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Xbox and developer The Coalition said Monday they will “unlock” the first four games in the Gears of War franchise for those who buy the $39.99 Gears of War:Ultimate Edition game or the related Gears of War: Ultimate Edition bundle for the Xbox One. All users will have to do to receive the games—the original Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3 and Gears of War: Judgment—will be to play the Ultimate Edition on Xbox Live sometime between Aug. 25 and Dec. 31, 2015, on Xbox Live. In addition, Microsoft said the four original Gears games...

[VIDEO AT THE LINK Provided below] What do you do when your child comes home with bad grades? Do you cuddle him (or her)? Or do you get angry and tell them they should do better? Or do you go further than that? Do you punish him by, say, not giving him pocket money or by grounding him for a few days? One father decided to take it a bit further than that. When his son told him he failed his class, he gave his son a sledgehammer, threw his most prized possession (Xbox) in the garden and forced him...

The long reigning king of the desktop OS is in trouble. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, is rapidly steering the company into the back office and service spaces, while their nascent mobile and desktop platforms are crumbling around them. Microsoft is putting on a brave face continuing to heavily advertise the 2-in-1 Surface debacle, but Nadella is only buying time, as he must surely know that Apple and Google is the two-headed beast that Microsoft can not stop. In less than a decade, Microsoft will be associated with IBM or Oracle, not Apple or Google. Apple’s iOS is poised for...

Hackers don't take a holiday, it seems. Hours after Microsoft’s Xbox Live went down Wednesday, Sony’s PlayStation Network went down, too. These are two giant networks that console gamers access to play their games online. It's especially bad timing since a lot of people are probably getting new PlayStations and Xboxes for Christmas.

Millions of children and adults who received the latest video games were prevented from playing them on Chirstmas thanks to a DOS attack on Xbox and PlayStation networks. USA Today: Online game networks Xbox Live and PlayStation Network were knocked offline much of Christmas Day in an apparent DDos (distributed denial of service) attack. Taking credit for the takedown: a group called Lizard Squad, which previously claimed credit for August attacks on the PlayStation Network and online games World of Warcraft and League of Legends. Both networks were still having problems Friday morning. The network status Web page for...

Microsoft Corp. reported revenue and earnings for its fiscal second quarter that topped Wall Street expectations, as the company sold 3.9 million Xbox One consoles to retailers and doubled revenue from its line of Surface tablets from a quarter earlier. Net income in the quarter through December climbed to $6.56 billion US, or 78 cents per share, from $6.38 billion, or 76 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 14 per cent to $24.52 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 68 cents per share on revenue of $23.67 billion. Departing CEO Steve Ballmer, who announced he’d step...

Man suffers smoke inhalation trying to get Xbox out of burning home • Fire possibly started in electrical junction box OLATHE, Kan. —A man suffered minor smoke inhalation early Friday morning when he ran back into his burning home to retrieve an Xbox, according to Olathe firefighters. Fire crews were called to the home in the 800 block of Loula Street about 3:30 a.m. Two men lived in the home. They were awakened by smoke alarms sounding. Authorities said both men got out, but one man went back into the home to get the video game system and was overcome...

Microsoft is pulling the plug on MSN TV, a service formerly known as WebTV, as Apple ramps up its set-top box efforts. The pioneering service, one of the first to offer Internet access via television sets, will shut down September 30, Microsoft revealed in an e-mail to subscribers and an FAQ posted to its Web site. WebTV, which was founded by Web entrepreneur Steve Perlman in 1996, was acquired by Microsoft for $425 million in 1997. …

Microsoft responds to global outcry and removes daily online requirements and restrictions to pre-owned sales. Xbox president, Don Mattrick, thanks gamers for 'candid feedback' Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of Xbox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console. In a statement released on the Xbox website on Wednesday, Don Mattrick, the president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, wrote that the company had listened to "candid feedback" from gamers. Before listing the changes, his explanation reads, "You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today...

...Arguing the value of a system versus its cost is old hat in the video game industry. It's the go-to tool for any console manufacturer facing criticism about pricing decisions, but given Microsoft's other recent PR stumbles specifically, confusion about its policy on used games (which is still persistent, despite the company putting out a clear statement on the matter right before E3) and its required internet connection -- Mattrick's argument is falling flat. "Isn't this pretty much what Sony was saying last gen about their outlandish pricing?," noted one forum user on GameSpot. "The sign of a wise man...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA Step-by-step how to lend games to your friends. http://www.playstation.com/ps4

•Application submitted to the US Patent and Trademark office shows Microsoft's plans for tracking viewing habits of Xbox owners.• The company plans to reward viewers who watch adverts or shows with credits and achievements.• The new Kinect sensor can follow eye movements, track your reaction to shows using heart-rate monitors and see you in the dark. Microsoft has submitted a patent that could see the company track every TV show and advert watched via its Xbox One console and other devices. The application called 'Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem' was submitted to the US Patent and Trademark office earlier...

An Oviedo, Florida family was woken up by police with guns surrounding their house in the middle of the night. This terrifying and potentially scarring event is brought to you by Microsoft Xbox.WFTV reports that the cops and family were the victims of a hacker hoax conducted on an Xbox at another house in town. How does that work? Hackers busted into a teenager's Xbox demanding information about a video game, and when he wouldn't help them, the internet criminals used his account to file a false report about a murder and hostage situation. The cops traced the account to...

One of Microsoft’s latest patent applications is a humdinger. It proposes to turn the Kinect camera into a snitch for movie studios, reporting back just how many friends you’ve got in your living room and what they’re watching. Think that sounds alarmist? Here’s what it actually says: “The users consuming the content on a display device are monitored so that if the number of user-views licensed is exceeded, remedial action may be taken.” It’s that blatant – a system to spy on private viewing habits. If put into practice, Microsoft’s plan could mean that the film you’re watching suddenly stops...

CLick here to view the video Xbox Live gamers paused from their usual Wednesday night online multiplayer battles against interstellar invaders and zombies to weigh in on the first presidential debate. Xbox users, jacked in through their Internet-connected consoles, are in a better position than most people to answer a quick poll, and Microsoft, which delivers gaming and other entertainment via the Internet through its Xbox Live service, took advantage of its captive audience to conduct some political research. Microsoft acknowledges the limited scope of the poll, says it is still analyzing the data, and hasn't widely publicized the survey...

Ohio teen collapses from dehydration after playing Modern Warfare 3 on Xbox for 4 daysBy Associated Press, Published: August 8 COLUMBUS, Ohio — A four-day Xbox gaming marathon apparently was too much for one 15-year-old Ohio boy. WCMH-TV reports that the Columbus teen collapsed and was hospitalized Tuesday after becoming severely dehydrated. His mother says he emerged from his bedroom during the four days only to pick up snacks or take a quick shower.

It looks like Microsoft are about to launch their own Tablet device, probably running a version of Windows 8 (and yes, I’m assuming Taniyama-Shimura once more). I’m fully expecting a lot of commentators to talk about how inexperienced the Redmond based company is at making hardware. So let me point out two counter-examples before the big event for your consideration. I’ll start with the Xbox 360. It’s had a pretty rough ride in terms of hardware with the Red Ring of Death and numerous issues early in the life cycle of the platform, but as Microsoft have understood the issues,...

Looks like there’s no such thing as a Second Amendment in the world of virtual goods. A new policy taking effect Jan. 1 will remove “gun-like” items from Microsoft’s Xbox Live Avatar Marketplace, the online store where gamers can buy items to dress up and accessorize their avatars, according to a forum post by a community manager for Epic Games, the company behind the blockbuster Gears of War franchise for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console. Virtual weapons affected by the new policy include the Gears of War Lancer, the combination chainsaw/assault rifle being brandished by my Xbox Live avatar in the...

Skype, the IP telephony company founded and part-owned by Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström, has been bought bought by US software giant Microsoft, the firms confirmed on Tuesday afternoon. The statement confirmed speculation over the deal to buy the firm, whose product allows users to conduct video and telephone calls over the internet. Microsoft confirmed that the deal is worth some $8.5 billion, dwarfing the $6 billion the US firm paid for online advertising firm aQuantive in 2007 and its largest acquisition since its founding in 1975. The news of the pending deal has shocked analysts who consider the price to...

There's a bit of a she-said, they-said situation going on near Seattle, with the mom of an 11-year-old boy saying Microsoft reset his gamerscore unfairly and the company saying it was done because he was cheating. Regardless of the truth, the boy has been branded a cheater on Xbox Live and has to earn whatever achievements he had before all over again. Jennifer Zdenek told Q13 FOX News that her son Julius Jackson went online recently only to discover that his gamerscore had been reset and his account branded as belonging to a cheater.