Japan’s video game industry is the world’s second biggest (after the US), but it’s on a downward streak for the fifth consecutive year. Based on sales, the country’s video game industry has contracted by as much as 8% year-on-year, Japan’s biggest gaming magazine Famitsu is reporting [JP].

Between December 27, 2010 and December 25, 2011, Japanese game companies generated US$5.9 billion in sales. The Famitsu says that sales from hardware makers actually went up 2.4% (thanks to the launch of the 3DS and PlayStation Vita) to reach US$2.3 billion. Software revenues in Japan dropped 13.7% to US$3.6 billion last year.

This is how often the different video game systems sold in 2011 (total sales numbers in parentheses):

1. Nintendo 3DS: 4,135,739 units
2. Sony PSP: 1,960,177 (18,237,108)
3. Sony PlayStation 3: 1,467,261 (7,417,148)
4. Nintendo Wii: 937,451 (12,167,743)
5. Nintendo DS (all models combined): 711,204 (32,835,502)
6. PlayStation Vita: 402,794
7. Xbox 360: 114,075 (1,520,738)

This overview shows the top selling games in Japan in 2011 (total sales numbers in parentheses):

1. Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo 3DS): 1,082,391 units
2. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo 3DS): 1,042,511
3. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (Nintendo 3DS): 1,021,457 (4,502,446)
4. Monster Hunter 3G (Nintendo 3DS): 809,322
5. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Sony PS3): 697,146
6. Final Fantasy Type-0 (Sony PSP): 696,428
7. Rhythm Heaven Forever (Nintendo Wii): 633,429
8. Tales of Xillia (Sony PS3): 632,151
9. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo Wii): 612,807 (2,732,655)
10. Wii Party (Nintendo Wii): 584,545 (2,123,773)

Microsoft has ported Kinectimals, the Xbox 360 game that involves the care and feeding of dangerous animals in the wild, to the iPhone, suggesting that (at least in the short term) even Microsoft sees the value of releasing on iOS.

The $2.99 game recreates the Xbox version fairly faithfully but without the Kinect motion controls. Interestingly, the app also allows you to “unlock” new cubs on the Xbox, proving that paid DLC can hide in multiple guises.

The game supports the iPad and iPhone and follows the launch of the Xbox App for iPhone and iPad that came out in conjunction with the Metro update.

Product Page via DVice

Microsoft’s wonderfully shiny new Xbox 360 dashboard is now available to most, and, while it’s a bit of a letdown in some ways (more on that later, probably), it has plenty of very, very cool new features. Cloud storage for game saves! New Netflix! HBOGO (Eventually!)

One of the niftier features, however, is being saved solely for those rockin’ Windows Phone 7 phones. Called Xbox Companion, it allows you some degree of control over your 360 from your handset (as opposed to a standard controller), and it just went live.

Now, don’t go throwing out your dedicated controller just yet, (Master) Chief. While the Xbox Companion lets you fire up and control media and set beacons (alerting you when friends are playing certain games, so you can drop everything and get some headshots), it’s by no means a replacement for your actual controller. It is, at least in its current state, mostly a rather neat trick and an occasional excuse to not get up and grab the controller.

Still: if you’ve got a Windows Phone handset, a 360, and a Live account, give it a spin.

The upcoming Metro update to Microsoft’s Xbox, shipping tonight and arriving on your console some time this week, pushes Microsoft’s gaming product away from the traditional run-and-gun of gaming consoles and into a new realm: that of the home media center.

While the Xbox existed as a media center before, allowing you to download video and music content and stream content from your home computers, this new update makes it easier to find disparate pieces of content, whether its from Microsoft’s own video/music store or another source or directly from the Internet through YouTube and various partner services. The update also allows Windows Phone users to control the Xbox remotely, adding items to the queue and looking up content to send to the TV while other content is playing. In short, this update isn’t about the games, it’s about content.

On the surface, the Metro update looks much like Windows 8. Tiles abound, with various UI elements mimicking the new Windows UI almost wholesale. Every new app is Kinect-enabled, allowing you to swipe through tiles with your hands or call up apps with your voice. The most prominent change is the Bing search screen, a service that will bring you web content as well as allow you to search the entire Xbox and Microsoft stores for potential matches. For example, when you search for “X-Men” you don’t get the Wikipedia entry, you get all of the movies, based on availability for download or streaming.

The focus in this update is on partners. These include UFC, HBO Go, and a number of other content providers as well as a 25-channel HD line up from Verizon FiOS and another selection of channels from Comcast. Keep in mind that there is no DVR function yet and no real scheduling system, but that’s clearly down the line.

Most important in this move is Microsofts tacit admittance that they are gunning for the living room. By adding Comcast and FiOS, for example, the Xbox becomes less a gaming console than a way for junior to watch TV at college or the Xbox to become the bedroom media player.

Google and Microsoft are clearly in a cold war for the couch. While many have paid lip service to the effort to “colonize the set-top,” this new Xbox update is a clear effort to change the way people look at the Xbox and could be the first step in a new, more powerful Xbox with better DVR and media browsing experiences built-in. All of the big players have TV devices – Google TV, Apple TV, and now Xbox. Who will win – or whether there is a need for a clear winner – is anyone’s guess.

Microsoft just posted some impressive sales stats: this week they sold 980,000 Xbox 360 consoles and 750,000 Kinect sensors, both “standalone and bundled.” The sales week is probably due in part to the perfect storm of titles hitting the platform, including Skyrim and Batman: Arkham City, as well as Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.

The 360 is seven years old and is expected to get an updated Metro-like UI on December 6, turning the console from a primary games machine into something that resembles a set-top box. That the hardware and software are both standing the test of time is a testament to the investment and importance Microsoft places on the console.

To quote from the Gruber:

Amazing how popular a closed system — where the hardware and software are designed by a single company — can be.

via Official Microsoft Blog

[Image: Marie C Fields/Shutterstock]

Yesterday morning, we reported that Microsoft had acquired Israeli video startup, VideoSurf, for approximately $70 million. The deal indeed has been greenlighted, as Microsoft confirmed in its blog post yesterday. However, at the time, the price of the acquisition was unclear; several sources (who wished to remain anonymous) pegged the number at $70 million. But, today we’ve heard from a solid source that the actual price of the acquisition was actually just under $100 million — in cash.

Sure, it’s not quite the $8.5 billion Microsoft paid for popular voice and video-over-IP service, Skype, but for a relatively young startup, this is a big win. As to its backstory, VideoSurf was founded by four Israeli entrepreneurs, Eitan Sharon, Lior Delgo, Shai Deljo, and Achi Brandt in 2006, and the San Mateo-based startup has since raised $28 million from a bunch of notable investors, which include Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and her husband, SurveyMonkey CEO David Goldberg, along with Al Gore and Current Media CEO Joel Hyatt (as well as a few others, like Pitango VC and Verizon Ventures.)

Why did Microsoft make this acquisition? Well, just as Microsoft plans to integrate Skype into Xbox Live and VideoKinect for Xbox Live to allow gamers to Skype from their consoles, the tech giant plans to add VideoSurf’s technology into the Xbox 360 ecosystem (specifically Xbox Live) as well. Microsoft will be rolling out voice search over the holiday season and is currently in the process of integrating content from video and cable providers (like Verizon, Comcast, HBO and Epix, for example) into Xbox Live.

Microsoft is also adding a search layer over the platform to let users search for content from apps and beyond, so that one searching for Lord Of The Rings might get results from Netflix, or Comcast’s library, or apps from its Zune Marketplace. Because VideoSurf’s platform is all about video discovery and allowing users to quickly find video content from a wide range of websites (like Hulu, Dailymotion, Metacafe, etc.), this will amp up Xbox Live’s search criteria, which, at this point, just relies on metadata offered up by the content provider.

Not only that, but VideoSurf also implements some cool audio recognition technology along with facial recognition functionality that allows the startup to pull from specific frames within videos, which, when combined, the company (and Microsoft clearly agrees) can provide better search results (and relevancy) coupled with an enhanced user experience.

This is also a smart move play by Microsoft when looking at its future ambitions for both Xbox Live and search on the whole. As Xbox Live adds content from other independent video providers, VideoSurf’s multifaceted search technology can provide a much-improved means of parsing video content from these indie providers that typically don’t have the same amount of data tied to their videos as the larger, premium content providers. If and when Microsoft adds YouTube to Xbox Live, they will need an enhanced search mechanism to serve refined results from the some-billion-odd videos YouTube counts in its bullpen.

Microsoft could also leverage VideoSurf technology for Bing’s video search, making search a less-painful experience across its devices. Considering the startup’s technology will allow Kinect users to search and discover content across multiple entertainment providers within Xbox Live and use Kinect’s voice search powered by Bing, you can see the sizable value proposition inherent in this acquisition. This could allow Microsoft, via Kinect’s unique interface, to offer rich web-based search through TV — potentially leaping over Google based on its current efforts to do the same with Google TV.

It will be interesting to see how the Xbox ecosystem improves with Skype and VideoSurf integration, but the future is definitely looking somewhat bright — something that’s not always said in when referring to the tech old timer.

For more, check out Microsoft’s press release here, and VideoSurf at home here.

You already know about Verizon bringing live TV to the Xbox 360, but it turns out that was just the tip of Microsoft’s great big television-related iceberg.

In an effort to transform the television experience, Microsoft has struck deals with nearly 40 entertainment providers to start injecting more media into their gaming platform.

The full list of companies that Microsoft has forged alliances with is a veritable Who’s Who of the entertainment industry. Here’s a quick breakdown of Microsoft’s new stateside “entertainment partners,” and what we know about their new Xbox offerings.

• Comcast: Sorry live TV buffs, Comcast is only bringing access to Xfinity On Demand this year.
• Clear Channel: iHeartRadio will be the only digital radio service on Xbox Live, complete with Kinect support.
• HBO: A new version of the HBO GO application and its associated content catalog should soon make an appearance on the Xbox.
• NBC Universal: Content from a handful of NBCU properties will end up on the Xbox, including Bravo and SyFy shows. Oh, and who could forget The Today Show?
• Manga Entertainment: Still unknown, but you otaku can probably expect a catalog of streaming anime in the near future.
• Crackle: Expect to get access to Crackle’s backlog of movies distributed by parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment.
• EPIX: Unknown, but I’d expect the MGM/Lionsgate/Paramount company to provide on-demand access to their catalog a la Comcast.
• TMZ: No details yet, but episode of the eponymous show will likely be made available for streaming.
• UFC: Fans got a sneak peek of UFC video on the Xbox back in June — in addition to streaming fights, it’s also expected to bring some degree of interactivity to the mix.
• Verizon: 26 channels from the Verizon FiOS lineup will begin to air live to the Xbox 360 in time for the holidays.

These companies join Microsoft’s existing line up of partners, like AT&T, ESPN, Netflix, and Hulu Plus. International readers shouldn’t fret at the sight of all this US content, because Microsoft has also struck agreements with more worldly sources of entertainment like the BBC (UK), Canal+ (France/Spain), MediaSet (Italy), and SBS On Demand (Australia). Check out the full list here to see if your favorite international media outlet made the cut.

In truth, a lot of the particulars are still up in the air at this point, but one thing is clear: Microsoft is dead serious about making the Xbox 360 the platform to beat.

Good news, FiOS fans! Verizon and Microsoft have announced today that they have struck an agreement to bring live HD television channels to your Xbox 360 without any additional hardware.

Now, don’t expect to get Verizon’s full channel lineup on your console just yet — according to their just-released statement, Verizon will only be bringing “a selection of popular live TV channels to the Xbox 360.” So far, Verizon has 26 channels on deck, including MTV, Spike, Food Network, Comedy Central, HBO, CNN and Nickelodeon.

Even cooler is the fact that Verizon’s FiOS application will have full support for the Kinect, so you can finally put the remote down and flick through channels from the comfort of your couch. I’m not sure how many people will embrace the added physical movement needed to channel surf, but the true couch-lovers can always stick to a controller.

The offer will only be open to FiOS TV and internet customers who have active Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, but that seems to be it as far as eligibility requirements go. Sorry folks: as AllThingsD succinctly put it yesterday, this isn’t a “tool for cable cord cutters.”

Verizon and Microsoft have yet to make any official statement on a launch window aside from saying it’s due out by the holidays. Bloomberg reported last month that Comcast was engaging in similar talks with Microsoft, so hopefully the FiOS-deprived among us aren’t left out in the cold for too long.

Update: Comcast has jumped on board Microsoft’s new TV initiative, but is only providing access to their On-Demand service as opposed to live television.

Developing…

Windows Phone Mango is already primed and ready to compete with iOS and Android, but that doesn’t mean Microsoft is resting on its laurels. Quite the opposite actually. As anticipation builds, Microsoft continues to add features to make this platform even better than what was expected. Today, the company added a handful of new features to the Games Hub, along with the announcement of 14 new Xbox Live titles.

You’re likely already aware of the avatar integration coming with Windows Phone Mango, but today Microsoft announced Avatar Awardables, which are virtual badges that represent gaming achievements. The more you win, the more your avatar begins to look like an Eagle Scout’s merit badge sash. Microsoft also introduced what the company is calling Game Add-ons, which are basically just in-app purchases for games, like buying new weapons or levels.

The next new feature will please parents more than anyone else, as Microsoft has included parental controls within the Games Hub. As soon as Mango arrives, parents will be able to decide what types of content their children are allowed to access within the Marketplace. Microsoft also integrated a feature called “Fast Async,” which, in the words of Microsoft, “improves gameplay for multiplayer, turn-by-turn (or asynchronous) Windows Phone games.”

The new Xbox Live titles are listed with full descriptions on the Windows Phone Blog, and will arrive in the coming months, likely alongside Mango.

The Kinetic Space project uses almost any type of 3D spatial scanner – including the Xbox Kinect – to register and read gestures. How does it work? Well, first you register your body and then record a set of gestures. The system can read those gestures and trigger events based on the speed and repetition of the gestures. The best part is the granularity: you can even scan hand motions for an interesting form of man-machine sign language.

The project code is available here and it supports the “PrimeSense PS1080, the Kinect or the Xtion sensors” so it runs the gamut from high-end to low.

The software observes and comprehends the user interaction by processing the skeleton of the user. The unique analysis routines allow to not only detect simple gestures such as pushing, clicking, forming a circle or waving, but also to recognize more complicated gestures as, for instance, used in dance performances or sign language.

What is it good for? Well, it can read a gesture from one person and register it on another and you can train it to register tiny movements and, potentially, allow for full motion control of your PC. Minority Report it isn’t, but that future is getting closer and closer.

The old, white Xbox media remote was often a godsend. Instead of pressing odd buttons on the controller, the media remote let you control Netflix and DVD videos with ease and it was big and unique enough not to get lost. This new media remote, however, looks less like a bar of Dove soap and more like a traditional remote control.

Announced on MajorNelson’s blog, the remote will cost $19.99 and will be available in November.

Also announced was a little Bluetooth headset for gaming. It costs 59 bizucks and, the best thing, Senor Nelson shows it off below.

Last week, Microsoft filed for an interesting U.S. trademark for ‘NUADS’, describing it as:

Advertising services, namely, promoting and marketing the goods and services of others through online interactive video games by enabling consumers to interact with third-party advertising content through voice or body gestures via computer game console and sensor devices.

Sounds like a new interactive advertising platform for Xbox Kinect indeed, as eagle-eyed tech blogger Manan Kakkar opined before the weekend.

A trademark application does not a product make, but it sure seems like Microsoft is plotting the introduction of a platform that will enable advertisers to run in-game ads that Xbox Kinect users can engage with through body motion and voice commands.

More opportunities for people to look like idiots in front of their TV screens!

But seriously, is Microsoft planning the next generation of intrusive ads? Or is this the inevitable future of advertising that they’re smartly preparing for? We’ll find out soon.

Microsoft will be introducing interactive ads in Kinect. Going to be called NUAds. Gestures and all in games.—
Manan Kakkar (@manan) June 10, 2011

This is actually the second time that Star Wars Kinect “debut” at E3. Microsoft used the title through a highly-scripted demo to launch the Kinect at last year’s E3. Well, it’s finally available and will launch…they didn’t say. Presumably it will come before next year’s E3. If nothing else, all the lightsaber swinging looks to be a good core workout.

EA shared the stage with Microsoft today where they announced Mass Effect 3 — with Kinect support! “It’s all about kick-ass action” Mass Effect 3 still uses the 360′s controller, no silly movement support here. However, EA built the game around Kinect’s voice recognition support, which gives the gamer a more immersive experience. You’ll be able to talk to your team members, give commands, and simply read the on-screen dialog rather than selecting the phrase with the controller. The whole experience was demo’d on stage, and, honestly, it seems to be a novel extension of gaming with just a controller.

Ghost Recon is getting in on the Kinect fun as well. All future titles in the serious will support Kinect. Until then, Ubisoft built a fun add-on called Gunsmith that allows players to customize the inner working parts of the game’s guns, which allows for millions and millions of different combinations. Voice support is included as well, “Optimize for range”, well, optimizes the given gun for longer range. No word when this will hit, but man, watch out LIVE, you’re about to get millions of new firearms.

RYSE by Crytex and Microsoft Studios promises to take you into the heart of the Roman empire with full motion Kinect support. No launch date or further info was announced but man, I can’t wait to kill someone with a short sword.

Expect a bit of Kinect in Forza Motorsport 4, too. Info wasn’t flowing from the stage, but the on-screen demo teased voice integration and head tracking, which when combined with a traditional controller or wheel, should bring welcomed features to the staple racing game.

Fable The Journey will launch full motion support. All your actions, spells and effects are controlled through what at least seems like a rich control scheme. The game launches sometime next year.

It’s not all action games, though. Oh no, even Minecraft is getting in on the Kinect fun and is hitting the 360 this coming “winter.”

Besides the so-called hardcore games, Dance Central 2 is also on tap, which will hopefully induce Nicholas, who now works for the man (Peter Ha) at The Daily, to break out the macarena once again.

This one-of-a-kind Xbox “Slim Laptop” is ready to ship if you have $1,600 and a need to play 360 games on the road. Built by a blogger named [Ed], it’s basically a fully-functional Xbox 360 inside a laptop case with 17″ 720p HD screen, multiple outputs, four USB ports, and a built-in power brick. Essentially, except for the controller, this is a self-contained Xbox in a clever case.

He’ll charge you $200 if you send him your own Xbox to mod and even more savings can be had if you don’t have him paint or decorate it. He’ll ship it to your home for $50.

Product Page

The service is launching tomorrow and you’re basically getting the Hulu interface with which you’re familiar plus a few Kinect add-ons including voice control and gestures. With sufficient bandwidth you also get high-quality streaming on what Microsoft is calling the “biggest screen in your house.” The service will be available for free from April 29 – May 6 and will thereafter cost $7.99 a month.

Click through for more info on the service, including some words about Kintect interaction.

As a fairly regular player of XBox 360 media (called “video games” by those in the know) I have found that the console often becomes hot enough to melt a DVD placed on top of it resulting in, say, a copy of Mario Kart Wii (another “video game” for a game console called the Wii) that is rendered unusable by said heat. This causes, in turn, our toddlers to melt-down and the end result is something called “Dad has to go to Gamestop again.” In all, it is a sub-par situation all around.

What if there were a way to channel all that hot air from the top of the console into the atmosphere? You could, for example, use a piece of cardboard and toilet paper tube to vent the hot gasses away from the device or you could dip the entire console in an oil bath. Or you could buy a $20 fan that snaps to the side of your 360′s case and vents the hot air away from the surface of the console. It is USB powered so it takes up one of your XBox’s USB ports (not that you were using them) and almost silent when active.

I was originally dubious about this add-on as it seemed to completely cover the XBox fan and was too quiet to make me feel secure in the knowledge that it was, in fact, cooling my console. However, after using it for a few weeks and experiencing no ill effects, I feel that the fan is doing its job and is improving my XBox experience immensely.

The fan fits on the current XBox 360 and can be used both vertically and horizontally. I’d recommend using it if your XBox is kept inside a cabinet or closed shelf. While it’s not a must-have accessory, folks who are familiar with the sadness of the RROD will want the peace of mind offered by this simple device.

Product Page

He goes on to talk about his day-to-day and how he tries to keep to a schedule, otherwise he’d end up playing games all day. He also has some interesting things to say about the Move and Kinect. And, being head of Sony’s R&D, one would think that he sees brain gaming as an end-game, but he doesn’t.

We haven’t heard about too many heat issues with the new slim Xbox 360, but for those who run the console 24/7 it may be worth looking into a cooling system. Nyko just recently announced their Intercooler STS system made exclusively for the slim Xbox. Thankfully, the system is smart and only runs when it needs to, keeping noise levels down. Power comes from USB and it looks like the unit blends nicely with the Xbox.

Price is $19.99, available now.

Press Release

The first hints of a next-generation Xbox have appeared online, and it’s about darn time. A listing on the LinkedIn social network—for those unfamiliar of LinkedIn, it’s sorta like Facebook but primarily used to maintain professional contacts—shows that Microsoft is looking to fill several positions related to “next-generation console architectures from conception through implementation.” How about that?

There’s three positions up for grabs right now, and they are: graphics hardware architect, senior architect and performance engineer, and senior hardware design verification engineer.

While this isn’t confirmation, per se, of a new console in the works, it would certainly suggest as much. After all, can you really squeeze much more life out of the Xbox 360?

If that even matters, of course, with games like Minecraft teaching us that you don’t need SUPER-ÜBER GRAPHICS~! to make a fun and compelling game. Lord knows I’ve spent an incredible number of hours in recent weeks playing Civilization V, and that’s not exactly what you’d call a graphically demanding game. And yet it’s fun, shock!

If you’ve ever wanted a different Xbox wireless headset other than the offering from Microsoft, you’ve been out of luck. You see, Microsoft uses proprietary wireless to connect to their headsets, which means no one else is getting a piece of that pie. While that’s nice and all for Microsoft, it hasn’t really offered much for people wanting something more. That notion isn’t likely to change either, but they are working to get a new headset out there with Mad Catz.

Under the Tritton name, the Mad Catz wired headset line, Microsoft and Mad Catz will offer a co-branded wireless headset line. The plans include both wireless stereo and Dolby 5.1 headphones. No pricing or release date are known at this time, but Mad Catz expects the headsets to be available in time for the 2011 holiday season.