As expected, at its E3 press conference today, Microsoft today announced plans for gesture-based gaming. The company brought director Steven Spielberg on stage to debut the forthcoming Project Natal.
Though clearly inspired by the success of Nintendo’s WiiMote, Microsoft is attempting to go beyond that device with a controller-free sensor that tracks player movement sin 3D and recognizes user voices. You’ll be able to control menus with a swipe of the hand. The technology will work with every Xbox 360. Games will include Ricochet and Paint Party.
What technology brands are most admired among women? Apple and Sony take the prize with Microsoft and Dell tying for third place, according to a recent “Women & Digital Life” study conducted by the Solutions Research Group.
About 20 percent of women reported that Apple was the technology brand or company they admire most, followed by Sony at 14 percent, and Microsoft and Dell at 10 percent. Hewlett-Packard came in at 6 percent, followed by Verizon and Google, which each earned 2 percent of the vote.
SRG polled 2,000 women ages 12 and up on six areas: attitudes/use of technology, TV and entertainment, gaming, wireless/mobile, broadband and social media.
When asked about the technology that has had the biggest impact on their lives in the last two years, 26 percent of women said the Internet, followed by computers at 22 percent, and cell phones at 18 percent.
Women polled said they spent an average of 22.9 hours per week online. When asked what they did online in the last month, 61 percent of women said they watched short video clips, 58 percent said they surfed the Web with their kids, and 57 percent said they purchased items online.
About 50 percent used social media Web sites like Facebook and MySpace.
Is the iPhone a top choice in the mobile space? Find out after the jump.
In addition to debuting ten new games for the Xbox 360, Microsoft today kicked of E3 2009 by introducing a number of new features for the console’s online counterpart, Xbox Live, including partnerships with Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, and the U.K.’s Sky TV.
Music is coming to the platform thanks to an exclusive partnership with Internet radio provider, Last.FM.
The company introduced a number of additions to its existing partnership with Netflix, including the ability to browse categories directly from the Xbox, without having to go through a PC. And users in the U.K. and Ireland will be able to view movies and TV shows thanks to a partnership with Sky, which offers live TV, including cricket and soccer games, available without the need of any additional hardware.
The platform’s video offerings will be renamed Zune Video, offering video selections in full 1080p. Zune Video will now be available in 18 countries, up from 8.
A newly announced partnership with Facebook will let users browse photos and enter status updates directly from their consoles. Xbox users will also be able to update users on their statuses via Twitter, thanks to a partnership with that company.
Microsoft today kicked off 2009’s newly resurrected E3 with a star-studded press conference at USC’s Galen Center in LA, on Monday morning. As promised in a last-minute time change, the event kicked off at 10:25 sharp, a full 5 minutes earlier than originally scheduled.
Emceed by Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Interactive Entertainment LIVE, John Schappert, who promised not to show off charts and graphs and instead demo real games, the event kicked off with an exclusive demo of Harmonix’s Beatles Rock Band game. Due out on September 9th, 2009–the same date as the Beatles’ remastered catalog–the game features 45 Beatles tracks, including “I Saw Her Standing There,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” “I Feel Fine,” “Day Tripper,” “Tax Man,” “I am The Walrus,” “Back in the USSR,” “Octopus’s Garden,” “Here Comes the Sun,” and “Get Back.” The game also incorporates some previously unheard studio chatter from the band.
Beatles Rock Band also offers downloable songs and full albums, beginning with Abbey Road in its entirety. All proceeds from the exclusive Xbox Live download, “All You Need is Love,” will benefit Doctors Without Borders. Microsoft debuted the game with a demo from the “Harmonix House Band,” and brought onstage a number of special guests–including Yoko Ono-Lennon and a goofy banter session with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
Yes, it’s real. Now you’ll be able to change a tire… virtually. At E3 today, Microsoft finally took the wraps off the that rumored motion controller we’d been hearing about. Apparently the small, black device — codenamed “Natal” — will allow for an astoundingly wide range of actions by utilizing a group of sensors (the box itself sits beneath your TV), and the accessory will be capable of juggling multiple users during a single session. The demo Microsoft showed off included a skateboarding game (replete with a young man “air” ollie-ing), and a family playing a racing game (the dad was changing a tire, the daughter driving).
The add-on will offer features such as auto sign-in for players to Xbox Live (based on complex facial recognition), and sports extremely detailed body tracking which will be able to follow the individual movements of separate limbs. During the press event, the company demoed a painting app, which lets you use your entire body to handle virtual painting supplies, allowing you to do things like throw buckets of paint onto a canvas. Another title was shown off which featured a woman interacting with a young boy on the screen — one of the company’s creepier demos in recent memory. Unfortunately for us, Microsoft says the device won’t be released during 2009. We’re working on snagging some face time (literally!) with a demo unit, so stay tuned… E3 is off to a wild start! Update: Video added after the break!
We were marginally impressed with the LG BD370 connected Blu-ray player, although reviewer Robert Heron noted two weaknesses: the player’s ability to upconvert video, and its lack of sufficient memory to process BD-Live data (a trait shared by competing models as well).
LG has announced the BD390, which may or may not solve the upconversion problem. But the player does add a full gigabyte of memory, which should help with the BD-Live issue. Another bonus: Wi-Fi networking. although LG did not indicate what flavor it uses.
As an additional treat, both players now support Roxio’s CinemaNow service in addition to Netflix and YouTube. Existing players will require a firmware update, however.
The BD370 and BD390 are available now at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $299.95 and $399.95 respectively, LG said.
Microsoft is busy announcing a slew of upgrades to Xbox Live, and the biggest news so far is relaunch of the video service, now Zune-branded with 1080p instant-on streaming content in 18 countries. XBL is also now integrated with Facebook — your Facebook account can be linked to your Gamertag, and games will support Facebook Connect for sharing content online. That’s pretty huge — but if that wasn’t enough, you’re also getting Twitter and Last.fm in the deal. Want more? Netflix users will now be able to browse the entire catalog instead of simply loading their queue, and Microsoft has also gotten its Party Watch system in order, so you’ll be able to heckle videos with your online friends. Last but not least, there’s now live TV streaming for UK and Ireland gamers, who’ll get Premier League soccer live from Sky. All in all, a solid set of updates for XBL — but we’ll wait and see how that “1080p” video looks before we pronounce Blu-ray dead. PR blurb after the break.
As rumored, Microsoft unveiled its newest control scheme today: full-body motion control that doesn’t require a controller of any kind called Project Natal. Forgive my excitement, but on first glance this thing looks amazing. Nintendo should watch out. Update: Video after jump.
Project Natal is a bar that sits above or below your TV, much like the Wii’s sensor bar. But instead of sensing controllers, this thing has a camera, sensors and a microphone inside that lets it get an accurate sense of your space and you in it. This lets you control games just by moving around; kicking, jumping, whatever. But that’s really just the start.
What makes this so damned cool is that it lets you do more than just play games with it. You can also move through menus by swiping your hands back and forth. The camera allows for fun features like facial and voice recognition. When you have it running, your Xbox will recognize your face and sign you in automatically.
You can start to imagine the possibilities already. Everything from Minority Report style menu control to Dance Dance Revolution games that require you to actually dance rather than just hit buttons to videoconferencing in your living room, the thing just feels like the future. And it already makes the Wii seem like a gimpy and outdated piece of tech. There’s no way it can touch what this will do.
What makes this so exciting isn’t what they showed off today, which seemed like glorified tech demos. No, what’s amazing is to think about what creative developers will be able to do with the dev kits that just arrived on their doorsteps. This is a whole new way of controlling not only games but what’s quickly becoming the media and communications hub of your living room. Get excited.
Update: Microsoft explains how it works:
Compatible with any Xbox 360 system, the “Project Natal” sensor is the world’s first to combine an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and custom processor running proprietary software all in one device. Unlike 2-D cameras and controllers, “Project Natal” tracks your full body movement in 3-D, while responding to commands, directions and even a shift of emotion in your voice.
In addition, unlike other devices, the “Project Natal” sensor is not light-dependent. It can recognize you just by looking at your face, and it doesn’t just react to key words but understands what you’re saying. Call a play in a football game, and players will actually respond.
Today at E3 some seriously awesome Beatles Rock Band awesomeness was unloaded upon the world. In addition to getting a look at the full band set-up, confirming that you will, in fact be able to perform multiple vocals (read: harmonies), Harmonix also showed off the general in-game madness we can expect. We’re filled with glee to see that no corners were cut here, and we agree with Ringo’s estimation: the game is good. The Beatles: Rock Band will be released simultaneously for XBox 360, PS3 and Wii in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other territories. Check out the totally rad trailer, our first shot of the Ludwig drums and another screenshot after the break and in the gallery below.
We’ve teamed up with Joystiq for live coverage of E3, and Microsoft’s keynote is kicking things off. The event is scheduled to start at around 1:25PM ET / 10:25 PT.
9:48AM PT: We’re lined up outside USC’s Galen Center, mingling with the rest of the riff-raff (read: media), being herded through a labyrinth of stanchions and fences. Hey, remember that “very special addition“? A PR person just walked into the crowd and called for anyone from “Apple, MTV, or EMI?” So, a Beatles appearance then?
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