Microsoft News, Microsoft Features

Only people wearing green may enter

Much like GameStop in North America, GAME is the biggest specialist video game retailer in the UK, stocking a diverse range of software for all of the major consoles. However, you won’t be able to purchase PlayStation content at the giant’s latest branch in Shoreditch, London – because it will only stock...

Taking notes

This year’s E3 was very special for PlayStation. Despite dominating the industry with the PSone and the PlayStation 2, the company has assumed the role of an underdog at times during this generation. While the PlayStation 3 has played host to some phenomenal games – and posted some impressive sales figures in the process –...

Xbox One steps out of the shadows

It was imperative that the Xbox One had a strong showing at E3 2013. Last month, the backlash to the platform’s initial unveiling was undeniably negative, with a whopping 84 per cent of you noting that the system had done nothing to quell your anticipation for the PlayStation 4. But today’s press conference...

The battle begins

It looks like Microsoft’s confusing DRM policies have done nothing to deter the casual consumer, as Amazon.co.uk has confirmed that the Xbox One is currently winning the battle for platform pre-orders – but only just. According to the online retailer, the next generation system has been added to 2.3 per cent more baskets than...

Going through changes

For a company that’s made copious communication blunders over the course of the current generation, Sony’s handled the subject of used games in an unexpectedly cunning manner – primarily by shutting its mouth. While its closest competitor Microsoft has been hung, drawn, and quartered since the Xbox One’s unveiling,...

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...

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

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 –...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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’

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...

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

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...

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...

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...