Microsoft has confirmed that key 3D sensing and recognition technology used in Project Natal has come from Israeli company PrimeSense.

The company's involvement with Natal was predicted by Digital Foundry last June, when it said the "brain" of the camera appeared to have originated from start-up PrimeSense.

"We've seen tremendous excitement and anticipation for the arrival of Project Natal this holiday," said Ilan Spillinger, VP of Xbox 360 hardware. "PrimeSense has delivered an important component to the technology, helping us deliver revolutionary controller-free entertainment experiences in the living room."

"PrimeSense's technology enables a paradigm shift in the way people interact with consumer electronic devices. The engagement with Xbox 360 establishes PrimeSense's position as a leading supplier of 3D sensing technology," added Inon Beracha, CEO of PrimeSense.

"We are especially honoured to have a partner like Microsoft who shares our vision for bringing innovative and engaging natural experiences to consumers."

Aviad Maizels, president and founder of PrimeSense said that Microsoft's engineering teams had developed the Natal sensor based on its PrimeSensor design.

Microsoft's motion-tracking Project Natal is due for release this Christmas.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-in-natal-tech ...

A new report by Parks Associates claims that the number of broadband-enabled games consoles in the US has jumped by 64 per cent to around 18 million households between the end of 2008 and the end of 2009.

The research, in a report entitles Digital Lifestyles: 2010 Outlook also notes that the number of households connecting a PC to a TV has risen by 36 per cent in the same time frame to around 12 million.

Additionally, it's claimed that a third of connected Xbox 360 owners are streaming online video via their console.

"Many households are working with devices they already have to get the connected-TV experience, which shows strong future demand for connected TVs, web-enabled Blu-ray players, and networked digital media players such as Apple TV and Roku," said Kurt Scherf, VP and principal analyst at Parks Associates.

"Manufacturers and service providers should examine these consumer behaviours closely, so they can match their current and future connected offerings with actual demand without pricing themselves out of the market," he added.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-percent-in-us ...

Nintendo's surprise announcement of a new 3D handheld was an effort to stem leaks from the Japanese press, according to Billy Pigeon, analyst at M2 Research.

The company said last week that it would unveil the 3DS console at E3 in June – unfortunately it came at the same time the company was launching the super-sized DSi XL in the US and the UK.

"Apparently, the Japanese press was all over it and talked with suppliers there and Nintendo just wanted to get out ahead by breaking the news to prevent a leak," Pigeon, told CNBC.

The move was also evidence that Nintendo's Japanese division makes all the big corporate decisions, said Pigeon, at the expense of its marketing offices in North America and Europe.

"The XL is old news, however, in Japan – and Nintendo is a very Japan-centric organisation. This is just the corporate parent in Japan maybe not acting in the best interest of Nintendo of America."

The 3DS will offer 3D gaming without the need for special glasses, with speculation that the hardware will use parallax barrier technology.

Pigeon suggested that now news of the hardware has been made official, Nintendo is in a better position to cut the price of other DS consoles on the market, without giving the impression it has reduced RRP due to competition.

"It gives them a reason to bring down prices on the DS from a position of strength," he said

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...se-press-leaks ...

Nintendo's surprise announcement of a new 3D handheld was an effort to stem leaks from the Japanese press, according to Billy Pigeon, analyst at M2 Research.

The company said last week that it would unveil the 3DS console at E3 in June – unfortunately it came at the same time the company was launching the super-sized DSi XL in the US and the UK.

"Apparently, the Japanese press was all over it and talked with suppliers there and Nintendo just wanted to get out ahead by breaking the news to prevent a leak," Pigeon, told CNBC.

The move was also evidence that Nintendo's Japanese division makes all the big corporate decisions, said Pigeon, at the expense of its marketing offices in North America and Europe.

"The XL is old news, however, in Japan – and Nintendo is a very Japan-centric organisation. This is just the corporate parent in Japan maybe not acting in the best interest of Nintendo of America."

The 3DS will offer 3D gaming without the need for special glasses, with speculation that the hardware will use parallax barrier technology.

Pigeon suggested that now news of the hardware has been made official, Nintendo is in a better position to cut the price of other DS consoles on the market, without giving the impression it has reduced RRP due to competition.

"It gives them a reason to bring down prices on the DS from a position of strength," he said

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...se-press-leaks ...

EA and DICE have revealed that Battlefield 1943 has become the fastest game on Xbox Live Arcade to sell over one million units.

The game was released in July 2009 and is also available on the PlayStation Network – a PC version of the game is also planned.

"The reception of Battlefield 1943 continues to amaze us, even months after the game was released," offered Gordon Van Dyke, producer on Battlefield 1943. "Being the fastest game to reach this milestone is an incredible achievement."

"The game has set a new standard for what can be done in the downloadable games category. It's fantastic to see how gamers have recognised the value that the game delivers for just $15. It is another great entry point into the Battlefield franchise."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ame-to-sell-1m ...

Square Enix has scored a UK number one with the release of open-world action game Just Cause 2.

The Xbox 360 format accounted for 53 per cent of sales and the PlayStation 3 made up 43 per cent, with the remainder of sales on PC.

The other two new entries in the top ten were Pokemon SoulSilver in at number two and Pokemon HeartGold at number four.

Outside of the top ten, Deep Silver's Prison Break: The Conspiracy game managed a respectable 17 in the charts, while Ubisoft's Red Steel 2 only entered the charts at number 34.

The full top ten follows:

01 Just Cause 2
02 Pokemon SoulSilver
03 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
04 Pokemon HeartGold
05 Just Dance
06 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
07 God of War III
08 Final Fantasy XIII
09 Wii Sports Resort
10 Wii Fit Plus

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...charts-at-no-1 ...

Microsoft's Larry Hryb has confirmed that Xbox 360 Memory Units and the 120GB hard drive are to be phased out following the introduction of USB storage compatibility to the console.

According to Hyrb, speaking to Joystiq, "the channel is being drained" of the storage options.

Last week Microsoft confirmed that USB storage support would go live on the 360 on April 6 via a system update.

The update will allow two USB devices to work with the console at once, but will limit the size of each to 16GB.

Third-party memory will work, it said, but Microsoft will also partner with SanDisk for an official 360 branded USB flash drive to be released in May.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...0gb-hard-drive ...

Sony has revealed a number of details on the PlayStation Move, including its battery life - around 10 hours - and the existence of an external port located on the underside of the controller - which it says licensees can ask it about.

According to PlayStation R&D manager Richard Marks, the controller - which uses both motion sensors and the PlayStation Eye camera to track movement - offers the "absolute best tracking".

Detection of the Z-axis is the only way a motion controller can work convincingly in 3D games, Marks told Kotaku.

"You can punch in Z," he said, adding that the Wii allows that too, but that the PS3 actually enables players to reach into a 3D world and manipulate objects.

The Move can be detected in the Z-plane at all times, he said, and with 60fps precision based on the Eye's detection of the position and relative size of the controller's coloured sphere.

Hinting at future possibilities for the Move, Marks highlighted the external port on the bottom of the controller, which hasn't yet been used in demo.

"I think there's a lot of options with having this thing being part of another peripheral, with something bigger that you would hold," Marks explained. "We've had a lot of talks with our licensees about what would make sense for this... We do have this USB cord [at the base of the wand] which is how you charge it. We also have this external port which is proprietary. Our licensees can talk to us about it."

"We don't use it right now for anything, but it has data and power, I guess I can say that much."

As well as confirming a battery life of around 10 hours before the controller would need re-charging via the USB port, Marks said that the Move will work in perfect darkness, although admitted that bright sunlight or a sudden change in light conditions could cause it problems.

"Dark is perfect," he said. "Dark is great." Direct bright sunlight on the camera would cause problems, he said, but he pointed out that people don't usually play games with the sun shining into their televisions.

"For a typical little bit of clouds going past the sun and stuff, you wouldn't ever need to re-calibrate that," he said. "In a case where it's really strong sunlight versus not-sunlight, you probably would have to re-calibrate that."

Marks also said the Move is significantly more sensitive than its competitor controllers.

"You could spin it all the way around eight times in one second," he said. "You can't [physically] do that, but in a short time you could get a burst [that fast]."

The Eye captures at 60fps, he said, while the rate of the data transmitted from the Move is "much higher".

He added that the Move can be used from between three and 10ft away from the PlayStation Eye camera.

"The kind of sweet spot everyone uses for the games is five to 10 feet," he said. At 10ft, the Eye can capture footage 12ft across and has a field of view of 75 degrees, he added.

The first Sony Move games - as well as the controller's official name - were unveiled at this year's GDC. Sony also revealed the Move controller's 'sub-controller', which works similarly to the Wii nunchuk, and a sub-$100 price tag. The hardware is due to be launched this 'fall'.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-best-tracking ...

Sony Computer Entertainment has said that the latest firmware upgrade will disable the Install Other OS feature of the PlayStation 3, meaning those that upgrade will be unable to run Linux on the home console.

Dropping support for Linux is down to "security concerns" according to Sony. Last month, notorious hacker George Hotz released an exploit for the console, allowing read/write access to the PlayStation 3 via Other OS and Linux.

The PS3 Firmware 3.21 will be released this Thursday, and although users are not forced to upgrade, the console will be unable to access the PlayStation Network and play any games or movies that will take advantage of the new firmware, as well as miss out on future upgrades and features.

The Other OS feature was dropped from the newer PlayStation 3 model by default when it was released last year.

Although no figures are available on how many PS3 users have installed Linux on the PlayStation 3 – and Sony indicates that it's only a small percentage – predictably the official PlayStation blog is being swamped with complaints and disappointment.

According to Eurogamer's Digital Foundry blog, the move is a "pre-emptive strike" against the possibility of the hardware running cracked games in the future.

"In taking such a measure to counter the hack, the logical conclusion is that Sony wants to the limit overall number of PS3s out there potentially capable of running copied games - an extraordinary pre-emptive strike against the possibility of piracy," wrote Richard Leadbetter.

Sony warned that any users that currently run Linux on the console should back-up valuable data on the Other OS partition of the hard drive, as once upgraded to firmware 3.21 they "will not be able to access that data following the update."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...urity-concerns ...