Debugging the Xbox One Spontaneous Shutoff

My family’s big Christmas present this year was an Xbox One. The kids and I are loving it — I’m battling my way through the Halo: Master Chiefedition, and the kids are questing for the Lonely Mountain in LEGO: The Hobbit. Unfortunately while Halo looks great and the voice controls are very 21st century, the damn thing unexpectedly turns … Read more

Halo 2 Soundtrack, Vol. 2 Delivers the True Halo Experience

Master Chief holds two submachine guns as the world explodes in a orange-yellow haze around him.

When Halo 2 was released, it was accompanied by a soundtrack. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the soundtrack fans had been hoping for: instead of one featuring the music from the game, it instead pulled the old “music from and inspired by the game” trick. While a few game tracks could be found on it, including “Halo … Read more

Xbox Wins Converts with Game Play, Live Component

My friends and I have a problem. We’re scattered geographically and temporally, with jobs, families and commitments that keep us from gaming as much as we’d like. We’ve tried online gaming via Windows but have been disappointed every time. Poor net connections, aging hardware, and incongruent patches foiled us time and again. But the Xbox … Read more

A Two-Game Console Home

Microsoft formally announced today that it’s dropping the price of its Xbox game console to $150, from $180. The price will go into effect on Tuesday, and with any luck, I’ll be buying an Xbox sometime soon. A few years back, when I picked up my PlayStation 2, I never expected to buy an Xbox. … Read more