Photos: Microsoft’s last (and worst) CES keynote

By Molly McHugh January 9, 2012

After nearly 20 years at the CES show, Microsoft will bow out to pursue new “innovation.” In a good-natured opening, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association Gary Shapiro reminisced about the organization’s relationship with Microsoft — in a “you better come back, or else” sort of way.

Steve Balmer and Ryan Seacrest gave us a peak (peak being the operative word) at Windows 8, Windows Phone 7 updates, new Xbox entertainment integrations, and interactive TV applications. And in a bizarre twist, a “tweet choir” made an appearance, singing Twitter updates about the keynote. Hopefully this only brushed the surface of what Microsoft plans to bring to the table this year.

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Molly McHugh

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…

Gaming

Halo Infinite’s talkative Grunts are bad stand-up comedians

I've played every mainline Halo title, with the exception of Halo 5, and have always been bothered by one thing: The Grunts. They are are a cannon fodder enemy type that is meant to fill in ranks and give players something they can mow down without much thought when not facing off against tougher enemies like Elites. In the early days of the series, they were a perfectly fine enemy that was fun to melee attack. They made goofy sounds when attacked, which injected a bit of levity into an otherwise melodramatic series.

It wasn't long before the developers doubled down on that joke, making them more explicitly comedic with one-liners. Grunt humor has always been hit-or-miss, but Halo Infinite takes the hackiness to an overbearing level at the expense of the game's tone.
Grunts are not funny

Gaming

Halo Infinite has what it takes to thrive as an esports game

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Esports changed after that, or at least it felt like they did. There were still some first-person shooters doing tournaments, but all the attention seemed to have shifted to MOBAs around that time. Games like DOTA 2 and League of Legends have hosted the biggest Esport tournaments of all time, with giant cash prizes and even bigger viewer numbers.

Gaming

The pandemic forced fighting games to grow up in 2021

fighting game growth 2021 kof15 screenshot

Fighting games are one of the most iconic gaming genres out there. From the arcades and cabinet-to-cabinet bouts with Street Fighter 2 to home consoles featuring online netplay across the country with Street Fighter 5, these titles and more like them have become engrained in gaming culture.

Despite how important fighting games are to the medium's history, the genre hadn't really grown up much since its arcade days. That was especially apparent in their archaic online implementation, which was holding back their potential. It wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic that the genre was forced to modernize and finally act its age.
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