Microsoft

One of the platform holders is to bow out of the hardware race at E3 in June, according to an executive at cloud gaming service Gaikai. Speaking to Industry Gamers at this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Gaikai's chief product officer Nanea Reeves said: "Not all of the current console makers will have one more generation. That will be the big news at E3." More >

Cloud gaming service OnLive has further expanded its reach today by announcing OnLive Desktop, a free app which brings Microsoft Windows to Apple's iPad. The company says OnLive Desktop is the first "no-compromise" Windows experience on iPad, which will give full access to Windows 7 applications including Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The app offers multi-touch recognition, a full on-screen keyboard and handwriting recognition. More >

Microsoft has sold more than 66 million Xbox 360s, and over 18 million units of the Kinect motion sensor. The figures were revealed by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer during his keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last night. He also revealed that Xbox Live has more than 40 million users, but neglected to specify how many were paying Gold members. More >

Activision's Call Of Duty series occupies the top three slots in Microsoft's chart of last year's most played games on Xbox Live. Black Ops was the most played game of the year, ahead of Modern Warfare 3, which is in second spot despite only launching on November 8. Modern Warfare 2, released in 2009, is in third. More >

Microsoft has moved to insist that its Xbox Live service hasn't been breached, and that the ongoing glut of account thefts are the result of phishing attacks. The company's statement comes after one user managed to track down the hacker who had stolen her account and spent over $300 on Microsoft Points using her stored credit card details, and found websites with thousands of Live accounts up for sale. More >

An Xbox Live user whose account was compromised and used to purchase thousands of Microsoft Points has identified the hacker involved, and discovered websites where accounts are up for sale. In a lengthy post on Tumblr, the user explains that her account was compromised not once, but twice, despite Microsoft having insisted the account had been locked. When she queried this with Microsoft she was told: "The fraud department was unable to block your account." More >

Microsoft and Sony will both unveil their next-generation consoles at E3 this year, according to reports. A source has told MCV that 2012 will mark the first time in E3's 17-year history that all platform holders will have a new console to show off. Sony has apparently told thirdparties that it has no intention of being late to market, as it was with PS3. More >

Microsoft has announced several changes to file size limits on the Xbox Live Indie Games service. The maximum size of games on the service is now 500MB, up from the previous 150MB. Developers can now charge 80 Microsoft Points for games of up to 150MB in size; previously, games over 50MB had to be priced at 240 or 400 MSP. More >

Microsoft Studios has announced a multi-year, mult-game strategic partnership with Arkadium, a New York-based developer of social and casual games. In a press release, Arkadium described the deal as "an evolution of the relationship the two companies have been developing over the previous two years." More >

Microsoft has added the latest wave of video apps to Xbox 360, with UK customers now able to view content from Channels 4 and 5, and video streaming service Dailymotion, from their Xbox 360 dashboard. More >

Microsoft has apparently failed to respond to concerns raised by beta testers who spotted a drop in the quality of video playback after installing the Xbox 360 Metro dashboard update. Users told Eurogamer that videos played from the new dash run at limited range RGB levels, with colours washed out and blacks appearing grey, with Digital Foundry tests confirming the issue. More >

The Halo Waypoint app, previously only available for Windows Phone 7, has been released for iOS and Android. The app includes Atlas, the official multiplayer companion for Halo: Reach that shows multiplayer and Firefight map layouts and their weapon and vehicle locations, with Waypoint tracking match stats in near-realtime. More >