#xbox360
While the change to regular Xbox 360 cover art was a slight one, Microsoft has something a little more drastic in mind for Kinect games: purple boxes. More »
#e32010
The King of Pop Michael Jackson is no stranger to video games. Besides appearances in SEGA games like Space Channel 5 and Space Channel 5: Part 2, Jackson also had his own game Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. That's not all. More »
#xbox360
When Kinect is released in November, Microsoft will update the Xbox 360's dashboard to make better use of the controller. This is what that dash will look like, and if you think it's familiar, that's because it is. More »
Planning on buying a Kinect this November? If you've got one of those ... not-so-Slim Xbox 360s, then you're gonna need some extra power outlets, as Microsoft tells us that older Xbox consoles will need a separate power supply for the motion controller add-on. While new, less opulent 360s will be able to support the Kinect without any external wattage, older consoles will require a power outlet for the device to work.
#e32010
Microsoft is promising 15 games at launch for its new motion controller Kinect, which hits first in North America on November 4. Those games include Sonic Free Riders, Dance Masters, another dance based title and at least four fitness games. More »
#xbox360
These are the specs for the new Xbox 360, which include a "custom Kinect port," a new system fan that's "as quiet as a PS3," according to Microsoft, and some other noteworthy changes, like the official death of Memory Units. More »
#e3
Microsoft says "We haven't yet announced pricing details for Kinect," but retailer GameStop is taking a stab at pricing the new Xbox 360 accessory, putting a $149 USD sticker on pre-orders. The new Xbox 360 bundles may be a better deal. More »
The Kinect price has remained elusive, even after Microsoft's E3 keynote, but a new GameStop listing predicts a MSRP of $150 for the product itself -- $299 when included with an Arcade console and $399 with an Elite console. Even Kinect Adventures! and Kinect Sports are priced on the retailer's site: $60 each. It's as if a million gamers cringed and were suddenly disinterested.
It's hardly confirmation of Microsoft's intended price point for the device, but the $150 price point (along with the proposed bundle packages) corroborates a rumor we reported on late last month. We've got troops on the ground at Microsoft's post-keynote session and will try to find out what we can. We'll keep you posted.
Microsoft announced at this morning's E3 event that the Kinect system will interact with very popular Forza series. So we'll get this out of the way right now: yes, you will be able to play Kinect Forza. Whew -- glad we could get that one out.
And you won't just be driving with a nonexistent steering wheel -- Microsoft showed someone actually walking around and inspecting the car with the Kinect system, as well as opening up the hood, waving a hand to shut the doors, and hovering a virtual cursor over various parts to open up menus of information. Turn 10 is developing, and a release date was given as 2011, but it's not clear yet whether this is added functionality to a current version of Forza, or a completely new game. We'll let you know when we do.
Though we caught a glimpse of it at last night's Kinect unveiling, Harmonix has put Dance Central on the stage of Microsoft's E3 2010 press conference. Developed in collaboration with MTV Games, the fully-featured rhythm game will offer 600 moves and 90 routines (that's dance parlance) when it launches alongside Kinect in November. It'll also support up to three players and, as with Harmonix's other titles, post-launch DLC.
If Harmonix can put out Portal songs as Rock Band DLC, a "Natal Rave" download can't be outside the realms of possibility.
Sonic Free Riders has been officially announced as one of the fifteen launch games for Xbox Kinect. Of course, you knew about this thanks to the Joystiq Superspy[TM]. Gameplay wasn't shown at Microsoft's E3 press conference, but if it's a launch game, it's bound to be playable on the E3 show floor, right?
In addition to Sonic Free Riders, other launch games announced for Kinect include EA Sports Active 2.0 and a game based on The Biggest Loser.
If you want a slight idea of what the Kinect Star Wars game looked like at last night's "Project Natal Experience," take a look at the video after the break. What you're missing is the opening that showed some Force powers (with the player pulling a door open) and some lightsaber slashing. The television premiere of the Project Natal Experience will be on Tuesday, June 15, at 3:30PM on MTV and at 9PM on Nick at Nite, MTVu, MTV Hits, and Logo.
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved by Ubisoft will make use of Microsoft Kinect to deliver a range of exercises, from cardio-kickboxing to yoga. The title will perform a full-body scan of the user help it provide detailed data on performance and progress. More »
#e3
Kinect engineer Ron Forbes demonstrated how users will navigate Xbox Live using Microsoft's motion-control system today, using a combination of movement and voice controls. More »
It appears that Kinect will be getting its own version of the Xbox Dashboard (seen above), enabling both gesture-based and voice-activated commands on the Xbox 360. From what we're seeing in this morning, the new sub-dashboard will allow the waving of hands and ... uh ... speaking of words to control everything from Netflix to Last.fm to Facebook (and even SkyTV for our friends in the UK). Presumably it'll be arriving alongside Kinect this November.
According to Xbox.com, we'll be flailing our arms and jumping in the air with Kinect this November. Microsoft seems to be aiming directly for mainstream culture's jugular, with broadcast media getting body-ons this morning. Enjoy.
#screengrab
At first I thought this was a Marine CH-46 ferrying a extremely large, green hot dog. No, it's actually an Army Chinook carrying a raft. Microsoft gave out this Kinect Adventures Avatar toy to everyone at last night's Kinect event. More »
#microsoft
It's Xbox 360 E3 liveblog time here in Los Angeles. And you can watch the event live yourself. Look below for all your E3 news needs, as the biggest announcements from Microsoft of the week for Xbox 360 and Kinect go live at 11 a.m. PT. More »
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick discussed the current state of the game industry and Activision's position within it. Regarding Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's Move motion controllers, Kotick believes they will "excite" consumers, though he doesn't expect them to "rush out and buy millions of Xboxes just for Natal." Still, the novelty of the hardware combined with the impending marketing barrage will "generate new excitement for a whole new set of video games" according to Kotick.
Concerning other sectors of the industry, Kotick didn't seem afraid of social and mobile games eating into Activision's business. "I honestly don't think FarmVille or Tap Tap Revenge is having any impact on Guitar Hero," When confronted with the fact that Guitar Hero sales have seen a massive decline in the last year, however, Kotick admitted that Activision "misjudged opportunities" and noted that the company is "doing a better job now of accessing what's important to the audience in terms of features of the games, music and design of the instruments."
Kotick also brushed off the possibility that gamers may start shying away from physical retail titles in favor of cheap (or free) downloadable games. "We could go either way on Call of Duty but we can't download guitars for Guitar Hero anytime soon," said Kotick, adding that he is "not worried in the near term" about cheap iPhone games competing with retail.
The CEO isn't worried about Activision "missing the boat" on any impending downloadable transition. "In 20 years, we haven't missed the boat," said Kotick, "In fact what's made us so successful is that we know when to get on the boat." So take that, boats.
