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Kinect Star Wars Won’t Be Home for Christmas
What might have been the perfect Christmas gift for the Star Wars gamer will have to find another special occasion to be gifted on, as Microsoft confirms that Star Wars Kinect and the Star Wars themed Xbox 360 have been pushed back indefinitely. It started off bad and got a little better, but Star Wars…
By Mike Fahey Published August 24, 2011 -
Japan Gets a New Xbox 360 Bundle
Forget all that talk that Microsoft is leaving Japan! Because on September 28, Xbox Japan is launching a new Xbox 360 250GB bundle that includes Monster Hunter Frontier Online Priced at ¥29,800, which is the normal price for a 250GB Xbox 360 in Japan, the bundle comes with Monster Hunter Frontier Online codes that allow…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 24, 2011 -
Coming Up This Weekend at PAX: Kinect Sports Baseball
This coming weekend, Stephen, Joel and I are going to be heading to Seattle for PAX—we’ll be fighting our way around the show floor, taking pictures of as much crazy stuff as possible, playing a whole lot of upcoming games, including… well, including baseball. Microsoft, Rare and Big Park will be debuting the baseball portion…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 22, 2011 -
Kinect was Tested by Dropping It on Concrete
The Microsoft engineers building Kinect “knew this thing was going to be viewed as a toy,” says one, “and so it was going to be abused.” So they abused it first, toughening the thing up to the point it could be dropped on concrete and still function. Now, it’s not said how high of a…
By Owen Good Published August 21, 2011 -
Clever Xbox Live User Sues Microsoft for $500 Billion (or 625,000,000,000 MS Points)
Some cletus down in Arkansas opines that Microsoft has to pay him $500 billion because it didn’t answer, in writing, a mailing designed to not get a written response to his demands for $500 billion. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is your source for all the fun, courtesy of a federal civil complaint filed Monday by one…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 -
Take a Tour of Microsoft’s Massive Gamescom Booth
Microsoft isn’t kidding around when it comes to a Gamescom presence. The company’s booth is enormous, encompassing everything from Kinect bubbles to Forza demo stations to the largest bank of computers playing Age of Empires I’ve ever seen
By Luke Plunkett Published August 18, 2011 -
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Mutiplayer Maps Look Real Pretty
Just because we love you at Kotaku, we’re giving you videos of two classic multiplayer maps, Beaver Creek and Damnation, for free! Enjoy the nostalgia of blasting your friends with a plasma rifle.
By Max Abrams Published August 16, 2011 -
360 Cases Now a Matte Finish Going Forward, Microsoft Clarifies
Earlier it was reported that a matte finish was coming to the Xbox 360 250GB hard drive configuration, and that is indeed true, but some construed that to mean the glossy case still would be in production. It ain’t. Matte 250GB slims will arrive on shelves in the coming weeks, writes the Xbox community manager…
By Owen Good Published August 14, 2011 -
Class Action Lawsuit Accuses Microsoft of Double-Billing Xbox Live Subscriptions
Microsoft must defend its Xbox Live billing policies in a class action lawsuit filed this week in Indiana. Plaintiff Ryan Graves says he was double-charged for a subscription under “vague and onerous terms of use” for the console service membership. Graves says that his Xbox Live subscription lapsed when he didn’t update his credit card…
By Owen Good Published August 11, 2011 -
They Will Rip Your Head Off With Their Tiny Little Hands
We got our grubby little hands on the latest Halo Minimate sets that hit Toys R Us this month. Each $20 Diamond Select Toys set comes with three Noble Team members and a Warthog. One set comes with Jun, Carter and Kat and a standard Warthog. The other comes with Jorge, Emile and Noble-6 and…
By Brian Crecente Published August 9, 2011 -
Get a 600,000 Gamerscore. Make a Silly Video.
Because why not? Gamer Stallion83, aka Raymond Cox, is on a quest: to be the first Xbox 360 owner to earn a gamerscore of one million. Last fall, Stallion83’s gamerscore hit 500,000, celebrating the milestone with a video. And this summer, he’s reached 600,000, marking this moment with a goofy video. It’s got raw eggs…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 5, 2011 -
Kinect Fun Labs Adding “Air Band” Soon
Kinect Fun Labs, the free-to-download toys for Xbox Live Arcade (and Kinect) that have delivered optimized avatar generation and zany object animation (but not advanced penis recognition heuristics) look to be joined by an air-band application getting you and your friends in on a pantomime jam session. Germany’s ratings board has passed judgment on “Air…
By Owen Good Published August 4, 2011 -
Your Xbox 360s Just Got a Lot Less Shiny
The new Xbox 360 S model has always been available in two finishes: a glossy, reflective surface on the “big” consoles and a dull, matte finish on the smaller 4GB version. This Fall, that distinction gets a little less clear. You’ll soon be able to have the option of getting the larger 250GB version of…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2011 -
The Xbox 360 Has a Hidden Solution to Your Nintendo 3DS Screen Woes
If you own (and use) a Nintendo 3DS, you’ve probably noticed that the system’s top screen can get marked up and scratched rather easily, just by closing and carrying it around for the sake of Street Passing. Nintendo has recommended that 3DS owners place a cloth between the screens to prevent any damage, but some…
By Jen Schiller Published August 3, 2011 -
Why the Hell Does DirectX Install Every Time I Buy a Game off Steam?
It’s a trivial question most PC gamers will have pondered at one time or another, as upon booting up a new (or, more importantly, old) game bought from Steam, they have to wait while DirectX installs. Again. For, like, the 100th time Turns out it’s not a Steam error. It’s just the price you pay…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2011 -
The Hand That Guides the Gears of War Universe
In 2006 when science fiction author Karen Traviss’ editor asked her if she wanted to do a military video game tie-in novel, it was the first she’d heard of Epic Games’ Gears of War. Today she’s responsible for the entire fictional universe, steering the adventure of Marcus Fenix and company to its inevitable conclusion and…
By Mike Fahey Published August 2, 2011 -
Xbox Live Deal of the Week: Lose the Stupid Gamertag
You know that gamertag you’ve been sporting the past few years, the one with the letters replaced with numbers because someone else had the same name idea first? You should change it now, while it’s cheap. This week’s Deal of the Week on Xbox Live is the ability to change your gamertag for only 560…
By Mike Fahey Published August 2, 2011 -
Halo‘s Blonde Space Marines Have More Fun
Drake Tsui dropped an amazing “The Babysitter” (HALO Legends) episode fan art illustration! You can follow Drake here on his Tumblr Related Rampages: Dark Knights | Versus (Scott Pilgrim) (More) Cal-141 by Drake Tsui (Tumblr) (Facebook) (Twitter) via: quirkilicious Need your daily fill of geek eye candy? If so, head over to Justin Page’s Rampaged…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 1, 2011 -
Are Gaming’s Biggest Portables Becoming Its Smallest Niche?
Last week’s drastic, surprising price drop for Nintendo’s 3DS gaming portable brought turmoil not just to the last major dedicated gaming hardware company in the world, but also the notion of portable gaming. While fans of Nintendo worry what impact the nearly one-third price drop on such a new piece of hardware will have on…
By Brian Crecente Published August 1, 2011 -
Sitting on Your Ass Playing Halo for 12 Hours: The Silent Killer
Chris Staniforth was standing outside of a jobs center, awaiting an interview, when he dropped a pack of chewing gum. When he reached to pick it up, he began to spasm. In moments, he was dead. Actual cause of death: pulmonary embolism as a result of deep vein thrombosis. Proximate cause of death: Playing his…
By Owen Good Published July 30, 2011