The folks over at Polygon seem to have a secret tunnel leading deep into the Xbox 360 dashboard update headquarters. Hot on the heels of breaking the news about Kinect Play Fit, they’ve announced today that Microsoft will be bringing a modified version of Internet Explorer 9 to the Xbox dashboard. While the app will be optimized for Kinect motion and voice controls, folks with only a standard controller will still be able to get in on the fun. Although there is no release date as of yet, we can expect to hear about both the IE app and Kinect Play Fit at the upcoming E3 briefing.
Source (and image source): Polygon
The May TopGear Car Pack dropped today for Forza 4, adding some new reasons to play everyone’s favorite Kinect-enabled racer. Including the beauty above, 10 cars in total can be purchased together for the price of 560 MSP or separately for 160 MSP each. Well, except for the 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8, which can be acquired for the low, low price of free. Check out the video below for a look at all of the speedsters (and the Smart car) released today for Forza 4.
What do you get when you cross a Kinect MIDI controller with an organ that’s able to be controlled by MIDI? Pure awesome. That’s exactly what Chris Vik has done with his new Kinectar Performance Platform by attaching it to the four story tall Melbourne Town Hall Organ.
Kinectar takes your Kinect and turns it into a totally legit MIDI controller, allowing you to do your best impression of a conductor while outputting some sweet, sweet music. Vik has set up the system to recognize your arms in a 3D space, setting different reactions to occur depending on your positioning. You can use this setup to select different instruments, trigger solos, and rifle off preset progressions of up to eight cords, all by moving your arms in a certain way.
Luckily for Vik, the Melbourne Town Hall Organ was recently configured to recognize MIDI input, so all he had to do was set up his Kinect. The effort produces a pretty spectacular result, which you can see in the video below. Of course, not everyone has an organ nearby to hook this up to, but you’ll still be able to produce MIDI pieces at home. Check out his website for more information about everything Kinectar can do, or to download it yourself. Who knows, your conducting dreams may be about to come true!
Source: Kinectar
Each week, we’ll take a look at the Xbox Marketplace for new Kinect DLC so you don’t have to! This week is heavy with Black Eyed Peas Experience songs, but not wanting to be left out, Dance Central 2 also released a new track. Finally, if you ever wanted to be on Real World/Road Rules: The Challenge, now’s your chance with some Yoostar on MTV DLC. Check out the full list with prices and download links after the break.
For a long time, fans of XBLA knew little about Grounding Inc’s so-called Project Draco – it was being developed by the same guy who made the classic Panzer Dragoon games, it would be an on-rails shooter, and the Unreal Engine made it look unbelievably gorgeous – but that’s about it. Fast forward to about a month and a half ago, the title was officially announced to be Crimson Dragon and a little more information trickled out. It was still hard to get a grip on how exactly this title would turn out, so we took some time at PAX to stop by the booth and play through the demo so we could fill you in on why exactly Microsoft is so stoked about this game.
If you’ve played Child of Eden, you already have a basic idea of how the gameplay will work. Before we go any further though, I want to assure each and every one of you: this game plays a heck of a lot better than Child of Eden. Don’t get me wrong, I loved both Rez HD and its spiritual successor, but at the time it came out the Kinect controls just felt a little… off. Crimson Dragon takes all the best parts of the control scheme and pushes them to a whole ‘nother level – and it works beautifully.
Back in the days when men were men and XBLA was for arcade games, a beautiful little title called Geometry Wars 2 hit the marketplace. For many XBLA lovers it was the pinnacle of arcade-style gameplay, featuring six modes of score-attacking frenzy and leaderboards that to this day drive people back into the game’s depths to try and catch their friends. Unfortunately, as the production and development effort of XBLA titles increased the platform has mostly moved on from games like Geometry Wars 2, but there is hope. The launch of Kinect is bringing a whole new crowd of gamers into the fold, and developers are picking up the challenge in a big way, releasing amazing games like last year’s Fruit Ninja Kinect and (the reason we’re talking about this) the upcoming Wreckateer.
Wreckateer is a title that looks from a distance like it shouldn’t cause much of a stir, but the second you see it in person you know it’s something special. The basic premise of the game is that you’re trying to destroy structures by launching things at them. Sound familiar? Even the folks at Iron Galaxy know that their game will draw comparisons to Angry Birds, but they’re totally fine with that. As they told us, Wreckateer is essentially a mash-up of the aforementioned pig crushing simulator, Boom Blox, and Burnout Crash, which to anyone keeping score out there means it is essentially an awesome mash up of some of the greatest quick-fix arcade games to come out in recent times.
After their GDC video showing off the Kinect support that an Elder Scroll team member had hacked into the game, many folks began to wonder how long it would be before Bethesda patched Skyrim to include this awesome feature. That question has been answered today with the announcement of a free title update sometime this month. In addition to the expected voice commands – the ability to perform shouts and control your allies – Bethesda has some tricks up its sleeves. You’ll be able to assign voice hotkeys to items, so saying “axe” or “fire spell” will quickly whip those out. They’ve also enhanced the admittedly clunky inventory interface, allowing players to easily sort by things like weight or cost. In total they promise that over 200 commands will be present in the update.
It’s great to see Kinect support being added to such a high profile title, and what they’re doing seems like it’ll be even better than Mass Effect‘s voice commands. What do you think about the addition of Kinect support to Skyrim? Check out the video below, then let us know in the comments!
Just in case the image of Han Solo shakin’ his groove thang wasn’t forever burned into your skull by our harrowing look into Cloud City’s night life, we wanted to throw out a gentle reminder that Kinect Star Wars released today. With reactions pouring in from around the internet, initial responses have been a bit underwhelming. Hopefully with a big name game like this we will get a demo soon. Of course, there is one uncontested success arising from the partnership between LucasArts and Microsoft, the totally awesome looking Kinect Star Wars Limited Edition Bundle. If you’d like to take the plunge on the game, you can find it on Amazon here, or reel it in with an Xbox as part of the bundle.
Feeling a little post-March Madness basketball withdrawal? Rare’s got the cure. Releasing today is their latest add on for Kinect Sports: Season Two, the Basketball Challenge Pack. Coming in at 400 MSP, this DLC gives you the opportunity to work on your passing, shot timing, and long-range basket skills with three new modes: Alley-Oop Dreams, Shot Party, and 3-Point Hero. Like the rest of the Kinect Sports activities, these are available to play both by yourself or multiplayer. Intrigued? Take a look after the break for the launch trailer, read a summary of the game types straight from the horse’s mouth, then check it out in the marketplace right here.
It’s a complaint familiar to friends of jean aficionados everywhere – “I just can’t find a pair of pants that fit me!” Well, thanks to Kinect and Bodymetrics, those dark days of ill-fitting denim are about to come to an end. Bodymetrics has designed an innovative system that creates a 3D map of people’s bodies, using eight Kinect sensors to take in every curve and contour. The data is then sent to a personal Bodymetrics account, where customers can use it to pick from a selection of jeans that not only look good, but are a perfect fit.
Now that we’ve got you on the edge of your seats with pants-y anticipation, you’re probably wondering where you can try out this marvelous machine. Unfortunately, the only currently running unit is at Selfridges in London, but a recent appearance at a Bloomingdale’s in LA will hopefully pave the way for some permanent installations across the pond from Bodymetrics’s UK headquarters.
From the sound of it, Bodymetrics isn’t satisfied with just throwing a couple of their so-called “Pods” up in shops, they’re hoping to take the retail world by storm. Their eventual plans will allow for women to scan themselves at home, then take to the internet to virtually try on and purchase clothing. As you can see in the video below, they’ve also taken precise measurements of a variety of clothing so you will even be able to tell exactly where on your body particular clothes will be snug. While that’s not quite the futuristic dream of pulling merchandise straight out of your TV screen, it’s starting to get pretty darn close.
Source: Kinect for Windows Blog, Official CES Youtube channel
