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Illumiroom not expected to hit retail, would cost 'thousands'
Illumiroom isn't on its way to stores, bundled with Xbox One or otherwise, for fear the price tag would topple the shelves, Microsoft planning lead for Xbox One Albert Penello said at Gamescom, reported by Aus Gamers. Illumiroom, an initiative from Microsoft Research, looks like a nifty piece of technology – it connects to a console, ideally an Xbox One, and projects over a player's room, surrounding the TV and expanding game effects on top of real-world objects. "I wouldn't expect you'll see that," Penello said. "It's very, very cool tech but it's, like, for a consumer, it requires projectors and things. It's really super-neat if you're in the lab and you've got Microsoft money and you could totally set up this awesome lab, but... we looked at it, but for an average customer it's, like, thousands of dollars." When it was first revealed in January, Illumiroom was labeled "proof-of-concept." In April, Microsoft Research said Illumiroom was still in the prototype stage.
Fantasia: Music Evolved rings in a new realm, The Haven
The newest realm in Xbox One's Fantasia: Music Evolved is a wintry wonderland called The Haven, and it features songs from Kimbra, Fun and Vivaldi, along with two remixes of each track. Players will awake a singing yeti and explore dark caves, all in the name of conducting music.
Now Playing: September 2-8, 2013
Jump into some wild platforming action this week with Rayman Legends... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Nine Inch Nails puts Kinect, various other gadgets to use on festival tour
It's no secret that Nine Inch Nails' frontman Trent Reznor likes to do things a bit differently. He and long-time art director Rob Sheridan have assembled a crew to make the group's festival dates this year as visually stunning as the audio promises to be. Along with a slew of other high-tech gadgetry, there's a Kinect that handles motion tracking with captured movements projected onto a handful of mobile video screens. Alongside thermal and regular ol' video cameras, live video content is piped on-stage during specific parts of the set -- with a hand from the folks at Moment Factory, a multimedia environment studio. Reznor also notes that much of the system is "a bunch of homemade software and hardware effects that they've tied together" with the goal of creating a film-like quality to an hour and a half performance. For a 13-minute, behind the scenes look at the prep work, head on past the break.
Xbox One voice commands will only work fully in some launch countries, languages
Earlier this month Microsoft trimmed the list of countries where its Xbox One will launch to 13, and now it's revealed the new Kinect voice commands will only support all of its features in some of them. Pointed out by a thread on NeoGAF, a disclaimer on Xbox.com listed only a few countries with support for voice commands at launch. Since then, MS Director of Product Planning Albert Penello has responded with more details, explaining that, at launch the Xbox One will support eight languages / dialects: English (US), English (GB), French, Spanish (MX), Spanish (ES), Italian, German and Portuguese. That said, some voice features -- like the "Xbox On" command -- will not be available everywhere at the start, with only the US, UK, Canada, France, and Germany set to receive them out of the gate. As Penello explains it, users will select their language first, and then get a list of countries it's supported in. Confused? A more thorough explanation is coming to the Xbox website at some point, and Kinect's supported languages are expected to grow with updates after the system launches -- whenever that launch is.
Xbox One voice commands available in 5 markets at launch
The Xbox One's ability to listen to your sultry, sensuous voice and translate those mouth noises into a command to watch New Girl on Netflix will only function in five markets at launch. Specifically, those markets are the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France and Germany. This means that Xbox Ones sold in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain and New Zealand will be without this functionality on launch. The news was mentioned at the very bottom of this lengthy Xbox One overview on Xbox.com. No further information was given beyond the fact that "Xbox voice commands will not be available in all markets on the product release date," so exactly when voice commands will make it to the remaining launch markets is anyone's guess. Earlier this month, Microsoft scaled the Xbox One's launch from 21 to 13 territories, with later reports citing Kinect localization as the main reason for this delay.
Freefall Racers combines Kinect, squirrels, and skydiving [update]
Freefall Racers looks like most kart games, except that it uses Kinect's motion controls and features skydiving squirrels instead of go-karts. The nutty XBLA game is due sometime next month, according to this video from publisher Deep Silver. This isn't the first we've heard of Freefall Racers. It popped up on our radar back in May, correctly rumored as being developed by Kinect specialist studio Smoking Gun Interactive. You may recognize the Vancouver dev from its work on Kinect games like Home Run Stars, Mars Rover Landing, and Doodle Jump. The video doesn't go into too much detail, but it does reveal some of the game's power-ups including the zapper, smoke-screen, and shield. It also spills the beans on a local two-player mode, featuring some competitive split-screen plummeting. We're waiting for a release date to drop, but a price floats into view: $9.99/£7.99/€9.99. Update: Deep Silver chips in with a release date: September 6.
Just Dance Kids 2014 grooving to retail this October
Just Dance Kids 2014 will launch on October 22, Ubisoft announced today. As the fourth game in the Just Dance Kids series, this year's version will include 30 songs ranging from One Direction's "One Thing" to the Fraggle Rock TV show's opening theme song. Ubisoft provided a partial list of songs included in the game, which can be found after the break if you are morbidly curious. The game includes an Xbox 360-exclusive "Just Create" mode, in which players use Kinect to assemble music videos using their own choreographed moves. Just Dance Kids 2014 also features a Wii U-only Dance Director mode, which allows one player to select dance moves for other players to perform. The game will launch on Wii U, Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3.
Report: Xbox One regional delays due to Kinect localization issues
The Xbox One launch was delayed to 2014 in eight territories – Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland – but it wasn't because of a "volume issue," Microsoft Senior Director of Product Management and Planning Albert Penello told OXM. The delay came down to localization with the new Kinect, the site reported. "People assume there's a volume issue which in fact there isn't," Penello said. "You're actually seeing pre-orders pop back up now because we're able allocate the countries' volumes back in. It's there; the problem is localization. And once people see the system and how integral it is – it's not just text integration." The new Kinect doesn't work like the Xbox 360 Kinect, and its new features make localization more difficult, Penello said. "I think people are using the way [voice] works on Xbox 360, which was an accessory we built five years after release, as how it's going to work here," he said. "But it's so much more elegant and so much more integrated, and in many ways it's a lot faster and more convenient, whereas on Xbox 360 it's a lesser version of doing the thing you're used to doing on your controller." The Xbox One will launch as scheduled this November in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the UK, the US and New Zealand.
Now Playing: August 26 - September 1, 2013
Hit the ground running and lead your team to glory this week with Madden NFL 25... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Weekly Roundup: Gamescom 2013, Ballmer stepping down, Connecting Cape Town, and more!
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer retiring within a year
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will retire from his position at some point during the next 12 months, the company announced this morning. The timing of Ballmer's departure is dependent on the process of finding his replacement, which is currently ongoing. In the meantime, Ballmer will continue his duties as usual. The search for Ballmer's replacement is being helmed by a special committee, which includes Chuck Noski, Stephen Luczo and good ol' Billy Gates. The committee is considering applicants from both inside and outside the company, which means that now is the perfect time to submit your resume. Microsoft's press release didn't give exact requirements for the position, but Ballmer graduated magna cum laude from Harvard so we're going to guess that at least some college is required. It also probably helps if you're familiar with Excel.
Rocksmith 2014 will work with your electric ukuleles and violins
One of the big features in Ubisoft's Rocksmith 2014 is Session Mode. In essence, it turns your gaming console or computer into a virtual jam band that listens to and adapts to how you play. It's pretty amazing, and we'll be posting a more detailed preview as soon as we can. In the meantime, here's a little sneak peek: Session Mode can work with electric stringed instruments other than a guitar, even if it wasn't intentionally designed to. Jokingly, I asked executive producer Nao Higo (pictured right) if I'd be able to plug in my electric ukulele. Imagine my surprise when he told me it would work. The interface on the screen would still reflect the frets and strings of a guitar (which are very different from a ukulele's), but Higo said the virtual band would still listen to my notes and play along appropriately. Creative director Paul Cross (pictured left) added that a member of the dev team has even managed to successfully test Session Mode with an electric violin. Of course, you can't play the main game with instruments other than a guitar or bass – there go my hopes of becoming an electric sitar virtuoso – but the fact that other instruments work at all is remarkable. Now I just have to find out if I can outfit my virtual jam band with a trumpet and I'll be in business.
Ubisoft evaluating online multiplayer for Fighter Within on Xbox One
Ubisoft's Kinect-em-up, Fighter Within, lets players duke it out in local multiplayer, but the ability to battle online is ... hit-or-miss. Ubisoft is evaluating online multiplayer options for Fighter Within, Associate Producer Nicolas Joye told me during Gamescom. "Since the beginning, [we've noted] online can potentially be an issue," Joye said. "We'll see what we do with it. Xbox One also is something that [Microsoft] is working on, their whole Live system behind it. We're not aware of everything Microsoft is doing on their side, so we can't detail anything right now but we'll see later." After I briefly tried the offline multiplayer at a Gamescom demonstration, International Product Manager Aymeric Evennou said Ubisoft will detail the game's other modes in the months before it hits shelves on Xbox One launch day. The website for the Xbox One game states friends can "compete online against the world to become the ultimate fighter," but Joye's comments suggest nothing is clear cut.
Project Spark, Kinect create mini mocap studio in your living room
Up next from the "could be cool but will inevitably get real creepy, real fast" research team at Microsoft comes the news that Project Spark will be able to use Kinect to bring your likeness and even your voice into the game. Speaking at Gamescom, Team Dakota demonstrated how Kinect can accomplish facial motion capture and have it applied to an in-game character, how full-body captures could create new animations, and how audio could be recorded and modulated in a number of ways. You can just go on ahead and start counting the minutes until this is used for a particularly nerdy marriage proposal and/or breakup. (Though, breaking up by animated cutscene? Almost worth it.) Team Dakota also revealed that invitations will by flying out to Project Spark's registered beta participants at the end of October for Windows 8 devices and in January for Xbox One owners. You can register for the beta here. Revealed at E3, Project Spark is a user-creation driven game that Microsoft has described as an "open-world digital canvas that allows you to create your own games, stories, worlds, and share them with everyone." You can check out 40 minutes of Spark in action here.
Daily Roundup: TiVo Roamio review, PS4 release date, Kinect in-depth hands-on, and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Let's take a deeper look at Xbox One's next-gen Kinect (video)
While Gamescom hasn't technically started yet, Microsoft's troops have already arrived in Cologne. In fact, we've already been gifted some details about new titles, but we also managed to get a little more intimate with the new Kinect. You know, the one there's been all that fuss about. But if you do plan on using it, skidaddle past the break to see more about how it works.
Ubisoft bringing Kinect fighter Fighter Within to Xbox One this holiday
At Microsoft's Gamescom showcase today, Phil Harisson revealed Fighter Within, a new Kinect fighting game from Ubisoft. In a very brief trailer, we saw a few characters beating on one another, and that's about it. The game is slated to arrive this holiday.
Augmented reality table lets you explore a book without opening it (video)
We've seen touch-friendly tables before, but they're rarely so slick as the Multi Surface Experience, a newly launched collaboration between design firm Gensler and ad agency The Hive. The installation lets guests explore Gensler's architectural portfolio (the book you see above) just by walking up to a wavy table. An overhead projector, Kinect for Windows and special software present an interface wherever people stand; when users choose to learn more about a project, it pops up on a wall-mounted 4K display. The current experience is sadly confined to Gensler's Los Angeles office, but it's also the start of teamwork that could lead to commercial designs. Don't be surprised if company lobbies are much livelier in the future.
Now Playing: August 19-25, 2013
Lead a nation and fend off aliens this week with Saints Row IV... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
