Most Recent: Xbox 360

MS @ E3 11: Kinect Fun Labs launches today with new features

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Game designer and Kinect head honcho Kudo Tsunoda just revealed Kinect Fun Labs at Microsoft’s Press conference, a permanent addition to the Xbox Dashboard that brings an array of new ways to interact with your Xbox 360 Kinect. One feature shown off as body scanning, which instantly created an avatar out of a person’s real features. Second was finger tracking, which the presenter used to take a 3D picture of himself, then draw lighting effects both in front of and behind his image, which he could then view in 3D. Finally, they showed off one of Kinect’s most talked about features since launch – object scanning. The presenter was able to scan a plush toy onto the screen with Kinect, then jump around and lean from side to side as a fully animated version of that object.

It’s all pretty interesting and hopefully will lead to more innovative features on the platform. Kinect Fun Labs is available today, right now, on Xbox Live.

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MS @ E3 11: Star Wars, Disneyland Adventures, Sesame Street come to Kinect

Posted on June 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Just like last year, the 2011 Microsoft E3 Press Conference was all about Kinect.

Microsoft has partnered with Disney to bring Disneyland Adventures to Kinect. Minigames based on Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and other Disneyland attractions will keep the kids busy for a good long time.

More for the kids came from Tim Schafer, who showed off Double Fine’s Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster. A storybook-themed romp through the Sesame Street world. He also apparently has the cutest daughter in the world and is very proud he finally gets to make a game for her.

An extended look at Kinect Star Wars makes the gesture controls used in the game look pretty spectacular. For those that didn’t jump on the Dance Central bandwagon, this may be the Kinect’s killer app for a lot of people. Fighting battledroids involves blocking blaster bolts with a Lightsaber and then counterattacking. But the demo got good when it ended with the promise of a duel with two dual-Lightsaber wielding Sith.

And speaking of Dance Central… rumor has a sequel is coming up soon in the Microsoft Press Conference.

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MS @ E3 11: Minecraft coming to Kinect

Posted on June 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Microsoft’s Phil Spencer just announced that Minecraft, the indie gaming hit, will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade with Kinect support.

Minecraft will be released this Winter.

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MS @ E3 11: Kinect-based Fable: The Journey revealed

Posted on June 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Microsoft is continuing with the Kinect as Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux has taken the stage to reveal Fable: The Journey, a Kinect-powered first person take on the Fable franchise. All of the attacks look to be magic-based as our hero blasts monsters with hands motions. The game is powered by the Unreal Engine 3 and looks stellar.

Fable: The Journey will be released in 2012.

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MS @ E3 11: Halo remake announced… anybody surprised?

Posted on June 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

It’s been the subject of rumors since before the Xbox 360 was even released, but today, Microsoft has finally officially announced Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. The 10th anniversary high definition re-release of the Xbox’s most popular game will be released on November 15 courtesy of 343 Industries.

And if the rumors are true, this isn’t the only Halo game Microsoft plans to announce today.

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MS @ E3 11: Ice-T brings Body Count to Gears of War 3

Posted on June 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Aided by Cliff Bleszinski, rapper/actor/all around badass Ice-T used Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference to announce that Body Count will reunite to provide an exclusive song for Gears of War 3‘s Horde Mode.

Gears of War 3 will be released exclusively for the Xbox 360 on September 20.

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MS @ E3 11: YouTube, Bing search, live TV, UFC fights coming to Xbox Live

Posted on June 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

While showcasing the new voice-activated Kinect-powered Xbox 360 Dashboard, Microsoft’s Marc Whitten revealed that YouTube will soon be available on Xbox Live. Microsoft is also adding Bing-powered search results to the Xbox Live Marketplace. The example was a search for “X-Men” which brought up X-Men games, movie trailers and buyable videos.

More TV options were announced including a “Live TV” mode as well as live UFC fighting events on Xbox Live, but no further details on either were revealed.

The New Xbox 360 Experience will launch this Fall.

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MS @ E3 11: Kinect support added to Madden, Mass Effect 3, more

Posted on June 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Peter Moore returned to the E3 stage for a Microsoft Press Conference to announce that four EA Sports titles will receive Kinect support in the next year.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, Madden NFL 12, FIFA Soccer 12 and an unnamed fourth game will add Kinect features including voice recognition. Moore also revealed that other EA games will feature Kinect support including The Sims 3: Pets and Mass Effect 3.

BioWare’s Ray Muzyka took the stage and showed off a “Kinect augmented” Mass Effect 3 demo where players can use voice recognition to actually speak Shepard’s lines. Shepard can also use Kinect to give orders to his team.

They were followed by Ubisoft, who showed off the Kinect features of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, including a gun creation tool known as “Gunsmith.” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillomont confirmed that all future Tom Clancy games would feature Kinect support.

More from the Press Conference soon.

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