Microsoft Licensed Unreal for Project Natal

One of the biggest announcements at E3 was undoubtedly Microsoft's Project Natal motion-sensing system. Based on the many conversations IndustryGamers had with publishers and developers during the show, the game industry is quite enthusiastic about the possibilities both Project Natal and PlayStation Motion will create.

What you may not have known, however, is that Epic's Unreal Engine, which is already powering some of the biggest games in the business, was utilized by Microsoft to create some of the tech demos for the E3 Project Natal demonstration. Speaking to IndustryGamers as part of a larger interview, Epic VP Mark Rein noted with a grin, "I think [these technologies] will create great opportunities for us as an engine. The Paint Party game they showed and the other one [Ricochet] are both Unreal powered. Microsoft licensed Unreal Engine 3 for a whole bunch of games for that thing – you just saw the first two. We're really excited."

"We're going to work with Microsoft and share all that stuff they added into Unreal with our partners; not just Natal, but also things like avatar integration. We were like, 'if you're developing all this stuff, do you mind if we share with all our licensees to give them a big head start?' So Natal we're just over the moon about – it's the new platform and who's the first engine on it?" he said excitedly.

Although Epic is clearly involved with Natal from the start, Rein also said Sony's PlayStation Motion setup looked "quite cool." He added, "Again, I think that creates big opportunities. We're the biggest 3D engine on the platform, so hopefully lots of developers will want to make 3D things for that and [work with us]."

He noted that what impressed him about Paint Party is that you think about painting as a 2D experience, but "they actually managed to incorporate some of the motion sensing – like how it reacts depending on how hard you throw the paint – to make it easier and cooler for kids and families to play." Rein continued, "It really used our engine, like some of the particle effects, our 3D rendering, etc. The other game used our engine even more, since it's more into the screen 3D [motion]."

Source: www.en.gamers.com

Metal Gear Solid Confirmed on Xbox 360

Hideo Kojima sneaked onto stage at Microsoft's E3 2009 press briefing today to let the world know that the Metal Gear Solid series was coming to the Xbox 360. That new game is definitely multi-platform.

Since Microsoft didn't make mention of Metal Gear Solid: Rising being exclusive to its console, we had a pretty good indication. Even better is the Gamespress information for the newest, Raiden-starring Metal Gear Solid, which is listed for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. The release date is still TBA.

Microsoft announces "Project Natal" motion controller for Xbox 360

On E3 Microsoft announced new project called "Project Natal". "Project Natal" means microsoft will launch new controller which is a hands-free, wire-free, motion-sensitive control for your Xbox. By stepping in front of the “dashboard” and the system instantly recognizes you and signs you in using a facial recognition tech that hasn’t been seen on a consumer product before. Definitely aiming to get you off the couch and into the action; to kick a ball you kick your foot, to hit the ball you swing your arm, the player moves freely in real 3D space and the avatar does it on screen.It also accepts commands by voice.
Demo on E3, Microsoft showed off included a skateboarding game (replete with a young man "air" ollie-ing), and a family playing a racing game (the dad was changing a tire, the daughter driving).


This new controller system provided by microsoft will recognized game body and make them do some "sport" to play games. Well this is a good thing right??...you can play games during doing some sports.

Bungie Announces New Halo Game for xbox 360

Bungie, as expected, announced a new Halo title: Halo Reach.

It's due for release in Fall 2010. I'd love to tell you more, but that's all that was revealed along with a short trailer showing the destruction of Reach, from before the events of the original Halo.

As a bonus for anyone buying Halo: ODST, if you buy the Halo 3 expansion (out September 22), you'll get an invite to the Reach MP beta

No further explanation regarding this new HALO game. We will get more information after HALO ODST launch on October 2009

Xbox 360 sales pass 30 million mark

Microsoft announced a major milestone for its Xbox 360 console. According to Redmond, the 360 has officially surpassed the 30 million sales mark. For comparison sake, Sony’s PlayStation 3 has sold around 21.3 million units and Nintendo has pushed out about 50.4 million Wii consoles. Both the Wii and PS3 were released in 2006 whereas the Xbox 360 was launched in November of 2005.

Beyond hitting 30.2 million consoles sold, Microsoft has also added approximately 3 million Xbox Live subscriptions since January, rounding out the Live community at around 20 million active members. Other notes:

* $14.5 billion — The amount of revenue Xbox 360 has generated in the US since its release.
* $5.9 billion — The amount of revenue Xbox 360 has generated for third-party publishers since its release.
* 8.3 — The average number of game titles sold per system.

Source: www.boygeniusreport.com

Xbox 360 Sales Up 30 Percent in March Quarter

As previously reported, Microsoft has posted the first year-over-year quarterly revenue decline since the company went public in 1986. The Entertainment and Devices division that houses the Xbox and Zune platforms had a 2 percent revenue decline and an operating loss of $31 million in this quarter, after achieving a $106 million profit during the same time last year. But not everything is bad news for Microsoft and its fiscal third quarter numbers.

Xbox 360 console sales jumped nearly 30% in the quarter with a total of 1.7 million systems sold between January 1st and March 31, 2009.

Since the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1, 2008) to date, Microsoft sold 10 million Xbox 360 systems worldwide, 15 percent more than in the previous fiscal year in its entirety.

Furthermore, the software giant said that attach rates of software and accessories for the Xbox 360 increased this past quarter from 7.5 games and 3.6 accessories in the same quarter of 2008 up to 8.3 Xbox 360 games and 3.9 accessories per system sold. The company announced it has shipped 30.2 million Xbox 360 systems worldwide since the console launched back in 2005.

Source: www.teamxbox.com