The Digest: The Gunstringer is one of, if not the best Kinect games around.  It’s fun, it works, and comes with so much at a budget price.  You’d be stupid not to give it a try.

THE FACT SHEET

RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2011
PUBLISHER: Microsoft Studios
DEVELOPER: Twisted Pixel
ESRB RATING: “T” for Teen
GENRE: Shooter

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:
The Gunstringer has you playing a marionette cowboy skeleton who is looking to get revenge on his old posse who betrayed him.  Using nothing but your hands and arms, you can shoot your enemies down, punish them with your fists, and avoid obstacles in a very unique adventure.  The Gunstringer is priced at $39.99 and includes a free download code for Fruit Ninja Kinect and access to The Wavy Tubeman Chronicles DLC.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

• Budget price of $39.99
  
• Variety of different enemies, bosses and weapons
  
• The first Kinect game that can be played sitting down
• Two player co-op throughout the whole game
• Comes with Fruit Ninja Kinect download code and free Wavy Tubeman Chonicles DLC

Microsoft’s innovative sensor has seen a lot of hatred from hardcore gamers since its release back in November.  Sure, the technology is cool but there really have not been many games that appeal to that hardcore market Microsoft has lured to their system.  Twisted Pixel, the genius studio that bought us hits on Xbox Live Arcade such as Splosion Man, Comic Jumper, and most recently, Ms. Splosion Man hope to remedy this with The Gunstringer.  The Gunstringer is Twisted Pixel’s first ever retail title.  It was originally slated to release on Xbox Live Arcade but after Microsoft saw it, they helped to make it much bigger than originally intended.  Does The Gunstringer deliver as the first must have Kinect title for hardcore gamers or does it fail to live up to the hype?

In The Gunstringer, you take control of a marionette cowboy skeleton that has mysteriously come back to life after being betrayed by his posse.  The Gunstringer is after revenge as you will travel far and wide to kill The Gunstringer’s posse.  The game’s story contains four acts along with a prologue and epilogue.  Each act has four levels and a boss battle while the prologue and epilogue each contain one level.  The Gunstringer’s time in the west is a pretty nice length for a forty dollar title, five to six hours for your first playthrough.  You’re definitely gonna want to play through the game multiple times as you can use in game cash to unlock behind the scenes videos and extra modes such as a hardcore difficulty mode and even commentaries by the game’s developers and Rooster Teeth.  With all of this bonus content on top of the core experience, there definitely is a lot to see and do in The Gunstringer.  Each act in the game has its own unique environments, obstacles, and enemies, forcing the game to never feel repetitive, even if you are doing the same actions in each level.

In order for this game to ork well, the controls have to be completely spot on.  This is the first Kinect game one could play sitting down which makes it not as physically intense as other Kinect games.  You hold your left hand up to control the movement of the Gunstringer and your right finger acts as a pistol which you can aim at enemies by pointing at the screen.  These controls are used through the majority of the game and they work pretty well for the most part.  They are accurate enough to make the experience work.  It was not one hundred percent accurate though.  Peaking out of cover by moving my body sometimes didn’t work so well as I had to thrust my body a few times for it to notice me.  The pistol is not the only weapon you use throughout the game.  There is also a shotgun, flamethrower, and sword which you are able to use for small portions of different levels.  Your body really is part of the experience and I can definitely say it works.  Multiplayer, which allows one other player to aim and fire at the screen during the campaign is fun but I would have wanted to see more from multiplayer.

For the price you are paying, you are getting plenty of content.  You get The Gunstringer, Fruit Ninja Kinect, and the Wavy Tubeman Chronicles DLC which is a 40 minute interactive movie and is one of the oddest experiences you’ll have on Kinect for a long time coming. It’s still a blast to play however, and it’s free.  You’ll definitely need to play it, it’s an experience.

The Gunstringer is easily the best Kinect game I have ever played.  The controls work well for the most part, I can play sitting down, and the game has enough variety and personality to keep me interested the whole way through.  Twisted Pixel did an incredible job to craft a game with characters, settings, and gameplay which stands out from the majority of games released this year.  The Gunstringer with all of its bonuses represents the best value for a new game this year.  It has enough content to keep you busy longer than many sixty dollar titles.  If you have a Kinect and are looking for a great game, do not even hesitate to pick up The Gunstringer.  No matter who you are, you will enjoy it.

Single Player: 5/5 | Multi-Player: 3/5

Special thanks to Twisted Pixel for providing a copy of this game for review.

Many hardcore gamers have been waiting patiently for what has been called “the first hardcore Kinect game” since its debut earlier this year.  A release date for this game has finally been announced.  The Gunstringer from Twisted Pixel Games, the studio that made such hits as The Maw and Splosion Man will be Twisted Pixel’s first ever retail title when it releases on September 13.  Microsoft Studios is publishing the game.   The Gunstringer will cost less than the average Kinect title at only $39.99.  Not only that but it will also come bundled with a free download token for the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title Fruit Ninja Kinect.  This puts it at an even higher value when it comes to content.  It’s two games for the price of one!   But wait, it does not stop there.  On day one there will be a free DLC pack called “The Wavy Tube Man Chronicles” which looks to be a single player add on where you are pitted against Wavy Tube Man Jr, the son of the game’s first boss as he steals a time machine to defend his father.  Additionally if you pre order the game, you will receive an exclusive avatar prop that won’t be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace.  This ought to be one of, if not the best values of any Kinect title this year.  Look forward to The Gunstringer when it releases and keep checking Xbox 360 Digest for more updates on The Gunstringer.

[Press Release]

On top of your shiny new phone, you can choose from one of four free Xbox 360 games. The choices for the promotion are Halo: Reach, Fable 3, Kinectimals and Kinect Joy Ride.

Take advantage now while the promotion is still running.

[via Microsoft]

The Kinect sensor currently is restricted to only transmitting 15MB/s of data meanwhile it can go up to a maximum of 35MB/s.  This restriction is because Microsoft believes its users are using other devices in other USB ports of the Xbox 360 console which is definitely true.  Supposedly, Microsoft is working a software update to higher this restriction and make Kinect even more accurate.  This would even increase the amount of pixels that can capture your image from 320X240 to 640X480.

Digital Foundry’s Rich Leadbetter says while this update is possible, it is uncertain as to whether it will actually increase the accuracy of the Kinect sensor.

[joystiq]

Don Mattrick, the president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft said “We are appreciative of the response we have seen from consumers that has culminated in sales of more than 1 million units in the first 10 days on the market for Kinect for Xbox 360.  This is a great start to the holiday season, and we will continue to work with our retailer partners to keep pace with high demand and deliver against our plan to sell more than 5 million Kinect sensors worldwide by the end of this year.”

Kinect is currently on track to meet Microsoft’s expectation of five million Kinect sensors being sold by the end of the year.

For the full PR, check out the Microsoft Press Center.

So Kinect has finally launched!  As many of us are navigating the dashboard Minority Report style and playing games with only our bodies, we wonder what will be next for Microsoft’s newest piece of technology.  Obviously with any launch, there are a couple things that Kinect is missing and desperately needs.  Believe it or not, there are only two key things that Kinect needs.

2. Hardcore Games
One thing that is keeping many hardcore gamers and Xbox fans from buying Kinect is the lack of compelling software.  The Kinect launch lineup is full of family friendly games that do not appeal to hardcore gamers at all.  They don’t want dancing games or minigame compilations, they want compelling experiences.  Not many Kinect games have been announced for 2011 but many of the ones that have been announced are looking to get hardcore gamers to buy Kinect.  While many casual games such as Spongebob Squarepants, Disney’s unannounced titles, and Michael Jackson: The Experience will please families and casual gamers, there will be plenty of hardcore titles such as Star Wars, Forza Motorsport, Codename D, Project Draco, Rise of Nightmares and Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor.  The bottom line is that in order for Kinect to succeed with hardcore gamers, these games along with other unannounced hardcore titles must be the immersive experiences hardcore gamers desire.  Many people think hardcore gamers only play shooting games but that is not true.  A game that has a lot of depth and provides competition is one example of a hardcore game.  First person shooters like Halo and Call of Duty do this so well.  A game that contains depth, immersion, and competition if it is multiplayer is the type of game that Kinect desperately needs.

Ashlee Vance is reporting over at the New York Times that the first Kinect Prototype cost far more than the $150 price point they’re selling it at retail for.

$29,850 more expensive to be exact.

Of course, this is a miniscule amount compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars that went into the development cost and the robust marketing campaign that will be flooding media outlets everywhere.

The article also goes in-depth on some of the features and technology used to make up Kinect. A fascinating read for anyone even remotely interested in the new device.

For Kinect’s eyes, Microsoft turned to PrimeSense, based in Tel Aviv. It links a standard Web camera with a pair of sensors to offer depth perception. One sensor emits light near the infrared range, giving Kinect its own light source impervious to ambient conditions. The other sensor monitors users’ distance from the device.

THE eyes were nice, but if only Kinect had a brain.

Adding the smarts required Microsoft’s artificial-intelligence experts and thousands of test subjects. Microsoft found people of varying shapes and sizes and recorded how they moved by monitoring 48 joints in their bodies. Over time, the algorithms that digest this data became better and better, allowing the system to work with pregnant women and children in baggy clothes as well as with average-size adults in T-shirts and shorts.

Microsoft upgrades and rewires the Kinect brain every 24 hours and can send updates to Xbox systems via the Internet when it chooses. Kinect recognizes someone it has seen before by body shape, so there’s no need to log into the system each time a game is played. It knows your left hand from your right and can distinguish between two players even when their paths cross.

If players have similar builds, Kinect tries to glean differences in their facial features, haircuts, body movements and clothing color. And if identically dressed twins initially stump the system, it will ask each to say something.

Microsoft is banking huge on Kinect being a success, and so far, all signs point to that goal coming to fruition.

[via NY Times]

With Kinect set to launch on November 4th, Microsoft is going all out to market Nintendo’s worst nightmare. The NY Post is reporting that Microsoft has put aside $500 million to make sure everyone knows about their prized new possession.

“Kinect is the largest, most integrated marketing initiative in Xbox history, bigger than its launch. We are going to be spending millions to launch this globally.”

- Robert Matthews, general manager of global marketing communications for Xbox

Some of the major partners are Burger King, Pepsi, and Kellogg cereals/snacks.

Not to mention, they’ll be taking over YouTube and airing commercials targeting some of the most popular programs in the US.

They’re not stopping there either. Kinect ads will be plastered all over magazines and wherever else they can print it.

[via NY Post]