Author: Jeff Morgan (Page 216 of 260)

      Project Natal makes Time “50 Best Inventions of 2009”

      November 13, 2009 /

      Project Natal's Milo in action.Right up there with an AIDS vaccine and teleportation, Project Natal has made Time Magazine’s “50 Best Inventions of 2009” at number five. I’m still not sure whether it’s an ordered list (let’s hope it’s not) but the peripheral’s placement is yet another confirmation that people think this is a really big deal.

      Here’s the text from Time’s list:

      Since time immemorial — or at least since Pong — one barrier that has stood between gamers and total Tron-like immersion in their video games has been the controller: the joystick, trackball, mouse, light gun or whatever. This year Microsoft demonstrated a technology, code-named Project Natal, that enables players to control games using only body movements and voice commands, no controller required — the gamer’s body becomes the controller. Project Natal uses several cameras, plus a highly specialized microphone and a lot of fancy software, to track the gamer’s body and interpret his or her voice. You move your hand, and the Master Chief (or whoever) moves his hand. It’s that simple. And that cool.

      Really, it’s not that simple. But it is cool, and nice accolade for the gaming industry.

      Accessories, Games in Media, Xbox 360

      Modern Warfare 2 sells…a whole bunch on day one

      November 12, 2009 /

      Modern Warfare 2 sniper.Alongside the release of Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 there’s a war of numbers breaking out. Analysts are trying to be the first to pin down a sales estimate, a number that has so far varied by several million units. At first it was Ben Schachter claiming 7 million for day one. Michael Pachter thinks Ben’s crazy, and estimates just 4 million copies for the first day. I’m inclined to trust Pachter, since even he puts things over the top at times.

      Whatever the real number, it has a lot of zeroes, and that’s got to make Activision pretty happy. Most analysts still think the 12 million unit estimate for the quarter through December is conservative. That puts total sales by year end somewhere around $700 million, which is just obscene. By comparison, Halo 3 just made it through 8 million units in its first 3 months. As a throwback, Joystiq also mentioned that Street Fighter II, which literally everyone I knew owned, sold 6.3 million units total worldwide.

      Hopefully the end of the quarter will bring some hard and fast numbers for us. Until then, go throw some knives at some people. It’s insanely fun.

      Activision, News

      Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit is out of stock

      November 12, 2009 /

      Xbox 360 HDD Transfer Kit.Microsoft’s got to be pretty pleased with itself over recent Xbox 360 accessory sales. It got rid of the HDMI cable included in the Elite package, so more people are buying one from Microsoft or its retailers, not to mention the HDMI dongle necessary to use the cable (unless you’re willing to crack yours open). It got rid of third party memory support so now you’re required to use Microsoft approved storage. Microsoft also announced a bunch of nifty bundles just a few weeks after the quiet new Jasper chipset went out, prompting people to replace the year-old box that had likely already died once.

      All those changes mean another accessory is out of stock as we start into the holidays: the Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit. I can’t say I’m surprised, but apparently Microsoft is. The company does “not know when inventories will be restored,” according to Joystiq. The only people in luck are those of you who bought the 120GB HDD kit, which comes with the transfer cable. Other than that, Redmond recommends you just continue to use your old hard drive. You’re SOL if you were on one of those third party memory cards.

      Accessories, Xbox 360

      Wii Fit yields “underwhelming results”

      November 11, 2009 /

      Wii Fit.It should come as little surprise that Wii Fit won’t get you as fit as, say, actually going out and getting some exercise. There’s a new study that proves it, though. The American Council on Exercise released the results of the study, which was done by the University of Wisconsin, and said that Wii Fit produced “underwhelming results.”

      The report is loaded with unsurprising results. For example, the study found that actual boxing – the full contact type that you would likely never do in your living room – burns three times the calories of the boxing program in Wii Fit. There was one surprising tidbit to be had. Apparently a healthy regimen of Wii Sports is actually better for you than Wii Fit. Now I don’t know if that’s because the games are more fun so you exert yourself more or if Wii Fit is just that bad. Either way, I think Nintendo’s marketing squad deserves a pat on the back. Nice work selling us nothing, guys.

      News, Nintendo Wii

      NCSoft announces Aion Holiday Ascension Pack

      November 11, 2009 /

      Aion box art.I realize all of our news today is about NCSoft, but I figure I have to talk about something other than Modern Warfare 2, right? Today NCSoft announced a new Aion bundle for anyone feeling a little angelic over the holidays. Called the Holiday Ascension Pack, the bundle gets you a bunch of in-game items that vary ever so slightly based on where you purchase the game.

      Usually this sort of thing is reserved for pre-orders and special editions. The bundle nets you 20 Lesser Life Potions, 15 Lesser Running Scrolls, and 15 Lodas’s Amulet uses (which is apparently an experience buff). Depending on where you purchase you’ll also get an armor dye from the following colors:

      Amazon – Hot Orange Dye
      Best Buy – Mustard Dye
      Game Stop – True Black Dye
      Target – True Red Dye
      Wal-Mart – True White Dye

      It’s an odd assortment of colors, especially the names, but I wouldn’t turn down free dyes. Along with the bundle, NCSoft has also put 30 and 60 day timecards out to retail so you can give someone a little game time this holiday.

      Source: Kotaku

      MMO, Previews

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