Well, it’s official. Project Natal is now known as “Kinect.”

An Italian ad leaked it, USA Today confirmed it, and went on to talk about some of the games that Kinect would have, and here we are bringing you the news.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, the internet world is abuzz with rumors regarding E3. And who can say what’s what?

But according to Game Informer, it looks like Harmonix is licensing a bunch of “dance” songs to help fuel the rumor that they’re developing a dance title for Microsoft’s Natal.

Read the rest of this entry »

E3 is coming closer by the day and the closer we get more rumours of upcoming announcements surface around the web. This time it’s Capcom’s turn on the rumour mill.

According to Shacknews’ Weekend Confirmed Podcast, Capcom is preparing to drop a bomb at E3. Not only that, but said game will be announced by a western studio. Capcom recently stated that western studios would only be brought onto sequels or port projects.

“I’m not going to spill it because I don’t want to make anyone mad, but boy their E3 bombshell puts that to test,” said podcast host Garnett Lee around the 2 hour mark.

Said “bombshell” could be just about anything. An old franchise is apparently being built with Project Natal in mind, and there are rumours of a DMC5 being developed.

But until E3, it’s just about anyone’s guess.

Three game retailers in Sweden have all made a listing for Project Natal, with the preliminary pricing of 1499kr. The three are cdon, Webhallen and Game.

While this price converts to around 200$, it’s important to note that the usual way of pricing here in Scandinavia is to add a zero to the dollar price. So a 60$ game will usually cost 600kr. This means that if this price is accurate, the most likely price would be 150$.

The price seems awfully high, which makes it suspicious. for 200kr more you can buy an Xbox 360 Arcade bundle on the same sites. What lends it more credence though, is that all three sites are independent of each other, yet lists the same price. So unless one had it first and the others copied it, then they seem to have a common source.

One of the retailers lists it as coming out in fall 2010, while another has October 2010, which is the current rumor. Two of them have a disclaimer that all info is preliminary.

What do you think? Early leak, or just a grab for preorders?

I read a lot of articles on gaming in order to gain inspiration and quite possibly pick up some tips on how to improve my own writing. And a lot of these articles inspire me to do things like the Evening Topic series, but this turned out a little longer than I first intended. I love discussing video games, and I love hearing other people’s opinions, so if you agree or disagree, feel free to have your say in the comments. Read the rest of this entry »

A Microsoft exec in Saudi Arabia confirmed that Microsoft’s motion control device, Project Natal, will be released to the public worldwide this October.

Marketing Manager of E&D at MS Saudi, Syed Bilal Tariq, unveiled the news on Saudi TV and Gamertag Radio was there to capture it.

“I do have great news to share with everybody” said Bilal Tariq, “that Project Natal will be launched in Saudi Arabia and in the world somewhere in October.”

He also confirmed that an official date was coming sometime after E3, but Natal’s release month is definitely “going to be October 2010.”

I’m a bit nervous about that “in the world somewhere” bit. Brazil and Saudi Arabia only. Everywhere else gets it in November.

[UPDATE]: So the whole thing was a hoax. Gee wiz, who’da thunk it!

Microsoft and Hideo Kojima seems to have something big planned for E3. At least if someone called Surfer girl is to believed. According to her online blog, an upcoming 360 version of a Metal Gear Solid game will be played using the Natal peripheral:

“And Natal? Let’s just say you’ll probably be both very surprised and very pleased by one of the games revealed… what is it?

Might Get Shot if I were to tell.”

In the same blog post she also claims Microsoft will reveal a slim 360 Natal Bundle, which is to be revealed at E3:

“What’s more the 360 will be getting a subtle rebrand, with a new logo and black as the new primary colour of the console. They feel that the new system needs to be black because a white Natal wouldn’t sit well next to the typical gloss black tv.”

In a follow-up blog post, Surfer Girl proceeds to write: “I wonder how Metal Gear Touch would work with no touch screen”. So I guess that’s the cat out of the bag. One question, though: Who is Surfer Girl and why should we believe her?

In an announcement that will surprise no-one, Microsoft has stated today that the brunt of its Natal line-up with be show off at this year’s E3.

“We have very strong first and third-party developer support for [Natal]. Needless to say, we’re putting some of our best people on coming up with great game ideas for this, and we’re going to have some great stuff,” said Microsoft CFO Mindy Mount, speaking at the Jefferies Annual Global Technology Conference in New York today.

“As a history, Microsoft works very strong with third-party developers, so we’re hoping that we’re going to get some great titles from that. You’ll be able to see more news about that this summer at E3. We’ll show you the full line-up.”

The yet-to-be-officially-named motion-capturing gaming device, Natal, is currently rumoured for an October release date. This journalist, personally, is very excited about seeing what Microsoft has to reveal for the device at this year’s E3.

Well, all-around genius and gaming expert extraordinaire Michael Pachter once again indulges us with his genius.

He told Industry Gamers that his $50 estimate for Natal was probably too low.

As for the DSi XL, he speculates that it won’t sell very well considering it’s only $10 less than a Wii system (and $20 more than a standard DSi system).

We all look forward to Pachter indulging us with his bottomless well of knowledge in the future.

The DSi XL comes out March 28th in the US and will come in three colors (red, black, and wine).

“Hopefully we’ve gotten past the point of mini-games,” Valve’s Chet Faliszek told CVG. “I’m sick of that [makes arm movement]. That’s not a game for me anymore. Let’s get some real interaction going.

“We have these technologies now that let us interact in different, really exciting ways. It’s developers’ jobs to do something with it. Impress me. Don’t just make shitty games I wouldn’t want to play if I had to use a joystick,” he went on.

Preach it, bruthaman!

Finally, someone who’s as tired of mini-games as I am. That’s all there seems to be on the Wii. Hopefully Natal and Arc have something serious in their upcoming repertoire.

Jason Vandenberghe, creative director for Red Steel 2, spoke with Play.tm and said that the success of Red Steel 2 was “absolutely crucial” if there is to be a Red Steel 3.

“It was clear from the beginning we had to succeed. It was absolutely crucial,” Vandenberghe said. “It was obvious that, if Red Steel 2 came out and it was not well-received by the fans, we were done. There would be no Red Steel 3.”

The first game is rated 63% on MetaCritic.

Vandenberghe also spoke with VideoGamesDaily about how the Red Steel series would flourish with the PlayStation 3′s Arc, but would do poorly on Microsoft’s Natal.

Read the rest of this entry »

Regarding an October release date for Natal tweeted by TV presenter Jonathan Ross earlier today, Microsoft has only one thing to say – no comment.

“There have been no further announcements on the release date of Project Natal,” a rep told VG247 earlier this morning. “it remains scheduled for Christmas 2010.”

The as of yet officially named motion capturing gaming device is currently set for an “Christmas” release, and we probably won’t get anything more specific than that until this years E3, in June.

Yesterday we posted a story about Michael Pachter predicting something about Microsoft’s Project Natal. Today we bring you another story about Michael Pachter predicting something about Microsoft’s Project Natal. And the PlayStation Arc controller

Good ol’ Pach believes Project Natal will outsell Sony’s motion controller 5 to 1. Why?

“I think that the Sony motion controller will have some problems gaining traction, since it’s not an ‘in the box’ solution,” said the Wedbush Morgan analyst in an interview with PS3 Center.

“A year or so after launch, there will be 10 million [Project Natal units] out there, which will probably attract more third-party support,” he added.

What’s an “in the box solution” you ask? We don’t really know.

Video game analyst Michael Pachter has surmised that Microsoft’s Project Natal will sell for $50.

The Wedbush Morgan analyst stated his speculation on his new GT spot Pach-Attack.

“My guess is, talking to my hardware specialist colleagues at Wedbush, it’s about $50 in cost.

“I’d be very surprised if the thing is more then $79, and I really think it’s going to be $50. Microsoft’s not trying to make money on the device, trying to get everybody to have the device so that they can sell us other things, eventually can sell us a lot more Xbox 360s.

“My call is $50, I think that’s where it’s going to be launched.”

Project Natal has no confirmed price, exact date of release, or even an official name, but the name will be unveiled at this year’s E3 (most likely along with a price) and the item itself is confirmed to be released this year-end holiday season.

Pachter seems awfully confident, especially when he’s been wrong before.

According to CVG a recent job listing from Microsoft indicates that the company is working on a “large franchise” for use with Natal.

The job page shows a listing for a Senior Level Designer, and keywords amongst the document are “mission / environment design”, “combat” and “strategy”.

Halo Duck and Cover, anyone?

Read the rest of this entry »