Kinect Boxing Match Ends In Tactical Knock-Out [Whoops]

Kinect Boxing Match Ends In Tactical Knock-Out [Whoops]: "

In Sweden, a team of cops stormed a couple's home after a neighbor reported that five people were beating the crap out of a woman. Turns out they were all playing boxing on Kinect Sports. More »

Kinect Hacks: Quick-time gestures with Indigo Prophecy

Kinect modder extraordinaire Jack Schofield's latest gesture-based infusion of a gaming classic is so obvious, we're a little upset we didn't think of it first: David Cage's original QTE-filled piece of interactive drama, Indigo Prophecy. Check out a lengthy video demonstration below.


Source: YouTube user Demize2010
Via: Joystiq

PlayStation Move strategy to focus on 'more core titles,' says Sony's Koller

John Koller, director of hardware marketing for PlayStation, acknowledged to the Wall Street Journal that Microsoft's 8 million shipped Kinect units amount to a "very impressive" figure, though he assured that his company is still "happy where we are in the market" with Move. As of the end of November, Sony had shipped 4.1 million units of its motion controller and believes it has an edge over Microsoft in the race to earn the hard-won affections of the "hardcore" consumer. That's you, right?

"The limitations are such that you can't create all the games you want to do," Koller suggested of Kinect, implying that Microsoft's controller-less technoloy lacks the precision control necessary to support so-called "core" titles -- just what Sony has in mind for Move in the coming months.

The apparent strategy involves "layering on more and more core titles," Koller explained, and there are at least two Sony titles around the corner that fit the bill.

While Move was intended to launch with core support in SOCOM 4, that game's delay to April, coupled with Killzone 3 in late February, means that Sony will have two of its core franchises equipped with Move support in the market within a few months. Microsoft and Kinect? Still zero.

In a recent preview of Killzone 3's Move controls, our own Rany Nelson concluded, "I am now committed to using the Move for my first full playthrough of the game. Not only does its integration seem justified to me, but I'm sold on its improved accuracy and greater sense of immersion over the DualShock controller." Koller and Sony sure hope a lot more of us core-types will be sold, too.

[Thanks, Devin]
Source: WSJ

Showtime: Kinect Video Scratch

*Hard to believe we won’t be seeing plenty more of this. Installation artists, start your engines.
via @kinecthack

Kinect Video Scratch from vjdrmo on Vimeo.

Xbox's David Dennis on December NPDs, 'best month ever for Xbox 360 hardware sales'

Xbox 360 had a good year. It could've been exclusive hits like Halo Reach, which landed in the No. 3 spot on the top selling games of 2010, according to NPD. Or it could've been the Xbox 360 S console refresh which, since its unveiling at E3 last June, has remained on top of the monthly home console sales numbers for an impressive six months straight. Or maybe it was the Kinect, which shipped a whopping eight million units by the end of the year, and sold well over its five million unit goal.

In actuality, it was all three, and Xbox's David Dennis was making the media rounds tonight to talk about it. "We're super pleased with the response we saw," Dennis said, "and we're just working hard to get supply back on the shelves and keep January and February on track as well." During the second half of the December, Dennis said Microsoft resorted to air shipping consoles in to meet customer demand.

"For us, the focus was trying to get as much on the shelves before that last push before Christmas. It's not cheap to do things like that but we've got a bunch of really smart MBAs to figure out the right balance when to shift back to our traditional process." That traditional process is the far more affordable, but far slower, ocean-based freight. It's not like there aren't any more Xboxes to go around, retailers will simply have "fewer than [they] normally would have."

These [Kinect] games have a lot of staying power, especially ones like Kinect Sports and Dance Central- David Dennis

With both the Xbox 360 and Kinect selling so well in December, it was surprising to learn that no Xbox 360-exclusive titles made it to the NPD's list of top 10 sellers for the month. Dennis says that, internally, they don't compare themselves to handheld titles, so on his list he's got Kinect Sports at No. 8. NPD analyst Anita Frazier says, "On an SKU basis, games that are in the top 10 for the month that aren't reflected in our title-level best-selling list include Kinect Sports [...] and Dance Central from Microsoft."

Though Ubisoft managed to get similarly casual Wii-exclusive titles Just Dance 2 and Michael Jackson: The Experience into the top 10, on a per SKU basis (removing the weighting given to titles like Madden NFL 11, which shipped on five separate platforms) Microsoft did have two hits with Kinect Sports and Dance Central, on a platform with a much smaller install base than the Wii. "These games have a lot of staying power, especially games like Kinect Sports and Dance Central," Dennis said. "They're highly social, a lot of fun for parties and that sort of thing. They'll continue to attach strong to Kinect through its life cycle."

Another major source of Microsoft's great year for Xbox? Digital. While a lot of that money is spent exclusively online through Xbox Live, points and subscription cards "grew the most in unit volume vs. 2009" for both December and for all of 2010, according to Frazier. Dennis says, "our transactions over Xbox Live are generating more revenue than our subscriptions, so if you do some napkin math [...] you get to some pretty big numbers pretty quick." With over half of the 30 million Xbox Live members paying to be Gold members, that gets you roughly $750m per year in subscription revenue alone. And Microsoft is generating more revenue from Xbox Live transactions. At that scale, it's easy to understand why points and subscription cards would be strong retail performers, contributing to the impressive $6.2 billion spent by consumers at retail in 2010.
Source:Joystiq

Kinect Hacks: Build a monument to yourself in Minecraft

Behold, a singularity of internet phenomena! Nathan Viniconis has modded Kinect to capture images that are imported into Minecraft, creating gigantic monuments out of household objects. "Household objects?" Who are we kidding -- you're going to turn yourself into Mount Rushmore.

For a full breakdown of this super technical process, check out Viniconis' explanation on his website, Order of Events. Even if you don't grok the jargon, there's plenty of delightful images to take in, such as these:

Kinect PC compatibility will come at 'the right time,' Ballmer says

Curious to see what Minesweeper, FreeCell and some of your other favorite Windows games would be like if they were controlled using only your ghastly human form? Good news -- when asked by the BBC whether Kinect functionality would soon come to Windows-based computers, CEO Steve Ballmer explained that Microsoft "will support that in a formal way in the right time."

Given the peripheral's sales success and the overflowing passion of the modding community (already using Kinect with PCs), we'd say the right time is "now." We're fine if Microsoft wants to take its sweet time, though -- we're not sure we're ready for our Kinect to watch us while we work, anyways. It can be so judgmental!