Xbox

In case you missed it, Microsoft unveiled a new game console the other day, the Xbox One. We now know a lot about it, but as with most game console launches, we were left with a few unanswered questions that my colleague Dan Ackerman summed up nicely in his "Unanswered questions about the Xbox One" piece.

It's the last one that seems to be generating the most controversy: "Will used games work on the Xbox One?"

Simple question, complicated answer You'd think the answer would be a simple yes or no, but alas, it'… Read more

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday said it won't review a final ruling that found Microsoft to be in the clear of infringing on patents held by Motorola Mobility, which Google acquired last year.

The ruling (PDF) follows an initial determination in favor of Microsoft on March 22 of this year, as well as a final initial determination from last month from an ITC administrative law judge.

At stake were potential future sales of the console in the U.S., which could have been halted if Motorola had won.

"This is a win for Xbox customers … Read more

For years we've heard about the ever-widening appeal of video games and game-playing devices. Women gamers, senior gamers, casual gamers, and even the kind of social/mobile gamers who would never refer to themselves with the dreaded G word.

But, when it was time to reveal its first major gaming hardware of the post-iPhone era (the first-gen iPhone was released in 2007, the Xbox 360 in 2005), what did Microsoft do? It narrowcast the launch presentation of the Xbox One to a very targeted demographic group. And no, it wasn't the cliched teenage or twentysomething twitch gamer, it … Read more

Microsoft will finally deliver a Kinect sensor for Windows sometime next year.

The company announced Thursday that the Kinect for Windows sensor will use the same set of technologies key to the new Kinect sensor for the Xbox One, both of which will allow people to issue commands using voice and gestures.

The sensor will include a high-definition color camera and a noise-isolating multi-microphone array. Also part of the system will be a technology called Time-of-Flight, which measures how long it takes for photons to bounce off a person or object. Combined, these features promise greater accuracy and precision in … Read more

In all the talk about Microsoft's makeover into a devices and services company, one service many forget the company has in its back pocket is Bing.

Bing is evolving into more than "just" a Web search engine for Microsoft. It's also gives the company a way to harness and make use of data using Microsoft's myriad machine learning and computation capabilities. And though it may be hard to see through all the "Scroggled" fog, Bing may be more important as a service than a "mere" search engine to Microsoft going … Read more

Microsoft's Xbox One is out of the bag, and the next-gen console war's in full swing. So what happens next? Truthfully, the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U are still big boxes of mystery -- even though one's already been out in stores for months.

So, how will this new gaming landscape shake out? Sony and Nintendo, the also-rans to the current success story of Microsoft and the Xbox 360, will have options. But they're not always pretty.

Differentiate or die Under the hood, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are more similar than … Read more

Xbox 360 owners who have a Live Gold membership will be able to use it on the Xbox One as well.

Phil Harrison, a corporate vice president with Microsoft, confirmed to video-game blog Polygon that the same Gold membership will apply to both systems. Xbox Live Gold subscribers who buy an Xbox One won't have to ante up for another subscription.

Plus, that same single membership can be shared by multiple people, according to Ben Kilgore, a corporate vice president for Microsoft's Xbox Program Management. Each user will still have access to their own settings and customizations.… Read more

Gamers desperate to splash out on Microsoft's blocky new Xbox One console needn't wait until Christmas, as U.K. retailers have already started taking preorders for the upcoming gaming gadget.

Green-hued tech retailer Zavvi is asking for a whopping 400 pounds ($608) for the Xbox One, which was revealed Tuesday at a bespoke Microsoft shindig.

That's a very high price, even for a new console, though Zavvi's 'price promise' policy should mean that if the price comes down before the console goes on sale, you'll only end up paying the final price.

Zavvi's also … Read more

REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft's got a new Xbox on the way, and according to the company, it's the foundation for the next 10 to 20 years of home gaming and entertainment.

The console, which has not yet been given a price, release date, or live game demos was shown off here on Tuesday and left just about as many questions as it did answers about where Microsoft is taking one of its most popular products.

CNET sat down with Jeff Henshaw, the group program manager for Xbox Incubation, to try to get some of those answers. That includes … Read more