Today we announced that by extending the capabilities of the Xbox platform with Kinect and Xbox LIVE, Microsoft has “changed the tail” of the typical console lifecycle, showing dramatic gains in the fifth and sixth years of this generation. (see chart)

In addition, we’ve released the following data points:
* Microsoft has now sold 55 million Xbox 360 consoles across 38 countries and sales are accelerating.
* Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. as the top selling console in 2011, and ten of the past eleven months.
* In the first four months of 2011, Xbox 360 has seen a 29 percent year over year increase in sales, which is more than triple the growth of PlayStation 3 and the largest growth of any console on the market.
* There are now nearly 35 million active Xbox LIVE members worldwide spending an average of almost 60 hours a month on the service.
* Cumulatively Xbox LIVE members are now logging 2.1 billion entertainment hours a month.

Next week, we’ll be on stage in Los Angeles for our annual E3 Media Briefing, so be sure to tune in for more announcements.

http://majornelson.com/2011/06/03/a-...ent=FeedBurner ...

[Luis de Matos] is working on a neat Kinect project called Wi-GO that aims, as many do, to enhance the lives of individuals with disabilities. While the Wi-GO project is geared towards disabled persons, it can be quite helpful to the elderly and pregnant women as well.

Wi-GO is a motorized shopping cart with a Kinect sensor mounted on the back. The sensor interfaces with a laptop and functions much as you would as you would expect, scanning the area in front of the cart for objects and people. Once it identifies the individual it is meant to help, the cart diligently follows behind as the person goes about their typical shopping routine. The robot keeps a safe distance to avoid collisions, but remains within reach so that it can be used to carry goods.

If you take a look a the video below, you can see Wi-GO in action. It starts off by showing how difficult it would be for an individual in a wheel chair to use a shopping cart alone, and follows up by showing how much easier things are with Wi-GO in tow.

While the project is only in prototype form at the moment, we suspect that it will only be a matter of time until you see devices like Wi-GO in your local supermarket.

http://hackaday.com/2011/06/03/kinec...ap/#more-44463 ...

Where does he get those wonderful toys? From any retailer that carries Power A controllers, this fall. The peripheral manufacturer has announced a Batman: Arkham City-themed "Batarang" controller for both Xbox 360 and PS3, which allows you to pretend you're playing games on the specialized Bat-style game console you know Batman keeps in the cave.

Both versions feature LED accents, that can light up in seven different colors. The PS3 version is wireless (with a receiver), with an internal rechargeable battery and motion sensors, and reversed analog stick placement. The Xbox version is wired, but comes with a 10-foot-long cable that may or may not allow the device to be used as a grappling hook.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/03/th...ones-you-need/ ...

Since the dawn of Kinect hacking, we've seen cameras strung together (or rotated) to create 3D, video game-like environments, while others have tweaked it for headtracking. Others, still, have used it for teleconferencing (albeit, the flat, two-dimensional variety). Now, a team of researchers have gone and thrown it all together to achieve 3D video chats, and if we do say so, the result is greater than a sum of its parts. The group, based out of UNC-Chapel Hill, uses 3D mapping (and at least four Kinects) to render the video, and then employs headtracking on the receiving end so that people tuning in will actually see the live video in 3D, even without wearing 3D glasses. The result: a tableau that follows you as you move your head and spin around restlessly in your desk chair waiting for the meeting to end. That's mighty impressive, but we can't help but wonder: do you really want to see your colleagues in such lifelike detail? Have a gander at the video and decide for yourself.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/02/r...nferencing-vi/ ...

Microsoft is working hard to improve 10-million selling motion sensing add-on Kinect so that the games you play feel and control better.

Improvements made by Microsoft to the way the Xbox 360 works with Kinect mean it will detect finger movement – and even pointing.

Eurogamer sources have indicated that gamers should see "pretty big improvements" in the short term via new software updates.

Improvements to face recognition, skeletal tracking and voice recognition are all planned.

Eurogamer understands Microsoft will soon announce that Kinect can detect voices in additional languages. Currently, it only understands English and a handful of other languages. An announcement may be made during Microsoft's E3 2011 press conference. 123Kinect.com reported today that Kinect Sports developer Rare will take to the stage next week for a demo that "will involve the voice aspect far more during gameplay".

It is not known whether this relates to Kinect Sports 2, which Eurogamer understands will be unveiled at E3, or Rare's secret second Kinect game, which Eurogamer exposed as being in the works last month.

Other rumours point to an E3 2011 announcement for a Xbox Live Diamond subscription.

According to Winrumors.com, Microsoft is working on a demo for E3 that would showcase "Project Orapa", discussed by Eurogamer this week.

Project Orapa is a codename for Microsoft's combination of Xbox Live and Mediaroom IPTV. If an Xbox app is planned, it could allow Xbox owners to control their TV settings, social networking, music and video with Kinect-fuelled gestures.

"Microsoft is currently in last minute negotiations to secure the necessary agreements in time," said a source. Microsoft plans to make Xbox Live Diamond available in November.

With regards Kinect, Eurogamer can reveal how Microsoft will improve its accuracy.

Currently, Kinect passes information to the Xbox 360 through a variety of streams. But Microsoft will soon allow developers to "turn off sound or depth", thus enabling Kinect to concentrate on sending a video feed, for example, of higher quality.

"If it had just have been a video feed from a camera, it would have been of really good quality," a Eurogamer source close to Kinect development said. "But the fact it's sending sound, depth and video is what tends to clog the bandwidth."

The Kinect camera outputs in 640x480, but the depth buffer is 320x240. Microsoft restricts the resolution of Kinect because of Xbox 360 USB limitations revealed by Eurogamer last year.

Most Xbox 360 games are 1280x720, but with Kinect outputting in 640x480, the video feed is smaller than the display picture, stretching it out.

"What people would ideally want is that it's at least 1:1 mapping," continued our source. "That's what they're working on. You can do Augmented Reality-type things, and if you want to just turn off the depth of the sound for a moment, then you can ask for the higher-quality video feed.

"Microsoft has been quite clever and canny in that they have put slightly more expensive pieces into the Kinect, which is why it's expensive, even though you can't access them immediately. But in software hopefully we'll be able to do this, now the PC people worked it out quite quick."

Improvements are also being made to the way Kinect tracks skeletons.

Currently, Kinect uses a 21 node skeleton to work out your movements. On every point it tells the Xbox, 'Here's the co-ordinate I believe the node is at, and here's how confident I am that it's there.'

For your hand, for example, Kinect sends through an X, Y and Z value, and says, for example, 'I'm 99 per cent sure.'

When you sit down, however, issues can arise. Kinect may say, 'Your knee is there, but I'm only 30 per cent sure it's there.' This presents problems to developers trying to work out if the information they are getting from Kinect is accurate.

"All the knees and ankles have always been a bit like it's semi-guessing," a source told Eurogamer. "But all those values are about to go up. They've been doing a lot of work on the seated position and said it will improve shortly with an update.

"If anyone thinks we're looking at fingers to see if you're pushing buttons, that would be really pointless. But if you were to hold your hand out and say, how many fingers am I holding up? Two, three, one, whatever... We're doing some work on it and it looks like you can do it.

"You can hold them out as well. If you point at the screen, you'll be able to work out whether you're pointing one finger or two fingers. The accuracy is actually pretty good.

"They're doing some improvements on their libraries. All game designers are just working out how better to recognise gestures, when to throw data away, and when data might be dirty. That's going to happen with the second wave of games."

The upshot of these improvements is a more accurate Kinect, and better games.

"Any Augmented Reality would look higher quality," Eurogamer was told. "The recognition on your body and gestures would be more accurate."
...

Global Xbox 360 sales have reached 55 million, Microsoft has announced.

Sales are accelerating, the console manufacturer said this afternoon.

"Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the US as the top selling console in 2011, and 10 of the past 11 months," said the company.

"In the first four months of 2011, Xbox 360 has seen a 29 per cent year over year increase in sales, which is more than triple the growth of PlayStation 3 and the largest growth of any console on the market."

Going by latest sales figures, the Xbox 360 is five million ahead of the PlayStation 3, which as of last month had sold 50 million consoles globally.

A record 14.3 million PS3s were sold during the 12 months to the end of March 2011.

Both consoles are, of course, some way behind Nintendo's Wii, which sold a whopping 86.01 million as of the end of March.

Meanwhile, Microsoft said there are now nearly 35 million active Xbox Live members worldwide, spending an average of almost 60 hours a month on the service. Cumulatively, Live members log 2.1 billion entertainment hours a month. That's three times as much video consumption compared to a year ago.

Kinect has sold more than 10 million units and the same number of Kinect games.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-to-55-million ...

THQ art tablet accessory out on other consoles this autumn following success on Wii
Art game and peripheral uDraw will arrive on Xbox 360 and PS3 this year, THQ has confirmed.
The publisher will bring a revised version of the device to those consoles following strong sales on Wii. It will boast enhanced features such as high-definition drawings, a more sensitive stylus pen, motion features, longer drawing time and touch-screen controls.
An updated uDraw Studio game, called Instant Artist, will also come bundled with the new uDraw accessory when it arrives this autumn. Users will be able to create and share their own drawings online.
Other uDraw games on Xbox 360 and PS3 will include Pictionary: Ultimate Edition. More will arrive throughout 2011 and 2012. The Penguins of Madagascar will be exclusively compatible with the Wii uDraw tablet.
The new uDraw will be showcased by THQ at E3 in Los Angeles from June 7th to June 9th.
“As soon as we introduced uDraw last year, Xbox 360 and PS3 fans began asking when they could experience it, too – and beginning this autumn, they can,” said THQ’s president and CEO Brian Farrell.
“The uDraw offers amazing innovation and opens new doors of artistic possibility. There’s no console-based artistic tool like it.”
THQ has shipped 1.7m units of uDraw for Wii worldwide since its launch in November. The device went on sale in the UK in March.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/44624/uDra...to-360-and-PS3 ...

Lantus released MAME v0.72 for homebrew/JTAG Xbox360s:
Lantus also accounced Amiga360 is coming soon (sometime next week).

Official Site: lantus360.com

http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/...kAIcMRZKJR.php ...

Xamphear released JTAG Content Manager 1.0:
[QUOTE]
TAG Content Manager 1.0 by xamphear. Send comments and bug reports to: jtagcm /AT/ gmail.com

What This App Does:
* Browse 360 files on your PC by their real info, like game name and package title.
* Upload files (XBLA, DLC, GOD, Avatar, Title Update) to your console over FTP with a single click. Files are automatically uploaded to the right folders.
* Scan the Content folder on your 360's HDD to a database so that while browsing content on your PC you can see if it's already on your 360 or not, even if your 360 is off.
* Drag and drop files to other applications, if you'd prefer to use your own FTP client.
* Restore the original filenames for XBLA and DLC.
* View the MediaID of Title Updates and GODs so you can match them, and search JQE or XBUC for matching TUs.
* View the MediaID of ISO files. (Requires abgx360 be installed.)

Please see the About box for credits and thanks. This app owes a lot to other more talented 360 hackers.

http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/...lkFWiIgkcj.php ...