console

Microsoft has made it official: the next Xbox will be unveiled at a May 21 event in Redmond, Wash., just weeks before E3 opens its doors. This looks like the inevitable Xbox-PlayStation next-gen console war we've all been expecting.

What will it take for Microsoft to keep its strong foothold in the gaming industry? Here's what I'm looking for.

Be the ultimate TV-streaming (and movie-playing) box The Xbox 360 has already carved a great role for itself as a streaming-media hub, and rumors point to the next Xbox possibly being a true rival to a future Apple … Read more

It's called Project Unity, and it's been the labor of love for the modder known as Bacteria. It's taken three years and 3,500 hours of work, but it's finally done.

Unity houses the original circuit boards from 15 classic consoles, all powered by a single PSU and outputting via a single Scart cable.

Most clever of all is the single master gamepad designed by Bacteria. The controller actually takes a custom-built cartridge, which maps out the control interface for the required system. So, to play a PlayStation 2 game, for example, you plug the PS2 cartridge into the gamepad and it'll behave like the appropriate controller. … Read more

Microsoft will spill the beans on its next-generation Xbox at an event on May 21, according to Windows blogger Paul Thurrott and a report from The Verge.

Originally scheduled for April, the event was pushed back to May, sources have told the Verge.

That echoes similar information from Supersite for Windows writer Paul Thurrott. In an interview with the video blog "What the Tech" on Friday, Thurrott said that Microsoft had planned to announce the new console on April 24 but then rescheduled the event for May 21. In the video clip of the show, Thurrott's comments about the next Xbox start at the 54:44 mark.… Read more

After seeing it in person this week, I can safely say that the Ouya game console does indeed exist. Now, will it quickly piggyback its way into millions of living rooms thanks to its low price and free-to-try games or assume a place in the pile of wouldbe consoles that failed to mount a legitimate challenge gaming’s mainstream? My bet’s on it finding a comfortable place somewhere in the middle; however, having only spent an hour with the console this week, it wouldn’t be fair to make any final judgments.

What I will do is attempt to … Read more

You can now preorder the first Steam Box, a PC-based gaming console built around Valve's digital game distribution platform. Prices start at $1,000, though there's a $100 discount if you order now.

Manufacturer Xi3 announced the Piston earlier this year at CES. The "grapefruit-size" Piston uses Steam's Big Picture feature to bring console-style PC games to TV screens.

Xi3 is a modular PC vendor that has received funding from Valve, and its Piston console is among a handful of such console-style PCs expected to arrive in 2013. The Piston console is slated to ship in the holiday season at the end of 2013, which also happens to be the estimated launch period for Sony's next-generation PlayStation 4. … Read more

It's been weeks since the PlayStation 4 event underwhelmed many people. Myself included. But as time has passed, my mind's become clearer as to why, exactly, I was so disappointed. It's a challenge for the PlayStation 4 to overcome, but it's also a challenge of all "next-gen" consoles.

I hate the term "next-gen" as much as anyone else, but that's what happens when you have one piece of hardware sit out on the market for six or seven years while you anticipate what the Next Big Thing will be. "Next-gen&… Read more

Sony PlayStation 4 The current hot topic in console gaming, the just-announced PlayStation 4, is still largely an enigma. We don't know how much the PS4 will cost, when it's being released (beyond "holiday 2013"), or even what it looks like.

For now, it's still the next-gen hardware to beat, and what little we do know sounds impressive, with an entirely new system architecture based on an X86 AMD CPU/GPU that should make the PS4 easier to develop for and more flexible (and, frankly, more PC-like).

But 2013 will take the traditional three-way console … Read more

Editor's note: It's official. Microsoft has announced the future of Xbox (and the next console) will be revealed at an event in Redmond, Washington on May 21.

Press events are a tricky beast. No one ever said they were easy to pull off. But with Sony casting the first stone in the next-generation console gaming war, Microsoft can learn a lot from what worked and what didn't.

When the lights went up, Sony execs were shaking hands and congratulating each other. But the packed house at the Hammerstein Ballroom wasn't exactly participating in the same adulation. … Read more

Low Latency is a weekly comic on CNET's Crave blog written by CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Friday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here's every Low Latency comic so far.… Read more