“Today, it’s all about the Xbox 360, the only device that brings together all your entertainment all in one place,” said Don Mattrick, president of Interactive Entertainment, but what good is this for Gamers?
The last few E3 expos have been, arguably, a little disappointing. The focus for Xbox has been Kinect and now the newly announced SmartGlass. These are to improve the system’s entertainment experience, appealing more to families and amateurs rather than the hardcore gamers among us.
With Kinect continuing to take over every gaming genre and franchise on the market, it is now targetting the sports games.
Fifa 13 will have voice-recognition using Xbox Kinect, allowing you to make substitutions and change tactics without stopping the gameplay.
Kinect will also pick up your reactions to the ref, including swearing. Commentators will say things like: “the ref didn’t deserve that.”
Madden NFL will also recognise your voice, allowing you to direct the game and command your team mates as you play.
While this may be a bit restrictive, with the focus being very much on Kinect, there is the potential for even more immersion when you don’t have to stop the game just to make silly changes, like a sub. The update to Skyrim is an example of this, allowing you to use dragon shouts with Kinect.
It looks like the Xbox 360 will be getting another step closer to becoming the ultimate ‘entertainment hub’ with rumours abound of Microsoft working on an actual internet browser for the console.
According to the Verge website, Microsoft is currently testing the new browser, which will use a modified version IE9 and will make use of Kinect gestures and voice controls.
There already is an online search function – Bing for Xbox – but that isn’t the same as browsing the internet, and, to be honest, it’s about time the Xbox had a proper web browser.
The Gadget Show Live, for those who haven’t been or heard of it, is named after The Gadget Show, the popular Channel 5 TV series. The exhibition has been running since 2009 (the TV series from 2004), is held at the NEC in Birmingham and plays host to many companies from technology and gaming industries and has various talks and demonstrations topped off with a live show presented by the hosts of the TV series.
The show has been expanding year on year and this year was no exception with it expanding into a further 2 halls. After the jump you will find our highlights and thoughts on the show. Continue Reading
For the most part we’ve covered most of the major title releases ( with release dates) for the the major consoles, however, there are still many games that have yet to announce their official dates that are definitely worth the wait. Continue Reading
In keeping with the Holiday spirit and with the nearing of Hallow’s End, here are ten games, some new and some old, to play in the dark and give yourself a scare. While some of the graphics on these games may be a little out-dated they are still pretty decent and are suspenseful enough to keep you wondering what is around the next corner and make you jump when you least expect it. So, dust off that old console, turn out the lights, and get ready for some heart pounding, scream inducing video games. Continue Reading
An exciting set of news today focusing mainly on the upcoming FPS Homefront and World of Warcraft gets played by a man waving his arms around using Kinect. Welcome to the first Hot Press of 2011…enjoy!
A dedicated Homefront:
Kaos, the studio behind upcoming FPS Homefront, have announced that there will be dedicated servers in multiplayer for their game on the PC, 360 and PS3 with support of up to 32 players whilst also providing the opportunity for PC players to set up their own local servers. They believe that dedicated servers are vital for games providing large scale online multiplayer experiences as they reduce the amount of lag, support more players and are more reliable than games which rely on being hosted by a local player. Jeremy Greiner, the Community Manager for Kaos had this to say in a recent interview to CVG.com:
Kinect was originally announced as Project NATAL, continuing Microsoft’s tendency to codename products after locations (Natal being a city in Brazil, where one of the creators originates), with the selling point being about not reinventing the wheel, but getting rid of it entirely. Huh.
The reception of Kinect is quite mixed, but I get the impression (from people on the internet, which is always quite pessimistic) that most people think it either “won’t work”, or “Microsoft smell”, and while I would agree with the latter, I think it’s actually quite good and worth trying, at least. Continue Reading
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