This information doesn’t come from some farfetched anonymous source from a website that nobody has ever of either, as Eurogamer has published the story today, citing the information from their sources within the industry.

According to the site, Microsoft are already developing Kinect 2 and one of its biggest features will be the ability to lip read and detect when the user is angry. Microsoft’s current Kinect rig shocked the world when the company first unveiled the hands-free motion sensing device at E3 2009, but having a new and improved unit with even more pinpoint accuracy will be pretty mindblowing. Lip reading? – You cannot be serious Microsoft.

Further information we’re hearing is that Kinect 2 will be able to detect what direction the player is facing, new and improved voice recognition to detect pitches of volume and also new facial technology to pick up a variety of facial expressions that the player is using at a particular moment.

You have to agree that initially, this is all pretty impressive if it turns out to be true. We like the facial expressions feature the most, as we can’t see too many ideas on how having Kinect lip read gamers will be of any benefit in say a hardcore game for example. Xbox 360 owners have been crying out for more hardcore game support with Kinect aside from the usual party title lineup, with Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier one step in the right direction for Kinect.

How would you feel about having to pay extra for the brand new Kinect hardware for the Xbox ’720′ though? Is it a case of new Xbox 720, new Kinect, or would you argue that Microsoft needs to make Kinect 2 backwards compatible with current Xbox 360 software by means of compensation for gamers who have only just forked out on the existing Kinect rig. Hopefully we’ll have more information on Kinect 2 to share with you, but in the meantime give us your feedback on this.

The Xbox 360 game includes more than 30 Zumba routines, and dance styles that include Rumba, Mambo, Hip-Hop, Salsa, and a few more. The feel good feeling is contagious, which anyone taking part or at least been to a Zumba party would know all too well. Thanks to the controller-free functionality in Microsoft’s technology, you’re free to just dance, have fun and get fit at the same time.

In part due to the popular of Zumba on games consoles, and with word spreading about how much fun Zumba is both on the games system and as a dance, people that do not normally play games want to know more. This has led to fitness classes being planned to cater for the desire to learn Zumba and get fit.

The dance and aerobic elements in Zumba means that you’ll burn calories fast, while learning a new dance, and with well over 30,000 instructors worldwide, you’re sure to find a class in your area of the world.

LA Fitness parties are being planned and within the last week a press release, found here, announced the launch of Zumba classes in their clubs. They expect to have around 5 classes a week, depending on demand this could be more. Zumba class schedules can be found in your nearest LA Fitness club.

Have you played Zumba Fitness on Kinect, and if so would you consider getting more social and joining a dance class?

Sony believes their Move hardware “changes everything”, and it’s their view that the hardware is a new platform, much more than just an accessory. So why is Xbox 360’s Kinect selling much more than the PS3 Move? Some people point to the selection of games on the Kinect as the selling point, while others talk about marketing spend.

We’ll have to agree that both motion controllers need more “killer” games, which are dedicated for the device, although some gamers want Sony and Microsoft to stop “wasting development resources”. This point of view is quite controversial, as hardcore gamers think of motion controllers as kid’s toys, but most of these people haven’t given the devices enough time or hands-on experience to really make an informed decision. Those behind the Move and Kinect would even ask for more money to be spent for better games.

Move gamers look forward to the experience improving given time, and more games like Killzone 3. Others titles pointed out to us from these people include The House of the Dead Overkill, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, Bioshock Infinite, and Resistance 3.

Some people feel Move hasn’t been as successful, but state that Move has more games. This has been quickly disagreed by Kinect supporters, with some showing lists of games that apparently prove Kinect has the most games. The games list for Kinect includes titles such as Dance Central 1 and 2, Forza 4, The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Work Out, Adrenalin Misfits, Kinectimals, Zumba Fitness, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, Sonic Free Riders, Fable: The journey, Michael Phelps: Push The Limit, Rise Of Nightmares, Michael Jackson: The Experience, Brunswick Pro Bowling, Kinect Star Wars, Your Party: In Motion, Child of Eden, and Dance Masters. It’s worth pointing out that not all these games are out on the Kinect yet, also some are plain boring.

Sony supporters point out that Move has just as many games, if you’re looking at “support” rather than “required”. The selling point for Move is its precision capabilities, this means a larger variety off genres is needed, especially RPGs. Could you imagine playing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with Move support, and if the game played a little like Sports Champions?

At the time of writing it looks like Kinect has the backing of more developers, and this is because it sells more than the Move. Do you expect this to change in the coming year, and what motion controller do you think has the best selection of games?

As James Newton over at kinectaku.com recently noted, the Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Adventure game doesn’t stick players in a gym setting like some fitness-related titles, instead it puts them through their paces in a brand new jungle temple environment. Rather than just simply working out, players are pitted against story-based challenges in order to progress.

If players perform well enough, they may even earn recognition from Jillian Michaels herself. This isn’t the first time that the personal trainer – best known for her appearances in The Biggest Loser and Losing It With Jillian – has appeared in a video game either. Back in 2008 she launched a video game for the Nintendo Wii named Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2009.

A year later she released a sequel by the name of Fitness Ultimatum 2010. Michaels also appeared in The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout. The upcoming Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Adventure game for the Xbox 360 Kinect comes with multiple exercise modes including circuit training, individual fitness training and a fitness adventure mode.

The fitness adventure mode features parkour-style action, where players will be participating in both proactive and reactive running, climbing and jumping. Circuit training on the other hand comes with 10 exercise circuits that have been hand-selected by Jillian Michaels. The circuits come in three different difficulty levels, giving players the ability to customize their session.

Meanwhile, the individual fitness training offers players exercises of various difficulties, allowing them to workout at their own pace. The Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Adventure game also comes with training programs that will allow players to use fitness gear they may already have. They will also have the option of choosing exercises that use their own body weight.

The upcoming game also comes with social integration, so players can check out their own or their friends’ performances in the online leaderboards. Another good feature is stats, which enable users to keep track of their progress including what days they’ve worked out on, calories burned, number of circuits / exercises completed and even the amount of time spent exercising.

Does this sound like a fitness game you would buy?

That has all changed now however, as according to a recent article by Chris Pereira over at 1up.com, Microsoft has now officially unveiled the Limited Edition Kinect Star Wars-themed Xbox 360 bundle. The bundle – which as previously rumored will include a console made to look like R2-D2 – will be released alongside the game in December this year.

It’s not just the look of the R2-D2-themed Xbox 360 console that makes this Kinect Star Wars bundle pretty awesome either, as there’s more to it than meets the eye. When users power it on or eject the disc tray, they will be met with R2-D2 sound effects. According to Matt Buchanan from gizmodo.com, the disc tray also reveals a hidden message that reads: ‘Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.’

This is the very first time that Microsoft has decided to put something in the console’s disc tray. The Kinect peripheral that’s included in the bundle has ditched the original black color in favor of white, in order to match the actual console. As for the included wireless controller, that comes in shiny gold, with what appear to be exposed wires to resemble C-3PO.

The bundle – which also comes with a copy of the Kinect Star Wars game – comes with a price tag of $449.99. This special Xbox 360 Kinect Star Wars bundle is described as a limited edition, so fans may want to get their pre-orders in pretty quick to avoid any disappointment. You can view more images of the Limited Edition Kinect Star Wars bundle over at 1up.com.

Those of you that are attending this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International event – which is taking place from today through Sunday 24th, July – will get the opportunity to check out the much-anticipated Kinect Star Wars game. As we mentioned in a previous article, you will also get to hear about a brand new game mode, as well as receive a limited edition poster.

Do you like the looks of the special R2-D2-themed Xbox 360 console?

One of the biggest Kinect titles to be featured at this year’s Comic-Con International event has to be the much-anticipated Kinect Star Wars game. As Istran over on the 123kinect.com website recently noted, not only will attendees get a chance to play the game, but they will also get to hear about a brand new game mode.

Attendees will also get the opportunity to visit the Kinect Stars Wars panel, where they can hear lead producer Craig Derrick (LucasArts) and studio head Jorg Neumann (Kinect Publishing) talk about the upcoming game with USA Today’s Mike Snider, as well as make an exciting announcement. All visitors will receive a limited edition poster.

Meanwhile, the Hard Rock Hotel – located at 207 5th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101 – will be hosting the Xbox Lounge, a place where visitors can check out some of the hottest upcoming games for the Xbox 360. This includes two of the biggest sequels for the Xbox 360 Kinect: Dance Central 2 and Kinect Sports: Season 2.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to check out the upcoming horror and free-roaming Kinect title Rise of Nightmares, as well as Twisted Pixel Games’ upcoming game The Gunstringer. Some of the other games that attendees will be able to check out include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Age of Empires and the highly anticipated Batman: Arkham City.

Those of you that are Halo fans will be pleased to know that there will also be a Halo Universe Panel at this year’s Comic-Con. The Halo Universe Panel will have Kevin Grace, Frank O’Connor (and other members from 343 Industries) and special guests Karen Traviss and Greg Bear discussing the first ten years of ‘Halo,’ as well as a preview of what’s next.

The Halo Universe Panel will be held in Room 6BCF of the San Diego Convention Center on Friday, 22nd July from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Will you be attending the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International event? If you are, which games are you looking forward to checking out the most?

Since Microsoft first launched the Kinect there have been a number of hackers intent at getting the most from the device – much like they do with the iPhone in that respect. However, Nyko has come up with what we believe to be the most useful. When we first saw the Kinect in action during a gaming Expo last year we were surprised at just how far back we had to stand. Now this did not pose an issue in a huge hall, but once we got it home to play in our living room it was then where the weakness started to show.

We can clearly remember having to move the sofa back a couple of feet, but those of you who have a flat or small living space would not have been able to do such a thing. The Zoom is an attachment that will be made available from August 23, 2011, and will cost just $29.99. Now the price is not really an issue here, as most Kinect users will pay that price so that they no longer have be eight feet away.

This would not be an issue if you had a 40 or 50-inch screen, but if you only had a 32-inch screen then trying to play your Xbox 360 at that distance can often become difficult. We first learned of this device during E3 2011, and we also touched on the subject in June, but Yahoo News has now learned of the official release date.

The way in which Nyko achieves this is by using specially designed lenses that clip to the front of the Kinetic device. Now we cannot see Microsoft being too pleased about this add-on, but they should be. Maybe now consumers who were put off by the limitation will now consider buying the Kinect, as they will soon be able to use it in their small apartment, flat etc.

The Microsoft site channel9 will be broadcasting an event at 9.30 a.m. Pacific Time today, and will celebrate the release of the Kinect for Windows SDK beta. According to Patrick Goss of TechRadar the site is currently showing a countdown clock.

The Kinect has proved to be highly popular selling around ten million units in 2010, and sold out in many areas at launch. But connected to a PC will give the device even more potential, and could provide users with voice control of their PCs.

There may be issues with placement of the unit with a PC though as it works better with at least a meter of space between the unit and user. You can see the live stream here. Do you like the idea of the Kinect working with Windows PCs?

All of the following information was posted on Notch’s blog here, he confirmed that the Xbox 360 release will support Kinect controls, but it will be optional. This was unclear last week (see here).

As for Minecraft – Pocket Edition this game is coming to the Xperia PLAY and will be exclusive to Sony’s handheld / smartphone hybrid for an undisclosed period. When this exclusivity ends it will be coming to all modern Android phones, as for the game’s development Notch, Minecraft’s creator, will not be involved in this version of Minecraft in terms of programming, however he will still be the game designer on the Xbox 360 and Xperia PLAY titles.

Notch also confirmed that he would be keeping lots of information quiet, on his website he states that this is because “there are actual PR budgets on them, and I don’t want to mess up any big plans”.

As and when we hear more about both Minecraft for Xbox 360 and Minecraft – Pocket Edition we will keep you posted, it may be worth following Notch on Twitter for all of the breaking news.

While everyone loves a gimmick now and again, we’re not sure if Ubisoft’s Kinect features will blend with gamers in the long run. At E3, Ubisoft showed off an innovative new way to set up your weapons using just hand gestures and voice commands, known as ‘GunSmith’.

We’ve included a new video below for those of you who want to take a look at it. You’ll see the guy in the video select best optimization kits for different weapon classes, and then he goes on to test the new set ups in a training field. Players will also be able to use hand gestures to fire the weapon and zoom in and out of sniper rifiles – but is it going a bit over the top?

We’re hoping that Ubisoft will include some sort of ‘Kinect-only’ multiplayer servers, as if you plan to play online using Kinect controls and come up against a player who’s using a standard xbox 360 controller, it’s fair to say that the odds could be heavily stacked against the Kinect user.

Perhaps judgement is best served until a demo is out, so people with Kinect can try out the new features first-hand. It could be a worrying prospect though if Ubisoft just have one integrated multiplayer lobby regardless of what control scheme you are using.

What are your thoughts on the Kinect controls in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier?