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SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday that users of its forthcoming Xbox One game console will be able to play games offline without establishing an Internet connection, and will be able to lend or sell used disc-based games.The announcement reverses the company's position when it unveiled the console in May, causing consternation among hardcore gamers.The company had reversed its earlier stance on used games and daily online authentication after listening to "candid feedback" from its fans, Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, said in a blog post on Wednesday.Last week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, Microsoft 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 in 21 countries.Its rival, Sony Corp, said it would sell the next-generation PlayStation model for $399 late in the year. ...
NEW YORK: Global package delivery giant FedEx Wednesday reported a seven percent increase in quarterly profits, as increased volumes of some North American deliveries offset declines in some premium international services.FedEx, which is often seen as a barometer for global economic conditions, said profits for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, which ended May 31, rose to $679 million from $634 million in the year-earlier period.Those figures are "adjusted profits" and exclude a 98 cents ...
TOKYO: A US billionaire's gentle bid to convince Sony to spin off part of its entertainment arm could mark a dramatic shift from previous, mostly unsuccessful, forays by foreign investors into Japan's cloistered corporate landscape, analysts say.The electronics giant is holding its annual shareholders meeting on Thursday in Tokyo where the break-up plan devised by Daniel Loeb, head of hedge fund Third Point, was expected to feature.But rather than seeking a public showdown with Sony's ...
FRANKFURT: Vodafone is discussing a bid of about $10 billion with Germany's No. 1 cable operator Kabel Deutschland and is confident its raised all-cash offer and absence of antitrust issues put it in a better position than rival Liberty Global, two sources familiar with its thinking said on Wednesday.Liberty Global, which owns Unity Media, Germany's No. 2 cable operator, made an 85-euros-a-share offer on Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said, just days after ...
SHANGHAI: General Motors Co's strategy to make its 110-year-old Cadillac brand one of China's top-selling luxury rides went up a gear on Wednesday as the US automaker unveiled plans to expand its retail network in the world's largest car market.The company aims to quadruple its share of China's luxury auto market to 10 percent, or about 250,000 cars, by the end of the decade, with new Cadillac models leading the charge against a strong field ...
WASHINGTON: Where have all the carpenters gone? Home builders across the United States are scratching their heads for an answer as they struggle to assemble crews to keep up with growing demand.In some parts of the country, the shortage of skilled carpenters especially framers is so bad that builders cannot get projects off the ground and it is taking as much as two months longer than normal to complete a project."Right now I have framing ...
LISBON: Portugal's borrowing costs rose at a Treasury bill auction on Wednesday, reversing a long period of declines following a recent jump in euro zone peripheral issuers' debt yields.The increase in peripheral issuers' yields in the past few weeks has reflected concerns about a possible scaling back by the US Federal Reserve of its policy of pumping cheap money into bond markets, guidance on which may come in the Fed's statement at 1800 GMT.The IGCP ...More Articles...
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