Thoughts on my Kinect for Xbox 360

By Mack D. Male · January 3, 2011 at 7:30pm

I got what I wanted for Christmas! Santa, aka Sharon, gave me a Kinect for Xbox 360. It’s one of the hottest gadgets out there right now, and Microsoft expected to sell 5 million units by the end of 2010 (we might hear actual sales figures at CES this week). We’ve had fun playing with it over the last week, and it has proven to be a hit with friends and family too.

We have three games – Kinect Adventures, which came with the Kinect, Kinect Joy Ride, and Dance Central. I like different things about each, but I guess my favorite at the moment is Joy Ride. It’s really fun to steer, drift, boost, and stunt the car around the track! The interface seems to be the most touchy of the games, however. Adventures is also fun, but the downside is that it requires a lot of space in order for two players to play together. We have just enough space in our condo after we slide the couch out of the way. Dance Central is probably the most well-known Kinect game, and it is more or less what you’d expect from the makers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It’s fun, as long as you’re not afraid to look ridiculous! It also has a really attractive interface, with Minority Report-style swiping, rather than holding your hand stationary to select as in the other two games.

I have to admit, the Kinect is much more of a workout than I anticipated. There is no sitting down! If you play long enough, the Xbox actually pops up a notification asking if you need to take a break.

One of the best parts about Adventures, Joy Ride, and Kinect Sports (which we don’t have), is that each game takes photos as you play. Some of them are just embarrassing! But they are fun to look at, and you can upload the photos to KinectShare.com, where you can download them or share them on Facebook. It looks as though that was built specifically for Microsoft’s games, but it would be fun to see it extended Kinect-wide (or better yet, just let me upload straight to Facebook or Flickr).

The picture above is pretty low quality, but I am guessing that is just to save space/bandwidth, because the quality of video using the chat feature is impressive. Sharon and I did a video chat on the Kinect with my parents who used a normal computer with Windows Live Messenger, and it worked flawlessly. Made me wish for Skype support on the Xbox (as that is where the majority of my webcam contacts are).

Another interesting feature of Kinect is the voice recognition. So far it seems to listen to Sharon better than it does to me, but either way it does a decent job of interpreting commands even with background noise. The downside is that it is limited to the “Kinect Hub” – a kind of mini-dashboard within the Xbox 360 dashboard. I look forward to broader voice support, so that I can tell my console to turn off, or launch Netflix.

I love the Kinect, so far! It’s hard to believe that the device I stood in line for over five years ago has changed so dramatically, but it has. And I can’t help but think that this is just the beginning. There’s so much you can do with a Kinect-style interface, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Thanks Santa!

Canadians celebrate new Xbox 360 dashboard, long for Netflix-like partnership

By Mack D. Male · July 14, 2008 at 10:34pm

Xbox 360 owners should be excited about the announcements Microsoft made today at E3! A number of new games were shown, including Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, and Resident Evil 5 (interesting that the most anticipated games are all sequels). They announced a bunch of new downloadable games, and will finally make community-designed games available in the next update. They’re enabling “play from hard drive” functionality, and have added a few new display support options.

Other new features include the ability to browse Xbox Live Marketplace content on the web, and the Xbox Live Party System which enables up to eight friends to connect to watch a movie, play a game, or share photos. Related to that feature are the new avatars, an extension to gamertags akin to Nintendo’s Mii.

And then there’s the two biggest announcements of all: the dashboard is getting a makeover, and Live Gold members will soon have access to Netflix streaming. When I heard about the dashboard update I thought, “finally”:

“When people turn on their Xbox 360s this fall, they’ll get an entirely new interface and Dashboard, an entirely new Xbox through the magic of software,” said John Schappert, head of Live services.

Microsoft is a software company after all, it’s about time they take advantage of that to do some cool new things with the console.

When I heard about the Netflix streaming feature, I thought “cool”. I agreed right away with MG Siegler:

With one fell swoop, Microsoft may have dealt its strongest blow in the consumer market to Apple in years.

Then I realized I live in Canada.

Netflix only serves U.S. customers at the moment, and as far as I know plans to expand to Canada and the UK were shelved a long time ago. The amount of content on Xbox Live for Canadians is already far behind our American counterparts, and this announcement just means we’re even further behind. As Mathew Ingram says:

If what you like is anything made by the CBC and the occasional CTV show like Little Mosque on the Prairie, then you are probably going to be in heaven. Otherwise, you are out of luck.

Sad, but true. I’m excited for the new dashboard and other features, but once again disappointed that as a Canadian my access to media via the Internet is severely limited.

Apocalypse Gaming Lounge in Edmonton

By Mack D. Male · May 17, 2008 at 4:53pm

While walking to the City Market downtown today, Sharon and I happened upon Apocalypse Gaming Lounge, located on 107th street at 102nd avenue. The mirrored windows make it impossible to miss. Apocalypse opened on April 8th, after some construction and setup delays (according to their website). We decided to check it out.

Apocalypse has thirty kick-ass looking computers for gaming, as well as a dedicated Xbox 360 Rock Band stage with two overhead flat screen televisions. They’ve also got a couple retro coin-op arcade machines. The decor is reminiscent of a restaurant like Moxie’s, with hardwood floors, black leather couches and exposed brick walls. You can see the full list of available games on their website.

They are open Sunday through Thursday from 10am to midnight, and Friday and Saturday from 10am to 2am. Rates are $6.50 per hour ($30 per day) for non-members, and $4.50 per hour if you decide to pay the $40 per year membership fee. There were no gamers in the lounge early this afternoon, but I suspect their clientele are more night owls than early risers. Here are some photos I took of Apocalypse.

Internet cafes are nothing new of course (a great one in Edmonton is 3rd on Whyte), but I haven’t seen many gaming lounges. I wonder if this is part of a growing trend? Are gaming lounges sprouting up in other cities? I think the concept is great, especially with games like Rock Band, but I wonder how feasible the business is. Apocalypse has 108 members in their Facebook Group though, so maybe there’s more demand than I thought.

Two Years of Xbox 360, Five Years of Xbox Live

By Mack D. Male · November 22, 2007 at 5:40pm

It was two years ago today that I lined up at Best Buy very early in the morning to be among the first to snag the Xbox 360 gaming console. So, happy birthday Xbox 360! Kind of hard to believe it has been that long.

Last Thursday was another anniversary – the fifth for Xbox Live! It’s even harder to believe the service has been around that long – it launched exactly a year after the original Xbox console. My latest article at last100 examines Xbox Live:

Xbox Live started out as a multiplayer gaming network, but today the 8 million users with Live accounts do much more than just play games. Users can download movies and television shows, chat with friends, and more. Even Microsoft now describes the service as a “comprehensive unified online entertainment network”. Marketing-speak at its finest, but it’s true – Xbox Live is a key component of Microsoft’s connected entertainment vision. In this post we look at the state of Xbox Live today, and explore some of the ways Microsoft will likely enhance it in the future.

Give it a read, and let me know what you think!

Read: last100

Electronic Arts acquires Edmonton’s BioWare

By Mack D. Male · October 11, 2007 at 9:32pm

Electronic Arts today announced that they have acquired Edmonton’s very own BioWare Corp. in a deal that could be worth $860 million USD. More accurately, EA is buying VG Holding, the parent company of both BioWare and Pandemic Studios. From GameSpot:

VG Holding Corp. was formed in late 2005 when esteemed Canadian role-playing game studio BioWare formed the aforementioned “superdeveloper” with Californian shop Pandemic Studios. The union was funded by Elevation Partners, a venture capital firm with rock star Bono on its board, and brokered by then-Elevation board member John Riccitiello, who became BioWare/Pandemic’s CEO.

A number of articles today have mentioned the fact that John Riccitiello left Elevation in February to become the CEO of Electronic Arts. So essentially, he has purchased BioWare and Pandemic twice. He must really like their games!

This is a great move for Electronic Arts. I’m sure fans of both BioWare’s and Pandemic’s games will have some reservations about the deal though. Will EA cause the studios to lose their mojo? I guess we’ll find out. Both companies will become part of the EA Games division, but Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka will continue to run BioWare, and Andrew Goldman, Josh Resnick, and Greg Borrud will stay in charge of Pandemic, according to GameSpot. At least for the time being.

The official BioWare press release is here (PDF).

Read: GameSpot

Bring on personalized Xbox manufacturing!

By Mack D. Male · September 22, 2007 at 7:39pm

halo3xbox Tuesday is going to be a big day for Microsoft. September 25th is the release date for Halo 3, the much anticipated third installment in the Halo video game series. If you thought Halo 2 was a big deal (it sold more in the first 24 hours after release than most movies generate during their entire box office run) you’d be right – but Halo 3 is an even bigger deal.

Everything about Halo 3 is bigger and better than before, but especially the marketing. Heck, there’s a page at Wikipedia dedicated solely to marketing for Halo 3. Microsoft seems to have figured out that blogs like Engadget are important too. Look at what they sent to Engadget editor Ryan Block:

Listen up kids — the holidays have come way early. We’ve got our hands on the special edition Xbox 360 all done up in Halo 3 fashion… but that’s not all. The boys from Redmond sent a massive, massive package our way, including a giant, custom army bag, custom dog tags, two army meal rations, a first aid kit, the Xbox itself, two Halo 3 controllers and a headset, plus some other stuff hidden in the nooks and crannies.

The photo gallery is pretty darn cool, even if you’re not a Halo fan. One photo in particular caught my eye. Not only did Ryan receive a Halo 3 themed console, but it has his name engraved on the side! How cool is that? The bag and dog tags also have his name on them.

That got me thinking. What if Microsoft offered this package for sale, instead of just sending it to the press? I am sure people would happily pay more for a personalized Halo 3 kit. In fact, they could cut out the middleman altogether. Imagine pre-ordering Halo 3 online from Microsoft, with the ability to fully customize the package – colors, your name, etc. I’d pay for that, and I don’t think I’m the only one who would.

The Halo 3 themed console isn’t the first special edition Microsoft has launched – there was also the yellow edition for The Simpsons Movie. So it seems that personalization can be done, they probably just need to perfect the process. Microsoft made a big deal out of software themes and the faceplates for the Xbox 360, but maybe the next version of the Xbox will be truly customizable? Fully personalized manufacturing?

It could happen!

Read: Engadget

Build the next Tetris for Xbox Live Arcade

By Mack D. Male · March 5, 2007 at 11:07am

Smart move Microsoft! It’s no secret that one of the biggest selling points for the Xbox 360 is the Xbox Live service, and specifically the Arcade which contains relatively simple games. Now Microsoft is making moves to further increase the importance of XBLA:

Microsoft plans to announce a contest akin to the television show “Project Greenlight” that will award a cash prize and a potential slot on Xbox Live Arcade to the best new game created with XNA tools. The company intends to announce the winner of the contest, called “Dream-Build-Play,” in August.

That’s pretty cool! Imagine seeing your game in the Xbox Live Arcade…that would be sweet. You can learn more about Microsoft’s XNA tools here.

Read: NYTimes.com

Xbox 360 V2

By Mack D. Male · January 5, 2007 at 10:24pm

Think Microsoft has been resting on their laurels with the launches of the Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3? Think again. According to Engadget they are working on a new version of the Xbox 360:

Ever wonder why Microsoft hasn’t released an HDMI cable for the Xbox 360, or whether the AV port was really capable of digital out? Well, here’s your answer: we landed pictures of what appears to be the second Xbox 360 — the Xbox 360 v2, if you will — codenamed Zephyr.

The new version apparently has a cooler 65nm processor, an HDMI port for 1080p, and a 120 GB hard drive. They might as well include an integrated HD-DVD player while they’re at it!

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little perturbed when I first read this, but I realize that I sealed my own fate by purchasing my 360 the day it was released. And I don’t regret it. It makes perfect sense to update components as they improve (and it becomes cost effective to do so). The HDMI port would be nice to have, but I’d need a TV capable of 1080p for it to really make a difference. And I doubt I’ll be getting one of those anytime soon.

Bottom line: Zephyr (if it turns out to be real) is a minor update. Games on Zephyr will be identical to games on today’s Xbox 360, and that’s all that really matters.

UPDATE: Engadget links to some pictures and a video of the HDMI port and HANA scaler.

Read: Engadget

LEGO Video Games

By Mack D. Male · January 3, 2007 at 4:10pm

My brother bought me LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy for my birthday (which was Dec. 28) and we spent quite a bit of time playing it over the last couple days before he went back to Red Deer. I think I am hooked! I never played the original LEGO Star Wars game, but I almost want to go and buy it now. The concept always sounded kinda funny to me, but now that I’ve played the game, my laughter has been replaced with awe. The game is simple yet incredibly fun to play!

I was browsing around Wikipedia today, looking for information on the LEGO games, and I found this:

LEGO Batman is an adventure video game developed by Traveller’s Tales. It will be similar to the LEGO Star Wars series, in that it will both be a game based on a licensed property and have environments, objects and creatures made out of LEGO.

Awesome! That was the first thing I thought of while playing LEGO Star Wars – I thought, “they should make lots of LEGO games!” It’s such a wonderful environment for fun, light gaming.

Seems they are way ahead of me:

Upon being contacted, developer Jonathan Smith (games programmer) stated that they will definitely be developing more LEGO games in the future.

I don’t know what they have in mind, but I can think of some LEGO games I’d like to see! Here’s the movies/franchises I’d like to see turned into LEGO video games:

The Matrix
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter (LEGO already has the rights to this one…)
Spider-Man

One of my favorite toys as a kid was LEGO. My brother, sister and I played with it all the time! It’s almost too perfect that LEGO is now playable on my new favorite toy, my Xbox 360.

Read: LEGO

GameDaily is drunk on PS3 kool-aid

By Mack D. Male · October 31, 2006 at 1:58pm

Tomorrow is November, and you know what that means – game console launches! Both Nintendo and Sony will be releasing their latest offerings this month, so don’t be surprised if you hear a lot about it over the next few weeks. Hopefully though, the coverage is more accurate and credible than GameDaily’s latest. Author James Brightman outlines five reasons that Sony will win the “Next Gen Console War”. Here are his reasons, with my comments underneath each one:

1. The Brand
Brightman is right, a “strong brand should not be underestimated.” However, the problem with this argument (that Sony will win because it has a strong brand) is that nothing lasts forever! Indeed, Brightman states, “in the late ’80s and early ’90s Nintendo was king, but on today’s market there is no brand more synonymous with the world of video games than PlayStation.” Too bad he couldn’t read his own sentence and realize that what happened to Nintendo could happen to Sony too.

2. Microsoft (somewhat) Squandered its Lead
Nice to the see conviction in his argument – “somewhat” hey? Microsoft’s goal is to sell 10 million consoles by the end of 2006. They are definitely behind at the moment. But let’s see how the holiday season shakes out, shall we?

3. Japan is Ripe for the Taking
Japan has never been a strong market for Microsoft. The first Xbox did horribly there, and I don’t think MS execs were expecting to do that much better with the Xbox 360. Not that it matters – Sony cannot “win” by simply selling more in Japan. Once again, Brightman neglects to read his own writing: “let’s not forget that this is a global market.”

4. Blu-ray Will Matter
If there’s one good thing about Brightman and his article, it’s that he makes tearing it apart really easy. He writes, “sure some of this is hype, and maybe we’re falling for it…” You better believe it is hype. Anything related to Blu-ray or HD-DVD at this point is hype.

“In one to two years, we think the combination of the Blu-ray medium and the Cell processor will lead to a noticeable difference between the visuals of the PS3 and the Xbox 360, as developers begin to really harness the technology in the PS3.”

Seems to me that Brightman isn’t a very technical person. Developing for the Xbox 360 in such a way that you can extract every ounce of performance is hard. It requires a shift in the way developers think and work (because of multiple cores, etc). There aren’t any 360 games that really do this yet. So, to say that in a one or two years the Cell processor and Blu-ray will lead to a noticeable difference is ridiculous. First of all, 360 games are going to get better. More importantly though, developing for the PS3 is even more complex than for the Xbox 360, so I would expect it to take much more time before we see the best possible visuals.

5. Free Online
This is the one argument I somewhat agree with. Completely free, full online access for PS3 gamers is a big deal. We all know Microsoft has deep pockets however, so if they wanted to make Xbox Live Gold free, they certainly could. I think they’ll wait though, to see what the PS3 online service is like. People will pay for quality.

A few more things
There’s a ton of other problems with this article. For one, what about Nintendo? Brightman compares Sony almost exclusively to Microsoft. The Wii might not have fancy graphics, but I’d argue it belongs in the “next gen” classification. The PS3 is going to have to beat the Wii too. For another thing, there’s no mention of the cost. The PS3 is really expensive, both in comparison to previous consoles, and to its competitors. Brand allegiance is important, but it often falls apart in the case of extremely high prices. Another thing – the Playstation doesn’t have the huge list of exclusive titles that previous versions did. Lots of games are now available for multiple consoles. I could go on.

It’s really easy to make predictions about how the consoles will fare against one another. It is much harder to make accurate predictions. That said, its pretty simple to come up with something better than this GameDaily article.

Read: GameDaily