Peter Molyneux never fails to deliver a quote that's worth reading
Whether he's hyping up his own game as the relative second coming of Elvis Presley, or simply stating something ridiculous — the dude's a master of spin. Turns out that in his latest interview with Joystiq he wants to hype a Playstation product, rather than his own...
News Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg Chips In On The Playstation Move
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg isn't one to keep quiet in affairs relating to Sony and his own company
And so it was inevitable that he'd have something say about Move and Natal.Xbox 360 has a strong history of innovation: Halo, Xbox LIVE and instant-on 1080p HD, Greenberg told TheBitBag. With each of these, we had our sights set on the future...
News Michael Pachter Is All Like, "Natal Will Outsell Playstation Motion Controller 5:1"
We like Michael Pachter
We don't think he's particularly biased, and we don't often disagree with his opinion. But the dude is unreal when it comes to Microsoft's much-hyped but not-so-much-shown camera device "Project Natal". In his latest report, the American analyst has once again declared his love for the Microsoft philosophy, claiming...
News Console War Showdown: Microsoft Retaliate
Tell your Playstation-fan mates that we're all meeting in the park later
Fight going down, yo. A bit like the one from your highschool days where it was Netherstowe vs. King Eddies. Except this time it's all about Playstation vs. XBOX 360. Post Sony's Rob Dyer taking a dump on the XBOX 360 this morning, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg has come out and...
I know Sony won't pay for exclusives and I think that's admirable
After all, would I prefer Grand Theft Auto IV DLC exclusivity for 12 months, or a whole new Wipeout game? The $50million Microsoft paid for that GTA DLC is probably in a similar ball-park to what would be spent on a mid-large PSN release (perhaps less) and thus, absolutely I'd take...
News Modern Warfare 2 DLC To Hit Playstation 3 About A Month After XBOX 360
Microsoft announced at E3 that they'd given Activision lots of money secured "exclusive first looks" at the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 DLC, but until today the exact context of that statement had not been revealed
However, Eurogamer are reporting today that Modern Warfare 2 DLC will receive a period of timed-exclusivity on the XBOX 360, for 30 days...
News Play Halo On Your Playstation 3
Oh the irony
The inconceivable has just been announced. Halo Legends - the spin-off Halo anime project - has been announced for release on blu-ray on February 9th. Not only will the blu-ray launch alongside the DVD, but it'll also include exclusive footage. So finally, you'll be able to play Halo on your PS3.