A few details about Project Natal's technical capabilities slipped out alongside the holiday 2010 release window at Microsoft's CES press conference. The most revealing of these specifics is that the hardware will only siphon 10 to 15 percent of the 360's CPU power, according to a statement from Natal lead developer Alex Kipman. "Natal has to work on the existing hardware without taking too much hardware processing away from the games developers," Kipman added.

However, according to a report obtained by GamesIndustry, the processing power could have been further reduced. The original build for Natal included a chip that processed the "bone system," assumed responsible for creating a skeleton of the player in front of the device's glossy eye. However, in an attempt to lower costs, the chip was removed from the device's final build, putting that processing onus on the software that will utilize Natal.

In other words, it's extremely unlikely that any software will be able to have Natal support patched into it -- a fact that Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter says could help "serve to focus developers on Natal-specific concepts as opposed to revisiting old classics."

Following Capcom France head Antoine Seux's uncertainty about the Wii as a profitable platform for the company going into 2010, it would appear that the Capcom mothership would like to carefully rephrase the sentiment. As such, HQ has issued a statement reconfirming the Japanese publisher's "commitment as a multiplatform developer and publisher of interactive software."

There's no word on just how many lashes Mr. Seux is to receive.

Netherlands-based handheld gaming studio Engine Software has developed a cool new piece of tech for the DSi: motion sensitivity. To show off this breakthrough, the company has developed a brief demo video of TILT, a kind of Marble Blast Ultra clone where the player guides a ball around the gameworld by tilting the DSi. It's not the first we've heard of this kinda tech, and it won't be the last.

Engine Software isn't stopping with just this tech demo, however. The company is currently working on a full DSiWare game that will incorporate this new technology; though it likely won't be a full version of TILT, but rather an entirely new game. Head past the break to check out a brief video showcasing the tech.

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Last year at CES, Nyko unveiled the Wand, its take on Nintendo's Wiimote. This year, the peripheral maker's big item is ... abracadabra ... the Wand -- with one exciting addition! The $40 Wand+ is a single, self-contained unit that includes MotionPlus compatibility. The device still supports the crazy Trans-Port stuff, like the original Wand does, which means that Wiimote buttons can be automatically remapped to buttons on other Nyko accessories, including its gun controller.

Nyko has also introduced two variants of its cookie-inspiring Charge Base IC remote charger: a version of the original in black and a new one that can accommodate four Wiimotes.

For PS3, the company has designed a new version of its Intercooler made to bulk up Sony's Slim model, and the Media Hub Slim, a combination of a tiny remote control and a USB hub.

The Wand and Charge Base Quad IC are due in stores this March. The Intercooler will be available next month for $19.99, and the Media Hub Slim will retail for $19.99 when it's released in April.

An online fact sheet has detailed the pricing structure for Microsoft's newly announced Avatar-occupied Game Room, and we'd suggest gamers stock up on Microsoft funny money. Players have three options: 400 ($5) grants a dual-platform license (for unlimited play on Xbox 360 and PC), 240 ($3) gets you the virtual arcade cabinet on one platform (Xbox 360 or PC), or, for the old-fashioned types, 40 ($0.50) is just "two quarters" worth of playtime -- for an authentic arcade experience, minus the sticky floors. Additionally, when visiting friends' game rooms, you can "try" their games before you pump in Microsoft Points of your own.

The Game Room itself -- developed by third-party outfit Krome Studios (Viva Piñata: Party Animals, Star Wars: Republic Heroes) -- will be free for users to download. Customization options are mentioned in the fact sheet, but pricing for these features is not addressed. At launch the service will include 30 original arcade titles -- with "over 1000" planned for the future -- from multiple publishers, including Atari, Activision, Intellivision, and Konami. (A list of 31 confirmed titles is posted after the break.)

Games will be presented in 1080p (because that's why you bought that HD set) and will support multiplayer for up to two players, as well as cross-platform leaderboards and Achievements. Microsoft's Home Game Room is slated to launch this spring.

Source - "Game Room" Fact Sheet [.doc]

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Atlus sure does love the PSP, announcing two games for Sony's handheld in just as many days. Hexyz Force is a new RPG from Sting, creator of Riviera: The Promised Land and Yggdra Union. This classically-styled JRPG features two different adventures, each about (what else?) the end of the world. Atlus promises each adventure will take about 25 hours, totaling 50 hours of dungeon crawling and grinding for RPG fans.

PSP owners are all too familiar with the lengthy load times for many of the system's RPGs. Thankfully, Atlus is promising "virtually no load times" for Hexyz Force. Like a console JRPG, the game will also feature twenty minutes of anime cutscenes. The UMD version is scheduled for release on May 25th, while a PSN version should follow shortly thereafter. Check out a video preview after the break.

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If you only play games with Ryu Hayabusa in them, then Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce is likely to be your first experience with Koei's historical-ish brawler franchise. If you only play games with the ancient Chinese ruler Fu Xi in them, however, you're likely to be much better versed in the series. In either case, there's a Strikeforce for you: as reported, Fu Xi (and other characters from the Warriors Orochi series) appear in the Xbox 360 version, and Ryu in the PS3 version, both with exclusive missions that grant you the use of their "signature weapon" when completed.

New galleries give you a look at Fu Xi and the extra-beefy crossover ninja. And a new trailer (above) does what it can to get you pumped about Strikeforce, the Dynasty Warriors game with not only characters from other franchises, but giant tigers in it!

Army of Two: The 40th Day's Salem and Rios are no strangers to the modern world. Sure, they may have acted a bit ... out of place during previous visits to EA Montreal and EA Headquarters, but that doesn't mean they're not fit for retail life. Take, for instance, the video above of the two trying their best to lend a hand to the fine folks at GameStop.

They might be a bit rough around the edges, but that doesn't mean that they didn't get the most magazine upsells for the month of December (they did!) or that they aren't capable of re-alphabetizing the used PS2 section six or seven hundred times a day (they are!). Give them a chance, folks. Under the inhuman terror mask and bullet-proof chest padding beats the heart of a human being.

And here we thought Tetris DS was the best blend of the Russian puzzler and Nintendo's classic platforming game Super Mario Bros., but Tuper Tario Tros. is a quite imaginative combination of the two. In fact, we haven't seen Tetris go so well with something since we were introduced to the conflict resolution capabilities of Tresling.

Already the culprit behind a sharp downturn in Joystiq productivity today, we now offer it to you. Just, uh, don't play it as much as we did. We can get away with it since, y'know, it's kinda our job.

[Via digg]

Just three short years after the CES 2007 announcement that Microsoft's Mediaroom software would turn your Xbox 360 into an IPTV set-top box, Microsoft is finally ready to deliver on that promise (and no, the 2008 BT rollout doesn't count). "I'm happy to announce that later this year AT&T will also enable subscribers to U-verse to enjoy [the new Mediaroom 2.0] service on their Xbox 360 consoles," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told his keynote audience. This was in addition to U-verse support for Windows 7 and Windows Mobile, though the details on all three platforms end there.

We'll be digging for more details at CES this week, but this is certainly promising news for the country's 2 million U-verse subscribers (and the "more than 20 million living units" that the service is purportedly available in).

On the heels of its CES 2010 keynote speech, Sony released a chest-pounding press release declaring worldwide sales "exceeding 3.8 million" of the PlayStation 3 during the 2009 holiday season. According to the company, "during the five weeks following the last week of November 2009" (ending on January 3, 2010), the console sold more than during any previous holiday season -- a 76 percent increase over last year's numbers.

Alas, the PSP and the PSP Go were neglected a mention in the presser, though Sony did reiterate the 38 million PSN user number we'd heard a bit earlier. We'll have a clearer picture of what exactly the sales shook out to for North America when the latest NPD numbers arrive next week.

Remedy's Xbox 360-exclusive Alan Wake, described as "the TV show Lost, as written by Stephen King, and filmed by David Lynch," by Microsoft Entertainment & Devices head Robbie Bach will -- much like Fable II -- be expanded upon via additional downloadable episodes. Bach made the announcement concerning the long-in-development title during the company's CES 2010 keynote this evening, saying, "story-driven like a TV series, Alan Wake will be told in episodes with even more episodes available on Xbox Live after its launch this year."

Let's just hope Remedy isn't taking cues from The Sopranos when deciding how long it will be between the release of the game's episodes.

While Microsoft's CES announcement that Xbox Live "is now an active community of over 20 million people" is somewhat blunted by Sony's claim of 38 million PlayStation Network accounts (though if our dozens of collective PSN accounts are any indication, some of us have more than one), Redmond did have some other numbers to share regarding Xbox and Xbox Live during tonight's CES keynote. First, "Nearly 10 million people have logged into Xbox Live's nongaming applications" including "Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm, Sky, Canal and Zune." We'll do the math for you: that's 50% of the Xbox Live audience, and those are all paying Gold users.

More numbers: "Between Christmas and New Years Day, Xbox Live experienced its busiest week ever, adding a new member every second and a record of more than 2.2 million concurrent members online." And not a network failure in sight! Congrats, Microsoft! Lastly, "there are now over 39 million Xbox 360 consoles around the world," "more than 500 million games have been sold" and "$20 billion spent in retail." Feel free to bookmark this post for frequent consultation in your comment debates.

According to a press release summing up Microsoft's CES 2010 keynote that dropped just before Ballmer took the stage, the company will be releasing Project Natal in "holiday season 2010." We heard earlier today about what year the future controller would be arriving, but now, folks, now we know during which group of months it'll be arriving at retail.

The release explicitly states that the still-codenamed Natal project is "scheduled to be available in holiday season 2010," adding that Natal "is only the most recent example of Microsoft's work creating natural user interfaces." With any luck, by E3 we'll have an actual name and maybe even a specific month for when we'll get to check it out at home! Until then, we'll have to get by with the inspirational video about Natal's origins created for today's release, embedded above.