This weekend at PAX Prime, Double Fine Productions announced that Double Fine Happy Action TV will now be known as Kinect Party. That’s perfectly fine by us, since a good amount of the Xbox Kinect Fan’s staff’s parties already revolve around partying with a Kinect. If you’re interested in what is different in the sequel to Double Fine Happy Action Theater, read our previous story here.
Source: 123Kinect
Red Bull Media House has teamed up with Microsoft to publish Red Bull Crashed Ice which is being made by Bongfish. The game is based off of the Red Bull Crashed Ice series and will feature “intense winter sports party game experiences”, which bodes well for four player multiplayer. It will have five different tracks from Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship events. The multiplayer will be over Live or split-screen with a plethora of party modes. No price or release date has been confirmed.
Source: VentureBeat
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Get the flux capacitor going because Halfbrick is about to take gamers for a ride into the past. With a launch date of August 31st, Fruit Ninja will get a retro-style DLC called “8-Bit Cartridge”. With this DLC, players will be able to experience all the fun of the Kinect arcade title with the sound and look of the side-scrollers of yesteryear for 160 MSP.
Included in the download is a classic 8-bit soundtrack, Super Retro Land background, Game Man Shadow and a Mega Sword Blade. At least, that’s what Halfbrick tells us. For a quick look at how this will play out, check out the trailer above.
Source: Kinectaku
The hotly anticipated Leviathan add-on for Bioware’s role-playing game Mass Effect 3 is now available in exchange for 800 MSP on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Leviathan represents the first single-player downloadable content for Mass Effect 3, outside of the Extended Cut, the free update released a few months back that expanded on the game’s highly controversial ending. In Leviathan, players once again assume the role of Commander Sheaperd and his team as they race across the galaxy to uncover a secret so large in scale, that it’s said to be powerful enough to destroy the mysterious and life extinguishing threat, known as The Reapers. Bioware has also promised to shed more light on the origin of The Reapers themselves through this downloadable expansion. Don’t sweat if you want to see more and you missed the launch trailer for the DLC that we posted a few days back. We’ve got you covered. You can add Leviathan to your Xbox 360 download queue by following this link.
If you’re a late bloomer on the Mass Effect bandwagon, Mass Effect 3 represents the epic conclusion to the story of series protagonist Commander Sheaperd, and his fight to save all life in the galaxy. An ancient race of machines known as The Reapers have emerged from dark space, intending to wipe the galaxy clean of all organic life. You’re choices along the way will ultimately determine the fate of all life. Representing one of the most successful and most talked about games of the year, Mass Effect 3 is still making waves throughout the gaming industry seven months after release. To find out what we thought of the game, be sure to check out our review.
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A new Skyrim add-on has been announced and goes by the name of Hearthfire. In it players will be able to build their own house and start a family inside with a wife and some adopted children. The built house can have many different rooms whether they be a kitchen, greenhouse, enchanter’s tower, or even an alchemy lab and even more. Of course players will have to defend from evil giants and creatures looking to take it over. It looks like a great way to delve deeper into the Skyrim universe and an affordable way to since it only costs 400 Microsoft Points or five dollars. It will be released on September 4th.
The book, Fable: Edge of the World, is set to be a prequel to Fable: The Journey. It is written by Christie Golden and the book is set to bridge the gap from Fable 3 to Fable: The Journey. The press release for the book can be found below. Also announced is a bonus reward from GameStop. They are giving away a free mini shard called “Fragment of the Spire” to all North American members who read an excerpt from the book. The shard will hang from the player’s horse and grant the player a free bolt mana bar upgrade.
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For those still hooked on Mass Effect 3, Bioware issued a new trailer today for the upcoming DLC Leviathan. With an August 28 release date planned, this video seems to tease and ensnare those hungering for more Reaper-slaying action. View the video above for a glimpse at some in-game footage and some clips amassing the mystery of Leviathan, which revolves around an adventure to uncover more about the Reapers’ origins.
A listing has been discovered at the online store Newegg for a Kinect game titled, Toy Story Mania. A game with the same title already exists on the Wii, possibly signifying a port with obvious changes to the control scheme. Newegg lists the game with an October 30th release date in the US, along with a $39.99 price point. The product listing details from Newegg can be found below.
The folks over at NotEnoughShaders recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Don Murphy, a former and long time animator at Rare Ltd who shed some light on canceled projects, and life at Rare after the Microsoft acquisition. One of the most interesting tidbits involves a called Kinect project that was dubbed Savannah. The game was in its early stages of development at a time when Rare (or anyone else for that matter) lacked solid details on exactly what Kinect would be able to accomplish. The basic concept involved players raising a lion cub in an Africa-like environment. In this environment, teaching your cub survival skills would be just as important as social skills. The image above represents a pair of renders from Savannah, which was never officially green lit. We’d be surprised if you’re not thinking about raising a lion cub named Simba right now.
Mr. Murphy touched upon a variety of other subjects during the interview, including the direction of Rare after the Microsoft acquisition. At one point during the interview, it is mentioned that Rare wanted to pursue development of a new high-definition entry in their popular fighting franchise, Killer Instinct, but that Microsoft had pushed Rare to develop products for a wider audience like Viva Pinata, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Kameo: Elements of Power and eventually Kinect Sports instead. It’s also revealed that a more realistic and “darker” sequel to Kameo was once in development, but that like many other proposed projects at Rare, was shoved aside by Microsoft. You can dive into all the juicy tidbits revealed in the interview for yourself by following this link.
The plight of Rare is one of particular interest to Kinect owners as Rare is viewed as one of the development studios that Microsoft has focusing on its betterment. It has become apparent that the fates of both Rare as a developer and Kinect as a device are most certainly intertwined. To catch up on the past, present and future of Rare, be sure to check out Xbox Kinect Fans’ very first Primer feature on Rare, here.
Source: NotEnoughShaders
File this one in the rumor mill for now, as there’s been no official word to back up this claim. On Amazon, however, it would appear that Just Dance: Disney Party is slated with an October 23, 2012 release date. The listing has been up there for at least a week or more with no change or alterations, so maybe there’s some truth to this? Stay tuned while we find out more information.
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