Seattle: Microsoft Corp is set to make a splash this week with the eagerly awaited unveiling of its new Xbox game console, eight years after the last version, as it seeks a larger share of the $65 billion a year global computer gaming industry.
But the small device faces some big competition from the PlayStation 4 by Sony Corp and the Wii U by Nintendo Co Ltd in a shifting market.
Gamers are gravitating to online play - suggesting the hey-day of console games are over - while Microsoft wants its sleek new toy to finally cross the bridge to the mainstream and become the family's entertainment center.
"Core gamers are very hungry for a new machine but the difference between 2005 and now is that the stakes are so much higher," said Ryan McCaffrey, executive editor at entertainment website IGN.com, harking back to Microsoft's last Xbox release. "The entire Xbox experiment from Microsoft was for it to be the center piece of your living room."...
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12:13 AM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: Holding the opposition's "disruptionary tactics" responsible for not allowing passage of the Food Security and Land Acquisition Bills in Parliament's Budget Session, the Congress on Saturday expressed its willingness for a special session if the other parties were agreed. Congress spokesperson PC Chacko also said that the party will take "disruptionary tactics" of the opposition to the people, alleging they had displayed "least inclination" towards passing pro-people legislations...
11:22 PM, May 18, 2013
Tuticorin: A 33-year old man was arrested on Saturday for alleged indecent and obscene acts near the government nursing college hostel. The accused had scaled the compound wall of the hostel and stripped himself before dancing, shocking the students, police said. He was arrested on a complaint by the Resident Doctor of the hostel, police said adding the accused along with two others had been indulging in similar obscene acts...
08:33 PM, May 18, 2013
Mumbai: Pakistani actress Veena Malik, who was linked to actor Ashmit Patel post their 'Bigg Boss 4' stint, says he was never her friend and that she only believes in maintaining friendship with her career. During 'Bigg Boss 4', the two seemed to have bonded well, and were also seen together at various events post the show. But both Veena and Ashmit never gave a clear picture about their relationship....
05:08 PM, May 18, 2013
Lahore: A Pakistani judge investigating the murder of Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh has appealed to Indian nationals having information about the matter to file written submissions with relevant documents within seven days. Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court is investigating the death of Sarabjit following a brutal assault by prisoners within Kot Lakhpat Jail. "The Indians are required to get themselves registered with...
01:12 PM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: 'Hotel California' is a name that has inspired filmmakers across the globe. The latest to get influenced by the name is director Aji John whose Malayalam film is called 'Hotel California'. The film features Anoop Menon, Honey Rose, Maria Roy and Aparna Nair. It has Shaan Rahman as music composer while cinematography is handled by Jithu Damodar. The film has already been released on May 3, 2013 and...
09:39 AM, May 18, 2013
New York: Two passenger trains heading in opposite directions collided during rush hour in southwestern Connecticut, injuring 60 people, five of them critically, and closing the key corridor between New York and Boston. A Metro-North train heading from New Haven to New York City derailed around 6:10 pm on Friday, hitting the other train in Bridgeport, Connecticut, about 60 miles northeast of New York City on the Long Island Sound,...
09:30 AM, May 18, 2013
Madrid: A Copa del Rey final defeat against Atletico Madrid capped the worst season of Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho's career, the Portuguese said on Friday after the 2-1 loss left him without a major title this season. Widely expected to move on at the end of the campaign and linked with a return to Chelsea, a grim-faced Mourinho gave little away about his future but said Real, the world's...
09:18 AM, May 18, 2013
Madrid: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho was sent from the bench for protesting a referee's decision in the second-half of Friday's Copa del Rey final against Atletico Madrid. The Portuguese reacted furiously when the official awarded a free kick to Atletico with around 15 minutes remaining at the Bernabeu, racing to the edge of his technical area and gesticulating wildly. Cristiano Ronaldo had put Real ahead in the 14th minute...
09:01 AM, May 18, 2013
Madrid: The Copa del Rey trophy was supposed to be coach Jose Mourinho's parting gift for Real Madrid, or at least a consolation prize after a season that will be remembered for his abrasive antics and his team's failure to win silverware. Instead, Atletico Madrid ended a 14-year winless run against their city rivals by taking the title on Friday, coming from behind for a cathartic 2-1 win in extra...
07:30 AM, May 18, 2013
Boston: A judge has rejected a request from lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who want to take periodic photos of him in prison. US Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler on Friday said the prison where Tsarnaev is housed has a policy against visitors bringing cameras. Tsarnaev's lawyers argued the photos could provide evidence on the voluntariness of his statements and be used in an argument to mitigate his...
07:15 AM, May 18, 2013
Buenos Aires: Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander who led Argentina during the bloodiest period of a "dirty war" dictatorship and was unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the state, died on Friday at age 87. Videla was the first president to head the military junta that "disappeared" thousands of suspected leftists from 1976 to 1983, and he spent his final years behind bars for human rights...
06:51 AM, May 18, 2013
Baquba: Two bombs exploded outside a Sunni Muslim mosque in the Iraqi city of Baquba as worshippers left Friday prayers, killing at least 43 people in one of the deadliest attacks in a month-long surge in sectarian violence. Several other bombings claimed lives around the country - with 19 killed near a commercial complex in the west of Baghdad, as mounting violence intensified fears of a return to all-out civil...
06:41 AM, May 18, 2013
Tokyo: India and Japan on Friday agreed to further strengthen investment and trade ties by ensuring faster implementation of ongoing projects. Both the countries have agreed to support planned initiatives and projects in this year designed for strengthening business partnership to be organized by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a joint statement by Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and...
05:35 AM, May 18, 2013
London: James Anderson took his 300th Test wicket and then ended a bold counter-attack by New Zealand's Ross Taylor as England fought back in the first Test at Lord's. The two players lit up a Lord's bathed in artificial floodlight to counter the overhead gloom of Friday's second day which ended with New Zealand 153 for four in reply to England's first innings 232, a deficit of 79 runs. Anderson...
11:50 PM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: With the 2G spectrum issue getting caught in logjam in the JPC, the BJP on Friday sought to bring the matter to the forefront of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee saying the matter is pending and should be disposed of. The demand to settle the pending issue came at the first meeting of the newly-constituted PAC. BJP member Prakash Javadekar raised the issue of PAC's draft report on 2G...
09:35 PM, May 17, 2013
Washington: A purported new issue of an English-language al Qaeda magazine, linked to the Boston terrorist attacks, has been posted on the web but its contents were hacked. The "Inspire" magazine, produced by al Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate - al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which regularly includes how-to instructions for followers to carry out terrorist attacks in the West - has received significant scrutiny in recent weeks. Investigators believe that...
05:42 PM, May 17, 2013
Islamabad: Two blasts ripped through as many mosques in the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing 15 people and injuring 25 others, security officials said. The blasts occurred during Friday prayers in the mosques at Bazdara area of Malakand district, an erstwhile stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban. Fifteen people were killed, officials of the Levies militia told the media. The mosques were damaged by the blasts. Local...
04:22 PM, May 17, 2013
Thiruvananthapuram: A man in Thiruvananthapuram is on a mission to ensure the poor do not go hungry. Feeding over a 100 people every day for the past 30 years, Suryalayam is known as the messiah of the hungry. Every morning in a small restaurant on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, a 100 meals are cooked, packed and then handed over to Suryalayam Raveendran. He then takes off on his bike looking...
02:32 PM, May 17, 2013
Wisden called him "the man who came from two countries, and played for two others", and his career was certainly one of the more unusual ...
02:19 PM, May 17, 2013
