Xbox & Kinect What Others Are Saying

What Others Are Saying: Third-party articles about Xbox products and services.

With Microsoft’s Project Spark, anyone can build a video game
March 27, 2014
ReadWrite
“Microsoft wants gamers build their own worlds — playable game worlds, in fact. Microsoft’s Project Spark, in open beta now for Windows 8 and the Xbox One, splices together a Minecraft-like sandbox with actual developer tools, enabling budding game makers to actually build a playable game from scratch with no technical know-how whatsoever.”

‘Kinect Sports Rivals’ will silence Xbox One critics
March 17, 2014
Forbes
“In a nutshell, from getting scanned in to create a digitized Avatar, to picking your team and playing through the different sports there is a sense of finesse and quality throughout.”

Titanfall reviewed [Video]
March 11, 2014
BBC
“Titanfall is a first person shooter where players control either pilots that jump about using a jetpack, or Titans – giant robots which can be summoned by pilots for their destructive firepower.”

‘Titanfall’ video game lands right on time for Xbox One
March 11, 2014
USA TODAY
“Fast and furious multiplayer action awaits in new online sci-fi combat came with mechs and human pilots. …While the game has a super-fast pace — what you’d expect from a team stocked with many ex-Call of Duty designers — it’s playable by newcomers as well as multiplayer veterans.”

Titanfall takes aim at the cloud: ‘We’ve really let the designers go crazy’
March 10, 2014
The Guardian
“In Titanfall, the war zones are alive with activity. Not just the usual chaos of players scurrying through buildings, blasting each other, but peripheral events, too. Gigantic star cruisers float overhead as smaller craft zip around them firing missiles at distant buildings; towering monsters lope across looming alien backdrops, attacking defensive walls; engineering robots make futile attempts to repair damaged facilities.”

Twitch for Xbox One now lets you broadcast your games
March 10, 2014
The Verge
“An update to Twitch’s Xbox One app that’s going out just ahead of Titanfall’s release, lets gamers stream their games to both other Xbox users and on Twitch.”

‘Project Spark’ arrives on Xbox One, lets you create games across PCs and consoles
March 04, 2014
The Verge
“Players can build custom worlds, characters, and animations from the Xbox One, and continue editing or playing them on a Windows 8.1 PC.”

Microsoft: Xbox One designed to “stay in the background” and “disappear into the living room”
Jan. 21, 2014
Game Revolution
“The large, unassuming black box may appear uninspired at first glance, but according to Ledbetter, a lot of careful thought was put into its design. ‘We wanted to take every component of what people love about Xbox and amplify it, but also make it disappear into the living room – to stay in the background, robust and reliable,’ he explained.”

A week with Xbox One: A powerful reimagining of the way we play
Jan. 16, 2014
ReadWrite
“The Xbox One may be in its very earliest days, but its comprehensive entertainment experience, powered by Xbox Live, is already extremely polished. Looking back to the same primordial ooze era of the Xbox 360, it’s impossible to imagine we’d end up here, where sophisticated features like vast online gameplay, instant, on-demand TV streams and the unblinking, ever watchful eye of the Kinect are just, you know, part of the experience.”

The Xbox One can do a lot more than you might think
Jan. 14, 2014
Kotaku
“Sure, the Xbox One has a few tricks up its sleeves—some of which we’ve told you about before. But, damn, had I known about some of the more advanced things the Xbox One is capable of, Microsoft would have sold me on the console way quicker.”

Xbox One review: This is the console of the future
Nov. 20, 2013
CNN Money
“The verdict. A new console may live or die based on its initial games, and here is where the Xbox One trumps the PlayStation 4. Both Ryse and Forza Motorsport are the kind of graphical showcases that should move consoles throughout the holiday season.”

The birth of Xbox Live
Nov. 11, 2013
Polygon
“The birth of Xbox Live was a near perfect intersection of technology, opportunity and passion. These men and women brought to life a vision from science fiction. They did it against difficult odds and the objections of their contemporaries. They did it by striving to do something that hadn’t been done — and that many believed couldn’t be done. And many of them are still at Microsoft to this day, working on whatever wonder will come next.”

I spent an afternoon with the Xbox One and it was amazing
Nov. 08, 2013
Business insider
“So what did I think of the Xbox One? I loved it. …I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The Xbox One is a giant entertainment hub. It’s clear Microsoft realizes gamers do much more than just play games, so they want to make the console the one-stop-shop for everything.”

Microsoft shows you the entire Xbox One experience with video tour ahead of Nov. 22 launch
Nov. 08, 2013
TechCrunch
“Bing and Skype both get cameos (the Skype tracking at around 6:20 is pretty cool), and you can see just how easy it is to switch between things like box scores, playing an Xbox game, chatting with friends and watching streaming content from Hulu Plus and Netflix.”

Xbox, watch TV: inside Microsoft’s audacious plan to take over the living room
Nov. 08, 2013
The Verge
“Now Microsoft is launching the Xbox One, a new console designed from the ground up to not only play games, but to run apps, control your television, and literally watch and listen to the people in your living room all the time.”

Xbox One scores high number of preorders
July 19, 2013
CNET
“The Xbox One is apparently a hit even before it officially launches. Preorders for the Xbox One have surpassed those for the Xbox 360 during its prelaunch months, Microsoft announced Thursday. The upcoming console has sold out in preorder status at most of its major retailers in the U.S., the company added.”

Microsoft demonstrates the subtle uses of Xbox One Kinect in a shooter
June 11, 2013
Polygon
“Even hardcore gamers may be interested in some of the ways the Xbox One’s Kinect can augment gameplay. In a demo today, Microsoft’s Jeff Henshaw showed how the Kinect can be used to carefully watch a gamer’s movements, tracking them to do things like raise a shield in a firefight, activate an X-ray mode or call in artillery strikes.”

Halo, Titanfall lead Xbox One games at E3
June 10, 2013
CNET
“Microsoft has announced the lineup of games for its upcoming Xbox One console at its 2013 E3 press conference in Los Angeles with highlights including Ryse: Son of Rome and the god-sim Project Spark.”

Microsoft announces new Xbox 360 hardware—and bonus downloads for Gold
June 10, 2013
Ars Technica
“While the upcoming Xbox One formed the core of Microsoft’s E3 presentation today, the company didn’t forget the somewhat long-in-the-tooth Xbox 360 in its remarks. In fact, the company has given the almost eight-year-old console a new look and has announced new games and some new benefits for Xbox Gold subscribers.”

Microsoft partners with Twitch to add Kinect-enabled game streaming for Xbox One
June 10, 2013
TNW
“As part of its E3 press conference, Microsoft revealed that members will be able to broadcast their Xbox One games using Twitch and easily enable streaming via Kinect.”

Xbox One should accelerate development of learning robots
May 30, 2013
Network World
“Saxena, a professor of computer science at Cornell University, says the Xbox One announced last week will boost the realm of activities his robots can figure out because its HD camera will be able to detect more subtle human motions, such as hand gestures.”

Microsoft demos the eyes, ears and brains behind its next generation Kinect for Xbox One
May 24, 2013
TNW
“In case you’re still itching to learn more about how the Xbox One‘s upcoming Kinect sensor works, Microsoft’s Scott Evans and Kareem Choudhry have released two videos showing off what they call the eyes, ears and brains of the new Kinect.”

Xbox One: Microsoft’s supergeeks reveal what’s inside the hardware
May 21, 2013
Venture Beat
“Gamers may not care about the hardware so long as it runs games smoothly and doesn’t get in their way. But the Xbox One is an engineering marvel that combines both cloud processing and a heavily engineered game console to produce game effects that Microsoft promises will be truly impressive.”

Every Xbox One comes with a next-generation Kinect
May 21, 2013
The Verge
“The peripheral has received an incredible overhaul: the Xbox One uses it to turn on your entire entertainment system and switch between games, movies, web browsing and live television at a moment’s notice.”

Steve Jobs’ dream device has arrived. And it’s made by Microsoft. Meet the Xbox One.
May 21, 2013
Slate
“It plays video games, Blu-ray discs, TV shows, and everything you could possibly want from the Internet. It switches between this stuff seamlessly — you can forget about the Input button. And it does indeed have the simplest user interface imaginable, an eerily accurate voice recognition system that is far more intuitive than a remote control.”

Microsoft presents its new Xbox
May 21, 2013
USA TODAY
“In addition to cutting-edge video games, the new system will have larger on-demand movie and TV libraries, bolstered Internet features, including Skype video calling and increased control of live TV programming. The new system also aims to capitalize on emerging consumer acceptance of smart TV and social television experiences with improved online networking while viewing.”

Xbox One revealed
May 21, 2013
Wired
“Because of the way memory is apportioned in the Shared partition, you can switch between apps with little to no load times, and even snap them into another app or game to use both at the same time. This, more than anything, is the Xbox One’s killer app: instant access to all the entertainment services you already use, and true multitasking.”

EA, Microsoft ink ‘strategic partnership’ for Xbox One
May 21, 2013
Ars Technica
“EA Executive Vice President Andrew Wilson was on hand to show four titles — FIFA, Madden, NBA Live and UFC — that are all powered by what the company is calling EA Sports Ignite. …The engine allows for four times more calculations per second and ten times more animation depth and detail. The results are what Wilson referred to as ‘true player motion.'”

Steven Spielberg working on ‘Halo’ TV series for Xbox One
May 21, 2013
NBC News
“‘For me, the Halo universe is an amazing opportunity to be at that intersection where technology and myth-making meet to create something really groundbreaking,’ Spielberg said, speaking on screen.”

Microsoft reveals Xbox One, an ‘all in one’ entertainment system
May 21, 2013
Seattle Times
“Called the Xbox One, the console will go on sale later this year bundled with a more accurate version of the company’s Kinect motion sensor, redesigned controllers that flutter on the fingertips and interactive TV features, all tied to an upgrade online network powered by 300,000 servers around the globe.”

Xbox 360 Wins Holiday Season in US, Marks Two Straight Years Atop Market
Jan. 10, 2013
GeekWire
“More than $1.27 billion was spent on Xbox 360-related retail last month. The console also had seven of the top ten best selling software titles during the holidays: Halo 4, Assassin’s Creed 3, Just Dance 4, NBA 2K13, Far Cry 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Madden NFL 13.”

More Than One-Third of Xbox Users Engage With Interactive Ads
Jan. 10, 2013
Huffington Post
“Based on the first wave of spots with Subway and Toyota, Xbox found that 37 percent of viewers engaged with the ads when prompted to vote, and of those 71 percent voted in the polls. Also, 97 percent of those who voted waited to see their votes appear in the final tallies, underscoring the community nature of the Xbox service.”

Nancy Tellem: Why Microsoft’s Looking for TV Hits on XBox LIVE (Q&A)
Jan. 04, 2013
Hollywood Reporter
“One of her primary mandates: to create a TV studio in Los Angeles during the next year, where she and her staff will make original content for the 40?million customers worldwide who subscribe to Xbox LIVE, which already features fare from Netflix, ESPN, HBO Go, Amazon Prime and other providers.”

Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Goes Short-Form, Adds Content From AOL and Vimeo
Dec. 18, 2012
TechCrunch
“The AOL On Network has been added to Xbox LIVE, bringing a wide range of content from its ever-growing video library. The ad-supported video network includes more than 420,000 short-form videos from AOL properties such as Huffington Post, Engadget, and TechCrunch, as well as content partners that include Reuters, the AP, BBC, E!, ET Online, Sugar, Splash News, CNET, and Martha Stewart.”

Microsoft Xbox Updates SmartGlass App for ESPN and NBA Game Time, Adds New Sports Picks Second-Screen Experience
Dec. 17, 2012
TechCrunch
“As it applies to ESPN and NBA Game Time, the new SmartGlass experience will allow users to browse through various videos of live events and highlight reels, select the ones they want to watch, and then send those videos to the Xbox for viewing.”

SkyDrive for Xbox 360 Lands Today Plus 40+ Apps Before Spring 2013
Dec. 11, 2012
SlashGear
“There’s also quick access to sharing, both those images and videos you’ve taken and want to show friends and family, and whatever content others have shared with you. Microsoft has added in a ‘party slide show’ mode to play in the background, complete with themed images and a musical soundtrack.”

Microsoft Demos ESPN Xbox SmartGlass Integration, Coming Later This Month
Dec. 10, 2012
The Verge
“The SmartGlass experience for ESPN essentially moves the entire interface for the ESPN app to your phone or tablet — you can pick highlights and change streams on your mobile device, and the content will show up on TV.”

New Xbox 360 Nike+ Kinect Training Bundle Launched
Dec. 05, 2012
Neowin
“Yes, Microsoft is selling a bundle designed not for people who want to sit on the couch, but for folks who want to get off that couch and work out in front of the TV screen. Launched earlier this year, Nike+ Kinect Training offers users a number of different exercises that use the Kinect sensor device to track a person’s movements.”

Microsoft Reports Best-Ever Xbox 360 Black Friday Sales
Nov. 27, 2012
PCMag
“The Xbox 360 is having the best week ever. Microsoft sold nearly one million Xbox 360 consoles over Black Friday, the company confirmed in a blog post. ‘Entering the seventh year of its lifecycle, Xbox 360 just closed the biggest sales week in the history of the hit digital entertainment system,’ Microsoft’s Jeff Meisner wrote.”

YouTube-Exclusive ‘Halo’ Miniseries Nets 26 Million Views
Nov. 20, 2012
Mashable
“Doohan says the most exciting statistics surrounding the series were the engagement; fans hardly dropped off from the first 19-minute video until the last minute or so. He also says the number of favorites was about 34 percent higher than other Machinima content.”

Using Kinect and Happy Action Theater as Therapy: How One School Is Reaching Autistic Children
Nov. 20, 2012
Penny Arcade Report
“The Kinect, along with Happy Action Theater, allow the children to lose themselves in play, and in doing so they can begin to communicate with others, be physical, and practice their social and language skills.”

Xbox LIVE Service Celebrates Tenth Anniversary
Nov. 15, 2012
Examiner
“It started as a bold attempt to bring gaming into a new generation. Today, it has become one of the top entertainment choices for millions of people.”

‘Halo 4’ Earns $220 Million in 24 Hours
Nov. 12, 2012
Variety
“More than 4 million people logged on to play the game in the first five days, with users spending 31.4 million hours playing ‘Halo 4.'”

Review: ‘Halo 4’ an Action Powerhouse
Nov. 05, 2012
USA TODAY
“Halo 4 represents a triumphant return for Master Chief, and a stellar debut for 343 Industries as the franchise’s primary developers.”

Halo 4 Passes Its First Crucial Test: Metacritic
Nov. 04, 2012
Wall Street Journal
“Early Thursday, shortly after ‘Halo 4’s’ reviews began hitting the Web, Metacritic gave its all-important score: 91 based on 37 reviews.”

A New Glow, and a Chief With Depth, Highlight ‘Halo 4’
Nov. 04, 2012
USA TODAY
“Microsoft brings back its star character, Master Chief, in a new video game that makes him ‘into a person, not just a suit of armor.'”

Halo 4 Review: Jumping Head First Without a Bungie (and Loving it)
Nov. 01, 2012
Ars Technica
“…from start to finish, campaign to multiplayer, the game grabbed me by the hand and tugged me along like an excited child at Disneyland.”

A Strong Start to the Reclaimer Trilogy
Nov. 01, 2012
Destructoid
“The visuals, lighting, and art direction are phenomenal too, adding tons of detail and pushing the Xbox 360 to points I haven’t seen in any other game on the console. Comparing Halo 3’s visuals to Halo 4’s is night and day, to the point that the former looks last-gen in comparison.”

Halo 4 Review: Our New Chief Operating Officer
Nov. 01, 2012
Joystiq
“Our doubt and questioning of Halo’s continued existence has, in some small way, helped deliver one of the best games in the series and one of the finest shooters in years.”

“Do not underestimate… him.”
Nov. 01, 2012
IGN
“This isn’t just the best ‘Halo,’ it’s probably the best Xbox game this year and quite possibly the best video game on any platform in 2012. …’Halo 4′ is not only a success, but a bar-raising triumph for the entire first-person shooter genre.”

Halo 4 Review
Nov. 01, 2012
GameSpot
“A thrilling, moving story and intense competitive multiplayer help Halo 4 continue the series’ reign as one of the premier shooter franchises. …343 Industries should be proud of what it has accomplished, and you should be excited to experience it for yourself.”

Halo 4 Review
Nov. 01, 2012
OXM
“Beneath its sometimes bombastic layer of blockbuster-level polish, Halo 4 hides a complicated heart filled with intelligent sci-fi and a surprising amount of humanity. Count us in for Chief’s next outing. We’ll be ready.”

“Halo 4” Reviewed: Joy to the World, the Chief is Come
Nov. 01, 2012
Complex Gaming
“I say this every time a new Halo game comes out, but it’s as true now as it was every time: Halo 4 is undoubtedly the most fully-featured and smartly designed Halo game yet.”

Halo 4 Review: Comfortably Familiar, Refreshingly New
Nov. 01, 2012
Dallas Morning News
“But with ‘Halo 4,’ 343 Industries has done something amazing. …they’ve made me excited about ‘Halo’ again.”

Microsoft’s SmartGlass Brings Xbox 360, Tablets and Phones Together
Oct. 23, 2012
NBC News
“The SmartGlass app will be free and will essentially turn tablets, phones and PCs into a second screen that you can a) control your Xbox 360 game machine with and b) that you can use to watch and interact with games and videos from your Xbox and connected TV.”

Microsoft SmartGlass Connects Your Xbox to Your Mobile Device
Oct. 23, 2012
CNET
“Your smartphone or tablet will soon be able to control and display games and movies from an Xbox 360. Set to be released along with Windows 8 this Friday, Microsoft’s new SmartGlass app is designed to bridge the gap between the Xbox and mobile devices.”

Here Comes SmartGlass: Xbox ‘Second Screen’ Rollout Starts With Windows 8
Oct. 23, 2012
GeekWire
“One of the neater tricks is the ability to use a control the new Internet Explorer browser on Xbox Live using a smartphone or tablet — entering text, pinching to zoom, or swiping to pan as a way of controlling the browser on the big screen.”

Xbox SmartGlass Hands On: Controlling Your Xbox Is Really Awesome Now
Oct. 23, 2012
Gizmodo
“You can use SmartGlass to control your music, either your local files, or streamed songs over Xbox Music. The controls are intuitive, and make your TV seem like a big, visual entertainment center.”

Xbox SmartGlass Changes the Second-Screen Playing Field [Preview]
Oct. 23, 2012
Mashable
“The biggest game changer, however, is the fact that SmartGlass is device agnostic. It’s beyond cool that the controls and second-screen options will be available on iOS and Android. It also helps position Xbox 360 as a continually valuable device for the home-entertainment space.”

Editorial: The Most Exciting Xbox SmartGlass Application Isn’t What You’d Think
Oct. 23, 2012
Engadget
“Could sports be the ‘killer app’ that MS needs to get SmartGlass out of its tiny niche and into the hands of the masses? I think so.”

With Its New Music App, Microsoft Pulled Off Something Even Apple Couldn’t Do
Oct. 15, 2012
Business Insider
“Today Microsoft unveiled Xbox Music, a Spotify-like streaming music service that’ll be baked into Windows 8 PCs and tablets, Windows Phones, and the Xbox. Except it’s better than Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio, and all those other streaming products out there. And it exemplifies Apple’s failings to get streaming music right.”

Xbox Music Launches Tuesday on Xbox 360, Will Come Pre-Installed on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8
Oct. 15, 2012
The Verge
“It’s a unified experience across Windows 8, Xbox 360, and even what little we saw of the Windows Phone 8 app. And it’s really nice, in fact — a very logical interface that minimizes the clicks from open to playing.”

Microsoft Presses Play on New Xbox Music Service
Oct. 15, 2012
Billboard
“The technology giant on Monday is taking the wraps off of its rebranded digital music service, now called Xbox Music, that promises an all-in-one music experience. It wraps together free, on-demand music streaming, a scan-and-match feature, a download store and artist radio stations.”

Xbox Music Hands On: The Perfect Music Service—If You Use Nothing But Microsoft Stuff
Oct. 15, 2012
Gizmodo
“Xbox Music is exactly what you’d want in a streaming service and store. It’s complete in a way that Spotify, Amazon, and even iTunes aren’t. Microsoft’s new music platform is wonderful, basically.”

Microsoft Unveils Xbox Music to Compete With Apple’s iTunes
Oct. 14, 2012
The Hollywood Reporter
“…Xbox Music is driving the attempt to make consumers think different. ‘Yeah, we will have a video store,’ said Johnson, ‘but music is the one avenue we think we can really differentiate this year against the competition and really solve the consumer’s problem, and introduce something in a powerful way. Music shouldn’t be work. It should be fun.'”

Microsoft to Begin Rolling Out Xbox Music Service
Oct. 14, 2012
Bloomberg
“‘This gives Microsoft a strong music story which they’ve lacked for years and extends the Xbox brand to media and entertainment,’ said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at market research firm Gartner Inc. ‘A free streaming service with ads every 15 or 20 minutes is pretty compelling. This is will put a lot of pressure on the Spotify’s, the Rdio’s and Pandora’s.'”

South Park: The Stick of Truth ‘is the most authentic South Park game ever produced’
June 05, 2012
The Verge

Video: Usher talks about ‘Dance Central’ role
June 05, 2012
USA Today

Microsoft Xbox SmartGlass: an in-depth preview
June 05, 2012
The Verge

E3 2012: A closer look at Xbox SmartGlass
June 05, 2012
CNET

Today the Living Room, Tomorrow Your World: Why Microsoft’s Xbox Is the Key to Windows 8
June 04, 2012
Fast Company

Microsoft Doubling Down on Video and Music for the Xbox
June 04, 2012
AllThingsD

Microsoft Xbox Is Winning The Living Room War. Here’s Why.
June 04, 2012
Forbes

Microsoft announces Xbox SmartGlass app for Windows 8 and mobile devices
June 04, 2012
The Verge

The Xbox 360 Just Got Streaming Music, Nike+Fitness, NBA, ESPN and More
June 04, 2012
Gizmodo

Microsoft Introduces Second-Screen Feature, Xbox SmartGlass
June 04, 2012
TechCrunch

Xbox Music service announced, coming to Xbox, Windows Phone, and Windows 8
June 04, 2012
The Verge

Xbox Gives Microsoft a Head Start in the Battle for Every Screen
June 03, 2012
New York Times