Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft has quietly added browser-based versions of four PopCap games to Xbox.com that are playable for free. Plants vs Zombies, Bejeweled 3, Zuma’s Revenge and Text Twist 2 have all been placed on a new section within Xbox.com labeled Xbox Live Web Games. All four are free, ad-supported, and are essentially trial versions of the […]

This article was written on January 19, 2007 by CyberNet.

Going along with our recent poll, here’s another question for you.  How many of you that own an Xbox 360, also own or owned at one point the original Xbox?  According to Chris Satchell of Microsoft, he’s saying that so far, 10.4 million Xbox 360 units have been sold.  But, even more interesting is that he says over half of those have come from people that never owned the original Xbox. Are any of you Xbox 360 owners previous Playstation owners? Satchell says, “There’s lots of new people coming in, which kind of surprises you.  What we’re actually finding is that our customer set is broadening, which we think is important.”

If that’s true, and half of those 10.4 million units were sold to those who weren’t original Xbox users, that says something. Dead Takahashi of San Jose Mercury News interviewed Gates and asked how his plan for 360 was working. Gates says, “It’s working perfectly.  We wanted to be the guy with the small box that costs less.  We wanted to have the most games.  We wanted to play to our software strength, and tools and online.  We wanted to swap positions with Sony.  We wanted to not be a year late, not be a bix box, not be a more expensive box. How are we doing on that?”

Well, let’s see. They wanted to be the guy with the small box that costs less. Check. Most games? Well, considering the 360 has been out for over a year now, of course there are more games than those made specifically for Playstation 3. Are they playing to their software strength, tools, and online? Absolutely. Xbox Live has 5 million users and it’s growing! At CES, Gates and Robbie Bach announced the move of Xbox Live to Vista this year, and an IPTV service for US Xbox 360 owners.

In the same interview with Takahashi, Gates admits that Microsoft did fail in terms of lack of software, price, and size with the original Xbox. It was bigger, cost more, and when it came to software, the Playstation 2 blew it out of the water. When Gates says, “We want to swap positions with Sony” I think just maybe, they could be well on their way with that.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Games for Windows Marketplace will no longer have to drift through life alone. Microsoft announced this week that the Steam competitor will be absorbed by Xbox.com — a seemingly logical merger, given the site’s association with Xbox Live. The move comes in spite of an attempt on Microsoft’s part to completely revamp the service late last year. The Marketplace is set to move into its new digs on July 11th, so here’s hoping it takes advantage of its last few days of freedom in style — by sitting around in its underwear playing video games, naturally.

Games for Windows Marketplace, Xbox.com becoming one big, game-obsessed family originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 18:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Still not clear on what your gaming options will be like with Windows Phone Mango? Then Microsoft’s now got you covered with a fairly extensive overview of its new Games Hub, which has actually been tweaked a bit further from earlier previews it’s offered. One of the biggest changes is that the Hub now includes features previously relegated to the separate Xbox Live Extras app, including improved Xbox Live messaging, integrated achievements (complete with comparison views with your friends), and the ability to edit your Xbox Live profile — not to mention fully animated 3D avatars. The Hub also boasts a new Collection view that promises to let you more easily manage your installed Windows Phone games, and it’s literally been brightened up a bit across the board. Check out the gallery below for a closer look, and hit the source link for some more details.

Microsoft details the new Games Hub for Windows Phone Mango originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This must be the season of the hacking witch as we’ve now seen yet another company’s online security walls breached. Independent UK games developer Codemasters, responsible for titles like Dirt 3 and Overlord, has reported that its website was hacked on the third of June, exposing the names, addresses (both physical and email), birthdays, phone numbers, Xbox gamer tags, biographies, and passwords of its registered users. Payment information wasn’t compromised, but when you consider that almost everything else was, that feels like hollow consolation. For its part, Codemasters says it took the website offline as soon as the breach was detected and a subsequent investigation has revealed the number of affected users to be in the tens of thousands. Those who might have been affected directly are being emailed with penitent apologies, while the rest of us are being pointed to the company’s Facebook page while its web portal is kept offline.

Codemasters website hacked, ‘tens of thousands’ of personal accounts compromised originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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