Speaking to Computer & Videogames, 343 Industries’ boss Frank O’Connor spoke out about the prospect of Kinect support extending further into Microsoft’s flagship franchise, which is of course, Halo. While O’Connor confirmed that Halo 4 won’t feature any kind of Kinect support, he revealed that there are some features coming down the pipe for Halo Waypoint, which will utilize Microsoft’s motion control device. While there wasn’t any hints given as to what those features may be, it’s worth noting that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary used Kinect to analyze objects in the world and feed players more information about the world the Master Chief is exploring. Will Halo Waypoint use Kinect in the future to give players a deeper understanding of the Halo universe? Only time will tell.
What does Kinect 2 need to do to blow you away? That’s the question that we’re asking our readers, our staff, and developers for an upcoming roundtable feature that will include various points of view on Kinect 2, its potential, and what it needs to do to captivate its audience. We’re looking for as much input as we can get. We’ll be selecting several reader submitted comments to be included in the piece when it goes live. All you need to do is post a comment below, or hop on over to our Forums to submit your feedback. Responses should be as specific as possible, well thought out, use proper grammar, and be limited to about two paragraphs. The official window to submit responses is now open! Let’s hear your ideas and desires for Kinect 2. In the meantime, remember to stay tuned to XK Fans to check out the final feature when it is ready.
[springboard type="youtube" id="Wcn7ADDH1eM" player="xbla001" width="640" height="360" ]
The hotly anticipated Fable: The Journey from Lionhead Studios and Microsoft has finally arrived in stores in North America. In celebration of the game’s release, the team behind the game has released a brand new launch trailer, which you can find above. While the full game is available on shelves now, don’t forget that you can still pick up the playable demo of the game on Xbox Live if you haven’t already.
Fable: The Journey represents a major departure for the franchise, which is known for its unique blend of action role-playing mechanics, charming world, consequential world altering player decisions and humor. While Fable: The Journey may have all of these familiar Fable elements and more, it’s the perspective that represents the largest change that the game has to offer. The Journey trades in third-person hack and slash combat for a completely Kinect controlled first-person experience which allows players to cast spells and use magic to vanquish their foes and explore the world. Lionhead has gone on record to talk about how large The Journey is both as a videogame (Three tims larger than the world of Fable III), as well as symbolically for the studio and Kinect itself as a part of the Xbox experience.
There has been a great amount of discussion around Fable: The Journey since its unveiling a few years back, and it all comes to summation today. If you’ve played the demo, or if you’re picking up the full game, make sure you hop on over to our Forums and chime in with your thoughts. Fable: The Journey will be available in all non-North American territories by October 12th.
Legendary Game Designer Cliff Bleszinski has announced that effective today, he has left his twenty year home at Epic Games. Often referred to as “CliffyB”, he has been one of the most influential designers in the gaming industry for years, creating the hyper competitive Unreal franchise, as well as the Xbox 360′s exclusive blockbuster franchise, Gears of War. During his tenure at Epic, Bleszinski also oversaw numerous projects including the profanity ridden shooter Bulletstorm, the mobile hack and slash hit Infinity Blade, and the the stille in development PC exclusive Fortnite, which is partially inspired by Minecraft. Epic is also known for creating the all powerful and widely used Unreal engine that is available to development studios around the world.
While Mr. Bleszinksi never released a finished Kinect product, his influence on the industry cannot be understated and he did dabble with Microsoft’s motion control device. Earlier this year, CliffyB confirmed that the Kinect controlled Gears of War: Exile was indeed in development at one time, but was canceled for unknown reasons before being officially unveiled. It was also revealed earlier this year that the Chair developed (and Epic produced) Infinity Blade originally began as a prototype for Kinect before its development was moved to mobile platforms.
What the future holds for Bleszinksi is uncertain. We are unsure if he will move on to join another development studio, start his own, or move onto projects not related to gaming at all. One thing is for certain; We thank CliffyB for all of his contributions to gaming over the years and we look forward to seeing what he sets his mind to next. You can check out the full statement released about Bleszinski’s departure from Epic by following this link.
Here at Xbox Kinect Fans, we’re always thinking of ways to bring you more complete Kinect coverage. Our goal is to be your number one source for all things Kinect. That’s why, as of today, we’re rolling out a release date calendar, for your convenience. It can be difficult to find a complete list of release dates for Kinect games online. We’re changing that by hosting and maintaining a release date list for all things Kinect related including retail releases, XBLA games, as well as DLC for Kinect titles already available. For now, you can simply visit the release dates page to get a complete look at what’s coming for Kinect, but keep an eye out for the calendar to be completely integrated into the Xbox Kinect Fans interface in the near future. We hope you enjoy this new feature and as always, if there’s something else you’d like to see added to the site, feel free to let us know by email, or by tweeting us @XKFans.
| Title | Release Date | ESRB Rating | Suggested Retail |
| Harry Potter for Kinect | October 9, 2012 | E | $49.99 |
| Fable: The Journey | October 9, 2012 | T | $49.99 |
| Just Dance 3 | October 16, 2012 | E | $59.99 |
| Zumba Fitness Core | October 16, 2012 | E | $39.99 |
| Forza Horizon | October 23, 2012 | T | $59.99 |
| Dragon Ball Z For Kinect | October 30, 2012 | T | $59.99 |
| Need for Speed: Most Wanted | October 30, 2012 | E | $59.99 |
| Nike+ Kinect Training | October 30, 2012 | E | $49.99 | Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth | November 6, 2012 | RP | $59.99 |
| Power Rangers: Samurai | November 13, 2012 | RP | $39.99 |
| The Hip Hop Dance Experience | November 13, 2012 | RP | $39.99 |
| Kinect Party (XBLA) | Q4 2012 | E | $9.99 |
| Red Bull Crashed Ice (XBLA) | TBA | E | TBA |
| Depth Hunter II (XBLA) | TBA | E | TBA |
| Doodle Jump (XBLA) | TBA | E | TBA |
| Minecraft (Kinect support update) | TBA | E | Free |
| South Park: The Stick of Truth | March 5, 2013 | M | $59.99 |
| Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist | April 1, 2013 | M | $59.99 |
| Matter | TBA 2013 | RP | TBA |
| Ryse | TBA 2013 | M | $59.99 |
Take Two Interactive has announced that NBA 2K13 is now in stores and ready for the world to dive into. With NBA training camp starting for professional athletes, its only fair that fans and gamers get to join in on the excitement as well. Since the news of Electronic Arts’ cancellation of their NBA basketball title broke, it appears that 2K Sports’ NBA 2K13 will be the only “realistic” basketball game on the market this year for the second year in a row. For the first time in its history, the franchise has become “better with Kinect”, adding optional voice commands to the mix in this year’s entry. It is also worth noting that the legendary rapper and Brooklyn Nets minority owner Jay-Z served as Executive Producer on the title. If you still haven’t given the NBA 2K13 demo a spin, you can download it now on the Xbox Live Marketplace, or you can head straight out and buy the game, which is available all throughout North America.
Microsoft is rewarding gamers who have taken the time to rack up an impressive Gamerscore since the launch of the Xbox 360 through its Xbox Live Rewards program. Using three different tiers based on Gamerscore, Microsoft rewards gamers in different ways, depending on just how impressive your achievements are. If you have accumulated a Gamerscore between 3000 and 9999 achievement points you’ll get a special gift from Microsoft on the month of your birthday. If you have between 10,000 and 24,999 achievement points, you’ll get the birthday gift, and receive a 1% credit of the Microsoft Points you spend each month back to your account. Finally, if you fall into the “Legend” category, you’ll get the birthday gift, as well as a 2% rebate on your purchases on Xbox Live each month. If you haven’t yet signed up for the Xbox Live Rewards program, you can do so by following Tags: achievements, GamerScore, Xbox Live Rewards
What we are playing is a weekly column published every Sunday in which various members of our team let the world know which games have had them hooked over the past week and which ones they’re looking forward to. Keep up with the rest of our writers’ chatter by following each individual staff member on Twitter. Do us a favor and follow us @XKFans while you’re at it too.
Sean Prideaux- I’ve only really played Resident Evil 6 this week which is under embargo until tomorrow. I can talk about the demo though. Leon’s scenario (the only demo level I played) was pretty good but it does leave out some of the initial set up scenes. You can sneak a peak at them in Conan O’Brien’s Clueless Gamer review of the game.
Nate Hubler- I played a tad more of Warp and Stacking on the Xbox front. Although Warp is getting pretty annoying, Stacking was still great fun. On the PC side of things I played Torchlight, yes the first and yes I know I am late to the party but hey this is one spectacularly fun party.
Ryan Reynolds- This week I dove into one of the PlayStation 3′s biggest cult classics, Heavy Rain. It took a while to get into, but once you get used to it, it’s really enjoyable. You really do get pulled into the story and the intensity of what’s happening. Now I’m just hoping that the story ends well for me. So much has gone on that I’m scared to see how this thing ends for these characters. I also played a few rounds of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on XBLA and gave Leon’s scenario in the Resident Evil 6 demo another run.
Andy Tran- I got a hold of the Indie Humble Bundle 6 and played one amazingly fun and beautiful game called Dustforce. The soundtrack alone was worth the money and you only had to pay above the average of six dollars to get it. It’s a great platformer that has combo attacks that rival the likes of classic games like Strider.
Scott Waldyn- I played absolutely nothing all week long. What kind of self-professed gamer goes that long? Believe me when I say this hunger strike wasn’t planned. A few of my old games have been giving me the longing, saddened eyes. “Come play with us, Scott.”
Now that you know what we are playing, we want to know what you are playing! Make yourself heard by leaving a comment below. Then head on over to our forums and join in on all the discussion over there!
Take-Two Interactive has released a playable demo of the upcoming NBA basketball title, NBA 2K13, which is available for Xbox Live Gold subscribers to download now. The demo allows players to relive a quarter of last year’s NBA Finals match up between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat. To the surprise of many, the demo includes online multiplayer so you can hone your skills against real-life opponents, as well as Kinect functionality in the form of voice commands. NBA 2K13 will be on shelves shortly, arriving in stores on October 2nd. You can add the demo to your Xbox 360 download queue by following this link. While you wait for the download to finish, check out the new trailer for the game above, which details the game’s control scheme. Start practicing!
You can keep up to date on all Xbox Kinect and Xbox Kinect Fans content by getting our updates via Twitter and Facebook. Just click on the relevant icon below.
