Xbox LIVE Silver becomes Xbox LIVE Free

Xbox LIVE's Silver membership level has been re-branded Xbox LIVE Free, Xbox Europe's community manager Graeme Boyd has revealed.

Posting on Twitter, Boyd said: "Just been told that 'Xbox Live Silver Membership' will now officially be called 'Xbox Live Free Membership'. The times they are a-changin..."

The change is in name only, with previous functionality and services unchanged.

Xbox Kinect games line-up unveiled

Microsoft Xbox has announced there will be 19 games ready to launch alongside its new Kinect add-on next month.

The hands-free, motion controller system will finally hit the shelves in the UK on 10 November, six days after America.

Covering sport, fitness, adventure and racing Xbox hopes the line up will persuade enough people it's worth £130.

But in a deliberate move the titles are very family friendly.

Bosses are hoping Kinect will help Xbox grow into the family orientated side of gaming.

It's a market dominated by the Nintendo Wii.

Microsoft's Chris Lewis says: "The line-up of games delivers an astonishing range of experiences and entertainment which can be enjoyed by everyone."
Strong Competition

Most of the games will be ready for launch day although two will follow a week later, while four will hit shelves two weeks after Kinect is released.


The public had their first chance to play Kinect at Gamescom in Cologne.

But Xbox won't have it all its own way.

Despite timing the launch of Kinect almost perfectly for the Christmas market, it's facing tough competition from Sony PlayStation's Move.

That was released in September, while next spring sees Nintendo launch its 3DS handheld console.

The titles due for release are: Kinect Adventures; Kinectimals; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -part 1 The Videogame; Game Party;

Dance Central; Your Shape: Fitness Evolved; The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout; EA Sports Active 2; Zumba Fitness; Get Fit with Mel B;

DanceEvolution; Dance Paradise; Kinect Sports; MotionSports; Sports Island Freedom; Kinect Joy Ride; Fighters Uncaged; Sonic Free Riders; Crossboard 7

Kinect's $500m Marketing Blitz, Launch Titles

Microsoft wasn't kidding when it said that Kinect's launch would be treated like that of a home console - the company has revealed to the New York Post that it is spending $500 million on "a major movie-style marketing blitz," while the peripheral's UK launch game tally is close to that of the Xbox 360's own in 2005.

19 games are being prepped for Kinect's 4th November release in the UK (17 titles will launch in North America), and include five fitness games, two dancing games and one movie tie-in. Alongside first-party titles like Kinect Adventures and Kinect Sports, Ubisoft's Motion Sports and THQ's The Biggest Loser will be on store shelves to carry the device.

Konami announced that it will be bringing Dance Masters and Crossboard 7 to Kinect, with Hudson's Sports Island Freedom arriving later in the month on the 25th November. While Major Nelson only lists the US launch titles, over here we get the added bonus of Get Fit With Mel B and Dance Paradise.

Microsoft aims to spend its colossal marketing dollars by slapping Kinect on TVs, cereal boxes, print and online media and soda cans. Hollywood director Steven Spielberg has even been involved in the planning of the campaign. It'll certainly be interesting to see whether all that marketing spend translates into sales...

Gran Turismo 5 delayed again

In what will surely prove to be the least surprising piece of gaming news this week, Sony has announced that Gran Turismo 5 has been delayed again. The much-anticipated latest addition to the long-running simulation series was due to be launched on November 2 in the US with Japanese and UK debuts following the day after. However, the project has already been held back several times, with a previous Japanese launch date pencilled in for March 2010.

In a curt blogpost on the Official PlayStation site, SCEA producer Taku Imasaki states:

We sincerely apologize to GT fans for the delay, however, creator Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony Digital want to make certain they are creating the perfect racing experience, and we are confident that this ambitious game will exceed expectations when it launches.

Imasaki promises that the release will be, "this holiday season", although fans will no doubt now be bracing themselves for further disappointment.

GT5 was originally announced at the E3 games event back in 2006 and had already been in development for two years before that. Last year, in an interview with AutoWeek, the game's creator Kazunori Yamauchi claimed that the game had cost $60m to develop; that figure will have certainly risen in the following 12 months.

So any takers on March 2011?

Force Unleashed 2 demo hits Live

LucasArts has released a demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II via Xbox Live Marketplace.
The demo, which weights in at around 700Mb allows you to get a taster of the games brand new force powers. You can add the demo to your queue here.  Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II releases on October 29 for PS3, 360, PC, Wii and DS.

PlayStation Move Calibration Problems: Recalibrate to magnetic sensor

I do not own the PlayStation Move yet, but after playing on my cousin’s for a few hours the other night I noticed that he had an issue with the calibration. However, he found that once he restarted his system everything was fine. (Read his hands-on review) There are times when this does not work, but there is another way around this problem.
Joshua Harris wrote on World Gamin Network about the problems that he had with calibrating his motion controller, when the game asks for you to point the controller towards the screen. He said that at this point it would fail every time, even though he followed the instructions carefully.
We are certain that Harris is not the only PS3 user to have the same issue, but he believes that he may have found a fix for this problem. Did you know that you could recalibrate PlayStation Move while in the PS3 menu?
The process is a simple one, which can be easily explained in the video below. Have you had issues trying to calibrate PlayStation Move?

First accessory for hands-free Kinect: the 'Game Boat' dinghy

The hands-free, consumer friendly Xbox 360 Kinect controller is to receive its first accessory, according to manufacturers Atomic Accessories, in the form of a fully operational inflatable dinghy.

Designed to complement whitewater rafting contained within Kinect's November 4 launch title Kinect Adventures, the Game Boat can accommodate up to two players in seated or standing positions, whether in the living room, at sea, or in the pool.

With product news breaking on specialist gaming websites such as Joystiq, Kotaku and CVG, experienced gamers reacted with incredulity, coming to terms with the otherwise standalone Kinect's hands-free system receiving its first after-market enhancement.

Kinect Adventures features 20 distinct mini-games, and the whitewater rapids of the River Rush section have become its most widely demonstrated feature. One or two players race downstream, leaning left or right to steer the in-game boat, and timing their jumps in order to reach bonus items.

Though the 150cm x 150cm blow-up bateau is labelled as 'Kinect compatible,' there are now concerns that its fully inflated prow could interfere with the Kinect camera's tracking of lower leg movements.

Still, let's not presume that it couldn't be put to good use by owners of other titles with watersport or seafaring connections: Sega Bass Fishing, Diddy Kong Racing, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Sid Meier's Pirates!, or perhaps even Larry Bond's Harpoon 3: Advanced Naval Warfare.

Those that remain determined to gain a competitive advantage in Kinect Adventures would be better served by an indoor trampoline, or a clinical psychiatrist.