Tag archive: Robbie Bach

Microsoft has officially announced that Robbie Bach, the head of its Entertainment and Devices division, will be “retiring” from Microsoft this fall. The Entertainment and Devices division is responsible for things like Microsoft's Xbox business, as well as the Zune and Windows Mobile; in the wake of Bach's departure the division will effectively be dissolved, with Interactive Entertainment senior VP Don Mattrick and… Read More

Microsoft has officially unveiled Windows Mobile 6.1, the lated version of its operating system for smartphones and other mobile devices. Microsoft claims the new version of Internet Explorer Mobile offers a “desktop-grade” Internet browsing experience—but, perhaps more importantly, that the upgrade will be supported by a wide variety of devices and carriers. “People want a single phone that's flexible enough… Read More

Microsoft is leaning more heavily into the mobile industry, announcing today it is acquiring mobile phone maker Danger Inc. In addition to developing the fad-creating Sidekick phone for T-Mobile, the Palo Alto-based Danger develops a mobile platform that combines mobile messaging, Web browsing, social networking, entertainment, and personal information management; Microsoft will work to integrate these services with its existing mobile… Read More

Microsoft announced today that Peter Moore, the head of its Xbox and Games for Windows businesses, has resigned from the company. Moore will stay on through August to assist in the transition. In a statement, Microsoft says Moore has decided to move his family back to northern California and pursue "another opportunity in the video game industry." What Microsoft doesn't say is that Moore's new position is as… Read More

When Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 back in late 2005, the console was greeted by both rapt enthusiasm from the gaming community, but also a chorus of peristent complaints the video game consoles were prone to failure. In response, in December of 2006 Microsoft extended the warranty on Xbox 360 consoles from 90 days to one year; now, the "unacceptable number of repairs" to Xbox 360 consoles has caused Microsoft to extend the Xbox… Read More

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, says the company has managed to sell “a little over a million Zunes,”—and claims the company's device has a 10 percent share of the hard-disk based media player category. In comparison, Apple's iPod—which has admittedly been on the market much longer than the… Read More

As part of its CES announcements, Microsoft has announced plans to bring Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) to its Xbox 360 gaming system. As envisioned, the technology with enable Xbox 360 owners to tune into television content streamed to their consoles via the Internet and home broadband connections, and integrate with other IP-based services on the Xbox 360 like instant messaging, voice and text chat, and even gaming. "Both… Read More

At this week's Digital Life event, Microsoft introduced out a new educational campaign under the tag “Safety is no game. Is your family set?” in conjunction with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and retailer Best Buy. The goal? to provide parents and other “caregivers” information and tools to make gaming and other interactive entertainment “safer, more secure, and fun for children.” (We assume… Read More

At its annual day-long meeting for financial analysts in Redmond yesterday, Microsoft executives tried to put positive spins on its current business directions, attempting to allay concerns Windows Vista will arrive late and be adopted slowly and that Software as a Service (SaaS) is a viable business model for the future. And Microsoft also revealed it doesn't expect it's forthcoming line of Zune digital media devices to swiftly… Read More

Microsoft's Xbox group must be very happy campers right now as their latest numbers on membership of Xbox Live show strong growth over the last year. The size of the community, Microsoft says, has effectively doubled to 2 million users. This is the estimated equivalent of one new member every 30 seconds. The computer giant, according to a press release, equates this exponential growth largely to a growing library of videogame titles… Read More

The replacement power cords are designed to protect consumers and their Xbox consoles from rare electrical component failures that can pose a fire hazard. Fewer than one in 10,000 consoles have experienced these component failures, and, in almost all instances, any damage caused by these failures was contained within the console itself or limited to the tip of the power cord at the back of the console. However, in 30 consoles worldwide,… Read More

“Nintendo's dominance of the handheld market makes Sony's launch “like developing your own little operating system and saying, 'Well, I'm going to challenge Windows',” Moore told questioners at a Halo 2 Backstage Pass event in Seattle late last week, according to a report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach was less dismissive of the system, but he argued that the… Read More

A senior Microsoft Europe executive responded to increasing speculation that it will launch its successor to Xbox at the San Jose show by saying: “It's fair to say we won't be announcing a hardware platform at GDC”. This news will come as a blow to those expecting that the show would mirror the role played by the event four years ago, when MS chief Bill Gates emerged on stage decked out in an Xbox baseball jacket to… Read More

The veteran Microsoft executive who headed the company's push into console video game software and is credited with launching hits like the PC favorite “Flight Simulator” and “Halo” for the Xbox has resigned, Microsoft said on Tuesday. Ed Fries, who joined Microsoft in 1985 as an intern, had headed the company's game studio since 1995 and was responsible for cementing key relationships with game software… Read More

The videogame industry received a dose of good news on Wednesday when Nintendo Co. Ltd. said holiday sales of its GameCube rose over 70 percent from a year ago, while Sony Corp's PS2 sales did notfall as sharply as expected. A 27 percent rise in software sales for Sony's PlayStation 2 (PS2) console in November and December from a year earlier confirmed that year-end sales were strong, but analysts said the comeback by Nintendo was… Read More