Even if you can’t be at E3 this year, don’t worry. It’s Monday and we’re not even there yet either. Oh the benefits (and hindrances) of working on a site that doesn’t just cover games. We’ve also got Apple’s WWDC announcements today and a bunch of other stuff for a Monday.

But getting back to Microsoft, our pals over at Geek Week have put together a nice list of the highlights of this year’s Microsoft News briefing at E3. And being the nice guys that we are, we’ve gone ahead and listed it right here for your use and enjoyment (with a few added bits and comments as wel).

Also, be sure to click through for the Halo 4 trailer as well! Okay, here’s the highlights’ of what Microsoft announced this morning:

• PGA, MADDEN, and FIFA will support the Kinect later this year – Nice

• MASS EFFECT 3 will support Kinect voice recognition; you will be able to speak the dialogue choices and voice combat commands to party members

• GHOST RECON: FUTURE SOLDIER will utilize Kinect for weapon customization

• YouTube, Bing, and live television are coming to Xbox Live

• Announcement of remastered HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED ANNIVERSARY

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Whether it’s the customization or the ability to play as your favorite wrestlers, something keeps drawing an audience of people into buying the newest WWE or TNA wrestling game year after year. Now fans are getting the chance to use more than their thumbs in the digital squared circle with Hulk Hogan’s Main Event.

From Majesco, the game is set to release on the Xbox 360 and utilize the console’s Kinect system by integrating the moves and motion of the player themselves into the game’s mechanics. Here’s a breakdown.

In Hulk Hogan’s Main Event, players will learn the ropes from the man himself as Hulk Hogan schools them on delivering the best show for the crowd by emulating famous Hulk poses and performing more than 30 punishing combos.  The Kinect sensor tracks players’ every move; the more dynamic the motion, the more high impact the wrestler’s performance is.  Players will create their own unique wrestler personality through a robust create-a-wrestler feature including many choices for face, hair, tattoos, outfit, ethnicity, body type, and entrance music.

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In what may be a good thing or a bad thing, today Microsoft  announced it will buy Skype for $8.5 billion in cash. This news comes just days after reports cam out that Facebook and Google were both interested in purchasing the online video chat company.

Microsoft said Skype will be used to support Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and other Windows devices. Microsoft also said it will connect Skype users with Outlook, Xbox Live and other software platforms.

“Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world,” Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.

Skype, which currently has 170 million users, will become a new business division at Microsoft with Skype’s current CEO Tony Bates taking on the role of president of the Microsoft Skype Division.

Click through for the full press release from Microsoft. So, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

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Alright, I know I’m pretty late to the bandwagon since Kinect was released during the holidays, but I genuinely haven’t gotten to spend any time with the device. Until now.

One of the amazing things about Penny Arcade Expo is the expansive freeplay section available to attendees, and Kinect was available in full force. I stepped in front of a television armed with an Xbox 360, a Kinect, Kinectimals, and Dance Central, and I unwillingly and surprisingly fell in love.

Believe you me, I was just as skeptical about this device as I’m sure you all were, or maybe still are. And since Penny Arcade is pretty much my go-to for my videogame advice, and they aren’t the biggest fans of Kinect, I was expecting to be underwhelmed. Oh how wrong I was. Two seconds of tossing a ball around to a baby tiger and I was sold.

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In December, the Flickcast was happy to reveal that Twisted Pixel Games had announced a new member of the ‘Splosion family with Ms. ‘Splosion Man. Without seeing actual gameplay footage though, one major concern did come up. Would Ms ‘Splosion Man just be more of the same with a pink coat of paint? From what we can tell from the GDC demo (see below) this isn’t the case. While the core mechanics of ‘Splosion Man haven’t changed (i.e. blowing up), it looks like a whole new level of complexity has gone into the levels.

New traps, tactics and tools look like they await in the levels of Ms. Splosion Man. It does look like certain characters and bosses will be making their return as well alongside movie quotes and Twisted Pixel’s eccentric sense of humor.

Check out the full gallery and gameplay trailers after the jump.

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Holiday shopping is hard. There is so much going on like catching up on all the hottest games that came out in November that sometimes you just don’t have time to go out, brave the malls and deal with lunatic people who would gladly trample each other to save seventeen cents on an outdated plasma TV. But, you still have to buy gifts for the loved ones in your family. And with each item, we have included a helpful link to purchase the item without ever having to leave the comfort of your home.

Hardware

It couldn’t be Christmas without a big and expensive gift for “Santa” to put under the tree. Now, while you most likely have one for yourself, your best gaming friend may not be as hardcore as you are and isn’t going through his XBox 360 dashboard using Minority Report type controls of the Kinect.

Like we talked about in our review, the Kinect is fun and a great addition to any XBox 360 household.  Just make sure that the person you are buying it for has enough room in their living space for it to work properly.

Check out more of my picks for best geeky holiday gift ideas after the jump!

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Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• Looking forward to Harry Potter? Then you’re going to love Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Hangover.

• Who doesn’t love a good supercut? Here’s one of every Arnold Schwarzenegger scream from every Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Enjoy!

• Too much time on her hands: A British artist put together an Avatar mosaic out of Blu-Ray discs. What a waste.

• The world may have seen it’s fill of white rappers, but what about Klingon rappers?

• If you’re a fan of Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara, then you probably love two particular parts. . . of her personality. Here’s a collection of animated GIFs showing them off.

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We are not exactly what you’d call a group of talented dancers. For the most part, many of us wouldn’t even be good enough to be considered bad dancers. But that didn’t stop us from picking up the most anticipated Kinect launch title, Dance Central, not surprisingly a game that involves dancing.

At Comic Con, we got our first chance to experience Dance Central and even though it was fairly embarrassing showing our moves to a room full of fellow press, we quickly realized we weren’t the only ones who couldn’t dance (with the once exception being one guy who looked like he was a professionally trained hip hop dancer who was rocking out to “Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe).  And most importantly, it was fun.

But the question remained if it would be able to sustain itself as a full game and not just a quick burst of enjoyment for a song or two. We are happy to report that the answer is an astounding yes.

Gameplay:

Dance Central is the most perfect use so far of a world without a controller. Using the Kinect, Dance Central monitors every movement a player makes as they try to mimic the on screen dances of the expert dancer characters. Unlike other Kinect games like Kinect Adventures or Kinect Sports, the on screen character is not a direct representation of the player. Instead, it acts as a model of what the player should be doing.

There is a small box on the right of the screen showing a silhouette of what the player is actually doing. When a player deviates from the correct moves, the on screen character model will glow red over the body part that isn’t doing what it should be doing. There is also a Freestyle section of each song where players see a glowing outline of themselves dancing on screen with no direction. To add to the self-deprecation of the non-dancing crowd, the Kinect makes sure to take pictures of you during this portion.

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On Thursday of last week, the gaming world got what they had been waiting for. Microsoft lauds Kinect as the next big leap in video game control (Sort of). Formerly referred to as Project Natal, we got our first hands on with the depth sensing motion camera at San Diego Comic Con and the experience left us wanting more. It also left us wondering how the game would play in a real world environment, not just a perfectly set up demo room.

After a surprisingly quick setup right out of the box, Kinect is ready to go. But there few things of note which Microsoft has been fairly up front about. The first is that the Kinect needs room to work. A player must stand about six feet back from the Kinect sensor, preferably eight to ten if multiple players will be gaming together.

Otherwise a player’s full body isn’t recognized and the camera will spend time recalibrating itself. The other is that once you have started playing with a Kinect game, expect to place yourself in front of the screen for a longer period of time.

If you plan on walking back and forth between minigames you will only cause yourself hassle as each time you walk away, the camera will have to reconfigure. Finally, there is a minimum height requirement for Kinect. Players under three feet tall won’t be able to use the system.

Make sure to keep that in mind when it comes to purchasing Kinect for Christmas for smaller kids as it could potentially lead to a horrible Christmas morning when little Johnny finds out he is too short to play with his Kinectimals or there is only a three foot space between the television and the edge of the coach.

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As I may have indicated previously, I’m having a hard time getting very excited for Microsoft’s Kinect. Regardless, I’m sure it will probably sell very well. In fact, we will find out how well today as this is officially Kinect launch day around the world.

The new motion-based video game controller for Xbox 360 is, according to most industry analysts, expected to be one of the best-selling accessories this holiday season. Microsoft recently raised its holiday sales projections from 3 million to 5 million units. That’s a lot of units.

You have a couple options to get Kinect. If you currently have an XBox 360 (Or a few of them) you need to buy Kinect. If you don’t have an XBox 360 you can buy one that includes a Kinect. However, as I said before, this is probably going to be a hot seller so if you do want Kinect, I suggest buying one now.

As in right now.

Maybe I’m in the minority here but I’m having a hard time getting excited for Microsoft’s Kinect. Sure, not using a controlller and being able to play you’re favorite game standing up as if you’re actually in the game seems like a cool idea. I’m just not sure I’m ready to give up my controller just yet.

Regardless of my feelings, Microsoft is going forward in a big way with Kinect and is launching the device, and several accompanying titles, very soon. In fact, just in time for the Holidays. Isn’t that nice of them?

Microsoft will have 17 games you can play with Kinect this year and here’s the list: Kinect Joy Ride, Adrenalin Misfits, Fighters Uncaged, Sonic Free Riders, Kinect Sports, MotionSports, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, Dance Central, The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout, DanceMasters, Kinect Adventures (bundled with Kinect), Kinectimals, Game Party: In Motion, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, EA Sports Active 2, Zumba Fitness, and Deca Sports Freedom.

The first twelve games will be available on November 4 (aka “Launch Day”) and the remaining five will arrive throughout November and early December. Now that we’ve seen the list, I can’t say I’m that much more interested. How about you guys? Will Kinect be the new “must have” gaming accessory?

One of the most exciting aspects of working in the industry is the chance to try out new games before the general public does. With those new games sometimes comes the new emerging technologies as well. This year at San Diego Comic Con, Kinect (formerly Project Natal) was available for the press to try out in Microsoft’s private press lounge. While there, I got the chance to try out two of the upcoming Kinect titles, Kinect Sports and Dance Central.

At first glance, many people would look at Kinect Sports and say it is a rip off of Wii Sports. To an extent, their claim is warranted. Kinect Sports is a collection of minigames using the Kinect motion controls centered around various sports. One can’t fault Microsoft for creating this title. It is no secret that Wii Sports helped drive sales of the Wii above the 25 million unit mark to non-traditional video game players. Sony is also producing Sports Champions for the PlayStation Move. It’d be leaving money on the table if Microsoft didn’t capitalize on this trend as well.

The first thing you notice about the Kinect is the lack of tangible feedback. During Kinect Sports, my first instinct was to grasp the bowling ball as my avatar’s hand went over it. The game responds by automatically grabbing the ball, regardless of whether you actually close your hand around it. For a moment, it catches you off guard that you aren’t really holding anything.

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