Games Cheats and Reviews

If the features spelled out in the recently published Microsoft patent for Kinect are accurate (via Next-Gen), the motion-control device is capable of even more than Microsoft has so far revealed. As the patent shows, Kinect can supposedly recognize American Sign Language (ASL), as well as read lips and even single out individual fingers and toes on a person’s body.

Of course, the other possibility is that Microsoft isn’t holding anything back, and the patent merely shows features that were once (or still are) planned but that Kinect isn’t actually capable of doing yet. Still, the patent shows an intriguing new area Kinect could be useful for, helping hearing impaired players interact with their games.

“Where the user is unable to speak, he may be prevented from joining in the voice chat,” the patent reads. “Even though he would be able to type input, this may be a laborious and slow process to someone fluent in ASL. Under the present system, he could make ASL gestures to convey his thoughts, which would then be transmitted to the other users for auditory display.”

Summer of Arcade continues this week with Castlevania Harmony of Despair, then Monday Night Combat and the summer ends with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Major Nelson reminds us that if we purchase all five titles, we’ll receive 1200 Microsoft Points back. GrE will have a review for each of these titles, just [...]

Thanks to that energetic pixie of a man, Major Nelson, we now know that Xbox LIVE Gold members can save 50 % on Game Add-ons for Borderlands. Secret Armory, The Underdome and Zombie Island are each 400 Microsoft Points this week only, so get ‘em while they’re hot. Sharing: It’s Win/Win

There’s been some confusion concerning Kinect over what you would think would be a very, very easy thing to communicate about a new videogame control method: Whether you can sit down while using it. As it turns out, a Microsoft representative assures you can in fact use Kinect while sitting down, so long as you’re using it with a game or experience designed to be played while sitting down.

“Kinect can be used while sitting when an experience is developed with sitting in mind,” this representative said to Joystiq (a statement almost zen-like in its obvious simplicity, isn’t it?). Presumably, this means some games may not work if you’re sitting down, but only if they’re designed not to work while sitting down — say, the River Race game in Kinect Adventures, which literally requires players to physically jump up and down.

But that’s not the same as saying Kinect simply won’t recognize seated players, and Microsoft pointed to the upcoming ESPN, Zune, and Video Kinect apps as “experiences where we expect people to be sitting.” But this representative also said that it’s “natural for Kinect games to be designed to get you off the couch: dancing, running, dodging, bending, and kicking,” so just because it can work while sitting, perhaps we shouldn’t expect too many games to be designed that way — at least, not at first.

While not public, like PlayStation Move’s showing at the World Hobby Fair, Kinect made its Japanese debut at the 2010 Game Tools and Middleware Forum July 1 in Tokyo. The show was widely attended by Japanese game makers, and it was the first chance for many of them to play around with the new motion controller.

Microsoft displayed Kinect Adventures most prominently at the show. When asked to give their impressions, a great many of the developers at the show used the word “immersion” when describing their experiences. Many reported that the need to use one’s entire body contributed to that sense.

A large number of the game makers also claimed that Kinect was more responsive than they previously imagined. Apparently, there was a relatively widespread concern that Microsoft’s new device would be imprecise, slow, and laggy. On the other hand, those same developers described a very specific effective distance for the device. Responsiveness became a problem If they got too close or too far away. Specifically, they had to be around seven to nine feet away from to the device for it to work properly. Several players expressed concern about how Kinect would work in Japanese homes, which tend to be significantly smaller than those in the west.

Microsoft has finally decided to alter its form factor for the Xbox 360.

it’s the show of sequels and controller-less gaming!

Project Natal has officially been named the Kinect!

Looks like there’s truth in the rumors that Xbox Live Arcade would see a port of Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project. A listing for the 2002 side-scrolling action game has turned up on Microsoft’s official Xbox Live Arcade website.

There’s no pricing info or planned release date provided on the site, but you can likely expect Manhattan Project to fall in line with Duke Nukem 3D’s $10 (800 Microsoft points) price tag. And just like the original version, the XBLA release of Manhattan Project sports an M rating from the ESRB — thanks, no doubt, to Duke’s trademark chauvinistic banter and all that sweet, sweet violence.

Whenever this thing comes out, it should be a blast seeing how well Manhattan Project holds up against other side-scrolling XBLA fare like Shadow Complex and Bionic Commando: Rearmed.

This seemed like a pretty logical jump to make when hearing that Zombie Cow’s upcoming shooter would take place in locations such as a vagina, but now a Microsoft spokesperson has made it clear that — by the sound of it — the odds of Privates receiving approval and making it onto the Xbox Live Indie Games service is unlikely.

Xbox spokesperson David Dennis sent website seattlepi.com a statement (via Kotaku) addressing the situation.

“This game has not been submitted to our pre-publication peer review process, and it has not been approved for distribution on Xbox Live Indie Games. We have guidelines in place that closely track requirements of content ratings boards worldwide and, among other things, prohibit the publication of strong sexual content.