(Download the MP4 here)

My new article for Que, Kinect’s Evolution: Then versus Now, has now been posted. In it, I discuss a brief history of Microsoft's Kinect and some of its latest uses. Finally, our new book, My Xbox: Kinect, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE, is now targeted for a February 2012 release, in order to incorporate all the latest and greatest information on the platform.

My new article for Que, Xbox 360 Fall 2011 Dashboard Update Features and Expectations, has now been posted. If you still haven't read about all the new features coming to the Xbox 360 with the pending update, then be sure to check it out. If you're in the beta program, the update should hit within the next few days, with a wide release for all Xbox 360 owners expected within the next several months. Finally, our new book, My Xbox: Kinect, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE, is now targeted for a February 2012 release, in order to incorporate all the latest and greatest information on the platform.

I'm happy to announce that there will be a third new book from the Armchair Arcade team in 2011, this one entitled, TouchPad For Dummies, which will begin production shortly after the HP TouchPad's official release July 1, for an anticipated November 2011 retail availability. This will be written by me and Christina Loguidice, and joins our other book, My Xbox: Kinect, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE, which is well underway, as well as Motorola ATRIX For Dummies, which I wrote with Dan Gookin and will see release in August. Of course, Matt Barton and I are still in production on Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, from Lux Digital Pictures.

I can't announce any specifics as of yet, but Christina and I are also in negotiations for two Nintendo books, one of which might be written this year. If either of those deals happen, we'll of course let everyone know. Here are the Amazon links to all of the Armchair Arcade team's books to date:
      

I thought it would be better that instead of doing a giant E3 blog post, to have separate discussions for each company to maximize ease of debate and discussion. Since Microsoft went first, I'll talk about them first.

First, here's the stuff that's immediate from Microsoft's session:

• Kinect Fun Labs is immediately available and includes new avatar creation features and augmented reality stuff. I downloaded it (slowly) last night, but have yet to try it. The basic concept is a good one in that it really is a "lab" and new gadgets and features will be added over time.
• Microsoft claims that the Xbox 360 will continue to be the number one selling console month-to-month in North America, but will also achieve that worldwide in short order.

It looks like all the rest of this is coming in the big Fall update, which I suspect will hit some time in September:

• Lots of upcoming games (even hardcore ones) will make use of Kinect voice and gesture recognition, which, in addition to further integration into the dashboard will no doubt ensure that Kinect sales will continue to be brisk and Microsoft will continue to build a blueprint for their next generation system.
• YouTube is coming to Xbox LIVE, joining the already-in-place Facebook and Twitter, among others.
• Voice-command driven (via Kinect) DVR and an Internet TV service (Xbox LIVE TV) that will be in direct competition with standard cable and satellite services.
• Bing (universal) search is coming to the system; you can also use Bing voice commands via Kinect to access marketplace stuff directly.
• You can access PC media libraries using Kinect.
• Microsoft will offer cloud storage for game saves and profiles, potentially making both using a USB stick to transport your profile to other systems and the account recovery process unnecessary.
• A bizarre Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel was announced. I have an awesome Logitech force feedback wheel system for my PS3 and PC, so I'm definitely up for good steering wheel controllers, but this one might be a bit too radical of a design. I wish Microsoft would just reissue their now discontinued force feedback wheel.

Today, Microsoft announced that "by extending the capabilities of the Xbox platform with Kinect and Xbox LIVE, Microsoft has 'changed the tail' of the typical console lifecycle, showing dramatic gains in the fifth and sixth years of this generation." In addition, they’ve released the following data points:

• Microsoft has now sold 55 million Xbox 360 consoles across 38 countries and sales are accelerating.
• Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. as the top selling console in 2011, and ten of the past eleven months.
• In the first four months of 2011, Xbox 360 has seen a 29 percent year over year increase in sales, which is more than triple the growth of PlayStation 3 and the largest growth of any console on the market.
• There are now nearly 35 million active Xbox LIVE members worldwide spending an average of almost 60 hours a month on the service.
  Cumulatively Xbox LIVE members are now logging 2.1 billion entertainment hours a month.

As you already know, after completion of Motorola ATRIX For Dummies, which comes out in July, I'm now knee-deep with Christina in writing and developing My Xbox: Kinect, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE, which comes out in October. The "My" series books are extremely colorful and visually oriented, with some of the chapters we've written thus far having more than 50 images (in fact, one has 73!). I thought I would briefly share how the development process works from the author side, with some accompanying visuals.

Custom 360 Arcade ControllerI posted this a couple of years ago on another site, but I recently found myself thinking about creating another controller. I thought I would post my work here just for kicks and encourage those of you that want to try "hardware homebrew." It is really a lot of fun.

The Secret of Monkey Island is my favorite game of all time for any platform. It is a bold statement, but it is true. We've seen a lot of news and product in the world of Monkey Island over this past year, and this latest bit of news concerning MI2:SI is exciting.

When SOMI was remade and released last year, the artwork and music were updated. In addition to this, the voice actors from the later games in the series were brought in to dub the original game. What put the word "special" in "Special Edition" was the fact that you could toggle between the old graphics and the new graphics to balance a need for updated art with that of nostalgia. That said, I believe that the original artwork to SOMI and MI2 still looks great.

The second entry in the franchise is getting a remake, and this time it has in-game audio commentary from the creators. Yes. That's right. In. Game. Commentary. Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, and Dave Grossman have provided commentary for an update to a classic adventure game, and it will be included in this summer's MI2 release on PC, X-box 360, Playstation 3, Mac, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

Commentary? For an adventure game? What took so long? Why hasn't this been done before?