In this months Forza 4 DLC release we see 10 new cars introduced. One car Aussie racing fans may be interested in is the..

2011 Holden HSV GTS

More power, better handling, and new technology are all hallmarks of Holden’s latest E Series—the 2011 HSV GTS. The Australian manufacturer has truly thrown out the stops for the GTS, with a 6.2 litre V8 capable of 436 horsepower and an engine note that has spawned praise from tons of automotive critics. So it’s definitely got the muscle for straight-line speed, but the GTS’s MRC suspension will automatically change the damping settings of the suspension several hundred times per second, resulting in a responsive ride that’s fantastic through the turns. It’s also a great-looking car, featuring a dramatic front end complete with a unique vase-shaped grille. When you think about it, the HSV GTS is a lot like your stereotypical Australian: it’s good-looking, sounds great, and is a lot of fun to hang around with.

Remember if you purchased a Season Pass, this car pack is free. Check out the trailer below.

For more information, head to ForzaMotorsport.net

When Microsoft first announced the commercial availability of the Kinect for Windows, it wasn’t available to Australians. The great news is, that all just changed. The short-range enabled Kinect can now be purchased from eStore for A$296.

Paired with the SDK, application developers can build the NUI applications of tomorrow that take advantage of the updated Kinect. I’m partly responsible for the fact there’s only 5 available.. I snapped up one of the first available in Australia. Stay tuned for future posts when it arrives.

Update
Apparently you guys were keen to get in on the Kinect for Windows.. so much so that you brought the site to its knees. estore.com.au is now down. Hope they get it resolved shortly.

Update 2
eStore is back online. Hopefully there are other Australian outlets for the Kinect for Windows sensor so some price competition.

More information is available from the BizSpark blog.

Today the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA) released industry data which shows Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is still seeing strong growth. Despite a challenging environment where all other console makers are seeing retractions in revenue, the Xbox 360 seen more than 5% growth in 2011.

It seems those looking to gaming for a Christmas present also turned to the Xbox, likely due to the cheap cost of the 4G model and the Kinect bundle. Xbox 360 was the number one selling console during the Christmas period of 2011, not only that, but more Xbox’s were sold during December 2011 than ever before.

Microsoft also experienced almost 40% growth in Xbox LIVE Gold subscriptions during 2011. Their explanation points to the online services and partnerships, including FOXTEL, Zune Movies and Music, SBS ON DEMAND, ninemsn video, YouTube, ABC iView and Dailymotion¹¹.

I am most certainly, without a doubt, a self-confessed retro-gamer. Whether i’m fist-fighting until my last breath in Sega’s Street Fighter, or making a final-lap comeback during a Super Mario Kart session on my SNES — it’s all good. However, those of you who have experienced console issues with these outdated devices – and believe me, issues do and will occur – will know that there is nothing worse than owning a large collection of SNES or Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges without a functioning console to utilise them. Fortunately, the folks over at Retrode understand our need to stay stranded in the “old days”, and have created a device that allows users to play any SNES or Sega Genesis game on their PC and/or iPad. Say hello to the Retrode 2.0…

The German-based Retrode 2 is, as its name suggests, a reiteration of the original Retrode, which was welcomed into the world in February, 2010. Originally this little, black device went about its days creating ROMs from a users’ Mega Drive or SNES cartridge/s. Now, Retrode have taken things a big step forward for retro gamers by morphing the Retrode 2.0  into a unit that not only creates ROMs from any of your old SNES and Genesis games, but also a device that deploys these ROMs to your PC ”under any Operating System, using any emulator” (their words, not mine), and your iPad. At this point, users can connect up to four of their SNES or Genesis controllers and begin experiencing the classics all over again! Check out the Retrode executing what has been dubbed “iCade Mode” on an iPad, below…

Of course, while the Retrode sounds like a great idea, you may have noticed that your favourite electronics retailer hasn’t thrown any on the shelves in their store/s – and this is because the Retrode 2.0 isn’t available for purchase in Australia, at least not yet, anyway. Having said this, you can just as easily have one of these bad boys shipped to you from online stores based in Germany, Japan or the United States (take your pick!) for approximately eighty of your Australian dollars (prior to any shipping charges you may incur, that is). If you have anything you would like clarified in relation to the Retrode, or you would simply like to learn a little more about it, I recommend heading to their fan site - you’ll find a wealth of information including the Retrode‘s history, stories from those who own a Retrode, user-created documentation, a community forum and more!

Have you purchased a Retrode of your very own? If so, have you found any issues regarding  PC compatibility? Or are you finding that your new ROMs are bringing your old games back to life, perfectly? Throw me some comments below and satisfy my curiosity…

Microsoft has just released version 1.0 of the Kinect SDK for Windows. One of the biggest complaints about the beta releases of the SDK was the lack of support for close object recognition. Near mode now allows the depth camera to see objects as close as 40 centimetres rather than the standard 6 feet.

The 1.0 release of the SDK addresses a number of other issues:

• Support for up to four Kinect sensors plugged into the same computer
• Significantly improved skeletal tracking, including the ability for developers to control which user is being tracked by the sensor
• Near Mode for the new Kinect for Windows hardware, which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 40 centimeters in front of the device
• Many API updates and enhancements in the managed and unmanaged runtimes
• The latest Microsoft Speech components (V11) are now included as part of the SDK and runtime installer
• Improved “far-talk” acoustic model that increases speech recognition accuracy
• New and updated samples, such as Kinect Explorer, which enables developers to explore the full capabilities of the sensor and SDK, including audio beam and sound source angles, color modes, depth modes, skeletal tracking, and motor controls
• A commercial-ready installer which can be included in an application’s set-up program, making it easy to install the Kinect for Windows runtime and driver components for end-user deployments.
• Robustness improvements including driver stability, runtime fixes, and audio fixes

It’s important to keep in mind that the new Near Mode is only available from the new Kinect for Windows, which isn’t available in Australia. You can see from the screenshot below, connecting an existing Kinect to a computer shows under the range selection ‘NearMode not supported on this device’.

Let’s hope Australian availability for Kinect for Windows arrives soon so Aussie developers can start building Windows 7/8 Kinect-enabled applications.

More information @ MSDN or just download the Kinect SDK 1.0 now.

Via The Verge.

Choplifter HD is a perfect conglomerate of various gameplay elements. A healthy mix of  awesome old-school platforming, highscore hunting gameplay, and current generation graphics that bring an old classic into the modern age for a new audience.

Set in a 2D side-scrolling universe, Choplifter puts you at the digital reigns of numerous varied helicopters to rescue or taxi people from a number of different environments and scenarios. It sounds repetitive, and at times it is, but there’s a number of different objectives to add some variety to the mix.

The basic back-and-forth nature of rescuing people is soon shaken up when you’re having to change directions, fight enemy combatants, and strategically airlift dying patients before others. When you throw in a rapidly depleting fuel gauge and armor levels into the mix, the deceptively simple game turns into a challenging experience.

Within Choplifter is a plethora of levels and varying objectives, so while the basic formula for each is the same, the core experience changes vastly.

Snipers stun your helicopter later in the game which leaves you vulnerable to rocket attacks, while AA and RPG emplacements wreak havock on thinly armored transport helicopters. Just when you think you’ve got a level figured out, you start second guessing yourself as you realise there are other ways to confront your objectives.

Even later in the game you’re still tailoring your skills and learning new maneuvers to accomplish the task at hand. Once you finish the missions you can then go back through them on higher difficulties, which then allows you to unlock increasingly better helicopters to take on harder missions.

Up there with the likes of Trials HD and Shadow Complex, Choplifter is an extremely rewarding experience once you figure it all out. The arcade gameplay roots are forefront to the whole experience and when combined with the great voice acting, sound, and visuals, Choplifter HD becomes an easy recommendation.

More info @ http://choplifterhd.com

Starting today, ABC’s iView application will be available on the Xbox 360. You will need to have upgraded to the new Xbox Dashboard to see the new app. As with all things Microsoft, it’s being rolled out, so if you don’t see it yet in the App Marketplace, just check back later.

The ABC iView app adds to the existing line-up of YouTube, SBSOnDemand, DailyMotion, NineMSN and Foxtel video apps on the Xbox 360. It’s important to note, that Xbox Live Gold Subscription isn’t required for iView. iView features shows like Good Game, Q&A, Gruen Transfer and more, allowing you to catch up on any episodes you or your DVR missed.

The iView app can be controlled using Kinect hand gestures (like the rest of the new Dashboard) and also supports voice commands. Not all the new apps do, so this is actually worth noting. If you’re using voice and hit an app that doesn’t support it, it really defeats the purpose, as you need to find that controller again.

ABC iView is now available on the Xbox 360, PS3, Boxee Box and the web. ABC has done an amazing job at making their content available wherever and whenever consumers want to consume it. If iOS had flash support it’d probably be on there as well. ABC’s content distribution is a model to be held as an example of how to use IPTV well. Without traditional commercial programming, ABC are free to distribute much more flexibly and achieve the ultimate goal of the content producers, to have it see by as many people as possible.

More information @ Xbox

December 10, 2011. Culver City, California.

This was the date and location that played host to the annual Spike TV Video Game Awards. In addition, however – and, perhaps more importantly, this was the date and location that saw the official unveiling of the next installment in Xbox hero Alan Wake’s on-screen adventure. After much anticipation and teasing, it’s here: Wake fans, welcome to your very own American Nightmare…

Since Alan Wake’s release in 2010, fans of the game have been craving for a second helping of their favourite torch-wielding, shadow-fighting writer. Earlier this year, almost twelve months after the game was introduced to the world, Remedy Games (the brains behind Alan Wake’s development) confirmed that their was “more Wake to come”. From that point on, rumours flew around like nobody’s business. To cut a medium-sized story short, however, speculation finally led to confirmation – and fans were ecstatic when hearing news of what was to come: Yes, there was a second Wake installment “in the works”. No: This release was not a full-fledged game, but rather an “independent release”.

The result of all these whispers, teasers and rumours? Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. As with its predecessor, this release has been developed by Remedy and published by Microsoft Studios. In addition, if die-hard fans haven’t left their favourite chair since the “first” game’s release, they’ll be pleased to know that they can stay seated — because American Nightmare is being published in the Xbox Live Arcade for download-upon-purchase obtainment.
Of course, for those of you who are interested in what AWAM’s storyline may entail, don’t sweat it: I’ve got you covered.
Alan is, once again, thrown into a world of darkness that refuses to set him free. Go figure. However, this time around, instead of fighting his way through a relentless wave of darkness-possessed woodcutters and loggers, he is pursued by what appears to be his darker (no pun intended. Honestly.), violent alter-ego: Mr. Scratch. Although the debut trailer for this release doesn’t give much away, I couldn’t help but notice that Alan will have all new locations to explore, all new weapons to play with and all new characters to be introduced to — see for yourself. For those of you who haven’t viewed the trailer, take a peek at it below.

Don’t be fooled, however, AWAM is not a sequel to Alan Wake — it is merely an “expansion of the Alan Wake universe”. A side story, if you will. Irrespective, it appears that Remedy are confident that they are giving Wake fans (myself included) a solid second installment to the “series”, and it will certainly be interesting to see if this release lives up to the hype.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is set to hit the Xbox Live Arcade early next year.

With an official Xbox companion app now available, those fears (and other apps) can disappear. The My Xbox app allows Xbox owners to message friends, customize your avatar, check achievements and get beacon notifications. Beacons arrived as part of the latest Xbox 360 Dashboard update (still rolling out), these allow you to set notifications when friends are playing games or participating in activities that you’re interested in.

Basically it works like this. You set a Beacon for a Forza 4, you then go about your housework until your the My Xbox app buzzes in your pocket with a notification that friend is now playing Forza 4 and wants to race against you. You ditch the vacuum cleaner for the next 3 hours on the couch. This is technology helping our disconnected worlds become connected, for gaming, as in the example, but potentially to watch movies, TV shows, listen to music or even video conference.

All this sounds great, and sure the app looks great and is buttery smooth, but lets take a second to consider the future of the app and Xbox. With an internet connected device like the Xbox 360, wake-on-LAN should be on option. This means being able to wake up and shut down your Xbox using your phone. What if you could also control the Xbox interface using gestures on your phone. When using your phone for entertainment and potentially some gaming, this would replace or be a complimentary control.

Of course there is already the ability for games information to transfer from the Xbox to your WP7 device, but this requires an awkward QR-code scanning process (Kinectimals as an example). With a true Wi-Fi connection between the Xbox and your phone, this transition should be much more seamless.

Racing fans can now fire up their Xbox’s and pickup some brand new DLC for Forza 4. The December Car Pack includes a wide variety of cars from dedicated racing machines, to the latest model RX-8, and even a few classics. With a wide variety in the line-up the value proposition for everyone will be different.

Those of you who ponied up the cash for the Season Pass get this (and the next 4) for free as part of the packaged deal. There’s 10 new cars available in the December Car Pack, which will set you back 560 Microsoft Points which works out to A$9.24.

All these car packs are great turn10, but the biggest requested feature is the addition of new tracks like Bathurst. Get on it.

For more information, head to ForzaMotorsport.