GameRating

Microsoft has recently updated its Twitter page with this:

California here we come! The @MicrosoftStore opens its newest location this spring at the @SouthCoastPlaza in Costa Mesa, CA.

This will be Microsoft's fourth retail store to be opened, rivaling Apple's long established retail stores. Is this Microsofts attempt to break into a more user-friendly marketing base? We think so. Here are some similarities between Microsoft's and Apple's retail stores:

Effective from today, it has been reported that Apple will be scrapping the 10 percent re-stocking fee for returned goods to its retail stores. Some conditions of this are that the product must be in reasonable condition, and be returned within a certain period of time.

The idea around the fee was to cover costs to repackage and return to its original condition - fair enough - but not when people want to upgrade their products, for example.

Here's our video of us playing the new Angry Birds HD for Mac! This was the first app we downloaded from the Mac App Store.

Click here to view the video on our site, or click here to view it on our YouTube channel.

Today, we are announcing that, as part of our big expansion plans in 2011, we will be covering games available on the newly released 'Mac App Store'. Over the next few weeks, you'll be seeing us cover all the latest games on the Mac App Store.

Developers are free to contact us to arrange a review of their applications, via the usual process.

It was announced back in October this year, and promised by Jobs himself to be released within 60 days. Well, we're passed those 60 long days now, yet no sign of the Mac App Store in your dock. Don't fear, it's coming soon! 6th January to be exact. So, what can we expect from this new platform?

1. Auto-Install - There'll be no need to drag that .app file to the Applications folder anymore. Apple will be kind enough to install it for you!
2. Auto-Updates - Remember the *sad face* when an application announces it needs an update just when you want to use it? That will happen no longer, with Apple's auto update feature!
3. No Serials - There'll be no need to keep hold of your serial keys for applications. Your applications will be tied to your Apple ID.

So, those are the main benefits of this new Mac App Store, which will be available as an additional download on the 6th January 2011, or as part of Mac OS X Lion when it pounces in 2011!