Jonathan Blow is something of a hot property in gaming circles these days. The man behind the wildly popular and critically acclaimed Braid is also one of the more outspoken developers in the industry, and in a recent interview with gaming publication EDGE, the man that thought up one of Xbox Arcade's sleeper hits was typically frank.
The console vendors may note be accommodating when it comes to backwards-compatibility of those oldie-but-goodies, however that has not stopped various classic titles from being re-released on numerous other platforms. Whether it's a port to a modern device or an HD makeover, those old favorites we know and love are still played constantly by those who revere them. If you're a nostalgic gamer, particularly one with an interest in RTS titles, you'll be pleased to learn that Microsoft has found the time in its busy 2013 schedule to bring Age of Empires II back from relative obscurity by affording it an HD re-release.
Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 has only been around for six months, but a job posting over at the Redmond company's listings page suggests its successor will be hitting devices later this year. With most competitive operating systems churning out annual revisions, it was always presumed Microsoft would indeed offer a significant update to its smartphone firmware, but now, the job posting all-but confirms those suspicions.
Sony may have beaten Microsoft to the punch with the well-documented announcement of the PlayStation 4 earlier this week, but it would seem as though the Redmond company won't be waiting around too long before detailing its own next-gen offering. According to a report over at CVG, the Windows maker is planning a special press event to be held at some point in April - a notion backed up by several sources, who've received reliable Intel to substantiate such claims.
Microsoft has been preparing its Windows Blue updates for quite a while now, and screenshots of some of the latest developments have begun to emerge via several sites dedicated to the Redmond company's flagship operating system. The screenies reveal two different builds of what is referred to internally as Windows Blue, and although build numbers are unconfirmed, TheVerge has learned that Microsoft recently pushed its NT kernel up to 6.3.
An announcement by Microsoft has officially signaled the demise of the famed email service Hotmail, with Outlook moving in to fill its place having finally shaken off its seemingly everlasting Preview status. Although the end of Hotmail will perhaps be a poignant for a few within the Redmond camp, it has been a long time coming, and even though it seems like a big transition, the look and feel of Hotmail has borrowed from Outlook for a while now.
We are only days away from the organized event that will introduce to the world Sony's next-generation gaming console, but while Sony may be keen to reveal what they have been working on with Orbis; Microsoft on the other hand are remaining tight lipped. The lack of public information from the Redmond company shouldn't come as any great surprise, but we do have a plethora of leaked information to wade through in the meantime, starting with a source who is already familiar to the community.
If you've been trying to get your hands on one of Microsoft's 128GB Surface Pro tablets then the chances are that you've already come across some difficulties in sourcing a retail location that has them in stock. The majority of locations are showing that Microsoft's powerhouse tablet is out of stock of the 128GB model, with minimal supplies of the smaller 64GB variant being available. The fact that users have acted quickly in snapping up the stock is bitter sweet for Microsoft. Great that there is a keen interest in the product, but potentially problematic, considering the official Surface Pro advertisement campaign has begun with the launch of "The Vibe" TV spot.
Prepare yourself Microsoft software lovers, as it seems that potential changes are afoot over at the Redmond headquarters. It seems that well-placed sources are suggesting that Microsoft is taking a very serious look at introducing a fully functioning and official version of the Office productivity suite in 2014 for the Linux platform. We aren't suggesting that a release of Office for Linux would instantly make desktop Linux a more appealing proposition to every computer user in the world, but it would certainly act as encouragement for those who have been dicing with the idea of introducing Linux into their lives.
This year has been huge for the game console market, with Microsoft gearing up for a long-awaited release of a next-generation Xbox, known in the gaming community as the Xbox 720, which is meant to replace the Xbox 360. While details on the new console have been scarce, a new report suggests that Microsoft will be cracking down on the resale of used games, requiring game copies to be validated online every time that they are launched, in addition for an always-on connection for the console to function at all.
