Xbox 360

Turtle Beach announced some of the new XBOX 360 and PS3 gaming headsets at CES last week, one of them, the XP400. It's Turtle Beach's flagship gaming headset, featuring adjustable Dolby 5.1 virtual surround sound, a non-AD2P dual-pairing Bluetooth radio for picking up phone calls during gaming sessions, a 15 hour rechargeable battery and dual-band 2.4/5GHZ built-in WiFi. The actual over-the-ear pieces have a much better layout from previous models, though there are almost as many buttons as there are on the controller with volume up / down, chat volume up / down, mute, Bluetooth pairing, limiter button and tone buttons. The included dual-band WiFi adapter that connects to your gaming console of choice is small and pretty minimalistic in design. The adjustable surround angles feature is a nice edition.

The XP400 has a crisp and loud sound, and noise-cancellation also worked well. Turtle Beach also announced the XP300, a stereo version of the XP400. They're essentially the younger siblings of the company's PX5-rooted XP500, featuring a similar design with totally wireless connection to the Xbox 360, thanks to TB's Xbox Chat Adapter, and a dual-pairing Bluetooth radio for taking calls while gaming. Both headsets improve upon the XP500's in a few key areas including better button placement on the earcups, a new 2.4/5GHz dual-band WiFi 2.4GHz transmitter to avoid interference from nearby wireless devices and an included 15-hour rechargeable battery.Read more

Do you have a gamer on your gift list? Head to your local Best Buy retail store or online at www.BestBuy.com from now until December 10, 2011 and when you purchase two games priced at $29.99 and above, get the third game free (pre-owned games too!). Best Buy is offering deals on gaming systems and select HDTVs as well.

Gaming deals:

• Xbox360 250G Kinect Gaming System and a Best Buy $75 gift card for $399.99
• Microsoft Kinect Sensor for $99.99
• Nintendo 3DS and a Best Buy $50 gift card for $169.99
• Nintendo Wii and a Best Buy $20 gift card for $149.99

TV deals:

• Toshiba 40" Class LCD 1080p HDTV - $379.99 - as featured in Best Buy's TV spot airing nationally beginning Sunday, Dec. 4
• Sharp 60" Class LCD 1080p HDTV - $899.99
• Insignia 24" Class LED 1080p HDTV -$179.99

You can also visit BestBuy.com/dealoftheday all week long for special daily deals.

And remember, Best Buy's price match guarantee will match lower prices from other Best Buy locations or other local retailers until January 24, 2012.

Microsoft is bringing voice control to the Xbox 360 system with an update that launches tomorrow (December 6, 2011).

The update will allow the Kinect motion sensor and Bing search to work together to turn your voice into a remote control. Using Bing on Xbox, you will be able to use your voice to find games, movies, TV shows and music by simply saying what you're searching for. You can even use your voice to pause and rewind movies and TV shows.

Starting December 6 and over the coming weeks, Bing on Xbox voice search will initially be available in English in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. for Zune video, Xbox LIVE Marketplace and select content partners. For those who do not have a Kinect for Xbox 360, text search will be available in Xbox LIVE markets.

"A new era in entertainment begins where all your entertainment is together in one place — your games, movies, TV shows, music and sports," said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "With this update, Xbox 360 system owners will experience Kinect voice control integrated with Bing search, making your TV and entertainment experiences more social and personal than ever."Read more

If you own an Kinect module for your Xbox 360, you've probably found it useful to control a movie or play a game using voice and gestures. I still marvel at this technology, and have considered the Kinect device a gadget that will springboard many new technologies like it in 2012 and beyond.

There are now reports that the next-generation Kinect 2 will be able to detect emotions and read lips as well. Essentially, it will monitor a user's mood by combining facial expressions with the volume and pitch of the user's voice. Eyebrow and mouth movements are already supported through Microsoft's Avatar Kinect software, but the technology is limited, and is a fraction of what is possible.Read more

One of the most buzzed about video games of the year – Gears of War 3 - will be hitting store shelves next week. Best Buy and Microsoft will be kicking-off the release of this Xbox 360 game with a midnight launch event at the Best Buy Theatre in New York City on Monday, September 19. For fans outside of the New York area, Best Buy will be opening doors at midnight at more than 800 additional locations.

The fun at the Best Buy Theatre in New York City starts at 8:00 p.m. and lasts until 1:00 a.m. EST with tons of activities including:

• Exclusive Gears of War 3 midnight sale and pre-order pick-up
• The first several hundred fans in line will have access to the Best Buy Theater for an opportunity to get into the action and play the game first.
• Meet-and-greet with Epic Design Director Cliff Bleszinski, executive producer Rod Fergusson and other Gears 3 developers
• Musical performance by VMA Best New Artist nominee, Big Sean
• Meet Paul Jr. from Discovery's American Chopper, get his autograph and check out the Gears of War 3 inspired chopper
• A limited edition Gears of War 3 comic book cover will be available as well as a signing by its illustrator, Pop Mahn
• Get into the action outside the Best Buy theater with a first to play experience, appearance by Major Nelson from Xbox Live, exclusive giveaways, and a live radio with Hot 97's Dj Cipha Sounds

Starting today, you can head one of over 21,000 Redbox kiosk locations nationwide and rent a video game for your PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii.

Video game titles range from top releases to popular family and kids titles. Doing a quick check on the Redbox website, some of the available games include Call of Duty: Black Ops, Infamous 2, MLB 11: The Show, Little Big Planet 2, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Video games rent for $2 a day.

Just like movies, games can be reserved online or though the Redbox iPhone or Android application. Go to www.redbox.com to find your nearest Redbox kiosk.

Splitfish has a new mouse hybrid Xbox 360 controller that makes playing FPS games like the upcoming Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 better than ever!

The FRAGFX SHARK 360 gives you both precision mouse aiming and a fully programmable analog stick, allowing you to enjoy your favorite shooters on Xbox 360, Mac or PC. You can aim with the mouse and adjust sensitivity on the fly as well as use functions like button remapping, turbo, wrist flick melee and more.

The FRAGFX SHARK 360 is optimized for FPS shooters, but also has the functions of a regular XBOX 360 controller - so it can be used for all games. Also, the FRAGFX SHARK 360 touts a super long battery life of 50 hours of gameplay and 500 hours of standby on 2 AA batteries.Read more

Best Buy has a deal for students! Beginning May 22, customers with a valid student ID will receive an Xbox 360 4 GB console with the purchase of any Windows 7 laptop priced at $699.99 or more.

Available for a limited time only, the offer includes laptops running Windows 7 priced at $699.99 or more. Customers can purchase and redeem the products at Best Buy online or in-store. Products must be purchased on the same receipt to receive savings and the offer is limited to one Xbox 360 per person.

The offer is available starting May 22, 2011 in all U.S. Best Buy Stores and online at www.bestbuy.com.

System: Xbox 360 (reviewed on), PS3
MSRP: $49.99
Release Date: March 8, 2011

Yoostar 2 is a very unique game. I'm not sure how it works with the PS3, but on the Xbox 360, it uses the Kinect sensor bar to put you into scenes from movies where you have to act, speak, and improv your way to a high score. There are single and multiplayer modes, but if you only play this game by yourself, you're not going to enjoy it. This is a party game. There are 80 scenes to act out from a number of movies like: Apollo 13, The Hangover, 300, The Terminator, and Shaun of the Dead. You can download many more scenes from Xbox Live, as well.

Sadly, this game has issues picking up your speech. Yes, it's a better game if you are playing it with others, but it needs to be very quiet in order for it to understand what you say, or else, it will deduct points from your score. Additionally, you sometimes have to awkwardly position yourself in order for the Kinect to position you into the scene and when you are in the scene, you look somewhat grainy. These issues aren't really Yoostar 2's fault, it's the Kinect sensor bar not being as accurate as it should be, but it is still a problem.Read more