Microsoft has announced that Project Natal will officially be named Kinect. This motion control system will be launching sometime this Fall for the Xbox 360, and will likely come with a price tag in the $100 range. It will be available on November 4 for $149.

Microsoft also showed off their newly-redesigned Xbox 360 with a slimmer design, 250GB HDD, and bulit-in 802.11N Wi-Fi. The new Xbox 360's run $299 and will begin shipping today!

Sources list potential Kinect games as:

• Kinect Sports
• Joyride
• Star Wars title
• Disney title
• Dance Central
• Kinectimals

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Microsoft's Project Natal will supposedly require 13 feet of space between Natal and yourself in order to be recognized by the sensors. This may put a damper on Xbox 360 owners who inhabit tiny spaces.

The comments regarding this "13 feet rule" were made by Microsoft Xbox division's Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie. He stated, "To be precise, you'll want to clear an area extending at least 4 meters (a little more than 13 feet) away from the television. That's the back edge of the space to be taken into account by the Natal sensors." "In terms of width and height, the field of vision naturally expands as it moves from the Natal device to that back edge, ending up a little more than 4 meters wide and 2.7 meters high (about 8 feet, 10 inches)."

Project Natal is a motion control option for Xbox 360 that requires no controller; the sensors detect body movement instead of following a remote. It is expected to be released in 2010 with a price tag under $100 and compete against the Nintendo Wii and Sony's upcoming motion control system, the Playstation Move.

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Hey, all you kiddies. You're going to need mom and dad's approval to access Facebook, Twitter, and Last.FM through Xbox now.  An update to Xbox Live temporarily locked out minor accounts from accessing these applications. An upcoming update will make it necessary that parents approve the access for their children.

Xbox Live's Larry Hyrb (aka Major Nelson) reminds parents to select "Automatically log in" or "Remember Me" after giving approval otherwise it will be necessary to do so every time their children log in. The update went live today for regions other than the U.S. which can expect to receive it next week, on December 15th.

Buyer beware. With the announcement that Microsoft had banned potentially one million modded Xbox 360 users, Craigslist and eBay are seeing a flood of consoles. The consoles are quite a steal packaged with games, controllers, listing "custom firmware" and some prices are a steal.

Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb paired a statement with the banned console announcement last week that "the warranty on an Xbox 360 console is not transferrable, and if you purchase a used console that has been previously banned, you will not be able to connect to Xbox LIVE."

Banned consoles lose all connectivity to the Xbox Live network, even on accounts that haven't been banned. Games are still playable offline, however.

According to Yahoo tech news "A search on "modded xbox" run against the the New York City Craiglist portal brought back over 200 listings from November 5. Another through the Chicago Craiglist portal returned 195 listings for the same period."

Some sellers are open and honest. "Looking to sell my banned modded xbox 360," reads one New York Craiglist ad. "own all the originals...but wanted to have extra incase the originals got scratched." Games typically include blockbuster titles like Forza 3, Call of Duty: World at War, Halo 3: ODST (on two discs), Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Brutal Legend, and movies like Up and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (which isn't available on DVD yet).

Microsoft cracked down on users believed to be using modded consoles, timed along the release of the year's hottest game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. One million Xbox Live players were banned in a move to prevent game piracy.

According to Microsoft "All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty, and result in a ban from Xbox Live." "The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive from manufacturers, retailers, and the third parties that support them."

Xbox 360 consoles utilize DRM (digital rights management) technology to detect pirated software, but modded consoles deactivate these features and allow users to play pirated games. Banned Xbox Live users won't be able to access their accounts or play online, but their consoles will still function.

Microsoft did not make clear how they detected the modded consoles. Some suspect that the timing of the bans may be due in part to the report of pirated copies of Modern Warfare 2 surfacing before its release.

It's estimated that there are 20 million members the Xbox LIVE community.

According to British trade site MCV, Microsoft's motion controller dubbed "Project Natal" will be released November 2010 for a price tag less than $100. The site does not name sources, but states that Microsoft has been showing off the new technology during a round of developer visits in the UK.

The source revealed that Microsoft will supposedly be releasing the motion controller for a price tag of $80 (£50), but another source indicated that the actual cost may be lower at around $50 (£30). They're expecting 14 games to be available by its November 2010 release, and 5 million cameras will be ready and spread throughout standalone cameras and Xbox 360/Natal bundles.

Again, this is all in Rumorland and none of this has been made official or confirmed by Microsoft.

Throwing a wet blanket on a fire started yesterday about external Blu-ray drives coming to the Xbox 360, Microsoft vehemently iterates that Blu-ray isn't coming to the Xbox 360.

Microsoft's Larry Hryb said that the company has "no plans" for a 360 Blu-ray drive, and added that Ballmer was actually referring to Blu-ray drives for PCs. He also iterated "Our immediate solution for Blu-ray-quality video on an Xbox 360 is coming this fall with Zune Video and 1080p instant-on HD streaming."

Oh.

The Xbox 360 has never featured internal HD playback and originally offered an external HD DVD drive before its great loss in the HD format war.

Sony won the format war with its Blu-ray technology, and it seems Microsoft may grudgingly jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon. In an interview, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed that the Xbox 360 will eventually be receiving external Blu-ray drives.

When asked if Xbox 360 would be getting Blu-ray he stated, "Well I don't know if we need to put Blu-ray in there—you'll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories."

Microsoft responded to the great Blu question with: "Our immediate solution for Blu-ray-quality video on an Xbox 360 is coming this fall with Zune Video and 1080p instant-on HD streaming. As far as our future plans are concerned, we're not ready to comment."

The Xbox 360 has never had internal HD playback capability, and featured an accessory HD DVD external drive during the great format war. Since Sony's victory, 360 users have been forced to buy a PS3 or Blu-ray player or have just gone without (or they played their small HD DVD collection on their new doorstop).

Bad news if you've been rocking Borderlands or Forza 3 on Xbox Live. These games haven't been released yet, and Microsoft is going to permanently ban anyone caught pirating these games.

"You know, when you play a pre-release title on LIVE when I know you shouldn't have it, it's not hard for me to figure out," according to the Twitter account of Stephen Toulouse, Xbox Live director of policy and enforcement. If you managed to snag a legit version from a naughty retailer, you're safe. "Don’t worry folks, anyone who bought a copy early is ok. In general, if you got a receipt, play away. These are illegit copies we’re hitting.”

Borderlands will be available on October 20th for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and October 26th for PC. Forza 3 will be available for Xbox 360 on October 27th.

Xbox 360 owners wishing for Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm on their Dashboard might get the chance to see what's in store for them with a beta of the new Dashboard update available sometime this month. Microsoft announced the update at E3 09, promising a 2009 release. It seems they are on schedule, with expectations that they will publicly announce a beta for the middle to the end of October, and rumors that it will see full release in November.

According to Microsoft's Scott Austin, director of digital games at Live, Facebook, like Twitter and Last.FM are an important part of the New Xbox Experience. The Facebook experience is similar to the one on computers. Users will be able to see news feeds, check out profiles and read/write messages. Users will also be able to update their status on Facebook which be marked with the Xbox symbol. Austin noted that videos and Facebook apps or games are not yet a part of the service that will be available on the 360, but that it was something Microsoft was "looking at."

The user-interface menu may also see a facelift with the new update. "The new Xbox experience interface is what you are going to see for the foreseeable future," he said. "Its design allows us to contract and expand."

You could be one large fry or Angus burger away from being an Xbox 360 owner. McDonald's Monopoly starts today, kicking off a month of Monopoly piece collecting. Besides cash prizes and gift cards (and a free small fry) instant win tickets from the new Angus Burger or a large fry could reveal one of thousands of Xbox 360s!

Microsoft announced that greatness had been earned by Grand Theft Auto 4, Left 4 Dead, and others, and that they will join the Platinum Hits collection. The games will be rebraned and repriced, though it is not known at this time what the prices will be, and when they will take effect. Microsoft stated that prices could be "as low as $19.99".

Joining GTA4, and Left 4 Dead are; Street Fighter 4, Saints Row 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

There are currently over 60 titles in the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits collection.

Besides adding fresh meat to its Platinum lineup, retailers will also be running a "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" sale on Platinum Hits games until October 31st.

It's official! Microsoft has now announced a price drop for its Xbox 360. The 120GB Elite model will drop $100 to a $299 price tag (but will no longer ship with an HDMI cable), matching that of rival Sony Playstation 3. The 60GB Pro model will drop to $250 until it is completely phased out, and the Xbox Arcade will keep its $199 price tag. The price cuts will take place on Friday, August 28th.

Production on the Xbox 360 "Pro" has been halted so supplies may be limited.

Sources indicate that Microsoft has pulled their Xbox 360 price drop announcement for Gamescom 2009. The plan was to announce a price drop of the Elite unit to replace the Pro unit..

It seems that they have decided to delay the announcement in order to get more units off the shelf beforehand. Microsoft spoke this morning with no mention of the announcement and it is predicted that they will announce a price drop closer to the holiday season in their typical holiday sales push.

A new price drop rumor has hit the streets running. Supposedly the 360 has a price drop in store as Microsoft may aim to erase the Pro line and drop the price of the Elite system (from $399 to $299).

Kotaku received photos from GameStop employees of new Xbox 360 Arcade boxes listing the 120GB-packing Elite model and drive-less Arcade as the only available Xbox, and no Pro. They also supposedly have a snapshot from a catalogue due to come out August 30th showing the Elite with a lighter price tag of $299.

Rumors started at the beginning of the year but have not picked up much steam until recently. Rumor has it there will be an announcement at GameCom in Germany next week.

The news is exciting on more than one front. History has taught us if one console drops their price, the others will be soon to follow. Nintendo recently hasn't been playing by precedent, much to the huge success of their Wii, but Sony's PS3 is in the slumps. If Xbox 360 drops their price, it's a safe assumption there should be a price drop for the PS3. For those of us who have spent the last few years debating between the Xbox 360 and the PS3, this might be the incentive to lean one way over the other (especially if Sony sticks to their stubborn guns and won't drop the PS3 price).