Kinect sales reach 24 million

Kinect sales have reached 24 million units worldwide, Microsoft revealed last night during the All Things D: Dive Into Media event. This is 5 million more than the 19 million sold by May last year.

Kinect–formerly Project Natal–launched in November 2010. The technology currently retails for $99, though refurbished models are presently on sale through the Microsoft store for $70. Kinect units are also available in a range of Xbox 360 bundles.

An updated version of Kinect is rumored to be at the core of Microsoft’s next-generation platform.

In addition, Microsoft reiterated that 76 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold around the world to date. This is three times the number of original Xbox consoles sold, Microsoft said.

Xbox Live now has 46 million subscribers, the company added, noting this represents 15 percent year-over-year growth. An Xbox Live Gold subscription carries a price tag of about $5 per month, meaning Microsoft generates revenue of around $230,000,000 per month from subscriptions alone.

Microsoft also said 2012 was the “biggest year for entertainment and games usage” through the platform, serving 18 billion hours of “entertainment” during the year, up 10 percent year-on-year. The average Xbox Live Gold subscriber in the United States spends an average of 87 hours a month on Xbox, also up 10 percent from last year, the company said.

Citing data from the Experian Simmons Spring 2012 Media Survey, Microsoft said 38 percent of the total Xbox Live audience in the United States is female and 54 percent has at least one child in their household.

The Xbox 360’s days may be numbered, as it has been widely speculated that Microsoft will usher in a next-generation platform by the end of the year. This console may even be announced at an Apple-style media briefing in March, perhaps in conjunction with the 2013 Game Developers Conference.

Obsidian’s plan for Fallout: New Vegas 2

Obsidian Entertainment would “love” to make Fallout: New Vegas 2, studio CEO Feargus Urquhart told Rock Paper Shotgun. No firm plans are in place just yet, but he said the game would be separate from whatever future Fallout game Bethesda may be working on.

“I think if we were to do Fallout: New Vegas 2–or just a new Fallout–we would probably separate it from what the internal team at Bethesda’s doing,” Urquhart said. “We’d keep it on the West Coast, because we’re West Coast people. They’re East Coast, so it makes sense.”

Urquhart also teased that the game could be set in Los Angeles and even take inspiration from zombie series The Walking Dead.

“And we need an interesting confined area. So I mean, it could be LA. Fallout LA,” he added. “That could be interesting. It’d probably be The Boneyard, which is from Fallout 1. It could be very different. It could be almost a Walking Dead meets Fallout-like thing because of all the radiation.”

Fallout: New Vegas 2 is not the only new game Obsidian wants to make. Urquhart revealed last week that he has pitched LucasArts on a new Star Wars role-playing game. This title would be set between the events of Episode III and Episode IV, though Obsidian has yet to speak with new Star Wars owner Disney about the game.

Obsidian is currently working on South Park: The Stick of Truth and Project Eternity.

Random Encounter Live

Join the live stream for Danny’s Random Encounter of the day.

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“Random Encounter Live” was posted by Staff on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 07:30:00 -0800

Video Review – Aliens: Colonial Marines

Knew it. I could tell this was going to be mediocre-ville when I saw the gameplay demos. No suspense in an Aliens game really

This may sound weird, but when it starts up and you exit the cryo pod in Halo 4, walking through the ship briefly I thought “These are the guys that should make an Aliens game”. Of course Halo took some influence from Aliens, the future marine culture and chatter, motion tracker.. Anyway, I would still buy this further on in the cheap. I do like Aliens, I might be able to use my imagination!

Abandon Ship Gameplay Video – Aliens: Colonial Marines

The Sulaco is ripping apart and these Marines need to survive the trek to an escape pod to get away.

 

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“Abandon Ship Gameplay Video – Aliens: Colonial Marines” was posted by JimM on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 01:00:00 -0800