Latest Features
Feature The Fix-Up: Improvements The Next Xbox One Dashboard Must Include
Get it sorted, Microsoft!
The Xbox One dashboard, or operating system, will be getting updated at some point in the future. There haven’t been any announcements regarding timing, but given that the Xbox 360’s dashboard was given a complete makeover via a firmware update at least twice, it’s pretty much a given. At launch, the Xbox One...
Friday Five Five Things Microsoft Got Right With the Xbox One Reveal
Contrary to apparent popular belief
How can we put this? The Xbox One Reveal was not to everyone’s tastes. OK. It wasn’t to the majority of people’s tastes. Despite the chortling at the name, the look of the console, the fact that Kinect needs to be connected at all times, and that playing a preowned game will cost you more than it used to,...
Friday Five Five Reveals That Would Bring The House Down on May 21st
We're excited. Can you tell?
The next generation of Xbox is coming, and when Microsoft step to the stage on May 21st to finally confirm what the Xbox 720/Infinity/Durango/Next (or whatever they finally call it) will consist of, there will be bombs aplenty dropping all over the show. We know that the company has promised to leave the gaming focus to...
Friday Five Five PS3 Exclusives We Wish Weren't PS3 Exclusives
If wishes were fishes...
With the announcement this week that Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection isn’t coming to the Xbox 360, we started thinking about titles that we wished had made the jump to Microsoft’s platform. We came up with a list as long as your arm, that spanned several consoles but in the end, the Xbox 360’s natural closest...
Happy New Year!
Some Kinect owners – OK, a lot of Kinect owners – are probably feeling a little bit as if Kinect is done and dusted. A quiet release schedule in 2012, where most of the blockbuster titles that featured Kinect support were limited to voice commands or tacked-on mini-games that didn't work, combined with a somewhat thin release...
Feature Kinect PlayFit - First Impressions
Free. Worth every penny.
So, Kinect PlayFit has been out for about a week, and it seems that folks are racking up the burnt calories like there's no tomorrow. The free app (available from your Xbox dashboard) tracks your play across 10 different Kinect titles, tracking how many calories you burn and awarding achievements and avatar awards based on...
Guide Starting Out with Kinect
Get the most from your sensor right away
So you've unwrapped all your presents and found a shiny new Kinect and games. Congratulations, and welcome aboard! Unlike every other motion controller on the market, you don't need anything in your hands to play Kinect — with no controllers and no buttons you're free to use your body and voice to play the...
Feature Kinect Holiday Gift Guide 2011
What's worth your money?
There are over 80 games available for Kinect now, and knowing exactly which one to pick up as a present can be a tough proposition. That's why we've put together our Kinect holiday game guide 2011 to let you know exactly what you should be looking for when picking a game this season. We've split this article into five...
Talking Point What's Kinect Doing Right or Wrong?
One year on, how's it going?
Kinect has had a full 12 months to bed itself in, and arguably the standard of releases this Christmas is higher than what the sensor launched with last year, but the sensor still hasn't established itself as a home for quality games. In the past few days we've seen an encouragingly healthy discussion about the matter...
First Impressions Kinectimals with Windows Phone 7
Kitty in your pocket
Unlike Nintendo and Sony consoles, sadly you've never been able to take your Xbox games on the go with you, something even Dreamcast offered over 10 years ago. Now with Windows Phone 7 devices and Xbox 360 you're able to access select content wherever you are, something we recently got chance to try out with Kinectimals and...
Reader Blog Losing 80 Pounds with Kinect and Dance Central
It can be done
In the first of a new series of reader blogs, we're sharing stories from Kinect fans just like you. We want to hear bout any success stories you might have had — a great video you made in Yoostar 2, a world record score in Kinect Sports or something awesome made possible by Kinect. You can contact KINECTaku to share your story, and...
First Impressions The Black Eyed Peas Experience
Rock that body
Michael Jackson: The Experience was a pretty good attempt at bringing the King of Pop to the living room, but the Black Eyed Peas are a totally different undertaking: whereas the MJ game put you in Michael's shoes in his legendary live shows and music videos, in The Black Eyed Peas Experience you don't play as Will.i.am, Fergie or the...
First Impressions Just Dance 3
Get on the floor!
Until now Harmonix has undoubtedly had the Kinect dancing market all sewn up, but that dominance will meet its sternest challenge yet in October when Ubisoft brings the astonishingly successful Just Dance brand across to Xbox 360 in the luridly coloured form of Just Dance 3. At first glance, very little has changed from its Wii...
First Impressions Kinect Sports: Season Two
Another big score for Microsoft?
Last night we brought you our First Impressions of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier from Microsoft's Christmas showcase, and next on our travels was the sequel to Rare's Kinect Sports, without doubt one of Kinect's best launch games. We were quickly told that the motion tracking had been vastly improved from the first...
First Impressions Fruit Ninja Kinect
Ripening nicely
If you happen to own a modern smartphone then you’ve probably already sampled the delights of Halfbrick’s amazing Fruit Ninja. The game has now registered over 20 million downloads across mobile formats, and rightly so — it’s one of those unique titles that takes a very basic premise (in this case, the slicing and dicing of...
Talking Point What Should Microsoft Do With Kinect At E3?
Tell us your hopes
Microsoft's E3 2011 news conference is only a few weeks away, and our thoughts are turning towards what the company will show off on Monday 6th June. Here's a list of what we believe Microsoft should do with Kinect in order to capture the imagination like it did at E3 2010. Improved Tracking: In its current form, Kinect can...
Features A Guide to Kinect Fitness Games
Let's get sweaty
If you're looking to lose a few pounds as part of your New Year's Resolution, grabbing a fitness game for Kinect is a good way to go, but with so many out there how can you pick the one that's best for you? Here a brief rundown of all the fitness games currently available for Kinect, all of which we've exhaustively playtested and...
