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Kinect Downgraded To Save Money, Can’t Read Sign Language
The patent for Microsoft’s motion-sensing camera Kinect suggested that the device could understand American Sign Language. Well, it can’t. At least, the version going on sale in November can’t. Responding to the claims made in the patent, Microsoft has told Kotaku “We are excited about the potential of Kinect and its potential to impact gaming…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 11, 2010 -
Microsoft Looking To Beat China’s Ban On 360 Consoles
The Xbox 360 is, officially at least, banned in China. Microsoft, however, hasn’t given up hope of getting the machine cleared for a legal release. While you can find one easily enough at an importer, like most other games consoles in China (aside from the Nintendo DS), it is barred from official distribution, as consoles…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 10, 2010 -
Kinect Beta Invites Going Out, Are You In?
Microsoft is offering a “limited audience” of Xbox 360 owners an opportunity to beta test Kinect and changes to Xbox Live before they’re scheduled to hit in November. Check your e-mail to see if you’re on the list. Because if you are, you may be receiving pre-release software and hardware early, without the need to…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 9, 2010 -
Kinect Patent Says It Can Read Sign Language
The patent for Microsoft’s motion-sensing camera Kinect was released to the public last week, and while we knew most of the stuff contained within, I’d be lying if I said I knew the device could recognise sign language. But it does. At least, according to the patent it does (things may have changed since, we’re…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 9, 2010 -
Foxconn’s Latest In Suicide Prevention? Hiring “Mature” Workers
To combat its recent rash of suicides, Foxconn has installed safety nets, nixed suicide compensation, raised wages and even considered moving factories to China’s interior and increasing automation on the assembly line. The company’s latest brainstorm? Foxconn is looking at hiring more mature workers. This comes as last week a 22-year-old female worker fell to…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 9, 2010 -
250GB Kinect Bundle Spotted
Microsoft’s controller-free Kinect platform is getting a 4GB bundle that comes with an Xbox 360, 4GB of memory, a Kinect sensor, a game and a controller. That doesn’t look like the only bundle. The Australian packaging for the 4GB bundle shows what appears to be a 250GB bundle that comes with a 250GB hard drive…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 9, 2010 -
And Another Foxconn Worker Dies
Foxconn is famous for two things: Manufacturing electronics (the PS3, the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360 and the iPhone) and having employees that commit suicide. This year, 12 Foxconn workers have taken their own lives. A 22-year-old female worker from Jiangsu Province has fallen to her death this week at the company’s Kunshan factory. Foxconn…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 6, 2010 -
Is This How Microsoft Will Fix Kinect’s Couch Problem?
Microsoft’s forthcoming Kinect camera controller for the Xbox 360 plays better with standing humans than it does with couch potatoes. Microsoft says it’s still “calibrating” Kinect for seated players and may accomplish that with a little help from Amazon.com. The Xbox 360 maker may have turned to Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service to make Kinect’s depth-sensing…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 6, 2010 -
Halo Reach Afterhours at GameStop
GameStop, Microsoft and pro-gamer Tom “Tsquared” Taylor will be showing off some new Halo Reach footage and sharing some tips and tricks for the game at an event this Friday. The Halo Reach: Afterhours Event will also include a glimpse at the Xbox 360 game’s new Firefight mode. Hit up this site to check out…
By Brian Crecente Published August 5, 2010 -
EyeToy Creator Says Controller-Free Is “Limited”
Sony’s R&D wizard Dr. Richard Marks has two impressive entries on his resume: Creating the PlayStation EyeToy motion controls and the upcoming PlayStation Move motion controls. And he thinks controller-less controls are “limited”. “I created the technology for EyeToy which we made a controller-less device and it was really neat and it enabled new things…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 5, 2010 -
Game About Befriending A Young Boy Is “Contentious”
Peter Molyneux, the game designer behind the Fable franchise, is working on Project Milo. The game is about a relationship with a young boy. Yep! According to Molyneux, there are “huge mountains” with the subject matter. “The reason for that is it is enormously contentious for us to do a game, a story, an experience,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 5, 2010 -
Deep Inside Xbox 360 Kinect and Why It’s the Future of Microsoft
Kinect is more than an Xbox 360 peripheral, it’s the future of Microsoft, or at least a very possible one. It’s the beginning of Microsoft’s plans for natural user interfaces, the step beyond the thing you’re staring at right now. *** Kinect is as much a product of serendipity as anything else. When Microsoft hired…
matt buchanan & Joel Johnson Published August 5, 2010 -
Microsoft Triumphs In Multiplayer Gaming Patent Battle
In 2004 Peter Hochstein and Jeffrey Tenenbaum sued Microsoft over a 10-year-old patent for “communicating live while playing the same video game in separate locations.” After six years of legal tomfoolery, a U.S. District Judge has dismissed the case. Hochstein and Tenenbaum sued both Sony and Microsoft for patent infringement in 2004, claiming that both…
By Mike Fahey Published August 3, 2010 -
Settlers Of Catan, As Nature Intended
Last month we took a close look at a new version of classic board game Settlers of Catan, one being readied for Microsoft’s giant touch-screen computer. Since then, a new build of the game has been released. God this stuff looks good. It really is the best of both worlds; the social intimacy of a…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2010 -
Kinect Doesn’t Like It When Models Stand Too Close To Each Other
Microsoft tried something novel at a recent event in Hong Kong; they figured if you use a pair of scantily-clad booth babes to demo a Kinect game, maybe people won’t notice the game not working Things begin well enough; the waves to the crowd are twitchy, but recognised. Then the race starts. And things start…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 2, 2010 -
Microsoft To Sell 250GB HDDs Separately
Selling individual 250GB hard disk drives for the new Xbox 360 S seems like a predictable move, sure, but also one that until now had never been officially disclosed by Microsoft. Packaging shots for the 4GB version of the console, however, have shown Microsoft’s hand, revealing that in addition to controllers and Kinect, another accessory/upgrade…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 30, 2010 -
250 Foxconn Employees Poisoned By Pesticide
This time it isn’t an employee falling off a roof or out of a window. This time, it’s pesticide. Foxconn, the world’s largest manufacturer of electronics, is responsible for assembling the Xbox 360, the PS3, the Wii, the iPhone and more. After 250 workers at the company’s Chennai, India plant were hospitalized, Foxconn had no…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 28, 2010 -
Halo: Reach Also Gets A Wireless Headset
Along with controllers and consoles, Microsoft today also quietly revealed a Halo: Reach-branded wireless headset for the Xbox 360. Selling for USD$50, the headset will be available a little ahead of the game’s launch in September, hitting stores worldwide in late August. Demand for these may not be as high for the shiny console, since…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 23, 2010 -
Unboxing Halo: Reach’s Games And Console
It’s one thing to see the guts of a Halo game spilled across a carefully-staged press photo, but it’s another entirely to see the actual product (or in this case products) opened by human hands. This video put together by Bungie shows Halo: Reach’s limited edition, legendary edition and special Xbox 360 console being taken…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 23, 2010