Kinect Playable at Macy's Months Before Launch

If you just can't wait to see how Microsoft Kinect works, be sure to run down to select Macy's stores nationwide over the next few months to try it out.

According to the retail company, it will be giving customers the chance to "test drive" its motion-gaming platform at 13 retail outlets around the U.S. on Thursdays through Sundays from now through September 30. The hours of operation are noon to 8 p.m. local time Thursday through Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. local time on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the Kinect won't be available in every Macy's location. According to the company, it will mostly be available in major cities, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Miami. Smaller cities, like McLean, Va., and Bellevue, Wash., are also included in the list.

According to a Microsoft representatives, customers will be able to play Kinect Adventures, Kinectimals, Kinect Joy Ride, and Kinect Sports in-store.

Microsoft Kinect could be a major revenue generator for Microsoft. Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Carris, recently predicted that Kinect could generate $1 billion in revenue for Microsoft during its first year of availability. It would seem that Kinect's placement in Macy's stores could help the company generate the sales to reach that figure.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Pre-Orders Reportedly Outpacing Modern Warfare 2

Treyarch's traditionally been perceived as the "B" development team for the Call of Duty franchise, but impressive showings for Call of Duty: Black Ops have suggested their latest could be a coming out party of sorts for the studio, a culmination of their work on the series. Besides industry buzz, it seems to be translating to potential sales, as GameSpot reports a Pacific Crest Securities analyst is currently estimating that Black Ops pre-orders are outpacing those for Modern Warfare 2.

Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson made the claim in a report released to various outlets. Wilson increased his sales estimate for Black Ops' holiday sales from 10 million to 12 million.

In the past, the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty games have performed extremely well but failed to achieve a similar blockbuster status to the Infinity Ward-produced installments. Growing evidence suggests that could change with Black Ops, scheduled for a release on November 9.

Jordan NBA 2K11 Cover Revealed

2K Sports has revealed the cover of NBA 2K11 featuring long-time Chicago Bull Michael Jordan. Is this the greatest sports cover of all time? 2K seems to think so:

We knew as soon as we signed Jordan that we needed to do something special for the cover," said Jason Argent, vice president of marketing for 2K Sports. "This could possibly be the most highly anticipated cover art in the history of sports games and we think the image we came up with delivers on every front.

2K already told us what to expect from MJ in the new game. NBA 2K11 will be out on October 5, 2010.

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New Xbox 360 protects itself from overheating

The RRoD might be gone, thanks to overheating monitoring.
(Credit: Microsoft, Jeff Bakalar/CNET)

Microsoft's new, slim Xbox 360 not only ditches the Red Ring of Death, the console monitors itself to determine if it's starting to overheat.
According to an Engadget post, which posted pictures of a "red dot of death" on its site, the new Xbox 360 constantly evaluates itself for overheating issues. If the console doesn't get as much ventilation as it needs to operate properly, a red light is displayed in the middle of the power ring, and the console shuts down by itself. Upon doing so, a message is displayed on the users' television, alerting them to the overheating issue.

"The Xbox 360 is shutting down to protect the console from insufficient ventilation," an alleged screenshot of an overheating Xbox 360 error message says. "You can turn the console back on after the power light stops flashing."

Microsoft confirmed the existence of the monitoring function in an e-mail. The Microsoft representative said "the new console has safety mechanisms in place to shut down, if needed, including an advanced warning that the console will shut down."
Although the warning isn't something that Xbox 360 owners want to see, it's nice to know that Microsoft is doing more to protect its console. Previous versions of the Xbox 360 were rife with troubles that caused the infamous Red Ring of Death. Upon getting it, Xbox 360 owners were forced to send their consoles back to Microsoft for fixing.

I've experienced the so-called RRoD once. CNET writer Jeff Bakalar reported last week that he has sent back a whopping five Xbox 360 units due to the RRoD.
There's no telling whether the new Xbox 360 model will be more robust than the previous model, but protecting against "insufficient ventilation" is certainly a good first step.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack Now Available on Xbox Live

Well, we told you about it last month and the day has arrived. The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack is now available on the Xbox LIVE online entertainment network. Today's launch of the second map pack from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 adds five additional multiplayer levels, including three new locations along with two updated classic locations from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

The new map pack is published by Activision, and available for download on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360 video game system for 1,200 Microsoft Points. To celebrate its release, Infinity Ward will host a Double XP weekend for Xbox LIVE gamers beginning June 4.

For more information, visit. www.ModernWarfare2.com

Say good-bye to Linux on the PS3

Those who own an older PS3 version and currently run Linux on the console will want to listen up: a new firmware update coming down later this week will kill that installation.

According to Sony, it plans to release PlayStation 3 firmware version 3.21 on Thursday to achieve one goal: eliminate the "Other OS" option currently available in all pre-Slim models of the video game console. The feature allowed PS3 owners to install an operating system--in almost every case, Linux--onto the PlayStation 3.

Sony said that its decision to remove the Other OS option is based on security concerns. The company contends that after installing the update, users will have "a more secure system." Those who currently use the Other OS option and have an operating system running on the PS3 will loss all data (and, obviously, the OS installation) after installing the update.

Although Sony wants PS3 owners to download the software, it said that users won't be forced to do so. That said, if users don't install the firmware, they will lose access to the PlayStation Network and playback of games and Blu-ray movies that require the new software. The console will also stop playing copy-protected content from media servers.

Sony's decision to remove the Other OS option from the PS3 isn't all that surprising. When it started shipping last year, the PlayStation 3 Slim didn't have the Other OS option included in its software. It seems that Sony is simply catching up on old PS3 models.

Many of the folks who ran Linux on the PlayStation were quite happy with the PS3's performance, so it's rather unfortunate to see the PS3's Other OS option go.

Users running Linux on the PS3 will want to backup their data before installing the firmware update Thursday.

 

Source:http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10471356-17.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

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Games Price: Free

Release Date: January 12, 2010

This app is a free complete walkthrough guide, aimed to give you some cheats to progress in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 . It works for PC, PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 . Learn how to achieve the maximum grade in single and multiplayer modes. This free guide includes :

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Source: http://www.unlock-apple-iphone.com/blog/?p=9664