All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#screengrab With its long, lean body, Micrsoft's Kinect would have you think it's enormous. But don't worry. It's not. As seen on Gizmodo. More »

Remember Will "Cyrus" Powers, winner of the PSN reality series, The Tester? He appeared at the E3 PlayStation.Blog meetup (in addition to surprise guest Hideo Kojima) and we talked about how life is as a video game tester. With realistic expectations of a not-so-glamorous job, Powers felt welcomed by SCEA and even teased about some initiation rituals. Powers did make it clear that he doesn't intend to stop at being a tester, looking to rise the corporate ladder. With the support of a surprising number of fans (check Twitter!), he might just be able to do it.

#screengrab Here it is, the final, retail hardware for Microsoft's motion-control camera, Kinect. Look familiar? More »

Project Natal not only has a final name, it has a final design. The 3D cameras are housed in a sleek, black design. The only thing it's missing right now? A final price.

#e32010 Following tonight's Cirque du Soleil performance in Los Angeles, Microsoft gave us a first look at many of Kinect's first titles, most of which we'd never seen before. More »

Only you hardcore gamers knew about Natal anyway.

Our very first look at Project Natal-turned-Kinect.

#e3 In the two years he's been the executive producer for Microsoft's E3 appearance, Aaron Greenberg's brought The Beatles on stage and tonight, Cirque du Soleil. He expects to be asked how he'll outdo that, and he doesn't have an answer. More »

Microsoft's Kinect unveiling pulled back the curtain on a new video chat program, aptly titled Video Chat. Here, gamers will be able to participate in face-to-face communication and even share photos -- remember Photo Party?

The program is entirely navigated through gestures. No price nor a launch date was revealed by Microsoft. We'll let you know when we find out.

Can you tell us about the decision to have these two separate events and what the Natal event is really supposed to accomplish from a media perspective, that tomorrow's press conference won't be able to do?

For us, this is a really special year. It was ten years ago that we unveiled the original Xbox and this is actually my tenth, and our tenth, E3. It's the beauty of our business. This will be the biggest year in the history of Xbox and really as we thought about E3, we've never had this much to share at one E3 as we do this year. We've taken a very non-traditional approach to E3. I think with what we're doing with Natal and working with Cirque du Soleil to bring that to life is a whole new way to tell a story.

It seems that tonight's Kinect event is about more than just crazy ponchos. Attendees were just shown a preview of the Star Wars game (revealed earlier by USA Today) for the movement-sensing peripheral. Judging from the clip, the on-rails game features controllerless lightsaber dueling and motion-activated Force powers.

Most exciting? The trailer closed with the game's lead facing off against Lord Vader.

A look into the next generation of everyone's favorite extracurricular activity.

New motion games and apps are announced by Microsoft.

#microsoft Microsoft is holding a pre-E3 event tonight, the "Project Natal" for Xbox 360 Experience, starring the acrobatic elite of Cirque du Soleil and forcing us to don... whatever it is that Deputy Editor Stephen Totilo is wearing right now. More »

#e3 Tonight's big Xbox 360-themed Cirque du Soleil performance will be co-hosted by iCarly's Jennette McCurdy and MTV's Sway Calloway. More »

As our friend Cheapy D demonstrates, attendees of tonight's Cirque du Soleil/Microsoft event are apparently being asked to wear these crazy white ponchos. There are two explanations. 1. It's the formation of a new Kinect Kult. 2. Sledge-O-Matic.

Either way, we're jealous.

As our friend Cheapy D demonstrates, attendees of tonight's Cirque du Soleil/Microsoft event are apparently being asked to wear these crazy white ponchos. There are two explanations. 1. It's the formation of a new Kinetic Kult. 2. Sledge-O-Matic.

Either way, we're jealous.

#wii Retro Studios, the Austin, Texas based development team responsible for making three Metroid Prime games for Nintendo—and one Metroid Prime compilation—may be ready to reveal its new project, a game reportedly starring Donkey Kong. More »

Remember when ex-Joystiq writer Kyle Orland spilled the beans on a potential magazine from Best Buy, dubbed @Gamer? Future Publications has formally announced a partnership with the yellow tag retailer to produce @Gamer, which is set to be offered in-store later this month.

The angle of the mag is both as a provider of editorial content and of "valuable savings" to customers. "@Gamer will cover the best 30-40 games and hardware items available each month in an easy-to-digest format, while offering at least $20 worth of exclusive offers redeemable at Best Buy locations," the press release states. William O'Neal will handle EIC duties for the mag -- a former correspondent for G4's Attack of the Show -- while the aforementioned Andy Eddy will serve as executive editor.

Now here's the bad news: @Gamer won't be free. The new mag will support a subscription plan (10 issues for $19.99) or a $5.99-per-issue cost in-store.

#e3 So the Microsoft Kinect is official, and we've seen a list of exciting new titles making their way to the Xbox 360 motion control device, but where's the innovation? Is Kinect changing the game, or delivering more of the same? More »

We've been flipping through the ol' Joystiq archives, trying to find precedent to post about an update to a Flash-based game, but, well, we came up empty-handed. No matter -- we wouldn't be able to sleep tonight knowing that we'd kept the news of Super Mario Crossover's upcoming additions to ourselves. On June 25 the game will be updated, adding some new features and new equipment for each hero, and introducing Ryu Hayabusa as a playable character.

Check out all the new features and abilities coming in the update in the video posted after the break -- or, if you've yet to experience the magic of Crossover, you can see what all the fuss is about over at Newgrounds.

Are you ready for a Gears of War motion-control game?

#twig The week of E3 is about what you can't buy, not what you can. Publishers don't want their major reveals competing with their latest offerings and vice versa. So only Toy Story 3 qualifies as a big drop this week. More »

Just when Joy Ride seemed kaput, it's been confirmed as a title for Microsoft's Kinect (the official name of Project Natal). The social racer was recently removed from Xbox.com, though Microsoft assured us that "BigPark's vision" was still slated for 2010. Apparently BigPark's vision involves adding Kinect motion controls, with USA Today revealing that the game will have players "hold an imaginary steering wheel" and use their bodies "to execute jumps and tricks." No further details were given, though it seems likely we'll hear more as E3 builds up steam later this week.

Peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz made a kitty litter full of cash during its fiscal year ending March 31, 2010. The company generated $119 million in sales (a 5.7 percent increase over last year) and had a record $36.4 million in profit. For the fourth quarter, the company had net sales of $26.3 million (up 15.4 percent) and a profit of $7.1 million (pouncing up 27.7 percent).

Mad Catz's image alteration from "grandma doesn't know any better" products to solid peripherals is apparently paying off, as its Street Fighter fight sticks did very well -- and it's now the "principal peripherals partner" for the Rock Band franchise. The company also extended its license agreement with Activision to make more Call of Duty items later this year. Mad Catz certainly appears to be working hard to change its image for those who remember its flimsier days.

#e32010 There's no need for conjecture; Microsoft's upcoming motion control peripheral, once known as Project Natal, is now to be officially known as "Kinect". More »

USA Today has spilled the proverbial beans on Microsoft's Natal project -- not only has the paper confirmed the Kinect product name, but they've posted names of all of the system's launch titles. Here we go:

• Kinectimals features over 20 different virtual pets, including lions, tigers, and cheetahs, to play with or raise.
• Joyride has returned to life as a controller-free racing game, apparently.
• Kinect Sports will offer sport games to play: "boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis." For each one, you will make motions to play the games.
• Kinect Adventures has a river raft and obstacle course to navigate -- this is likely the demo we saw last week.
• MTV Games will release Dance Central, where you can cut a virtual rug.
• And there will be more games announced later featuring both Disney characters and Star Wars characters, in conjunction with Disney and LucasArts, respectively.

Why Microsoft, how very Wii of you. Marc Whitten even namedrops Nintendo in USA Today's piece, but he says that without a controller, Kinect will be "fundamentally different." We'll keep our eyes open for these games all this week, so stay tuned.

We've got either good or bad news depending on how you felt about the rumored name change for Microsoft's motion-sensing Project Natal. The new brand "Kinect" has just been confirmed by USA Today. The story, which includes no pricing or timing info, seems to have been slated to run tomorrow, though we imagine it might have been rushed out when the name started circulating after appearing in an Italian ad.

#e32010 It appears, going by some advertisements popping up online just before E3 kicks off, that Microsoft plans to unveil a new model of the Xbox 360. What, then, does this new console bring to the table? More »

An alleged Italian Microsoft ad, originally found on Console Tribe, seems to have revealed a slim Xbox 360 alongside a renamed Project Natal, touting a 250GB HDD, built-in WiFi (it's the future!), and compatibility with "Kinect" -- presumably the new name for Natal. The advertisement leads back to the Italian Microsoft site and the source of the page tells us that Atlas Solutions -- a Microsoft-owned ad company -- pushed the image automatically to the site.

We've checked in with Microsoft to see if the news is legit, but we're not expecting much before tonight's Project Natal Cirque du Soleil "spectacular." In the meantime, you can check out the ad embedded after the break.