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290°

Has Microsoft finally turned a corner?

Which? Convo writes: It’s all too easy to slag off Microsoft, especially if you’re running Windows Vista. But have things changed recently? Windows Phone 7, Internet Explorer 9, Xbox Kinect… Microsoft looks like it might be on a roll.

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8-bit5384d ago

Turned a corner right into a wall.. Kinect's future is up in the air and no one really knows what will happen.

techie5384d ago

Well, it looks like it'll sell well. Whether it's any good is another matter

sinclaircrown5384d ago

Sony and MS are both trying to capture the casual market from Nintendo.

They'll both have a tough time, but right now Move is looking like it will get the casuals and the core.

I hope Kinect can be used in some way for core games down the line. I'm hoping for a more of a controller/motion working together.

We'll see. Fanboys on both sides will trash either product and yell "EPIC FAIL" every chance they get. But if the casual market can get enjoyment out of the products, then its a success for both companies.

Keith Olbermann5384d ago (Edited 5384d ago )

I know no casual player excited for Kinect and those that are think its a stand alone device. "What, I have to buy an entire xbox to play Kinectamals?" That will be the casuals thinking.There are few excited for the Move as well but I bank on Sony selling more of that than Kinect.

Sarcasm5384d ago

Honestly, Windows 7 is one of MS's good products. I've been using it on all my computers at home and so far it works pretty good. Though the occasional incompatibility issue arises here and there, it's nothing worth noting.

rockleex5384d ago

And then slowly die off.

All the while PS Move will steadily gain momentum.

How do I know all this? Kevin Butler told me when he "Moved" from the future to our present time. ^_^

ProjectVulcan5384d ago

Kinect if it fails wouldnt be a deadly financial disaster in the short term, but it could affect the Xbox brand in the long term, certainly. Confidence is key in the game industry.

The other thing that Microsoft will desperately want to work is Phone 7 without a doubt. That market is cutthroat right now, and if 7 sinks then it will hurt microsoft A LOT in the mobile sector.

Organization XII5384d ago

It will fail, just like the original box... who wants to play with a virtual kitty..damn

darthv725383d ago

maybe the same bunch that liked playing with virtual dogs...?

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 5383d ago
Letros5384d ago

Xbox 360 is a minor aspect of the company, $18 B in 2010 recorded profits, they will probably just shrug off Kinect if it fails.

techie5384d ago

True, which means the other mentioned products in the article are just as important.

Hank Hill5384d ago Show
Adrela5384d ago

@Hank Hill;
They've never raised the price of LIVE before that when they could of. LIVE takes a lot of money to run and you just can't rely on profits from other products to keep it running. This is a rough time. :/

Organization XII5384d ago

well live is just a communist ploy by MS, man who pays for online gaming, 360 fanboys wake the F%^& UP...

Adrela5383d ago

@organization;
That's a cute way to put Microsofts way of getting a profit..."Communist plot"
Now, tell me, what would you call Sonys PSN Plus? I'm curious.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 5383d ago
N4GAddict5384d ago

Kinect will do well I think.

plb5384d ago

Or it could the way of the Sega CD.

drewboy7045384d ago

I like the old school reference but Sega didn't completely fail

darthv725383d ago

i think you mean 32x because the sega cd succeeded more than it failed.

Rrobba5384d ago

This exactly, I think it will either be a huge success or a complete failure...only time will tell though.

Omega45384d ago

Kinect will do well, if you are one of the many people who have played it you would also know it works.

If MS can achieve their 3ml goal for Kinect thats

$150 x 3ml = $450,000,000

Im sure MS will be quite happy with that in just 2 months.

Fishy Fingers5384d ago (Edited 5384d ago )

They dont make anything close to the full RRP from a product, plus they probably have a huge R&D bill to cover.

I'm pretty sure it will be successful, but your math there is rather naive.

truehunter5384d ago

Fishy Fingers is correct, Retailing, ads, coverage, Distribution, manufacture is gonna cost. Think about it. When PS3 didnt make any income for that department they where losing money. By the account i think Kinect cost less then 70$ to make.

drewboy7045384d ago

Most likely that will break them even and after the first 4-5 months they'll start making money from hardware. Software will probably be key to tell if its doing well. For example so many wiis were sold but most people don't play with it any more and after the initial wave of games like wii fit and wii play the software sales have been poor. Sure some games have there moments and keep selling but with two times as many Ps3's sold the wii should have a lot more titles selling better. Also many good wii games never become popular because nintendo didn't market them and they weren't first party. Take Okami for the wii as an example.

dangert125384d ago

of coures they have

Xbox one Microsoft arguable the best console services etc and even though it had a much small libary they were on the up studio's like bungie rare etc

xbox 360 hardrive ??? nah you have to pay extra for that so what if the memory card with gave you had less memory then the original xbox were make progress...i mean profit loads 2
i could go on microsoft dont care they'll be gone after next gen

niceguywii605384d ago (Edited 5384d ago )

Says you. I feel sort of sorry for you guys. The only control you have is agreeing with trolls almost thinking the amount of agrees gives ridiculous desperate and silly comments validity.

"Kinect's future is up in the air"

On N4G and other pro Sony sites it is where reality on these sites differs from actual reality. Take a break you've been trolling non stop since you made that account a month ago.

8thnightvolley5384d ago

MS are not the company of before i believe and they are beginning to deliver quality stuff so i hope they improve and get better coz the old crappy stuff is old and ppl knw what is good and what is not.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 5383d ago
Carlos_Irwin_Estevez5384d ago

1.Kinect not working right
2.Losing bungie as a developer
3.Getting into bed with kotick
4.Live price Increase
5.Exclusive games looking and playing old and dated
6.Only new excluisves being kinect only party games
7.Rare making crap
8.kin
9. Valve telling MS to stick it
10.GFWL being a total failure

more like fell off a cliff, than turned a corner.

dizzleK5384d ago

Yet they're still beating Sony. How do you like them apples?

8-bit5384d ago

beating?

2011 exclusives

1. killzone 3
2.motorstorm apocalypse
3. LBP2
4.socom 4
5. sorcery
6. journey
7. heroes on the move
8. final fantasy vs 13 (likely 2012 release and multiplat)
9. infamous 2
11. twisted metak ps3
12. resistance 3
13. ratchet and clank 4 one
14. the last guardian
15. yakuza 4
16. agent (likely 2012 too)

VS

1. gears of war 3
2. forza with kinect
3. star wars kinect
4. codename kingdoms
5. Haunt
6. Project Draco
7. codename D
8. Steel Battalion
9. Nightmares

360 has Gears and a bunch of Kinect titles. How do you like them apples?

sinclaircrown5384d ago

"Yet they're still beating Sony."

At what?

mac_sparrow5384d ago

I quite like them apples, bit Granny Smith like. Now if only someone here could provide me with some sour grapes then I could whip up an overly tart crumble.

ArtsyGamer5384d ago

The 360's exclusive lineup for next year looks pretty bad right now.

Stealth20k5384d ago (Edited 5384d ago )

Your also missing the trinity zoll,another world, disgaea 4, ar tonelico III, atelier totori, media visions ps3 project, kojima ps3 exclusive,PoP collection,Splinter cell coollection, mortal kombat collection

incoming ps3 exclusives

plb5384d ago (Edited 5384d ago )

sales != quality. Wii beats both but most Wii games are not my type of games. Plus how many of those 360 are from repurchases? Most people I know who have been with 360 since the beginning have gone through about 3 or more systems because of RROD.

Active Reload5384d ago

You know, it would be nice if you placed your PS3 list in, I don't know, maybe a PS3 article. I think you'd look less like a desperate troll.

Imperator5384d ago

@8 bit

The only thing is that those 360 games you mentioned are not 360 exclusives, they're Kinect exclusive. If you're not buying Kinect then all you got is Gears 3.

N4PS3Fanboys5384d ago

@plb

You're right, Sales =/= Quality, Sales = Success. That's why Microsoft is beating Sony right now. And I don't know about the Wii... Just look at last week's worldwide hardware sales from VGChartz:

360: 278,639
PS3: 142,771
Wii: 134,706

The Wii is getting beaten by even the PS3! The PS3! These are some dark days indeed for the Wii.

drewboy7045384d ago (Edited 5384d ago )

@8-bit beating means sales and while you use all 2011 exclusives you can take out every game on that list other than the top 3 and add Reach and sales will equal the first 7 games at least. Before you bother commenting I want you to know i am aware that Reach sold better then any game in the top 7 in its first week alone so you don't need to break out the stats or PS2 references. Also Mass effect 3 has a chance of coming late 2011, PGR5 will most likely come next year. If your gonna add some games for the PS3 that may not crack a million you could bother adding all the big 360 exclusives.

Also in a different argument notice he said still beating as in present time as in he doesn't care about 2011,2012 or 2050!

+ Show (8) more repliesLast reply 5384d ago
omi25p5384d ago

so by you saying an unreleased product thats shown a few glitches recently means it wont work at all then i guess all the tiny niggles in the gran turismo videos have put you off it completely,
(not saying its a bad game because it obviously isnt but because of a few glitches before launch you cant exactly moan)

bungie has left but the leads have started 343 studios so they have the brains behind bungie

id like you to have a look at gears of war 3 before you say xbox games look old and by old gameplay do you mean like god of war 3 which is just a graphical update from god of war 2
(not saying god of war 3 is a bad game because it isnt)

valve have said lots of stupid things in the past and often contradict them self so them saying screw u to ms will more than likely change.

techie5384d ago

IE9 sounds good. Surprised that its last that amount of the browser market share. I use Chrome...don't think I'll be looking back.

tacosRcool5384d ago

Chrome has too many compatibility issues with websites so i reverted back to Firefox. IE9 might be worth using

DeathMetal5384d ago (Edited 5384d ago )

and it rocks,way faster than firefox and has a 64 bit version, also has hardware acceleration, uses more than one core unlike FF and has exclsuive features that integrate with win 7, website junplists, tear a tab into half page. Try it

drewboy7045384d ago

It looks good and i'll say I'm a chrome user because IE8 seems slow. Also I'm glad to see someone talking about the none gaming part of the article and possibly a more important part

2cents5384d ago

Fairly good read till "Rather than merely taking the route headed up by Nintendo’s Wii, and now lamely followed by Sony’s PlayStation Move"

He reduced the quality of the whole article by adding a personal fanboy statement.
shame

techie5384d ago

Yes, but when you click on the link on 'PlayStation Move' you get this: http://conversation.which.c... A positive PS Move article. Diff people on same site have diff opinions I guess.

tacosRcool5384d ago

Will all the time and money invested in Kinect and IE0, why doesn't MS spend some more money on the Zune? Where's the new models and how bout some more games? No wonder why Apple is the second largest company now in terms of capital...

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360°

Microsoft planning “major” Xbox layoffs next week

The cuts are expected to be announced next week.

Microsoft is also planning thousands of job cuts that will impact other parts of it businesses

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Obscure_Observer1h ago

MFs has been beating their chests over great quarterly results and big profits to shareholders while firing people by the thousands just like Sony.

I wonder if at the top of those rumored layoffs they´ll also cancel upcoming or unannounced games while shutting down more studios as well.

1h ago
pwnmaster30001h ago

Always got to throw shade at Sony smh.
Yes we get it,
MS good Sony bad
MS bad Sony is also bad lmao

1h ago
Obscure_Observer1h ago

F* them both!

Just for the record, I don´t care about your victim complex crap either. Find someone else who cares.

blacktiger21m ago

He was talking about both. Why you getting offended when he's using both names

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Tacoboto1h ago

"just like Sony"

Gosh you're insufferable, not everything needs to be both-sides'd. Sony's had layoffs, but nothing like what Microsoft has been doing and is continuing to do.

CrimsonWing691h ago(Edited 1h ago)

I mean, no offense, but this is why you’re not some corporate business person running a major corporation. Big profits don’t mean jobs are safe. Do you understand why things like this happen:

Cutting jobs to maintain or increase profitability, especially in underperforming divisions like parts of Xbox like other gaming divisions.

Corporate restructuring and relocating resources for strategic stability in ever changing markets and consumer behaviors.

Investor expectations and optimizing operations to maintain investor confidence. Whatever boosts stock prices and improves future margins.

And there’s many other factors at play. It’s never as simple as business doing well, everyone’s safe. That’s just you not understanding at all how corporations work and have been working since the beginning. This isn’t something that’s specific to Xbox, you can bet your ass Sony and Nintendo do this and if it’s not clear by now, game development is not a stable job nor has it ever been for many. A lot of developers are contractors and guess what happens when a project is done?

-Foxtrot33m ago

It's like banging your head off a wall, he just can't help himself.

Microsoft can do no wrong, Sony sucks at everything and Nintendo is bigged up because it's less hassle than trying to defend Microsoft all the time

What's going to happen when Microsoft finally turn completely third party, then what?

anast19m ago

I enjoy Obscure. Obscure does good work.

crazyCoconuts11m ago

Did you know that the first n4g was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program.

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260°

AMD CEO Shares Vision Behind Xbox Partnership and Next-Gen Chip Roadmap

AMD CEO Lisa Su talks about the Xbox AMD partnership, next-gen Ryzen + Radeon chips, and AI rendering tech coming to all Xbox devices.

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Obscure_Observer4d ago

AMD is really building hype around their unique partnership with Microsoft to help and build an advanced and seamless Xbox ecosystem across all Xbox consoles and devices.

I wonder what she meant by "full roadmap of gaming optimized chips" though? Seems ambitious.

Next year´s Xbox Showcase already looks promising and exciting. Here´s hoping they deliver.

InUrFoxHole4d ago

They had best show 3yrs in a row. Heading for another

VenomUK4d ago

Obscure_Observer said “I wonder what she meant by "full roadmap of gaming optimised chips" though? Seems ambitious.” To me, I interpret this to mean rather than having a couple of X/S products for launch and a handheld there is a longer term plan to release new products with higher specs at timed intervals. I’m speculating of course, but this could mean a spec bump every year or two, so that even if the PS6 or Steam Deck Home is released a year after ‘Xbox’ Microsoft can release an updated model that has a higher spec.

Agent753d ago

But Microsoft forgot the games.

KwietStorm_BLM4d ago

It's X3D chips for console. Everyone knows this. And it's been rumored in the PS6 forever.

Ganif4d ago

Correct.

"Sony's PlayStation 6 reportedly will feature an AMD semi-custom APU with a Zen 5 CPU and UDNA GPU, capable of 4K 120FPS and 8K 60FPS gaming. The console will include X3D cache and advanced AI upscaling technology."

https://www.tweaktown.com/n...

Obscure_Observer3d ago

"It's X3D chips for console. Everyone knows this. And it's been rumored in the PS6 forever."

I doubt that AMD´s CEO would waste her time making this huge and important partnership announcement over a tech that will be 7 years old by the those next gen consoles will be released.

Notellin3d ago

You should have just lead this comment with the fact that you have zero understanding of technology in the consoles and instead have a Toms Hardware online forum level of education.

Obscure_Observer1d 1h ago

"It's X3D chips for console. Everyone knows this. And it's been rumored in the PS6 forever"

I´d told you were on some bs

https://www.pcgamesn.com/wp...

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Agent753d ago

But Microsoft forgot the games

Obscure_Observer3d ago

@VenomUK

"I’m speculating of course, but this could mean a spec bump every year or two, so that even if the PS6 or Steam Deck Home is released a year after ‘Xbox’ Microsoft can release an updated model that has a higher spec."

Very interesting theory. Still not sure how MS would actually make it work.

KwietStorm_BLM3d ago

"I doubt that AMD´s CEO would waste her time making this huge and important partnership announcement over a tech that will be 7 years old by the those next gen consoles will be released."

How old is the tech in consoles? It's not a huge announcement. It's marketing and you know it is.

Obscure_Observer2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

"How old is the tech in consoles? It's not a huge announcement. It's marketing and you know it is."

Dude, what I know for certain is that a tech as old as X3D chips which is actually *older* than both PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, is hardly the reason behind this new partnership between AMD and MS to build new *custom silicon* for next generation of consoles.

And yes it´s a huge announcement since AMD is working closely with MS to co-develop custom SoC which will allow backwards compatibility across all MS´s next gen devices allowing seamless integration between devices and full backwards compatibility across all generations of Xbox consoles.

I also know is that this announcement don´t have anything to do with Playstation and their strategy with AMD for the PS6, so stop comparing the two pretending that you know what´s going on, because you clearly don´t.

If Sony is working on something remotely similar, that´s remain to be seen.

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Fishy Fingers4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Some odd, deliberate wording, no branding, not 'Xbox consoles, Xbox handhelds' specifically, feels and sounds like they're building towards hardware that anyone can be used or licensed to/by themselves and other manufacturers.

Multiplatform software and hardware 'Xbox/AMD APU'.

Obscure_Observer4d ago

I guess you missed Sarah Bond´s next generation Xbox announcement this week, were she clearly states:

"I´m thrilled to share that we´ve established a strategic multi-year partnership with AMD to co-engineer silicon across a portfolio of devices, including, *our* next generation *Xbox consoles*."

But hey, I don´t think you´re entirely wrong, maybe MS will build their own Xbox consoles while licencing other manufactures to build and sell their own Xbox branded consoles. Who knows

BeHunted4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

I think you watched the wrong video. It's below the description, or you can watch it directly on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/kprpRvsOua...

HyperMoused4d ago

Shares vision....we provide chips for money, this deal will sell many chips, we will make lots of money...good vision

Christopher4d ago

The marketing behind this is so heavy that I worry about the actual outcome. Why are they just not showing us the product, why all this talking in market speak?

Lightning774d ago

Probably because the next xbox isn't ready to release yet?

The marketing and rumors seem to be heavy out of no where. The rumor was a 27 release but it maybe it could be 26 new console launch instead.

Who knows.

Eonjay4d ago

There PR is alrways super heavy handed. No one is acutally buying an Xbox as is.
Also it is very early to be talking so much about a next gen console.

Obscure_Observer3d ago

There´s a lot of people interested on Xbox Next and its ability to run games from major stores like Steam.

We know that the PS6 is just around the corner as well, but so far, no news on what it might improve over the PS5 or PS5 Pro.

However, Sony already made public that their priority and actual focus is the PS6. So its not "very early" to talk about next gen when the very console manufactures are talking about it.

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210°

Activision Forces Adverts into Call of Duty Black Ops 6 and Warzone Loadouts

With the launch of Call of Duty Season 4, Activision quietly put adverts inside loadouts for Black Ops 6 and Warzone, sparking a backlash in the process.

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lukasmain23d ago

Putting Ads in a pay-to-play Premium title? Well done Microsoft. Well done /s This is really scummy.

jjb198123d ago

This game will never change because these sweatlords love buying up all the skins and bundles that become obsolete the following year. They're the ones perpetuating Activision's greed.

VenomUK22d ago

If Microsoft introduces adverts into its other games I hope it can do them without disrupting the immersion of the game world. So for example in the new Fable game it would look out of place if there was a billboard advertising Cadillacs.

A far better way to do it would be to have a wizard conjure a 'dream cloud' in front of your character and then in the cloud you can see the Cadillac car and see the text with price and availability and hear a booming sales voice promoting the car. That would work so well as it wouldn't be a billboard and completely, 100%, fit in with your character's adventuring in Albion. Doesn't that sound so much better?!

crazyCoconuts22d ago

@venom, or how about our of 100 farts in Albion, 1 of them has a Cadillac pop out

VenomUK22d ago

@crazyCoconuts That’s undeniably off-beat - but it could really work!

23d ago
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