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.

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.

Can you imagine the office somewhere in Microsoft HQ where a team of Xbox staff members have been hunkered down for months, locked in feverish negotiations with countless cable providers, and premium networks all over the world, trying to make their promise of “live TV on Xbox” a reality? Not too many companies would have been able to deliver on such a big promise, but Microsoft announced today that they’ve succeeded. (It’s worth noting that Microsoft’s list of nearly 40 partners is comprised more of video-on-demand services than live TV, but the live stuff is in there.)

AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon are the big headliners here in the U.S., but dozens of others have signed on for Xbox owners all over the world. Microsoft’s tactics seem to have been to get anyone and everyone they can onboard with their “New Xbox TV Experience,” as it’s being called, because aside from cable providers, their announced partnerships also include cable networks (like BBC, Bravo, and Syfy), premium networks (HBO), and even individual programs (The Today Show). There are also a number of Internet-based video providers on the list, and it’s a virtual “who’s who” that includes the likes of Crackle, Daily Motion, Epix, Hulu+, Netflix, Vevo, and YouTube.

The New Xbox TV Experience is optimized for Kinect users and enhanced with Bing voice search, so that (as you can see in the video above) all you have to do is tell your Xbox what you want to watch — be it a TV show or a movie — and Bing search will bring up every available instance of it for you to choose from.

Of course, most of this content will only be available to Xbox Live Gold members, and some of them, like HBO Go, have separate subscription fees as well. More than 20 countries will get the New Xbox TV Experience come this Christmas with the next Dashboard update. Users will find deep integration with Facebook and Twitter for social sharing, and as always, users can watch simultaneously with friends across the Internet, and use Kinect’s voice and gestures to control the action.

Check out the screenshots below, and then you’ll find the complete list of Xbox’s new partners at the bottom of this page.

• ABC iView – Australia
• AlloCiné – France, Germany, Spain, U.K.
• Antena 3 – Spain
• Astral Media’s Disney XD – Canada
• AT&T – U.S.
• BBC – U.K.
• Blinkbox – U.K.
• Bravo – U.S.
• BSkyB – U.K.
• Canal+ – France, Spain
• Channel 4 – U.K.
• Channel 5 – U.K.
• CinemaNow (Best Buy) – U.S.
• Comcast – U.S.
• Crackle – Australia, Canada, U.K., U.S.
• Dailymotion – Available in 32 markets
• EPIX – U.S.
• ESPN – U.S.
• Facebook – Available in all 35 Xbox LIVE markets
• FOXTEL – Australia
• GolTV – Spain
• HBO GO – U.S.
• Hulu – Japan
• Hulu+ - U.S.
• iHeartRadio (Clear Channel) – U.S.
• Last.fm - U.K., U.S.
• LOVEFiLM – Germany, U.K.
• Manga Entertainment – U.S.
• Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment/Real Sports – Canada
• MediaSet – Italy
• MSN with MSNBC.com - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, U.K.
• MUZU.TV – France, Germany, Italy, Spain, U.K.
• Netflix - Canada, U.S.
• Rogers On Demand Online (RODO) – Canada
• RTVE – Spain
• SBS On Demand - Australia
• Syfy – U.S.
• Telefonica – Spain
• Televisa – Mexico
• The Today Show - U.S.
• TELUS – Canada
• TMZ – U.S.
• Twitter - Available in all 35 Xbox LIVE markets
• UFC – Canada, U.S.
• Verizon – U.S.
• VEVO – Canada, U.K., U.S.
• VimpelCom – Russia
• Vodafone Portugal – Portugal
• YouTube – Available in 22 markets
• ZDF – Germany
• Zune - Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, U.K., U.S.

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.

Every Summer, Microsoft gathers a killer lineup of great Xbox Live Arcade games and releases them once-per-week over a month or so. It’s happened for several years now, and many Xbox users have begun looking forward to this tradition because the games in the “Summer of Arcade” are usually top-notch. Here’s this year’s complete roster, along with screens from each game!

Bastion

Things kick off on July 20th with Bastion, from Supergiant Games and Warner Bros. Interactive. Bastion is a sprawling Action/RPG starring The Kid, a character who’s charged with building a new world from the broken remnants of the past. The big twist is the game’s “innovative reaction system” that includes stuff like a narrator who reacts and changes the story based on the choices you make and the things you do. Bastion is 1200 Microsoft Points, aka $15.

From Dust

From Dust follows on July 27th, from Ubisoft, and provides a distinct change of pace. This one-of-a-kind puzzle game from the creator of Another World stars nature itself, as you help decide the survival or destruction of a primitive tribe of people. From Dust will cost 12 MS Points/$15.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

On August 3rd, Fuelcell and Microsoft Studios present Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, a shooter with a wildly original visual style. It looks kind of like Limbo‘s more colorful, more alien cousin. This side-scrolling adventure will run you 1200 MS Points/$15.

Fruit Ninja Kinect

Super-popular iOS game Fruit Ninja comes to Xbox Live for a Kinect version of the game. Halfbrick’s crazy title will have you slicing and dicing those melons and berries via the magic of controller-free gaming on August 10th for 800 MS Points or $10.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War

RTS game Toy Soldiers was a big hit as part of last year’s Summer of Arcade, so this year Signal Studios presents the sequel, Toy Soldiers: Cold War, on August 17th. The setting this time is 1980s-style warfare. The price is 1200 MS Points/$15.

Crimson Alliance

Gamers who purchase all five of the above games will get a free copy of a sixth, Crimson Alliance, a cooperative action RPG from developer Certain Affinity. This dungeon-crawler is said to have distinctive feel and personality all its own, and early buzz on the game is extremely positive.

Which games from Summer of Arcade 2011 are on your must-have list?

Xbox always has a lively show, keeping things moving fast from one game to the next, never spending too much time on any one thing. For my money, they typically put on the funnest, showiest, and overall best media event at E3. Sure, it’s Microsoft and they’re nerdy, but at least they have lots of money to throw around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t6XegJtlns

Halo 4 was announced as the start of a new trilogy starring the Master Chief. A trailer depicted Cortana waking the Chief up from his deep-space slumber to help her escape a dangerous situation that threatens the entire universe. Halo 4 is set for a November 2012 release. In the meantime, that rumored remaster of the original Halo game turned out to be true. It’s called Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and it’ll be out this November.

A brand new entry in the Fable franchise was announced, but it’s not Fable 4. It’s called Fable: The Journey, the first Fable game constructed from the ground up for Kinect. It’s set 5 years after the events of Fable 3 and uses Kinect’s gestures to cast spells as you fight for the future of Albion. No word yet on a release date.

Mass Effect 3 will use Kinect for voice recognition. That was the big headline from BioWare. ME‘s dialogue trees can now be controlled by speaking directly to the game. It creates a faster, more fluid experience, further immersing you into the game. You can also direct your allies in the actions you want them to take, just by saying it.

The long-awaited Kinect Star Wars game was at last shown off, and it looks like everything in the game is controlled via gestures. Mime swinging a lightsaber, and your on-screen character does the same. Lean forward and your avatar uses a burst of Force speed to run fast to the next enemy character. The trailer shows off what it can do best, so take a look.

One game that’s going to come out of E3 with some new buzz is Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, because it’s going fully Kinect-operable. Future Soldier might just be the full-body FPS Kinect shooter we’ve been waiting for. GRFS provided a genuine “wow” moment when a demo player expanded his arms to explode outward all of the components of a weapon, so he could fully customize all of its inner workings. Movement and firing were also controlled via Kinect, using unique gestures. It looks like it might just be something special.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures is destined to sell millions of copies. It’s exactly what it sounds like: the entire Disneyland theme park in California reproduced — down to precise details — as a Kinect-friendly video game. Your Xbox avatar can enjoy everything Disneyland has to offer, ride all the rides, interact with Disney characters, and even do things you can’t do in real life, like fly with Peter Pan. There will be plenty of challenges and family-friendly activities built in. I know my kids will go nuts over this one.

Kinect Fun Labs, a new Xbox Live service that goes live today, expands the functionality of your Kinect sensor to be able to try out new technologies, such as performing full-body scans and translating the data into a customized avatar for you — complete with your real-world clothes.

Live TV is coming to Xbox Live, though Microsoft was mum on the details. From what we saw, it looked as though MS is partnering with networks to bring live television to Xbox 360 users. It’s an alternative to cable. But we have no idea on pricing or when it will be available.

Minecraft is coming to Xbox Live! It will also be Kinect enabled, to allow for a new kind of interaction with the popular indie game. You’ll also be able to interact between Xbox and PC versions of Minecraft. Xbox 360 has an exclusive deal to have Minecraft on their console, so don’t look for Wii or PS3 versions anytime soon.

Crytek announced a new game called Ryse, an action game set during the Roman Empire, and made for Kinect.

A major new twist was added to the Xbox UI: Bing search. It’s a new, easier-than-ever way to access all of your content, or content you can purchase. Search for “Harry Potter,” for example, and a series of results will come up showing all available Harry Potter movies, video games, and anything else available. Access it all simply by talking to it, using Kinect.

In addition to all this, new videos and previews were shown from Dance Central 2, Forza Motorsport 4, Gears of War 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Kinect Sports: Season Two, Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, the new Tomb Raider, and more. Enjoy all the screens we could get our hands on, below.

Nintendo has Club Nintendo. Now Microsoft has created “Xbox Live Rewards” to reward players for doing things they already do. What’s the reward? Microsoft Points, which you can use to buy anything on Xbox Live, just like other MS Points you purchase with your own money.

So what do you have to do to earn MS Points through Xbox Live Rewards? Most of them involve spending your hard-earned money, but on the upside, you’re spending it on stuff you’d buy anyway. Stuff like buying or renewing an Xbox Live membership, buying downloadable games and items on Xbox Live, including specially-designated Xbox Live content. UK users can activate Sky on their Xbox and get MS Points.

But there are a few things you can do to earn points without having to spend any money at all. There’s not much, but there’s some, like taking monthly surveys. Microsoft also says that participating in exclusive promotions will earn you some points, but they don’t detail what these promotions might be, or whether purchases will be involved. It could be stuff like inviting five Xbox Live friends to take part in a multiplayer session or an Xbox Live event of some kind.

To take part in Xbox Live Rewards, just go to rewards.xbox.com and sign up. That’s all there is to it. Xbox will send you an email when your Rewards account is set up. (I set mine up yesterday and I’m still waiting.) The only catch: right now it’s only available for US and UK players.

Reportedly, Sony is working on a similar “PlayStation Rewards” program for a future launch.

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.

Today Microsoft has unveiled a major overhaul to the Xbox Dashboard which comes complete with a ton of new features and enhancements. While the aesthetic improvements may seem small — on-screen selections are now flat panels, similar to the Zune interface — but there’s a lot that’s been changed under the hood, with a serious eye toward Kinect-friendly alterations.

Here’s a look at everything that’s been upgraded in this free update:

1) The user interface. The entire dashboard appearance has been upgraded with a streamlined appearance that’s designed to make browsing via Kinect a snap. The Xbox Live Marketplace has a whole new organization, making it easier to get to a download in fewer steps.

2) Avatars 2.0. Xbox Avatars have gotten an upgrade that elongates their features a bit to make them more proportionately/anatomically correct. This was needed to help with 1:1 movement tracking in Kinect games that are Avatar-friendly.

3) The virtual keyboard. The QWERTY keyboard that pops up when you need to type something is easier to read now with a silver appearance, and it includes some nifty new functions like “repeated text entry.”

4) Achievements. If you have fully completed a game with 100% Achievements earned, you’ll find a new means of browsing those Achievements to fully appreciate your accomplishments.

5) Voice chat. Audio codecs for Xbox Live Party use have been upgraded, so you should be able to hear and understand your friends better than before.

6) Wireless networks. It’s easier now to see all of the wireless networks available for you to join. (Of course this only works if you’re using a wireless add-on device or one of the shiny new Xbox Slims.

7) Gamertag creation. When creating a new Gamertag for the first time, if you try to pick a tag that’s already in use, you’ll be provided a handy-dandy list of suggestions for ones that aren’t taken, a la AOL.

8) Controller sign-out. Now you can use your own controller to sign-out controllers that your friends are no longer using (like say, the drum kit in Rock Band), instead of them needing to do it themselves. Sounds handy.

9) Family settings. Parents have simplified controls now that make it easy to protect their children from harmful content. With a password, you can set customized privacy and activity settings for every member of your family, based on their ages. You can also set exceptions to this rule on a title-by-title basis.

10) Netflix search. Gold members will find a streamlined search organization that get you to your movies and TV shows faster.

11) Zune. Lots of enhancements across the board here, again for Gold members, who get some social networking and interactive upgrades.

12) ESPN. Last but not at all least, the long-awaited ESPN channel has at last been added to Xbox Live. All of the promised features are here — for Gold members, anyway — including full access to over 3,500 live sporting events every year, interactive viewing parties with friends, personal customizations to suit your personal sports tastes, and much more. The catch is that in order to enjoy the live events, in addition to a Gold membership, you’re also required to have “an ESPN3-affiliated broadband provider.” Without that, you’re stuck watching recorded clips from ESPN3.com.

Follow @FGgamer on Twitter for the latest gaming news.

Xbox.com has just undergone a major upgrade and overhaul, and Xbox Live users will find lots of enhancements to their overall experience.

The facelift’s biggest new feature is the new Avatar editor where you can now create and edit your Xbox Live Avatar right from your browser. This is something Xbox users have longed for, for ages, and it’s a fully-interactive Silverlight application that lets you purchase or preview new items, including in-game reward items. Other new enhancements include:

• New layout for messaging, where you can view messages, friends, and game requests more easily
• Your Account center now has basically all of the same functions as what you can access from your Xbox menu — messaging, redeeming of codes, and all account settings
• New “Family Reports” show parents how they and their kids spend their time on Xbox LIVE
• New web games are now available in-browser or via Windows Phone 7
• Search has been drastically improved in the Marketplace

Brian De Vitis is a freaking genius. A mechanical engineering grad student from UCLA, he built this fully-functional R2-D2 replica that’s so much more than an R2-D2 replica.

Hidden within its innards are ten game consoles. Yes, I said ten.

There’s an NES, Super NES, N64, GameCube, PS2, PSP, Sega Genesis (which, of course, is situated atop R2′s dome), Sega Dreamcast, Atari 1800, and an original Xbox. And there are ports out the wazoo. Needless to say, he gutted most of those consoles and incorporated their parts and pieces into his astromech unit, but they all work.

The pièce de résistance: a projector for playing the games.

Read more about De Vitis’ amazing gaming droid, which he showed off publicly for the first time at PAX ’10, here.

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.

In case you haven’t heard, there’s this little indie game coming out next week called Halo: Reach.

A full, extended version of the “Deliver Hope” live action short film that Microsoft commissioned for Halo: Reach has found its way online, and man is it a doozy. Full of killer battle scenes on a planet burning from invasion and war, there’s no other word to describe it but epic. It makes me yearn all the more for District 9 director Neil Blomkamp’s Halo movie-that-almost-was (even though Blomkamp had nothing to do with making this ad).

Kudos to Machinima.com for the exclusive on this. In related news, today it was announced that there are thousands of midnight events taking place all over the country to celebrate the release of the game, which you can read about here.

Following up on the “Summer of Arcade” that featured awesome downloadable games like Limbo, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, and Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light, Xbox Live Arcade is planning another month-long set of four A-list games, all of which look just as wildly creative and original as the summer titles. Here’s a full breakdown of all four games, complete with screenshots.

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of this post for a full gallery of screenshots from all four games!

Hydrophobia

A third-person adventure/shooter with amazing graphics where the big selling point is the ultra-realistic water in the game’s proprietary engine. In the near future, a utilitarian society has developed, and a luxury cruise ship allowing the wealthy elite to live far from the cares of the rest of the world starts to take on water. The game takes place in indoor spaces that are being flooded as you try to traverse through the ship and ultimately escape. Guaranteed to make you afraid of the water, Hydrophobia arrives on September 29th for $15.

Comic Jumper

From the kooky minds at Twisted Pixel Games (‘Splosion Man) comes Comic Jumper, starring Captain Smiley, a comic book superhero whose star is fading. He’s given a base of operations and “Comic Jumping” technology by his friends at Twisted Pixel, allowing him to leap into other comic books and save misguided plotlines. Ha! The ambitious game features four comic book worlds with four completely different art styles, eleven missions, eight mini games, and a cool operations base. Arrives October 6th for $15.

Pinball FX 2

Better graphics than the original and tons of fancy new features like more accurate physics, customized settings, and multiplayer games you can play against your friends. There’s even a split-screen multiplayer mode for single-system play. There are new in-game leaderboards for comparing scores, and seven different camera options so you can get the best possible view of your table. Speaking of table, while the game itself is free, there are four individual tables to demo and buy in-game. The first announced table is themed around ancient Persia. Pinball FX 2 arrives on my birthday, aka October 13th.

Super Meat Boy

Last but definitely not least comes this old-school platformer in the vein of Super Mario Bros. or Sonic the Hedgehog. But this ain’t your daddy’s platformer; this one comes with in-game humor that’s so bizarrely adult, it skates the boundaries of good taste. For example, the main villain is a fetus in a jar wearing a suit and a monocle. Super Meat Boy is expected to be one of the biggest hits of the Game Feast, thanks to its 300+ levels, epic boss fights, and a hero made of raw meat who leaves a trail of blood everywhere he goes. October 20th, $15.

For the first time ever, Lara Croft has shed her Tomb Raider moniker, and taken up residence in a game that’s only available as a download. Maybe even the most radical shift of all: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is not played from a third-person perspective. Instead, it’s “isometric,” which means you play from above, looking down at an angle.

And it turns out, this fresh new take on gaming’s most iconic female is exactly what the doctor ordered, because Guardian of Light absolutely cannot be missed.

Lara Croft’s latest adventure finds her doing what she does best — raiding tombs and taking out mystical baddies — but her tired formula has been replaced with something that holds that indefinable fun factor that keeps you coming back for more and more. And don’t let the fact that it’s a downloadable game deter you; the “fat” has been cut away to give you the tightest, most honed experience possible.

I could go over the story for you, but it’s ultimately beside the point, because the real focus here is on the perfectly-polished gameplay. And in another first for the series, Lara has herself a co-op playing ally named Totec that radically alters her typically lonely occupation into a blast of a side-by-side campaign. You and a friend can team up to play through the game’s fourteen levels, though only on your couch for now; an update is coming in late September that will enable online co-op. The single player game is a similar but decidedly different game, with unique features in the levels for both.

Crystal Dynamics has crafted a dazzling, detailed new world for Lara to explore, and you’ll want to explore every crevice and crack for power-ups and other findable goodies. The new isometric vantage point is a tremendous asset here, as Lara’s environment is filled with endless puzzles to solve and vicious creatures to fight. Fortunately, Lara herself is just as spry and handy-with-two-pistols as ever, and she gets a full arsenal of weaponry to boot. Everything from machine guns to flamethrowers and missile launchers are at your command, and finding those extra goodies hidden throughout the levels will help you unlock more cool new weapons to try out. There are also points to collect, and the better you play, the more weaponry you’ll gain access to as well.

Lara’s trademark dual pistols never run out of ammo, nor do her claymore remote-detonate bombs. Lara’s also given a javelin-like staff near the beginning of the game by Totec, which continually regenerates itself, giving her an infinite supply of these powerful, mystical spears. There are giant boulders to move, grappling hooks to swing on, platform triggers to activate, and jumping puzzles galore, but none of it ever feels trite or overdone. If anything, these puzzles offer a welcome respite from the sometimes endless waves of enemies Lara frequently has to blast her way through.

Speaking of which, many of the larger enemies themselves are remarkably fun to kill, as they tend to explode in creative ways upon death. Boss battles can be maddening but gives the player an extremely rewarding feeling, when you finally take down that monster that refuses to die. Kill enough enemies without taking any damage yourself and your power-up meter will fill. Once that happens, you’re rewarded with extras like health and ammo that automatically regenerate on their own.

Sure, it’s not perfect. Some of the gauntlet-runs you have to undertake are downright evil in difficulty, and occasionally you’ll go up against an enemy A.I. that has no interest in attacking you. But the game offers so many overwhelmingly positive features, I’m inclined to overlook these trifling issues. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a blast, and the best reason yet for spending money on Xbox Live Arcade.

One last thing. It’s worth noting that Guardian of Light is a game that co-publishers Eidos and Square Enix are committed to supporting, with no less than five DLC add-on packs planned for release before Christmas.

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.

Limbo is a shadowy, murky place rendered entirely black and white, without a hint of color. There’s a grainy quality to it, like you’re watching an old silent film. Which is appropriate since there’s no music or dialog anywhere in the game. And there’s only the barest hint of a story.

Needless to say, Limbo is not the kind of puzzle/adventure game that comes along every day.

In the Xbox Live Arcade downloadable title Limbo, you play as a nameless young boy who enters the strange, otherworldly realm of Limbo in search of his sister. That’s all we ever find out about the protagonist of the game, and even the deftly-handled ending provides no new insights on the circumstances surrounding his existence. He’s rendered merely in silhouette, with two bright, white dots as eyes. (His shape reminds me of Baljeet on Phineas & Ferb.)

But don’t mistake it as a game for kids.

Your goal is a simple one: traverse the realm of Limbo and make it through alive. Along the way, you’ll encounter dozens of puzzles — which start out as clever and gradually grow to downright evil — that primarily take the form of obstacles that stand in your way. Many of these obstacles are even hazardous to your health, so making it through this nebulous world can be quite a challenge. There are creepy creatures, massive mechanical devices, and even alterations to gravity to contend with. The trick is making this world work for you instead of against you.

Limbo‘s interface is ultra minimalist. There’s no HUD, no points to collect (though there are a fair amount of Achievements to score), and nothing for you to wield. Aside from moving with the left thumbstick, there are only two things you can do: jump and use. This latter action is what allows you to climb, grab, drag, push, and swing your way through Limbo. Be sure and explore your surroundings; reaching some of Limbo‘s most remote locations, and you’ll be rewarded with Achievements or Avatar items.

Limbo is really about setting a mood, not entirely unlike Flow or Journey. Only this time the mood is trepidation. It’s six-to-eight hours of intense, lonely, ominous traversing through a very unwelcoming place that fights you at every turn. It’s just downright unsettling to take a tiny, helpless child through a big, bad, sinister forest world where he can literally be torn to shreds (you can turn off the silhouetted gore if you wish). Often I found myself holding my breath as I tried to time a jump just right or watched for a spider-like beasty to narrowly avoid smashing me into the ground.

It’s a stunning, creative way of delivering what’s ultimately a collection of puzzles, and it works beautifully. Limbo is an unforgettable experience, representing something more than a puzzler in a unique setting. The sum of its parts add up to something that actually commits — dare I say it? — art.

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.

(Video is mildly NSFW)

I’m not sure when I first discovered it, but someone introduced me to Zero Punctuation and I’ve been following it ever since. Every Wednesday, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw posts up a new animated short reviewing a video game. These fall under the “NSFW” category most of the time, but it’s the way Yahtzee picks apart these games that makes it so enjoyable.

First, there’s the accent and speed of the clips. He’s from Australia, but his accent isn’t very heavy so it’s still pretty understandable all the way through. Then he speeds up his voice when recording – hence the name Zero Punctuation – which gives the video a sense of urgency. Ultimately though, Yahtzee touches on the main problems with games in general, and really gets to the source of the matter. He doesn’t just play these games for 5 minutes and write a review, he plays them for hours – sometimes until he beats them – and then passes judgement.

Take the review above for example, for Batman: Arkham Asylum (mildly NSFW). He says very clearly that he loves the game, but he’s not just going to kiss butt like everyone else. Instead, he takes the things that he takes issues with, and makes fun of them. But it’s all done very constructively in a manner that not only makes you laugh, but also is done to make games better as a whole.

See, Yahtzee is a game developer himself, and he just wants to play good video games. By pointing out the good ones and slamming the bad ones, he’s working towards making a better gaming industry for all of us. Plus he does it with colorful cartoon characters and wit. Fact is, this is one site I visit every Wednesday, and every time I do, I never leave disappointed. Give it a shot.

My wife and I are pretty avid video game fans. We own every Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft console produced in the past 20 years, with a few handhelds and a Genesis in there for good measure. Up until recently though, we didn’t own a PS3, and there was a pretty big reason for that.

The first reason was the price. I wasn’t down with paying half a grand for a console, no matter how awesome or cutting edge the technology was. I resisted purchasing almost out of principle, because it just wasn’t worth the extra cash. The second reason was the games. I love platformers, and the Ratchet & Clank series seemed like a pretty cool group of games for the PS3 – but not enough to justify the price tag. There really wasn’t any other PS3 game that made me really want the system. Little Big Planet was close, and I considered Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Joker download, but there was still nothing that made me pull the trigger. Besides, I could get almost any PS3 game for my 360, so why spend the money? When the price dropped to $299 though, I was all over it. I was just about to pull the trigger when I received a PS3 Slim as a gift, as well as a copy of Little Big Planet and Ratchet and Clank. Times were good.

So after the Blu-Ray haze had worn off and the games were played, I put the PS3 controller down for a little bit to focus on some family stuff. This weekend I decided to treat myself to a game, but now I had a choice: PS3 or XBox 360?

I was looking at 2 games: MLB2K10 (pictured) and MLB10 The Show. I had played demos of both in the store, and MLB2K10 was looking like the stronger game. As I stood there, holding a PS3 and 360 version of the game in each hand, my wife said to me, “Well, if the PS3 has the better graphics, go with the PS3 version.” So I did.

I get home and I’m playing the game. Almost instantly I’m having controller issues, where the PS3 isn’t responding to my frantic button jabs. Then the cursor starts freaking out when I’m trying to place a pitch, then I have problems stealing second. 30 minutes later I’m cursing my decision. Four hours later I give it another shot, and I find that everything is working great and now it’s all good. No problems at all, like it never happened. So what was it? Hell if I know.

This experience shook my faith in the console. I’ve got an old NES that fires up every time I need it, and never complains. Although I understand that newer consoles are substantially more complex that the NES, that doesn’t mean that they should suffer from problems. Consoles should be reliable electronics, not requiring random updates and constant syncing. That goes for my 360 too, because even though it’s working fine now, I have had two units red ring out on me.

So now, when I go to the store and try to decide what to buy, I think my decision may be a bit easier. If it’s exclusive, I’ll go with that console. Otherwise, I’m getting it for the 360.

Once you’ve decided on the tree itself, you’ll need to work out what to hang off it.

Yes, you could stay fairly traditional and use baubles and candies, but how about decorating the tree with miniature replicas of your favourite games console?

Bear Duck Designs has five different console ornaments to choose from: Nintendo Wii, PS3, PS3 Slim, Xbox 360 Arcade and Xbox 360 Elite.

Choose a selection or pledge allegiance to just one, it’s up to you.

$30 each, the ornaments come in a metal box for protection the rest of the year.

Product page

Two out of three said they’d like to receive emails that reminded them of how to live more healthily. The survey also showed that many people turn to web sites when they feel ill or have some other ailment, but don’t find it so easy to get information on staying healthy in the first place.

Microsoft sponsored the survey, pushing its own HealthVault system in the process, though I think it missed a trick in not touting its new Natal system that could surely see a lot of people getting more fit while playing their favourite Xbox games.

How about encouraging the use of Wii Sports and Wii Fitness? Nintendo is planning on launching an updated version of its Fitness package that can be used for more serious health improvement.

OK, so the Xbox and Wii aren’t necessarily going to help with every aspect of staying fit and healthy, but maybe doctors should start recommending them as part of an active lifestyle?

Jesse Maiman, a 21 year old Yale University student has filed a lawsuit in the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court against US airway and he is asking for a relatively astounding one million dollars in damages? And what was he complaining about? His Xbox 360 got stolen in the airport.

Maiman claims that his Xbox 360, that contains what he says is a “specialized hard drive” was taken from his luggage when he traveled from New Haven, Connecticut, to Cincinnati, Ohio. He also claimed that he was given “an unconscionable run-around” when he tried to address the problem at the moment he found out his console was missing. In his lawsuit, Maiman is demanding $1,700 in relief for the loss of his Xbox 360 console, and a $1 million as the maximum damages allowable. With the top of the line Xbo 360 retailing for only $399, one begins to wonder what kind of “specialized hard drive” Maiman has installed in his Xbox 360. Could it be some kind of super advanced storage medium from the future? Or could the hard drive contain information that will save the world? Only Maiman knows the answer.

According to the official Microsoft support site, all service repairs for the original Xbox video game systems “for which the warranty has expire will no longer be available.” Microsoft did say that other kinds of technical support, documentation and content will continue to be made available to customers through its web site. The company also said that original Xbox owners who need to have their units repaired and are still covered by the warranty can request for an upgrade to the Xbox 360. Pressed for more details, Microsoft said that the upgrade policy will allow for the upgrade of an in-warranty Xbox to a Factory Certified Repaired Xbox 360 Pro SKU. Their will be no fee to pay for the upgrade.

According to Gamestop, the XBox 360 Hard Drive 60GB Live Pack will pre-order ships starting Nov 4, 2008. Now we know why they do not allow external hard drives, LOL. Pricing is a little steep, but for the XBox hard fans out there, save up… you know you want one of these soon. Not sure if the timing of the release has something to do with the elections, probably not. The 60GB HDD Live pack includes a 60GB hard drive, a 3 month subscription to Xbox Live, a wired headset and ethernet cable all for $99. If it was my deal, I would’ve dropped the wired headset and ethernet cable (because most would probably have it anyway) and slash the price to about $85. But anyway.

More information from GameStop:

The easiest entry into Xbox LIVE for Arcade

- Incredible value; includes a 60 GB Hard Drive, Headset, Ethernet cable, and a 3-month LIVE Gold subscription.
- 60 GB Hard Drive allows users the ability to download HD video content, XBLA games, and Xbox Originals.
- Rip your music to the Hard Drive and create custom playlists to use in-game and out.
- Enjoy online multiplayer gaming and other exclusives with the included 3-month LIVE Gold Subscription Card.
- Strategize with teammates or just chat with friends while playing your favorite games with the included Xbox 360 Headset.