xbox 360

Nothing motivates like peer pressure, whether it’s friends goading you into one shot too many or friends tracking your power consumption on Twitter. That’s the thinking that led Limor Fried and PopSci contributing editor Phil Torrone, circuit wizards who run the electronics-kit seller adafruit.com, to cross a small power monitor with an XBee wireless home-automation module and a few lines of code.

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Today at E3, the annual video game conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft took the wraps off Project Natal--a sophisticated new sensor bar for the Xbox 360 that installs under your TV and tracks your every move, effectively translating your motions directly to those of characters or objects in the game. And judging by the demo video they released, it looks pretty incredible.

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Just when you thought you couldn't waste enough time on your Xbox 360, Microsoft has decided to add another way to get you to stare at your tube for longer, by streaming movies and TV shows through its popular game console. The tech giant announced its partnership with the movie-rental company Netflix this week at the E3 video game convention in Los Angeles. While video-gamers were leaping for joy at the convention when Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360, avid movie fans were leaping even higher to hear about Microsoft's movie deal.

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Ben Heckendorn’s game-console creations, from a portable Atari 2600 to a pocket-sized Nintendo 64, are famous in the modder world. But he may have topped himself with his Xbox 360 Elite laptop.

To shoehorn a full 360 into the 2.25-by-16-by-12-inch case and keep it playable, Heckendorn had to install fans and speakers and redo the internal layout of the machine several times. He then rewired the console to output the video to the 17-inch LCD display, on which he mounted an Xbox Live Vision camera for online multiplayer games.

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Yes, yes, and yes. Owners of Nintendo's revolutionary new Wii system will soon be welcoming a new game to the stable, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Sure, you'll be able to play it on the PS3 and the Xbox 360, too, but why would anyone bother? This is what the Wii is made for.

Next year, players will be able to wield their controllers like a Skywalker. And you'll do so as a bad guy. Apparently, you'll serve as Darth Vader's apprentice, charged with ridding the universe of Jedi. That might not sound too appealing for those of you who don't like the idea of working for a murderous villain, but watch the trailer here, then try to tell me you're not ready to work for the Empire.—Gregory Mone

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