Kinect for Xbox 360 Will Cost $150, Game Included

Microsoft’s Kinect motion peripheral for Xbox 360 (formerly called Project Natal) will cost $150 at retail on its own, and $300 bundled with a 4 GB Xbox 360 slim console. Both will launch November 4 with the Kinect Adventures suite of casual motion games included.

This price is unsurprising since numerous retailers and e-tailers, including Microsoft’s own online store, have listed Kinect for $149 at one time or another. The bundle is no surprise either, and in fact, it’s very good news. The 4 GB Xbox 360 Slim fills in for the hard drive-less Xbox 360 Arcade model, which was never an attractive proposition for gamers.

Kinect and the Xbox 360 Slim were formally announced at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles last month.

Since Kinect Adventures comes bundled with all Kinect devices just like Wii Sports comes with the Nintendo Wii, families and individuals will be able to pick up and play without investing in new games. Once those consumers start itching for more, though, most of the games for Kinect will cost $50 — $10 less than “core gamer” titles like Halo Reach or Call of Duty: Black Ops. That includes third-party titles like MTV Games’s Dance Central, which we previewed at E3.

EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich notes that $150 is fair since game-specific peripherals with much more limited uses are already selling like hotcakes at the same price. “Game specific peripherals have a limited shelf-life in terms of appeal; there are only so many sessions of Guitar Hero one can enjoy before game fatigue sets in,” he says. “With the Kinect, however, there is the possibility of a wide array of games across a broad range of genres, potentially giving the Kinect a much longer shelf-life than a typical peripheral.”

source: www.mashable.com

New HALO : Reach Xbox to Sport 360 Design, Custom Sound

Microsoft will release a limited-edition Xbox 360 console themed around Halo: Reach this fall, it said Thursday night at Comic-Con International.
The Halo-inspired Xbox will be released on the same day as the new shooter, Sept. 14. It will have all the bells and whistles of the recently released Xbox 360 redesign, from built-in Wi-Fi to a 250-gigabyte hard drive. A new paint job and custom sounds trick out the machine with Halo flair. Bundled with two similarly customized controllers and a copy of the game, the package will cost $400.
Halo: Reach is the hotly anticipated next installment in Microsoft’s key game series. The first-person shooter serves as a prequel to the events of the original Halo.
Bungie and Microsoft say that they spent a great deal of time adorning the limited-edition box with visual and audio references to the world of Halo.
“We used the ONI as the backdrop for the console,” said Bungie designer Jim McQuillan to Wired.com in an exclusive pre-show interview. McQuillan was referring to the shadowy Office of Naval Intelligence, a key part of the fiction of the popular shooter series.


Players should think of the console as a real-life version of an in-game artifact, “the archive reader for the last remaining days of Reach,” said McQuillan. “We wanted something that felt high-tech, something that you would see rows and rows and racks of in a military installation.”
The console will appear inside the game, said Microsoft industrial designer Claire Gerhardt. “You have this console in your living room and then you go through the levels and you see it in a lab,” she said. “It’s badass.”
The sounds that the machine makes are also cued to the Halo world. For instance, when you press the disc eject button, you hear the sound of the Spartan character’s energy shields charging up — music to the ears of any Halo player.
The limited-edition Xbox also has a surprising custom paint job, says Gerhardt.
“One thing that’s interesting that you can’t see in any photography is that the console is painted with two different shades of gray,” she said. “Depending on how you hold the console, the metallic finish, the grays kind of shift.”

Sourece: www.wired.com

Microsoft Responds To 360 Slim’s “Red Dot” Claims

Did Xbox 360 slim still have RRoD problem? and did Microsoft already solve overheating problem whihc happened in old Xbox 360?  - which i would say overheating is the most disadvantages of Xbox 360.

Videos and screenshots have started popping up on the web showing the Xbox 360 Slim (which was revealed during this year’s E3) with the “Red Dot of Death”-Basically it’s an overheating issue- which has caused quite an outburst of fanboys. Today, Microsoft has responded to these issues with an email.

The email, which was sent to the folks over at Now Gamer, was a response to Now Gamer after the website had asked about the specific issue:

“We couldn’t be more proud of the consoles we are building now, as well as the new Xbox 360. This console is the culmination of years of continuous innovation in design, testing and learning. Today we are confident we are shipping a high quality product.”

If you remember recently, Gamer Syndrome was the first to report on a couple of screenshots which showed an Xbox 360 Slim with an overheating issue.But make console overheating is a easy way, you can turn of its fan of you can close it air circulation, so need to make sure that news is valid.

When your new Xbox 360 Slim is on the verge of overheating, the green Power LED will turn red and you’ll get a warning message:

Apparently the Slim model makes use of an elegant way of preventing overheating – it shut itself down and won’t allow you turning back on until the system is cool enough. Once the Power LED stops flashing red, you’ll know the Xbox is ready for gaming again.
It’s good this time Microsoft has been wise enough to implement some preventative measures against permanent hardware damage due to overheating.

Xbox 360 Sales Reach Best Seller on July 2010

Console from Microsoft, Xbox 360, won the best sales in July and managed to occupy the top video game sales in the United States.

According to research firm NPD Group, Xbox 360 has sold 443 500 units during July, more than double the number of sales in the same period the previous year. Xbox 360 that has been revised to take advantage of technological advances chips and components and slimmer than previous versions. It already includes several upgrades, such as Wi-Fi is faster and more USB ports.

Xbox 360 has exceeded sales of the Nintendo Wii sold 253 900 units and the PlayStation 3 which sold 214 500 units. Still according to NPD, in the portable category, Nintendo DS sold 398 400 units and as many as Sony's rival PlayStation Portable is behind it by selling a total of 84 000 units.

While for the game itself, "NCAA Football 11" from Electronic Arts is the best-selling games for July. Game Xbox 360 version taking the number one ranking with sales of 368 000 units and the PlayStation 3 version of the game is the second best-selling games in July with sales of 298 800 units.

Source : www.ictfiles.com

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 and entertainment. Microsoft files lots of patent applications to protect our intellectual property, not all of which are brought to market right away. Kinect that is shipping this holiday will not support sign language."

So why did the patent suggest it could? Well, sources close to the evolution of Kinect's development tell us it's because the version of the hardware that'll be available later this year isn't as capable as was originally intended.

The original Kinect had a much higher resolution (over twice that of the final model's 320x240), and as such, was able to not only recognise the limbs of a player as the current model version can, but their fingers as well (which the current version can't). And when the hardware could recognise fingers, it would have been able to read sign language.

But that capability came at a cost, and while Microsoft had always intended Kinect to sell for $150, "dumbing down" the camera would have meant that Microsoft wouldn't be losing as much money on each unit sold, an important point should Kinect prove to be a failure. So dumb it down they did, reducing the camera's resolution (which in turn reduced the number of appendages it'd have to track) and placing the burden for some of the device's processing on the console and not Kinect's own hardware.

This probably isn't the first time you've heard such a rumour, but this latest time at least explains why Kinect can't read sign language!

Source : www.kotaku.com

Will Kinect support regular xbox 360?

Some Gamer asked, does kinect can be use for old xbox 360? well, all current editions of the Xbox will work flawlessly with Kinect/Natal. The Slim Xbox just has a special port reserved for it. Most likely Kinect will connect via USB on older consoles, and will require usage of an included power adapter. The new Slim Xbox will not need this power adapter.Xbox slim one just has a special port for plugging it in as well as improvements like quieter fan, more USB slots.

Silver color Xbox 360 Slim bundle including Halo Reach announced. Game features: Forge 2 and Firefight Versus

The Xbox 360 Limited Edition “Halo: Reach” Bundle features an exclusive silver design and comes with two custom Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers with artwork inspired by the game, a Standard Edition copy of “Halo: Reach,” a token for the Limited Edition Elite armor set, an episode of “Halo Legends” and a “Halo: Reach”-themed Xbox 360 wired headset. As an added touch, the specially designed console in the Xbox 360 Limited Edition “Halo: Reach” Bundle not only captures the look and feel of the game, but also features custom sound effects from the “Halo” universe.

Designed by Bungie, the Xbox 360 Limited Edition “Halo: Reach” Bundle includes all the features of the newly designed Xbox 360 console, such as a 250 GB Hard Drive and the fastest built-in Wi-Fi for the easiest connection to Xbox LIVE. The bundle is available in limited quantities and only while supplies last at a price point of $400.

Source: www.videogamesblogger.com

Microsoft's Kinect gets pricing, holiday season release date

Microsoft announced pricing and availability on Tuesday for its Kinect motion sensing controller for the Xbox 360, saying the device would be available November 4 at a price of $149.99. The release of the Kinect means that Microsoft would square off this holiday season against Sony, who also plans to release its own system.

Microsoft would bundle the Kinect controller and an Xbox 360 console with 4GB of internal memory for $299.99. The console itself would begin selling on its own for $199.99 on August 3, however.

Source: www.betanews.com