Last month right before Comic-Con, Loot Crate released one of their best crates with a phenomenal Villains crate that included a totally original and exclusive Joki shirt alongside, amongst other things, a pair of Deadpool socks. It was going to be pretty hard to follow that up. But who better to show up the Villains than… the Heroes.

This month WallE and JC put their physical prowess to the test in an effort to capture a bunch of items based off of some of their favorite childhood heroes along with an exclusive Pop made just for Loot Crate. As some of you have seen in past crates, WallE and JC have an addiction for the little guys and battling over an exclusive one could possibly end their friendship and Whiskey & Waffles as we know it.

Yesterday, Microsoft dropped what they were hoping would be a bomb, but has truthfully only ended up being a cause for more contention in the console war. After about six months of being outsold by the PlayStation 4, Microsoft has announced they will be releasing a Kinect-free version of the XBox One. Hitting shelves on June 9th, this will be just in time for the E3 frenzy and most likely hope to capitalize on new titles being announced at E3 bringing more popularity to the system. It will also drop the price to $399.

Instead of people being happy about the new lower price, the negative backlash came. Sony fanboys decried the move as desperation. While it can be said that Microsoft did need to do something to put the console on even ground with the PlayStation, it wouldn’t be an act of desperation.

Microsoft listened to the feedback and instead of dropping the price and losing money due to cost, they removed the big elephant in the room that was associated with that higher price point. Had they kept the Kinect and dropped the price or dropped the Kinect and lowered the price below the $399 mark before Sony had enacted any price drop at all on the PlayStation 4, that would have been an act of desperation.

When the original Kinect launched in 2010, it is safe to say the peripheral had a share of flaws. It wasn’t as detailed as one would expect and couldn’t detect hands and fingers the way it was originally designed to. It also had a hard time reading individuals under a certain height. Considering Microsoft was trying to drive kids to play games like Kinectimals with the controllerless gaming, that was up there in the list of top functionality f&#* ups from them.

One that also seemed to be an issue was the rumor that the Kinect also had trouble reading people with darker skin tone. This lead to the premise that the Kinect was actually racist.

The team at Whiskey and Waffles joined up with Sandwich Productions (because the combination just sounded too damn tasty to ignore) and created the mocumentary simply entitled Racist XBox. We were thrilled with the end result and just how awesome WallE looked as a forensic scientist. We won’t spoil anything here but I will say there is a little bit of mature language so I wouldn’t go showing this to your 10 year old.

When you look at the XBox Kinect it is pretty easy to list off its successes. The Gunstringer. Fruit Ninja Kinect. The Dance Central series… and that’s it. While there were numerous Kinect releasing, only a few really brought the promise of the hardware to life.

And like Fruit Ninja Kinect, another piece of software that originated on iOS is making its way to the XBLA for the Kinect with Doodle Jump. Unlike Fruit Ninja Kinect though, we aren’t exactly sure how Doodle Jump is going to fair with its change of control. Fruit Ninja Kinect was kind of a no brainer to let players replace their finger motions with swipes of their entire arm.

Doodle Jump Kinect sounds like it is going to require players tilt their body in the same way they tilted their iPhone on the original game. In addition, various arm gestures will help them shoot, fly and perform various other functions. After seeing how well the Kinect reacts to simple tasks when watching Netflix, I still have my doubts.

Last week I posted my thoughts about the XBox One announcement and something just didn’t sit right with me about the focus on the Kinect integration. I’ve thought about it and watched the press conference over and over and the things I saw should have gotten me excited. The ability to control my TV and game system with just hand gestures and talking to it is like Iron Man style Jarvis technology. Why shouldn’t seeing that in action get me excited. This weekend, I finally figured out why.

It’s Nintendo’s fault. Specifically it is the fault of the Wiimote and Wiimotion Plus. Let me explain.

When we first saw the Wii, everyone got the impression that the technology inside the system and controller would be able to accurately track the motions of my Wiimote but quickly found out it wasn’t one to one readings, but gestures that were recognized.

Imagine a gaming world that doesn’t end with the edge of your television. Think about what’d be like if the edge of your TV was only the beginning and the world continued around you. Sounds like the stuff of sci-fi that you remember reading about in Fahrenheit 451, right? Well the team at Microsoft is trying to bring this fiction to reality.

At CES yesterday, Microsoft revealed its concept behind Illumiroom. Self described as “Peripheral Projected Illusions for Interactive Experiences”, Illumiroom looks to change the way players experience gaming by transforming the room around them to match watch appears on screen. Using the Kinect and a projector, the system scans the room and projects images in ratio and aspect to what is going on on-screen. Field of vision is extended as well as the motion of objects on screen. The unique design and geometry of every room is taken into effect to not just appear as a prerendered design but one manipulated and created in real time.

If you have a Kinect, chances are that it isn’t the most used accessory of your XBox 360. Though tons have been sold, there hasn’t been great support of good games for it. In fact, many have been downright disappointing like Star Wars Kinect. The shining light for Kinect has been the Dance Central series.

With the first two titles, Dance Central has proven to be one of the best applications of the Kinect technology in terms of accurate recording of the player’s movements and giving a fun experience that actually utilizes the Kinect technology in a fun way. Now, for the third year in a row, the team at Harmonix brings back its dance craze inspired game with incredible results in the form of Dance Central 3.

The Long

If you’ve never played a Dance Central title before, the premise of the game is very simple. Players stand in front of the Kinect controller and mirror the movements they see of the characters on screen. The angle of their arms, legs and body are all monitored by the Kinect as a player follows the motions on screen. The accuracy of the player’s movements determines how well they score on each dance move. Higher scores mean more stars, which have been trend in Harmonix’s music games for some time now.

As we told you earlier, Microsoft kicked off their E3 festivities with what could be considered a fairly standard and unsurprising Press Conference. As expected, they announced the anticipated console exclusive, Halo 4. Upping the ante from last year, this E3 brought gameplay footage of Halo 4 to the audience with a first look at the new enemies and weapons as well as some familiar faces from past Halos. Microsoft would follow with footage of the new Splinter Cell: Black List which uses enhanced Kinect controls.

Following on the Kinect bandwagon, EA debuted footage of the latest Fifa and Madden franchises. In Fifa, players will be able to make coaching decisions and their reactions will be read by the Kinect and penalties may even be awarded based on poor sportsmanship. In Madden, NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback Joe Montana demonstrated the game’s new Kinect enabled play calling features.

After the Fable: The Journey trailer, Microsoft Studios brought out studio head Phil Spencer who introduced the trailer for the new Gears of War: Judgment, staring Baird, and then the latest racing experience with Forza Horizon.

Star Wars Kinect revealed to many that motion gaming just isn’t what we were expecting from the Kinect. Whether it is the fault of the developers or the hardware, Star Wars Kinect is a flop. What can be done to save the Kinect at this point? As much as we love Dance Central, there are only so many times Microsoft can turn to Harmonix to save the Kinect’s butt with a quality experience. Many people say the loss of tactile feedback whether it is the press of a button or holding the actual object in their hand they are swinging on screen that leaves the Kinect experience unfulfilled. While we don’t know if NBA Baller Beats is the ultimate answer, it has certainly got our attention.

From the trailer below, though we don’t see actual gameplay footage, the impression is given of a Dance Central style rhythm game mainly with hip hop music that players must not only mimic the motions of the character on screen with their own body but of a real basketball as well. You wanted tactile feedback from Kinect? Here you go (especially since people would look incredibly silly pretending to make dribbling motions around their living rooms).

NBA Baller Beats gets players on their feet mastering mad ball handling skills while playing to the beat of an eclectic soundtrack. The Kinect motion sensor captures every movement of both player and ball to create an entirely new basketball gaming experience. NBA Baller Beats will be unveiled at E3 2012 and will launch exclusively on Kinect for Xbox 360 this Fall.

Motion games have warned people to make sure to clear the area around them so they don’t crash into furniture or other people but now there is even more to worry about. What’s interesting will be the test of player’s coordination as they watch the screen to watch the moves they need to perform and keep control of the ball at the same time. Judging from my own basketball skills topping out with an epic 16 points during my entire 7th grade season, I don’t think I will be putting my living room at risk but for the more athletically inclined, it might be the right game to get them to dust off their Kinect.

Check out the teaser trailer for NBA Baller Beats after the jump.

Last week, Capcom held its annual media event Captivate in Rome. There they gave tons of information about some of their top franchises. The top announcement came in the form of the third iteration of the Lost Planet franchise being announced with Lost Planet 3. Resident Evil 6 received its release date and gamers were able to try out Resident Evil: Chronicles HD Collection with Move controls for the first time.

Street Fighter X Tekken for Vita confirmed Cross-Platform Play, a system that will allow players from the Vita to combat PlayStation 3 users. Additionally, DmC Devil May Cry, Dragon’s Dogma and Steel Battalion Heavy Armor were all playable to either press or the general public.

Check out all the news as well as brand new screen shots and videos from Captivate 2012 below and stick with us for more on all these huge titles from Capcom.

Lost Planet 3 has been announced for early 2013 for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

The extreme and unpredictable conditions that characterized the Lost Planet series return, harsher than ever before in Lost Planet 3. Players take on the role of Jim, a utility rig pilot who has left Earth to take on a hazardous but lucrative contract on E.D.N. III. Delivering a diverse range of gameplay, including third-person on-foot battles and intense first-person utility rig action, players will need to brave the uncharted terrain, hostile climate and threat of indigenous Akrid creatures. With a number of multiplayer modes and a compelling single player experience, Lost Planet 3 will delve deeper into the Lost Planet universe, uncovering hidden truths when it releases in early 2013.