According to new rumors, the much anticipated Kinect SDK for Windows will be launching in beta form tomorrow, June 17. Microsoft originally stated they had no intentions of bringing Kinect to Windows, but after seeing all the nice gadgets and things people were able to build, including robots and what not, they changed their minds and promised to deliver a software development kit for Windows users. The new SDK will offer a variety of tools for Kinect hackers, and it will definitely make it easier to create new Kinect applications and gadgets.
Apple’s iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the market and that is certainly no secret. While the phone itself is quite nice, the variety of software offered through the iOS App Store is what’s really going to keep consumers around. If you’ve got an iPhone and are partial to video games you’ll know that there is absolutely no drought of high quality titles offered for the phone along with Apple’s other iOS powered devices.
Of these games, Fruit Ninja is one of the most popular right up there with Angry Birds. If you’re not familiar with the premise of the game you are essentially a ninja with a sword who’s task is to slash as many pieces of flying fruit as possible within a given time period. Seeing how all of the iOS powered devices are touch enabled this is quite obviously accomplished by swiping your finger across the screen with proper timing.
While Fruit Ninja is currently only available for mobile platforms, Korea’s Game Rating Board may have given us a glimpse of the future. According to reports, said Game Rating Board has just given Fruit Ninja for the Xbox 360 a rating. You may be asking yourself how are you going to swipe your finger across the screen with an Xbox 3360 controller but you’re not as the game is set to be Kinect enabled.
Sounds pretty fun but if you choose to go this route I suggest you stay far away from those playing the game as flailing arms have been known to cause some carnage.
While Sony and Nintendo decided to take a similar route when it comes to their motion controllers Microsoft decided to go an entirely different route. As you’re sure to know the Xbox 360 Kinect is nothing more than a camera capable of capturing a gamer’s movements in a 3D space. This quite literally allows the gamer to use their entire body as a controller for any game.
The concept itself is quite an amazing one, the Kinect’s price tag of $149.99 most likely will be out of reach for most – especially when you take into consideration that you’re going to have to buy some games that actually utilize the peripheral’s technology. However, if you’re looking to get down on the Kinect with a game or two but want to break the bank as little as possible you’re in luck. Amazon has just cut such gamers a deal by offering the Kinect with a select title 50% off. As you’re sure to know select title usually means that you’re going to have to choose from some pretty lame games and it seems that this promotion is no different.
Included in the batch is Fighters Uncaged, Fantastic Pets, Your Shape Fitness Evolved, The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout, Dance Paradise and Dance Masters. Check out the full list of titles here.
Kinect is without a doubt the most unique motion controller on the market today. While the PS3 and Wii feature physical controllers, the Kinect features nothing of the sort. Instead, Kinect is nothing more than a camera capable of capturing a gamer’s actions in a 3D environment. This means that your entire body is quite literally the controller.
While hackers have been doing all sorts of crazy things with the Kinect, Microsoft is doing what they can to remind us that they are in fact the ones who built the product. In fact, it was just made known that the company has added support for Kinect to the Xbox 360′s native Netflix client. Unfortunately, according to various reports it seems that the implementation is not very good as you’re only capable of browsing through a small list of recommended movies with the Kinect while you still need to use an Xbox 360 controller for everything else.
Pretty lame but better than nothing, I suppose. Have you tried it out?
While the Nintendo Wii may be viewed by some as a gimmicky console it introduced to the mass market motion controlled video gaming. Following the massive success of this console both Microsoft and Sony came forth with their own offerings in the form of the Xbox 360 Kinect and PlayStation Move, respectively. The PlayStation Move, in particular, is very similar to the Nintendo Wii in the sense that it’s a, well, motion controller. The Kinect, on the other hand, features an entirely new technology that allows gamers to utilize their entire body as the controller thanks to its 3D camera.
However, seeing how Kinect is still fairly new software developers are still figuring out what to do with it. Sure, there are some fun games on the market that utilize Kinect but in terms of ground breaking killer apps there hasn’t been much. Well, according to Microsoft, 2011 is the year where the Kinect will really shine. Microsoft’s own Neil Thompson recently sat down with MCV to say that Kinect is what the company is focused on with everyone gearing up to “really deliver” as the year goes on.
What will we see come from these efforts? We aren’t quite sure just yet but we’ll be sure to keep you posted.
Microsoft’s Kinect has managed to pull quite a bit of attention ever since it hit store shelves in November of last year and maintain high sales figures. However, while the technology behind the game controller is quite cool, some may argue that there aren’t any killer games out that utilize the system.
Luckily, one game that many people believe with help the Kinect shine is Rhythm-game Child of Eden which just so happens ot be compatible with Sony’s PlayStation Move as well. If you’re not familiar with this game it basically allows gamers to use their hands to shoot different weapons while progressing through various stages. Don’t understand what I’m talking about? Check out the above video demonstrating some gameplay form E3 – looks amazing.
After checking out the video you’re probably going to wonder when it’s set to hit streets to I’m happy to tell you that Child of Eden was recently announced to be hitting store shelves for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on June 14th of this year.
Just about every console manufacturer in the game has gotten down on motion controlled gaming. Nintendo prett6y much introduce the idea to the mass market with the Wii and Microsoft and Sony followed iwth the Kinect and PlayStation Move.
While the PlayStation Move is similar to the Wii, the Kinect utilizes a camera that is able to recognize a gamer’s body in a 3D space allowing them to utilize their entire body as the controller. Thanks to this, there has been quit ea bit of attention of the Kinect and not as much on the PlayStation 3. It seems that all of the attention has managed to translate into sales numbers as reports suggest that the Kinect managed to sell. Well known analyst Michael Pachter says just 1/5th of PS3 sales included PlayStation Move while 2/3 of 360 sales contained Kinect.
Seeing how the PS3 sold 403,000 units and the Xbox 545,000 in February (where this analysis focuses on) it’s easy to see that the Kinect has outsold the PlayStation Move by a heft margin. Now we’ll just have to wait and see if trends continue or sway towards one of the Kinect’s competitors.
We honestly didn’t believe the Kinect would ever do this well, but apparently the motion sensor has sold a whopping 10 million units since its launch back in November, according to Microsoft’s Adam Greenberg, who tweeted the news. On top of that, Greenberg says the Kinect is the fastest selling consumer device ever, a record which has been indicted into the Guniess Book of World Records. We’re not so sure about that record, since a little device called the iPad, released by a little company called Apple, sold quite a lot more than the Kinect. Either way, 10 million units is certainly a great feat, and is likely to have sold quite a bit more than Sony’s PlayStation Move motion controller.
While there are several different tennis simulators currently on the market, SEGA is looking to bring yet another in the form of Virtua Tennis 4. What is known about this game is that Wii MotionPlus, Xbox 360 Kinect and PlayStation Move will all be supported along with a new dynamic camera feature. This dynamic camera will look like a normal tennis game when the ball is on the other side of the court. However, when it’s your turn to smack the ball the camera will switch into first person mode allowing you to precisely return the ball even allowing for special spin maneuver that stay true to the real sport. Seeing how 3D display technology is also gaining a bit of momentum, SEGA has also let us know that they will be giving Virtua Tennis 4 the ability to display gameplay in 3D.
If you were wondering when the game will be released, SEGA has just come forth to announce that Virtua Tennis 4 will be out for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii on May 10th. No word on a European release but we’ll keep you posted.
Of all the different motion controllers on the market Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect is arguably the most technol0gically advanced. If you’re not familiar with this device it is basically a 3D camera allowing the gamer to use their whole body as the controller. This is quite different than Nintendo’s idea with the Wii (and later Sony with the PlayStation Move) where you actually need a physical controller in your hand.
While the games currently offered for Kinect are quite innovative, the homebrew software created by hackers for the PC that utilize the Kinect is far more innovative than anything currently available on the market. Unfortunately, to actually develop for the Kinect you need to use some unauthorized methods. Luckily, Microsoft has said in the past that htey will be releasing an official PC SDK for the Kinect that would allow developers to official create software using the technology.
Even better, it was just made known today that Microsoft is looking to release the Kinect for Windows SDK this Spring meaning it will be coming quite soon. This is great news for the homebrew community who have already been developing for the Kinect as it will give them a chance to legitimize their software.
