Xbox One will force gamers to stay online after all

For a console that has yet to be released, the Xbox One is garnering a lot of negative press from the media and its once loyal fans. To make matters worse, Microsoft described a few new features slated for the upcoming console – and they don’t look very good. As a matter of fact, they give off an eerie Big Brother vibe that is most unwelcome.

Through an online post made available on Thursday, Microsoft made it clear that they are striving for an interconnected gaming experience. In other words, offline play is over, whether you like it or not. Much like how parents place restrictions on their children’s internet usage by setting maximum time limits, Microsoft is requiring Xbox One owners to connect to the web at least once every 24 hours, or else your gaming privileges are cut-off.

Microsoft went on to say that Xbox One account holders would be able to access their personalized media through other people’s consoles; but in this particular case, the user must confirm their identity each and every hour.

“Offline gaming is not possible after these prescribed times until you re-establish a connection,” the software giant said in the statement. Luckily, these conditions will not extend to watching live TV or using the console’s built-in Blu-ray player to view movies.

The next big Xbox One announcement was targeted at second-hand game owners. Based on Microsoft’s new licensing model, publishers will be given the freedom to prevent the resale of used games, which means that reactivation fees will probably be the end result.

A related question was how the new Xbox would deal with direct disc transfers between friends. According to Microsoft, although there will be no fees associated with the transfer, there are still some limitations. The game can only be sent to individuals that have been formally listed as an Xbox friend for a minimum of 30 days, and each game can only be transferred once.

If there was any positive news regarding the Microsoft statement, it has to do with the Kinect feature. A lot of people held privacy concerns over the "always on" sensor, but Microsoft clarified that it will only be listening in on a single voice command – “Xbox On”. For those not completely convinced, Microsoft said that the feature can be easily disabled.

[Source: techspot]

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'Fruit Ninja' slices and dices the Kinect competition

Halfbrick

Dust off your Kinect controller and get out a sweat rag. The new Xbox 360 game "Fruit Ninja Kinect" will have you karate chopping ... and sweating ... your way to a very good time.

Move over "Dance Central," there's a new 'best Kinect game ever' in town.

"Fruit Ninja Kinect" — which has you karate chopping flying fruit from midair — is one tight, absorbing and instantly fun game for the Xbox 360. Without a doubt, this is the Kinect game you'll be busting out at parties (as well as when you're all alone) for the foreseeable future. Or at least until "Dance Central 2" arrives on the scene.

"Fruit Ninja" — which launches on Xbox Live Wednesday — got its start as an iPhone app and quickly became a hit on Android and Windows Phone 7 devices, sucking in hundreds of thousands of players with its utterly addictive fruit-slicing action.

The goal is simple enough — bananas, coconuts, pineapples, etc. are tossed up on the screen before you and, like a ninja, you must put your quick reflexes into action. In the smart-phone/tablet version of the game, you slice the fruit with your fingers on the touch screen, racking up as many points as you can and multiplying your score by slashing multiple pieces of fruit in one fell slice. Depending on the mode you play, you must also avoid explosives tossed up amid the fruit and try not to let fruit fall off the screen uncut.

The Xbox version of the game has players doing pretty much the same thing — you'll need to slice the fruit that's sent sailing onto your TV screen as quickly as you can. But rather than using fingers on touch-screen, the Kinect camera tracks your arms, legs and body movements as you karate chop and kick your way to fruit-splitting domination.

The game has been one of my long-running mobile addictions and I'm happy to report that this Xbox 360 version is everything I had hoped it would be. It comes complete with those satisfying snicking, whooshing and fruit-splattery sound effects that haunted my after-game dreams. Most importantly ... I had worried about lag or delay ruining the Xbox version of the game, but it turns out Kinect tracks your movements with delightful precision.

Of course, even if you were a black belt "Fruit Ninja" master on your phone, switching from the small screen to the big screen will take some adjustment. Fire up "Fruit Ninja Kinect" and you'll see yourself appear on-screen as a shadow. You'll need to keep an eye on your shadow as you get used to knocking down fruit with your hands and — if you're feeling especially ninja-like — your feet.

The game does come packed with modes that will be familiar to those who've played on smart phones – Classic, Zen and Arcade.

In Classic mode, you'll need to slice fruit for as long as you can, but if you let three uncut fruit fall from the screen or if you hit a bomb, it's game over. In Zen mode, you don't have to worry about bombs or escaping fruit, you'll simply need to get as many points as possible in 90 seconds. And in Arcade mode, you'll again have 90 seconds to score as many points as possible, but this time around bombs subtract 10 points while slicing bonus bananas will double your score, slow down time or spew a fountain of fruit onto your screen.

There's also a separate Challenge mode, that presents you with a variety of increasingly difficult goals to try and beat.

But probably the most fun you'll have here is with the Party mode. A quick warning though: It took about 30 seconds of playing this game with my husband to realize that the local multiplayer option is a face punch waiting to happen.

Halfbrick

Two-player "Fruit Ninja Kinect" is a blast. But just remember, it's not supposed to be a full-contact sport.

Whether you're competing against each other simultaneously on a split screen or working together side-by-side in the collaborative mode, the two-player game will have you flinging your arms about with gusto in close proximity of one another. So BE CAREFUL.

For some safer and friendlier competition, you'll be able to pit your score against that of your Xbox Live friends on a leaderboard.

"Fruit Ninja Kinect" will cost you 800 Microsoft Points ($10) and it's worth every pineapple-smashing penny. Oh yeah, and one more warning: You might want to keep a towel on hand. You'll need it to wipe the sweat from your Fruit Ninja brow.

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Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+.  And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.

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