Is this earth-shattering news, or just “yeah, duh”?

The Daily is reporting an exclusive scoop today that Microsoft is working on its own answer to the likes of AppleTV and Boxee, in the form of a Kinect set-top box that doesn’t require an Xbox to run.

It’s not like it’s hard to imagine. With all of the inroads Xbox has made over the last year to carrying live television from broadcast and cable networks, as well as on-demand viewing apps like Netflix well established, you might even call this notion a no-brainer. The idea here is to remove the Xbox from the equation for those looking for a simplified, all-in-one entertainment experience.

“Kinect Box,” as the device may be called (“Kinect HD” is also under consideration, which implies upgraded technology inside) is expected to be a flat, box-type device resembling a small DVD player — unlike the swivel-friendly current Kinect sensor — that can sit alone atop your TV set or on a shelf. Simplified ports and cables are expected as well, with a single cord that branches out to USB, HDMI, and power.

Presumably the device will have a sizable hard drive, but no optical drive, so it wouldn’t play Xbox 360 discs. Everything would be based on digital downloads, and while a big emphasis will likely be on movies, music, TV, and the social apps, downloadable Kinect games from Xbox Live Arcade will also be playable. It’ll have wifi built in, to accommodate all of those downloads.

Since it’s Kinect, you’ll control it with voice commands and gestures, and it’s expected to be compatible with the new Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone, as well.

The Daily reveals that Kinect Box, or whatever it ends up being called, was intended for release right about now-ish (probably in time for CES in Las Vegas, which just ended), but it’s been pushed back to an unknown time frame. But it’s still expected to arrive before the third generation Xbox (the gaming industry’s worst-kept secret is that Microsoft has been working on the next Xbox for months, if not years), which most pundits have pinpointed for 2013. So you’ll probably be able to get a Kinect Box of your own before this Christmas.

As for the price? The Daily believes it will be aggressively priced at around $150.

We already know that Microsoft is hard at work on its third-generation Xbox as we speak. And it goes without saying that that console will come with Kinect technology built in. Today, a report is circulating that suggests this “Kinect 2″ will be able to do some downright astonishing things.

Eurogamer says they’ve heard from an “inside source” that the Kinect tech that will ship with the next Xbox will be capable of reading lips, detect the direction players are facing, and even read players’ emotions. Yeah, you read that right: pretty soon your game console will track your vocal modulation and facial tics know when you’re pissed off.

I don’t know what Microsoft plans to do with that data, but I can imagine things like game developers having the option to build games with adaptive difficulty that eases up when players grow irate, or amps up the challenge when players are too relaxed. Or maybe it will learn from our silly human emotions and become self aware, launch a nuclear holocaust, and create killing machines to hunt down the last remnants of humanity. But that’s just one possibility.

The new Kinect will be part of the new Xbox, tossing out the silly USB cable that currently connects the two in favor of a Charge-Coupled Device. Eurogamer’s report says this will enable its sensors to record a lot more information, with significantly a higher resolution and frames-per-second.

Industry scuttlebutt has it that the next Xbox will launch sometime in late 2012 or early 2013. Expect to hear the first official details about the device via next year’s E3.

Halo Living Monument

Oh, Microsoft. You and your oddball marketing campaigns.

Halo Living Monument picture

The latest is this website called Halo Living Monument, where you can add a photo of your own to a 3D model of the Master Chief. The idea is to give fans the chance to pay tribute to the character and game (and console) that gave them so many hours of love, across four FPS games. In conjunction with Halo: Anniversary, releasing tomorrow, Halo Living Monument is supposedly a way to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the franchise.

I’m not sure what the ultimate point is, here. Are they going to manufacture figurine versions of the final mosaic-covered Master Chief? Does it give you some kind of in-game bragging rights if your photo is chosen for inclusion? I don’t get it, though I do see some nifty nostalgic pictures like the one at right, and some cool fan art. But the majority of images appear to be gamer guys mugging as if for their high school yearbook, with no reference to Halo visible. Why, people, why? (I’m happy to report there’s a minimum of half-naked weirdos among these pics.)

If you feel the need, you can add your own image by clicking the link above. But do the world a favor and make sure it’s actually Halo-related.

Might the PlayStation 4 look anything like this fan-made render?

Develop Online is reporting that “industry sources” believe that the next generation of Xbox will land in 2013, while the PlayStation 4 won’t come until “at least 2014.”

Develop believes that Microsoft will unveil the “Xbox Next,” as it’s tentatively been dubbed, at E3 2013, though the console’s release itself could get pushed into 2014, depending on various factors. But apparently, Microsoft and their industry partners are already working on the new device and even some game titles are in various levels of pre-production.

In another report, Sony’s PlayStation 4 will arrive sometime in 2014 or later, and that “various game projects are at very early stages” of development for that console as well.

What would you like to see in a new Xbox or PlayStation? Certainly Microsoft will incorporate their Kinect technology right into the console next time, no doubt with an upgrade to its sensors that will allow for cool new capabilities. Will they even bother with traditional controllers anymore? Every game Microsoft currently has in development for Xbox 360 is Kinect-friendly, so clearly they’re putting a big focus on Kinect. And there will be a nice bump in processor power and other tech specs as well.

What about Sony? Has Move been successful enough for them for it to be an out-of-the-box component in the future? What about discs? Will either console abandon them once and for all in favor of downloads, or — gulp — cloud gaming?

And most importantly, what exorbitant price will they ask us to pay this time? Will Microsoft keep taking a loss on every console sold? Will Sony expect players to take out a second mortgage to afford theirs?

Xbox Live with Bing integration

“Metro” is the codename of this Fall’s annual Xbox Live update, which among other things is going to make your dashboard look an awful lot like Bing mixed with Windows Phone 7.

Here’s a breakdown of the major changes you can expect.

The big focus for this update is the integration of Bing and giving greater power to Kinect. You’ll be able to navigate the entire dashboard using Kinect if you want, primarily with voice control. But the look and feel of the new interface comes directly from Windows Phone 7, using a Microsoft design called Metro (hence the update’s codename).

It sounds as if the integration of Bing is going to fundamentally change how a lot of people use their Xbox. Using Kinect’s voice control, you can easily tell your Xbox what you’re looking for, and Bing will bring up results from every media type you use: games, movies, TV, music, and more, from sources that include not just your own media collection but Netflix, Hulu, Zune, and more. Under each search result, you’ll see a rating and an icon, showing what form of media it is. The thinking is that this Bing search function is so simple and powerful — particularly if you own a Kinect sensor — that many gamers may just forego traditional tabbed dashboard navigation in favor of Bing-powered voice search.

Then of course there’s live television. It’s coming, but deals haven’t been finalized yet, so Microsoft’s not saying who they’ve got or when they’ll have it. But according to Gizmodo, some TV networks will be available to view live television, while others will simply offer their top shows as video on demand. No DVR recording function is currently planned, but you will be able to chat with friends while watching live TV.

Another major new addition is sharing Achievements on Facebook. Game developers can set their games so that they automatically update Facebook every time you get a new Achievement, but you’ll always have the option of turning this off. Or you’ll be able to set your system to prompt you each time you get an Achievement, to manually make the Facebook update yourself.

A beta of the new Xbox Live dashboard is supposed to happen sometime in October, with a final release sometime before Christmas.

Solitaire sculpture by Skrekkøgle

If you don’t know what this is… well, first of all, what planet do you live on? Your mom probably even knows what this is. And now someone has made a 3D sculpture based on this classic Microsoft/PC animation.

Whenever the Windows 3.x classic Solitaire game ended in victory, the player was rewarded with this cool animated effect where the playing cards bounce-bounce-bounced across the screen, leaving trails behind. Design/art collective Skrekkøgle created this 3D sculpture using more than 1,000 pixelated, custom-made cards attached to cut-apart black foam board. Then it was just a matter of piecing them together into the appropriate shape. They even printed and affixed a customized Solitaire desktop background behind it.

The finished sculpture is huge, measuring nearly 5 feet wide by 2.3 feet deep by 1.3 feet high. Sadly, only one was made, and it’s not for sale. More pics below.

Now that Nintendo has announced its intentions to jump the generational gap with the forthcoming Wii U, chatter around the industry inevitably must turn to its two chief rivals, and when they might answer Nintendo’s challenge with brand new hardware of their own.

Five years is generally considered the standard life cycle for a video game console. Nintendo’s Wii turns 5 this November, and its successor has already been announced for launch sometime next year. But what of Microsoft and Sony?

The Xbox 360 is the oldest of the bunch, coming up on its 6th birthday this holiday season, while the PlayStation 3 (like the Wii) will turn 5 around the same time. This means that when Nintendo’s Wii launches, it’s very likely that the Xbox 360 will be nearly 7 years old.

The Xbox 360 S

Microsoft certainly gained a tremendous amount of momentum by coming out of the gate with the Xbox 360 a full year before its rivals. Nintendo had the “new, wow!” factor on its side with the Wii’s motion controls, so being a year late didn’t hurt them. But Sony has continually felt like it’s playing catch up with the Xbox during this generation. (They were the last console to add Netflix, for example, and only created their own top-tier online service, PlayStation Plus, after witnessing Microsoft’s staggering success with Xbox Live.)

Microsoft has made nearly an annual tradition out of overhauling the Xbox’s “dashboard” user interface (with yet another on its way), while Sony still uses the same setup that they’ve had since the PS3 launched. Xbox has also done a solid job of consistently adding new features to their Xbox Live service, such as Netflix, ESPN, Last.fm, and they were the first console to integrate Facebook and Twitter. And they’re still adding new stuff all the time; at E3, they just announced plans to integrate live TV into Xbox Live’s many media offerings. Sony is doing better about adding new features, and is making a very strong case for 3D gaming of late, but still has a ways to go to catch up with Microsoft.

Microsoft and Sony have both refreshed their legacy hardware by upgrading their current hardware. The Xbox 360 S and PS3 Slim consoles trimmed down the machines’ casings while refining their innards — without really changing anything about the core experience — and lowering the price tags. And both companies have manufactured and marketed motion controllers with Kinect and Move, respectively. They represent two drastically different approaches to motion control, but both were birthed in response to Nintendo’s incredible success with the Wii.

The PS3 Slim

So what happens now? Does the next-generation console race begin again, thanks to Nintendo’s announcement of the Wii U? Will Microsoft and Sony jump on the bandwagon and trot out their next big home consoles?

One recent report suggested that Microsoft is eying 2015 as a target launch window for its next major console release, though this report seemed to be comprised mostly of speculation. Yet it seems probable, does it not, that Microsoft is in no hurry. Thanks to Kinect and its constantly-improving slate of features, MS believes the Xbox 360 still has plenty of life left in it. And most gamers agree that graphically speaking, Xbox 360 games still look great. But how long will it be before its processing power simply can’t keep up with the times? The “you are the controller” functionality of Kinect is getting such a huge focus from MS nowadays that that technology will undoubtedly be a core part of the next Xbox, whenever that comes. So hey, “2015″ is as good a guess as any.

Sony chief Jack Tretton says that the PlayStation 3 is “just hitting its stride,” and I think he’s right. Despite the PlayStation Network debacle, it finally feels like the PS3 is reaching its full potential. Tretton also says that he doesn’t expect there to be a PlayStation 4 “for quite some time.” So I’d say we’re probably 4 to 5 years off, at least, for the next PlayStation as well.

Tretton makes a particularly shrewd observation in that same interview, when he notes that the horsepower capabilities of Nintendo’s new console were used as Sony’s benchmark back in 2006, when the PlayStation 3 was released. He posits that the Wii U is Nintendo finally arriving to the party, not jumping ahead to the next step. Tretton suggests that Sony (and by proxy, Microsoft), has nothing to prove against Nintendo (except, you know, the Wii’s staggering sales numbers).

So what do you think the future holds? Is Nintendo playing catch up, or will it set a new benchmark for Sony and Microsoft to meet? My gut says that Nintendo is scrambling now that the Wii’s last-gen hardware is finally cracking at the seams. But the Wii also taught us that no one should ever underestimate Nintendo.

E3 is just two weeks away! Can you believe it?

What delicious (and what vaporware) delights will E3 2011 bring to gamers? What surprises do Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have in store for their pre-E3 media extravaganzas? What games will walk away from the week with the heaviest buzz? It’s impossible to predict what secrets all the major companies have up their sleeves, but here’s n early look at what we have to look forward to.

Microsoft

Spike is broadcasting the big Xbox event live (and commercial free!) on Monday, June 6th, at 9:30 AM Pacific. It’s expected to last 90 minutes. “Xbox 360: The Future Revealed” is the title of their event, which is a bold claim for a company that’s not expected to reveal any new gaming hardware. If you don’t get Spike, you can also watch it online at GameTrailers.com. Xbox Live will even have it available to stream in HD sometime after the event is held.

According to Microsoft, their event will give special emphasis to Gears of War 3 and Forza Motorsport 4, and a Halo announcement of some kind seems like a sure bet. Microsoft also claims that they’re going to “reveal the latest in innovation for Kinect,” which probably means a round of new game titles — which should be more impressive than last year’s, since developers have had more time to work with the hardware. Plus, there’s likely to be some firmware updates to Kinect in the works, so maybe we’ll learn about new capabilities the device will have in the near future.

As for what else they’ll have for gamers… who knows? Microsoft loves to surprise people, so anything could happen.

Nintendo

Gamers can watch live streaming video of Nintendo’s media briefing at e3.nintendo.com, on Tuesday, June 7th at 9:00 AM Pacific. Nintendo is keeping its secrets close, but we know they’re unveiling their next-generation console at E3, so expect this to be the focus of their event. It’s even going to be playable after the event, on the show floor. No games have been announced for the new console, so some biggies — including titles that can match current-gen software on the 360 and PS3 — will go a long way towards winning back the hearts of hardcore gamers. And there will no doubt be lots of new 3DS games to show off.

Speculation is all over the map on what the new console will involve, but the most prevalent rumors refer to a wild new controller that includes a large touchscreen, motion control, and lots of other bells and whistles. Plus, it’s E3 and it’s Nintendo, so expect to hear something about Zelda. And it’ll probably be another case of postponing a game to make it a console release title — just like what happened with the last Zelda launching with the Wii.

Sony

Oh, Sony, Sony, Sony… Sure, you have your new NGP portable device to tout, but how will you ever be able to get the focus off of the PR disaster that was the PSN implosion? Some big game announcements would certainly help, and there are probably some nice ones in the cooker for NGP. But we already know quite a bit about most of the PS3′s forthcoming triple-A titles, such as Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3. So it’s going to take a lot to knock our socks off.

Sony‘s media briefing is scheduled for Monday the 6th at 5:00 PM Pacific. No plans have been announced yet for live broadcasting of the event.

Games, Games, Games

So what are the big titles of E3 2011? It’s a safe bet that Modern Warfare 3 and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations will be big news all over the map, probably showcased at both the Sony and Xbox press events. There are an endless number of big titles in the works that will be competing for headlines at E3. These include Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, BioShock Infinite, Call of Juarez: The Cartel, Dead Island, Duke Nukem Forever, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Mass Effect 3, Prey 2, Prototype 2, Rage, Resident Evil: Raccoon City, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the Tomb Raider reboot, among countless others.

One thing’s for sure: it’s gonna be a good E3.

Very interesting projects using Microsoft’s Kinect present themselves seemingly on a daily basis.  MIT graduate student Edwina Portocarrero, adorned in a Princess Leia costume, recreated the holographic projection plea for assistance made famous by Carrie Fisher.  More recently we profiled Be Your Own Souvenir, a system which scans people in real-time and generates a miniature figurine.

A new project has surfaced using Kinect in an effort to allow individuals to recreate one of the iconic scenes in 1980’s Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo being frozen in carbonite.

According to creators Michael Zoellner and Jens Keil,

“This is an experiment with Kinect and Processing. People in front of it are posing like Han Solo and get frozen in 3D. We are already exporting the 3D models for 3D printing.”

The video is extremely neat to say the least and if given the chance, I suspect many, like yours truly, would want their likeness captured using the system.

The chance to do just that may not be far off.  From Zoellner and Keil,

“Stay tuned. The software will be open source soon if anyone is interested.”

Would you take the opportunity to have an image of yourself in carbonite?  Would you frame the image and hang it in your home?

Make

As a child my mother didn’t have the disposable income necessary to provide my brother and I with the latest and greatest toys on the market. Instead, on rare occasions we received a G.I. Joe action figure, but more often than not we were presented with a plastic bag of small, green, army figures. These figures and our imagination occupied much of our formative years.

Be Your Own Souvenir, upon reading up on the project and watching the video below, instantly brought those tiny plastic toys and my youth to mind.

From the creators behind Be Your Own Souvenir, Barcelona’s BlablaLab:

“This proposal aims to connect street users, arts and science, linking them to under-laying spaces and their own realities. The installation was enjoyed during two weekends in January 2011 by the tourists, neighbours of La Rambla and citizens of Barcelona.”

Using 3 Kinect sensors and openKinect, Be Your Own Souvenir scans people in real-time and generates a miniature figurine. Absolutely amazing.

According to BlablaLab:

“All the software used in this project is free and open. Custom software has been developed using openFrameworks and openKinect in order to produce a tunable full 360 degree point cloud. Using a midi controller, the three different input pointclouds (3 Kinects) can be adjusted in space and resolution. The resulting combined point cloud is processed by Meshlab to produce a mesh reconstruction. Skeinforge takes the mesh, previously cleaned up through Blender, and outputs a gcode file, which can feed a cnc machine (Rapman 3.1).”

While not available for mass use at present, as soon as it is, I for one will rush to wherever the machine is setup and have my own figurine created.

What about you? What pose would you strike for the miniature you created?

NotCot

Be Your Own Souvenir! from blablabLAB on Vimeo.

WIN: Chess, Algebra and Music
It’s a triple threat this week! Jonathan W. Stokes, blogger and man clearly gifted with superior intelligence and entirely too much time on his hands, used algebra to turn famous chess games into piano music, which he then turned into mp3s. It’s not often boardgames, mathematics and tunes get to have a hot threesome, so for that I tip my hat to Mr. Stokes.

FAIL: Microsoft Update
Monday’s Windows Phone 7 update designed, according to the Windows Team Blog, to “improve the software update process itself “, seems to have broken the phone. At least for some users, whose complaints Microsoft’s been fielding on their WindowsPhoneSupport Twitter account. The only recourse Microsoft is offering? Take it to a store. Why? Could it be because the update designed to improve the update process has screwed up the update process? And now unfortunate Windows Phone 7 users wait with great anticipation for the next update which will undeniably be intended to fix the previous update, but will only further &@#$ things up. Because that is The Microsoft Way.

WIN: French Kissing
Ever wanted to control your video game with one of the least graceful and most accident-prone acts of intimacy in the arsenal of human contact? Probably not. But now you can, regardless. Developer Hye Yeon Nam has created a video game controller that’s powered by French kissing. I’d make a joke about no geek ever being able to take the the Kiss Controller for a test drive, but it’s already been done to death. Yawn. Next.

WIN: Amazon Prime
Amazon announced plans to stream videos free to its Amazon Prime users, a paid service that offers shoppers free 2-day shipping on all qualifying products and, now, movies and TV on demand. Of course, Amazon has been offering on demand video for a long time now, so it’s really not much of a revelation. It is, however, a volley at Netflix, since Amazon’s Prime pricing works out to less per month than Netflix charges for its streaming-only subscription plan. The selection may not compare as yet, with Netflix offering the larger of the two, but we’re talking about Amazon, here. How long can it take for them to fire off another shot?

FAIL: 911 Calls
Specifically, 911 calls via Verizon. It’s been revealed that a staggering 10,000 calls to 911 were dropped in the Washington suburbs during the massive blizzard late last month. As you’d expect, the Federal Communications Commission is pretty darn upset. The FCC is asking Verizon investigate the issue out of fear that the problem may be more widespread than just that one area, and could happen on a large scale again. It’s not the first time 911 calls have been fouled during a blizzard (filed under New York City). Will the Snowpocalypse force carriers and responding agencies alike to review how they handle things when that abhorrent white stuff starts to fall?

FAIL: Doing Your Homework
…which is precisely what the Department of Homeland Security failed to do when it yanked some 84,000 sites offline during a massive Internet raid for child pornography and counterfeit goods. To be fair, they got it right with a whopping 10 sites which deserved that increasingly infamous DHS seizure image. But the 84,000 which did not have received little to no acknowledgment of the fairly substantial “oopsy”. The problem came when DHS seized the entire domain of DNS provider FreeDNS. For the most part the problem has been fixed, so all is once again well. Except for the lack of a simple “our bad” for the inconvenience.

WIN: Trivial AI
In case you missed the headlines, Watson wiped the floor with two Jeopardy contestants, ending the three day tournament with $77,147 (the human contestants, two of the best in the show’s history, racked up $24,000 and $21,600). Who’s Watson? It’s IBM’s stupidly expensive trivia computer named after the company’s founder Thomas J. Watson. Watson’s mechanisms are unique; it answers questions based on the nuances of human language rather than keyword searches like you’d expect from the AI behind Google. Watson’s database of journals, newspapers and other reference sources was scanned based on questions typed while Alex Trebek spoke them aloud, and Watson buzzed in if it was confident its answer was correct. Of course, it’s not the first time IBM’s tried to prove that AI pwns humanity – their Deep Blue project in 1997 was a major step forward. But what’s the point? Watson’s technology could someday be answering your customer service questions – and let’s face it. Watson can’t be much worse than the average customer service we receive from most major companies now.

FAIL: Perspective
It’s Facebook, people. It’s not life or death. And if it makes you feel uncomfortable, stop using it. But according to a Scottish study, Facebook users with many friends are more likely to feel anxiety about using the site – whether it’s performance pressure or some form of social anxiety wasn’t exactly clear. The bulk of the study concentrated on how the study respondents felt about the in’s and out’s of maintaining a friends list – such as angst over rejecting a friend request. But a large number of respondents also reported feeling anxiety about not checking the site regularly to keep up with their news feed. Given that the study focused on students, doesn’t it seem like they should have more important things to feel anxious about?

FAIL: Free Software
News picked up this week that Microsoft’s license for anyone distributing Windows or Xbox-related software through their version of Apple’s App Store is decidedly anti-open source. So much so that one developer and Red Hat employee has decreed on his blog that Microsoft is clearly against free software. My question is…is this really a surprise to anyone?

WIN: Stardust
No, not the Ziggy variety (because Ziggy Stardust is always a win). Mission Stardust-NeXT, or New EXploration of Tempel-1, brought the Stardust probe on its closest swing to comet Tempel-1, making it the first time a comet has been revisited. And Stardust swooped in at an impressive 10.6 kilometers per second, one of the fastest probes in history. The point? Perhaps boring to laymen; Stardust was busy taking measurements of the dust in the comet’s coma. As the comet and Stardust are 209 million miles from Earth, it takes a full 18 minutes for Stardust’s results to be received. Why is it a win? Well, why not? It’s human ingenuity at its best. Onward and upward, NASA.

Holographic images are fast becoming a reality thanks to a group at MIT’s Media Lab, and a hacked camera sensor from a Kinect gesture-recognition system for Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

According to a story in New Scientist, Michael Bove and his team at the  MIT Media Lab have, in a few short months, increased the frame rate of their project by a factor of 30, from one frame every two seconds to 15 frames per second.

How does Star Wars tie-in to the project?  Graduate student Edwina Portocarrero donned a Princess Leia costume, recreating the holographic projection plea for assistance made famous by Carrie Fisher.

According to Bove,

“The real holographic image couldn’t match the resolution achieved by special effects in the movie.  Princess Leia wasn’t being transmitted in real time. She was stored” in R2-D2′s memory.”

The MIT Media Lab demonstrated their work using computers which created a 3-D profile of the scene and data, resulting in the hologram.

According to New Scientist,

“Bove’s group started with an array of 16 low-resolution infrared cameras, spaced evenly along a metre-long line. Computer processing combined the images to generate the data needed for the 3D holographic projector at the rate of 15 frames per second.’

While anyone has access to a Xbox 360 and Kinect to hack, the holographic projector is an item custom-built by MIT over a decade ago by Stephen Benton and his students.

Bove believes the project will only get better,

“If the software gets faster we can show up to 30 holograms per second.”

Bove and his team are currently engaged in the process of creating a more compact and higher resolution group is working holographic projector.  An item Bove feels will be cheaper to manufacture and result in better holographic images than what the group can produce at present.

Are you a Star Wars fan?  How grand do you think the work of the MIT Media Lab is after reading the above and watching the video below?

Man, I hate watching Microsoft keynote addresses. Microsoft always tries so hard to be cool, to capture that ineffable “it” quality that Apple exudes so effortlessly. This one included a demonstration of Windows Phone 7 by a woman who had had way too many energy drinks. But I digress.

Microsoft just opened the annual Consumer Electronics Show by showing off some of their big new stuff that’s on the way (Surface 2.0 looks sweet), and among those words were some announcements for Xbox users. Chief among them: a new feature called “Avatar Kinect.”

You could call it Xbox’s answer to PlayStation Home, but that wouldn’t be very accurate. It’s a means of interacting with your friends over Xbox Live using your personal Avatar, but it’s not an open world with games and such. It’s basically just a virtual form of video chat, with various “environments” where you can get together with your friend you know from that thing that time. Fifteen such environments will be available, and though MS hasn’t provided a complete list of what they are, screenshots and press materials show off a talk show, a late-night comedy set, an American Idol-like performance stage, a beach, a Sports Center-style news desk, a hand-drawn-in-pencil notebook setting, a tailgate group, and a fluffy pink environment called “Whimsy” that you’ll totally know when you see it in the screenshots below.

Okay, so that’s the boring part. Here’s the part that’s awesome.

Avatar Kinect tracks your body and facial movements perfectly. It even syncs the words coming out of your real mouth to your avatar, so it looks like he or she is actually talking. Gesticulate like a madman, and your Avatar will do exactly the same. Make any facial expression you want — smile, frown, even raise your eyebrows — and Kinect tracks it all and translates it onscreen with remarkable accuracy.

Avatar Kinect also includes production capabilities, allowing you to record and edit video of your chat interactions, so you can… you know, create your own version of The View and post it to YouTube. Which is just what every gamer dreams of.

Up to eight Avatars can group together in one of these virtual environments at a time. There are also some animations that do fancy tricks with your Avatar, like snapping your fingers to vanish or flying in to the environment with a jetpack. But if you’re hoping to find some group games to interact with, at least for the moment, you’re out of luck.

Microsoft also announced that Hulu Plus is coming to Xbox Live in the Spring, and that both Hulu Plus and Netflix will become Kinect-enabled at that time. Also mentioned was that an astounding 8 million Kinect devices have been sold in its first 2 months on the market.

November 2011 will mark the 10th anniversary of the first Halo game — the game that both started a franchise and launched a console (the original Xbox). So you might say that Microsoft has a soft spot for Halo 1.

When Bungie jumped ship from Microsoft to Activision after this year’s Halo: Reach (review), no way was Microsoft going to let such a lucrative franchise just fade away. 343 Industries, a new studio internal to Microsoft, was formed primarily to take up the Halo mantle and keep cranking out new entries in the series. Their first game — widely believed to be Halo 4 — is rumored to be scheduled for holiday 2012.

But that leaves a gap of two years between Reach and the next new game. Microsoft is way too smart to go two whole years without any new Halo (sure, they did it in the past, but that was out of respect to Bungie; now MS is calling the shots), so to keep the franchise alive in the meantime, 343 is rumored to also be working on a remake of the original Halo.

This new iteration of the classic would feature full HD graphics using the Reach engine, and would likely arrive next November, just in time for the game’s 10th anniversary.

All of this is just speculation right now, as the rumored remake is nothing but that: a rumor. But I wholeheartedly believe that Microsoft is pursuing this, because it just makes too much business sense for them not to.

The trick will be in getting the series’ millions of fans to purchase a remake of a game they’ve already played. I can think of two ways this could be done:

1. Lower the price. No way will people shell out $60 to play a game they’ve already played — ten years ago — at today’s standard price. Offer it at $20 or $30 at the most, and make it available as both a box-on-a-shelf and an Xbox Live download.
2. Add new content. If Halo HD turns out to be nothing but a straight remake, with nothing enhanced beyond the graphics and physics, it won’t generate sales outside of the average nostalgic gamer. To really reach the masses with this, they’ll have to add some buzz-worthy new features, like new levels — both single and multiplayer — and all of the online multiplayer modes that have been introduced with Halo: Reach. Add in Forge for user level creation, the Theater for recording video, and maybe even toss in some new ideas that Halo‘s never done before.

If Halo HD becomes a reality, will you buy it?

Follow @FGgamer on Twitter for the latest gaming news.

There’s a battle blazing right now, on one side of the spectrum is the Xbox 360 which managed to finally dethrown the Nintendo Wii for four months, after years of dominance, then there’s the Wii, the little system no one saw coming. Now to show us the true battle of those company’s is Doctor Octoroc with his “Firewall” – SNES Style FF4 ‘Evil Wall Battle’ Parody

Every gamer will notice he has chosen to use the SNES Final Fantasy style gameplay, which gives a pretty good representation of the battle…at least in my twisted mind.

My favorite part occurs when the Xbox 360 with Bill Gates’ face built in starts hurling system specs at the approaching various Nintendo characters which include Megaman, Zelda, Mario, Link and Samus.

Here’s the gameplay video:

It obviously wasn’t a battle of processing power or the Nintendo characters would have went down with a slight breeze.

So there’s a press release making the rounds today about how Microsoft’s new Xbox motion controller Kinect has sold one million units in its first 10 days. This is big news for Xbox because Microsoft has made big noise about wanting to sell 5 million Kinect units by the end of this year, and they claim that these initial numbers put them on track for that.

But I can’t help wondering how this news stacks up to Kinect’s motion-controlling competition. First-week ticket sales mean everything at the box office, so why not apply that same prognostication factor to gaming? One million units in ten days is a great pull quote, but did Kinect manage to do better in its first week than Nintendo or PlayStation? And more importantly, what does this mean for Kinect’s future?

If you do the math, and in terms of “first week sales,” Microsoft‘s numbers equate to approximately 700,000 units in its first week. My research shows that in the U.S., Sony sold approximately 60,000 Move units (defined as an Eye Camera and one Move controller) in their hardware’s first week. As for the Wii console, when it first launched back in 2006, Nintendo claimed that it sold 800,000 units in the first eight days — which equates to approximately 525,000 in the first week.

Now it’s important to remember the importance of supply-and-demand when it comes to early sales. Sony and Microsoft both offered ample supply in their first week of sales, but Nintendo’s numbers were hampered by the fact that they had a nation-wide shortage of initial hardware units available. Early adopters had to work hard to even find a Wii console in those first months, when retailers sporadically received scant shipments which would usually sell out within minutes. So Nintendo could have sold more — a lot more — Wiis if they had had more units available at launch.

But here’s how first-week sales in the U.S. break down, in approximate numbers:

Nintendo Wii: 525,000
PlayStation Move: 60,000
Xbox Kinect: 700,000

The clear winner is Kinect, and it points to a strong future for the peripheral. But this doesn’t necessarily mean Kinect will outsell Wii in the long run, as that’s a very lofty goal; Wii has got a gigantic 4-year head start, and has demonstrated incredible staying power, with over 36 million units sold in the U.S. and some 76+ million sold worldwide.

Follow @FGgamer on Twitter for the latest gaming news.

When Microsoft first released Windows 7 in Japan, they shocked the otaku community by including the first ever official OS-tan, Nanami Madobe. Since then, Nanami Madobe fanart has been popping up on the internet every once in a while, but did you know that Microsoft has since released six more OS-tans?

On December 18, 2009 Microsoft began a month-long Bing promotion in Japan where users would be given a present for using the Bing search engine a certain number of times. That present turned out to be 5 more OS-tan themes that you can install on Windows 7. The new OS-tans (pictured below) from the left working clockwise are: Nanako, Nanae, Nanao, Nanami, and Nana.

In case you’re wondering, the word “nana” means seven in Japanese, but also makes up the beginning of several names. They all have either the Windows logo, “bing”, or “W7” somewhere on their body, but each of them represents a character archetype commonly seen in anime. Nanako is the childhood friend, Nanae is the office lady, Nanao is the tomboy, Nanami is the robot/android, and Nana is the little sister.

Those of you familiar with anime character types may be asking where the eyecandy girl is. Well, on September 27 Microsoft unveiled Hikaru Aizawa, the OS-tan for Silverlight. A busty blonde girl, Hikaru fits the eyecandy role perfectly.

She also seems to be more fun than the other OS-tans, even dressing up in a new costume for Halloween this year.

With Microsoft churning out all of these OS-tans, you have to wonder how many more are going to come out. Personally, I’d like to see Microsoft make a tsundere-type OS-tan, and if they do, I wonder what they’ll have it represent.

It’s interesting to note that there are no less than 4 exercising games, and 2 dancing games.

Here’s a full breakdown.

Kinect Adventures: comes with the Kinect device. Available November 4th.

Kinectimals: $49.99 standard edition, $59.99 limited collector’s edition (comes with a plush toy animal that unlocks a new animal you can play with in the game. Available November 4th.

Game Party In Motion: $39.99. Available November 18th.

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 The Videogame: $49.99. Available November 16th.

Your Shape Fitness Evolved: $49.99. Available November 4th.

Dance Central: $49.99. Available November 4th.

The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout: $49.99. Available November 4th.

DanceMasters: $49.99. Available November 4th.

EA Sports Active 2: $99 including heart rate monitor. Available November 16th.

Zumba Fitness: $49.99. Available November 18th.

Kinect Sports: $49.99. Available November 4th.

MotionSports: $49.99. Available November 4th.

Deca Sports Freedom: $39.99. Available November 18th.

Kinect Joy Ride: $49.99. Available November 4th.

Adrenalin Misfits: $49.99. Available November 4th.

Fighters Uncaged: $49.99. Available November 4th.

Sonic Free Rider: $49.99. Available November 4th.

Even gadget manufacturers go out of their way to further the cause (of course, we know that money is still somehow involved in all this), and come up with special edition pink versions of their products. I wouldn’t recommend going as far as buying a pink laptop if you are not really into pink (confession: I DID buy a pink MSI Wind because I wanted the netbook and it was not available in any other color.) Here are some things that I would recommend, though, if only to show your support.

Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 – Dragon Fruit Pink

Considering that shade of pink of this mouse, I can see myself buying one . Even better, Microsoft has declared that 10% of the sales will go to Susan G. Komen for Cure, the world’s largest grass root network of survivors and activists fighting to end Breast Cancer. You can buy this on Amazon for $16.25.

Pink iPod Nano

The new generation of iPods has been released, and pink is one of the colors for the Nano!

Pink Hardshell Case for the 13″ MacBook

This hardshell case can be used on the white MacBook (not the unibody one) and costs $50. Click on the link above to purchase one. It does not say if any portion of the proceeds will go to any organization doing breast cancer work, but if you do love pink…

So, would you go for pink gadgets this month? If not, just visit the web site of the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and see how you can help.

WIN: The Walking Dead
Freshly edged out of its long-occupied #1 spot of most watched trailers on IMDB, The Walking Dead‘s TV adaptation (from a zombie comic penned by Robert Kirkman – for the uninitiated) is still buzzing hardcore. It won’t actually air until Halloween, but it’s been on fire since ComicCon. It’s already been granted a second season. What else can this fledgling program accomplish before we actually see it?

FAIL: Brand Secrets
Microsoft’s latest mouse has been leaked on a Russian web site, and it looks more like something Posh Spice would wear on her head than something you’d find on a desk. Called “Metro Mouse” (which is in fact a mini-win, since it brings to mind Mighty Mouse), it uses BlueTrack blue laser technology to allow it to cope with less-than-optimal surfaces. Biggest selling point, perhaps literally: it’s the cheapest mouse in the range at a mere $20.

WIN: Resident Evil 5
Milla Jovovich spilled the beans that Resident Evil 5 is already in the works, and that, most importantly, the plot will depend on input from fans of the series as collected via social media. Zombies and the Internet, double geek win. And speaking of zombies…

WIN: Zombies
Zombies are proving their cultural staying power is still in full force, as they’ve been trending on Surchur for several weeks straight. No doubt this is because of things like the most recent Resident Evil film, a blockbuster hit, and the aforementioned Walking Dead show. Or perhaps it’s the first sign of the zombie apocalypse?

FAIL: Spam Control
Specifically, Apple’s spam control. While this isn’t so much this week’s news – because it began early this month when Apple debuted its iTunes-based social media service Ping – the fact that Apple put in safeguards against inappropriate profile pictures (manual approval) but failed to anticipate the spam that plagues other social networks is a total fail. What elevates it to an epic fail is that the spam is primarily malware and phishing scams offering iPods, iPhones, and iPads – Apple’s very own products. Let’s just call it a timeless fail.

WIN: Catfish
This week saw a meteoric rise in interest in the upcoming social network movie Catfish, which will release nationally against rival The Social Network. From the relative obscurity of film festivals to the major social media radar, the word on the ‘net is it does for online dating what Jaws did for swimming. Now, I’ve absolutely nothing against online dating, but I’m positively all for movies that give social networking an intriguing spin. That Catfish is a documentary only heightens its appeal, whereas The Social Network, at least to me, has fallen flat as so much Hollywood flotsam – rooted in truth or not.

Halo: Reach is more than just Bungie’s magnum opus for the Halo series. It’s a love letter to the franchise’s multitude of fans, in the form of a “greatest hits” compilation of everything the series has done right.

But that’s not to say that Reach is unwilling to try new things. This final installment of the series is so robust with features and so expertly executed, that it can’t help but be a thrilling, resounding success.

Since this is Bungie‘s final Halo game ever (though no doubt there will be more from Microsoft, which holds the rights to the franchise), they took a kitchen sink approach with it. There’s a full 8+ hour solo campaign, an entire menu of multiplayer modes, the popular Forge level editor first provided with Halo 3, and the Theater, where you can record, edit, and watch your own Halo movies. All of these elements have been given numerous upgrades and a ton of polish, and everything — and I mean absolutely everything — offers customization out the wazoo, down to the tiniest minutia.

The campaign’s story shows one of the most pivotal events Halo’s mythology: the fall of the human-colonized planet Reach to the vicious Covenent. Referenced frequently throughout the Halo trilogy, the fall of Reach even has its own novelization. But Halo: Reach lets you to live these events, and in placing you inside this tragic story, Bungie achieves a level of tension that I’ve never experienced in a video game before. You know from minute one that Reach is going to be decimated, that countless lives will be lost, so every move you make carries great significance and a tangible sense of foreboding. Will this level be the one where the planet is set ablaze, or where one or more of my team members will be killed? It’s dark stuff to be sure, a disaster movie of global proportions, but somehow Bungie manages to pull it off with just the right amount of tragic heroism, while never dragging the player into the depths of depression.

I’ve always found Halo’s storytelling to be a bit lacking, as the focus has always been on that razor-sharp gameplay. In particular, I never liked how you had to work harder to get the whole story than you had to work to take part in the gameplay. Reach resolves these issues nicely, with some dramatic cutscenes that tell you everything you need to know to follow the story.

Reach itself is a gorgeous world, fully realized. Bungie outdid themselves on the graphics front, mixing high-res textures with a color palette that goes far beyond the green-and-purple hues of the trilogy to the full spectrum. Wandering around the countryside or strolling through the cities at night is absolutely stunning. Case in point: there’s a waterfall in one outdoor level that looks unquestionably real, as if it was a video of an earthbound waterfall that Bungie somehow mapped and put into the game. And water is one of the hardest things for CGI to pull off convincingly. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. I often found myself wishing that the game weren’t quite so frantic, because I would love to — sometime, when in a more contemplative mood — roam the hills and mountains and plains, and just explore its grandeur and beauty.

Because Halo: Reach is a prequel to the trilogy, many of the elements players are most familiar with are absent. There’s no Master Chief, no Arbiter, no Guilty Spark, and no Flood. But nearly every other trope from the series is present in one form or another, from the weapons and armor to vehicles and bases. The HUD is exactly the same as it’s always been, and you’ll recognize the feel and the sounds of every weapon you wield. And there are a ton of weapons, too — I could write an entire article on the dozens upon dozens of weaponry types and models available to use in this game.

The team dynamic is probably the most profound new innovation for Halo: Reach. You’re cast in the story as a nameless soldier (who can be male or female), just assigned to a crew of Spartans called Noble Team, and since you’re the sixth member, you’re known as “Noble Six.” We never get to learn anything about Noble Six, but this team is every bit as tough and resourceful as another Spartan that players know so well.

Each member of the team has their own personality and abilities, and you’ll come to care about and respect each one of them. Playing alongside them in the solo campaign is a treat, as you’re often unleashed against enemies of overwhelming numbers, but thanks to the assistance of your cohorts, you come out of the fight feeling like a master player (whether you are one or not). The enemy AI is just as lethal and cunning as Halo fans expect, but unfortunately Noble Team isn’t quite so smart on the battlefield. More times than I could count, my beloved teammates would strafe right through my line of fire, and I frequently found one or more of them stuck, standing in a certain spot for no particular reason. (I always popped off a shot at them to wake ‘em up.)

The voice of your commanding officer is in your ear at all times, guiding you to directives and barking urgent orders. The game has a stronger sense of momentum to it than any other in the series, to the point that you never feel you have time to stop and explore (even though you do), and it reminded me a lot of that same trick that Modern Warfare put to good use.

There are times you’ll be given orders to go to important locations, but not told how to get there. There were more of these instances than I could count, and it was very frustrating at first. With multiple paths to choose from on this living, breathing planet, do I go left, right, straight, etc.? It wasn’t until about halfway through the game that I realized that Reach‘s levels are ingeniously built to prevent you from getting lost. It feels like you’re roaming freely, choosing your own path, but all roads lead to your next objective. Very clever.

Halo: Reach never tries to depict the fall of the entire planet; instead, you stick with Noble Team and witness events from their point of view. They’re a crucial group, the most important in the war for Reach, so you see a lot of very important events. But they can’t be everywhere, so you don’t have to watch billions die right in front of you. It’s a slow burn as the game goes from the moment when the Covenant arrives on Reach, to an all-out war between humans and aliens, to finally a desperate fight to save as many humans as possible and help them escape the planet.

Another new element introduced into the series is a level where you dogfight in space above Reach. This level is so much fun, I could play it all day. Your sleek spacecraft can shoot lasers and torpedoes both, while engaging in evasive maneuvers and hitting the afterburners. Shooting enemy ships is made easier by the reticle not focusing on the ship but on the spot in front of the moving ship where you need to fire in order to hit it. I was reminded of the thrilling space battles in Star Wars Battlefront II, and the only negative thing I can say about it is that it didn’t last long enough to satisfy my hunger.

The same can’t be said of the twin-rotor airships, which you’re asked to pilot during one critical mission in the game’s second half. Sure, it’s fun and clever to get to fly the airship around a dense city and land on helipads and hoof it around various hotspots for important objectives, but trying to fight in the thing is a bear, because it handles like a flying tank. Sluggishly turning and barely offering anything resembling speed, you’ll fight frustration more than the Covenant in the airship — which is made all the harder because it’s a lengthy nighttime level where visibility is very poor.

The solo campaign ends beautifully, perfectly setting everything the events from the first game into motion.

The multiplayer options are nearly endless, with deathmatches, co-ops, Firefights, Matchmaking, and so much more, where every last option can be tweaked. I particularly enjoyed Firefight mode, where it’s all about defending your territory and surviving wave after wave of enemies. Every mode — even Forge, where you can edit your own levels — lets you rack up points, and with more points, come even more options that you can unlock and purchase to your heart’s content. Needless to say, Bungie is one studio that understands the importance of replay value, and Reach sends it off the charts.

Halo: Reach is the must-have title of the year for Xbox owners, offering as much playtime value as any dozen other games combined.

A few weeks ago, I speculated about whether or not the “fighting a losing battle” nature of Halo: Reach would be an asset or an achilles’ heel. I have to admire the fact that Microsoft and Bungie aren’t shying away from the fatalistic aspects of the game — they’re attempting to use the heavy subject matter to their advantage.

One particularly intriguing new social marketing campaign sees a massive robot arm in a nondescript warehouse, creating a “constellation of light.” Fans can go to RememberReach.com and sign up to add a star to this constellation. As you can see from the image above, the resulting memorial is going to depict the five members of “Noble team,” one of which you’ll play as in the game.

Head over to the site, and after an age gate, some tragic, mournful music kicks in and you’re invited to register with the site to add your own “point of light” to the memorial. In the end, there will be 54,000 points of light in all that make up this sorrowful image.

In case you don’t know: Halo: Reach tells of the infamous fall of the planet Reach, a pivotal turning point in Halo‘s universe. The game plops you right in the middle of this revolution — on the losing side. So no matter what you do, no matter how hard you fight, the game will always end in defeat.

It’s pretty nifty to watch that robot arm do its thing, and there can be no doubt that Microsoft is throwing the full weight of its marketing might behind this game. But it’s taking its subject matter so seriously that I still wonder if fans will find this entry as fun and memorable as the past games, or if this one will simply be too depressing for hardcore gamers’ tastes. Personally, I love that the game makers aren’t afraid to go down this road and that they’re actually trying to elicit an emotional response in gamers. But I’m not sure that the majority of gamers would agree with me (and Bungie).

We’ll find out in about two weeks, when Halo: Reach arrives in stores.

UPDATE: Microsoft has announced the release date for the Kinect device as November 3, 2010. Still no price.

Just prior to this week’s E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles (no, I’m not there, and yes, there are tears), Microsoft put together a mega-event to officially take the wraps off the new motion-controller product that until now has been only known by its codename: Project Natal.

The new name is Kinect — which makes me think of K’NEX building toys — and it was shown off at a multimedia event that can only be described as “bizarre,” by all accounts. If Microsoft was in the market for a bizarre event, then they went to the right place, because nobody does weird like Cirque du Soleil.

The Galen Center was home to the world premiere of Kinect for Xbox 360, an experience that took four months for Cirque to create. Among the features: a 25-foot-high projection screen, a giant, 9-foot-tall elephant puppet, and a 40-feet-in-diameter steel ball shaped like the Xbox 360′s power button. Without a doubt, the most talked about facet of the production was the white ponchos that attendees were asked to wear upon entering the stadium. These ponchos — which apparently were very hot to wear — had big shoulder pads that lit up in time with music from the show.

So we now have a title, and a good look at the Kinect hardware. And Microsoft also announced a very vague release date for Kinect: “this holiday.” Hopefully the big Xbox Media Briefing this morning at E3 will provide all of the remaining details. Where the Cirque event was all splash and razzle-dazzle, the Media Briefing is traditionally a very impressive event, packed with details on game announcements and exclusive premieres. (Can you tell I miss not being there? Sigh.)

Incidentally, if you’d like to watch Cirque du Xbox for yourself, the 45-minute show is being edited down to a commercial-free 30-minute broadcast for MTV on Tuesday, June 15th, at 3:3pm. The Xbox Media Briefing is airing live this afternoon on SpikeTV at 1:30PM EST.

I’m an iPhone guy, and have been since the release of the iPhone 3G a few years back. But recently, when I first heard about Windows Phone 7 and saw a demo, I got very excited. That was a cool looking piece of software right there, and maybe something worth switching over. Then I heard about the drawbacks, clutched my iPhone in my arms and said, “Don’t worry baby, I’ll never get rid of you.”

OK, I didn’t do that. We just spooned for a bit.

Anyways, looks like Microsoft is making another spectacular blunder. Gadgetsteria is reporting that Windows Phone 7 won’t come with copy and past anymore. Why? Well, let them answer that for me.

By now everyone and their mother has heard of Microsoft’s extremely Apple-esque stance with the upcoming Windows Phone 7. On several fronts, that’s a very, very good thing. On the other hand, comments such as “People don’t use copy/paste anymore” clearly show they [Microsoft] are F*cking stupid (with a capital F no less). Getting everything to be more simplistic and user friendly. Good. Great. Awesome. That’s exactly what they need to do. But overly water down a platform that has traditionally been a power users platform…?

He’s right. Windows Phone 7 has a lot of potential to take away market share from BlackBerry, Android and Apple, but it’s got to be spectacular out of the gate and at least have the same features as every other smartphone out there.

But here’s the kicker for me: When I got my iPhone 3G, all my Windows/BlackBerry buddies would tease me for lack of copy/paste, like it was some big deal. “Microsoft would never do anything that dumb,” they’d say. Turns out, they did. And not only did they, they’re backing it up with poor logic.

Oh well. Let’s hope they change things before it gets released.