Last week Microsoft finally announced a price for Kinect. To the surprise of no one the software giant listed the price of the peripheral at $150. Microsoft also smartly bundled the standalone Kinect with Kinect Adventures!, as well as introducing an arcade bundle retailing for $300. The arcade bundle includes a 4GB 360 slim, Kinect, Kinect Adventures!, and a wireless controller. Games for Kinect will retail for $50, ten dollars cheaper than regular 360 titles. The move puts the 360 in an interesting position as it will be $100 dollars more expensive than the Wii bundle but $100 cheaper than the PS3 Move bundle. Although consumer tastes (i.e. the casual gamers interested in motion controls) will determine which bundle has the best overall value. June was a very good month for Microsoft with a sharp increase of the number of consoles sold-- although much of the growth had little to with the new 360 slim. Over 60 percent of 360 sales were of the heavily discounted original models with Arcade versions selling for as low as $150.
On the Sony side of things PS3 users will soon be able to stream Netflix without a disc. By the end of October users will be able to stream movies instantly via an app on the XBM (cross media bar). The Netflix Application in its current form is free to PSN users and will most likely remain free, unlike the Gold members-only 360 version. In other news for PS3 owners Atlus has announced it will extend its online service for Demon's Souls to March 2011. When the game was originally released Atlus stated it would only run the online servers for six months. Because the game has become an unexpected success gamers will be able to play online for a little longer. Demon's Souls is still playable offline, but online play is one of the most interesting and unique aspects of the game. If you own a PS3 and you haven't played this RPG yet now would be a good time to do so, especially with the game retailing for $30.
One online service that won't be going away anytime soon is Facebook. In fact, the online social network just reached a milestone-- 500 million users. Yes that's right, one in 13 people worldwide now have a Facebook account. And to think just a few years ago everyone was raving about MySpace. It'll be interesting to see how long Facebook can hold onto its status before being replaced by the next big thing. Apparently e-books have become the next big thing in the world of publishing. E-books on Amazon.com have been outselling their paper counterparts in recent months. Still, in the world of publishing e-books only make up one percent of overall book sales.
Remember last year when Marvel announced at Comic Con it was partnering up with Madhouse Studios to create anime shows based on Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade? Almost a year to the day Marvel has confirmed those anime series will air on TV in the United States via G4 in 2011. Finally, the network will have something worth watching in addition to X-Play. If you've been watching anime for a while you may have noticed a decline in the quality of new series over the last few years. Sato Dai, a storywriter for anime titles such as Cowboy Bebop and Ergo Proxy, shared his frustrations with the industry at a recent academic panel. He lamented the lack of creativity in writing and the inability of many newer series to address social and political problems in society. Suddenly the few anime titles that do provide food for thought became a little more valuable.
On the Sony side of things PS3 users will soon be able to stream Netflix without a disc. By the end of October users will be able to stream movies instantly via an app on the XBM (cross media bar). The Netflix Application in its current form is free to PSN users and will most likely remain free, unlike the Gold members-only 360 version. In other news for PS3 owners Atlus has announced it will extend its online service for Demon's Souls to March 2011. When the game was originally released Atlus stated it would only run the online servers for six months. Because the game has become an unexpected success gamers will be able to play online for a little longer. Demon's Souls is still playable offline, but online play is one of the most interesting and unique aspects of the game. If you own a PS3 and you haven't played this RPG yet now would be a good time to do so, especially with the game retailing for $30.
One online service that won't be going away anytime soon is Facebook. In fact, the online social network just reached a milestone-- 500 million users. Yes that's right, one in 13 people worldwide now have a Facebook account. And to think just a few years ago everyone was raving about MySpace. It'll be interesting to see how long Facebook can hold onto its status before being replaced by the next big thing. Apparently e-books have become the next big thing in the world of publishing. E-books on Amazon.com have been outselling their paper counterparts in recent months. Still, in the world of publishing e-books only make up one percent of overall book sales.
Remember last year when Marvel announced at Comic Con it was partnering up with Madhouse Studios to create anime shows based on Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade? Almost a year to the day Marvel has confirmed those anime series will air on TV in the United States via G4 in 2011. Finally, the network will have something worth watching in addition to X-Play. If you've been watching anime for a while you may have noticed a decline in the quality of new series over the last few years. Sato Dai, a storywriter for anime titles such as Cowboy Bebop and Ergo Proxy, shared his frustrations with the industry at a recent academic panel. He lamented the lack of creativity in writing and the inability of many newer series to address social and political problems in society. Suddenly the few anime titles that do provide food for thought became a little more valuable.
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