News Byte
Lauren Goode in News on May 7 at 11:03 am PT
Microsoft will sell the Xbox 360 game and media console, with the Kinect sensor, for $99 as part of a two-year, $15 per month “Gold” contract. The news was first reported last week by The Verge. Interested takers, however, will have to live near one of the 21 Microsoft stores across the U.S. to opt in to the deal.
News Byte
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 2 at 10:43 am PT
The Verge is reporting that next week Microsoft is planning to sell subscriptions for the Xbox, similarly to how wireless carriers sell phones. Under the plan, the Xbox plus Kinect will cost $99 plus $15 a month for two years, including access to the Xbox Live Gold service and its streaming TV and music. Right now, the package appears to be cheaper than paying upfront for the console, though that doesn’t factor in any future price discounts for the aging hardware.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on April 27 at 9:48 am PT
For years, the game industry has worried about the shift toward social and mobile from more traditional platforms. But now there’s more than anecdotal evidence to cause concern.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 10 at 9:39 am PT
After a number of epic videogame launches prior to the holiday shopping season, publishers took a month off by not releasing any major titles during January.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 13 at 1:44 pm PT
Zynga is bucking market trends today and is trading higher despite a report that came out yesterday suggesting that December sales were extremely weak across the industry.
News Byte
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 3 at 8:27 am PT
Nintendo
released sales figures for 2011 today, reporting that its hot seller continued to be the Wii. The Wii sold 4.5 million units, and in close second was the new portable game unit, the Nintendo 3DS, which sold four million units. In last place was the older Nintendo DS family, which sold more than 3.4 million units. Hardware sales were fueled by Nintendo’s own first-party software titles, like Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii, which have all sold more than one million titles.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on December 23, 2011 at 12:57 pm PT
Sony’s upcoming handheld gaming device, the PlayStation Vita, was developed in part by one of the original creators of one of the most successful consumer electronics devices of all time.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on December 22, 2011 at 6:00 am PT
Nintendo is seeing some of its biggest consumer demand this year in the weeks leading up to the holiday, resulting in record sales of its Wii, the 3DS and games, too.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on December 8, 2011 at 1:06 am PT
OnLive, a Pandora-like service for videogames, has figured out a way to bring console-quality games to the iPad and Android tablets.
News Byte
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on December 6, 2011 at 5:08 pm PT
Microsoft’s major software update for the Xbox
continues to face delays. In a statement late this afternoon, Microsoft apologized and said that “within a few hours the first customers will begin to receive the update.” It’s unclear who will get the update because it is not based on geography. The new dashboard, which was supposed to launch this morning, will add both voice control and new content to the gaming console.
