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Double Fine's next project, Happy Action Theater, just appeared on the floor of CES, right on time according to the Tim Schafer's Twitter account. The game, available in February for a "reasonable" price according to a Microsoft rep, is basically just a collection of 18 different minigames, featuring sandbox-style fun for the younger audience.

But don't let that tame description fool you: Happy Action Theater isn't just a standard minigame collection made for kids. Instead, it appears to be one of the best experiences on Kinect yet, and a pretty perfect marriage of both Double Fine's expertise at finding almost instant fun, and its skill at wringing some really impressive feats out of that Kinect camera.

NanaOn-Sha's spooky Kinect game, Haunt, may have missed its original launch ... erm ... year, but it turns out that it won't be by much. A representative from the studio told Joystiq this evening that the game will be available via Xbox Live Arcade, on January 18 for 800 MS Points ($10).

Haunt is materializing exclusively on XBLA and is the first of several neat Japanese Kinect projects first announced at Tokyo Game Show in 2010.

To say we were taken aback when Double Fine unveiled its Kinect exclusive Xbox Live Arcade title, Double Fine Happy Action Theater, is an understatement. It was due in 2011 but sadly saw a delay. Now it's gearing up to launch next month.

Our man on the ground at CES 2012, Mike Schramm, confirmed the news with a Double Fine representative. Yet, with a February launch planned, why wasn't the game part of next month's House Party promotion? "I would've loved to see it in House Party," the rep told Joystiq. Seems like a perfect fit to us, however the representative went on to say that the target audience for Double Fine Happy Action Theater is between ages 2 and 12, and the target demographic for the House Party promotion is a bit older. We should hope so -- can you imagine a child playing Alan Wake's American Nightmare?

Double Fine Happy Action Theater features 18 different mini-games, including some clones of a classic titles Space Invaders and Breakout. Mike was able to spend some time with the game and will be posting a preview soon, so keep your eye out. In the meanwhile, we suggest watching the debut trailer about a hundred more times.

#kinectrush Microsoft's using CES 2012 to talk up its best-selling motion-sensing peripheral, with its announcement of blockbuster sales and a Windows version of Kinect. Part of that push will be the recently announced Kinect Rush, the all-ages game being developed in partnership with Pixar. More »

With the tile-based facepalming of Windows 8 slowly slouching this way, Microsoft used its CES conference last night to reveal assorted PC-related shenanigans. One of the more interesting – in theory – is a new version of its Kinect motion camera thinger, designed specifically for PC rather than Xbox.(more…)

Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer narrowed down the "early 2012" launch window for Kinect on the Windows PC during Microsoft's CES 2012 keynote today: February 1, 2012. The software development kit has been available to programmers and designers since back in June, but of course people have been doing interesting things with Kinect and PCs since the peripheral's launch back in November 2010.

Ballmer didn't divulge pricing, but Amazon is currently pegging Kinect for Windows at $249.99, a full $100 more than the current price of Kinect on Xbox 360 -- hey, there's a different camera in the Windows version, remember?

Microsoft's Major Nelson says Kinect for Windows will only work with computers running the SDK. Neither have commented on compatibility with Windows 8, but we've got troops on the ground in Las Vegas and will try to find out more.

Microsoft has announced that Kinect is coming to Windows on February 1. More to come. More »

Get in some retro action this week with Choplifter HD...

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Microsoft's Xbox 360 has had quite a year. According to a 2011 roundup video released by the company just ahead of its final CES keynote (prepare for Ballmer-age), the Xbox 360 now sits at a total of 66 million units sold worldwide. In case you're keeping track, that means nearly 10 million more were sold over the holiday season since the last check-in with Microsoft in late October.

Meanwhile, the Xbox 360's motion-detecting peripheral, the Kinect, is close to doubling its install base year-over-year, with 18 million units now attached to consoles the world over. This does mean that sales have slowed compared to its bombastic launch, however.

Adding more chest-pounding stats to the pile, the video also notes that the Xbox 360's Live service counts "nearly" 40 million users now, putting the tie-in percentage close to 60. We expect to hear some of these statistics -- and potentially more -- directly from Microsoft head honcho Steven Ballmer in tonight's keynote.

Peripheral company CTA Digital has acquired a rather ... unexpected license: the United States Army. The company has announced a series of official Army-logoed game peripherals, definitively answering the question of what a government-issue PlayStation Move gun controller would look like.

The full slate of armaments includes: three different varieties of PS3 rifle, a "Universal Gaming Backpack," throat mics for PS3/PC and Xbox 360, and a "3D" headset for PS3, Xbox, and PC. They'll all be available "soon" at major retailers, no enlistment required.

Eventually the robots will rise up and destroy us all, this much we can all agree on. Until then, software engineer Taylor Veltrop is fine with using our future usurpers as feline babysitters.

Veltrop has hacked together a Kinect, two Wiimotes, head-mounted display, treadmill and a Nao robot to remotely pet a cat. It may have taken him about a year to get this far, but in the end, it's worth it: we get a video showing an amount of human-robot relations not seen since Sarah and her son befriended a T-800 and Veltrop gets to pet a cat. Win-win situation, if you ask us.

Firearms may have been too suggestive of a topic for the Xbox Live Marketplace to broach, but apparently body modification is an A-OK, family friendly activity for everyone to enjoy, as Xbox Live customers now have the opportunity to trade real money for virtual tattoos on fake people via the Marketplace. Available designs encompass the whole of "regrettable," from hot-rod flames and meaningless "tribal" scribbles to idealistic kanji symbols for "peace" and "love."

We should point out that the tattoos aren't actually accessories, but rather t-shirts and tank tops with transparent design "sleeves" that replace your existing clothing, meaning that it's impossible to have a tattoo with anything other than a blank shirt. Tattoos are also arm specific, just like in real life, so make sure you're really committed to the placement of your "Mom" heart before dropping the 160/240 Microsoft points.

[Thanks, Randy!]

On Friday, UFC's latest pay-per-view event debuted, a pretty big deal for Microsoft. As the first live event for the new UFC Xbox 360 app, a lot hinged on Friday night's fight. According to BitMob's Dan Hsu, it didn't go so well.

He complained of constant crashes, weird issues involving video definition and the app bouncing around to different times in the broadcast at its own discretion, plus constant buffering throughout. Microsoft had sent out a whopping 30,000 promotional codes for the event, which ended up bringing down the house of cards. So Hsu contacted Microsoft to get some answers on his disappointment.

"The broadcast of UFC 141 through the UFC for Xbox LIVE application was hampered by technical issues appearing in the hours leading up to the fight," a spokesperson told BitMob. "Despite restoring service to some users during the course of UFC 141, there is a great deal of room for improvement. All 30,000 users who registered to view UFC 141 for free will be provided access to a future fight at no cost."

There's no timeline for the freebie, but "The gamertags of the 30,000 users who registered for UFC 141 are being safely kept on file for free access to a future UFC event, and we will have more updates to share in the near future," the spokesperson concluded. Let's just hope that's enough time for Microsoft to get the app working.

#kinect It's...it's like the entire internet, rolled up into a single story. More »

The Gunstringer
As much as I enjoyed the actual game (and I did, make no mistake) it forever sold me with Wavy Tube Man Chronicles, a fully FMV campaign inspired by Mad Dog McCree. The Long Winters sing a song called "Honest," about a girl who loves a singer, that includes the lyric "for him to say so plainly / what your heart can vouch is true / means something is connecting you / something is connecting you."

If you can believe that a single mission in a video game gave me that exact feeling, you can easily see how it made my list. They made it just for me.

Fancy yourself an on-screen kung fu master? Now is the chance to prove your high-kicking abilities, thanks to a demo for the Kinect-powered Kung-Fu High Impact. Like its PlayStation 3 cousin Kung-Fu Live - which we rather enjoyed - Kung-Fu High Impact transports your image onto the screen, turning your own body into a video game pugilist.

In other words, it's basically Nick Arcade.

Another year, another 12 days of holiday giveaways! Between now and Christmas Day, we're doing the one thing that makes us feel truly alive: giving. Specifically, we're giving you fine folks some of the swag we've managed to collect in our cluttered home offices. And the good will and merriment doesn't stop here! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for even more chances to win!

It's Christmas morning and, while we long ago lost the ability to be surprised by a video game console under the tree, that doesn't mean you have to be. So we're plopping this bundle under all of your virtual trees. Alas, thanks to the laws of "physics" there can be only one winner who gets the 250GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle, the Wireless Speed Wheel, and Turn 10's Forza Motorsport 4 to help you put all this gear to good use. Head past the break for details on how to enter.

Oh, and Happy Festivus!

Amazon yearns to squeeze a little more blood from the empty, calcified stone that was your wallet with yet one more (barely) pre-holiday sale. The online retailer has placed deep discounts on numerous titles, including 50 percent off on the likes of Deus Ex, Killzone 3, Dance Central 2, LittleBigPlanet 2, and Mortal Kombat.

There's also a pair of lightning deals coming up soon, though we're having a little trouble deciphering the first clue: "The world's most hilarious team of heroes will need to restore peace to their world or watch as their beloved home vanishes like a bad dream." Any guesses? Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One, perhaps? Whatever it is, it's up at 4pm Eastern. We're fairly certain that the next deal, slated for 10pm Eastern, is the premium edition of Disgaea 4.

The slow and steady stream of features and content for Microsoft's new Xbox 360 Dashboard update trickles on. Today, a slew of new video apps have debuted, including the UFC app and VUDU. Here's the full list:

• 4 on Demand (C4) -- United Kingdom
• ABC iView (Australian Broadcasting Corp.) -- Australia
• Dailymotion -- Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland , Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa
• Demand 5 (Five) -- United Kingdom
• M6 -- France
• MSN Video -- France
• UFC on Xbox LIVE (UFC) -- Canada, United States
• VUDU (Wal-Mart) -- United States

You can download each app through the video tab on your Xbox 360, assuming you're in a region that supports said app.

Go crazy this week with Postal III, just in time for the holidays!

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Na, na, na, na, na, come on! Chains and whips excite us, but so do these Rihanna tracks for Dance Central 2. Actually, "What's My Name" is lukewarm, but "S&M" and "Only Girl (in the World)" more than make up for it.

The Rihanna pack can be purchased tomorrow, December 20, for 640 MSP ($6), or for 240 ($3) a pop. The new tracks join other Rihanna ditties "Rude Boy" on Dance Central 2, "Pon de Replay" from DC1 and "Disturbia," available as DLC.

The Rihanna tracks arrive a month after Dance Central 2 went go-go with Gaga.

Sony's PlayStation 3D Display, which launched November 13, has already been subject to a nice $100 discount at Best Buy. It's now on sale for $300 - that's $100 per D. For that $300, you get a monitor with 3D functionality and the neat ability to display separate images for two players. You also get a pair of 3D glasses and a copy of MotorStorm Apocalypse.

Best Buy's other "last minute" game deals include a $100 gift card with 4GB Kinect bundle, a $30 gift card with purchase of a 3DS, and buy two, get one on Kinect games.

Don Coyner, lead designer and marketing man for the original Xbox and the Xbox 360, will not be in charge of the new Xbox design team, Cnet reports. Coyner will be replaced with Emma Williams, who helped launch the recent Xbox Live interface revamp, one of Cnet's sources says.

Coyner joined Microsoft from Nintendo in 1995, and became marketing director for the original Xbox in 1999. Coyner designed the user experience and branding for the Xbox 360, and his most recent title at Microsoft is General Manager of Design. Williams joined Microsoft in 2003 and is currently General Manager of Xbox Experiences, leading last week's Xbox Live interface update that introduced more social, content-specific hubs to the 360.

With the next Xbox rumored for release in 2013, the Live update could be a massive trial period for features to include in the new model, or it could be a secret government study monitoring the effects of cloud storage on adolescent violence. Could be.

Contributions to Child's Play Charity have reached $1.95 million this year, following the Child's Play Gala and Auction. The event raised another $351,000 for the charity that donates toys, games and cash for hospitalized children.

Standout bids from this year's event were $21,000 for the life-sized Half-Life Gravity Gun, the rare Nintendo World Championships Grey #60 for $11,500 and a guest spot in a Penny Arcade strip for $10,000.

"The gala and auction always brings in a lot of donations, but it is just one part of Child's Play," remarked Child's Play Charity's Jamie Dillion. "The real heroes are all the gamers who organize local events and send in individual donations that account for the vast majority of what we raise every year. We couldn't do this without all of their support."

Child's Play brought in $2,294,317.53 in 2010, a record for the organization. After surpassing the $1.5 million mark earlier this week, the charity is on track to crack the $2 million mark again.

You can donate by heading to the Child's Play site.

Amazon's got an enticing offer going for new adopters of the $399 Xbox 360 Kinect bundle: For a limited time, anyone who grabs the package will also grab a complimentary $75 Amazon credit. That's more than enough for a new game, and then ... something else that costs $15.

'Tis the season to be jolly, and Fruit Ninja Kinect is celebrating with a fruit-slaughtering vengeance, offering up the free Christmas Present downloadable content pack. The pack includes lots of Yuletide goodies, including the candy cane blade, a Santa's Workshop background and, our favorite, the snow globe silhouette, which literally fills your on-screen body with Christmas cheer. Oh, and the pomegranate has been replaced with a pudding, presumably of the figgy variety.

You can grab the DLC now via Xbox Live Marketplace.

Bloggy Monster back once again. This time, Bloggy Monster tell you 'bout kiddy games on Amazon. Today only, you can pick up kiddy game cheap, like my friend Cookie Monster's Once Upon a Monster for Microsoft hand-wavy box. Only thirty dollars! It sound like big number, but it not so big. Cookie Monster no been returning Bloggy Monster's calls lately, but Bloggy Monster digress.

Skylanders starter pack also sixty dollars, ten dollars less than usual. If you no heard of Skylanders before, it action adventure game that scan toys to add new characters. Bloggy Monster think it kind of insidious but, again, Bloggy Monster digress. Plenty other kiddy game on sale. You check Amazon for more.

Oh, and don't make same mistake Bloggy Monster make. It's Cooking Mama, not Cookie Mama. Why no one make that game?

With the Xbox Live Buyers Guide out of the way, it's time to tackle the Xbox's more physical offerings. We realize everything on offer can be confusing. Hopefully this guide will help you piece together which baddies you'd like to destroy, which sort of role you'd prefer to play and exactly what kind of controller you want to be.

#kinectimals Once the poster lovable wild animals for Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect peripheral, the Kinectimals now appear to be feline ambassadors of goodwill to the iPad and iPhone. How very odd. More »

For those of you in the Xbox 360 Dashbaord preview program, some of this stuff is old hat, but for the rest of us, today's launch of a dozen new applications on the Dashboard is all brand new. Beyond the addition of YouTube, FiOS TV, and TMZ (can we give that one back?), Xbox 360 users get access to MSNBC content, iHeartRadio (actual radio!), and a handful of other services starting today.

Though we expected as much, certain services are region-specific and thusly will only be available if you live in said region (Rogers On Demand only exists in Canada, for instance, as it's a Canadian cable provider). Head past the break for the official list, regions and all.