Hasta La Gadget!

Three new Kinect titles for the Xbox 360 have been given pricing and dates today: Kinect Sesame Street TV, Kinect Nat Geo TV, and Nike+ Kinect Training. The first two titles are designed to be two-way interactive learnings experiences, allowing children to “ jump inside” their favorite television programs. Both titles can be expanded as well, allowing parents to buy additional content for the games from the Xbox Marketplace as part of packs or individual episodes.

Kinect Sesame Street will see characters from the popular TV show talking to children through the television screen, then reacting based on movements picked up the Kinect. The game encourages children to move around depending on the scenario, and even instructs them to remain perfectly still during others, but there’s an option for kids to simply watch the episode without participation as well. Similar functionality will be built into Kinect Nat Geo.

Nike+ Kinect Training will see users performing exercise and training with the assistance of an on-screen coach, with goals able to be set and a nagging alert that can be configured for certain smartphones. Kinect Sesame Street and Nat Geo will cost $49.99 each when they go on sale on September 18th, with episode packs costing $29.99/2400 MS points, and individual episodes costing $4.99. Nike+ Kinect Training, meanwhile, will cost $49.99 and go on sale on October 30th.

[via Major Nelson]

Kinect Sesame Street, Nat Geo, and Nike+ Training priced and dated is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Today Microsoft and Harmonix announced the release date for Dance Central 3, saying that it will arrive in North America on October 16 and will be heading to Europe later that week on October 19. The game comes with over 40 on-disc tracks that you’ll be able to dance along with, as well as a very odd story mode that sees players going back in time to learn famous dance moves from decades past. The crazy-sounding story mode has already garnered a few raised eyebrows from the Dance Central fanbase, but we imagine that most don’t care and are just looking for another excuse to jump in front of TV and dance their butts off.

To accompany this release date announcement, Harmonix also revealed 11 new songs that will be included in Dance Central 3. Brace yourself, because the list that follows is quite a doozy:

• 2NE1 – “I Am The Best (Original Version)”
• Alice Deejay – “Better Off Alone”
• Backstreet Boys – “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”
• J.J. Fad – “Supersonic”
• Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz ft. Ying Yang Twins – “Get Low”
• LMFAO – “Sexy And I Know It”
• Los Del Rio – “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)”
• Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera – “Moves Like Jagger”
• Vanilla Ice – “Ice Ice Baby”
• Vicki Sue Robinson – “Turn The Beat Around”
• Village People – “Y.M.C.A.”

Yes, that’s the Backstreet Boys, Vanilla Ice, and the Village People all included on the same list. If you find that Dance Central 3‘s catalog of songs isn’t quite to your liking, never fear, because you’ll have the ability to import the songs from the first two Dance Central games as well. There’s a fee associated with the track import, but considering it cost $5 to import tracks into Dance Central 2, we’re thinking the fee isn’t going to be substantial.

Want to find out more about the zany story mode in Dance Central 3? We can’t blame you if you just want to dance, but for those who are curious, take a look at the new DC3 developer diary above. In it, Harmonix developers struggle to explain the story while maintaining a straight face, going into absurd detail about who is sending you into the past and why you need to time travel in the first place (spoiler: you’re going into the past to help solve dance crimes). Dance Central 3 looks like it’s going to be a blast – ridiculous story and all – so look for it on Xbox 360 when it launches on October 16!

Dance Central 3 gets October release date is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Just when you thought developments in trash can technology hadn’t moved too far since the trusted b-ball backboard accessory, a Japanese genius comes along to raise the bar. Modder FRP has created the Smart Trashbox, a moving can which uses a Kinect to track airborne garbage and make sure you’ll never miss another three. Impressively, it appears he designed and built every piece of the puzzle himself, from the motorized wheel base right down to the PCB. We dread to think how much coding this took, given that the Kinect monitors the entire room, calculates trash trajectory and sends the can interception orders. Apparently the accuracy stats don’t demand MVP awards just yet, but check out the highlight reel (and more details of the project) after the break.

Continue reading Moving trash can catches your waste, annoys Larry Bird (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

Moving trash can catches your waste, annoys Larry Bird (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been clear for a long time that there a lot of uses for the Microsoft Kinect camera that Microsoft probably never thought of. We have seen these cameras do all sorts of things, but I can’t say that I’ve ever seen them used to shoot a music video for a band. That’s exactly what an independent band called The Maccabees is doing.

The band’s music video is being directed by Jamie Roberts and Will Hanke, and the directing duo whipped up a unique camera rig using Xbox Kinect cameras. The rig will be used to record a 15-minute segment for the video from all angles. The music video will be published on Vevo when done. The camera rig used 10 Kinect cameras and was designed by visual artist and coder James Alliban.

The band will play three songs with the Kinect camera rig recording as they play. The data recorded by the camera will then be imported into a post processing application called Maya to create a fully 3-D model of the band’s performance. Once the data is imported into the software, and a 3-D model is in place, an animator can come back and apply visual effects for a unique music video.

[via Wired]

Indie band The Maccabees shoot a music video using hacked Kinect cameras is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to land a rover on the surface of Mars, you’re in luck. To celebrate NASA’s Curiosity rover upcoming landing on Mars, the agency teamed up with Microsoft to create a game called “Mars Rover Landing”. Available on the Xbox 360, it lets gamers experience what it’s like to land such an important device on the red planet. Gamers make use of the Kinect to steer Curiosity with their bodies.

Gamers will have to enter the planet’s atmosphere, avoid obstacles, release parachutes, perform balancing acts and more. It definitely sounds pretty interesting, and judging from the demonstration video – a whole lot of fun too. However, I don’t see people coming back to the game over and over again just to play the same mission. Fortunately Mars Rover Landing is a free game and is available now from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Kinect Central. Do check it out and let us know what you think.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: $99 Xbox 360 with Kinect bundle now available, Microsoft unveils Union Jack themed Xbox 360 bundle,