Looking forward, the company said it thought its first-person shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 had "the potential to be biggest-selling game of all time", despite launching a week after Microsoft's well-reviewed Xbox-title Halo 4.
That beefed-up price tag--which also applies to games for Microsoft 's Xbox 360--is a 20% increase over games for earlier consoles.
While we're sure just about anyone could find a plethora of utility in Ben Heck's LCD-equipped Xbox 360, the latest offering from Divineo (the same company which Sony loathes) slaps a 5.8-inch widescreen LCD onto the side of Microsoft's console, which actually enables gameplay right on the side of your machine.
ENGADGET: Divineo offers up LCD-infused Xbox 360, practicality in doubt
As we learned when the console was initially announced, the Wii U's "proprietary high-density optical discs" hold up to 25GB of data -- equivalent with that of Sony's single-layer Blu-ray format on the PlayStation 3, and much larger than the Xbox 360's dual-layer DVD format.
ENGADGET: Take a very, very close look at the round-edged Wii U proprietary discs
Wii U has to make the case to turn to it rather than a set-top box connected TV, competing games console - Xbox's extensive range of TV partners makes it a formidable competitor in this respect - and even a tablet or smartphone.
In the company's second Xbox 360 controller -- the Sabertooth -- Razer's focusing on the tournament gaming crowd rather than simply outfitting its Onza with "Tournament Edition" specs.
ENGADGET: Razer Sabertooth Xbox 360 controller ups the ante on tourney gaming, we go hands-on
It's essentially the marriage of an Xbox 360-style GamePad to a 5-inch screen, all powered by NVIDIA's brand new Tegra 4 mobile CPU. But the device's origins aren't quite as glamorous as its form, even in prototype stage.
's (nyse: NWS - news - people ) social networking phenomenon MySpace and online videogame services like Microsoft 's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Xbox Live, U.S. Internet carriers saw usage increase up to 90% in the past year, Nortel estimates.
The console and Microsoft's Xbox 360 are neck-and-neck in global market share as the No. 2 game machine, behind Nintendo's Wii, among the current generation of game machines.
WSJ: Sony Considers��but Rejects��Dropping Disk Drive From Game Console
The favorite is Nvidia, chip designer for Xbox's well-regarded graphics.
And some game developers are working on techniques to show their games in 3-D on Microsoft's Xbox 360 device and on PCs.
The Xbox One's architecture -- equipped with a new x86 CPU -- prevents it from being able to run games designed for the 360's eight year old Xenon processor.
Gamache recently hired one of the developers of Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people )'s Xbox Live to see what else he can do with online multiplayer games.
The market for multimedia portals is starting to get crowded and BitTorrent will face competition from Amazon, Apple, Wal-Mart , Microsoft's Xbox as well as from YouTube, Joost and the CinemaNow and Movielink sites.
The surprise bright spot: Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Entertainment and Devices division, built around the company's XBox console franchise, reported sales growth of 68% over the year-ago period, easily beating analysts' expectations.
Microsoft's pre-owned game policy for their new Xbox One console has been a source of confusion and contention.
In the meantime there's always the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on, or deciding which free HD DVDs to get.
ENGADGET: Toshiba second gen HD DVD players delayed worldwide HD
Like its biggest competitor at the time, Sony s PlayStation 2, the Xbox offered high-powered graphics, a DVD player and the ability to connect to the Internet.
Though not commenting on the date of the event, Microsoft did mention that it would be focusing more on the Xbox's role as a set-top entertainment center going forward.
There is a lot of work on virtual heads, or avatars, at the moment - you can even use Microsoft's Xbox Kinect system to create a virtual you to put in a game.
Throughout most of the year, earlier installments of the game held between two and three slots on the top five most-played games list on Microsoft's Xbox Live online game service, according to Microsoft.
And even a homegrown success--like the Xbox--isn't enough to make more than a dent in Microsoft's results.
Microsoft 's ( MSFT - news - people ) Xbox Live or Facebook.
In contrast with the Dell and the Mac, Microsoft's Xbox 360 uses an even quicker, three-core IBM chip.
Microsoft's strategy differs from Sony - the entire online service for Xbox is available only through Microsoft while Sony is allowing game developers to set up their own online services.
Beyond simple controller or media remote input, Flixster's Xbox 360 app employs Kinect for gesture and voice-based navigation.
The PS3 has been outsold by Microsoft's Xbox 360 for 20 months running in the US - the world's biggest games market, according to data from NPD.
Microsoft is prepping a massive launch in November for its new Xbox 360 console, which promises to blow away the old Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2 with high-def graphics.
FORBES: Small game developers have an unlikely ally in Microsoft.
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