Xbox Live's latest streaming event struts its stuff at 6pm ET on Sunday, February 24, when film aficionados in the US with an Xbox Live Gold subscription can tune into the Associated Press' red carpet coverage of this year's annual Academy Awards. SmartGlass users can also engage with the second-screen experience through their tablets and smartphones.

During the event, Xbox Live users can participate in the same interactive voting and tweeting stuff introduced during the Presidential Election coverage. We're not sure what kind of questions will be asked, but if the Presidential Election was any indication, it'll be a lot of bar graphs showing community support levels for Jessica Chastain's dress and questions about foreign policy in Iran.

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Alleged specs for the next iteration of Microsoft's Kinect sensor have popped up on VGLeaks. The new Kinect will be included with the next Xbox, according to the report, and it seems to outperform its predecessor in nearly every way. It packs a much larger field of view (70 degrees horizontal by 60 degrees vertical, versus the current 57.5 x 43.5) and a dramatically higher resolution (1920x1080 versus 640x480). The unit also features significantly lower latency (60ms versus 90ms), conceivably giving it a much faster reaction time.

It will apparently ditch the tilt motor seen in the current Kinect, as the larger field of view should accommodate most play spaces. For example, the new Kinect should be able to detect a 6' tall person at just over five feet from the television. As previous reports have suggested, it will also be able to recognize more minute details, such as whether a hand is open or closed.

For what it's worth, in the absence of verification, the tech wizards at Digital Foundry find the leak plausible, though it may not be the most current information. Furthermore, the information does seem to match up with previous reports, specifically the sensor's improved resolution and its ability to detect much finer details.

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Japan has found new heights (depths?) of creepiness today with the United Arrow Marionettebot, a custom Kinect hack pairing Microsoft's motion-tracking camera with display mannequins.

The mannequins of United Arrow's clothing store mimic the poses and movements of passersby. It's billed as a marketing effort in the video above, despite being the stuff of nightmares.

La Telemundo aplicación está vivo en Xbox Live y la encuesta dice que tendrá fragmentos de las programas que tu abuelita le encanta ver: Caso Cerrado, 12 Corazones, La Patrona, Pasión Prohibida, Fandango Cine y Crossover One on One. Telemundo está disponsible en los Estados Unidos hoy.

También hay una aplicacion para ver ánime japonés, pero con subtítulos en ingles, llamada Neon Alley. Neon Alley trabaja en los Estados Unidos y Canadá.

Que te diviertas con las aplicaciones en Xbox Live. ¡Ciao!

This week, you'll save on undead content on Xbox Live. Well, the content is inanimate, but it's about undead things. That includes Zombie Apocalypse, Zombie Driver HD, All Zombies Must Die, avatar and Gamerpic sets from Black Ops Zombies, and, for some reason, the Dead Rising 2 Ninja Skills Pack. They're all half off until the 18th. NBA 2K13 and its extras are also half off, unrelated to the zombie thing.

There's also a bunch of stuff on Games on Demand today, including everything from the high profile Kinect Disneyland Adventures to the all but forgotten Quantum Theory.

Microsoft's new "Xbox Entertainment Studios" in Los Angeles is making a variety of "entertainment" different from what you might expect Microsoft to produce for Xbox: television programming. "Interactive" TV, but TV nonetheless.

The studio is spearheaded by president of entertainment and digital media Nancy Tellem, who also oversees live events on Xbox – like the Elections 2012 hub and similar "interactive" presentations for the Grammys and the (upcoming) Oscars. XES will work to create original interactive content for Xbox (and other devices).

While the new studio creates programming, Microsoft also plans to add more channels of other companies' programming, to the tune of 40 new TV and entertainment apps this year.

Journey scooped eight nominations in the British Academy of Film and Television's Games Awards this year. As if it hadn't won enough of the like, thatgamecompany's PS3 odyssey is a contender for BAFTA's Best Game award, competing with Dishonored, FIFA 13, Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3, and The Walking Dead for the prize.

It's the two latter games that also lead the way in terms of nominations; Far Cry 3 received six nods, while The Walking Dead picked up seven, including two in the Performer category for Melissa Hutchinson and Dave Fennoy's respective portrayals of Clementine and Lee.

Dear Esther is also clearly popular at BAFTA HQ. The melancholic game, developed by indie studio thechineseroom, can boast a very impressive five nominations including ones in the British Game and Debut Game categories.

The full list of nominees is after the break. BAFTA's Games Awards take place on March 5.

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Microsoft has sent out a chest-thumping press release, boasting about new milestones for the Xbox 360, Kinect and Xbox Live. As of now, 76 million Xbox 360 consoles have been purchased worldwide, with a total of 24 million Kinects flailing their way into homes around the globe.

The hardware numbers are bolstered by 46 million subscribers on Xbox Live. Microsoft says this new figure represents a 15 percent increase in year-over-year subscribers – both free memberships and premium Gold subscribers are accounted here.

In a missive over on Microsoft's website, newly appointed President of Entertainment and Digital Media Nancy Tellem says the company is looking to launch 40 new custom Xbox interactive entertainment apps for 2013. It's quite a sign of the times if we're not counting games as "entertainment apps."

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Microsoft's next Xbox, AKA Durango, will have much better speech detection, according to sources at the Verge. That includes natural language detection, which will allow the Xbox to process normal speech patterns, similar to Apple's Siri. So, for example, instead of saying "Xbox, play 3," you might simply say, "Xbox, where can I watch The X-Files?"

Furthermore, users may be able to turn the new Xbox on using only voice. Speech-to-text is also a possibility, which would allow users to, say, compose Xbox Live messages using only voice. The Verge also mentions a possible function that would allow the Kinect to detect the number of people in a room and suggest suitable multiplayer games (hopefully not used games).

An improved Kinect, possibly bundled with or built into the next Xbox, has been expected for quite some time now. As such, it's not much of a stretch to assume the upgraded device would feature improved voice recognition in addition to improved physical recognition.

There is a strange cult of people out there – you may have seen them, huddled around those giant red vending machines outside your local gas station or grocery store. These people are actually renting DVDs from those machines, called Redbox. We know, it's so precious!

Redbox is testing the streaming waters with a new beta program called Redbox Instant, and Major Nelson has announced a corresponding app will be available on Xbox 360. Nelson says those in the beta right now – if you want in, you can sign up here – will receive an email with their Xbox 360 download code "in the coming days."

Redbox Instant is a combined monthly subscription service that provides unlimited online streaming of content and four one-night rental tokens for use at local Redbox vending machines. Redbox Instant subscribers can opt into the DVD package $8 or upgrade to Blu-rays for $9 a month. Other supported platforms for Redbox Instant include iOS, Android, Vizio, Samsung, LG and Google TV.

[Note: Image taken from iOS Redbox Instant app on iPad.]

Dead Space 3 doesn't want you to just scream in terror at the screen. With Kinect, Dead Space 3 allows players to say "more than 40 intuitive voice commands," rather than pressing all those pesky buttons. The image below outlines all of the voice commands players will be able to use, separated by interface, gameplay actions, skip and tram locations, and co-op actions.

For example, to pull up the inventory the voice command is, "access inventory." To reload, it's "reload weapon," a paired attack escape is "get off me," and to call a partner over for aid it's "help me." Unfortunately there is no action triggered by the "scream like a banshee" voice command.

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Dance Central 3 is set to receive a hefty infusion of new tracks this month. One Direction and its ubiquitous "What Makes You Beautiful" will drop on February 5. On February 12 the Beebs returns with two new jams in "Justin Bieber Dance Pack 01," which features "Beauty And A Beat" and "All Around the World." The pack will run $5, or each track will be available individually for $3.

On February 19 you can grab the number one song on your jogging megamix, Ellie Goulding's "Lights." The month is rounded out on February 26 with "Airplanes" by B.O.B., though we're not really sure what music from a 16-bit action game is doing in Dance Central.

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The Dead Space 3 story may get extended through DLC released in a few weeks' time. That's what a hint by game producer Steve Papoutsis seems to suggest, anyway. Papoutsis closed off a blog post today with a vague drop of a "top secret additional story."

"As you can see, we have a lot planned for you in DS3," Papoutsis wrote. "And the team is hard at work on a top secret additional story that will be coming in a few weeks. We're not saying much, yet - but think 'disturbing' to get your imaginations going."

Papoutsis also revealed there are four modes unlocked by beating the game once, namely New Game+, Classic Mode, Pure Survival Mode, and the return of Hardcore Mode, albeit with a new twist. New Game+ is as it sounds, the mode carrying over your upgrades and weaponry from the completed save. Classic Mode is single-player only, removes crafting, and employs 'classic' aiming to resemble the original Dead Space. Whereas Pure Survival is all about resource management; enemies are the only things that drop any goodies, and there are no ammo, health or weapon packs.

Hardcore mode drops the three-saves-and-out of Dead Space 2, and replaces it with something that sounds far more evil. This time, you only have one life... yup, you read that right. And don't think it's something you can just avoid by going back to a previous save; as PlayStation Lifestyle details, once you die the game simply returns you to the start, end of. Evil. If we ever complete it, there better be a reward of free unlimited rainbows.

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