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January 2007 - Posts

THE MICROSOFT XBOX LIVE ARCADE TRIVIA SWEEPSTAKESOFFICIAL RULES1.     ELIGIBILITY: Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and District of Columbia 18 years of age or older at the time of entry.  Employees of Microsoft Corporation Read More
Are you sad that there's no XBLA title today?  Don't be!In addition to the arcade announcements we made yesterday, we are having a sweepstakes focused around Live Arcade!  We’ll run the contest starting today (it is Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday, Read More
There's been a lot of talk about the upcoming game, Crackdown.  The product team put together a video of a few of their favorite achievements from the game.   I posted it up on MSN Soapbox (and on YouTube and Google Video) for Read More
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I popped into Wolf's office to ask him a Windows Vista question, and he wasn't in his office.  Something on his desk caught my eye (highlighted in yellow). Yes, it appears that someone is going to take the trip that few come back from.  Several Read More
So, upgrade to Vista today? Excellent! We've got some new casual games just for you: the first four of our "Games Enhanced for Windows Vista" titles are finished and available for download from MSN Games. For those who crave a little textual adventure, Read More
Even though Vista is stealing the retail spotlight today, don't forget that the party-friendly, fun-for-everyone Fuzion Frenzy 2 is available starting today.  Fuzion Frenzy is from Hudson Software, and has an estimated retail price of $49.95 (US).  Read More
We just released information about the next round of games coming to Xbox Live Arcade.  Beginning in February, we're going to see ten new titles.  From the media alert: Starting with the first release in February, 10 highly anticipated titles Read More
Starting with the first release in February, 10 highly anticipated titles will begin making their way to Xbox Live Arcade. Read More
Woohoo!  For our friends outside the US, we've launched new localized versions of GamesforWindows.com!  Visitors from Australia/New Zealand, Canada (English and French),  France, Germany, and the UK now get their very own smartly decoated Read More
It's here.  In just a few hours, Windows Vista will be available.  My favorite launch activity will be watching Bill Gates on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, airing live in a couple of hours.  For those interested, there is a blog Read More
Casey Hudon, Project Director on BioWare's "Mass Effect," kicks off a new blog featuring the work going into the game that will be one of the biggest hits in 2007.  Kicking off the series, Hudson discusses the team’s current activities in Read More
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So we're only a few days away from the big Windows Vista launch, and of course the Casual Games side of things has been busier than a veteran sniper on a map full of n00bs.  Gotta make sure everything on MSN Games has been tested, Read More
We just learned a few things about the upcoming release of Forza 2.  Che posts more information on the Forza Motorsport community site.  Here are a few details from a media alert sent this morning: First off, it has been confirmed Read More
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It has been confirmed that “Forza Motorsport 2” will be available at North American retailers in May 2007. Also, the track list for “Forza Motorsport 2” is now available on Forzamotorsport.net. Read More
It has come to our attention that there is some confusion surrounding entry into the Halo 3 beta via Crackdown.  We'd like to take this opportunity to clarify. The initial shipment of Crackdown at retail will include access to the Halo 3 beta.  Read More
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If you haven't had the opportunity to download any of the new TV and movie content available on Xbox Live Marketplace, now is a great time to give it a try!  Skyland from Nicktoons is now available to download on Xbox Live Marketplace.  Read More
Yesterday, I got to attend the NY Games for Windows (G4W) showcase in NYC with John P. As usual, it was held in a place where you wonder if someone's playing a practical joke by getting you lost but once you step off the dodgy, "express" freight elevator, Read More
Much like John, I have the photos from the San Francisco event on our Flickr pages. Thanks to everyone who attended, with a shoutout to Chad, Eric, and Charles!  I want to also thank our G4W MVPs (Tom from the Gamercast Network Video Game Show, Read More
This was recorded a week ago in Las Vegas at the Paris breakfast buffet.Remember that these podcasts are available via the RSS feed, or the iTunes feed as well. MP3 File:  7.9 MB, 23 minutes Events, events, events!  I tried to cut down the Read More
Just finished up for the day, and I wanted to get a few photos loaded.  We had a great time checking out the lineup for Games for Windows coming soon for Windows Vista.  As usual, I posted a bunch of photos on Flickr.  Looking forward Read More
This morning, we're kicking off an event in New York and San Francisco, giving the press and community an indepth look at some upcoming games, in anticipation of next week's launch of Windows Vista.  Peter Moore just sent an open letter Read More
An open letter from Peter Moore to the Press, welcoming gamers to Windows Vista Read More
The official community site for Crackdown, CrackdownOnCrime.com, has news about the date for the upcoming demo.  Read More
  Cindy joins us from MSN Games, the group that brings casual games to the world.  As she points out in her first post, we want to make sure we have good representation for some of the cool games we're creating, no matter what the platform.  Read More
My keenly honed ninja senses tell me that something’s missing from this site: casual gaming!  I doubt this is a dastardly plan by the hardcore gamers around here, although I’ll probably accuse them anyway, just for fun.  ^_~  But Xbox LIVE Read More
A new site just went live for a future release of a new Train Simulator, from the studio that created Flight Sim X.  Great news for train enthusiasts! From www.microsoft.com/games/trainsimulator: Following the successful release of Microsoft Read More
We just sent a media alert to announce that Crackdown has gone gold. From developer Realtime Worlds and the mind of acclaimed creator Dave Jones, Crackdown is set to retail throughout North America on Feb. 20. Crackdown hits store shelves Read More
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Gears of War has gone triple platinum, reaching the 3 million-units-sold milestone in just 10 weeks on store shelves, ending 2006 as the top-selling game among all platforms during the month of December. Plus, the recently released multiplayer maps, Read More
Top-selling game of December sees more than 750,000 downloads of its exciting new multiplayer maps. Read More
Pacific City notes a dramatic increase in crime as the city’s gangs prepare for the ultimate “Crackdown,” exploding onto store shelves and Xbox Live on Feb. 20. Read More
Three new packages of Lumines Live! content will be available for download on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 beginning Wednesday, Jan. 24 Read More
Next Tuesday, January 23, 11am-6pm, we're doing an event for Games for Windows in New York City and San Francisco.  Tony and Chris will be in San Francisco, and Sara and I will be in NYC.  We have a few passes available for bloggers, podcasters, Read More
The Fable team is hard at work on Fable 2.  Every month, Sam from Lionhead Studios sends around an update on their work.  They just released this month's post, including some very early screenshots from the Fable 2 engine.  Check it out! Read More
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This morning, EA announced that they're working on a new Xbox Live Arcade game, being developed by Bizarre Creations (the team who made PGR3 and Geometry Wars).  The new game, called Boom Boom Rocket, should be released sometime this Spring.  Read More
Original Rhythm Music Arcade Game Developed by Bizarre Creations Read More
In case you had missed it, French automotive manufacturer Peugeot is running a car design contest.  One lucky winner gets their car design built into a full-scale concept to be shown at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, and have their design also appear Read More
This week's game release is "Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank" from PopCap Games. Read More
While we were at the Lost Planet Launch, we took some time to record a segment with Nelson from PlanetXbox360.  Nelson adds it to this week's PlanetXbox360 Podcast.  Listen in at about 30 minutes for our take on Xbox 360 rumors, working for Read More
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I just got off the plane, and before jumping in my car to head home, I wanted to post the photos I took last night.  Check out our Flickr account for more. We had a great time hanging out with Nelson from PlanetXbox360, Brian and the guys from Capcom, Read More
The results are in!  Customers have cast their votes and Xbox 360 was the best-selling next-generation console of the 2006 holiday season in the United States, outselling the PlayStation 3 and Wii combined in December and outselling all next-generation Read More
Consumers have cast their votes and Xbox 360 was the best-selling next-generation console of the 2006 holiday season in the United States, outselling the PlayStation 3 and Wii Read More
Wow, Major Nelson has been busy!  Check out these videos from Xbox.com's CES site.  And there are more on the way! Read More
We're packing things up tonight, and heading to San Francisco for Thursday night's Lost Planet: Extreme Condition launch event.  I hear registration has closed, but if you're going to be there, let us know.  Tony, Chris, and I will all Read More
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Microsoft was awarded the Emmy for “Pioneering Work in Near and Real-Time Fully Programmable Shading Via Modern Graphics Processors” for its DirectX technology Read More
DirectX won an Emmy for Pioneering Work in Near and Real-Time Fully Programmable Shading Via Modern Graphics Processors.  Microsoft Windows also won for Streaming Media Architectures and Components.  Congrats to both teams!  Microsoft Read More
The show continued strong on Tuesday.  Here's more in our ongoing "photo essay."  John Rodman and Heidi Rademacher demo games to the crowd on the show floor. More from the show floor (including Three Doors Down playing) The Windows Vista Read More
With all the news that has surfaced recently, details of yesterdays Gears of War update may have escaped your view. I am admittedly excited about reduction of the 'nade tagging proximity, and even more so about the microphone issues being addressed.  Read More
Earlier this week we announced that two new “Gears of War” maps – Raven Down and Old Bones Read More
We are back from our holiday break!  This is our 3rd episode of our lunchtime podcast.  These are available via the RSS feed, or the iTunes feed as well. MP3 File: 10.2 MB, 30 minutes We hope to get these to you weekly.  This episode Read More
Scholastic News Online Kids Press Corps reporter, 12 year old Aaron Broder, is here covering CES.  He got an interview with Peter Moore earlier today.  His first article, called Digital Future, posted on Wednesday. Read More
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Minneapolis quintet chosen as January’s Xbox Live Artist of the Month. Read More
We wanted to give a head's up that the multi-player leaderboards, and player's bankroll data will be refreshed tomorrow (Wednesday the 10th) in order to level the competitive playing field.  Single player leaderboards, and bankroll data will not Read More
Here are a few more photos from last night and this morning.  Lots more on our Flickr account.  Bloggers and Podcasters hang out at the Community Room The Microsoft Booth Major doing a video with the IPTV guys From last night's keynote Read More
The classic retro coin-op from Namco Bandai Games, “Ms. Pac-Man,” will be available for download on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 beginning Wednesday, Jan. 10, at 9 a.m. GMT (1 a.m. PST). Read More
Yesterday, Joystiq, Kotaku, Engadget, and Gizmodo, and our friend Scoble, got to have lunch with Bill Gates.  Read their writeups on their blogs. Joystiq: Our lunchtime chat with Bill Gates at CES Kotaku: The Bill Gates Interview Wrap-Up Engadget: Read More
Peter Moore just sent an email to members of the industry and press, and I wanted to share a few of the highlights (you can read the whole thing here).  In little over a year on the market we sold over 10.4 million Xbox 360 consoles in more than Read More
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Peter Moore’s email highlighting Connected Entertainment for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. Read More
That was the final score of the Seattle Seahawk and Dallas Cowboys NFC Wildcard Playoff game that was played on Saturday night.  The Seahawks (my local Seattle team) won the game due to a last minute bobbled Gramatica field goal attempt.  Not Read More
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New downloadable content for the Xbox 360 exclusive “Gears of War", is on the way. Sponsored by the Discovery Channel and available for free via Xbox Live Marketplace, the new content will be available for download beginning on Wednesday, Jan. 10. Read More
New downloadable content for the Xbox 360 exclusive “Gears of War" is on the way. Read More
This morning, we're issuing news about Games for Windows, and what we'll be showing here at CES.  Check out the press release: Windows Vista Ushers in New Era of Gameplay. CES attendees will get hands-on with 15 of the hottest Games for Windows Read More
Microsoft unveils powerful Games for Windows lineup and more at CES 2007. Read More
Bill Gates just took the stage, and we just issued a few press releases with some news: Microsoft Unveils Wave of New Products and Services at CES Gates and Bach announced several new products and services that include new Windows Vista-inspired PCs, Read More
Lionsgate announced as latest partner to bring high-definition movies to Xbox 360. Read More
New solution combines next-generation TV and gaming into unique entertainment platform for service providers. Read More
Bill Gates and Robbie Bach hit play on new releases from Windows Vista, Xbox 360, Microsoft TV and more. Read More
Tony, Chris, and I are hanging out with Cesar (from ZuneInsider), checking things out before the big keynote tonight.  We'll be meeting up with some of the community folks tonight to watch the speech.  I took some photos of the show floor, Read More
The Xbox and Games for Windows team has a lot going on at this year's CES.  Bill Gates takes the stage tonight at 6:30 PM (PST), and Robbie Bach will join him to make some announcements and show a few demos.  You can watch the keynote live, Read More
There is lots of debate going on online, on the merits (or harm) of updating the Xbox 360 hardware in the future.  To be very clear, we haven’t announced anything, and our official position is to reiterate our standard policy of not commenting Read More
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2006 was an amazing year for Xbox 360. Many initiatives were unveiled just as many more were gaining momentum. We had our fans and we had those who questioned what was to come. I've put together some of the things that "wowed" me during this past year. Read More
Ya, I know most of you don't get your Xbox news from Hollywood Reporter, but this little story hit the wires today, and I thought I'd pass it along.  In today's online issue, they post an article called “Microsoft Has Gamers Playing for Read More
Now that we're back at work, we're catching our breath long enough to gear up for CES next week.  We've got a few things planned to help out those of you who will be there, so let us know if you're going to be there too.  We're setting up Read More
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There are two new ways for gamers to receive an invitation to participate in the Halo 3 multiplayer beta program coming this spring: Qualifying over Xbox Live and then being one of the first 13,333 “Halo 2” gamers to register for the “Rule of Three” Read More
Gamers are invited to join the fight when the beta goes live this spring with Xbox Live and “Crackdown” providing the final two paths. Read More