It’s Diablo 2, except prettier and more interactive. I like it. I don’t really expect to play it much, because I’m too busy with Star Wars: The Old Republic. But if you liked Diablo 2, it’s worth a look.

Diablo 3 Beta

No, my air conditioning is fine, I just picked up a Microsoft Kinect, their new motion control device for the Xbox 360.

The first thing I did after I set it up was play the TRON: Legacy trailer…with my voice.

“Xbox…Play Trailer!”

BAM! High-def Tron goodness.

That was a “future soon” moment for me. I hate voice control. I don’t really like babbling commands at my phone. I can’t imagine dictating something I’m writing.  I make great use of Dial-A-Human. Yet, talking to the entertainment center in my living room felt very natural. After a week or so of playing with the Kinect voice control, I’m wishing it could do more things, especially since using your arms and hands to control the menus with gestures is still a bit fidgety.

Rumor has it Microsoft wants to bring this kind of gesture and voice control to computers. I’m hopeful about this because I hate touch screens. After five minutes of fiddling with my phone at lunch, my screen is as smudged as a Macy’s window during the holidays. Pizza grease and touch controls just don’t work well together. Kinect makes me want to wave my device in the air, like a Harry Potter wand, to control it. “Wingardium dial-my-mom-um!”)

Games is where Kinect really shines. Kinect Adventures, the game that comes with it, easily equals the fun of Wii Sports. You jump around, wave your arms, have fun, and get winded and yes, extremely sweaty. The fact that Kinect Adventures takes pictures of you being a silly ass that you can then post to the Internet is a bonus.

The virtual puppet rewards are really fun, too.

Since my wife uses the Wii to work out, I also picked up Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. Being able to follow along with a workout without having to hold a WiiMote, nunchuck, and some crazy fitness rubber band is a big bonus. Kinect gives you the ability to actually work out while holding weights.

It comes with an excellent  variety of workouts and some fun fitness games, though their confusing menu system makes it a bit difficult to find different things. While I like working out with it, I’m finding it’s kicking my butt and I can’t really create the custom wimp-ass workout I want to. How about I tell you how many lunges I want to do, Fitness Evolved?

Definitely some nice innovation here from the Microsoft folks. Looking forward to checking out some of the other games, as well as seeing what other neat hacks people come up with for the device.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/indiana-jones-and-the-staff-of-kings/indiana-jones-and-the-staff-of-kings-videos/1299470

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of4u5PMsD0Q&eurl=http://www.roosterteeth.com/archive/&feature=player_embedded

Jeff Green on why he says he sucks at gaming.

For those who don’t know, two-factor authentication means you have to provide two items to prove who you are to, for instance, the Internet site you are trying to log in to. In the case of an authenticator like this one, you provide both your password, chosen by you, and the random code provided by the authenticator, to log in. Since each code generated by the authenticator is unique each time it it used, someone who wanted to sneak into your account would have to actually have the authenticator in their possession AND know your password.

Authenticators like this are a really good idea, when used properly by the companies that implement them. I hope to see a lot more banks and credit card companies offering this kind of authentication in the future.

I know people who have had their accounts hacked, so I think getting one of these is really a great idea.

Bejeweled in WoW. Well, looks like flight time no longer means I can hit the restroom. I’m going to need a bucket….

(Image from Wizards.com)

Just got my 4E game books today, and I have to say they are the prettiest D&D books ever. I really love the color in them. From the bits and pieces I have read going through them, I’m really excited about the new edition. Seems fast and fun.

I’m a little intimidated by the whole Powers idea, though, trying to figure out how to create a Power for a new monster ought to be very interesting.

‘Warcraft’ Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing ‘Warcraft’

I have to say, I kind of like the new edition of the game. It’s slick and simplified, plays a helluva lot like a computer RPG, and really focuses on the players as heroes, as opposed to a first level character being food for rats. I also like that they’ve dumped the memorized spell system, so that wizards aren’t the “Wham! Bam! Can I rest and regain spells now?” characters they used to be.

I’ll write more about it as a I get to know the system better. If you’re interested in hearing what the game sounds like, check out the podcast the folks from Wizards, Penny Arcade, and PVP are doing.