Hasta La Gadget!

Electronic Arts helped kick off E3 2010 today with a flashy press conference at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. The company set the stage for the spectacle to come by handing out Crysis 2-branded 3D glasses to all present.

The event highlighted 10 new games from the game-publishing giant, including new additions to the Medal of Honor, Need for Speed, Crysis, and Dead Space franchises. Also on display was new Star Wars title and the latest Madden game, the latter of which was presided over by football legend, Joe Montana.

The event opened with a quick and loud trailer for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The latest addition to the popular racing series lets the user decide whether to play as a cop or racer, the two sides pitted against each other in the titular “hot pursuit.” The game will be available on November 16th.

Next up was a brief “cliff hanger” demo for Dead Space 2. Steve Papoutsis, the game’s executive producer, promised that the remainder of the demo would be shown during the Sony PlayStation media event tomorrow morning. The game is due out on January 25th of next year.

The latest Medal of Honor game got arguably the flashiest demo of the event, as PCs dropped on a rig from the theater ceiling for a 24-person multi-player game. The game abandons the series’ familiar WW II settings for the deserts of Afghanistan. It will be available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on October 12th. A playable beta will be made available on June 21st.

Microsoft has always said Kinect will work with every Xbox 360, but the new black Xbox has a special trick move — that ExtUSB-ish port marked Aux up there is actually a special Kinect port that handles both data and power for the new motion control system. That means you’ll only need one cord to set up a new Xbox + Kinect system, while Xbox 360 original owners will have to connect over USB and plug in a separate power cord for the Kinect unit. And now you know.

Update: We just spent some quality time with the Stealthbox in person, and the real port is a tiny little bit different — it’s got an orange line above it. Check it below.

Continue reading The new Xbox 360 Kinect port, up close

The new Xbox 360 Kinect port, up close originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It wasn’t totally clear during Microsoft’s E3 keynote, but the new Xbox has brought some name changes with it: the new shiny black console is officially “the new Xbox 360,” while Microsoft’s fact sheet refers to the original Xbox 360 as the… Xbox 360 Original. Clever, clever. The Original will still come in Elite and Arcade versions, which have new lower prices, so there’s a chance we’ll see something like the Xbox 360 Original Arcade, but hey — that sounds like a Microsoft product name to us. We’ll let you know if things change, or you can just call the new one the “Stealthbox” like us and avoid all this confusion entirely.

Update: Things are changing fast — according to a Microsoft representative, the Xbox 360 Original will still be sold while there’s stock, but they’re not making any more of them. Once they’re gone, they’re gone — and we’d assume a new $199 variant of the new design will eventually be released to fill the void.

Xbox 360 naming guide: the new Xbox 360 vs. the Xbox 360 Original originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It didn’t get a slot during Microsoft’s just-concluded Xbox 360 press conference, but the Netflix streaming app will finally add one of the most often requested (and denied) features: the ability to search through the entire Watch Instantly library and add movies to your queue, right from the console. Proudly stating it’s the first gaming console to let you update your queue without a computer (Roku does it too, but try playing Gears of War on that) there’s no word on any Kinect tie-ins, probably the reason it didn’t get any higher billing than a bullet point in Marc Whitten’s 2010 letter to Xbox Live members.

Update: As a few commenters have pointed out, it appears Netflix has been beta testing search access for PlayStation 3 Watch Instantly viewers, as shown in these pics. If you’d like to get in on the trial good luck as it seems to be mostly by chance, although creating an all new account probably couldn’t hurt — and hey, your queue was getting stale anyway. [Thanks, Michael]

Netflix for Xbox 360 adds search in November originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What, a launch of November 2010 wasn’t specific enough for you? Well, how about a Kinect launch of November 4? Microsoft just confirmed that’s the day, and as of now it’s looking like a worldwide launch. It will drop with 15 titles, including:

• Kinectimals – Nintendogs but with wild and impossibly cute animals
• Kinect Sports – Soccer, bowling, track and field games, a bit like Wii Sports
• Joyride – “Thrill of high speed kart racing, with the joy of controller-free gaming”
• Kinect Adventures – Jumping around and stuff
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved – most amazing looking fitness game we’ve seen yet, from Ubisoft
• Dance Central – an actual, honest to gosh dance game without stupid pads — from Harmonix

So far Your Shape and Dance Central are looking the best, but Microsoft is still showing us more, and we’re thinking a few of you are going to like that Star Wars game from Lucasarts. Interestingly, no price was announced, meaning Microsoft seems to be waiting to see how many US dollars the competition decides to charge. Your Move, Sony.

Update: We have the full list of 15 titles after the break, courtesy of Joystiq. , which includes a new EA Sports Active.

Continue reading Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 launches on November 4

Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 launches on November 4 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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