With the Wii U having succeeded the original Wii console late last month, count-ups of initials sales numbers seem indicative of a strong start in the market, but Microsoft's Xbox 360 - despite its age - still came out on top in the early period of holiday sales totals. According to resident numbers firm NPD, the 360 made the most sales during the month of November, with figures boosted on every console thanks to the multitude of Black Friday / Thanksgiving / Cyber Monday specials on offer.
Whenever something, be it an achievement, product, or person, sets new, unprecedented benchmarks within any field, there are always those few skeptics ready and waiting to cast fresh doubt wherever an opportunity arises. With the Call of Duty franchise having continually blown other titles out of the water in terms of sales statistics during the past couple of years, there were still plenty of question marks pondering whether the famed CoD series had lost its touch. Today, publisher Activision has answered that question quite emphatically by delivering the damning news that the latest installment - Call of Duty: Black Ops II - has passed the billion-dollar holy grail in a mere 15 days.
Bloomberg has cited sources "familiar with the company's plans" in revealing that Microsoft's Xbox 720 will be ready in time for next Christmas, meaning we could be only twelve months away from the Redmond company's next-generation console.
It may be almost seven years old, but Microsoft's Xbox 360 shows no sign of being ready for the scrap heap. With plenty of huge titles released recently like Halo 4 and Black Ops II, the console is still going strong. So strongly, in fact, that it seems we just can't get enough of Microsoft's PlayStation competitor.
It's that time of year again, and I presume many of you are already preparing yourselves for the annual consumer frenzy that is Black Friday. Companies in most product fields will be lowering their prices this weekend, but it's the tech we're most interested in, and Microsoft has today joined Apple and others in revealing some of the deals it'll be offering as of tomorrow.
Accompanying the talk and speculation of the next-gen, "Xbox 720" games console, the prospect of a separate, entertainment-focused entity has also stuck around. With the current Xbox 360 having morphed from an out-and-out gaming portal to an all-round device for music, movies and apps as well as your favorite games, it's looking increasingly as though Microsoft plans to make a more sustained assault on the television market in the near future. In fact, a report over at TheVerge states, in no uncertain terms, that Microsoft is building a set-top box, and it'll rival the likes of Apple TV when eventually unveiled next year.
It's been six years since the release of the Xbox 360 and as to be expected, consumers are anxious to tuck in to the next installment. There have been many conflicting insights with regards to which features will and which will not make the cut of the next-gen Xbox - dubbed the Xbox 720 - but a recent report from Xbox World seems pretty adamant it will feature a Blu-ray drive and offer Kinect 2.0.
Although it never looked in any doubt, it's now official; Call of Duty: Black Ops II has once again delivered the biggest entertainment launch of the year for Activision, and with sales in excess of half a billion dollars in the first 24 hours alone, it's safe to say the gaming sphere's most powerful franchise has not completely lost its touch.
Need For Speed is one of those all-action, adrenaline packed racing titles. If you've ever played a Need For Speed title or indeed seen any of the films, you'll be more than familiar with the format, and with Need For Speed: Most Wanted having just released on various platforms, those looking to try before they buy can now do so on the Xbox 360. As per a tweet by Larry Hryb - better known in gaming circles as Major Nelson, the demo of Need For Speed: Most Wanted is now available on Xbox LIVE.
Now Halo 4 and Call Of Duty: Black Ops II are done and dusted, perhaps the next most anticipated title will be Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V. Up until recently, the developer has been dropping bundles of screenshots and images intermittently, but with pre-orders having officially begun and a Spring release date now confirmed, the level of excitement for the next version of GTA is reaching fever pitch.
