Sydney chicks get to play Kinect tomorrow
Sorry guys, your out of luck, geek chicks its your lucky day. Xbox Australia just posted a deliciously inviting tease, an offer to the ladies of Sydney to get hands on with Kinect.
Sydney area ladies (and only ladies—sorry dudes) if you’re free tomorrow arvo and want to have a go at Kinect, @ me for details! –jinx
This comes only days after Tech.Ed attendees were disappointed they missed out on a chance to have a go at the latest in Xbox tech. Specific details of the event are being kept quiet, if you want in, @reply Jinx at Xbox Australia on twitter for more info.
Update
Looks like the boys aren’t happy with another post from XboxAustralia
Sorry guys, there will be times for you too. this happens to be at a ladies-only event. Send the lady in your life to spy! – jinx
Since I won’t be in Sydney tomorrow and don’t have a vagina, I’m after ladies who do get hands on with Kinect and get photos. Please send them to jason@techAU.tv and I’ll post with credit. Extra points if you can score video.
Kinect Australian pricing revealed: $199 RRP
Xbox Australia have finally announced local pricing for Kinect. The price for Kinect in Australia will be A$199 as a recommended retail price to stores, however your likely to find competition will reduce that price by around $20. Whilst the official release date for Kinect hasn’t been announced for Australia, it is scheduled for release on November 5th in the US.
Along with the Kinect announcement, Microsoft have confirmed the upcoming release / bundle of a new Xbox 360 S model. Designed to replace the Xbox 360 Arcade, the new model will come with just 4GB of storage. This is obviously a cost saving measure, and will be bundled with the Kinect sensor and Kinect Adventures game for A$449.
With full body play, Kinect is a unique and accessible way for everyone to enjoy controller-free fun. With more than 15 games available at launch, Aussie living rooms will become fitness rooms, dance clubs and sports stadiums.
Read the full press release over @ InsiderX
More info about Kinect @ Xbox Australia
EB estimates Kinect price as A$198
Overnight Microsoft got official about Kinect pricing, listing it as US$149.99 with Kinect Adventures included. That begs the question, what price will Kinect be in Australia ? After hunting around some online stores, many still have TBA listed, but EB Games lists the price as an estimated A$198.
Are they just guessing like the rest of us, or does EB actually have the word from Microsoft. It’s possible EB have to list the price as estimated until Xbox Australia make the official Australian pricing announcement.
Based on the exchange rate today, US$149 translates to A$168.59, but remember there’s additional taxes and import duties on top, so the price of A$198 doesn’t sound too far off.
Xbox 360 slims down under tomorrow, [updated] HNCS sucks!
Update
The Xbox 360 is now available in Australia. I have mine, but want to update you on the painful Harvey Norman Customer Service. Asking an employee if they have the new Xbox 360 he replied yes and proceeded to retrieve one from the back room. Strangely there were none on shelves. He proceeded to ring up the sale at $449, I said to him, that’s not the price is it? He replies yes. I explained that it’s listed as $398 on your website. After dissapearing for 10 minutes he returned to say that price was for the Elite. I said no, that’s for the new Xbox 360 and showed him their own website on my iPhone. With a shocked look on his face he asked me to follow him to his managers office. I did and discovered the 10 minutes he’d been away was spent with his manager trying to find the Xbox 360 on their own website and were unable to. I showed the manager my phone and he instantly approved the price of $398.
Long story short, don’t buy from Harvey Norman, just go to JB Hi-Fi or get somewhere else to price match.
Announced at E3 earlier this month, the new Xbox 360 slim goes on sale in Australia tomorrow. So far there are no reports of any retailers leaking it early here, so gamers will have to wait till most stores open at 9am, 1st July 2010.
The updated console hardware comes with a slew of new additions..
- Xbox 360 250GB Hard Drive: A glossy black fingerprint attracting finish, the console looks great. With a 250GB hard drive, it should be plenty of space to save games, demos, add-ons, movies, music and pictures. New internals and heat vents should once and for all end reliability (RROS) issues.
- Built in Wi-Fi: The addition of 802.11n Wi-Fi built-in, makes the Xbox 360 the only console that supports N. While it still accepting B and G networks, N provides enough bandwidth to stream all of your HD content wirelessly. This saves having an add-on Wi-Fi N accessory for current models that cost $149.
- Project Natal ready: Coming in November, Kinect will connect via a specialized port to the new Xbox 360, avoiding a separate power brick.
- Whisper quiet: Jet engine be gone. It’s incredibly frustrating hearing the noise of the Xbox over a quiet scene in movie, the new model puts an end to that with what Microsoft say is ‘whisper quiet’ operation.
- Ports: Now with 5 USB ports (2 front, 3 back), HDMI, AV, Ethernet, Optical out.
- Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (black)
- Xbox 360 Headset (black)
- Dimensions: Width: 27cm, Depth: 26.4cm, Height: 7.5cm, Weight 2.9kg
As an owner of a 20GB, component only launch console, I’m overdue for a new one, so I’ll be grabbing one tomorrow. Will you ? While the new Xbox 360 S is certainly an upgrade on older models, I doubt many people seriously considering a PS3 would choose this instead. People new to the Xbox market now have a new shiny option.
Best place to buy
It doesn’t happen very often and quite frankly I’m surprised I’m about to do this, but I’d have to recommend to grab your new Xbox 360 from Harvey Norman. They’re offering the best price of any retailer so far at only A$398 despite the RRP being $449. This tip comes from Kotaku.
Bargain existing models
The price of existing models have been slashed in price since the announcement at E3. So if you can put up with the smaller hard drive and louder volume, you can pick up an Elite (which used to cost $450) for $250 now, but be quick these are no longer being produced.
More @ Xbox Australia
Introducing the new Xbox 360, glossy, quiet, connected.
At Microsoft’s E3 2010 keynote this morning in the US, they announced a brand new model of the Xbox 360. The new hardware comes with a slick glossy black design, smaller in size and quiet. Hopefully the massive top and side grills provide adequate ventilation and mean the overheating / red ring of death problems are finally behind us. Microsoft say the new Xbox 360 is whisper quiet.. a stark contrast to the jet engine of Xbox 360 originals.
A much needed inclusion for the Xbox 360 hardware is built-in Wireless N.. finally !! A very, very welcome inclusion that had previously required a $150 adapter to achieve.
Launch console owners are all too familiar with the tiny 20GB HDD, the new model ships with a 250GB drive so there’s plenty of storage for game content, demos, movies, music etc. 250GB Xbox 360 hard drives have been a fairly unique item in Australia, for a long time only being available in a console bundle package.
Another advantage of the new model is it’s ability to power Kinect, where as current models will require a separate power brick when Kinect ships later this year.
The price of the new model is US$299 and if your in the US, it’s available today. Pricing and release dates for Australia are still to be announced.
Update
The new Xbox 360 will be available in Australia from July 1st 2010 and cost A$499, the current price of the Elite. [via Delimiter]
More @ Xbox
Project Natal officially becomes Kinect, 12 launch titles
Well it’s official, the name Project Natal was just a code name, the retail name for Microsoft’s new control-less device is Kinect. While Kinect relates to the connected experiences it provides, I actually preferred Natal as the name. There’s been a lot of discussion about Natal since it’s unveiling at last years E3 and brand awareness was already high. With a renaming, that process needs to start again.
Update
Engadget have more info on Kinect and have confirmed video chat will be a key feature.
Kinect will launch a number of compatible titles while some previous titles may receive an update to make them Kinect compatible. Joystiq list the launch titles as:
- Kinectimals features over 20 different virtual pets, including lions, tigers, and cheetahs, to play with or raise.
- Joyride has returned to life as a controller-free racing game, apparently.
- Kinect Sports will offer sport games to play: "boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis." For each one, you will make motions to play the games.
- Kinect Adventures has a river raft and obstacle course to navigate — this is likely the demo we saw last week.
- MTV Games will release Dance Central, where you can cut a virtual rug.
- And there will be more games announced later featuring both Disney characters and Star Wars characters, in conjunction with Disney and LucasArts, respectively.
Gizmodo have an impressive gallery of hands-on photos from the E3 launch party. The final production model of Kinect actually looks a lot smaller than early Natal builds, but is a slick shade of glossy black. One possible issue I see with Kinect is its location in your home entertainment setup. Most decent setups have 5.1 surround sound, including a middle speaker placed below the TV, right where Kinect wants to be. It’s a lot larger than the Wii sensor bar, so sitting Kinect on top of your flat screen is not an option. Not sure what the right solution to this problem will be, hopefully Microsoft will tell us tomorrow morning.
GDGT users, be sure you add Kinect to your want list. Apparently 2 people already have it.
More @ Joystiq
E3 2010 keynote broadcast on Foxtel’s FOX8
Get ready gaming fans.. the insanity that is E3 is almost upon us. The worlds biggest gaming expo kicks off bright an early tomorrow morning with a keynote from Microsoft. They’re partnered with Fotel’s FOX8 channel to stream the keynote live for the first time. So if you have Foxtel, forget about the hassle of connecting your laptop to the big screen and head to FOX8 at 3:30am AEST tomorrow morning.
The event being titled Xbox 360: The Future Revealed will take a detailed look at Project Natal for the Xbox 360. There’s sure to be plenty of game demos, pricing and availability details. Reports in this morning from USA Today suggest Natal’s official release name will be Kinect.
This live broadcasting of technology events in Australia is a great thing, if only it was on free-to-air, then everyone could enjoy it.
