Microsoft trumps Kinect with 'sleek, silent, sexy' Xbox Microsoft has unveiled the latest and greatest Xbox 360, along with its new no-controller-required controller, Kinect (née Project Natal). Earlier today The Reg — in our hardware incarnation — caught a rumor from the Italian website Console Tribe about a new Xbox. We doubted it, but we're now happy to say that we were overly …
This isn't about selling upgrades. It's not really the "next generation" console, it's just an X360 that doesn't RROD. They have to get it to market as fast as possible for reasons that have nothing to do with getting the installed base to upgrade. This is of course all a guess on my part.
Hmm, that shiny black finish. What whisper-quiet, refined, next-gen console does it remind me of? Oh never mind, I already have one.
Can see the Dance game being huge, not overly sure on Kinectimals but it might work with the small kids etc. But Forza looked fantastic, can see that being fantastic fun with this. The Star Wars game looks a bit meh, not sure on that. Metal Gear Rising looked great also though. Halo Reach looked ok, but kind of samey and nothing to outstanding other than the spacecraft battles...guess will see later on nearer release.
The new console is nice, but not worth an upgrade. But nice idea though should I ever need a new one if the current one decides to give up on me (it's lasted 3 years already and run's great so doubt it anytime soon).
Is nice to see MS push the boundries and do something utterly new and original and put all those billions spent on research to good use for once instead of sitting on it. The skeletal tracking is a great innovation, and can't wait to see what will occur with it once someones got it onto the PC (probably a few days after it's released since it's just a USB device).
My only concern really is how it'll all work out with limited space in the living room. What happens if you haven't a nice vacant 3m space in front of your telly? will it still work if your closer due to the sofa etc? will the movie control gestures still work if your lounging on the sofa? lot's of unknowns still. But can't wait to give one a try.
Can't remember exactly when I brought Eyetoy for the PS2, but more than 5 years ago.
No controller required (though my daughter has a cheerleader game in which the camera tracks the pink and gree pom-poms). So having a camera and not having any controller is quite old - the Eyetoy dates back to 2002; certainly old enough for MS to have ramped up an R&D effort to copy it and improve it.
Try an eyetoy game - you can play the entire game with no controller other than you hands & body. My kids loved it as they jumped around doing dance steps or karate games.
Never took off in the US the same way as the Wii did, but given the age of the PS2 console, eyetoy was very innovative (and it works with the SingStar series and plenty of other games).
The PS3 version of the same also uses some tricks using the camera - i.e. card games that look at the cards. Even saw one good tech demo where the player could draw pictures on a bit of paper, show it to the camera & have the drawing added to the game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyetoy
The free press Xbox "slim" units (bribes) handed out at the show are not very quiet at all, infact about the same as current Xbox according to initial reports. Not unsurprising, as Microsoft have made these claims about every Xbox, and it's turned out to be untrue (they also made false claims about fixing RROD) There is not much heat coming out the back (which is very worrying... as any engineer knows hot air escaping is good for product reliability).
Does this new model include Blu-Ray? -NO
Does it offer ANYTHING aside from Wifi (which the PS3 has included since launch) - NO
Does it still need the HUGE power brick -YES
Worse still, it does not allow you to use your own storage devices, and you have to throw your old overpriced Microsoft devices away and buy new ones.
Honestly, you have to wonder how braindead Xbox owners are, when they allow/encourage Microsoft to continually bitchslap them like this.
If anyone things this is some RROD magic bullet, they are sorely mistaken, it seems the crucual airflow problems have not been fixed and if anything worsened by the smaller case. Still Microsoft know they will sell, so they really don't care.
"If anyone things this is some RROD magic bullet, they are sorely mistaken"
- Are you stuck in 2007, Sir? What reports are these, as so far I've not read anything to back up your statements.
I have two elites, both post-Jasper update and they are fine. Never red-ringed. The re-designed internals and the move from two small (noisy) fans to one larger and quieter fan (less rpm's) means much more efficiency.
Lets look at your other gems shall we?
"Does this new model include Blu-Ray? -NO"
-Well of course not Bluray is a Sony standard and MS has been pushing towards digital distribution for some time. Add the delayed seek time on blue-ray disks and its easy to see why they stuck with the DVD. Not to mention the fact that it would render current 360's unable to use anything brought out exclusively to bluray.
"Does it offer ANYTHING aside from Wifi (which the PS3 has included since launch) - NO"
- Quieter, smaller, WiFi N, 5 USB points (up from three), new removable HDD enclosure, TOSlink output. Its a remodel, not a new generation, what did you expect?
"Does it still need the HUGE power brick -YES"
- Actually thats now smaller too. I'd personally take an external brick over an inbuilt one any day. Easier to replace.
"Worse still, it does not allow you to use your own storage devices, and you have to throw your old overpriced Microsoft devices away and buy new ones."
- Actually you can use FAT formatted USB devices. I use a corsair memory stick at the moment. Unless you mean the HDD. The MS memory card is now phased out but easily transferred to old Xbox HDD and moved to USB or swapped with the HDD transfer kit.
I realise you are a PS3 fanboy. I like my PS3, I watch blurays more than streamed movies from Zune. However I think a lot of your facts are in fact not actually facts. You rant about a problem that went away a long time ago wth the RROD, you claim unrealibility on a console that hasn't actually been released yet and quote numerous 'articles' wihtout any reference. I suggest you really think about what you write next time before pouring out-dated generalisms into a comments box.
Have a nice day.
Here's a nice, semi-official roundup of FAQ's about the new system;
http://forums.xbox.com/32975486/ShowPost.aspx
key details:
- Newbox has kinetic power adaptor built-in, oldskool xboxes will need separate power adaptors
- Xbox memory cards won't work, which makes the spring USB update make more sense, now.
One of the missed features of the redesigned 360 is an increase in the number of USB ports. There's the regular two at the front (under a flap on the left, if you're looking at the promo picture) but there's now three at the rear, instead of the usual one.
Hardly a killer feature, but it does open up a little flexibility in the 360's expansion options. Personally, I'll be attaching at least one 16GB flash drive at the rear. All the better to run installed games from.
I'm looking forward to upgrading (or perhaps just accompanying) my current 360 with the new one.
pretending to be British Xbox fans defending it....
Just to point out, Microsoft have claimed EVERY update of Xbox360 would fix RROD and be whisper quiet and so far none of them have...
I wouldn't expect this one to be any different. You JUST can't stick it in a smaller box and excpect the previous airflow/overheating problems to be solved... A smaller box usually means faster fans.
.....should note that Sony copied the Logitech QuickCam that came out in 2000 with games you could play by jumping around. It was fun 10 years ago playing a basic basketball game in a glass fronted store drawing in quite a crowd.
And yes you can use Kinect from your sofa with hand and voice control for apps but not sure about the games.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
