Posts tagged Xbox 360
Xbox 360’s Full-Body Motion Controls: Coming This Holiday Season
Jan 7th
Microsoft announced at the Consumer Electronics Show that its full-body motion control system for the Xbox 360 (codenamed “Project Natal”) will go on sale in time for the holidays this year.
There’s one reason the Nintendo Wii has been the most popular video game console these past few years: motion controls. The Wii remote makes video games more appealing for folks who didn’t spend a huge chunk of their childhoods or teenage years gripping 21-button controllers.
The Xbox 360 is the device of choice for hardcore gamers, but it hasn’t been as successful with those video game newbies. Thus, Microsoft decided to try to one up Nintendo: What if you could control games by moving your whole body, not just the controller in your hand?
Natal is primarily a 3D camera technology; it was announced just under a year ago. In one demonstration, a kid performs karate moves and sees them matched by his avatar on screen. In another, a woman serves a volleyball by swinging her arms. In still another, a virtual boy recognizes and responds to a player’s body language. Have a look at the (mostly simulated) demo video below.
Expect more details — including pricing, probably — at the E3 gaming conference this June. In the meantime, Microsoft has also announced a service called Game Room. It will serve your console classic arcade games over the Internet. More traditional game offerings featured at CES include Halo Reach, Fable 3, Alan Wake, Mass Effect 2, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction and Crackdown 2.
Tags: CES, CES 2010, Christmas, Holidays, microsoft, Nintendo, nintendo wii, project natal, Xbox 360
Xbox 360’s Full-Body Motion Controls: Coming This Holiday Season
Jan 7th
Microsoft announced at the Consumer Electronics Show that its full-body motion control system for the Xbox 360 (codenamed “Project Natal”) will go on sale in time for the holidays this year.
There’s one reason the Nintendo Wii has been the most popular video game console these past few years: motion controls. The Wii remote makes video games more appealing for folks who didn’t spend a huge chunk of their childhoods or teenage years gripping 21-button controllers.
The Xbox 360 is the device of choice for hardcore gamers, but it hasn’t been as successful with those video game newbies. Thus, Microsoft decided to try to one up Nintendo: What if you could control games by moving your whole body, not just the controller in your hand?
Natal is primarily a 3D camera technology; it was announced just under a year ago. In one demonstration, a kid performs karate moves and sees them matched by his avatar on screen. In another, a woman serves a volleyball by swinging her arms. In still another, a virtual boy recognizes and responds to a player’s body language. Have a look at the (mostly simulated) demo video below.
Expect more details — including pricing, probably — at the E3 gaming conference this June. In the meantime, Microsoft has also announced a service called Game Room. It will serve your console classic arcade games over the Internet. More traditional game offerings featured at CES include Halo Reach, Fable 3, Alan Wake, Mass Effect 2, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction and Crackdown 2.
Tags: CES, CES 2010, Christmas, Holidays, microsoft, Nintendo, nintendo wii, project natal, Xbox 360
STATS: Xbox Live Generates One Million New Users for last.fm
Nov 24th
Last week Microsoft rolled out a long-awaited social networking integration to the Xbox 360 console that included support for Twitter, Facebook, and CBS-owned social music site last.fm.
The early reports are coming in about adoption of the new update, and last.fm is reporting they saw a whopping nearly one million new users sign up for the service via Xbox Live in the U.S. and UK.
That boils down to almost 300 new users per minute over the course of the last week, which last.fm says is the biggest growth spurt they’ve ever seen since the service first launched back in 2002. Additionally, over 120 million minutes’ worth of music has been streamed through last.fm on the console during that week. By all accounts, that’s a huge success for last.fm and a big win for the Xbox 360 as en entertainment hub beyond gaming.
The stats are doubly impressive when considering the total volume of Xbox Live users is only about 20 million — meaning almost 5% of them signed up for last.fm after the social integrations went live. Free Xbox Live Silver members only have access to a trial version of last.fm with a 180 minutes streaming limit, but paid Xbox Live Gold members have unlimited streaming access.
An additional last.fm subscription option at $3/month nets you ad-free, uninterrupted station listening, a view of recent profile visitors and a custom station of just the tracks you’ve loved (as well as member benefits on the last.fm site itself). Of course, it remains to be seen how many of those new signups will be converted to paid subscribers.
Are you using any of the new social features on your Xbox 360? Were you a member of last.fm beforehand, or did you sign up for the service thanks to the integration with your game console? Let us know in the comments.
Tags: cbs, Last.FM, microsoft, music, xbox, Xbox 360, XBox live
We Know Hollywood Is This Dumb. Et Tu, Netflix?
Nov 10th
Back in August, we wrote about the Hollywood movie studios conspiring to keep new release DVDs away from services like Netflix and Redbox for as many as 30 days after their release. The idea behind this from Hollywood’s perspective is simple: If people can’t rent movies right away, they’ll buy more. Sorry, did I say the idea was “simple”? I meant, “idiotic”.
At the time, it was reported that Blockbuster, the former video giant that is aging anything but gracefully, was also backing this 30-day window idea (where it might see a 30-day rental exclusive on some titles). With the company bleeding money, it shouldn’t be surprising that they’re aligning themselves with the studios. But more recently, there has been some very disheartening news: Netflix seems to be willing to back this idea too. Yes, the poster child for much of what is right about the consumer movie business these days may be on the verge of making a deal with the devil.
Let’s be clear about what this means: If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you will no longer be able to rent new movies until 30 days after they’ve been released on DVD. Read the rest of this entry »
The Future of Gaming: 5 Social Predictions
Nov 10th
Earlier today, video gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) announced its blockbuster acquisition of the Facebook/social gaming company Playfish for between $300-400 million.
It’s a major move by EA into the social gaming space and one that places a smart team and a set of top-rated social networking games (e.g. Pet Society) into its control.
While it’s too early to understand the ramifications and implications of the Playfish acquisition, we do firmly believe that the potential impact of the EA/Playfish combo are enormous. This is the first time the social and video gaming realms have truly merged. In fact, it could prove to be a watershed moment for not only the social gaming industry, but for video games in general.
After thinking about the current state of gaming and how social gaming could affect, we’ve come up with a set of six predictions surrounding how social gaming could affect not only Electronic Arts, but the entire video gaming industry. Here are our predictions: Read the rest of this entry »
New Xbox 360 Warranty Stickers Better Guarantee Chastity? [Xbox 360]
Nov 5th
Apparently, Microsoft is slapping a new style of void-if-removed warranty stickers on Xbox 360s that are sent in for repair. Why? With no facts to back us up, we must call upon our favorite pastime: crazy-eyed speculation.
The new sticker, found under the faceplate (just like the old one), looks a bit bigger and features both a code and a mysterious black bar. Read the rest of this entry »
Hey Microsoft: We Need Aliases for Xbox Live Gamertags [Rants]
Oct 27th
I love Xbox Live, I really do. But man, how am I supposed to keep track of what usernames my friends are using? We need aliases, and we’ve needed them for a while.
On Adium, the AIM client I use, I put in aliases for everyone on my buddy list. How the hell am I supposed to remember everybody’s ancient screennames that are references to something obscure from high school? Instead, they come up as, you know, their names. Read the rest of this entry »
