Category: Xbox 360 (Page 13 of 31)

Project Natal makes Time “50 Best Inventions of 2009”

November 13, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

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

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Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit is out of stock

November 12, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

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

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Bioware releases Dragon Age: Origins toolset for the creative among us

November 8, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

Bioware’s always been great about supporting the creative communities that develop around its games. The Neverwinter Nights editor was great, and led to all kinds of spinoffs and community created story lines. Hell, Bioware even uses the editor as a tool in their own job applications. They’ve just released the toolset for their latest creation, Dragon Age: Origins, which includes a cinematics editor with lip-sync tools and full camera controls.

The thing looks pretty awesome, and once again should lead to some extremely cool user-generated content. When I first heard about Origins I was sad it wasn’t an MMO. More and more I find myself attracted to games with a significant multiplayer facet, and turned off by single player games. This is the kind of feature that builds a great community around a game that could otherwise have a limited shelf-life for most players, regardless of how cool it is.

You have to have a registered copy of the game (obviously only on PC) to get the download. You can find out more about it over at Bioware’s site.

PC, PS3, Xbox 360

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Microsoft hiring for Project Natal and Halo

November 8, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

A couple of interesting job postings went up for Microsoft this week, including positions for both Project Natal and Halo development. Don’t worry, fanboys, those are separate positions. No one’s diluting your competitive gameplay just yet.

The Halo listings are for designers, AI developers, animators, and a multiplayer game design lead. The Natal listings didn’t specifically mention a game or IP for the position, but at least one mentions “a large franchise.” That could mean, well, anything. Another of the Natal positions is for “an excellent next-generation” type thing, which again could be anything, just probably not something we would have seen or heard anything about.

Joystiq got in touch with Major Nelson to confirm that the posts are real. They are. That’s all he would say.

Xbox 360

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Xbox 360 Wireless N reappears for $88

November 5, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

Just about a month ago the Xbox 360 802.11n adapter started showing up on various retailers’ websites. It originally listed at $99 with an expected launch date of November 3rd. Well, Tuesday came and went with nary a word about the new peripheral, and the product listings had pretty much disappeared.

The overpriced periph returned today, though, popping up on Costco’s website with an $88 price tag and free shipping. The site lists a November 10th ship date. Obviously things are subject to change, as we found out the last time. I have to say, though, if waiting another month would drop the price to $77, it just might be worth it. I’d almost sort of consider maybe calling that nearly reasonable. But not quite.