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Today we have news that Kinect Star Wars may be in 3D, Double Fine is coming out with a new fun game, Dance Central 2 gets some a new downloadable hip hop song, and people are not really happy with the $250 pricetag on the Kinect for Windows.
You’ve probably heard by now that Star Wars is being re-released in 3D, well at least Phantom Menace for now, and then depending on how that goes, the rest. And you probably have heard that Kinect Star Wars has also been delayed. What do the two have in common? Well a curious news item out of CES 2012 says that the game will also have 3D elements in it, which could possibly explain the moving back of the shipment date to Spring, possibly Summer 2012. That would be pretty sweet to take out a droid in 3D, but I do hope that some of that further development time was used to tweak and correct some of the motion tracking issues that many complained about. There is no date officially on either the Xbox 360 Kinect Star Wars Bundle or the title itself at this point, but we hope it’s sooner than later.
The developers at Double Fine, who brought you Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, will be coming out with a new Xbox Live Arcade mini-game title next month. The Happy Action Theater will feature a series of mini-games that are like a funhouse, 18 in all. There are things like magic mirrors, weird video effects, playing the joystick in a Galaga type game, jumping up and down, dancing, and much, much more. It seems the title will be a delight for the younger users who will find the game play super easy (no instructions or rules), but it will probably have a certain attraction by the older set as well, especially drunk college students. The company says that gamer’s priorities will change on February 1, 2012, the game’s release date. I don’t know about that, but it does sound like a pretty hilarious way to spend an evening with the kids (or your friends). No word on how much it will be when released, but it will be a downloadable title.
Those who are still playing Dance Central 2 will get to dance to a new tune soon courtesy of Harmonix. The company announced that they would be releasing a DLC of Busta Rhymes single “Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On ‘Em)” from 2008. While it’s good to see the company offering new material for Dance Central’s titles, $3.00 (240 Microsoft Points) seems a bit high to add a single song to a game, but who am I to judge? The song was choreographed by Devin Woolridge, who has created dances for many of the hip hop titles.
And speaking of price, some people were angered at the Microsoft’s decision to charge $250 for the Kinect for Windows, when the Xbox version is only $150. Their answer was a bit confusing to those who think of the Kinect as being the PC equivalent of the one for their gaming console. PR rep Jose Pinero tried to explain the price hike by saying that the Windows one was being released to facilitate easier development for places like hospitals and organizations that are using the Kinect in ways that were not foreseen originally. The odd thing about this justification is that one of the things we have always heard is that the low cost was one of the major reasons why the motion tracker had become so popular. But then if you are a corporation like Mattel or United Healthcare, $100 difference isn’t going to matter that much. As for the gaming community, Microsoft’s PR guy didn’t even mention it at all, but rather concentrated on the commercial applications as well as the integration of Xbox Live (with Kinect) into Windows phones, Xbox, and PCs to make an integrated entertainment experience. That makes us wonder just how much Microsoft will push game developers, if at all, to come out with Kinect for Windows games, or will control be left up to those who hack the controls now?
And that’s all the news we have for the moment. Thanks for reading…
