Mac App Store is Live

The long wait for the Macintosh version of the iOS' App Store is now officially over.

Encoded into the newest OSX update, the App Store looks very similar to the portable version and is starting off with over a thousand Apps, both free and paid, for your downloading enjoyment- One thing, in particular, worth noting? Full retail priced games.

The iOS version of the App Store has done very well for Apple with roughly 1.4 billion in total sales since is debuted so expectations are high indeed.

Avatar Kinect & Kinect Enhansed Movie Viewing Announced at CES

Microsoft's Kinect is gangbusters at retail and now it's getting a little bit of new functionality-

Kinect Transforms Entertainment in the Living Room
Kinect is a prime example of how natural user interface (NUI) is transforming gaming by making it more social and approachable than anyone ever thought was possible, but it’s just the beginning, Dennis said. Several CES announcements showed how Microsoft will take Kinect’s controller-free experience beyond gaming and into entertainment throughout the year. This spring, for example, Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers will be able to use Kinect to control Netflix on Xbox LIVE. Viewers will be able to pause, rewind, and fast-forward streaming movies with only their voice or gestures.
The company also announced that Hulu Plus will be coming to Xbox LIVE as a Kinect-enabled experience this spring. As with Netflix, subscribers will be able to use controller-free motion and voice capabilities to instantly watch full-screen popular TV shows anytime in HD.
Also at CES, the Xbox team introduced a new social experience called Avatar Kinect that will use Kinect’s camera and sensor to bring a player’s avatar to life. It leverages Kinect’s facial recognition technology to let a person control their avatar’s movements and expressions; when they smile, frown, nod and speak, the avatar will do the same, Dennis said.
With Avatar Kinect, a player can invite up to seven friends to join them in one of 15 imaginative virtual environments. One of those worlds is a performance stage, where friends can record their performance and share with friends.

Ooooh, voice control for Netflix and Hulu is a great idea.

Not really sold on the Avatar Kinect feature set though. We've already seen with Sony's Playstation Home (although it's a little bit of a different animal), that kind of thing isn't really all it's cracked up to be- at least not yet.

It sounds good, but 'on paper' doesn't always translate all that great to actual usability.

Kinect Sells 8 Million Units Since Launch

So Kinect is doing pretty well.

Microsoft was shooting for sales of 5 million units by the end of 2010 which was in and of itself a lofty goal. Now here in the first week of 2011, Kinect has shimmied those expectations away with a total of 8 million sold during the sixty day window that Microsoft figures to be the Holiday sales period.

Xbox 360 consoles saw an upswing as well, with 50 million moved during that same period. That last figure securing the crown for the Xbox as the number one gaming console in the US over the past six months.

The wild ride to close out 2010 capped the “biggest year ever” for Xbox, said David Dennis, group public relations manager for Xbox. Over the holiday season, console sales for the Xbox 360 hit 50 million. It also was the No. 1-selling console in North America over the past six months. Meanwhile, the Xbox LIVE community continued to grow strongly overall in 2010, adding a new member every two seconds. Xbox LIVE now has more than 30 million active members.

Little Big Planet 2 Demo Available Now

Everybody's favorite Sackboy has once again graced the PS3 with his (it's?) presence as the demo for the sequel to the make-your-own-game... game... Little Big Planet, is out now on the PSN.

Go grab it. It's free, how bad could it be?

Turbografx-16 Comes to the PSN

The odd (but very welcome) Turbo-16 resurgence continues from the iPhone onto the Playstation Network. The initial offering of games will be available some time this month and includes:

1. Alien Crush
2. Bomberman '94
3. Bonk's Adventure
4. Dungeon Explorer
5. Neutopia
6. New Adventure Island
7. Soldier Blade
8. Super Star Soldier
9. Victory Run
10. World Sports Competition

 Pricing and a solid launch date are still forthcoming but we do know that the games will be playable on the PS3 and the PSP, which is a nice little bonus. Reminds me of the Turbografx/Turbo Express.

Ahhhh memories...

New Call of Duty Games in Development

Just how many is anyone's guess at this point but Activision isn't exactly shy about milking a franchise.

Here's the scuttle right now as far as developers go: 

• Infinity Ward, despite all of their issues with management, is reportedly still working on something CoD related (gotta be a new Modern Warfare, right?)
• Treyarch, developers of the massive hit Black Ops, are working on a follow-up
• Raven Software is now rumored to be working on either some kind of DLC for Black Ops, or something entirely new- but still under the CoD banner.

And there's more as well- innuendo is floating around the ether that there's a Call of Duty MMO in the works too. However you slice all that- it's one heaping helping of CoD. Too much?

It could be. Remember that when WWII was all the rage, there just wasn't enough of a market to support all of the 'me toos' that  came along trying to steal genre kings Medal of Honor and Call of Duty's thunder. Eventually, even MoH fell to the wayside.

Now that it seems like the modern era is the bees knees as far as FPS's go, there are getting to be an aweful lot of 'me toos' again. watering down the Call name might not be the greatest idea.

He-Man Games Coming in 2011

Thanks to an exclusive partnership between THQ and Mattel, you can look forward to seeing a lot more titles for home consoles based upon the toy giant's properties.

He-Man will be joined by Polly Pocket, Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots among others. The only official announcement as of right now is Pictionary, but THQ is looking to bring get started right away and have several games ready for Christmas of this year. Pictionary will be a Wii exclusive at this point and will include support for the company's uDraw tablet peripheral.

Here's to hoping that they give Masters of the Universe a little priority. It's a classic franchise that deserves a decent game.