Microsoft is reportedly considering offering a deeply discounted Xbox 360 and Kinect bundle to customers who are willing to take on a two-year Xbox Live subscription.

The bundle would cost a paltry $100 up front, with subscription fees of $15/mo, and would include Xbox Live Gold service and "various types of streaming content," The Verge reports.

The contracts would reportedly also have an early termination fee, much like the cell contracts that seemingly inspired this subsidized Xbox package.

The total cost would add up to roughly $460 over that two-year period.

Microsoft hasn't commented on the rumor.

[joystiq.]

While the official Halo movie is still stuck in Hollywood limbo, Microsoft is throwing fans a bone with a web series due to be released ahead of Halo 4 this fall.

Forward Unto Dawn will be a five-episode weekly series that follows Master Chief as he inspires a young USNC cadet who goes on to play a key role on the Infinity. The new character will also play a big part in the plot of Halo 4.

As far as the possible full-length Halo film, 343 Industries' Matt McCloskey says, "I don't think anybody needs any reminding of (the potential). Everyone keeps reminding us of that."

Halo 4 is due out November 6.

[blastr.]

The tech world is abuzz over Facebook's $1 billion buyout of Instagram, but it's not even the biggest acquisition a major tech company has made today. Microsoft paid AOL $1.056 billion in cash for 800 patents after "a competitive auction process."

Patents in the portfolio deal with advertising, search, content generation/management, social networking, mapping, streaming media and security, TechCrunch reports.

AOL said in a memo to employees that it will retain 300 patents that deal with its core businesses, including ads, search and content generation.

Microsoft hasn't announced what it intends to do with the patent portfolio, although it could be used defensively. Yahoo! is currently waging a patent war against Facebook, a company in which Microsoft owns a stake, and MS may be protecting itself from any similar suits.

[techcrunch]

Microsoft's next-gen Xbox may launch during next year's Christmas season, according to third-party developers who have reportedly been fully briefed on the console.

The good news: it will run on dual AMD GPUs and between four and six processor cores, and will come with a built-in Kinect and a Blu-ray drive.

The bad news: it may require an always-on Internet connection as an anti-piracy measure.

If Microsoft is considering requiring gamers to connect to Xbox Live even for single-player games, they're not alone: Sony's next PlayStation is also rumored to require a constant Internet connection.

These new rumors contradict a previous report from MS Nerd, saying that the Xbox released next year will be a "stripped-down" version of the 360.

Microsoft won't bring the new console to E3, and isn't expected to officially announce anything about it until 2013.

[vg247]

Microsoft's next Xbox might be a stripped-down version of the current system, according to Microsoft blogger MS Nerd.

In a Reddit post, MS Nerd -- who doesn't work at Microsoft, but may have inside sources -- claims the new Xbox will be based on an ARM processor, and will play "Arcade-style" games, run media apps, and work with the Kinect.

He speculates it will be released in late 2013 and cost about as much an Apple TV ($99). A "true successor to the 360" will follow "at some point after that," and Kinect will get updates to both its camera and processor by 2015.

Although rumors are rampant, Microsoft has been very quiet about its next Xbox console, and recently announced it won't be unveiling the system at this year's E3.

[joystiq]

Microsoft has apologized to a tech blogger who says that his Android phone won the company's "Smoked by Windows Phone" challenge but he was told that he lost "just because."

Sahas Katta of skattertech.com took the challenge -- which pits customers' current phones against Windows Phone 7 in a speed test -- last week, and his Galaxy Nexus was able to load the weather in two cities before the Microsoft phone could, but he says he was told he lost anyway.

He writes,

Another Microsoft Store employee (possibly a manager) came by after noticing me asking more questions. Thinking on his feet, he quickly gave a ridiculous out-of-thin-air reason that I need to display the weather of different cities in different states and that 'my phone could not do that.'

After Katta blogged about the incident and got quite a bit of attention on Reddit, Microsoft's Ben "The PC Guy" Rudolph tweeted an apology and offered Katta a free phone and laptop to make things right.

Katta said on Twitter that he'll be "sharing a statement to address the #smokedbywindowsphone chaos" later today.

[mashable]

Microsoft has announced an official release date and details for the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft. Mojang's insanely popular freeform world-building game will hit Xbox Live Arcade on May 9th.

The company says the 360 edition of Minecraft will feature a brand new crafting interface, as well as "natural controller movements" and a split-screen mode for up to 4 players -- with up to 8 players if you combine splitscreen and online play.

It will sell for 1600 points ($20).

[usatoday]