Microsoft Corp. is giving consumers more gigabytes for their buck. The company today announced an Xbox 360 console with triple the storage space of the original console, but for the same price of $349 (U.S.) estimated retail price (ERP).
Available in retail stores in the U.S. and Canada starting in early August, the upgraded Xbox 360 will include a 60GB hard drive for storing the growing wealth of digital entertainment available for the console, including music, movies, television shows and game content.
In addition, Microsoft today dropped the price of its 20GB Xbox 360 console in the U.S. and Canada to just $299 (U.S.) (ERP) while supplies last, a savings of $50.
"We know consumers need more and more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers, and we're giving it to them at no extra charge," said Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management at Microsoft. "No one device offers the depth and breadth of entertainment ... More »
During a nearly one-year period, Frank Buchanan allegedly made about 192 purchases on two credit cards at various stores.
What was out of the ordinary, however, was that the 30-year-old Buchanan also allegedly had about 183 refunds on those cards.
The rural Albert Lea man's transaction history, authorities say, demonstrated an obvious purchase-return pattern mainly involving video games at multiple stores in numerous southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa cities, including Austin and Rochester, according to a criminal complaint filed this week in Mower District Court.
Overall $23,178 in refunds was credited to Buchanan's accounts during that period, the complaint says.
Buchanan's alleged scam consisted of buying video games from stores, repackaging the containers with blank replica game discs, returning the fraudulent games for a refund and selling the original games on eBay, an online-auction site. From October 2006 to J... More »
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Xbox video gaming unit still fully backs Toshiba Corp's (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) HD-DVD high-definition DVD format but could consider supporting Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) rival Blu-ray technology should consumers want it, an executive said on Tuesday.
"It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider," Albert Penello, group marketing manager for Xbox hardware said when asked whether Microsoft would support a Blu-ray DVD accessory in the event that HD-DVD failed.
Microsoft does not believe the surprise decision last week by Time Warner Inc (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) unit Warner Bros, the top seller of home movies, to abandon HD-DVD format in favor of Blu-ray should affect sales of its Xbox 360 video game console, Penello said.
"I fundamentally don't think ... this has a significant imp... More »
Microsoft's director of global marketing for the Xbox 360, Albert Penello, told BetaNews this morning that the company will continue to push an HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, but acknowledged the external nature would enable it to ship a Blu-ray drive if Sony's format became the new high-definition standard.
Penello also said that despite the rumors, Microsoft has never planned to ship an Xbox console with an integrated HD DVD drive, but the decision has nothing to do with the uncertainty in the format war. Because neither standard was finalized when the Xbox 360 shipped, Microsoft opted to use DVDs.
Changing that now could lead to confusion among consumers, Penello added, especially if game developers were to make use of the larger space on HD DVD discs. He admitted that Sony's inclusion of Blu-ray in the PlayStation 3 has helped that format, but said Microsoft's add-on HD DVD drive alone has outsold all standalone Blu-ray players combined.
Moreover, Pe... More »
Look at the poorly drawn wheel below. Can you honestly say that one of those games outshines the rest?
This year has been an outstanding year for gaming. Just in the past few months, there has been an epic traffic jam of glorious titles to play and spend money on. I’ve been sitting on my ass so much that even my chair has started to complain. It squeaks when my butt cheeks clench up in tense, terrorist-fragging moments.
Albert Einstein said it best – “He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” We haven’t had any time to stop and really appreciate what we have been given. We cannot sum up the best, simply because a winner hasn’t clearly risen above the rest. It would be foolish to choose just one.
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