Hasta La Gadget!

It may not have a new name, but the Xbox 360 certainly has received quite a facelift on this the fifth anniversary of its unveiling. The new Xbox 360 (aka the “Xbox 360 250GB”) makes up for its familiar name by offering a starkly refreshed and, in our eyes, significantly sexier design than its predecessor — which honestly was quite the looker in its day. Despite only just being made official, we’ve already had time to unbox and play with one, a dizzyingly fast-paced unveil that might have left you with some questions about just what here is new and what here is old. Click on through, dear reader, and we’ll tell you everything you need to know.

Continue reading New Xbox 360 guide: Microsoft’s slim console explained

New Xbox 360 guide: Microsoft’s slim console explained originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already gone a bit more in-depth with the likes of Kinect Adventures, Dance Galaxy, and Your Shape, but we also had a couple brief thoughts on Microsoft’s motion-centric sports pack and cartoon racer. With Joy Ride, you’d think holding your arms out pantomiming steering would be burdensome, but in our time with Joy Ride, it really never became an issue. In fact, the one control aspect we were hesitant about going into the race — power sliding — turned out to be quite effortless. It made perfect sense tilting our bodies around sharp corners. It’s during the windows where stunts were allowed that we discovered the full-bodied parallel to button mashing. Seriously, people were instinctively ducking jumping, twisting, and flailing hoping for some bonus points.

As for Kinect Sports, Microsoft wasn’t showing much of its track-and-field centered Kinect Sports title, but what we saw didn’t fill us with confidence. The bowling game was particularly troubling, with numerous very random throws (that ended up in the gutter a lane over) and a very finicky depth-perception that wouldn’t let us really wind up or step forward very effectively. Meanwhile, the 200 meter hurdles worked just fine, but it was also a pretty simplistic running-in-place experience that was possible a couple decades ago with the NES’s Power Pad — although Kinect makes it a lot harder to cheat. Miller vs. Miller video after the break.

Continue reading Kinect Sports and Joy Ride previewed, in brief (video)

Kinect Sports and Joy Ride previewed, in brief (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 07:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Maybe we came into it as pre-judgers, but there’s nothing about Kinect Adventures that really redeems the experience in our biased, fun-hating eyes. We’re not really sure if our bigger problem is with the loose controls or the actual gameplay concepts, but it’s certainly a mix of both. We started out with the mining cart obstacle course, which has a certain charm in its simplicity: side step, jump, duck, and the occasional arm spread to gather tokens. These grander gestures seemed pretty easy to handle, and while we’d certainly grow bored of the game after 30 minutes or so, it would at least be a good 30 minutes of cardio.

Things went downhill from those middling heights, however, with the very vague and unsatisfying block-busting ball game, that seemed hardly responsive to our quick, desperate motions (or maybe we just weren’t very good at it), and the frenetic but ultra-loose controls of the river rafting. At least the teamwork aspect of the rafting game is interesting, and we’d love to see how good we could get with a dedicated partner, but there’s just something about hopping and side-stepping that just can’t feel as complex and comprehensive as “real” controls. In all we recognize these experiences as stuff that could only be done with Kinect… we’re just not sure yet if they needed to be done. You can check out video of our miserable performance after the break.

Continue reading Kinect Adventures preview unearths our frightening lack of coordination

Kinect Adventures preview unearths our frightening lack of coordination originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re gonna level with you, internet at large, we jumped at the chance to be on camera for our hands-on with Dance Central for Xbox 360’s Kinect. It’s not because we think we’re good dancers — we don’t — but it was subsequently decided that a lack of shame was more fun. So let’s get on with the details. Menu navigation was a little janky at times, but selection was a simple swipe from the extreme right to left of an arm’s length. As we saw earlier, the game is a progression of dance riffs you have to emulate with the on-screen dancers. It took until the first chorus of MIA’s “Galang” to really get a feel and comfort for the pace; by that point it was easy enough to keep an eye on future moves and correct past mistakes of similar grooves. Frankly, inherent embarrassment notwithstanding, it was very entertaining. Pictures below and video after the break — and don’t you worry, we’ll be going back for seconds.

Continue reading Kinect Dance Central preview, or how we learned to stop caring and love the groove (video)

Kinect Dance Central preview, or how we learned to stop caring and love the groove (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And if you’ve preordered your shiny new Xbox 360 but have a older unit at home, you’re going to need a little something to move those profiles, avatars and game licenses over. Should you have an Elite (or if you’ve upgraded your hard drive) you might find the cable you need between your couch cushions, but on the off-chance your Xbox 360 Hard Drive Data Migration Transfer Kit hit the dumpster long ago, you’re not entirely out of luck. The one-way, single-use device will retail soon for $20, a mere $5 more than what it costs at the Microsoft Store — or $19 more than used cables fetch on eBay.

Xbox 360 Arcade to eventually be replaced by $199 new Xbox 360; data transfer cable will be $20 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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