New patents unearthed
It's been a while since we saw a Nintendo-published game that uses the Balance Board, surprising considering the number of boards sat in living rooms around the world, but a new patent filing has revealed a motorcycle game could be in the works at Nintendo Software Technology.
What can you do?
Picture the scene: a new Nintendo handheld is announced, promising brand new features including more advanced communication functions. You'll be able to send messages to your friends through thin air, arrange to meet-up in games and, of course, draw crude pictures using the touch screen. What more could anyone want?
Grab your Woods
The 2011 Masters tournament tees off next Monday, 4th April, but PlayStation Move owners get their chance to go out on the links from today, as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters lands on PlayStation 3 today.
Limb-tracking gets faster
When developers take the time to minimise Kinect input lag it's barely noticeable, but the sensor's response time could get even faster in future, according to a newly published Microsoft research paper.
Sorry, Dance Central
Kylie Minogue's "Aphrodite: Les Folie" tour is sponsored by Kinect and Dance Central, with Microsoft asking "can you out dance Kylie?" It's not the only question the company has asked though, with a series of exclusive Kylie Minogue interviews kicking off today.
How widespread is it?
We've heard numerous reports from users suffering a black screen error on their shiny new 3DS consoles that halts any game mid-flow, causing a hard reset. Nintendo has now released a statement on the matter, though it doesn't go into much more detail than the advice displayed on-screen.If anyone is experiencing any problems with their Nintendo 3DS console, we recommend that in the first instance they download and install the latest system update, now available online.
Secrets under wrap
Sitting two months away from E3 is always an exciting time. In the minds of gamers anything is possible before the show, with more outlandish fantasies than a Xena convention, and Kinect is no exception. Recently Microsoft's developer network (MSDN) sat down with three of the most important people on the Kinect project — Alex Kipman, Kuno Tsunoda and Darren Bennett — about what the future holds for the sensor, and while their lips were sealed on the most part, we can expect big news at E3.
The Xbox has always been aimed at the heavy user: it was the first console to feature a hard drive and the first to make a decent fist of online play (sorry, Dreamcast.) Its most successful first-party franchises are geared towards the hardcore gamer, and after years of failed attempts to draw in the family gamer (sorry, *Viva Piñata) the console is finally growing its audience thanks to Kinect.
With free demo included
Today Capcom announced that Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D will come with a Resident Evil Revelations demo, but when can UK gamers get their hands on the multiplayer monster mash? As soon as 17th June, according to ratings board BBFC.
Price-cutting continues
Kinect launched in the UK with a recommended retail price of £129.99, but with Christmas long gone the sensor's price has started slowly slipping: in February we saw Tesco selling Kinect for £99.99, with Game not far behind at £104.99. Initial speculation suggested that Microsoft had reduced the price of Kinect to retailers, allowing them to pass on the discount to consumers, but it now appears the price cuts are entirely retailers' decisions.
My name is James Newton, and this is my website - a collection of my writings about
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