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The Gunstringer is Almost the Most Fun I’ve Had with the Kinect, Fruit Ninja Kinect The Most
I’ve finally got a reason to reconnect the Kinect to my Xbox 360. It’s been nearly four months since I moved half-way across the country to upstate New York, and while I’ve been slowly piecing back together my gaming set up and all of its many consoles, I still haven’t found a reason to reconnect…
By Brian Crecente Published July 29, 2011 -
Microsoft Leaves Gate Open, Unreleased Games Now Available [Update]
From Dust and Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet are both part of Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade Games promotion for the Xbox 360. Neither is supposed to be out, but for some reason, both now are. This isn’t that big a deal when it comes to From Dust, which depending on where you are in the world…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 27, 2011 -
You Know What Kinectimals Needs? Bears
Kinect launch title Kinectimals was a fine showcase for Microsoft’s motion-sensing technology, but it was all about cat. They should have just called it Kinecticats. This problem, like many others, has been fixed via liberal application of bears. Five bears, to be exact: Black Bear, Grizzly Bear, Cinnamon Bear, Polar Bear, and Glacier Bear. These…
By Mike Fahey Published July 26, 2011 -
Behold the Sleek and Sexy New Xbox 360 Bluetooth Headset and Media Remote
Last year Microsoft updated the white and clunky original Xbox 360 with the slim model, a slick black beast of a gaming console. Suddenly peripherals for the old system looked like ass in comparison. Today Microsoft fixes that, introducing the gorgeous new Xbox 360 Wireless Headset with Bluetooth and Xbox 360 Media Remote. Less high-tech…
By Mike Fahey Published July 26, 2011 -
Former Microsoft Developer Killed In Traffic Accident
Former Microsoft Game Studios developer Steve Lacey, who had worked on titles like Crimson Skies and the Flight Simulator series, has been tragically killed when a drunk driver smashed into his car while trying to collide with another vehicle in an incident of “road rage”. Lacey was 43. [King5]
By Luke Plunkett Published July 26, 2011 -
Have Japan’s Xbox Mission Men Been Restructured?
In early 2010, Xbox Japan launched a new mascot, Sanrokumaru (literally, “360”), a businessman with an Xbox logo for a head. A year and a half later, he seems to have vanished. Poof! As part of a then new commercial campaign, Sanrokumaru was part of the fictional “Xbox Mission Department”. In each of the subsequent…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 20, 2011 -
Xbox.com Now has Games for Your Browser
Presumably as part of the coming together of Games for Windows and Xbox.com, you can now play four free “trial” games (ie demos) on the Xbox 360’s homepage, right in your browser, no install necessary. The games are Plants vs Zombies, Bejeweled 3, Zuma’s Revenge and Text Twist 2. [Xbox]
By Luke Plunkett Published July 20, 2011 -
Science Is Teaching Kinect To Use a Lightsaber
A team of researchers at Stanford University are living the dream: they’ve used Kinect and a robot arm not to cure disease or solve the energy crisis, but to build something for lightsaber practice. The Kinect camera is able to track the movement and placement of a human opponent, with the arm programmed to respond…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 19, 2011 -
Report: The Next Xbox Can Render Avatar Graphics
No, it won’t be wall-to-wall digital blue people. Well, I hope it won’t, because, man, I did not like Avatar However, AMD, the tech company responsible for Xbox 360 graphics tech, said the next Xbox will be able to render graphical detail on par with James Cameron’s sci-fi opus. AMD won’t confirm it’s working on…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 18, 2011 -
Microsoft-Sony.com a “Defensive Domain Hold” Says Microsoft
The discovery this week that “microsoft-sony.com” is a domain owned by Microsoft set off all sorts of speculation as to what a potential collaboration could mean. Microsoft’s Frank X. Shaw, the company’s top spokesman, tweeted on Friday that “Sony = great MS partner. No scoop here, this was just a defensive domain hold.” [h/t ThisLife17]
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 -
Why Sony and Microsoft Teaming Up on Their Next Console Makes a Lot of Sense
Microsoft has trouble making hardware. Sony has trouble running online services. What if the next Xbox and the next PlayStation are one and the same? A few months ago, while reporting about the then unannounced Wii U console for Nintendo, we stumbled on an interesting ancillary rumor: Microsoft and Sony were in active discussions regarding…
By Joel Johnson Published July 15, 2011 -
So Dance Central Is *the* Kinect Game (Even in Japan)
Gotta Dance | TOKYO, JAPAN: Microsoft showed off the game this week at a Tokyo health club. (Photo: Game Watch Impress) No More Heroes Cosplay Has a Heroic and Revealing Bodysuit When she’s not cosplaying as Metal Gear Solid characters, Omi Gibson is cosplaying as No More Heroes characters. And when she’s not doing that,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2011 -
In the Future, Your Phone Could Control Your Robot Butler With A Next-Gen Kinect
Last year, Microsoft bought a company called Canesta. Canesta, a gesture-recognition company, is the way to the future. The company is responsible for the software that might power the next generation of Kinect, the Xbox 360’s motion control accessory. Because they’re creating hardware that’s smaller and faster than Kinect’s current tech, PrimeSense’s PrimeSensor, this makes…
By Jen Schiller Published July 14, 2011 -
Microsoft has Rights to Make Another South Park XBLA Game
Microsoft has a two-game deal with Comedy Central for its South Park license, which implies that another Xbox Live Arcade game could be on the way, following 2009’s South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! Joystiq uncovered that nugget in a discussion with Prithvi Virasinghe of 345 Games, which is the games production arm of…
By Owen Good Published July 13, 2011 -
The StarCraft Tournament Where Facebook, Microsoft and Google are Competitors
Well now this is interesting. Sean “Day[9]” Plott, who we’ve featured here before on Kotaku, has helped put together a StarCraft II tournament. Only, instead of it being man versus man, it’s company versus company. And the companies are big ones Inspired by an internal Facebook competition, the “After Hours Gaming League” is billed as…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 13, 2011 -
Middle-Aged Man Arrested over Plastic Schoolgirl (Stupidity Ensues)
Ruiko Saten is not real. She’s a flower-in-her-hair schoolgirl character in anime To aru Kagaku no Railgun. Earlier this spring, in Shizuoka, Japan, one of her plastic figures was stolen! According to a Sankei News report on MSN, 47-year-old Yasuyoshi Nakatsukasa apparently located a Ruiko Saten figure at second hand shop A-Too. The 20 centimeter…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 13, 2011 -
Correction: Xbox Music Brings 11 Million Songs to Your 360 This Fall
According to a report on Business Insider, Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer revealed plans yesterday for a new service called Xbox Music. Business Insider has since issues a correction for their original story. I’ve pasted it in its entirely below. With the Zune brand on death’s doorstep, this is shaping up to be a replacement for…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 12, 2011 -
Microsoft, This Isn’t Helping Win PC Gamers Over
Perhaps realising it wasn’t exactly popular with gamers as a standalone marketplace, Microsoft recently decided to shift Games for Windows over to Xbox.com. That move has now taken place, and…it’s gone about as well as you’d expect from Microsoft and PC gaming. The image above is where you’ll find now find PC gaming on Xbox.com.…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 12, 2011