For months, Microsoft has been airing ads with people hollering “Xbox On” and “Xbox Do This Thing That Doesn’t Really Work The Way You Show It In The Ad” but those ads were somehow not triggering users’ Xbox Ones to respond. That is until the new ads featuring Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul started running. [More]
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Microsoft Also Ditching Mandatory Kinect Purchase For Xbox One
By 5.13.14
The Xbox-related news is pouring out today. First came the report that Xbox Live members may no longer need to upgrade to Gold subscriptions just to watch streaming videos. Now comes the announcement that the motion and voice-sensing Kinect is not so vital to the Xbox One as Microsoft had originally envisioned. [More]
Microsoft Thanks 5-Year-Old Who Found A Hole In Xbox’s Password Security System
By 4.4.14
Because nothing in life is perfect (besides the cool blue gaze of the divine Aaron Rodgers, natch), when there’s a security problem with a technological product, companies are usually pretty grateful to have it brought to their attention before too much damage can be done. Which is why Microsoft is currently offering a hearty “thanks!” to a five-year-old boy. [More]
Obnoxious Xbox One Users To Start Being Warned About Being Doofuses
By 3.26.14
While there are millions of video game players who are perfectly nice people, there are enough jerks out there to give the gaming community a bad name, so much so that some folks refuse to play multiplayer games just to avoid dealing with the schoolyard bullying that can sometimes come over the Internet. Last year, Microsoft promised that its new Xbox One console would have a way to minimize jerks’ access to online gaming, and the company says it is now ready to start issuing warnings to users who behave badly. [More]
Microsoft Wants To Run More Political Campaign Ads On Xbox
By 3.10.14
You know those ads that you ignore on your Xbox dashboard? President Obama used them as part of his re-election campaign in 2012, and with midterm elections on the horizon, Microsoft is doing its best to try to convince more politicians that these spots are ideal places to run targeted campaign and other political ads. [More]
The Defective Xbox, The Defective Kmart, And The Defective Exchange Process
By 2.7.14
Evan had a problem. Well, first, he had an Xbox One, which was a pretty great thing. He had picked it up at a Kmart in a different city while visiting friends, because they had it in stock. When it began to make can opener noises a few weeks later, it would have been simplest to exchange it for a new Xbox at Kmart. Naturally, that was impossible. [More]
Microsoft Offers $100 Credit For People Who Trade In PS3 For Xbox One
By 1.30.14
Want an Xbox One but you’re put off by the $499 sticker price? If you’re willing to part with your PS3 or certain newer models of the Xbox 360, and you live near a Microsoft store, there’s a deal you might be interested in. [More]
Robber Calls Ahead So Gamestop Workers Can Set Aside The Xbox One He’d Like To Steal
By 1.22.14
Let’s get this straight: In no way is robbing a store ever something we would praise. But it does take a certain amount of chutzpah to actually call the location you’re intending to rob and ask employees to set aside the items you’d like to steal later. So in the box labeled “critical thinking skills,” one bad consumer in Nashville would at least get a check mark for thinking something like this might work. Because it did. [More]
Microsoft Pays YouTube Users A Pittance To Promote Xbox One & Not Say Anything Bad About It
By 1.21.14
Dear Microsoft: If you’re going to ask YouTube video bloggers to sell out and shill for your Xbox One console, at least open up your wallet and spend some real money. Is all the negative publicity — and potential regulatory hassle — that’s destined to come of it worth a mere $3,750? [More]
Xbox One Dropping Your Online Games? You Might Be Able To Blame Comcast For That.
By 12.31.13
Does the shiny new Xbox One that Santa left under the tree work when you turn it on, but not actually do the whole online gaming thing so well? If you’re also a Comcast customer, you could be encountering a big bug. [More]
Man Says He Was Tricked Into Paying $750 For Photo Of Xbox One On eBay
By 12.6.13
It’s a truism as old as time: Wherever there are people willing to pay a ton of money for a new video game console, there will be scammers willing to take that money and leave them empty-handed. Well, not technically empty-handed in this case, as the customer did get a photo of an Xbox One for his $750. [More]
Some Xbox One Owners Complain Of Monstrous Disc Noise
By 11.22.13
You just spent $500 (plus tax and shipping, if applicable) to get the brand new Xbox One gaming console on the day it launches. You unbox it, plug it all in, turn it on, put in a disc and WHAT THE $&##^%@ IS THAT SOUND? [More]
Microsoft Promotes Xbox Game With Footage From PlayStation
By 11.7.13
With Microsoft and Sony both releasing next-gen gaming consoles in the coming weeks, the push is on for each company to convince consumers that its console is the bee’s knees and thus worth plunking down several hundred dollars to purchase. What better way to sell the public on the awesomeness of your product than by accidentally uploading footage from your competitor’s console? [More]
Microsoft Promises That New Kinect Is Not (Always) A Crazy Spying Machine
By 11.1.13
With the new Xbox One console only weeks away from launch, Microsoft is doing its best to quell concerns that the new Kinect motion and voice sensor will be spying on users and storing important, sensitive information. [More]
Will The Xbox One Live Up To Its “No Jerks” Promise?
By 10.3.13
For the last few months, Microsoft has been saying that the new reputation system being used with the upcoming Xbox One console will cut down on the number of crap-talking tools that have historically kept some gamers away from taking advantage of online multiplayer games. Now the company is explicitly marketing the Xbox One as a “No Jerks” experience. [More]
Dear Microsoft: Buying Xbone.com Won’t Stop The Mean Kids From Making Fun Of You
By 9.13.13
In The Dark Times Of 7th Grade That Should Mostly Remain Un-Referred To, I thought that if I made fun of myself, the Mean 8th Grade Boys Who Resented Spelling Bee Successes* wouldn’t have any power over me anymore. But just like I was probably (read: definitely) wrong, it’s highly likely that people will still call the Xbox One the Xbone, even now that Microsoft has purchased the Xbone.com domain. [More]
Xbox One Could Use Cloud To Let You Play All Those Xbox 360 Games You Paid For
By 9.5.13
When designing the upcoming Xbox One gaming console, Microsoft made the conscious decision to not make the device backwards-compatible, meaning that all the Xbox 360 games consumers have spent billions of dollars to acquire over the last eight years can not be used on the Xbox One. Realizing that this might miff some gamers, a Microsoft exec now says the idea of backwards compatibility hasn’t been completely ruled out. [More]
You Have Until 2016 Before Microsoft Stops Pretending To Care About Your Xbox 360
By 9.4.13
Now that we all know that the Xbox One will hit stores on Nov. 22, the big question is how quickly the many millions of Xbox 360 consoles will become obsolete, especially when you consider that the new console will not play the games that Xbox users have spent the last eight years purchasing. [More]
