News Catch-up

Apologies for the lack of site updates during the past week. Busy schedules and a vacation were unfortunately timed with a bunch of announcements. If you missed them, here's your chance to catch up! The site will be up-to-date with the most regular news as you've come to expect from this point on.

Kinect Star Wars Delayed Indefinitely

The biggest news is perhaps the delay of Kinect Star Wars. Having received mixed feedback from the press and a poor reaction from gamers online, Microsoft have decided to delay the title indefinitely, along with the limited edition Star Wars Xbox 360 console and controller. Missing its fall 2011 date, Microsoft aren't announcing anything solid right now, only that the delay is so that the titles "full potential can be realized".

Releases

Air Band was released for Kinect Fun Labs for 240 points and Hole In The Wall hit Xbox Live Arcade for 800 points. Fruit Ninja Kinect got its first DLC in the form of Storm Chasers. Costing 200 points, the DLC will add a bunch of new content including a lightning blade and 50 points worth of new achievements. The Gunstringer demo also hit the marketplace yesterday, and is definitely worth checking out if you haven't already!

Burnout Crash will be launching later this month on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 points. Featuring a mode exclusive to Kinect, you can play the game 20th September.

New Game Announcements!

A few new games have been announced, including Twister Mania launching this November. Looking to feature gameplay not too dissimilar to Hole In The Wall, the game will allow two players to play at once, with 4 teams totalling 8 players. The game will feature 16 different ways to play and will be hitting stores at a discount price of $49 (£30)

Just Dance Kids 2 is... exactly what you probably think it is. Just Dance for kids. Featuring over 40 songs from a variety of top kids TV shows and movies, the game will allow 2 player simultaneous play as well as a music video and dance move creation mode.


Spongebob's Surf & Skate Roadtrip will be launching 8th November, allowing you to surf and skate in over 12 different environments. Finally Majesco are launching yet another mini-game party title -- Motion Explosion. Supporting up to 4 players, the game will feature 12 games, each with 10 difficulty levels, aimed to challenge your reflexes, timing and coordination.

Once again, apologies for the gap in updates. Stick around and we'll continue to bring the latest news as fast as humanly possible.

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Fruit Ninja Kinect Review Round-Up

Fruit Ninja Kinect hits the Xbox Live marketplace tomorrow for 800 points as part of the summer of arcade, and it looks like it is certainly worth checking out.

Praised for its responsive and precise controls and its simple, fast and addictive gameplay, the positive reviews are pouring in.

[Fruit Ninja Kinect is] so chock-full of clever ideas and satisfyingly tight controls that it very nearly circles back around to pure genius. It doesn't just set a high bar for the flock of touch-based apps which will almost certainly follow in its footsteps to the Kinect platform -- it sets a pretty intimidating precedent for the platform altogether - Joystiq

The core concept of Fruit Ninja crosses over intact to Kinect with multiplayer that's fun with friends. Even when my arms get tired and I have enough for the day, the game entices me to play one more session to try raise my score. Sure, Fruit Ninja Kinect is a shallow experience at heart, and there's not much game here -- but it also holds up as one of the most fun and addicting Kinect games I've played so far - 1UP

If you've any concerns about the accuracy of Microsoft's Kinect and potential irritations, squash them right now. Whatever magic Halfbrick has harnessed needs to be shared with other developers; Fruit Ninja Kinect's feeling of one-to-one accuracy is a triumph - Desctructoid

Price is the main criticism. Both a lack of content, and the fact that it is a port of a $0.99 mobile game. We think this is a little unfair -- porting a touch game to Kinect alone is no small effort. Getting it to work as well as they have with new modes, multiplayer and all new graphics shows that Half-Brick have put the effort in. What could have been a half-assed port clearly isn't.

If you are concerned about the price, you may be happy to know that if you're planning on buying The Gunstringer next month (at the already reduced price of £29.99 ($40)), it comes packaged with Fruit Ninja Kinect for free.

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First 15 mins of gameplay for Gunstringer

Joystiq have just posted gameplay footage for Twisted Pixel's first Kinect game. You essentially use your left hand to control the Gunstringer like a marionette and use your right hand to highlight targets and shoot. The brief gameplay clip shows off a variety of gameplay scenarios from hiding behind cover to boss fights. Be sure to check out the footage here and let us know what you think.

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