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Microsoft nixes HD DVD drive for Xbox 360

Microsoft will end production of the external HD DVD drive for its Xbox 360 video game console, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The company said it would, however, continue to offer warranty support for the peripheral.

"HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own," Blair Westlake, a corporate vice president of Microsoft'… Read more

Where we let the chatroom pick the show name, and this was the best they did

EPISODE 40

The three guys today talk about Street Fighter being the best game ever...We wax reminiscent over old video games. Plus, Stanford drops tuition, XNA gets more open, Gears of War 2, and three actors replace Heath Ledger.

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Which XNA game do you want for Zune?

Microsoft's announcement at today's Game Developer's Conference made some waves in the gaming community, but for the growing faction of Zuneowners, it felt like an exciting glimpse into the product's future.

While Microsoft hasn't made any formal announcements regarding games coming to the Zune, they dropped a big hint today when they demonstrated a game developed using XNA Studio running on a Zune 80. Its a move that makes plenty of sense, considering that Apple has been slowly and steadily releasing games for the Zune's competitor, the iPod. Gaming on the Zune also capitalizes on a theme Microsoft already has some credibility with, by way of XBox 360.

We might not know when Microsoft will start releasing games for the Zune, or how much they will cost, but we have some idea of what types of games will be released. The following list of XNA games and descriptions is quoted from Microsoft's XBox 360 site (videos via YouTube):… Read more

Follow-up with Microsoft's Chris Satchell on Xbox Live Creators Club

SAN FRANCISCO--After Wednesday morning's Microsoft keynote address at the Game Developers Conference here, I was struck by how the only really significant news from the talk was about the company's new Creators Club initiative, which will allow almost anyone to create Xbox, Windows, or games and have them distributed on Xbox Live.

So it was a good thing that I had an appointment shortly afterwards with Chris Satchell, the head of Microsoft's game development studio.

Primarily, I just wanted to get some follow-up details on the initiative, details that Satchell didn't share during the keynote address. … Read more

Microsoft to distribute community-created games on Xbox Live

SAN FRANCISCO--In a frenetic keynote address at the Game Developers Conference here, Microsoft showed off the next phase of a strategy it claims will "democratize" game development and distribution.

For several years, Microsoft has been working on its XNA Studio, a platform that allows anyone to create games for the Xbox and for Windows.

But now, the company is expanding the XNA offering to allow the best community-created games to be uploaded to and distributed from Xbox Live.

Microsoft is calling the new offering its "Creators Club," and the idea is to present the Xbox Live … Read more

Why Microsoft will announce an Xbox Blu-ray player soon

Now that Engadget is reporting Toshiba will wave the white flag tomorrow and finally put an end to the high-def format war once and for all, there are a whole new set of questions that must be answered.

Will Toshiba move to Blu-ray? What will the company do with the technology? Will it sell the HD DVD name to the Blu-ray folks?

But perhaps most importantly, what will Microsoft do? The company has been a staunch supported of HD DVD since the beginning and it currently offers an HD DVD add-on for its Xbox 360 console. But now that the format is dead and the rightful winner is ready to be crowned, will Microsoft ignore the format war and go about its business or try to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon?

Trust me -- within a month, the company will announce a Blu-ray add-on for the Xbox 360.… Read more

Future of video game industry taking shape at GDC

If ever there was a time for a famous futurist to be giving a keynote address at the Game Developers Conference, this is it.

When Ray Kurzweil, the author of The Singularity is Near and one of the most noted futurists around, takes the stage at GDC 2008 in San Francisco on Thursday to talk about "the next 20 years of gaming," he'll be weighing in at a moment in the industry's existence when the lines between games and Hollywood and advertising are blurring, when the term "gamer" encompasses 75-year-old grandmothers and when the … Read more

Where Jeff isn't man enough to be in our presence after his Valentine's shenanigans

EPISODE 37

With Jeff Bakalar on Valentine's Day workout recovery, Dan Frommer of Silicon Alley Insider fame joins us in studio to talk about Microsoft's after school special program to stop kids from pirating, the Xbox 360's high failure rate, plus Indiana Jones 4's trailer hits the Interwebs, and please...oh please for the love of God...do not see Jumper.

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Report: PlayStation 3 could be top-selling next-gen console by 2011

For more than a year, the whole world has seen Sony's PlayStation 3 get its rear handed to it by Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

But if a three-year forecast from market research firm iSuppli is to be believed, the PS3 could out pace both the Wii and the Xbox by 2011.

Since its release in November 2006, the Wii has been the most successful of the next-gen consoles, far eclipsing Microsoft's Xbox 360 and leaving the PS3 in the dust.

But because the Xbox had a full year's head start on both the … Read more