Xbox

Report: Microsoft To Offer $99 Xbox & Kinect Bundle With 2-Year Subscription
A new report says Microsoft is preparing to launch a $99 Xbox console, equipped with a Kinect sensor, next week. To get your grubby hands on that sweet little piece, however, you'll have to sign a two-year contract for monthly subscription service. More »

Expert: Credit Card Data On Old Xbox Hard Drives Is Vulnerable (Updated)
If you've ever gotten rid of an old Xbox 360 hard drive, a determined hacker could find a way to extract your credit card information from the device. As part of a study meant to expose Microsoft's lax protection of consumer data, researchers bought a refurbished Xbox 360 and used hacking tools to plunder the device for info that identified the previous owner, as well as the owner's credit card details. They say old data isn't safe even if the hard drives have been formatted. More »

Comcast Thinks Data Caps Shouldn't Apply To Its Xbox Streaming Service
This week, Microsoft is adding new streaming video applications from HBO Go, Major League Baseball and Xfinity from Comcast. And while announcing that new streaming video service, Xfinity's overlord Comcast say the traffic from the streaming video service won't count against Comcast's 250GB monthly data cap. More »

Microsoft Says It's Taking Xbox Live Account-Hacking Problem Seriously
Reports — some of them from our readers — are circulating that thieves are hacking their way into Xbox Live accounts, perhaps in greater numbers than usual. While Microsoft says it has no evidence that there is an Xbox Live security breach, the Xbox Live general manager says support teams are working hard to retrieve swiped accounts and protect users from threats. More »

Report: Next Xbox Coming In 2013, Will Be 6 Times More Powerful Than 360
Microsoft is reportedly prepping its follow-up to the Xbox 360, with plans to start mass-producing the console's components by the end of the year and release it in October or November of 2013. More »

Avoid Browser Glitch That Causes Unintentional Xbox Live Purchases
If you like to look for free Xbox 360 game demos via Xbox.com on a browser, it's easy to make a mistake that causes you to accidentally buy the product rather than just test it out. More »

Microsoft Spreads The Holiday Spirit By Telling Me To Donate Extra Xbox At Their Expense
Timothy wasn't sure what to do when an extra Xbox360 landed on his doorstep, along with the one he had ordered for his girlfriend for Christmas. He figured Microsoft would recognize their mistake soon enough and send a packing slip for its return. But instead, he says he's amazed at their response. More »

Microsoft Makes Gamers Promise Never To Sue It After Xbox Update
It turns out that shiny new mandatory Xbox 360 update was something of a Trojan Horse that allows Microsoft to twist gamers' arms and make them agree never to sue the company. More »

Microsoft Apologizes To Those Mistakenly Banned From Xbox Live
A security snafu banned an unconfirmed number of users from Xbox Live. Now Microsoft has admitted to the mistake and issued an apology to those affected. The Xbox cops have revoked the ban and credited the innocent with three free month of Xbox Live and $20 worth of Microsoft Points. More »

Xbox TV Service To Launch By End Of Year
Microsoft has been plotting out its plan to imbue Xbox 360s with cable box-like TV powers for months, and is now gearing up to launch the live TV service, which it says will include "news, sports and your favorite channels" as well as on-demand video. More »

Man Dies From Pulmonary Embolism After Spending Hours Playing Xbox
If you've been sitting in the same position for hours at your computer, stand up now and stretch or do some jumping jacks: A 20-year-old man addicted to gaming has unfortunately been killed by that same dedication to Xbox, falling victim to a pulmonary embolism after sitting for hours playing online games. More »

Microsoft At E3: Bing, YouTube, More TV Streaming Coming To Xbox
Judging from the bulk of Microsoft's major announcements at its E3 press conference Monday, the company doesn't want Xbox 360 owners to turn off its machine when they want to watch TV rather than play games. A fall system update will deliver Bing-powered voice web search, a YouTube app and an unnamed TV-streaming service. More »

Xbox Gamer Allegedly Tricks SWAT Team Into Investigating Rival's Home
An online gaming disagreement turned into a nightmare for a gamer who refused to do the bidding of a person he spoke to over Xbox Live. The victim alleges a rival somehow discovered his name, address and phone number, then falsely reported a murder-suicide at his home, causing a SWAT team to descend on his home. More »

Microsoft Reaching Out To Xbox 360 Owners Whose Systems Won't Play Games
Responding to news that some Xbox 360s might not be able to play game discs, Microsoft's PR firm sent us a message to clarify the issue: More »

Report: Some Older Xbox 360s Might Not Read Upcoming Game Discs (Updated)
Update: Microsoft released this clarification through its PR firm: More »

Microsoft Makes It Easier For Military Members To Play Xbox Online
Until now, Microsoft made it difficult for those living on military bases to game online, refusing to accept Military State codes such as AE (Armed Forces Europe), AA (Armed Forces of the Americas) or AP (Armed Forces Pacific) as options for Xbox Live members to list their credit card billing addresses. More »

Clunky Version Of Hulu Plus Hits Xbox Today
Microsoft is releasing its long-in-the-making Hulu Plus app on the Xbox 360 today, providing a subscription video streaming alternative to Netflix. More »

Report: Xbox Will Add Hulu Plus Friday
Hulu Plus, which charges viewers $8 a month to watch an expanded library of shows while still making them suffer through commercials, is finally heading to the Xbox 360, according to a scan of the print edition of Official Xbox Magazine sent in to Joystiq. More »

Wave Hello To Netflix Control Via Xbox's Kinect
Back in November, when Microsoft released Kinect — its motion and voice sensing Xbox 360 add-on — it lacked compatibility with the Netflix streaming app. Now Microsoft has finally gotten around to (sort of) correcting that shortcoming, releasing a free downloadable update that lets Kinect owners to yell and wave at their videos to get them to pause, play and rewind. More »

Hackers Seize Control Of Xbox Cop's Site
Xbox Live rule enforcement comes with its risks. A Microsoft employee who serves as director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live suffered an apparent attack from hackers who seized his personal site and Xbox Live account. More »

Microsoft Investigates Indie Games Ratings Abuse
When most people think of downloadable Xbox 360 games, they think of Xbox Live Arcade, which boasts the work of major publishers. But there's also an indie games economy, in which "garage developers" compete with one another for attention and royalties. The indie games section doesn't get much play on the Xbox dashboard, and the odds appear further stacked against some indie games in light of charges that a group of online users manipulated the Xbox.com ratings system to elevate certain games while burying others. More »

Microsoft Fights Back Against Gamers Who Allegedly Stole Xbox Currency
After some gamers took advantage of an exploit that automatically produced codes for Microsoft Points — e-currency that's used on Xbox Live purchases — Microsoft invalidated the points and may punish those who took advantage. More »

How Game Consoles Suck Money Out Of Your Wallet
A video game console may seem like a reasonably inexpensive entertainment proposition at first glance, but it actually becomes a black hole of disposable income, gobbling up your funds to purchase accessories, memberships, extra controllers, downloadable content and games. More »

Teen Arrested For Sending Out School Threat Via Xbox Live
Authorities arrested a Maryland teenager who is charged with making threats of a mass shooting at a high school. He's accused of impersonating another student while sending a threatening message to more than 100 people via Xbox Live. More »

Mom Admits Autistic Son Cheated On Xbox Live, Meriting Label
After complaining to a Seattle news station that her autistic 11-year-old son was unfairly labeled a cheater by Xbox Live, the mother has admitted that her son solicited help in racking up his copious achievements, meaning Xbox Live was right to reset his Gamerscore and affix a "cheater" label to his account. More »

Xbox Live Assigns Scarlet 'Cheater' Label To Autistic Boy (Updated)
UPDATE: The boy's mother admitted that her son solicited help in racking up the achievements, meaning Xbox Live's labeling of the boy as a cheater was correct. The original post follows; More »

Xbox Live Dies Because I Used Prepaid Card While On Auto-Renewal Plan
Nathan tried to save some money on his Xbox Live subscription by buying a prepaid $50 card to avoid having to pay the recently increased annual fee of $60. While he did so, he failed to replace his expired credit card on file with a valid card. More »

Resetting My Xbox Live Password Was An Exercise In Futility
Reader P bought a new Xbox 360 after his old console descended to Red Ring of Death hell. Having forgotten his Xbox Live password, P endured the arduous process of attempting to recover the password through Microsoft. The way P describes it, doing so was as simple and user-friendly as spinal surgery. More »

Microsoft Tells Me I Qualified For Free Online Cash, Then Takes It Away
Scott tried to take advantage of an Xbox Live promotion that would net him 800 points ($10) of bonus money if he spent 2400 points ($30) in a set amount of time. He spent the required amount of money, then received a message from a Microsoft customer service rep that said he'd get the 800 points if he kept waiting. More »

Some Say Kinect Is Breaking Old Xboxes
Some Xbox 360 owners are complaining that the Kinect is driving their consoles into the grave, inflicting them with the Red Ring of Death. More »

My UPS Driver Feels My Xbox Red Ring Of Death Pain
Oscar says a UPS driver scrawled the pictured note with on the box containing his refurbished Xbox 360. As a middleman between irritated gamers and Microsoft's repair/refurbishing machine, the driver no doubt has much experience in swapping out dead consoles for refurbished units. And as the note reveals, he has his share of hands-on heartbreak with the notorious Red Ring of Death. More »

Motorola Tries To Stop Microsoft From Selling Xbox 360
At the request of Motorola, which claims Microsoft is violating its wireless technology patents, the United States International Trade Commission is conducting an investigation that Motorola hopes ends with Microsoft forbidden to import Xboxes. More »

How Sears Drove Me Away To GameStop To Get Kinect
Bryan wanted to get his hands on the Kinect motion-sensor controller for the Xbox 360, and ordered it on Sears.com, expecting it to come well before Christmas. That was a week ago, and Bryan has a Kinect now, but no thanks to Sears, on which he gave up due to broken promises and poor customer service. More »

Do Not Move Your Xbox While A Disc Is In The Drive
B learned the hard way that Xbox 360s like to eat games when you flip the machine from vertical to horizontal orientation while playing. He sought out the publisher for a replacement and has been stuck without the game for several weeks while the company spins its wheels. Note: the disc pictured is not B's. More »

Xbox Modding Case Dismissed
Federal prosecutors dropped their case against a California man accused of modding Xboxes to to play pirated and unlicensed games. The reasons the lawyers gave were "fairness and justice," which was a way of saying they screwed up the case. More »

Xbox Rewards Program Offers Online Currency For Online Activity
Whenever a monolithic company concocts a rewards program, the inclination is to view it with a skeptical eye, as a Trojan Horse that will surely lead to exploitation. But at first glance, it's tough to find fault with Microsoft's seemingly benevolent Xbox Live Rewards program. More »

Some Xbox Downloads Don't Play Nice With Discs
Some downloadable Xbox 360 games from Microsoft's Games on Demand service aren't compatible online with disc-based copies, greatly reducing the value of the downloads. More »

Microsoft Lost My Xbox, Won't Help Me Get It Back
When N's Halo 3 Xbox 360 gave up the ghost, he sent it in for repair, but apparently Covenant forces have intervened because now the console is lost and not even the eagle-eyed scouts at Microsoft have been able to track it down. N has been hounding Microsoft since early October but he's no closer to bringing his Xbox back from the void. More »

Kid Gets Kinect-Clocked In The Face
There's a reason why the instructions on the Xbox Kinect, which allows you to play video games by sensing your gestures, tell you to clear the playing area and make sure you have plenty of elbow room, especially when you are playing with two people. The reason is this video. More »

Xbox Live Marketplace Card Already Used, Even Though It Was Opened Only Moments Ago
Tyler says that on four different occasions now, the Xbox Live points and subscription cards he's bought have been invalid when he redeems them. He had a friend at Gamestop help him out with the invalid subscription card, but he's stuck with useless paper when it comes to the points cards. More »

Xbox Assumes Women Contacting Them Must Be Doing It For Their "Sons"
When a woman emailed Xbox support about downgrading her Xbox LIVE Gold account to Silver, they sent her back a form letter that assumed she was contacting them on behalf of her son, even though she doesn't have a son and never made mention of one at all. Hey Microsoft! Ever hear of GIRL GAMERS? More »