Tag: kinect

This is the Xbox One S

Do you have your best shocked face ready? Microsoft just announced a slimmer Xbox One, the Xbox One S. Okay, so the surprise was kinda ruined by a month of leaks, culminating in a picture of the thing finding its way into the wild yesterday morning. But at least now that it’s official, we know exactly why Microsoft thinks you should buy a new Xbox. The big-ticket item is 4K support. That doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to play games in crazy high-res, but if you have a fancy TV it’ll provide plenty of options to watch content at 4K. In addition to supporting 4K versions of Netflix and Amazon Video content, there’s also 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray support. It’s not clear if that drive will be as standard, or an optional upgrade. The new console also supports HDR sets, and Gear of War 4 will be the first to support the wider color range. The Xbox One, as attractive or unattractive as you think it is, is undoubtedly a large machine, especially compared with its main rival, the PlayStation 4. The Xbox One S is 40-percent smaller and can be safely used vertically with an official stand. Elsewhere there’s an integrated power supply, meaning no more brick, and the option to include a more capacious 2TB hard drive. It’s also mostly white — a colorway Microsoft debuted for the original Xbox One. Other changes include a USB port in the front for easy access and the dropping of the Kinect port — there’ll be a USB adapter if you want to plug in Microsoft’s unloved camera accessory to the new machine. Oh, and there’s a new controller that’ll be bundled with the S, which has textured grips, improved range and Bluetooth. The Xbox One S launches this August at $299 for the 500GB version. No word on the price for the 2GB version yet. Source: Engadget Live Blog

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This is the Xbox One S

Rock Band creators team up with Disney for next-gen in ‘Fantasia: Music Evolved,’ headed to Xbox One / 360 in 2014

The tattoo-laden, musically-inclined game developers behind Frequency , Amplitude , Guitar Hero , Rock Band and Dance Central are taking on Disney’s Fantasia , this morning announcing next-gen Kinect game Fantasia: Music Evolved . Like its last game franchise, Harmonix is keeping exclusive to Microsoft game consoles with Kinect — the game is planned for launch some time in 2014 on both Xbox One and Xbox 360. Fantasia: Music Evolved — which we’re assuming must feature Master Chief somewhere given the naming convention and Microsoft exclusivity — aims to turn gamers into aspiring orchestra conductors. Er … sort of . The game is played by using both your arms to synchronously gesture in a variety of directions, with two on-screen icons indicating how to place your arms and which direction you’ll be gesturing toward. Ostensibly, the game asks players to conduct various pop songs (Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” and Queens’ “Bohemian Rhapsody,” among others), occasionally punctuated with a push, depth-wise, for various auditory flairs (among other things). You are the sorcerer’s apprentice, conducting the heavens (as it were). Moreover, the songs get remixed as you go along, with players choosing one of four musical styles to introduce dynamically as the track continues to play in the background. If it sounds overwhelming, that’s because it is. Gallery: Fantasia: Music Evolved Filed under: Gaming , Software , HD , Microsoft Comments

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Rock Band creators team up with Disney for next-gen in ‘Fantasia: Music Evolved,’ headed to Xbox One / 360 in 2014

Microsoft Research brings mid-air multitouch to Kinect (video)

Shortly after the Kinect SDK first launched , it spawned a number of inspired efforts from researchers to make it do more than just track your body. Microsoft Research finally seems to be catching up to its own tech, as it just flaunted a recent project that allows fine-tuned gesture control, thanks to a newly developed talent for the motion sensing device to read whether your hand is open or closed. That let the team simulate multitouch-like capability on a PC as they air-painted basic images and manipulated Bing maps by varying their hand states. The hardware used doesn’t appear to be stock, so whether such new capability entails a rumored new version of the Kinect that may or may not appear on a (rumored) future Xbox , we’ll leave for you to decide. Filed under: Peripherals , Microsoft Comments Via: NeoWin Source: Microsoft Research

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Microsoft Research brings mid-air multitouch to Kinect (video)