#starwars
The best game we saw yesterday at Microsoft's Kinect launch event was a Star Wars title. Why was it the best? Why don't you take a look yourself. More »
Tonight we stood in a stadium wearing polyester ponchos (made in Canada) with LED shoulderpads. What did you do tonight? Below you'll find our account of tonight's "'Project Natal Experience,' imagined by Cirque du Soleil." As the event was a "technology free" show, we had to depend on our notes and exceptionally detailed (for a two-year-old) artistic sketches to convey the experience. If you'd actually like to see what we saw tonight in moving pictures, you'll have the chance on Tuesday, June 15, at 3:30PM on MTV and at 9PM on Nick at Nite, MTVu, MTV Hits, and Logo.
And here are our notes on the Project Natal Experience:
7:15PM - Entered into dark room, given big white poncho with pointy shoulderpads. Terror sets in. A massive amount of people adjust each others' shoulder pads. See, we're kinect-ing.
7:20PM - Standing around in waiting area. Ponchos are white 100% polyester and are made in Canada. These things are going to get hot.
7:23PM - We're escorted down a dark hall and step through a rectangular box into an African American family's living room. They smile and wave at this home invasion. We pass by them into what appears to be a rainforest.
7:24PM - The "rainforest" is a converted sports arena, roamed by dancing Cirque du Soleil performers. They are dressed like wood nymphs.
7:40PM - Still standing around. Poncho heat increasing. Almost accosted by gyrating wood nymph. If you don't look it in the eyes it won't approach.
#screengrab
As the maketing material says, Microsoft's Kinect will be out this November. Whether that's November for the entire world, or just the US & Europe, remains to be seen. As seen on MCV. More »
#clips
You already knew that much of Kinect's early marketing would be targeted at a casual crowd. So when you watch this collection of game "demonstrations", try and keep that in mind. More »
Upon leaving Microsoft's Project Natal ... er Kinect event, we were presented with the plush kitties you see above. Adorable, to be sure, but they conceal a deeper purpose -- a Kinect-related purpose. The animals come with a special code that can be scanned by Kinect (note the colorful "K" in the image above). Once scanned, the cat is unlocked in Kinect's precious pet sim ("Project Natal Animal" here) for some motion-tracked cuddle time.
We've seen similar functionality in Rare's Viva Pinata with the Vision Camera. The real question is whether Microsoft will make these available for purchase in the future. The ones handed out at Kinect's unveiling event are marked as "promotional purposes only."
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 »
#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.
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.
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.
#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 »
#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 »
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.
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.
Stop worrying! We're here in Los Angeles, corralled in the usual E3 Joystiq War Room, preparing fierce lines of questioning and sharpening our newswriting hands for a week sure to be full of sweltering hot scoops. Aside from tonight's Project Natal ... spectacle, we'll be live from Microsoft's other press conference tomorrow, as well as Nintendo, Sony, and the many, many other events being held over the next seven days.
Looking to filter out our normal, every day news for just E3 stuffs? Head to the E3 2010 hub and go nuts! Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got a week of madness to prepare for.
The Nielsen Company has released the results of a recent survey designed to gauge gamer awareness of Microsoft's Project Natal and Sony's PlayStation Move. Among the 2,400 gamers surveyed, 21 percent are currently aware of Natal, while 23 percent are aware of the Move. Things look a little better when restricting the results to those who actually own and play the 360 or PS3, with 39 percent of 360 gamers aware of Natal and 42 percent of PS3 gamers aware of the Move.
Of the gamers aware of the Move and Natal, those who actually own the respective console show more intent to purchase. 42 percent of 360 owners plan to purchase Natal, compared to only 35 percent of total gamers aware of the device. PS3 owners show a nearly identical 41 percent with intent to purchase, compared to 28 percent of all those aware. Strangely, even though both Natal and Move have publicly known launch windows, a surprisingly high number of respondents -- nearly 40 percent -- don't know when the products will be available.
Also noteworthy, respondents show a wide disparity as to what they believe the hardware prices will be. To the 6 percent who think Natal will be less than $25: you're going to be disappointed.
In just a couple short days, we'll be soaking in the Vitamin D provided by the blaring Los Angeles sun, digging for stories at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. One of the first events we'll be attending is a preview of Project Natal -- an occasion which could bring about some major announcements for the peripheral. Before that, though, the LA Times has published a hands-on report on the device that's worth checking out, as it reveals a pair of heretofore unannounced Natal applications.
The first is "Obstacle Course" (which was briefly hinted at in Parade's wildly flailing Natal preview), in which players will have to navigate a "summer camp"-esque row of hazards. As dangerous as that sounds, it's pretty tame compared to the other unveiled application: "Living Statue," which lets players record and send video messages using their Avatars. Which is great, because we were just talking about how awesome it would be to be bombarded with videos of our friends' Avatars doing pelvic thrusts and other suggestive maneuvers every time we turn on our Xbox 360.
We look forward to learning about these applications (and more) during Microsoft's Natal sneak preview this Sunday.
#wellplayed
New gadgets, new ways to play games, new ways to look at games, and plenty of new games. That's what we expect to see at this year's big Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. More »
