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Reviews
Kodu Game Lab Micro-Review: Baby’s First Game Development Kit
Who says you have to go to college for an expensive game developer’s education? Microsoft Research’s Kodu puts the power of a dev kit right in your hand for a mere $5. Kodu Game Lab isn’t a video game, per se, but a lot of the pre-packaged worlds that come with the Game Lab certainly…
By AJ Glasser Published July 10, 2009 -
Seems The 360 Avatar Editor Is More Popular Than We First Thought
Some people probably used the 360’s avatar creator when they first got hold of the New Xbox Experience, and that was that. One use only. But other people use it a bit more often. Xbox Australia have recently begun displaying their own localised version of the “top 10 games on Live” chart normally seen on…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 7, 2009 -
Dirt 2 PC Delayed For DirectX 11
The PC version of Colin McRae: Dirt 2 is being driven to December in order to make sure the title supports the hardware tessellation, multi-threading and Shader Model 5.0 technology coming in DirectX 11. DirectX 11 already? Most games are still trying to catch up to DirectX 10 support, but Codemasters wants to make sure…
By Mike Fahey Published July 6, 2009 -
Tecmo Koei: Xbox 360 Is Doing “Well” In Japan
Remember when the Xbox 360 launched in Japan? Boy, that was embarrassing! Microsoft has turned things around of late and found a small degree of success in the region. “Xbox 360 as a business is doing better than the old Xbox,” Tecmo Koei boss Kenji Matsubara tells game site Kikizo. “They have a good opportunity…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 4, 2009 -
Microsoft Comments On 360 Dash Advertisements
Following the revelation yesterday that the company would later this year be placing advertisements on Xbox Live, Microsoft have moved to assure users that the ads will “enhance, not interfere” with their experience. Posting on his blog, Microsoft’s Larry Hryb has said: I need to let you know that you don’t need to worry about…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 1, 2009 -
Microsoft Sued Over Xbox Live
In 1994, Peter Hochstein and Jeffrey Tenenbaum patented a method for “communicating live while playing the same video game in separate locations”. In 2004, they sued Microsoft, accusing Xbox Live of infringing on that patent. Now, five years later, the case is finally starting to heat up. See, unlike many other cases of this ilk…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 1, 2009 -
Celebrate Your Independence With Double Gears 2 XP
What better way to celebrate Independence Day weekend than sitting inside an air-conditioned house gathering twice the normal experience points in Gears of War 2? With Title Update 4 dropping just in time for America to celebrate its independence from British tyranny, which seems a bit silly now that we look back, now is the…
By Mike Fahey Published July 1, 2009 -
Band Of Bugs Thrusts Your Avatar Into Battle
Be a part of an elite insectoid military force next week, when NinjaBee introduces Xbox 360 avatar support for strategy title Band of Bugs, along with an entirely new game released as DLC. Developer NinjaBee delivered one of the earliest avatar-supporting Xbox Live Arcade titles in A Kingdom for Keflings, and now they’re putting your…
By Mike Fahey Published July 1, 2009 -
Some Last.fm 360 Pricing Details
Last.fm is coming to the Xbox 360, sticking another multimedia feather in the little beige box’s hat. But we’re left with two burning questions: how much will it cost, and can we stream the music in our games? The most important of those questions is the streaming one, and sadly, we don’t have an answer…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 1, 2009 -
Ads Coming To Xbox 360 Dashboard?
Sean Alexander, director at Microsoft’s Advertising Business Group, has suggested that you could soon be seeing advertisements every time you fire up your 360 dashboard. Apparently, Microsoft “plans to bring IAB specifications for rich media technologies, including Silverlight, to Xbox Live within the year”. With Silverlight being Microsoft’s version of/competitor to Flash, MediaPost say “Silverlight-powered…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 30, 2009 -
Gears Of War 2 Continues In Jacinto’s Remnant
New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss picks up the story of Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago where Gears of War 2 left off, with next month’s release of Gears of War: Jacinto’s Remnant. As this novel is a direct sequel to Gears 2, those of you who haven’t finished it yet might want to…
By Mike Fahey Published June 30, 2009 -
Forza 3 Races Through Japan
We’re well aware that Forza Motorsports 3 looks amazing, but where will it look amazing? Microsoft highlights the legendary racing tracks of Japan in their latest update, revealing a handful of new cars in the process. The latest Turn 10 update for Forza 3 reveals four new tracks across three classic Japanese racing venues for…
By Mike Fahey Published June 30, 2009 -
Halo ODST Features An Open World, “Reach” Could Use Natal Tech
Upcoming Bungie shooter Halo ODST won’t be a straight-forward linear shooter, rather blending elements of traditional shooters with the open world exploration of Grand Theft Auto, Bungie told he Seattle Times in a recent interview. “We’re doing a lot of pretty neat things in terms of mixing it up, introducing some non-linearity, some free exploration,”…
By Brian Crecente Published June 29, 2009 -
Licensed Avatar Clothing Starts Rolling Out
Over the weekend, Microsoft’s Larry Hryb confirmed that the mysterious “Xbox 360 Beta” that a bunch of Microsoft employees were “testing” wasn’t a game. Wasn’t Natal. It was…licensed avatar clothing. Here, we can see what he’s talking about, as MS employee “Randy No Arms” here is fully decked out in garish Halo threads, from his…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 29, 2009 -
Win Prizes in 1 vs. 100 Next Week? [Update]
Last night on 1 vs. 100, it sounds like host Chris Cashman let slip that this coming week the game show’s beta is over, and players can finally take home Microsoft points. The accidental leak came after The One, as many have been wont to do during the beta, either ignored or didn’t remember the…
By Owen Good Published June 28, 2009 -
THQ Has Natal Dev Kits But No Sony Wand Dev Kits
Sony Computer Entertainment and Microsoft both showed off new motion control at E3 2009 and both appear to have designs on launching those offerings in 2010. And some third party publishers already have Project Natal dev kits. THQ’s Brian Farrell tells G4’s The Feed that his company already has Natal development tools. They’ve had them…
By Michael McWhertor Published June 26, 2009 -
Halo 3 ODST Impressions: What Happened In Africa
The campaign of this fall’s Halo 3 ODST surfaced at an event in New York this week, right near a bowl of lime green jellybeans and a bunch of Zunes. Here’s what we learned. The demo being shown in New York was the same displayed behind closed doors at E3. We’ve previewed the game’s multiplayer…
By Stephen Totilo Published June 25, 2009 -
Ever Wanted To See Microsoft Buy A Motion-Sensing Tech Company?
Microsoft were in buyout talks with Israeli company 3DV systems earlier this year. Now, a few months later, for the first time it’s been officially announced that Microsoft owns the motion-sensing company. So what does this actually mean? It’s hard to tell. Logic points towards Microsoft’s Project Natal motion-control camera having been built using technology…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 23, 2009 -
360 Wireless Mic Stands Alone This Fall
Microsoft is taking the wireless microphone from their Lips and sending it packing, making its increased game support even more appealing by releasing it on its own this fall. With support recently introduced for both Guitar Hero: Metallica and Rock Band 2, the wireless microphone double-packed with copies of Microsoft’s karaoke game Lips are rather…
By Mike Fahey Published June 23, 2009 -
Colbert Mocks Project Natal, Debuts New Xbox
Microsoft’s Project Natal has been getting some of the best mainstream coverage to come out of E3, thanks to “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and, now, Stephen Colbert. He mocked the tech last night during his “Bears & Balls” schtick. But The Colbert Report’s teasing of the Xbox 360 motion-control camera tech wasn’t the most…
By Michael McWhertor Published June 19, 2009