As if the rumor of a remade Halo: Combat Evolved in the Halo: Reach engine weren't enough, now we've got a URL registered to Microsoft from back in June of 2010 for "KinectHalo.com." Gaming Reloaded spotted the site's Whois information, which pegs the unambiguous URL as one owned by Halo franchise owner Microsoft. While it's possible that Microsoft is currently hard at work on a Halo-based Kinect title, it's also possible that the publisher is just snapping up several "just in case" URLs before virtual squatters show up.
That said, given the long-term beefing up of positions at 343 Industries (Microsoft's internal Halo studio), it's certain that something is in the works over there. Though Microsoft has yet to announce anything officially, we're hoping this whole "Kinect Halo" thing is little more than a memory if and when it does.
#xbox360
The next game from the makers of 'Splosion Man and Comic Jumper puts you in control of a virtual, Kinect-enabled puppet armed with two six-shooters and a thirst for revenge. More »
Twisted Pixel has unveiled "The Gunstringer," the studio's fifth game -- but its first to star a marionette bent on revenge. The announcement trailer depict a western setting with a cartoonish flair, blending 2D and 3D elements. In terms of how the game actually plays, all we know is that its 30 characters have access to weapons that are "unleashed through the player's gestures" --- see the video after the break for a full demo. The studio hasn't announced whether The Gunstringer will be a retail game or one of the first Western-developed XBLA games for the peripheral.
If you weren't lucky enough to make an appearance at Twisted Pixel's video shoot for the game last week, there'll be another chance to fraternize with the Texas-based devs at March's PAX East in Boston, where both Ms. Splosion Man and The Gunstringer will be playable.
We've seen YouTube user Demize2010 come up with some clever applications for the Kinect, but his latest might just be his most ambitious project to date: Using the peripheral and the indie game Avaglide, he's managed to grant ordinary humans with the gift of flight. (Kind of.)
Activate 3D's latest Kinect hack doesn't sound all that special on paper -- it lets you interact with a virtual world using 1:1 motion detection -- but the video demonstration of the software is quite special, indeed. Check out Activate 3D's virtual playground shenanigans below.
Clearly tired of waiting for Lionhead to put its Milo wizardry to good use, Kinect hacker "roboczar" created an application that turns a plain ol' piece of printer paper into a synthesizer by recognizing shapes drawn on the page as sound buttons. The Kinect sensor scans the object (paper, in this case) and virtualizes it into a musical instrument. What happens next, however, is where things get really magical.
Roboczar uses the application -- one he wrote at MIT, applied in tandem with other open-source code -- to play a dedication to our favorite L.A. cop, Axel Foley. Bravo, sir! Head past the break and get your boogie on.
For the second-straight quarter, the spotlight was on the Entertainment & Devices Division, under which the Xbox business drove slightly record-setting revenue for Microsoft in the holiday quarter (in the books as Q2 of fiscal year 2011). Profits for the quarter ending December 31, 2010, were actually slightly down compared to the same period in 2009, but spirits must be up -- we're talking about $6.63 billion in profit pocketed by Microsoft last quarter.
Entertainment & Devices itself increased its revenue a staggering 55 percent in comparative year-over-year fiscal Q2 growth, pulling in $3.6 billion of the mega corporation's $19.95 billion total revenue for the quarter. "We are enthusiastic about the consumer response to our holiday lineup of products, including the launch of Kinect," said Microsoft CFO Peter Klein. "The 8 million units of Kinect sensors sold in just 60 days far exceeded our expectations." The company added that Kinect's popularity had a trickle-down effect, boosting sales of Xbox 360 consoles and games, as well as Xbox Live subscriptions.
Any impact on revenue from the launch of Windows Phone 7, however, went unmentioned.
Well folks, it was only a matter of time -- 2K Games' Play label this morning announced a new entry in the Carnival Games series, heading exclusively to the Xbox 360 with Kinect functionality in-tow. Dubbed Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey Do, the family-friendly followup to the previously Nintendo-only franchise will launch at retail "this April."
2K Play's Cat Daddy Games is handling development of the title, which plans on bringing back characters like The Amazing Wodin and introducing (we're not joking here) Monkey Barker. Apparently Mr. Barker is "smartly dressed and renowned for his dancing skills" -- sure, why not?
You might have heard of KinEmote, software that allows users to control their PCs using Kinect. Previously, we've seen it used to control Boxee and XMBC, but now the folks at KinEmote.net have found a much better use for it: Angry Birds. The setup uses a wireless controller for button inputs and tracks the player's hand for mouse functions. See it in action after the break.
#xbox360
The tech behind the Xbox 360's new camera controller, Kinect, is now being used for an impressive—most impressive—new feat: the ability to capture 3D images, transmit them over the internet and display them in holographic form. More »
#tadaaaaa
The mods and uses developed for Kinect off open-source drivers keep outdoing one another. If I could, I would start every day this way. Except I'd substitute the roar of a sports crowd for the THX introduction. More »
Homebrew Kinect software just passed the "cool" threshold into "a little scary," making Microsoft's camera device do things we shouldn't reasonably expect out of controllers. We couldn't use our Turbo Touch 360s to generate a 3D model of a stretch of road, complete with buildings and scenery, after all. Not that we ever tried.
Martin Szarski strapped a Kinect sensor to his car, hooked it up to a laptop and Nexus One phone (for location data) and set about creating a "point cloud" of his car's path. Using a phone with a gyroscope to better sense the car's movement, Szarski said, the cloud would appear clearer. But for a 3D space captured by a $150 game controller, it's pretty impressive, no? Imagine this cheap DIY tech in the hands of indie devs, who could create levels by exploring in real life.
#youmakethecall
A cat innocently wanders by his owner playing Kinect, and is accidentally kicked across the room directly into the camera. Do you want to watch that? Hell yeah! But is it fake? You make the call! More »
If you've been playing Konami's DanceMasters since launch, you're probably ready for some new content now. Good news: Konami just announced new DLC for the Kinect dancing game, adding a much-needed infusion of fresh ... costumes. Two outfits are available on Marketplace right now, one for free and one for 160 Microsoft Points ($2). According to Konami, the costumes "change depending on the song selected."
In addition, Konami announced that a demo is available for those Xbox Live Gold users who want to try out a Kinect dancing game that is not Dance Central.
We've seen Wii remote-assisted Kinect FPS controls before, but how about completely controller-free? Now, thanks to one Bill Maxwell, the Kinect-powered, controller-less FPS is a reality -- and with one hand, no less! The claim that it's "better than a mouse" seems debatable, and we didn't notice any strafing (kind of important in FPS games) but it's still very impressive and handily proves the concept. Check out the video after the break.
#science
We've seen the Xbox 360 Kinect control robots before, but never robots with tasks this important. A group of graduate engineering students at the University of Washington are using Microsoft's device to guide the actions of surgical robots. More »
PC maker Lenovo had planned to launch its China-exclusive eBox games console this month, but has decided to delay its release until sometime after February, a report by ITworld says. The hardware, which is said to have integrated motion-tracking technology similar to Microsoft's Kinect, is being held back for "improvements," according to the article.
The eBox is being built by Lenovo subsidiary Beijing Eedoo Technology to be a "family" device not reliant on high-end graphics. The company claims it will have 30 titles for launch, some from US and French developers. If one of them is Ubisoft and the game is Fighters Uncaged, the eBox is sure to be a hit.
Another day, another Kinect hack from Jack Schofield -- however, this one might be his very best idea yet. He's found a way to tap into the Kinect's natural proclivity for hand navigation using a game which prides itself on exclusively using hand navigation: Black and White. Check it out below!
#rumor
With hackers showing the world what Kinect is truly capable of, it was only a matter of time before Microsoft decided to release its own, official PC support for the Xbox 360's motion sensing camera. More »
#pullquote
Steve Ballmer, head honcho at Microsoft, argues that Kinect for the Xbox 360 is the way to get 15-year-old girls cursing up a storm on Xbox Live in a new interview with USA Today. More »
Microsoft may be preparing to release the software development kit for Kinect on PC sooner than anticipated, if sources speaking with WinRumors are accurate. "Sources familiar with the plans" told the Windows-centric site that an official SDK and Kinect drivers are being prepped for a beta release "in the coming months," potentially arriving with an upcoming XNA update dubbed the "Community Technical Preview." The report adds detail to statements made by Microsoft head Steve Ballmer earlier this month, when the CEO said Kinect on PC would be supported "in a formal way in the right time."
Kinect SDK and driver support on the PC will reportedly allow third-party developers to enable Kinect functionality on PC-based applications, including games. Of course, hackers haven't waited for Microsoft, releasing a flood of Kinect-enabled PC and Mac hack videos over the past few months. Just think, though -- soon, you could be officially making a monument to yourself in Minecraft! The future is now!
#mods
In the evolution of Kinect-controlled robotics, we've gone from a Roomba in November, to a robot moving its arms in December, now to one that may stand on one foot. We should be slaves to our robot overlords by May. More »
#clips
The Game Gate VU is an arcade cabinet that houses an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 - a coin-op kiosk, more or less, with some other features. It's now been outfitted for Kinect. Anybody seen one of these yet? More »
Ostensibly, Gerry Chu's Kinect hack, "Motion Emotions," was created to "express emotions using movement as a proxy." Specifically, raising one's arms plays a "powerful, motivational sound." In reality, it lets you play the THX "Deep Note" and look flippin' sweet while doing it.
Microsoft has claimed the year of 2010, as a whopping $6.2 billion was spent on Xbox 360 games and accessories at retail, making it the (financial) king of consoles last year. December's NPD report also shows a 42 percent year-over-year growth for the Xbox 360 and, as expected, Kinect sales were strong, launching Kinect Sports into the top 10 for the month.
Elsewhere in the report, NPD says that total new, physical video game sales are down by 9 percent to $5.06 billion, and video game hardware is down a total of 16 percent to $1.84 billion. In fact, the only tracked category that saw year-over-year growth in December was video game accessories -- the PlayStation Move and Kinect pushed that category up 10 percent from last December to sales of $853 million.
Hit the break to see the best-selling titles of December 2010, according to the NPD's numbers. World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion makes a solid appearance at No. 3, and Disney Epic Mickey's status as a "core" game on console with a largely casual audience didn't hurt sales too much, apparently -- it came in at No. 6.
According to Xbox 360 hype man Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Microsoft isn't expecting to "win" December's hardware sales battle, as depicted in the NPD's monthly report (to be released later today). "I found out we ran out of consoles at the end of the month," Hryb tweeted last night, with a follow-up that added, "Jan/Feb supply is tight as well."
That said, he's is anticiapting "likely amazing YOY [year-over-year] growth numbers for Xbox." In non-business speak, that means he's expecting last month's Xbox 360 hardware sales to have surpassed the figure recorded in December 2009. While that would mean more than 1.31 million Xboes were sold last month, if Hryb's prediction is correct, it would also mark the second year in a row that the Xbox was bested by Sony's PlayStation 3 in one of the year's most important sales months.
Coupled with the many millions of Kinect units sold last year, Microsoft liekly enjoyed its holiday -- though anyone who got a Kinect without an Xbox 360 were probably feeling scrooged.
#list
Suicide, laughter, and the believed death of a communist leader. These were just some of my ten favorite moments from my favorite games of 2010. (Spoilers) More »
#infographic
In order to determine which video game console you should play, you must ask yourself a few questions. Are you a gamer? Do you prefer first-person shooters? Racist or non-racist? Dorkly's handy flowchart insults and informs. More »
During TGS, Microsoft revealed "Codename D" by Grasshopper Manufacture, a Kinect game for XBLA involving ... evil things in an amusement park, and a guy with a magically flaming baseball, if the trailer is any indication. Given the "evil" and "baseball" elements in said trailer, it seems likely that the name "Diabolical Pitch," just trademarked in Japan by GHM, applies to this. Also, the name starts with a D. By the way, if you missed the trailer, you can see it after the break.
If true, that name suggests that there's more to that flaming baseball than just being a weird weapon at hand. Perhaps you actually play the game by pitching virtual baseballs at evil tiger-mask guys?
