Microsoft has confirmed pricing for the arm-flailing body-sensing Kinect system. Xbox users will pay 130 for the motion-controlled sensor that allows them to play games without a controller.

130 gets you a Kinect Sensor to plug into your current Xbox 360, and one game, Kinect Adventures. You can buy the same kit with a new Xbox 360 Slim for 250. Forthcoming arm-wavey games such as Kinect Sports, Kinect Joy Ride and Kinectimals will cost 40 each.

Microsoft’s long-awaited competitor for the Nintendo Wii was officially named in June, having previously being known as Project Natal.

While we wait for a chance to flap our arms in front of our Xboxes, we can get in a flap over Kinect’s pricing. Predictably, we pay a premium for knowing how to spell “through” properly: the US price is $150, which is about 100.

Will you be counting out your cash for Kinect? Comments in the usual place please.

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Earlier today, Sony sent out a “save the date” email confirming its E3 Press Conference for April 15 at 11:30 am PST. They also announced that the presser will be held at the Shrine Auditorium in downtown LA. Microsoft has already scheduled its press conference for June 14, a day after its Natal-only event, and Nintendo has yet to confirm the date of its press conference, which has traditionally been held the same day as Sony’s.

At this point, that’s about it in terms of confirmed information, but surely more will be revealed in the coming weeks. Some things will be officially revealed, and in true Sony spirit, some (possibly major) announcements will probably be leaked. For now though, let’s speculate.

Hit the break for some speculation on what Sony might showcase at this year’s E3. Slim-PS3.com is updated several times per day with all latest video game news.

Ahead of its final unveiling due to take place in June, Microsoft today announced that PrimeSense will be providing “leading-edge” 3D sensing technology for Project Natal.

We’ve seen tremendous excitement and anticipation for the arrival of ‘Project Natal’ this year,” said Ian Spillinger, Vice President 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,” said Inon Beracha, Chief Executive Officer, PrimeSense. “We are especially honoured to have a partner like Microsoft who share our vision for bringing innovative and engaging natural experiences to consumers.”

“Xbox 360 Hardware Engineering teams developed the ‘Project Natal’ sensor based on the PrimeSensor™ reference design to support the special requirements of ‘Project Natal,’” said Aviad Maizels, president and founder, PrimeSense.

We took a look at what the PrimeSensor reference design entails.  Essentially it serves as the sensor component, which observes the scene by flooding the environment with IR light and generating a depth image of the scene.  An image speaks a 1000 words, so take a look at the embedded image from PrimeSense’s website.

Information from PrimeSense suggests the technology relies extensively on a processor, the PS1080 SoC, which controls the infrared light source to decipher and produce a depth image of the scene, i.e. you playing the game, in conjunction with an off-the-shelf CMOS sensor. 

The strange thing about this is that Natal’s internal processor was reportedly removed from the final specification, leaving us to question how this handles this without custom hardware.

TVG has reached out to Microsoft for a comment on this, but we don’t really expect a response.  Today’s announcement does however reaffirm the Christmas 2010 release for Natal.

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What do you think?

I’ve been testing out the sword slashing Red Steel 2 on the Wii for the last couple of days. It is *way* better than the original for sure, but – and call me old-fashioned here – using the Wii for any serious length of gaming time is simply much easier with the classic pad compared to the wiimote – (Monster Hunter Tri is a perfect example). I have actually had arm ache playing Red Steel 2 which is probably not the immersive experience the developers had in mind. Or maybe it was? Either way I’m still to be convinced that motion play can work with the time and control demands of a “hardcore” title. Microsof’s Project Natal may be different though, but rumours earlier this week suggested you may need a massive living space – do you have 4 metres (13 feet) of space in front of your TV? – to even use it. Understandably European and Japanese Xbox owners will have been concerned. So, Microsoft have now confirmed to Kotaku that this space need is an optimum but not essential.

The comments recently about the play space for ‘Project Natal’ were misinterpreted. It is true that the ‘Project Natal’ sensor reads the configuration of your room and adjusts play space, as appropriate. We know that living rooms come in all shapes and sizes, and have conducted numerous play tests to ensure everyone will be able to jump off the couch and into the fun when ‘Project Natal’ launches globally this holiday.

This wouldn’t be the first time that the Xbox has had these kind of concerns – remember the Japanese-unfriendly bulk of the original Xbox model and controller? – and despite the Microsoft comments you will clearly need a bit more space to jump around using Natal rather than just waving the Wiimote. What this will mean in practice remains to be seen but personally I still can’t see how you can use Natal for “hardcore” games like, say, Fable 3 without it feeling like a jarring bolt-on that adds little to the experience. Yes, I’m looking forward to playing a bit of “Natal Sports” or whatever but am yet to be convinced that motion control – whether Wii, Natal or Playstation Move – will ever really work with core games. But what about you? Agree with me? Or do you expect to be playing Modern Warfare 4 and Halo 5 with some kind of motion or full body controller?

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Think about it; if Microsoft were to really deliver on their promises for Natal and capture the imagination of their intended audience, Natal could very well become the golden goose of the videogame industry. Slim PS3 is updated regularly every day with the latest Free Slim PS3 news, reviews and features.

In a post dubbed “Mythbusters” on Bungie.net, the legendary FPS developer has poured cold water all over a number of rumours surrounding Halo: Reach.

Is the game going to feature an off-centre crosshair? No, that’s just a bug that turned up in one of the screenshots. Is the HUD going to be yellow? Not any more, apparently. Will Reach be compatible with Microsoft’s Project Natal? Not by the sounds of things…

“Halo: Reach is NOT a Natal title and is being developed expressly with the traditional Xbox 360 controller in mind,” Bungie stated.

While this falls just short of an outright denial, we can’t see Reach being Natal dependant at this stage. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Microsoft isn’t planning a Halo game that will fully utilise Natal tech.

As we’ve previously reported, Microsoft Game Studios has been recruiting developers to work on a new Halo project for quite some time now, which the company has been coyly referring to as “Next-gen”. Additionally, given the sheer volume of job ads for Natal related projects at MGS recently, it wouldn’t be a huge step to suggest that these two things might be related.

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After September 22 but before December 21, that’s when you’ll see the PlayStation 3’s spiffy new motion controller on store shelves, says Sony. In a press release issued late last night, the company revealed its wand-based motion control peripheral for the PS3 will ship this fall in Japan, North America, and Europe with ready-to-play software. (Note to Sony: It’s just ’software’, ’software titles’ is technically double-dipping.)

“We have decided to release the Motion Controller in fall 2010 when we will be able to offer an exciting and varied line-up of software titles that will deliver the new entertainment experience to PS3 users, ” said Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kazuo Hirai in the press statement.

“We will continue to work to have a comprehensive portfolio of attractive and innovative games for the Motion Controller, not only from SCE Worldwide Studios but also from the third party developers and publishers, whom we have been working closely with. We look forward to soon unveiling the exciting software line-up that further expands and defines the PS3 platform as the ultimate entertainment system for the home.”

Microsoft’s ‘no controller’ motion sensing alternative, dubbed Project Natal, is due to ship by the end of the year, probably in November, placing it head-to-head with Sony’s product.

As expected, you’ll need the PlayStation Eye camera to use the double-wand system. The Eye’s been available for years, of course, and retails for $40 today. It’s also arguably the most underutilized, prematurely released official Sony peripheral in existence, so unless you’re hip to play Eye of Judgment (a totally decent card game, by the way) I’d wait to pick one up until they’re discounting it later this year, or, you know, bundling it with the PlayStation Arc.

Hold up, the PlayStation Arc? What the heck is that?

If you buy VG247’s claim, raised ‘on good authority’, a Sony insider says that’s what the motion controller’s actually named. You know, Arc. Like the plasma bolts spit from a Tesla Coil.

Interestingly, Sony says–my emphasis–that it will “vigorously promote the Motion Controller as the de facto controller of the PS3 platform along with the DUALSHOCK series controller.”

Translation: The Arc–I mean Tentatively Labeled Motion Controller Wand Duo PlayStation Accessory Thingy–gets to ride up front with the big boys. No lounging in the backseat or huddling in the trunk with neglected peripherals like the Eye, or the forlorn SIXAXIS accelerometer.

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It’s actually not quite as exciting as it sounds…

For their respective press events at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft and Sony have emerged from some serious spreadsheet and calculator sessions with a collection of scintillating sales stats.

First up, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer confirmed that Xbox 360 has now shifted 39m units worldwide since its launch in 2005. This combines nicely with sales figures just released by ELSPA which show that last year, Xbox games overtook Wii titles in terms of UK revenue. As industry news source MCV, reports:

Xbox 360 raked in £459m in sales throughout the period according to numbers from ELSPA, generating more revenue than any other platform. Wii still won in raw unit terms, however, with 18m games sold.

Over at Sony, there were no new total sales figures for PS3, but it was announced that over 3.8 million hardware units were shifted during the five week run up to Christmas – a 76 per cent increase over last year, and a record Xmas performance for the machine.

While we’re on a stat offensive, ELSPA has also announced its 2009 UK games industry sales figures. Total sales of all videogames software during 2009 amounted to £1.621 billion, with revenue on console hardware sales amounting to £1.06 billion. The latter figure represents a slight fall from 2008 (£1.905 billion), which ELSPA puts down to slashed retail prices. And of course, a big bugger of a recession.

Here are the rest of the numerical titbits:

Nintendo Wii stormed the field with software sales of over 18 million units in the UK, retaining the title of Number One software format by units sold. Sony’s PlayStation 3 also saw a dramatic increase by 14 per cent of software units sold, from 10.4 million units in 2008 to 11.9 million units in 2009. Overall, in 2009 UK consumers bought a total of 74.6 million videogame units – which works out at more than one per person in the UK.

However, it was Microsoft’s Xbox 360 which saw the biggest increase in software revenue in 2009, up four per cent from 2008 to earn £459 million and become the number one software format by revenue, overtaking the Nintendo Wii.

The Sony PlayStation 3 was the star console this year, posting a two per cent increase of units sold compared to 2008. However it still could not overtake the Nintendo Wii which retained the lead as the most sold console of 2009. In total, 6.7 million videogame consoles were sold in the UK in 2009, which is one console for every nine people in the UK.

The total value of console/PC gaming peripherals was £630 million in 2009, with total sales reaching 35.8 million units.

As for Wii, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata recently told Reuters that the machine had recovered from its mid-2009 slowdown, with sales topping three million in the US over the festive season.

It will be interesting to see how the consoles vie for sales in 2010. With Microsoft now confirming Natal for a Christmas release and Sony lining up its own motion controller as well as confirming that 3D stereoscopic gaming will be added to the PS3 firmware this year, there’s a serious specifications war still raging.

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Keith Stuart

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TVG recently had the opportunity to go hands-on with the newly announced co-op multiplayer in Splinter Cell: Conviction, make sure to check out our impressions.  We also had the chance to put a few questions to the game’s Director Patrick Redding. With interest in Project Natal heating up we put the question to him, and apparently were the first to enquire whether Sam Fisher’s antics would translate well to the motion controller. ”You and I can probably spend the next two hours brainstorming stuff like that, absolutely,” Redding claimed.  “Certainly amongst the design community at Ubisoft we’re very interested in Natal, we’re very interested in the Wii and DS and various other advancements in terms of interface.” ”I think every designer could come up with a laundry list of interesting ways to apply it to stealth gameplay, Splinter Cell in particular,” he added.  “I don’t know if there’s anybody actually thinking about it as their job description at this point, but nobody has asked me yet, so you’re the first.” So do you fancy hiding behind your sofa and pretending you’re Sam Fisher?  Let us know and we’ll make sure to put some ideas to Redding.  Look out for the full interview soon.

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