Xbox 360

The Xbox 360's holiday makeover

Xbox 360 gets an image makeover to compete with the Wii. Image: Microsoft

By Yi-Wyn Yen

The Xbox 360 is getting a major software update designed to transform it into a multimedia machine.

Starting Wednesday, all Xbox 360 owners will be required to update their gaming consoles so that they can watch movies in high-definition, stream TV shows and movies from Netflix (NFLX) and navigate categories like games, photos, and videos through a MORE

Sega head: Industry stunned by Activision/Vivendi merger

By Jeffrey M. O'Brien

On one level, the proposed $18.8 billion merger of Activision (ATVI) and Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment (EPA:VIV) seems to make a lot of sense. Good mergers maximize revenue by combining non-overlapping products (like the Guitar Hero Franchise, Tony Hawk, and the World of Warcraft phenomenon), and maximize profits by consolidating administrative costs. But in an industry like gaming, there's an X factor, creativity. Sure, these companies fit MORE

EA's massive effect on the Xbox 360

Uh-oh. Microsoft might be getting its ears Xboxed—again. Six days after Microsoft (MSFT) and the makers of its latest videogame blockbuster, Halo 3 split up, the software giant learned it might lose an exclusive deal with a developer that's about to release another potential Xbox 360 hit, Mass Effect.

Though EA's $860 million purchase of Pandemic Studios and BioWare, the makers of the science-fiction action thriller Mass Effect, won't affect Microsoft MORE