Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Avatar Kinect Launches Today
At long last, you can have awkward conversations with friends in a virtual space, complete with stilted and robotic facial expressions.
The latest feature of Kinect Fun Labs launches today, a new voice chat program that lets you take your avatar into a virtual space and converse with other avatars. Originally announced for release this spring, the service is now available for all Xbox Live members for a limited time. After September 8th, the service will only be available for those who pay for Xbox Live Gold.
Avatar Kinect lets up to seven friends get together in one of 24 different virtual spaces. While there, the Kinect sensor captures your facial expressions and voice to translate them onto your avatar. Avatar Kinect also includes recording options, where the application will keep a copy of your awkward conversation and let you upload it to KinectShare.com, presumably so others can laugh at you.
Microsoft also announced Kinect Sparkler for release on July 28th. The new application lets you finger paint in the air to create trails of firework-like sparklers. The coolest feature of Sparkler is the ability to draw in 3D, moving the sparklers in front and behind of the image you place in the foreground. Kinect Sparkler will run you 240 Microsoft points ($3) when it releases later this week.
For more on Avatar Kinect, check out the video for the service from Xbox Live's Major Nelson.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
