iThinkDifferent » Xbox 360

Fruit Ninja Released For Xbox Kinect [DOWNLOAD]

Haras — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:32:31 +0000

Fruit Ninja Released For Xbox Kinect [DOWNLOAD]

Developed by Halfbrick, Fruit Ninja was first released for iOS devices. Within days, the application became one of the most popular titles in the App Store. The developers then created a version for Android and Windows Phone smartphones. They later revealed plans of creating a version of the game that would support Kinect on the Xbox.

The game was released earlier today, and it has been getting very good reviews. The Metacritic score of this game is 72 out of 100.

The game will allow you to play with your friends and family (up to two different people at a time). Instead of just using your fingers on a smartphone display, this version will allow you to be “The Controller.” So jump in!

The game costs 800 Microsoft points, which is approximately $10.00. For a console game with a Metacritic score of 72, this price is quite reasonable. If you still question the purchase, watch the trailer below and we’re sure you’ll be convinced!

Click here to download the game for Xbox 360 (Marketplace link)

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Download Kinect For Windows SDK Beta Refresh [32bit / 64bit]

ICEMAN — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:22:30 +0000

Download Kinect For Windows SDK Beta Refresh [32bit / 64bit]

Kinect for Windows SDK beta has been refreshed by Microsoft and is now available for download. The new beta includes various improvements and bug fixes, aimed at developers looking to create applications for Windows with support for Kinect, the Xbox 360 motion controller. The official statement from a Microsoft’s representative regarding this update is as follows:

“In support of our commitment to encourage researchers and enthusiasts in their exploration of the exciting possibilities of the Kinect sensor, we have now released a refreshed version of the SDK.”

The beta refresh includes:

Driver enhancements: stability fixes to prevent crashes, including those that appear when a PC goes into sleep mode
Runtime enhancements: refinements to a number of APIs, improvements in time-stamping, and the removal of non-functional APIs to alleviate confusion (they will be reinserted if and when the functionality becomes available in future releases)

Download Kinect for Windows SDK – 32bit

Download Kinect for Windows SDK – 64bit

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[vai WinRumors]

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Avatar Kinect Available To All Xbox Live Users Now! [VIDEO DEMO]

Haras — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:17:43 +0000

Avatar Kinect Available To All Xbox Live Users Now! [VIDEO DEMO]

Microsoft has made Avatar Kinect available to all Xbox Live users for free. It was first revealed and demoed during CES ‘11, by Steve Ballmer. Little was announced at that time, however last week we reported it will arrive by July 27th, but Microsoft has made it available today.

This service is part of Kinect Fun Labs, and is surprisingly available for free for all Xbox Live users. But, it will be restricted to Xbox Live Gold members only after September 8.

The download is approximately 660 MB and allows users to chat and interact with their friends and family. They can also record their experiences and upload them later to the Kinect Share website.

Download Avatar Kinect For Xbox 360 Live!

Here is a “hands on” video demo of Avatar Kinect:

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[via WinRumors]

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Microsoft Xbox Live Avatar Kinect To Be Released on July 27

Haras — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:41:25 +0000

Microsoft Xbox Live Avatar Kinect To Be Released on July 27

Avatar Kinect for Xbox Live will be launched on July 27, by Microsoft.

Avatar Kinect was first introduced by Steve Ballmer during CES this year. At the time, not much information was released on the release dates, although Steve Ballmer did say it would launch “later this spring”. However, WinRumors reports that Microsoft may be launching the product by the end of this month.

Avatar Kinect will allow users to chat and interact with each other in a whole new way. People can choose different scenes to interact with each other, once chosen they can invite up to eight people to chat and have fun with. Avatar Kinect recognizes facial expressions such as eyebrow and lip movements and translates them to your avatar on your Xbox.

Avatar Kinect will launch in Kinect Fun Labs, which is where Microsoft will bring new (mostly free) fun applications for Kinect. First launched in June, it was released with four applications, which includes the famous KinectMe that looks at your facial features and creates an avatar based on your face and clothes.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Xbox 360 Cloud Storage Is Available Now!

ICEMAN — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:48:54 +0000

Xbox 360 Cloud Storage Is Available Now!

Xbox 360 users are getting the Cloud storage feature this week which will allow them to download and even resume games on other Xbox 360 consoles. Games will automatically be saved to the Xbox LIVE Cloud storage eliminating the need of carrying them on portable memory unit or an Xbox hard drive. A gamertag recovery feature is also being phased out by Microsoft in favour of the new cloud storage support. Users simply need to sign-in to their Xbox LIVE account and can access all their game data.

According to Eurogamer, the new Cloud storage feature is already available to some users who got the recent Xbox 360 dashboard update and its working for all Xbox LIVE arcade games. The feature is expected to be released by the end of 2011 when the new Windows Phone 7 inspired Xbox 360 dashboard UI goes public.

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[via WinRumors]

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Gears Of War 3 Xbox 360 Torrent Leaked, Microsoft Responds!

ICEMAN — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:01:14 +0000

Gears Of War 3 Xbox 360 Torrent Leaked, Microsoft Responds!

Last weekend, a leaked copy of Gears Of War 3 somehow found its way to a number of torrent sites over the internet. The game contains the full campaign for single player as well as multiplayer modes. Though it only works on modded Xbox 360 consoles and has a bunch of bugs and graphical glitches since its a test build copy. It didn’t take long after this for Microsoft to respond with an official statement regarding the leaked GOW 3 copy.

Microsoft representative says:

“It as a test build. We have seen the reports of Gears of War 3 content being propped on the Web and working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation. This content is not from a final build and is not representative of what fans will enjoy when the game launches worldwide on September 20, 2011.”

By now, pre-orders of Gears Of War 2 have surpassed 1 million as game is set for release in 3 different editions on September 20th this year. All pre-orders will also get an exclusive figurine with Gears Of War 3 Epic Edition. So, have you tried the “buggy torrent copy” of Gears of War 3 yet? Let us know your thoughts on the game!

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[via WinRumors]

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Download Kinect For Windows SDK (32Bit / 64bit) Starter Kit Now!

ICEMAN — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:10:48 +0000

Download Kinect For Windows SDK (32Bit / 64bit) Starter Kit Now!

Today, Microsoft has released the first beta of Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit. The SDK, also described as the “starter kit” is available for download in both 32-bit an 64-bit versions and includes Kinect drivers for Windows, sample codes and APIs. Microsoft wants to encourage development and creation of new academic and entertainment experiences by researchers and enthusiasts using the Xbox 360‘s motion sensor on the Windows platform. A commercial Kinect for Windows SDK is also in the pipeline, says a Microsoft representative.

Anoop Gupta, Microsoft Research Scientist said:

”This is our first step in providing you access. We’re excited about it.“

“This is a non-commercial SDK, I think although our intent is to release a commercial SDK, we’re not making any announcements about it today.”

The starter kit supports the following:

Robust Skeletal Tracking for high-performance capabilities that track the skeleton image of one or two persons moving within the Kinect field of view
Advanced Audio Capabilities, including four-element microphone array with sophisticated acoustic noise and echo cancellation for great audio; beam formation to identify the current sound source and integration with the Windows speech recognition API also included
XYZ depth camera for standard color camera stream access and depth data that indicates the distance of the object from the Kinect camera

Download Kinect for Windows SDK (32-bit)

Download Kinect for Windows SDK (64-bit)

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[via Winrumors]

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

New Xbox LIVE Metro UI With Bing Integration Demo! [VIDEO]

ICEMAN — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:56:48 +0000

New Xbox LIVE Metro UI With Bing Integration Demo! [VIDEO]

Yet another overhaul to the Xbox LIVE UI is going to drop in the fall of 2011 and this time, its going to be based on the same Metro UI as seen in Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 and the upcoming Windows 8, consisting of live interactive tiles. The new UI will also include a live TV option along, an integrated Bing search and a fully Kinect controlled dashboard which would allow users to make a voice search, both systemwide and online.

What Microsoft’s calling “You say it, Xbox finds it” is basically the deeply integrated voice search functionality inside the new Xbox LIVE UI. Just recently, Microsoft’s Marketing Director Craig Davison demonstrated this feature in a YouTube video saying, “We’re bringing in the intelligence of Bing into the search process”. Bing on Xbox will initially be available only in English in the United States, Canada and UK. Lets take a look at the small demo below:

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[via WinRumors]

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Microsoft Sets Guinness World Record Using Kinect…. Again!

Austin — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 05:02:22 +0000

Microsoft Sets Guinness World Record Using Kinect…. Again!

Microsoft’s Kinect is one hot item, for multiple reasons. In addition to all the awesome hacks that use the Kinect, it has also been used to set two Guinness World Records. The first was set when the Kinect sold 8,000,000 units in the first 60 days(approx. 133,333 units per day), earning it the title of Fastest-Selling Consumer Electronics Device. The second was set on April 23 in an online 100m dash, using the Kinect Sports ‘Sprint’ mini-game at a specific time.

We can now announce that Xbox LIVE members across the globe have set a new Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous online 100m sprint! If you’re one of the 10,539 people that took part, you can call yourself a World Record holder!

All who participated in the event will receive a Guinness World Records tee shirt for their avatar. If you were involved, feel free to leave a comment about how it feels to hold a World Record!

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iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

How To Join Microsoft’s Xbox Guinness World Record Event [April 23rd]

ICEMAN — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 19:17:25 +0000

How To Join Microsoft’s Xbox Guinness World Record Event [April 23rd]

Kinect, Microsoft’s revolutionary motion gaming sensor, has already been awarded the world’s fastest selling consumer electronics device earlier this year by Guinness World Records. The sensor sold around 133,000 units per day for a total of 8 million units in its first 60 days of its launch. Now, Microsoft is aiming to snatch yet another of these Guinness titles during the free Xbox Live Gold preview held by Xbox Live Nation this weekend between 21st to 25th April. During the preview, everyone will have access to Xbox LIVE Gold!

Microsoft wants the Xbox community to set a record for the “most people running a virtual 100m dash at one time.” In order for you to be eligible, you simply have to download a free Xbox Nations gamer pic and play Kinect Sports sprint mini-game whilst connected to Xbox LIVE at a specific time.

So, to join the event, simply log on Xbox LIVE and play Kinect Sports sprint mini-game at these times:

6pm UK Saturday 23/04
7pm CET Saturday 23/04
10am PDT Saturday 23/04
1pm EDT Saturday 23/04

As an added plus, a free Guinness World Records avatar tee (shown above) will be awarded to anyone who downloads the gamer pic and completes the record attempt.

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[via WinRumors]

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.