Windows Mobile + Surface + Kinect: Microsoft’s Total Tracking Concept
Tag: Kinect
Microsoft’s interactive Kinect NUads rolling out in ‘late spring’ | The Verge
Microsoft’s interactive Kinect NUads rolling out in ‘late spring’
Exclusive: $99 Xbox 360 + Kinect bundle launching next week with two-year subscription | The Verge
X-Box 360 Bundle To Be Sold On Contract
Dragon’s Lair Kinect Release Date Announced – G4tv.com
Kinect Enabled Dragon’s Lair Coming to XBLA
Immersive tech pulls players at E3 2010
The annual games bacchanalia otherwise known as E3 recently drew to a close and despite the chaos of multi-story megabooths staffed by both the bizarrely and scantily clad, two important trends were easily identifiable. Here’s a quick overview of this year’s dominant themes.
Motion control
Imagine you’re playing a baseball game. Would you rather push a button that tells the pitcher to initiate a throwing motion or would you rather whip your arm forward and watch the player mimic your movement. Anybody who’s played a videogame in the last 30 years is familiar with the button paradigm; at E3 2010, the games industry was clearly intent on adding the more novel notion of physicality to the controller mix. Continue reading “Immersive tech pulls players at E3 2010”
Virtual good creation becoming real brand task
One of the big show stoppers at E3 was Microsoft’s roll out of Kinect, featuring a natural user interface and motion sensing capabilities. With Playstation’s Move, Sony’s motion sensing addition to the PlayStation and the preexisting Nintendo’s Wii, there’s now greater emphasis on simulated environments. And along with these simulated environments, or virtual realities, comes virtual objects.
How will brands introduce their real world products into these rich virtual worlds? Computer-aided design (CAD) suddenly becomes much more important. CAD is typically known for the design of tools and machinery and for drafting and design in architecture. But now CAD and other 3D software solutions play an important role as brands begin to populate these virtual worlds with virtual objects based on real life products. Continue reading “Virtual good creation becoming real brand task”
Mobile gaming revenues exploding
Games figured heavily in the (official) introduction of the iPhone 4G and according to industry research, it’s easy to see why. A recent Nielsen study found games are the most frequently used apps, ahead of more utilitarian categories such as social networking, news and navigation. Games are also at the top of the entertainment app heap, with more usage than anything having to do with either music or movies. Current projections see global mobile gaming revenues surpassing $5.6 billion in 2010.
Here are a few of the new iPhone’s gaming-relevant updates. A new chipset and the promise of faster processing could improve the speed and graphic quality of games. Promises of better networking speeds could eventually allow better multiplayer or even eventually streaming experiences. A better camera on the back and a new camera on the front might allow iPhone developer to take creative cues from existing game platforms and eventually yield some interesting changes in the way players can control the experience. The new iPhone also has a built-in gyroscope, promising more refined game control. The near-term implications are obvious: better mobile games and competition against the mobile games platforms from Nintendo or Sony. The potential long-term ramifications are far more compelling. Continue reading “Mobile gaming revenues exploding”
