Microsoft is blowing out PAX Prime with playable demos of Halo 4 multiplayer, Forza Horizon, Resident Evil 6 and Tomb Raider, along with a bunch of previews for XBLA, Dream Build Play and Windows 8 games. Microsoft will also have a big Gears of War: Judgement surprise, which Major Nelson promises to reveal tomorrow, and features on FIFA 13 and Fable: The Journey.
The XBLA games gracing PAX with their presence are State of Decay, Crash Course 2, Avatar Motocross Madness and Happy Wars, XBLA's first ever free-to-play title. Microsoft will host the 2012 Dream Build Play winners in its booth (#412), with the four Xbox 360 winners and top four from the Windows Phone division on display.
Free-to-play, user modding, and motion controls are only a few of the current trends that will impact the future of gaming. And if you haven't heard of LEAP, you will soon.
Sky Now TV - a streaming video service in the UK that launched on iOS, Android, PC and Mac last month - is now compatible with Xbox 360. Gamers can stream content in up to 720i and access Sky Now TV's 11 different movie channels. Of course, the app fully supports Kinect voice commands and navigation, per the new standard operating procedure for all Xbox 360 apps.
New users can try out Sky Now TV for free via a 30-day trial, but after that it'll cost £15 a month beyond those first 30 days for a Sky Movies Pass. There's also the opportunity to rent more recent films by paying a premium through the Xbox 360 app.
The Kinect is now $109.99 in the US, down $40 from its launch price. That's two copies of Child of Eden and change!
Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb also announced unspecified price reductions for the rest of North America, along with Latin America and Asia Pacific regions, effective today. The price will drop (again, to an unspecified number) in Australia and New Zealand on October 4.
There's no price change for EMEA regions or Japan, though nobody in Japan would notice either way.
Microsoft has announced that the National Broadcasting Company (colloquially known as NBC) has released a news app on Microsoft's Xbox Live. The app features content from many of NBC's various news programs, including Meet the Press, Hardball, Dateline, Nightly News and the Rachel Maddow Show. The NBC News app is available now on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
We know what you're thinking: "News? On my television?" There's no denying that it sounds bizarre, but it just might work.
#kinect
The Kinect may be a lost cause for proper games, but there's still hope for it to live on as a party trick. Which is exactly what the sequel to Double-Fine's Happy Action Theater is trying to do. More »
Ready to stomp out dance crimes across several decades with some stylish dance police? Yes, Dance Central 3's bizarro storyline is ... well, bizarro, but that just makes us all the more interested in it. Several Harmonix devs are happy to explain the game's kooky story in the latest trailer, revealed alongside several tracks for this fall's DC entry.
In total, there are nine new songs revealed, but let's not kid ourselves - the one we're concerned with is Daft Punk's "Around the World." Frankly, the fact that there've been two Dance Central games and loads of DLC and Daft Punk's globe traveling track has yet to make it in is baffling. A dance crime, even. We know what to do about those!
All nine tracks are just below the break - make sure to bring your dancing shoes.
Apparently your excitement for this fall's Xbox 360 Dashboard update beta was so great that Microsoft caved to demand and reopened its gates for 500,000 more participants. That's at least according to an Engadget tipster, though Microsoft's Major Nelson is only saying that the program is open to more testers this time than in its first round.
Like in the previous round, once the signups are closed, they're closed, so get your name in while the getting's good! If accepted, you'll get access to Internet Explorer's Xbox 360 version, enhanced search functionality, and bragging rights that you were in the beta "before it was cool." Full beta features are below the break.
#dancecentral
You know that feeling when you finally get your hands on the BFG 9000 in Doom or the gravity gun in Half-Life 2? It's a sensation that you're about to become nigh-omnipotent, able to blast enemies out of existence withlittle effort. It gives you goosebumps. More »
< /div> Fable: The Journey may not launch until early October, but you'll be able to take its virtual reins on September 17 when a demo for the game goes live worldwide on Xbox 360. Microsoft and Lionhead describe the demo as filled with "heart-pounding action," so, uh, maybe take some heart medication ahead of playing the game.
Should the potential for heart failure caused by playing a demo worry you too much, you could always just watch the new "ViDoc" above. It's a lot like a trailer, but with a weird name. Take a look!
We've known that Double Fine was working on a sequel to the Kinect showcase Happy Action Theater since this SF Weekly piece on Tim Schafer and company back in May. But it looks like the curtain is about to pull back on the game, which Double Fine reportedly expects to have out later on this year.
Giant Bomb's Ryan Davis said in a tweet that Double Fine would be sharing more details on the title this Friday. And a mention in Double Fine's latest update on its Kickstarter-backed adventure game says that "Happy Action TV" will be playable at PAX at the end of the month. The first game in the series was a magical bit of Kinect-enabled fun, and so we'll look forward to seeing what other crazy ideas for Kinect's camera are coming out of Tim Schafer's playground.
#sportaku
Well, well, look at this. FIFA 13's developers experimented with the concept but found there was no fair way to assess it within the rules of football. NBA 2K13, however, can take advantage of basketball's technical foul rules to sanction you for cussin' into the Kinect sensor after a total bullshit call. More »
During a demo of NBA 2K13 yesterday, 2K Sports representatives showed off a new feature exclusive to the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K13: Kinect voice commands. These commands can be used for simple things like telling a player to move to the post, as well as more advanced commands like calling isolation plays for specific ballers. Cursing at Kinect is a feature, but it'll net you a foul in-game.
The Kinect features will only be available when playing against the AI in NBA 2K13 - no Kinect voice commands in online and local multiplayer. 2K Games reps said that it didn't make sense from both a technological and gameplay standpoint. In local multiplayer, there'd be no way to determine who is who; using Kinect voice commands online would bog down the experience in needless lag.
As for PS Move support on the PS3, 2K Games reps told me that feature would not make a return this year. PS Move support made its debut in NBA 2K12, unveiled by none other than Kobe Bryant during an E3 2011 presentation.
The above image represents the body-tracking capabilities of the next generation of Kinect technology, according to purported Durango devkit owner DaE. Eurogamer declined to comment on the veracity of the image, but claims the owner is known to have a devkit for the next Xbox console.
The image shows a more accurate outline of two tracked bodies than the current Kinect can, including the ability to see fingers against clothing. The existence of this image suggests not just that new Kinect technology is being tested - it suggests that new Kinect technology will be bundled with, or sold alongside, the next Xbox. That squares with the leaked "Xbox 720" doc recently unearthed - and with common sense, given Kinect sales.
Have you been playing Forza Motorsport 4 and thinking to yourself, "Man, I like Forza, but there just aren't enough cars in it." This news is for you then, because the August Playseat Car Pack has just been released. This baby comes packing 10 new cars, ranging from Chevy to Ford to Peugeot to Scion. There's also a 60s era Lincoln Continental with suicide doors, which you might recognize as the ride Morpheus picked up Neo in before The Matrix went sour. The movie, not the Toyota Matrix (which isn't in Forza 4, incidentally).
You can pick up the whole pack for $7, or individual cars for $3.
Yes, you know them - Jeremih, Kevin Rudolf, and hip-hop greats Naughty By Nature are all headlining this month's Dance Central 2 club bangers. Each artist is bringing a single track for each week of the month, with Jeremih featuring 50 Cent's "Down On Me" getting things started tomorrow. As per usual, each track costs 240 MS Points ($2).
#nba2k13
Somehow, NBA 2K13 has managed to have a three-stage cover reveal. First, there were the stars. Then the cover added in Jay-Z as an executive producer, right there under the logo. Now, as first noticed by 360sync.com, we see the Xbox 360 box art, and notice it says "Better with Kinect." More »
For all Kinect does, it's got some pretty glaring flaws. For one, it's bound by that silly USB cable to the back of the Xbox 360. Good thinking, Microsoft!
Thankfully, Microsoft also finds Kinect's tethered nature troubling, and is working on a mobile solution. The company filed a patent application this week that allows a Kinect-esque device (though the word "Kinect" is never directly used ... come on) to capture and update "parameters which specify how the mobile depth camera has moved." In other words, it's a Kinect that can - in real time, at 20 frames per second - reestablish where it's being positioned in a room. Neat! We can already see the possibilities for motion control and ... uh ... maybe augmented reality stuff?
Beyond mobile Kinecting, Microsoft is also interested in movie editing, filing for a "living room movie creation" patent as well. And given that the Kinect is Microsoft's primary living room camera connected to a computer, this one sounds like it applies there as well. The patent says "movies can be directed, captured, and edited using a system that includes a depth camera," and that various real life objects can be implemented "as virtual props." Said filming system also allows for editing after shooting, should your living room movie not come out perfect in the first take.
FIFA 13 is integrating Kinect in a variety of voice-controlled scenarios, allowing players to choose formations, make substitutions and call plays as they happen live, as the above video demonstrates. Kinect will also enable the referees to "hear" it when you react poorly to a bad call, and while you won't get a yellow card for cursing out the refs, they will take your potty mouth into consideration on future rulings.
A recent gameplay video walkthrough for Need for Speed: Most Wanted includes a pack shot for a Kinect-supported Xbox 360 version. Since Kinect integration for the game has yet to be revealed, we've contacted EA for more information. In the meantime, feel free to check out the gameplay video.
#imove
It seems China can't get enough of motion control gaming, so much so that another Chinese company has come out to debut their own camera capture motion device, the i-move. More »
The day after reports of Microsoft reducing its Vancouver-based development studio, the company has announced it will open up a new one in London. MCV speculates the studio will focus on first-party free-to-play and online casual experiences, based on job listings.
"EMEA is a key market for us and we continue to cultivate the best talent and focus on growing our business, with this role focused on the continued expansion of our Microsoft Studios business in the region," Microsoft said in a statement.
Microsoft's Xbox presence in the UK includes Lionhead Studios, Soho Productions and Rare.
Microsoft has dated and priced its two "TV experiences" available later this year in the forms of Kinect Sesame Street TV and Kinect Nat Geo TV (...that's "National Geographic" for us who like to hollaback old school). Both interactive TV shows will be $29.99 (2400 MSP) for eight 30-minute episodes, available both at retail and through Xbox Live as a "season pass".
Can't take the commitment of eight episodes? Each episode can also be purchased individually at $4.99 (400 MSP). The rugrat-silencing products will be available on September 18, giving you enough time after to catch up on your Fifty Shades of Grey reading.
Are you ready to bounce a ball to the beat of Justice? That's just the Frenchest of the many artists added to the NBA Baller Beats soundtrack as of today.
You'll be able to dribble to their "Canon," along with Santigold's "Disparate Youth," Eric B. and Rakim's "Don't Sweat the Technique" (the perfect accompaniment to your sweating of the techniques required to successfully play) and a somewhat eclectic selection of tracks.
Find the full list of new and previously revealed tracks after the break. NBA Baller Beats will roll into stores on September 11.
It's pretty clear Best Buy knows exactly what it's doing with this giant game sale: It's the Monday following the final hours of the Steam Summer Sale, and many gamers are already suffering from the first stages of withdrawal. They crave cheap games, marked down to ridiculous prices with the flimsy excuse of "it's hot outside."
The Best Buy Summer Gaming Blowout offers more than 100 games and accessories on sale this week, including console versions of Assassin's Creed Revelations, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Just Dance 3 for $10 each, Gears of War 3 for $15, Metroid: Other M for $5, and many more massive discounts.
Best Buy doesn't offer a ton of PC games, but does have Sid Meier's Civilization V: Game of the Year Edition for $20, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for $10, and a few new Sims titles on the cheap. For those itchin' for a post-Steam-sale fix, this might just be your Best Bet.
