Category: XBOX

Microsoft Crowns The Ultimate Gamer of India, Gives Away 24 K Gold Plated Xbox 360 Console As Prize

Amitesh Deshpande receiving the grand prize from Mr Mor, Business Group Lead – Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd

Five Champions from across India. Five action packed games. Eight hours of continuous gaming. The atmosphere electric, the brawls rough. And finally, one prevailed to be crowned the king of Xfriends- The Ultimate Gaming Challenge.

After months of relentless gaming across seven separate blockbuster titles on Xbox Live such as FIFA 13, Resident Evil 6, Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and more, five national champions emerged. Yesterday, these champions took on each other in rounds of brutal battles to find the best amongst them. Xbox lovers and gamers across India took part in the Ultimate Xfriends gaming championship- the ultimate gaming competition on Xbox LIVE that pits gamers against each other. ‘Ultimate Xfriends’ , launched in September 2012- sought the best gamers across Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and India – the guys who’ll do whatever it takes to win. And they did do whatever it takes.

The grand prize, a 24 K Gold plated Xbox 360 console

At the thrilling grand finale of Xfriends, held at the FoG (Federation of Gamers) lounge in Delhi, the search for India’s best gamer finally ended. Amitesh Deshpande –who went head to head with five other really tough national competitors – took home a mega prize of an exclusive 24 K gold plated Xbox 360 console and the title of Ultimate Gaming Champion in India.

[quote]Battle weary but ecstatic about his win, Amitesh Deshpande said, “It’s awesome to be a winner and that too for a competition like this which got me playing against India’s best gamers on Xbox Live. It has been a tough fight, which made it all the more exciting to win against such good competitors. As Xbox Live lets me take my Xbox 360 online anytime, it’s the place for players (like me) to hang out and hone our/their gaming skills. I really hope Microsoft and Xbox bring us these events regularly. ”[/quote]

Anshu Mor, Business Group Lead – Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. said, ” These are some of the most exciting gamers one can find anywhere in Asia, in fact across the world. The level of competition seen here today is very, very impressive; the place is absolutely buzzing with their energy. To see them compete so fiercely, all for the love of gaming on Xbox, is very thrilling, exciting and inspiring for us. Moreover, the competitors have come from cities as far away as Trivandrum, Chhattisgarh, Raipur, etc. making it all the more special for us.”

We managed to talk to Mr. Mor about Microsofts plans ahead, stay tuned to know more!

February 9, 2013
Microsoft Q2 2013 Earnings Indicate $21.56b Revenue, $6.38b Profit

Microsoft says its fourth-quarter earnings slipped 4 percent, despite a lift from its latest version of Windows.

The Redmond, Washington-based software giant posted revenue of $21.46 billion and net income of $6.38 billion, with earnings per share of 77 cents. That’s largely in line with what Wall Street had been expecting, though a bit lower on the revenue side and higher on the earnings side — ahead of today’s financial report, the analyst consensus was that Microsoft would post earnings of 75 cents a share on $21.53 billion in revenue.

The results announced Thursday are the first to include Windows 8. The program is a dramatic overhaul of the Microsoft Corp operating system that powers most PCs. Windows 8 came out 26 October with slightly more than two months left in Microsoft’s fiscal second quarter.

When Windows 8 finally hit the market, Microsoft also unveiled its own tablet computer, Surface, as a showcase for the operating system. Microsoft didn’t disclose Thursday how many Surface devices were sold in the October-December period.

Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices division, which is responsible for the Xbox and Surface, saw an 11% decline from last year, with only $3.77 billion of revenue. This comes after Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 was the top-selling gaming console for two years straight. It looks like holiday sales weren’t as great as the company expected.

Microsoft’s Online Services division saw more growth, however, with $869 million in revenue, which is an 11% increase year-over-year. Thanks to the upcoming Office 365 suite and SkyDrive, Microsoft’s online services don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, especially with the deal that Microsoft made with the city of Chicago to bring Office 365 services to city employees.

January 25, 2013
Atari Celebrates The 40th Anniversary of Pong, Releases Custom Pong 40th Birthday Xbox 360 Screen Console

To celebrate the 40th birthday of Pong, one of the earliest arcade video games ever created. Atari has created a modded Xbox 360 which is equipped with a LCD screen and been custom styled to look like the original Atari 2600 games console.

The original Atari 2600 game console was released back in October 1977 by Atari and used microprocessor-based hardware and ROM cartridges containing the games code, rather than using non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with games code built in.

The company has also launched a new Pong game for iOS which is now available to download for free from the Apple iTunes App Store. “Pong World introduces a new generation to the classic game of PONG with a dazzling unique twist and colorful new look,”

To enter into the draw for the custom Pong Xbox 360 console, jump over to the Atari Facebook page to signup. Competition only open for residents of the U.S.

November 30, 2012
Xbox World To Unveil Info On The Next Xbox In Its Second Last Issue

UK gaming magazine Xbox World may be shutting down soon (alongside Nintendo Power, PlayStation: The Official Magazine, and PSM3), but with news like this, it seems they’re making sure they go out with a bang.Their second to last issue will reportedly unveil tons of information on Microsoft’s highly anticipated follow-up to the Xbox 360.

For starters, it will be known officially as simply “Xbox,” and will introduce Kinect 2.0 to the world, which will be capable of tracking as many as four players at once, with enough detail for all of their fingers to be tracked too.

Blu Ray discs will be used for games, as a stop gap for full digital download releases, as well as directional audio for a more 3D sound. There will also be a TV input along with the usual outputs, which could potentially mean video editing on the platform. It will also mean that you’ll be able to record live TV on your Xbox. Also the inclusion of Augmented Reality is mentioned.

In terms of internal hardware, the CPU apparently features four hardware cores, with four logical cores in each of those. Memory wise, you’re looking at 8GB, which is a massive increase over the current Xbox 360’s 512mb. It’s also thought that Microsoft will be introducing a new “innovative controller,” as part of the release, which would suggest something other than Nintendo’s Gamepad, since Smartglass will cater to touch screen controller schemes.

With Microsoft’s next Xbox console expected to release towards the end of 2013, are you now starting to get excited that these are indeed the main features of the next-gen console? It’s the second time we’ve heard about the possibility of augmented reality and glasses on the next Xbox, so would you support Microsoft’s decision to go down this route?

November 18, 2012
HALO 4 comes to the Gaming world with a Bang

Microsofts biggest game series ever HALO will get its newest edition the HALO 4 to the world today. Microsoft hopes the return of the laconic green-armored super-soldier protagonist of Halo, which has generated $3 billion of revenue since its 2001. The Game launched in 40 countries starting midnight tuesday. The Halo series, made by Microsoft Game Studios, spearheaded the company’s foray into gaming that began with the 2001 launch of the first Xbox. It has sold more than 46 million copies to date and helped the console lead the market ahead of Sony’s

The Game will be launched and will compete alongside Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty Enterprise.

[quote] “Because there hasn’t been a game to star “Master Chief” for five years, there’s a bit of a pent-up demand,” said Ryan McCaffrey, Xbox Executive editor at videogame website IGN.com. “Call of Duty has taken over as the most popular game on the Xbox, so I think it will be very close,” [/quote]

HALO 4 is expected to haul a large gaming re-ignition with Microsoft, and is being pegged at the biggest thing to have happened to Gaming since the original HALO. Microsoft also held a massive launch event last week in the small country of Liechtenstein in Europe. Some historic landmarks and the countryside of the 62-square mile nation was transformed into a futuristic Halo-like universe and reporters were allowed to test the game.

November 6, 2012
Microsoft Launches Kinect For Windows In India At Rs 19,990

Kinect for Windows sensor, which aims to harness Microsoft’s Natural User Interface in a bid to ‘revolutionise’ computing, is now available in India along with the Software Development Kit (SDK). The Kinect for Windows sensor is available at Rs 19,990 while the SDK is available for free download at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/.

The Xbox 360’s Kinect accessory has been quite a hit among casual gamers. Its list of accomplishments doesn’t end there though, as developers and scientists have modded it to carry out some complex tasks.

Microsoft is hoping that developers and businesses will take advantage of the cutting-edge features of this motion sensing technology like improved skeletal tracking, , enhanced speech, seated mode tracking to create innovative applications.

Kinect for Windows will include Studio – a tool which allows developers to record and play back Kinect data; Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) to guide developers on best practices for the creation of Natural User Interfaces and the Face Tracking SDK, which provides a real-time 3D mesh of facial features tracking the head position, location of eyebrows and the shape of the mouth.

August 7, 2012