Hasta La Gadget!

GameStop has been dropping hints about its digital download plans for a little while now, but it looks to have done its most extensive and official talking about the matter yet at the recent BMO Capital Management Digital Entertainment conference, where it confirmed that it will start testing the program “early next year” with kiosks in an unspecified number of stores. That program will apparently work in conjunction with services “such as Microsoft Corp’s Xbox Live and Sony Corp’s PlayStation Network,” and will focus primarily on add-on content rather than full game downloads. Why’s that, you ask? Well it seems that GameStop thinks “a large market for full game downloads is not imminent, (but) the add-on downloadable market will grow” — a view that some would obviously beg to differ with.

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming

GameStop to start testing game downloads early next year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xbox 360’s resident spokesman Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb wants you to know that the Xbox Live update preview program is now officially a go, with the first wave of registered participants getting automatically prompted to update upon sign-in (you should also receive an email, but apparently they’re behind on the notifications). More people are said to be getting the update “in the coming days,” so don’t lose hope yet — not that waiting for Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm integration, and 1080p instant-on streaming should cause ultimate despair, but we digress. The only thing you don’t get is the Halo Waypoint preview, which doesn’t join the preview fun until next week.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Filed under: Gaming

Xbox Live update preview program now rolling out originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft VP Shane Kim has been anything but a stranger to these pages over the years: we first had a sit-down with the man way back in the halcyon days of early 2006, and as recently as this summer he was discussing the probable-possibility of Xbox games making their way onto mobile devices. Now, after nineteen years with the company and a career spanning the original Xbox through the present day (and Project Natal), our man has officially announced his retirement at the end of the year. Apparently his duties will be split between Dennis Durkin, who’s been named chief operating officer of the company’s video game unit, and Phil Spencer, who will oversee Microsoft Game Studios. Kim has yet to proclaim any post-Microsoft plans, saying he intends to relax and spend time with friends and family. Now that that’s out of the way, Microsoft, when can we expect to see Live Anywhere up and running?

Filed under: Gaming

Microsoft Xbox head honcho Shane Kim retires, declines to offer us a piece of cake originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are you a currently unemployed Software Engineer? If so, here’s a recession antidote of an altogether different stripe: Microsoft is taking applications for a LIVE Community Director, whose job it will be to manage “LIVE community strategy and execution across a range of properties, from Xbox LIVE to Windows Mobile.” The posting then goes on to discuss how the team will be tasked with constructing a next gen, LIVE-enabled platform across the web, the console, mobile and more… which, you know, sounds a little bit like the Live Anywhere concept. Either way, it sounds like the company might be doing a little more than merely contemplating its mobile strategy, Shane Kim’s recent interview notwithstanding. What are you waiting for? Dust off that resume and hit the read link.

[Via Ars Technica, thanks Adrian]

Filed under: Gaming

Is Microsoft gearing up for Xbox Live on mobile? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We actually had to brush the fog off of our spectacles to ensure that hazy conditions weren’t clouding our comprehension abilities, but sure enough, that Netflix streaming that Xbox LIVE members have grown to love won’t ever land on Sony’s PlayStation 3 nor on Nintendo’s Wii (PlayOn notwithstanding). At the very bottom of Microsoft’s long list of details surrounding today’s Xbox LIVE update, we’re clearly told that the Netflix Watch Instantly integration is now an “exclusive partnership,” with Microsoft going so far as to say that the “Xbox 360 will be the only game console to offer this movie-watching experience, available to Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix unlimited plan subscribers.” Of course, we’d heard rumors over the years that Netflix could sashay over to other consoles in due time, but it looks like the suits in Redmond had the foresight to lock things down while they still had a chance. So, are you reconsidering that Xbox 360 purchase, or just looking that much more intently in Roku‘s direction? Full blurb is after the break.

[Thanks, David]

Continue reading Xbox 360 officially the only console to stream Netflix — sorry, PS3 and Wii

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

Xbox 360 officially the only console to stream Netflix — sorry, PS3 and Wii originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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