Tag: Microsoft

While Microsoft is touting the wonders of the music sharing features of the new Zune media player, I’m quite familiar with a project in which a team from the MIT Media lab developed a similar wireless music sharing capability a couple of years ago.

Crunchgear has broken the news that the initial Microsoft Zune media player will be manufactured by Toshiba, not Microsoft. The device has been registered with the FCC as the Toshiba 1089. It’s been confirmed that the player features a 30GB hard drive, a 3″ LCD, USB 2.0 and 802.11 b/g connectivity.

Scheduled for a September 19th release, the Xbox Live Vision camera add-on was accidentally put out on the shelves of a Toys R Us store on August 18th, and this lucky buyer managed to get his hands on one over a month early.

Dana Jongewaard, Managing Editor of the Official Playstation Magazine has posted a fascinating story on her blog which sums up the public (negative) sentiment surrounding the forthcoming Sony Playstation 3. She even went so far as titling the article “Why I am buying a 360 this November.” The high price, forced Blu-Ray purchase and the relative void of exclusive titles at launch have driven her to “the dark side…” …when I know that a console’s direct competitors cost two-thirds or half of that price, it becomes harder for me to justify shelling out that kind of money–especially when I can probably get the Wii and the 360 combined for the cost of a PS3.

Gamesradar has done a side-by-side comparison of the Sony Playstation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360, using an accurately sized display prop provided by Sony. I’m not sure what the Japanese market will think about this beast, given the past failure of larger consoles in that market.

Microsoft Games has posted the demo for its much anticipated Flight Simulator X. This version contains major upgrades from past releases including massively improved visuals, a dynamic world with insane amounts of detail, multiplayer skies with real-time online traffic from other flyers and many new planes to fly.

Microsoft has just posted the product page for the forthcoming add-on HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360. No new details have been revealed at this point, but here’s hoping it’s an indication that the device is likely to be released soon.

[UPDATE 9/28/2006: After rumors of a low-ball $229 price, the Zune was officially announced for $249.99 – that’s the real, final MSRP] This Week in Consumer Electronics (TWICE) has learned from several retailers that Microsoft is planning to release their “iPod killer”, Zune digital media player this fall (rumors have it as a November 14th release date) at an MSRP of $299.

Classic arcade games are coming fast and furious on Xbox Live Marketplace, and this week’s release is Namco’s classic Pac-Man. The Xbox 360 version features more than 250 levels, improved graphics, new music and sound effects.

Check out this cool video of Microsoft’s prototype for an augmented reality system known as “PlayAnywhere“. The system combines a video projector and a sensing device that can detect a user’s gestures and the position objects placed on a surface in real time, and utilize that data to create a highly interactive and intuitive user interface.

Since buying my Xbox 360 console back on launch day in November 2005, I’ve been one of the fortunate 360 owners to never have a problem with overheating, disc scratches or freezes. My console is in a wide-open, well-ventilated area and had always behaved well.