Xbox

Scrutiny Awaits Heads of JPMorgan, Apple

Apple chief Tim Cook testifies on Capitol Hill today about the huge cash horde it has sitting overseas, while JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's fate awaits a shareholder vote.

5 Stocks to Watch this Week

From state-of-the art technology to good ole fashioned retailing, there's plenty of news waiting to break this week on Wall Street. Here's what to watch.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Schools Nintendo Wii U in the Sales Game

Nintendo has sold 400,000 Wii U consoles since the system's Nov. 18 launch, plus another 300,000 original Wii units last week. But Microsoft is still the gaming king: Its Xbox 360 outsold both systems combined, moving 750,000 consoles during the Black Friday holiday weekend.

This Should Be a Good Time for Microsoft. It's Not.

These should be good times for Microsoft. It's going on the offensive ahead of the holiday shopping season, with new PCs, tablets with Windows 8, and smartphones running Windows Phone 8. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the buzz just isn't there.

Can Madden NFL 13 Save the Video Game Industry?

It's time to begin tossing around the virtual pigskin again. Electronic Arts' Madden NFL 13 hit stores on Tuesday. In an industry that has suffered three years of brutal declines, its a rare cause for a celebration -- and the industry doesn't want you to forget it.

Why Kinect for Windows Is Cooler Than Apple's Siri

Microsoft Kinect -- the camera-based motion controller for the Xbox 360 -- is coming to a computer near you next month. How will an accessory that seems more suited to video games fit with the way you use your PC? Much better than you might guess.

Microsoft Ends Its CES Era: 2012 Keynote Will Be Its Last

For the past 14 years, Microsoft has kicked off the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with a a keynote address that set the tone for the exposition where tech companies showcase their latest wares. But Microsoft is announcing that next month's show will be its last.

What to Make of 'Modern Warfare 3's' Record Sales

At a time when the music industry is Auto-Tuning its own eulogy and Hollywood has all but given up on DVDs, 1.5 million people lined up at midnight events to score copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, proving that even in an era when more of us want our entertainment for free, some things are still considered worth their price.

Microsoft's Next Big Thing: 4 Game Changing Ideas

Microsoft's next quarterly report arrives Thursday, and it's hard to get too excited. It's still the world's largest software company, and it's growing. It just happens to be as sexy as Abe Vigoda. But Microsoft could still innovate its way out of its slump. Here are four things we'd love to hear Microsoft say on Thursday.

Why Nintendo Will Never Be Great Again

Once upon a time, Nintendo was king of the video game consoles, but that day is long gone. Shares of Nintendo hit a five-year low this summer, wiping away any gains from the Wii era, and it took a steep operating loss to boot last quarter. Here's why there are no bonus lives in its future.

IBM Surges Ahead of Microsoft in Market Value

Microsoft used to be the most valuable tech company in the U.S. based on market capitalization. Apple took that crown away last year. Now, IBM has dropped the Redmond, Wash., giant into third place. So what's IBM doing right, and what's Microsoft doing wrong?

Video Game Sales Are Down: Are Apps to Blame?

A research firm that tracks video game sales reported that March hardware sales rose, but software sales plunged again. NPD claims that 23% of software sales in 2010 came from apps, but the industry isn't sure that its lagging sales figures can be entirely blamed on apps like Angry Birds.

No, the iPad Is Not Killing Microsoft's Business

Investors are buying into the meme that Windows is dying -- and therefore Microsoft is as well. While tablets are clearly cutting into the giant's core PC business, Microsoft is also showing remarkable agility in building new franchises for the future, the Kinect for one.

Xbox Shortages May Run Through February

Microsoft sold out of its Xbox video-game console in late December thanks to strong holiday-season demand, and may have product shortages in January and February as well, as the company's Kinect motion-sensor device has boosted the popularity of the system, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

Will Microsoft Kinect Topple the Nintendo Wii?

How long can Nintendo Wii maintain its position as the reigning video-game console? Microsoft shipped an astronomical 8 million Kinect game systems in the past two months, undermining Wii's leadership -- already weakened by competition from the Xbox and PlayStation 3.

Hulu Drops Price on Subscriptions After Traffic Dips

Hulu lowered the price of its newly launched Hulu Plus subscription service by $2 to $7.99 Wednesday, just days after the online streaming video service saw its rank decline on a closely watched Internet ranking service for the month of October.

Retail Video-Game Console Sales Plunge 26% in October

Stores sold 4% less video-game equipment -- including hardware, software and accessories -- in October compared to a year ago, according to research firm NPD Group. While players are spending more on the games themselves, they aren't shelling out for new consoles: Sales of those systems declined significantly.

Motorola Targets Microsoft With Patent Infringement Suit

In the latest round of a fight between two technology giants, Motorola punched back at Microsoft Wednesday with a patent infringement lawsuit. Its subsidiary, Motorola Mobility, filed 16 infringement claims against the software giant over its Windows mobile software, as well as its PC and server software and Xbox products.

Microsoft Kinect: Is Face-Recognition Software Racist?

The launch of Microsoft's long-anticipated motion-sensing video game, Kinect for Xbox 360, has heated the debate about whether facial-recognition software may be racist. A GameSpot review found the game didn't recognize dark-skinned players as well as light-skinned ones. How does this happen?

Apple's Stealth Assault on the Video Game Market

By now you probably know that the surprise hit of Apple's latest earnings call was the hockey-puck-size AppleTV device. But an unexpected upside for Apple is that AppleTV could be a backdoor entry into the video-game console market. Here's how that would work.