Tag: Microsoft

Microsoft today took the wraps off of their new input device for the Xbox 360, known as Project Natal. The new technology does away with traditional controllers and lets player use their full body to interact with video games and the Xbox 360 interface. Unlike Nintendo’s Wii-mote, the Project Natal (pronounced “na-tall”) sensor box can detect movements of your entire body, and can also recognize voices.

What’s both retro and thoroughly modern? Space Ark, a forthcoming XBLA title designed as a tribute to some of the colorful, crazy games that once dominated arcades. Take a little Breakout, a little Rainbow Islands for style, give it a coat of gloss, and voila!

People leave their computers on for a long time for various valid reasons: when backing up, scanning malware, reformatting and restoring because the malware couldn’t be removed, installing SP3 for the third time, downloading a large file via torrent, and being infected again.

Amazon’s gaming section has been going through some serious expansion lately. The online retailer recently added game trade-ins to their services, and now? Customers can buy Xbox Live Arcade titles directly through Amazon. No points, no problems; buy and get a code that allows the download to your Xbox Live account. The service isn’t just limited to games, either; you can buy points or subscriptions to the Microsoft service, too, and since you’re dealing with codes, if you want to give the items as gifts, just hand over the number. The service, which just launched, is nice if only for one reason: I’d much rather see a price tag in dollars than in Microsoft points!

Now I’m seriously considering going back to Windows: Microsoft’s beta release of Windows 7 pays off yet again, and the Redmond giant receives more free publicity with Akihabara News‘ real world test of Windows 7 beta on an Sotec (Onkyo) C101K3W Hello Kitty Edition. The netbook was able to provide decent performance, from normal web surfing while data was being transferred in the background, as well as opening 400 pictures in Bridge, and even editing in Photoshop CS3 despite the fact that the little guy only had a 1.6

Microsoft launched a new series of advertisements a couple of days ago called Laptop Hunters. Here’s how it works, as explained by Brandon LeBlanc on the Windows team blog: “These new ads trace real people as they go on a hunt for a new laptop…The Laptop Hunters are not told they are taking part in an ad campaign by Microsoft.

Seller lim-handek is one of the lucky winners of a Pepsi-Cola contest, scoring an Xbox 360 Elite with the Pepsi Max logo and blue flames, and now she’s/he’s auctioning it off on eBay.  Only 60 of these 360s were made, and out of that 60 this is the only one that hasn’t been sent for repairs.

Remember Digitalsoaps and her Playstation bath bars? Washington’s very own gadget glycerinator is back, along with more detailed video game controller soaps, like the Xbox 360 soap: Weighing in at 7 oz., the Xbox 360 controller soap is made of shea butter and is lovingly scented with “Mountain Dew fragrance oil.”

A portable Xbox 360? All in a day’s work for Ben Heckendorn. But now that he’s gone bigtime, the Heck had to work with ColorWare to create a one-of-a-kind Xbox 360laptop. The result? The usual awesome.

Vista users, dust off your IE or Automatic Updates, because next week the Release Candidate of Vista’s Service Pack 2 will be available for download. The update will updowngrade your OS to Windows XP. I’m kidding. Some of the things contained in the update include – I swear I am not making this up – “Security”, “Reliability, “Performance”, and “Application Compatibility”.

There are two things that have to be said about this custom Xbox 360 arcade cabinet: it’s big (like the original Xbox, only even bigger) and it’s pretty pricey. Only serious Xbox devotees need apply at $2250… but that is, after all, cheaper than a lot of gaming PCs, and it would take quite the pimped-out PC to match this project. The cabinet itself is an old Midway machine (new monitor included) with the guts of a 60GB Xbox 360 refitted inside.

Ready for the NextXbox 360? The PS4 or WiiToo? It might be time to start thinking about what you want in the next generation of gaming consoles. Yes, already. The center of console gaming’s future is already being planned, and rumors about the graphics chips in the next round of offerings from Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. The Inquirer’s Charlie Demerjian says sources have confirmed to him that Intel paid to get a new chip, code-named Larrabee, into Sony’s next console.

If you were campaigning to put an end to violence, would you threaten to beat up your audience to drive home that “violence = badong”?  No? That’s because you’re not a genius. From now on let such sublime logic be known as WWBGD – What Would Bill Gates Do?

Afro Samurai is weird. On one hand, it’s laden with cliches. Bad guy kills father, son becomes a brooding, killer line spewing killing machine bent on revenge. Severed heads and limbs and blood fly. On the other hand, the hero is a black samurai in a futuristic-feudal Japan whose nemesis is for all intents and purposes a charming undead cowboy.

When I think of Louis Vuitton, I usually think of primping poseurs with puny purse-size pekingese – not potty-mouthed pre-pubescents playing PGR, Portal and Prince of Persia. But the minute I laid eyes on this Xbox 360 window-dressing I had to give it a second thought. Our pals over at Hawty McBloggy spotted this over-the-top Air Effex custom airbrushed Louis Vuitton-inspired Xbox 360 faceplate over on eBay.

The idea behind Microsoft Songsmith is simple: people love to sing. We love singing more than we love playing instruments. How do I know this? Here’s how: How many people do you know play the guitar while taking a bath?