kinect
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Microsoft quietly drops subsidized $99 Xbox 360
Microsoft discontinued its subsidized $99 Xbox 360 with Kinect bundle in July 2013, the console manufacturer confirmed with the Wall Street Journal. The low-cost console was introduced in May 2012 and required a two-year Xbox Live commitment of buyers at a rate of $14.99 per month. The bundle worked out to be roughly $60 more than the closest option, a $299 4GB Xbox 360 console paired with two years of Xbox Live Gold as separate purchases. "This program was intended to be a pilot experiment from the start, and Microsoft routinely adjusts the mix of offers available to its customers and this change was simply standard business practice," Microsoft spokesman David Dennis said. He added that the subsidized Xbox 360 option was for "squeezing the last 10 to 15 percent out of the potential market." [Image: Microsoft]
Xbox One's Project Spark available to everyone starting today in beta mode
Project Spark is pretty, encourages creativity and incorporates Kinect directly. The sandbox/game-creation tool became available for Windows 8.1 users back in December, and today it's entering beta on the Xbox One as well. "Does that mean there's a new, free thing on my Xbox One?" you might be asking. Yes, yes it does. Hot dog! Project Spark isn't in the XB1 store, so how do you get it? The announcement points to a still-active beta sign-up page, so it seems that interested parties still have a few hoops to jump through before getting in. (If you're already in the Windows 8.1 beta, you're in the XB1 version.) Interestingly, there are already several entries on the store for "Spark Tokens" in 500 token increments ($4.99 equals 500); beta or not, it looks like Microsoft's interested in monetizing Spark from the jump. For the full FAQ on the beta, head right here.
UK agency violated privacy of webcams, explored Kinect surveillance
Classified documents published by The Guardian reveal that British surveillance agency GCHQ surreptitiously gathered webcam images from more than a million Yahoo user accounts, while also evaluating the surveillance potential of the Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral. "In one six-month period in 2008 alone, the agency collected webcam imagery – including substantial quantities of sexually explicit communications – from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user accounts globally," the Guardian reports, before noting that this operation (codenamed "Optic Nerve") was only one of the agency's attempts at biometric recognition via consumer camera technology. A separate GCHQ project explored the possibility of gathering images from the Kinect peripheral. "[O]ne presentation discusses with interest the potential and capabilities of the Xbox 360's Kinect camera, saying it generated 'fairly normal webcam traffic' and was being evaluated as part of a wider program." It's unclear if GCHQ ever attempted to intercept Kinect data on a large scale, but as The Guardian points out, the idea isn't entirely novel. Earlier documents published by the paper detail similar exploratory efforts by the American NSA. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Xbox One update preview adds new audio, Kinect options and a fix for UK TV
Xbox One owners who received a special ticket in their inbox are already testing out next month's update, and they've already uncovered a slew of tweaks. Beyond the multiplayer / party system changes and Twitch streaming we'd heard about, fans with surround sound headphones have been pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Dolby Digital Audio. Another new audio choice is bitstream output, and our friends at The Digital Media Zone have already checked it out to confirm the expected lights are popping up on their surround sound receivers. Forum posters on NeoGAF has put together a list of changes they've as well, and several media related ones stick out. First, the 50Hz compatibility problem that plagued some European TV viewers using the HDMI passthrough has been fixed. Other tweaks include a check box to disable Kinect hand gestures while watching a video (which would often accidentally recognize casual movements and put an icon on the screen), and the ability to change how much the volume changes when commanded by Kinect. Hit the thread for the full list, while everyone else waits until March 11th for the update to arrive.
Now Playing: February 24 - March 2, 2014
Hide your valuables, Thief is on the loose this week ... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list: [Image: Square Enix]
Now Playing: February 17-23, 2014
Use lightning-fast moves to mow down enemies this week with Strider... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list: [Image: Capcom]
Kinect Sports Rivals gets pumped for April showdown
The finish line is finally in sight for Kinect Sports Rivals, after Microsoft announced the Xbox One game hits North America on April 8. Rare's collection of sporting mini-games comes to Australia and New Zealand on the same day, while Europe signs up on April 11. Kinect Sports Rivals was an Xbox One launch game originally, but Microsoft delayed the motion-control showpiece to give Rare a little more time to spruce it up. In the meantime, a "preseason trial" has been available since launch, letting players take to the waves for free with the wake racing mini-game. The full Rivals experience adds tennis, bowling, soccer, target shooting, and climbing, as showcased in a new trailer. Going by the video, there's something of a Hunger Games vibe to the whole thing, what with the rival teams and their fancy pants get-ups. True, it doesn't look as violent as Suzanne Collins' dystopian YA sensation, but you never know. [Image: Microsoft]
Now Playing: February 10-16, 2014
Find out the beginning of Ellie's story this week with The Last of Us - Left Behind... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Xbox One update: Battery life and storage space are mysteries no more
Microsoft has scheduled an Xbox One system update for February 11, harnessing the computational power of its next-generation system to display real-time data on electrochemical energy expenditure within tethered input devices. So, yes, the controller battery life indicator is coming back, as seen above. Though the controller's electrical endurance is one of the Xbox One's more successful features, it's also one of two oddly obfuscated bits of information. The other is also being addressed in the Xbox One's space-age update, which allows you to see how much room your games and apps are taking up on the 500GB hard drive. The lack of direct management options was one of the criticisms in our review of the Xbox One. Microsoft says apps (like Netflix) and games (like Tomb Raider) will now be split into separate lists, queues, and restrooms. You'll also be able to better manage download and installation queues, and use a USB keyboard if you want a mechanical sound to go with the beeps and boops of text entry. Xbox's Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten says the update has "lots of behind-the-scenes updates for developers," along with improvements to stability and Kinect voice command recognition. Whitten teases more information to come on "several new features we believe Xbox fans will love," including a hypnotic suggestion module. The February 11 update will be followed by another on March 4, meant to prepare the system for Titanfall. [Image: Microsoft]
Microsoft's Kinect guards South Korea's borders against trespassers
Surgeons, mad scientists and sentries guarding the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) now have one thing in common: Microsoft's Kinect. According to Hankooki, the Korean military is currently using Kinect sensors to monitor movements at the border between North and South Korea. Thanks to software developed by Jae Kwon Ko, the sensors can make out the difference between animals or humans, allowing it to notify a nearby outpost if a person is attempting to cross the border illegally. As you'd expect, the South Korean military's keeping most details under wraps, but Ko shared that they're looking to upgrade the system with heart rate and heat detection. [Image credit: Edward N. Johnson/Wikipedia]
Now Playing: February 3-9, 2014
Get in touch with your inner wolf this week with The Wolf Among Us - Episode 2: Smoke and Mirrors... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Your body is a wonderland in Kinect platformer 'Fru'
Fru is two platformers in one game, with one layer of the world shown clearly on the screen, and another layer uncovered within the silhouette of a player's body as it moves in front of the Kinect camera, in real-time. The silhouette world offers new platforms, enabling players to reach the exit door in each level (with a little hopping, ducking and contortion). Fru comes from a collection of indies during Global Game Jam 2014, which prompted developers to create games with the theme "We don't see things as they are, but as we are." The team had 48 hours to create the game, and Fru ended up winning the judge and audience awards in the NHTV Breda Global Game Jam competition. If you have a Kinect hooked up to your PC, you can download Fru right here. Game Designer Mattia Traverso – previously of indie documentary game Riot and IGF 2012 student finalist One and One Story – tells Joystiq that he hopes Microsoft notices Fru so the team can expand on the idea. "We definitely have plans to bring this to the next level," Traverso says. "We are starting to work on it to make it an actual, full game and I am contacting Microsoft right now to see what we can do .... Right now we are trying to give it some visibility, to show the big M that this project is actually something interesting that people like."
Now Playing: January 27 - February 2, 2014
Let the kill streaks pile up this week in Call of Duty: Ghosts - Onslaught... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Now Playing: January 20-26, 2014
Join the Special Ops against the undead this week in Dead Rising 3 - Operation Broken Eagle... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Microsoft built 75 Xbox One prototypes before settling on its finished design
Gadget design is rarely a simple process, and we now know that the Xbox One is no exception to the rule. Microsoft designer Carl Ledbetter has revealed that the game console went through many 3D-printed incarnations before the company settled on a final product; there were 75 system prototypes, 100 for the Kinect and 200 for the gamepad. The development team spent a long time finding a balance between familiar Xbox design cues and the desire for an always-on media hub, Ledbetter says. Whether or not you think Microsoft achieved its goal, it's clear that the Xbox One's current look was never guaranteed.
Rumor: Harmonix cancels unannounced Xbox One Kinect game [Update: Harmonix responds]
Harmonix has allegedly canceled development on an unannounced Kinect game for Xbox One. So says the LinkedIn profile of Rob Stokes, senior level designer at Harmonix, as spotted by internet sleuth Superannuation (via Kotaku). Harmonix announced in mid-2012 it had several projects in the works that weren't related to Rock Band or Dance Central. Fantasia: Music Evolved, a motion-based Kinect rhythm game for Xbox One and Xbox 360 that is a successor to Disney's original Fantasia film and its sequel Fantasia 2000, was announced last year. The other projects are unknown, though it's important to note that Harmonix posted a job listing for a "combat designer" in 2012 for an unannounced game on "next-generation hardware." Last year, Harmonix ceased its weekly DLC drop for Rock Band and suffered two waves of layoffs. We've reached out to Harmonix for comment on the matter. We'll update this post accordingly. Update: We've received word from a Harmonix representative, who said the company has "nothing else to confirm today other than a heads up that we've got a lot of stuff happening that you'll hear about soon." Head past the break for the full statement.
Now Playing: January 13-19, 2013
Cut your way through the Louisiana bayou this week with the fully remastered Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
ModiFace uses Kinect to give you a digital nose job
ModiFace has been giving women digital makeovers for a while now, with apps for iOS and Android, but now it wants them to start scrutinizing themselves in public, too. The company just announced something called the "Anti-Aging Beauty Mirror," which is really just a Windows PC with a Kinect sensor mounted on top, allowing shoppers to try on makeup (and experiment with brow lifts) while they're in-store. As with the existing app, you can try on eyeshadow, lipstick and blush, only this time, you'll see the brand and color overlaid in the upper left-hand corner. (Maybe it's the technology, or maybe it was just my choice of green eyeshadow, but I looked like a clown.) You can also experiment with plastic surgery "anti-aging" effects including nose reshaping and a cheek lift. There's even a before and after view, reminding you your real jaw line is actually quite weak. It'll roll out this spring -- not that this will deter women from trying on the real makeup and then high-tailing it out of the store. Let us have our fun, people.
Now Playing: January 6-12, 2014
Welcome to the New Year, now Don't Starve on the PlayStation 4... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
NASA's robot pairs Oculus Rift with Xbox One's Kinect
NASA's jet propulsion lab has been experimenting with interesting ways to control robots. Case in point: marrying Oculus Rift with Kinect to control a robotic arm. By using the Oculus Rift for head-tracking and first-person view, and by using the Xbox One's new and improved Kinect sensor for gesture controls, NASA scientists can manipulate physical objects. The implication is that this could be a viable control option for robots off in space – or as an impressive means to get a soda from the vending machine in the NASA break room.
