microsoft on technabob...

Nearly a decade ago, Croteam, a team of six developers in Croatia got real damn serious about making a first person shooter, and the resulting hero is the stuff of cult legend. Serious Sam has everything that makes great shooters really great: crazy weapons, major fights, and a sense of humor. And now the hero is back, and heading to Xbox…

This is how things are in the browser world: Opera never recovered from its commercial days, Safari is… okay I guess, Firefox is customizable, Chrome is speedy, and Internet Explorer is owned by a powerful company with lots of money. Case in point: the big M is giving away $10,000 (USD) to a lucky (?) surfer willing to use Internet…

Okay so maybe I shouldn’t be so sarcastic; the new build sports significant changes as well. Or should I say “builds”. But I’m getting ahead of myself: Build 7232 of Windows 7 was leaked yesterday, bringing with it improved driver support and application compatibility. Oh and a new wallpaper. Because that’s what everybody wants from Microsoft: improved wallpapers.

That’s the…

Microsoft today took the wraps off of their new input device for the Xbox 360, known as Project Natal. The new technology does away with traditional controllers and lets player use their full body to interact with video games and the Xbox 360 interface.

Unlike Nintendo’s Wii-mote, the Project Natal (pronounced “na-tall”) sensor box can detect movements of your entire…

What’s both retro and thoroughly modern? Space Ark, a forthcoming XBLA title designed as a tribute to some of the colorful, crazy games that once dominated arcades.

Take a little Breakout, a little Rainbow Islands for style, give it a coat of gloss, and voila! Perfect for the Xbox 360’s downloadable games service. Developer Strawdog Studios is also responsible for the…

People leave their computers on for a long time for various valid reasons: when backing up, scanning malware, reformatting and restoring because the malware couldn’t be removed, installing SP3 for the third time, downloading a large file via torrent, and being infected again. And that’s the digital circle of life.
Seriously though, computers waste a lot of energy while performing…

Amazon’s gaming section has been going through some serious expansion lately. The online retailer recently added game trade-ins to their services, and now? Customers can buy Xbox Live Arcade titles directly through Amazon. No points, no problems; buy and get a code that allows the download to your Xbox Live account.

The service isn’t just limited to games, either; you…

Now I’m seriously considering going back to Windows: Microsoft’s beta release of Windows 7 pays off yet again, and the Redmond giant receives more free publicity with Akihabara News‘ real world test of Windows 7 beta on an Sotec (Onkyo) C101K3W Hello Kitty Edition.

The netbook was able to provide decent performance, from normal web surfing while data was being…

Microsoft launched a new series of advertisements a couple of days ago called Laptop Hunters. Here’s how it works, as explained by Brandon LeBlanc on the Windows team blog: “These new ads trace real people as they go on a hunt for a new laptop…The Laptop Hunters are not told they are taking part in an ad campaign by Microsoft.…

Seller lim-handek is one of the lucky winners of a Pepsi-Cola contest, scoring an Xbox 360 Elite with the Pepsi Max logo and blue flames, and now she’s/he’s auctioning it off on eBay.  Only 60 of these 360s were made, and out of that 60 this is the only one that hasn’t been sent for repairs. Yet. Kidding.

Bidding starts…

Remember Digitalsoaps and her Playstation bath bars? Washington’s very own gadget glycerinator is back, along with more detailed video game controller soaps, like the Xbox 360 soap:

Weighing in at 7 oz., the Xbox 360 controller soap is made of shea butter and is lovingly scented with “Mountain Dew fragrance oil.” It sells for $12 USD. If you want something…

A portable Xbox 360? All in a day’s work for Ben Heckendorn. But now that he’s gone bigtime, the Heck had to work with ColorWare to create a one-of-a-kind Xbox 360laptop. The result? The usual awesome. Yawn.

Heckendorn says that it’s a prize for THQ’s Darksiders game. A prize for winning what exactly he doesn’t say, but I already know that…

Vista users, dust off your IE or Automatic Updates, because next week the Release Candidate of Vista’s Service Pack 2 will be available for download. The update will updowngrade your OS to Windows XP. I’m kidding.

Some of the things contained in the update include – I swear I am not making this up – “Security”, “Reliability, “Performance”, and “Application…

There are two things that have to be said about this custom Xbox 360 arcade cabinet: it’s big (like the original Xbox, only even bigger) and it’s pretty pricey. Only serious Xbox devotees need apply at $2250… but that is, after all, cheaper than a lot of gaming PCs, and it would take quite the pimped-out PC to match this project.…

Ready for the NextXbox 360? The PS4 or WiiToo? It might be time to start thinking about what you want in the next generation of gaming consoles. Yes, already. The center of console gaming’s future is already being planned, and rumors about the graphics chips in the next round of offerings from Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.

The Inquirer’s Charlie Demerjian…