Season Two Busman’s Holiday
Last week, Kinect Sports: Season Two made an appearance at GAMES11, a three-day consumer event which is fast becoming a major fixture in the Middle East’s gaming calendar.
Much like the recent GAMEfest shenanigans, there were no official Rare bodies on site, but thanks to a fortuitous alignment of the planets I happened to be on holiday in Dubai at the time. And so, in a shameless attempt to earn myself employee of the month (unlikely), I dragged myself away from my poolside sun lounger to seek out some blogworthy snaps.
The event took place at The Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping, leisure and entertainment ‘destination’ which contains over a thousand wallet-busting stores, and is (according to Wikipedia) the same size as more than 50 football pitches. Undeterred, I set off with my trusty map in hand, determined to track down the ice rink, which I’d been reliably informed was close to the event.
After a few wrong turns, a brief stop in Starbucks and a financially crippling thirty minutes in Bloomingdales, I finally arrived to discover that the event wasn’t near the ice rink… it was on the ice rink. Presumably the event organisers had set about the ice with hairdryers the night before or (more likely) had applied some terribly clever ice carpet that prevented everyone from sliding about.
Sep 2011
Season Two GAMEfest Road Trip
We’d heard that Kinect Sports: Season Two would be part of the Xbox 360 and Kinect presence at the Birmingham NEC’s inaugural GAMEfest event, so even though no official Rare attendance was required for demo or interview duties, a few of us still headed over to scope it out on the first day. Well, 20 minutes down the M42, it would have been rude not to.
The show turned out to be a good size and well-publicised, the usually labyrinthine route from the NEC car parks lined with posters and flags. It was clear upon sweeping through the entrance that it was also set to be well-attended. Of course we’re not talking E3 or Gamescom here, but with no shortage of pre-release big hitters – from Arkham City and Skyrim at one end to the Big Threes (Gears, Battlefield and Modern Warfare) at the other – the queuing action was nothing to be sniffed at.
Sep 2011
Season Two: Pressed for Success
So we recently held a press day at Rare HQ in Twycross, with a mixture of UK, European and American journalists enticed into our lair to get hands-on and in-depth with all six sports from Kinect Sports: Season Two. We also made a big effort to spruce up the surroundings in the days before they arrived, so we thought you might enjoy a little look behind the scenes.
Some eyelash-flutteringly nice impressions of the game (and the day itself) have since appeared online. Highlights are quoted and linked below, and if we spot any more we’ll big them up on our Twitter feed and Kinect Sports Facebook page. For now, check out some of Dale and Leigh’s snaps from the day…
Sep 2011
August Twitbook Audacity
Quiet in July; less so in August. Gamescom and PAX dictated the schedules, but our news and preview links have been well-worn elsewhere so we’ll stick to the social media side of things here.
Celebs! August’s Kinect/famous face crossovers weren’t limited to gaming events, with Martina Hingis’ appearance followed by the less sporty and feminine but more musical and stubbly Example, who gave it a shot in Ibiza and popped up in a video to talk games later. We also got a Golden Joystick nomination in the Sports Game category, which may result in celebrity association depending on who hosts it this year. How about Ortis Deley? Little bit of topical satire.
More awards and subjective list placings: three years (’91, ’94, 2000) in GamesRadar’s landmarks of gaming were represented by Rare titles, GoldenEye topped a separate list of British games, and there were solid showings for us in the best SNES game rundowns erupting out of the internet left, right and centre on the occasion of the SNES’ anniversary: IGN’s feature was brought to our attention first, then PC Mag and GamesRadar chipped in. Rareware Archives covered crossover tunes and replayability, while Diddy Kong took the surreal fight to Goombella in the first round of GameSpot’s Game Sidekick showdown.
As always, email to the Rare website came in a multitude of uncanny shapes and forms, from early through to late in the month. The web team moved offices and the Birmingham team sat out riots, but Cherry 7UP made things better. We saw nostalgia for Alien 8 and Rare predecessor Ultimate, learned some new words and found a new favourite Spanish actor and game title. In the world of video, our search for Friday Sports stars turned up its first successful entrants, while It’s Mr. Pants got played and one man’s Rare-heavy best man speech went down in history.
And that was that, pretty much… but September’s going off as we speak! Stay informed by tracking us on Twitter and Sporty or Rare variants of Facebook. We’ll welcome you with the awkward but well-meant courtesy of in-laws from that disreputable cul-de-sac on the other side of town.
Sep 2011
Top 5 Kinect Sports YouTube Fails
Since the UK weather has taken a nosedive recently, we’re in desperate need of some cheering up. And what better way of doing that than by compiling a list of Top 5 Kinect Sports Fails? Many thanks to the hundreds of you who’ve uploaded your not-so-finest moments to YouTube and given us plenty of LOLs, ROFLs, LMAOs and whatever other Internet acronyms for mirth are knocking around.
TOP 5 KINECT SPORTS YOUTUBE FAILS
According to… Neal Clark
1. Room to manoeuvre
Kudos to this chap for even attempting to play Kinect Sports in what looks like the least suitable gaming environment ever. And whilst I’m loving his monochromatic tile-work, I suspect a grippier shoe might be in order next time.
Sep 2011
