I am a big fan of PC gaming and stick to the computer for the most part. For me the best thing to play on the console is driving games and I prefer titles on the PS3 so I can use my racing seat and Logitech G27 racing wheel. There are some cool racing games on the Xbox 360 as well, but I refuse to drive without my G27.
If you lean more towards the Xbox 360 for your driving and racing action and you want to use the G25 of G27 from Logitech a new adapter will let you do that. The adapter is called the F-1 Converter and it allows the G25 or G27 to be used on the older Xbox 360 and the new slim console.
The converter also has a combo attack memory function for fighting games where you can press a button to execute a combo. That seems like cheating to me. The adapter will work with the PS3 as well for the combo function. It support rumble controllers and a lot more. I rarely play the Xbox 360, do any games support force feedback like the G25 and G27 provide?
We’re not sure about the Xbox 360 version yet, and it doesn’t appear that the PC version will come with any extra functionality to it, but the Playstation 3 version of one of the most cult-classic-great games we’ve ever played will be coming with both Mac and PC versions attached. This PS3 version of the game comes with full Steam integration which will allow you to continue the game wherever you left of no matter which platform you decide to bring your Portal 2 Blu-Ray disk to.
Sony and Valve (creators of Portal and now Portal 2) have collaborated on this version to bring the gamer what they consider to be one fabulous game. Gabe Newell, cofounder and president of Valve notes: “We made a promise to gamers at E3 that Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3 would be the best console version of the product. Working together with Sony we have identified a set of features we believe are very compelling to gamers. We hope to expand upon the foundation being laid in Portal 2 with more Steam features and functionality in DLC and future content releases.”
In addition to instant game saves vis Steam for cross-platform play, players Steam friends will be visible and accessible for game invites and chat. This is all in one package, and the game already looks utterly fantastic, if I do say so myself. Take a peek at a trailer or two below. Portal 2 will be coming out on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 in April 2011.
Also I’d be remiss in posting about Portal if I did so without making sure everyone heard the closing credits song as sung by the writer, Jonathan Coulton. Behold a masterpiece. I hope he’s involved in number 2.
Buy this phone, won’t you please buy this phone? We’ve no idea why Telus has to try so hard to convince Canadian buyers to grab themselves a Windows Phone 7 handset, but the carrier’s expected to sweeten the deal dramatically over the next few days by bundling a freebie Xbox 360 with every WP7 device activation or renewal. The offer starts today, according to this leaked memo, and will last through to the end of the week, December 19th. Telus carries the HTC 7 Surround and LG Optimus 7, neither of which would seem to have caught fire quite the way Microsoft would have wanted. Ah well, if you’re going to sell your wireless soul for a whole three years, you might as well do it for a phone-plus-console combo.
Hanging out over at the Credit Suisse technology conference just yesterday was Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Division CEO, mister Dennis Durkin. He had a rather interesting statistic to share with the audience: 50% of all Xbox Live users pay for a Gold Subscription. What that means is that, since there are around 25 million Xbox Live subscribers in the world, 12.5 million people pay $60 a year to be able to access its additional features.
Recently Microsoft increased the price of Xbox LIVE by a few bucks, amping US price up $10 from the previous $50 a year. Some of the features this additional yearly subscription affords you are online multi-player functionality, access to ESPN, and access to Netflix (in addition to whatever you pay Netflix.) Shouldn’t that stuff be… free?
How would you like to win yourself an Xbox gaming bundle, an Xbox Live gaming bundle, or a Plantronics GameComm 777 Headset? I know I would. To win, all we’ve got to do is put our most extremely amazing game faces on and take a photo – Plantronics are looking for photos taken all around the world of people who show real “gaming fanatic” spirit, they’re looking for all walks of life! Starting TODAY (November 29, 2010) and going through Friday December 10, all participants are encouraged to take an in-action photo of themselves that showcases how and where they game.
To submit your photo, first take it, prepare a short explanation of why your face is representative of today’s gamer, and send it out via Twitter to @plantronics with the hashtag #gameface! Check out these freaking amazing prizes!
Prizes (subject to change):
• 1st – Xbox 360, Kinect and PLT X95
• 2nd – Xbox Live “Minute Gift Cards” and PLT X40
• 3rd – PLT GameCom 777 7.1 with Dolby Surround Sound
And remember, you’ve only got a short while to submit, so get to it!
Important Date(s):
· Submissions begin – November 29
· Submissions end – December 10
· Judging – December 11 – 15
· Winners announced – December 17
We’ve just received some very exciting words about the future of the Xbox including news on xBox Live, including Avatars, Friends, Achievements, and Messaging, as well as updates on Marketplace and some new games. First of all, right out of the box you’re going to be able to link your existing Xbox LIVE account, or make a new one, and have a boatload of fun with features loaded directly into the Games Hub including your Avatar, Gamerscore, and Gamgertag. For those with a deeper need to plug themselves into the experience, Windows Phone will be offering a free, one-time download called XBox Live Extras!
The Xbox LIVE Extras for Windows Phone are wild. With it, you can grip even harder to your Games Hub with Avatars, Friends, Achievements, and Messaging. Avatars take your 3D character and props with you to the phone with full closet access (kinky!) Your Xbox friends activities and status updates will be available, no matter if they’re on their console, PC, or phone. You can compare achievements instantly, and communicate with anyone on your friends list through Xbox LIVE text messages.
The Marketplace is similar to the one on the Xbox 360 as Windows Phone 7 owners will receive lovely content on a weekly basis post launch. Three new Xbox LIVE titles will be released each week with prices ranging from $2.99 to $9.99, all of them with the full set of Xbox LIVE integrations on such features as Achievements, leaderboards, and more. Many titles will have content exclusive to Windows Phone 7, and there’ll of course be such promotions as “Deals of the Week” and more.
And now what you’ve been waiting for of course, a list of some GAMES that’ll be blowing off their meathooks soon. Many games will be available at both the European launch later this week and the US launch on November 8, and more will be launching each week. There’ll also be the puzzle game “ilomilo” with’ll be available exclusively to all AT&T users through the end of the year absolutely free. At this very moment on the Marketplace there is to be found seven Xbox LIVE games ready to review by you, and on October 21 all of these titles – and more – will be downloadable in European markets, coming then to Windows Phone 7 for the US launch on November 8.
“Hexic Rush” is a new version of the classic Hexic game, this time designed to be speed-based and available for Windows Phone 7. “Flowerz” is a gardening based game where you’ll be able to plant a bunch of nice flowerz, plant them in a row, plant them to look nice in bushels, and keep them nice for big scores or just a leisurely escapade. “Twin Blades” is a wild shooter game set in medieval times utilizing manga-like illustrations and graphics. Run with a nun to defeat evil and the greater armies of zombies across multiple environments such as a city market, cemetary, a chapel in ruins, and the cities outskirts – buy new skills and powers, upgrade yourself as you progress toward total obliteration of the living dead.
“Bejeweled LIVE” should almost certainly be a best seller as its other versions are already played by over 500 million people with over 50 million copies sold to date. Swap gems to make sets, match gems to make them disappear – you know the drill. “Star Wars: Battle for Hoth” is one of the most epic battles in the history of the galaxy, snowbound. This is a strategy based game where you place soldiers, ion cannons and other powerful items to defend yourself against the invading Imperial forces. “Rocket Riot” places you in the boots of a bazooka-wielding soldier on the way toward total glory as you blast the strangest adversaries you’ve ever laid eyes on. It’s a highly stylized eight-bit era game in a completely destructible environment with power-ups, burrowing, and a regenerating map. Fun on Xbox LIVE Arcade and Windows Phone 7.
We just spent some serious, and we mean serious time with Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7. Just like your Xbox, this is sort of an amalgamation of “the place you go to play games” and “the place you go to ping and taunt your friends who also play games.” Unfortunately, it seems there’s a bit of a disconnect between phone-based scores and records and Xbox achievements — they all add up to the same gamerscore, but you can’t easily there are separate charts to pull up your most recent Halo exploits to show off on your mobile, for instance. Luckily, that still puts Microsoft in a better position than any other mobile games platform (until Apple can get Game Center to stop sucking, at least). Being able to message and challenge friends all from the same “hub” where you keep your games is great, and being able to view your avatar and the avatars of friends (you can even play dress-up with your own) is nice gravy on top.
Of course, what really matters is the games, right? Luckily, Microsoft has a pretty strong launch lineup, with some of the regulars like EA’s The Sims 3 and Need for Speed, along with some exclusives like Rocket Riot and the hotly anticipated The Harvest. The good news? Games look and play great, just like you might expect from an iPhone or Android level capacitive touchscreen platform, with The Harvest as an obvious and very important standout in complexity and polish. The bad news? Everything takes forever to load (our rough estimate is about three minutes to start playing in The Harvest), and when you don’t have any multitasking, that’s a really bad thing. Check out some of the Xbox Live hub and capabilities after the break, along with some games, and make up your own mind.
Well, it looks like AT&T has a few surprises of its own today — it’s just announced that U-verse Mobile will be heading to Windows Phone 7 this fall and — get this — you don’t even have to be a U-verse customer to use it. Non-customers will have to shell out $9.99 a month to get their mobile TV fix, however, while current U-verse users will be able to take advantage of the service for free — it’s also available nationwide, a first for a U-verse service. In other U-verse news, AT&T has also now confirmed earlier reports that you will be able to use your Xbox 360 as a U-verse receiver, although you’ll obviously have to be a U-verse customer for that. New U-verse customers will be able to order a $99 Xbox kit that includes installation (but not the actual Xbox 360) starting October 15th, while existing customers will apparently have to buy the kit and shell out an additional $55 for installation. Head on past the break for the full press release and a quick video of the Windows Phone 7 app.
Matt Thompson, General Manager for developer and platform evangelism for Microsoft, spoke at the GigaOm Mobilize conference in San Francisco today, and during that speech, he provided the insight as to why he believes Microsoft’s upcoming mobile Operating System, Windows Phone 7, would excel amidst the competition. That one feature, which will push them ahead of the pack, is the integration the platform has with Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE service.
While other companies are simply trying to break into the gaming market, Microsoft’s presence has been felt there for quite some time, and now they’re trying to put that same experience right on your mobile device. While Apple’s Game Center brings players together, Thompson believes that LIVE integration will be the “hook” that brings new customers into the fold, as well as draw the attention of all those Xbox LIVE players out there. The ability to play 2D and 3D games from your device, and continue to play (some of) them right on your console is a novel feature, as well as being able to take your Xbox LIVE Avatar with you everywhere you go.
But, there’s also going to be other games, like the ridiculously popular Farmville, from Zynga. Will the integration with Microsoft’s prodigal online feature be enough to make Windows Phone 7 the most popular name on the block? Or will the combination of all the other features, or lack thereof, make it impossible for Microsoft to jump ahead? Looks like we’ll be finding out soon enough.
There’s no doubt that setting up to play Microsoft’s upcoming motion sensing peripheral, Kinect, will be interesting. Microsoft has released a video that showcases the Kinect development team going over what they believe is the optimal setting and layout for you to truly experience, and enjoy your time with Kinect. And who better to get the information from then those who developed the system, right?
We’ve always known that Kinect will work best with an open floor plan. That doesn’t mean you have to have a living room, or bedroom, that’s completely devoid of any furniture, but the less you have, the better. The reason being, simply put, is that the Kinect has a lot of sensors and cameras, and all of those are working in conjunction to scan what lays in front of it. While we know that Kinect can support up to more than two players at one time, the system will still have to work harder to pick you, your friend, and whatever else is going on in your play space in real-time.
The developers also say that you should have an evenly lit play space. So no deep shadows being tossed around, or too much light showing up in another area. No unnecessary clutter, either. As for where you should stand? They say that the optimal positioning for the player(s) is about six to eight feet away from the Kinect unit. They say that you should be standing as far away as possible, but we imagine that that advice could be taken to extremes.
Something to keep in mind, of course, is that these are the “optimal” settings, and not indicative of how every living room is going to look. We’ve seen plenty of Kinect situations where there’s lots of people wandering around, too many lamps, and furniture lying around, with the system still working great, that we don’t think you should take this too much to heart. In any event, check out the video below and let us know what you think in the comments.
