Kinect 2 Accurate Enough to Read Lips, Track Fingers?

Rumor has it that the next iteration of Kinect for the next Microsoft Xbox will be much more accurate than its predecessor. “How accurate?” you’re probably asking yourself (or not) — accurate enough to read lips and track fingers! That’s the word according to the excellent peeps at Eurogamer. Check it out:

One development source told Eurogamer that Kinect 2 will be so powerful it will enable games to lip read, detect when players are angry, and determine in which direction they are facing. Kinect 2 can track the pitch and volume of player voices and facial characteristics to measure different emotional states.

There’s no word on how Kinect 2 will handle people that excel at masking their emotions or those with multiple-personality disorder.

Seriously though, this kind of tech seems really cool, but will it be any fun? Are you boys and girls interested in Kinect on steroids? What kind of gameplay applications do you see with a high-fidelity version of Kinect? What do you think creative souls like Hideo Kojima and Tetsuya Mizuguchi could do with a Kinect 2 that’s powerful enough to read minds lips and track fingers?

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Amazon Cyber Monday Videogame Deals Are Live!

Since Black Friday wasn’t enough (depending on your perspective), online retailers like Amazon are aiming to extract more money from your wallets with Cyber Monday sales. Here are Amazon’s Cyber Monday videogames deals. Kindly let me know if you pick anything up. Sadly, I have a bunch of travel this week and need to save my money for business expenses. *sniff* *sniff* I want to shop too!

Xbox Live Cyber Monday Sale

Microsoft has a bunch of games slashed for Cyber Monday on Xbox Live. These deals are for today only…because there’s nothing Cyber about Tuesdays. Here’s what you can pick up: Mortal Kombat Arcade Collection (400 points), Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale (600 points), Beyond Good & Evil (240 points), and Risk Factions (200 points).

Any of these deals appeal to you?

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Coffee Talk #425: Google Got (More) Game?

Google has been aggressively targeting social gamers with its increasing selection of distractions on Google+. It seems that the company is looking beyond social gaming and, perhaps, going after (more) traditional console gamers. Google developer…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, eating at a diner for Thanksgiving and wanting real turkey, the Miley Cyrus stoner controversy, or John Morrison possibly ending his WWE run tonight, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Google has been aggressively targeting social gamers with its increasing selection of distractions on Google+. It seems that the company is looking beyond social gaming and, perhaps, going after (more) traditional console gamers. Google developer advocate Paul Kinlan recently revealed that Chrome will be able to support gamepads natively through WebRTC. Kinland noted that WebRTC could allow streaming services like Onlive and Gaikai to work on Chrome without any plug-ins.

A few outlets have reported that Google is developing its own streaming videogame service, but Kinlan has denied this. Others have speculated that Google is considering buying OnLive or Gaikai. On one hand, it seems outside of the company’s wheelhouse; I’m not sure that Google wants to deal with game publishers and developers in that fashion. On the other hand, it could give Google yet another way to serve relevant ads and give Google+ a differentiator over Facebook. Certainly Google has the server capacity to support a streaming videogame service, but I’m not convinced the company wants to deal with the messy content.

What do you think of the recent Google gaming speculation? Do you see Google getting into streaming videogames? Would you use a gaming service on Chrome that’s socialized by Google+?

The Phenomenon of Zack Ryder

I’m truly amazed by the rise of WWE Zack Ryder. He went from one of Edge’s two indistinguishable sidekicks to one of the most over wrestlers in WWE today. The crowd reactions he has been getting for the last few months have been phenomenal. The amazing part is that it wasn’t an outstanding match or a strong push by corporate that got Ryder over. It was his sharp use of YouTube and Twitter.

Ryder wasn’t getting enough match time to show what he could do in the ring. He also wasn’t getting great material to work with from WWE’s writers. He took the initiative to develop his character through a series of YouTube videos called Z! True Long Island Story and reach out to fans via Twitter. It completely worked. The fans connected with him, probably because it’s easy to see how much he cares and how badly he wants to succeed. He took his character to a new level with YouTube in a way that WWE television wouldn’t allow. It’s a great success story that shows how powerful social networking services can be.

What do you think of the Zack Ryder phenomenon? Are you impressed that hard work and social networking has made him one of the most popular WWE Superstars  in 2011? Also, woo woo woo! You know it!!

Share Your Black Friday Loot

Since I’m going to be spending most of today in the air and a couple of hours in Chicago, I’m going to miss most of the Black Friday madness. I did manage to pick up two items before I left. First is The Social Network for $10. It’s a fantastic movie and I’m really looking forward to hearing the two commentary tracks. The other goodie I picked up is a Hario Buono kettle. Water control is so important when using pour-over methods like my beloved Chemex. The Buono is used by many baristas I know. It’s one of the best out there for the price.

When the dust clears, please let me know what Black Friday deals you scored. And please, please, please don’t forget to check Amazon’s various Black Friday offerings.

NBC Universal Orders Booster Gold Script for Syfy

It looks like Booster Gold will be the next comic-book superhero making his way to television. I never thought I’d type a sentence like that. As many of you know, Justice League International is one of my all-time favorite comic books. The hilarious team of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold was a huge reason why. I’m a big Booster booster, but I still can’t believe that someone ordered a script for a show. Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter:

Syfy is looking to bring Booster Gold to life on the small screen. The NBCUniversal cable network has ordered a pilot script for the one-hour drama based on the DC Comics franchise.

The story will center on Booster Gold, a washed-up athlete from the future who travels back to the present in hopes of becoming the greatest super hero of all time. Instead of chasing criminals, however, his main priority is chasing fame and money. But Booster Gold discovers that being a hero takes more than just a megawatt smile, and that the future doesn’t happen without first protecting the present.

I’m excited and scared all at once. I love that a minor character like Booster is getting a shot at mainstream glory. I want the show to get green lit and charm America, but I have my doubts. Most people don’t know who Booster Gold is and it will be hard to get them to care. Remember, Birds of Prey had a great debut and quickly fizzled. I’m not even sure a show about Booster Gold will do as well as that…but I’d love to be wrong.

What do you think about Booster Gold getting green lit for a pilot? What obscure comic-book character will be next? Blue Devil?!?

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What Are You Playing This Thanksgiving Weekend?

Thanksgiving has a special place in my heart as a long gaming weekend. I think I posted this story on G4tv — as a kid, I used to rent games the Wednesday before Thanksgiving since the local video store was closed for the holiday and I’d get a free day of rental. Ah…good times.

This weekend I really, really want to spend a chunk of time playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but I have a shoot in Chicago that will break up the time. Skyrim deserves days of uninterrupted attention. I received a code for the “Treasures of the Sun’ DLC for Dungeon Siege III. I’ll definitely be playing that. Perhaps it will make the perfect appetizer for Skyrim….

How about you? What’s on your Thanksgiving weekend playlist?

Check Out Bane From The Dark Knight Rises

Empire magazine has some great shots of the Bane costume from the upcoming Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises. With the negative reactions Catwoman’s costume received, I was hoping for something better with Bane. Unfortunately, I can’t get behind the Bane costume. To me, they’re trying too hard to make him look like Hannibal Lecter. In my head, Bane’s mask resembled that of a luchador and the “Venom” drug was pumped into the back of his head. Here it looks like Venom is feeding into his mouth. Also, what’s up with Bane’s jacket?!?

Any of you digging the updated look? Or are you disappointed. Please let me know what you think of Bane’s costume from The Dark Knight Rises?

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T-Mobile HSPA+ 21 vs. HSPA+ 42

Last month T-Mobile released its first phones that support HSPA+ 42 data speeds. To give you an idea of how much of an improvement HSPA+ 42 is over HSPA+ 21, I ran a bunch of tests using Ookla’s SpeedTest.net Mobile app. On the HSPA+ 21 side, I used an LG G2x. Representing HSPA+ 42 was the Samsung Galaxy S II. I ran speed tests 10 times at four different locations. Only one phone was turned on at a time in order to reduce interference. Check out the average results below.

Los Angeles (Union Station)

Ping Upload Download
LG G2x 501 ms 1.696 Mbps 4.846 Mbps
Samsung Galaxy S II 712.8 ms 1.52 Mbps 9.238 Mbps

Los Angeles (LAX Airport)

Ping Upload Download
LG G2x 396 ms 1.146 Mbps 6.082 Mbps
Samsung Galaxy S II 393 ms 0.966 Mbps 10.852 Mbps

Chicago (ORD Airport)

Ping Upload Download
LG G2x 181.4 ms 1.02 Mbps 3.868 Mbps
Samsung Galaxy S II 625.2 ms 1.982 Mbps 5.422 Mbps

Los Angeles (Koreatown)

Ping Upload Download
LG G2x 480 ms 1.434 Mbps 5.592 Mbps
Samsung Galaxy S II 484.4 ms 1.45 Mbps 9.948 Mbps

There are several takeaways here. First, the biggest advantage of HSPA+ 42 is superior download speeds. Secondly, upload speeds and ping rates — both of which are important for an optimal Internet experience — aren’t improved at all and certainly much worse than what LTE networks offer. Lastly, your mileage may vary depending on how well T-Mobile coverage is in your area. I was actually shocked by the great speeds I got in Koreatown when I tested; service in K-Town has sucked for three months and I was used to disappointing speeds of 2.5 Mbps down and less than 1 Mbps up on the G2x.

While there’s certainly a noticeable difference moving from HSPA+ 21 to HSPA+ 42, moving over to AT&T or Verizon LTE is an even bigger difference. I’ve used several Verizon LTE phones that offer upload speeds and ping rates that blow HSPA+ 42 away. High download speeds are great for downloading files (duh), but everyday activities like web browsing, forum trolling, etc. get a huge boost from low ping rates and high upload speeds. For example, the web site you’re currently reading pings more than 10 sources multiple times during a page load; fast pings and upload speeds help decrease load times.

When you have a chance, please let me know what you think of these test results. Anything pop out at you? If you’re currently using an HSPA+ 21 phone on T-Mobile, do the numbers make you anxious to jump to an HSPA+ 42 phone? Also, enjoy this photo of T-Mobile’s Carly Foulkes…who isn’t nearly as cool my buddy Virgin Mobile Sarah Carroll.