Microsoft’s Kinect (previously Project Natal) motion-sensing and controller-free gaming technology was fully unveiled this week during E3 2010, with a release date, a host of interesting looking games and an enormous Cirque du Soleil interpretative performance.

What Microsoft didn’t talk about with regards to Kinect was a price.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the manager for Entertainment & Devices at Microsoft Germany, Oliver Kaltner revealed pricing information for Kinect will be forthcoming soon enough, but right now isn’t the time to talk about such details.

Post continues, click to read more…

Rockstar Games and Take-Two have announced that the next set of downloadable content (DLC) for Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) will be releasing (again exclusively) for the Xbox 360 this Fall, going by the name The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Following in the footsteps of the previous GTA IV DLC, The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony puts players in the role of Luis Lopez, “a part-time hoodlum and full-time assistant to legendary nightclub impresario Tony Prince (aka “Gay Tony”).”

The DLC will go for $19.99 and makes heavy use of the nightclub life of Liberty City, which is a huge departure from The Lost and Damned’s biker gang theme. The Ballad of Gay Tony will require a copy of GTA IV to play.

Take-Two also revealed that they would be releasing both of the DLC packs, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, on a single standalone disc entitled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. The pack will go for sale at retail with a current RRP of $39.99, and will not require a copy of GTA IV to play. Commenting on this new retail opportunity, Take-Two president Ben Feder said:

Post continues, click to read more…

In a post on the US PlayStation Blog, Director of Hardware Marketing at Sony, John Koller, has revealed that, starting tomorrow (April 1st), the PlayStation 2 will become available for less than $100, at an MSRP of $99.99. Koller continued:

“With this new price, we intend to introduce a new generation of consumers – some of whom weren’t even alive when the system was first introduced in 2000 – to the immense entertainment value offered by PlayStation 2.

“With the original PlayStation and now PlayStation 2, we’ve proven that consumers can rely on our platforms for their gaming and entertainment needs for at least a decade.

“This speaks to the technology and features that were packed into PlayStation 2 from the beginning, as well as to the ongoing support the platform enjoys from the publishing and retail communities and, well, all of you fans.”

Post continues, click to read more…

You will be happy to know that Microsoft South Africa today announced that it has no immediate plans to increase the prices of Xbox 360 games in South Africa.

The price of new titles will remain fixed at R699.99 and Limited Collector’s Editions at R799.99, “despite speculation of game price increases in the volatile market.”

Currently Xbox 360 titles range from R299 for classic games to a maximum of R799.99 for collector’s titles. Microsoft believes this pricing is “in line with the standard of software in the gaming industry.”

Good news for Xbox 360 gamers.

The upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content (DLC), the biker-gang-focused The Lost and Damned, has had its price set ahead of its February 17th release date on Xbox LIVE.

The DLC, exclusive to the Xbox 360, is a full expansion to the monstrously successful Grand Theft Auto IV, includes all new content with new missions, multiplayer modes, weapons, vehicles and music, and follows the exploits of Johnny Klebitz, a member of the Liberty City biker gang, The Lost.

The Lost and Damned will cost a princely 1600 MS Points, but it’s said that the DLC is roughly a third of the size of the main game.

For further media consumption, you can peek some Lost and Damned screenshots over here, and a trailer over here.

Guitar Hero World Tour is Activision’s answer to Harmonix’s Rock Band. The latest game to join the music wars will enable players to rock with a guitar controller, electronic drum kit and microphone.

The drum controller features three drum pads, two raised cymbals as well as a bass kick pedal and promises to be the “most realistic drum experience ever in a video game.”

Apart from being easy to set up, break down, move and store, it combines “larger and quieter, velocity-sensitive drum heads with soft rubber construction to deliver authentic bounce back.”

Other than how well this drum set will compare performance wise to Rock Band’s drums, the main question on gamers’ minds is what the price tag will be.

European Rock Banders were dissatisfied when Harmonix announced that European gamers would have to fork out a total of £180 or 240 Euros for the game and the instruments in comparison to the US price of $169.99 (which equates to £85 or 107 Euros). It looks like Guitar Hero World Tour will be $10 more than Rock Band.

GameStop has begun to accept pre-orders for Guitar Hero World Tour. Gamers can pre-order the Band Kit for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PS2 (which we presume includes a guitar, drum kit, mic and a copy of the game) for $179.99. The Guitar Kit will set you back $99.99 for all four versions while a copy of the game is priced at $59.99 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii and $49.99 for the PS2.

Activision has not yet commented on the prices yet so watch this space.

We have been getting quite a few queries about where you can get your hands on a copy of Wii Fit and how much it costs.

We contacted the major retailers at Pavilion shopping center who we know do stock videogames and compiled a handy dandy table below with availability and prices of Wii Fit.

The good news is that out of the eight retailers we contacted this morning, only two reported that they were sold out. By the sounds of things stock is moving fast so make sure you get a copy soon to avoid becoming a couch potato. All the stores are selling Wii Fit, which comes bundled with the Wii Balance Board, for R999.

It’s really great to see most shops putting up really nifty displays for Wii Fit. The display at Toys R’ Us particularly caught my eye and you can get a feel for the game by watching the Wii Fit video on the Wii unit in store.

If you want to know more about Wii Fit, you can read about what exercises we have been doing in the Wii Fit 25 Day Challenge. Watch this space for our review, its going to be a cracker!

Wii Fit Availability and pricing