project natal
Xbox Kinect Motion Controller Sells 10 Million Units In 60 Days – Fastest Selling Gadget Ever!
March 12, 2011
Well it was pretty obvious that the Xbox Kinect would be a huge success for Microsoft, but just how successful was the cause for much skepticism. Pitting itself against the PlayStation Move primarily, but also the Nintendo Wii, in terms of functionality, it faced stiff competition from day one, back on the 4th of November last year.
However, Guinness has now announced that selling 10 million units since then, places it as numbero uno when it comes to sales figures in it’s book of world records.
The infrared camera for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has also encouraged a huge increase in game sales for the 360, according to Microsoft, with again, 10 million being the cited figure of Kinect games.
Continue reading »Win An Xbox Kinect Sensor & Games (Competition)
March 2, 2011
Here on Zath we’ve been interested in Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect Sensor/Motion Controller ever since it was first announced as Project Natal at E3 2009, the idea of Wii-style games without the need for a controller interested us greatly, however it was the potential for truly different kinds of gaming that this gaming accessory could provide us with.
One specific example of this was demonstrated by Peter Molyneux’s Milo artificial intelligence concept, which although the concept won’t see the light of day as its own game, the technology will no doubt be used in future games.
Anyway, you’ve probably had chance to read our recent Kinect review in which we asked whether you should buy one, and also found out what we thought to Kinect Adventures and Kinect Sports, well now we’re going to give you the chance to win an Xbox Kinect motion controller for yourself in our latest competition here on Zath!
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Xbox Kinect Sensor Review – Should I Buy The Xbox 360 Motion Controller?
February 22, 2011
I was quite excited when I first starting reading about Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect. A motion controller gaming system without the actual controller sounded like futuristic stuff and ever since it was first announced to the world as Project Natal, it was something I just had to have, it really came across as actual future technology that until then you’d only seen in sci-fi movies.
I was excited when I did finally got my hands on Kinect after we’d already seen a Xbox Kinect/Project Natal Preview, even more so through the setup as it felt strange not to be using a controller apart from my very own hands to lead the way.
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Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Preview – Exercise Better With Xbox 360 Kinect Than Wii Fit?
October 15, 2010
The line-up for the Xbox 360 Kinect‘s November 10th launch just keeps expanding. I was invited to London’s Soho Hotel this week to try out Ubisoft’s new lifestyle Kinect game, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved.
First impression: The Kinect camera clearly has some sort of terrible convex mirror effect.
Nope. The camera is fine, more’s the pity. On with the game!
Fitness Evolved has a number of modes as follows:
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Kinect UK Price & New Xbox 360 Slim 4GB Console Announced
July 23, 2010
After months of waiting, Microsoft has finally announced the price for their motion sensor controller peripheral for the Xbox 360; ‘Kinect’ and will sell for a rather higher than expected price of £129.99. The unit will also come with a free game, Kinect Adventures and will be released in November 2010.
A few months back we reported that there were rumours going around that Kinect (or Project Natal as it was called back then) would sell for only £50 which I thought would have been a great price for a peripheral. But now the official price has come out, I am a little bit disappointed with how expensive the motion sensing camera actually is.
Continue reading »E3 2010 Review
June 25, 2010
A few days ago the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2010 closed its doors, having provided many magical, momentous and maladroit surprises and previews for the games industry, the largest entertainment industry in the world.
While I may not be able to discuss everything, as such a feat would require a small army of journalists, I hope to be able to impart to you the low-down on some of the biggest titles and newest technology of E3 over the next few days and here’s a roundup of the events in general of this premier games show…
Continue reading »E3 2010: Games News & Press Events Review – Day 2
June 17, 2010
We’re in full swing at E3 2010 after our day 1 coverage and full of excitement and sheer madness that fills the atmosphere. Activision’s extravaganza last night set some of their biggest games’ trailers to a whole host of massive artists from Usher to Jane’s Addiction, capping off the night with Eminem, showcasing Call of Duty: Black Ops. But enough of the publicity stunts, let’s get down to business.
Konami Press Conference
Konami offered a mixed bag this afternoon, ranging from images of a woman being dissected by an elevator in Saw II, to campness defined in Glee Karaoke Revolution. The real highlights were as follows. An announcement of Silent Hill 8 (working title) with an overhauled combat system for 360 and PS3 got horror fans shuddering with excitement and Never Dead, the new title from Rebellion, by Shinta Nojiri, looks to be a 3rd person shooter in which the loss of limbs is just a minor inconvenience: neat.
Perhaps most exciting for yours truly was a little bit more chat over Metal Gear: Rising. The energy in the spine that Raiden rips out in the trailer is a core gameplay mechanic that constitutes energy and even intel for our bleached-haired heroin.
Continue reading »E3 2010: Games News & Press Events Review – Day 1
June 16, 2010
So here it is, the gaming judgement day of the year, E3 2010, where every company, big or small, casual or hardcore struts their stuff for buyers, and primarily, the insatiably hungry media.
I arrived in LA on Monday and thanks to an uncharacteristically cool summer day, I’ve managed to squeeze in plenty of previews, for which I will share my impressions with you now. I shall be writing each day up in the evening, and then putting together a reflective summary afterwards, along with a few interviews with developers. So here goes…
Microsoft
After an elaborate, and ultimately insane fanfare for Kinect (the artist formerly known as Project Natal) which utilised the unwitting media, clothing them in white and blue ponchos and shoulder pads, Microsoft showed their hand on Monday morning, and as expected Kinect featured very heavily.
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Kinect – Project Natal Motion Controller Renamed For Release In Nov 2010
June 14, 2010
E3 2010 is about to start and Microsoft have come out of the blocks early and officially announced that their motion controller peripheral for the Xbox 360 will be named ‘Kinect’.
Kinect has a release date of November 2010, right around the time for Santa to start getting orders. Along with the official name, a few games were announced that will be released with the Xbox 360 motion controller:
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Project Natal / Kinect Preview (Xbox 360 Motion Controller)
June 13, 2010
Around a year ago, we got our first look at Microsoft’s latest innovation for their Xbox 360 console, their motion controller; Project Natal and a lot of people have been wanting to see just how well this works, well I recently got the chance to have a hands-on (so to speak) preview!
Ever since Project Natal was announced, I’ve been very keen to see quite what it’s capable of because the potential it holds for future games could be substantial as shown in the videos at E3 2009, especially the Milo interactive artificial intelligence that Peter Molyneux’s developers created in just a short time of having access to this in-development Xbox motion controller accessory.
Anyway, here’s what I thought of my preview session…
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Project Natal Release Date Update?
May 13, 2010
We all knew that Microsoft’s Project Natal; the Xbox 360 motion controller would be released before the end of 2010, but we never knew exactly when. Well there’s rumours going around that we could be seeing Natal released in October of this year, just in time for the Christmas rush.
Someone called Syed Bilal Tariq who works on behalf of a Microsoft subsidiary in Saudi Arabia said that Natal’s release…
“is going to be somewhere in October and we will be in a position to confirm the date at E3, which is in June, but definitely it is going to be October 2010.”
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Playstation Move Announced (PS3 Motion Controller)
March 11, 2010
It’s taken a while for the official name of the Playstation 3 motion controller, ‘wand’, ‘arc’ or whatever else people wanted to call it, but Sony have released the official name for their motion controller as the ‘Playstation Move’.
The announcement was made at GDC yesterday along with a trailer of the type of games that we’ll be looking at playing to start off with. With true 1:1 motion control, it is said to be more responsive than Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus controllers which is a bold statement.
I’m looking forward to seeing just how the PS3 Move is and what kind of games will be released for it. The fact we’ll be able to play motion controlled games in HD isn’t really a major factor. What I want is a game that uses Move and to get me really immersed in the action. I’m not one for the gimmicky party titles so I’d like to see some new IP games created for use with Move and see how that pans out.
Continue reading »Zath’s Technology & Gadget Roundup (20/02/2010)
February 20, 2010
It’s the end of another week in the online world of hi-tech gadgets and technology blogging and as usual there’s been a lot happening out there, so here’s a quick roundup of some of the stuff that we’ve found particularly interesting this week, let us know what you think to them too!
Linux Training Week on Zath – I’m sure we’ve all heard of Linux, but for me personally it’s not something I’ve ever seriously looked at because I always assumed it wasn’t worth the hassle of installation for something that wasn’t that worthwhile, well clearly I was wrong on that one! As you can see from this useful series of articles about the Ubuntu distribution of Linux – it’s easy to setup Ubuntu, it’s an easy to use the Ubuntu interface and there’s lots of software available for Linux.
Heineken Beer-Serving Robot of the Future – oh yes that’s right, in the future we won’t need to get up from the comfort of the sofa, instead the robots will bring the beer to us! This particular robot makes for a great novelty, but it does make you wonder about the potential of robots in the future.
Buy Walkie Talkie Watches? – admittedly walkie talkies aren’t exactly hi-tech these days or even that wanted by people now we all have modern mobile phones such as the iPhone 3GS and Nexus One, but these particular ones can be strapped on your wrist and would make for great free-to-use communication devices if you like to be out in the great outdoors or perhaps having a multi-car roadtrip given they have a range of up to 5km. I just wish I had some of these back when I was a kid!
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Sony Motion Controller (Move) Release Date Delayed
January 21, 2010
Sony have announced that their new PS3 motion controller, which was due out this Spring, has had it’s release date pushed back to Autumn 2010 for a worldwide release.
The reason it seems as to why this has been delayed is that:
“We have decided to release the Motion Controller in Fall 2010 when we will be able to offer an exciting and varied line-up of software titles that will deliver the new entertainment experience to PS3 users”
So by the sounds of that, it means that companies aren’t getting the games ready on time for the PS3 motion controller’s original release date and it will now go up against Microsoft’s Project Natal release date that will happen around the same time. Will this delay turn out to be a poor move from Sony?
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Project Natal Release Date & Hardware Update
January 10, 2010
Microsoft announced at CES this year, that Project Natal has a release date of ‘Holiday 2010’. There’s been no official release date, but at least we know that it’ll be high on some Xbox 360 gamers Christmas list in 2010.
Along with the announcement of the Project Natal release date, it’s also been confirmed that Microsoft are to drop a hardware chip from Natal’s motion control system to save themselves some money. The hardware chip was going to be the processing power for Natal, but this has now been dropped and a software solution has been set in place.
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Project Natal Release Date & Price Announced?
November 12, 2009
A release date and price has apparently been unofficially announced for the Xbox 360 motion control system; Project Natal and I have to say I’m quite surprised by them, it will be released at a price of around £50 and has a release date of November 2010 – I personally thought it would be a lot more than this, so if true, this is great news from Microsoft!
When Xbox 360′s Project Natal motion controller system is released there will be 14 games available, but nothing yet on whether any of these will be AAA titles. Lionhead have been working on the Project Natal AI kids known as Milo and Kate so could this be a possible launch title? From what I’ve seen of it, it looks impressive and is one of the many reasons I bought an Xbox 360.
Continue reading »‘Milo’ Artificial Intelligence – The End Of Society As We Know It?
July 2, 2009
Until about 5 years ago I generally had a good understanding about modern technology but as you know, 5 years is a long time. I don’t think my mobile phone even had a camera back then and my PC had an impressive 8 gig of memory.
Since graduating from university in 2004 I’d say the closest I’ve come to new technology is having a go on my mates’ PS3 and getting a new phone when I renew my contract every 18 months. All I know about AI is what I’ve learned from the Terminator films and watching the clip of the Project Natal “Milo” demo on Zath.
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New Xbox 360 in 2010!
June 20, 2009
There’s been a few rumours circulating the Microsoft were going to release a new version of their Xbox 360 console next year.
It turns out, those rumours are true.
Microsoft’s CEO; Steve Ballmer was the one to announce the new Xbox 360 at ‘The Executive’s Club of Chicago’. The new Xbox 360 is set to have a “built-in camera” which could well be Project Natal motion controller system which was revealed at E3 2009 a few weeks ago.
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Project Natal – ‘Milo’ Artificial Intelligence
June 5, 2009
We recently did a post about Microsoft’s new motion control system titled ‘Project Natal’. From what I’ve seen, it looks like it could be great fun to use because of being able to use your entire body rather than just remotes.
After delving a little further for information, I came across Peter Molyneux’s ‘Milo’. An artificial intelligence character that can interact with you through Natal. I have to say, I’m absolutely amazed from what I’ve seen as it’s not even 50% complete yet. But on the other hand, I’m a little freaked out by the potential of this new technology. But…….it’s genius!
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Sony PS3 Motion Sensor Controller
June 4, 2009
After Microsoft announced their impressive Xbox Project Natal, it was Sony’s turn with their PS3 motion sensor controller, and after what I’ve read I feel very…….meh!!
Not that it doesn’t look impressive, but it’s nothing new. It seems exactly the same as Nintendo’s Wii remote and their Wii Motion Plus. Sony are boasting true 1:1 motion control and the video, which you can see below, really does make it look good, but again, it’s nothing new.
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