Today Microsoft have announced quite a few pieces of information regarding games on several platforms and the release date for Kinect outside the US.

First up Microsoft has announced that it is creating a new Age of Empires game, Age of Empires Online. This game will feature Game for Windows Live integration to allow social game play and will have persistent game play, meaning one’s empire is always alive, awake and working even if the user isn’t logged in.

You can sign up for access to the closed beta on Microsoft Connect. There is also a short video of the game on the new Age of Empires Online website.

Age of Empires II is still one of my most favourite games, although I haven’t played it for many year. I am really looking forward to what this game might have in store, if it has the game play appeal of AoEII and the social interactions like Farmville then I have high hopes for it.

Some other Games for Windows Live news from Microsoft is that it is bring two new franchises to Games for Windows Live; Microsoft Flight and Fable. Microsoft Flight looks like a new version of Flight Simulator which has quite a few people excited but there is currently precious little known about Flight.

Another major announcement from Microsoft this morning was with regards to Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 in which Microsoft announced the entire list of titles. The width and breath of the types of games and some of the franchises coming to Windows Phone 7 has surprised and pleased many people. As long as Microsoft and its partners can get the gameplay to be stunning and the controls to be implemented correctly for games such as Halo Waypoint, Star Wars and Guitar Hero then Microsoft should have a very competitive mobile game platform that could not only rival the iPhone and Pre but also the PSP and DS.

Here’s the entire list of Xbox Live titles for Windows Phone 7:

* 3D Brick Breaker Revolution (Digital Chocolate)
* Age of Zombies (Halfbrick)
* Armor Valley (Protégé Games)
* Asphalt 5 (Gameloft)
* Assassins Creed (Gameloft)
* Bejeweled™ LIVE (PopCap)
* Bloons TD (Digital Goldfish)
* Brain Challenge (Gameloft)
* Bubble Town 2 (i-Play)
* Butterfly ( Press Start Studio)
* CarneyVale Showtime (MGS)
* Castlevania(Konami)
* Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst (MGS)
* De Blob Revolution (THQ)
* Deal or No Deal 2010 (i-Play)
* Earthworm Jim (Gameloft)
* Fast & Furious 7 (i-Play)
* Fight Game Rivals (Rough Cookie)
* Finger Physics (Mobliss Inc.)
* Flight Control (Namco Bandai)
* Flowerz (Carbonated Games)
* Frogger (Konami Digital Entertainment)
* Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick)
* Game Chest-Board (MGS)
* Game Chest-Card (MGS)
* Game Chest-Logic (MGS)
* Game Chest-Solitaire (MGS)
* GeoDefense (Critical Thought)
* Ghostscape (Psionic)
* Glow Artisan (Powerhead Games)
* Glyder 2 (Glu Mobile)
* Guitar Hero 5 (Glu Mobile)
* Halo Waypoint (MGS)
* Hexic Rush (Carbonated Games)
* I Dig It (InMotion)
* iBlast Moki (Godzilab)
* ilomilo (MGS)
* Implode XL (IUGO)
* Iquarium (Infinite Dreams)
* Jet Car Stunts (True Axis)
* Let’s Golf 2 (Gameloft)
* Little Wheel (One click dog)
* Loondon (Flip N Tale)
* Max and the Magic Marker (PressPlay)
* Mini Squadron (Supermono Limited)
* More Brain Exercise (Namco Bandai)
* O.M.G. (Arkedo)
* Puzzle Quest 2 (Namco Bandai)
* Real Soccer 2 (Gameloft)
* The Revenants (Chaotic Moon)
* Rise of Glory (Revo Solutions)
* Rocket Riot (Codeglue)
* Splinter Cell Conviction (Gameloft)
* Star Wars: Battle for Hoth (THQ)
* Star Wars: Cantina (THQ)
* The Harvest (MGS)
* The Oregon Trail (Gameloft)
* Tower Bloxx NY (Digital Chocolate)
* Twin Blades (Press Start Studio)
* UNO (Gameloft)
* Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet (i-Play)
* Zombie Attack! (IUGO)
* Zombies!!!! (Babaroga)

Microsoft have said that between now and the launch of Windows Phone 7 there will be more titles announced and after launch new games will be added to the Xbox Live Marketplace on a weekly basis.

I just want to point out that the above list is only Xbox Live titles, developers will still be able to publish games to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace but the games will not feature any Xbox Live integration.

Engadget have quite a few videos showing off some game play and the Xbox Live app on the mobile OS, below is the promotional video for Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7.

I have only seen positive reaction for the list of Xbox Live, Windows Phone 7 titles, even from those who weren’t expecting Xbox Live on the mobile OS to be any good. I am really looking forward to getting a Windows Phone 7 device.

Finally Microsoft have also announced the release date for Kinect for Xbox 360 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; people in those territories will be able to buy the accessory on November 10th, so mark your calendars.

@Lituus, a very trusted source for Microsoft information, has just tweeted informing everyone that he has been reliably told that at least one of the expected Xbox 360 bundles will include an Xbox 360 Starter (the rumoured lower priced unit not yet announced by Microsoft), the Kinect accessory and 4 Kinect games for only $319.99. That is a pretty good bundle I reckon and is likely to only cost a bit £200 in the UK.

He also tweets that the currently named Xbox 360 (New or “S” in some cases) will be renamed Pro and lower spec’ed cheaper Xbox 360 will be called the Starter. The Xbox 360 Pro will come with 2 “core” games and no Kinect bundle. Interesting he understands that the current pricing on all sites for Kinect is only a placeholder so maybe we will see cheaper price for the accessory, even if the Microsoft Store is claiming the $149.99 price.

It’s likely Microsoft are waiting to price Kinect according to what Nintendo and Sony do with the pricing of their consoles and motion controllers. It will certainly be interesting to see how the three big console makers compete over price in the months before Christmas, it should be hugely beneficial to the consumer.

Check out the tweets from @Lituus,

Engadget are reporting that Microsoft will soon be introducing a new Xbox Live subscription for the family, it will allow up to four individuals access to Xbox Live Gold memberships for only $99.99 a year. This new subscription package also comes with a new area of the Xbox Dashboard allowing access to Family Settings and account management with the primary account holder able to purchase and share Microsoft points, power to authorise purchases and allowing a single billing account for all 4 memberships.

This new subscription makes a lot of sense now that Microsoft are appealing to the casual gamer with Kinect rather than just a few family members of the keen gamers before. With additional controls for the primary member over the other members it should encourage parents to give their children Xbox Live accounts too.

It does seem like Microsoft have all the necessary features to entice a whole family to now buy and use an Xbox 360, whether they can pull it off still remains to be seen. I hope to get a new Xbox 360 for Christmas and maybe I can convince my family its not just for me.

After Microsoft had announced Kinect for Xbox 360 a few major website in the US started listing the price for the Xbox accessory as $149.99 however Microsoft never confirmed this price. Today Kinect for Xbox 360 has appeared on Microsoft’s own online store for the same price.

Whilst not being confirmed by the company in any official capacity it certainly looks like the new input device will cost $149.99, which will hopefully only be £99.99 in the UK. I have been checking the Microsoft Store website for the UK but currently there’s no mention of the new Xbox 360 or Kinect.

Further to my post about adverts for the new Xbox 360 appearing across the web the day after it was shown off I have now seen adverts in many more places and even a Kinect advert on YouTube.

The YouTube ad starts off as two people flapping around and jumping at the top of the page.

This quickly ends and presents the new branding for Xbox with the purple streak of Kinect.

Clicking the “Watch It In Action” expands the advert with links to Xbox.com, the Xbox/Kinect Facebook page and videos on YouTube from Xbox. Below this are a selection of videos showing how Kinect works for different games.

That is surely one expensive advert on YouTube and the device is still months away from being released. Microsoft are definitely pulling out all the stops for Kinect and I am really looking forward to what kind of promotions they will have in the build up to Kinect’s release on November 4th.

Have you seen any other interesting Xbox 360 or Kinect ads around the internet? Then please let me know.

Across the web today I have seen several adverts for the new Xbox 360 including an as on Facebook. The ads all feature a image of the new, imposing design of the Xbox often with the text “Sleek new design. Whisper quiet. 250GB hard drive and built in Wi-Fi. And it’s ready for Kinect. Here today, ready for tomorrow.”. If you have been keeping track of the Xbox and E3 you will have probably seen this adverts before hand as some went live on Sunday, although not in English.

There is a Facebook advert that also features a video. The video could well be used as a TV advert for the new device too.

Expect to see a lot of more of the new Xbox 360 as Microsoft seem to be staging quite the advertising offensive with this device at the moment, thankfully I really like the new the design of the console. I am interested to see how Microsoft will be advertising Kinect, yesterday’s apparent video is nothing to go by as it was a road safety video made “Xboxy” by a fan.

Microsoft just did something staggering, it was one of the best announcements I have ever and I’ve seen a few over the past few years. I think it best if I just list everything that was announced, so here goes:

• Microsoft announced that there are 25 million Xbox Live members
• Sign In to the Xbox 360 with Kinect is achieved by waving at the device
• New dashboard for Kinect, almost Metro inspired I think, to allow easier access to applications with Kinect
• Voice control can be used in menus and applications, some examples shown were to pause and replay a sporting event and to enter and then leave an application
• Zune music to feature on the Xbox as well as the movies with access to the entire entertainment collection
• Voice and gesture controls work in all applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm etc
• Video Kinect was announced and demoed, allows chats with Kinect and Windows Live Messenger users, also possible to browse news, sports, TV, movies and music and share them live with the online contacts through Bing
• Kinect has a motorised stand so can track someone around the room if they move
• ESPN and Microsoft are partnering up, offering live and on demand sports for no extra cost for Xbox Live Gold subscribers
• Several Kinect specific games from Microsoft were announced and demoed
• Kinectimals – A game aimed at children who look after a cat and can play, tickle and hide from it
• Kinect Sports – Allowing users to act like they are really taking part in the sport, including hurdles, boxing, football (soccer to you Americans), volleyball, bowling and ping pong
• Kinect Joy Ride – A game featuring several race modes including stunt mode, stunts are achieved by moving one’s body
• Kinect Adventures – Several different adventure type games including a mine cart and white water rafting
• Ubisoft announced a Kinect game, Your Fitness aimed at bringing fitness to the living room, feature lots of great uses of Kinect such as individual fitness regimes
• Dance Central was announced which teaches people how to dance
• Kinect will be launching on November 4th 2010, its unknown if this will be US only
• There will be 15 Kinect games ready at the launch of the device
• Microsoft and Lucas Arts are working together on a Star Wars title for 2011, it features light sabre fights control by the user pretending to wield the weapon and "gestures that mimic Jedi using the Force
• Forza Motorsport was announced featuring Kinect controls for driving
• Microsoft unveiled a new design for the Xbox 360, calling it “Sleeker, smaller, whisper quiet”, it features a 250GB hard drive and WiFi N and is the same price as the Xbox 360 today, $299
• The new Xbox 350 will be on sale in US stores by the end of the week, rest of the world will be over the coming months, in the UK and Europe they will go one sale on July 14th
• There was no mention from Microsoft about the pricing of Kinect, however there are reports across the internet saying that it will cost $149.99 and there will be bundles with the new Xbox in November
• Some information has come out since the announcement of things that weren’t mentioned such as Netflix will receive search and the ability to customise one’s queue

Quite the hour and a half of announcements, there were other announcements too about new games and exclusive titles such as Halo Reach and Fable III. If I hear anything else over the next hours I’ll be sure to let you know.

If you want to see pictures of the event then Engadget have great collection from their live stream, there doesn’t currently appear to be a way to watch the announcement its now possible to watch the announcement on xbox.com. You can check out the new Xbox 360 design from these pictures shared by Major Nelson.

Aside from all the great announcements today one thing I am very pleased to see is the level of integration between various Microsoft products with Zune now fully featured, access to Windows Live Messenger contacts through Kinect Video and Bing searches all built into the Xbox. What with Windows Phone 7 integrating so many Microsoft services deep within the OS its very encouraging to see this trend continue.

If the wait for the new Xbox 360 and Kinect are too much for you then you can always download two new Xbox 360 wallpapers I made, featuring the new green “wave/flare” or by adding the Xbox 360 and Kinect Twibbon to your Twitter picture.

You know how I like to create twibbons for various Microsoft products well I don’t think the new Xbox 360 or Kinect should be any different so here you are:

In less than half an hour Microsoft’s E3 announcement will have begun and with it we can expect to hear a lot about Kinect, see the games that have been designed to work with it and there’s speculation/rumour of a new Xbox 360 design.

If the Xbox team’s excitement is anything to go this is going to be the mega announcement, all the members I follow on Twitter seem to be extremely excited. It makes me wonder what else will be announced and demoed besides Kinect, I am thinking Windows Phone 7 will get a show off with its Xbox Live integration, we might see a refreshed UI for the newly designed Xbox 360 with perhaps a Metro-esque look of simple circular icons and typography and maybe there will be some new partnerships announced with entertainment companies. There’s a lot Microsoft could announce and I have to say I’m feeling quite excited about it, I fully expect to have bought myself an Xbox by the end of the year because it will be that good.

But of course many of you will want to know all this news as soon as its announced, and rightly so, so here’s a list of where to watch the announcements.

• You can watch the official live video of the E3 announcement in HD from Microsoft, this is live right now
• Watch the announcement in Times Square, New York City
• If you live in the US you can watch it live on SPIKE TV

However if you cant watch the videos of the announcement you can all ways follow the live blogs from Engadget and Major Nelson will be live blogging the event. I shall also be favouriting tweets about the event so you can check them out too.

I am really looking forward to this, Microsoft do not let me down.

So far I have found the branding of Kinect to be very interesting and I don’t mean the name. Normally when Microsoft announce and release a new product it comes as a new brand or part of a brand, look at Windows, Windows Live, Xbox, Zune, KIN etc they are all a brand. I was therefore expecting Project Natal, now Kinect, to be branded along the lines of Xbox Kinect; this obviously isn’t the case neither is this product being positioned as its own brand.

As some of you may have read I have long believed that Microsoft should use the Natal technology in more than just the Xbox (and looking at how we could have Minority Report in our bedrooms) and perhaps this branding indicates they are planning that. After all monitors, keyboards, mice etc don’t get a brand for the type of peripheral they are. I see, whilst writing this, that Mary Jo Foley has just posted an article about Kinect coming to businesses in the future just as I am hoping.

But the above image shows more than just a lack of brand for Kinect the wording also points to a greater future for this input device. “Kinect for” can be followed just as easily with Windows 7 as it is with Xbox 360, hell it could even be Windows Phone 7 or iPad there.

Ok maybe not iPad but the fact that Kinect doesn’t seem at all attached to Xbox, other than it debuting on the Xbox 360 does fill me with hope that I might soon (1-2 years) be controlling more than just my TV by flapping my hands around.

I can wait to hear about the immediate future for Kinect later today, only about 4 hours to go, but I am perhaps more excited about the potential for this technology on much more mobile computing screens too.

If you are interested I have created a new Xbox 360 wallpaper.