Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL), Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE)
Microsoft Canada opens world-class development centre to drive business technology innovation (WSJ)
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Canada today announced the opening of its new Microsoft Technology Centre (MTC), a highly collaborative, world-class facility in Mississauga that will give Canadian businesses access to cutting-edge technologies and industry-leading expertise. The aim of the centre is to enable businesses to envision, design and deploy innovative solutions that will better meet their needs and goals. “The Microsoft Technology Centre will have a huge impact as a Canadian innovation hub, reimagining what’s possible in Canadian business and helping to drive this country’s economy forward,” says Staci Trackey Meagher, Vice President, Enterprise and Partner Group, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Canada. “Despite the global economic uncertainty in recent years, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has continued to steadily increase its R&D investments, and this new $20-million facility is just the latest example of our long-standing commitment to make Canadian businesses worldwide leaders in technology.”
In the video game industry, the consumer almost always speaks loudly and clearly. When questions are fired, companies need to have answers, lest they face the wrath of gamers scorned. If no good answer comes to mind, though, it may be worth thinking one through before speaking. Unfortunately, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Don Mattrick, the president of interactive entertainment business for the company, took another route when it came to addressing gamers’ concerns that the Xbox One requires a constant Internet connection, allowing for only a 24-hour period of offline play before games become unplayable.
Microsoft says used games will work on Xbox One (News-Journal)
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s upcoming Xbox One gaming console will be able to play used games, clearing up a worry among gamers and video game retailers such as GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME), which trade in used games. That means video games discs users buy will not be limited to one Xbox One device, and players can share or trade in the games they have bought for other used games, just as they have been able to do in the past. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) said in a blog post Thursday that it will not charge a fee to retailers, publishers or gamers for transferring their old games.
Mandate computing classes, tech giants say (BostonGlobe)
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), and Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) all sent representatives to Beacon Hill Wednesday to press Massachusetts lawmakers for more computer science classes in the state’s public schools. The companies have thrown their support behind the newly formed Massachusetts Computing Attainment Network, or MassCAN, to advocate for Massachusetts to require computer science classes as early as eighth grade and introduce new computing standards and course work for high school students. …The effort is also backed by about a half-dozen statewide technology industry groups, such as the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council and the Massachusetts Business Roundtable.
Sony takes on Microsoft, prices new PS4 below Xbox One (DNAIndia)
PlayStation 4 console $100 lower than the new Xbox One by rival Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) as competition for gamers’ pockets intensifies ahead of the year-end holidays and gift-giving season. Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) said it would sell the latest PlayStation model for $399 late in the year shortly after Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a $499 price tag for its first new Xbox in eight years and said it would go on sale in the United States in November. Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) also drew cheers from the audience at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles when it said the PS4 would run second-hand games and did not require an always-on Internet connection.
