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The story of the Duke, the Xbox pad that existed because it had to
Denise Chaudhari had never touched a gamepad before stepping onto Microsoft's campus as a contractor. The first woman to join the Xbox team, Chaudhari had studied ergonomics and industrial design at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design but didn't have any experience with joysticks. That's part of why Xbox's Jim Stewart was so excited to bring her on board: Her ideas wouldn't be based on preconceived notions of what a gamepad had to be. It was early 2000, and the company was preparing to enter the gaming world with the Xbox. In Nov. 2001, the console was released in North America alongside the Duke, a controller that seemed comically large compared to its contemporaries. Within a year, the oversize gamepad was abandoned by Microsoft and replaced with a smaller model, but the Duke has had an impact on every controller since.
The latest menswear accessory is a Surface Book
As the line between fashion and technology continues to blur, Microsoft Japan is taking the well-trodden path of fashion collaboration to promote its Surface Book and tablets. Microsoft has claimed a corner of the upscale department store Isetan Men's in Shinjuku, Tokyo, stocking its hybrid PCs next to pricey fashion items. There's also a digital "hologram" mirror, which shoppers can use to see how they look in 360-degrees. Shop attendants scan you with a Surface -- of course -- while a platform spins you around. The results are then beamed to a floating display so that you can see how you really look. Browse the department store collaboration for yourself in our gallery:
Microsoft tells Japanese gaming division to try, try again
Turns out, the home of Mario and Sonic is still a tough world to penetrate for Microsoft's gaming division, despite its near-decade presence in the market. While homegrown Nintendo and Sony products receive much of the love and Yen, newly-hatched industry outsiders are left to fend for themselves. Having finally broached the one million mark in Japan for its five-year-old console, MS is shifting the focus to its Kinect launch failures. Unsurprisingly, the full-body motion control accessory hasn't jump-kicked its way into as many Japanese hearts and households as the Ballmer-led company would like, so it's shuffling the deck at its Japanese outpost in order to spin the strategy a bit differently. Announced via press conference today, Takashi Sensui -- former head of the Home and Entertainment division -- will now oversee the newly created Interactive Entertainment Business division. Also in the works are some very culturally-tailored IPs for the Kinect platform: the Suda51-produced Codename D and a version of Steel Battalion from Capcom. Whatever the result of this renewed push may be, it sure won't be long before Microsoft gets to give Japan the old next generation college try. After all, third time's the charm. [Image credit via In.com]
Square Enix announces FPS for 360, codenamed 'Project Sylph'
One more interesting tidbit was revealed at Microsoft Japan's recent press conference, it's codenamed, Project Sylph — Square Enix's latest development for the Xbox 360 — and it's not an RPG. Instead, Project Sylph was simply described as an arcade-style FPS, and then Square Enix pointed to E3, where further details will be released.We can't help but feel a bit disappointed by this prospect. Microsoft's consoles have been overrun with FPS games. We thought the point of bringing Square Enix into the 360-picture was to grace the platform with some patented RPG flavor. Change is often good, but is Square Enix headed in the wrong direction with this one?As FFantasy.com notes, sylph has dual meanings: 1) a slender, graceful woman (we're thinkin' Aeon Flux, pictured); and 2) a being that inhabits the air (in the Paracelsus philosophy). Any guesses?Update: "The Sylph summon consists of several pixies that steal HP from the enemy and give it to the characters. In FF4, it only gave HP to the caster; in FF5, the entire party. In Tactics, Fairy did not steal HP, but did heal the entire party" [via Final Fantasy Compendium].
