Microsoft is prepping for Kinect Play Fit and releasing hardware codenamed "Joule" to accompany it, according to sources speaking to The Verge. Kinect Play Fit will track exercise across "most Kinect games," providing metrics that'll be stored in the cloud. Joule is expected to be a heart-rate monitor, allowing wireless monitoring to keep exercise "within a target goal for weight loss, strength, or cross-fitness workouts."

Joule and Kinect Play Fit are compatible, but are two separate products. There is no expected launch window, but Verge sources also claim a future dashboard update will introduce the system. We're checking with Microsoft if it has any comment, but most of this (if true) will likely be revealed at E3 in a month.

Update: "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation."

Google Play, the download service formerly known as Android Market, crossed 15 billion downloads "a few weeks ago," Google told TechCrunch.

There's no information about what percentage of that 15 billion is games, but we can at least look at this as a handy comparison to the nearest competitor: Google has served up 15 billion since October 2008, while iOS apps have been downloaded (as of March) 25 billion times since July 2008.

There's also no information on how many of those downloads have been since the rebranding – we hope the name change hasn't been too confusing for Android users, leaving them desperately searching for the Android Market.

The PixelJunk collection goes on deep discount today later today on PSN, with some games on sale for a mere dollar. If you don't already have Racers, Monsters, Eden and Shooter, you absolutely should pick them up for a buck each.

PixelJunk Shooter 2 and SideScroller are both half-off for $5. The sale will conclude on May 15, when PixelJunk 4am will launch in a swirl of sounds and we can all taste the purple.

Those who live in the San Francisco area can attend the PixelJunk 4am Event this Thursday, May 10, at the Harlot. The first 75 attendees will receive a code for the game that they can activate when it goes live next week.

A scan of a magazine ad reportedly from Game Informer reveals "Hitman: Sniper Challenge," a downloadable game featuring one "replayable sniper mission," with an emphasis on score. Those scores will likely tie into a contest, as the ad touts "Awesome Prize Packages for Top Snipers."

The game is advertised as a pre-order bonus for Hitman: Absolution at GameStop, where it will be handed out when you pre-order. It comes with a sniper rifle item for Absolution as well, the code for which will be given out when you pick up the retail game.

Carmageddon: Reincarnation, initially announced as a downloadable multiplatform game last year, now depends on Kickstarter for completion.

Patrick Buckland and Neil Barnden, CEO and Executive Director of Stainless Games, tell an all-too-common horror story from creatives stuck in a bad business deal. After doing work-for-hire projects with their new company in the mid '90s, they finally released a passion project, called Carmageddon, which featured goofy and gory, over-the-top vehicular carnage, and still claims a place in the heart of older PC gamers everywhere. In order to get published, they sold rights for the title to SCI, which co-published the game with Interplay.

The title was followed up with a sequel in 1998 (it was called Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now, back when games could be called things like that), but when the sequel didn't do as well, the worst happened: Buckland and Barnden lost their own creation. They've spent years since then trying to get the rights back.

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Spec Ops: The Line's demo is available now on Xbox 360 for Gold subscribers and later today, following the PSN update, on PlayStation 3. It will be available to all Xbox Live members on May 15.

The sampler will feature a snippet of the single-player campaign, covering two early chapters in the game, as players search for a target through the sand-ravaged streets of Dubai and add more destruction. You'll have plenty of time to play the demo and practice, Spec Ops: The Line won't storm retail shelves until June 26.

Update: Removed mention of multiplayer as being part of demo. It's not.

The first, and second, Vita color variants are on their way to Japan. This morning, Sony Computer Entertainment revealed the Crystal White PlayStation Vita (in an uncontroversial manner), shipping June 28 in both wi-fi and 3G models. It's like the normal "Crystal Black" Vita, but white.

Sony also revealed the Hatsune Miku Limited Edition, a Crystal White Vita with an exclusive rear touchpad design depicting the virtual idol and singer. This version will ship in Japan August 30 as part of a bundle with the still-unnamed next Hatsune Miku Project DIVA rhythm game. Don't look for that one anywhere outside of Japan; none of the previous Hatsune Miku games on PSP and 3DS have been localized.

Every boy, every girl, spice up your life with this month's DLC tracks for Dance Central 2. The saucy selection begins today, May 8, with the Spice Girl's 1997 hit "Spice Up Your Life." Don't waste any thyme grabbing that track.

Over the next three Tuesdays, you'll also have the option of moving to the beat of "Hello Good Morning" by Diddy-Dirty Money, A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario" and Flo Rida's "Low."

All tracks are 240 MSP ($3). Remember, to be like shawty, you need the apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur and then get low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low.

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Sniper Elite V2 is naturally going to want a position at the top of Chart-Track's UK charts... it's the best vantage point. Thankfully, there wasn't very much competition around, as evidenced by what is probably the shortest overview of last week's sales activity by the stat tracking company in recent memory.

The prior week's top performer, Prototype 2, fell one spot into second. It was followed by the EA triplets that never seem to be apart: FIFA 12, FIFA Street and Mass Effect 3. Beyond that, no new games to report making moves, no major shuffling of the status quo. Check out the UK top ten after the break.

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We can understand why you may be a bit hesitant to take our verdict on Kinect Star Wars as gospel. It's got Vader fights, rampaging rancors and is the closest physical manifestation of that one kid's dream journal we may ever get.

Now you can discover how not good the game is yourself with a free playable demo – if you're a Gold subscriber and own a Kinect sensor, that is. We may all have The Force inside us, but you still have to purchase your own Kinect sensor.

Pac-Man Kart Rally, a 3D multiplayer racing game for Windows Phone, is available now via the Windows Phone Marketplace for $2.99. Pac-Man Kart Rally features 10 classic characters and 17 tracks from Namco Bandai's repertoire, including the Fighter from Galaga, the Prince from Katamari Damacy and Pac-Man, of course.

This is the first Windows Phone game to support real-time, four-player multiplayer over Wi-Fi, and it includes Xbox Live Achievements and leader boards. A trademark for Pac-Man Kart Rally was first spotted in 2010, along with Pac-Man Rally Kart. We assume the second will be an iOS-only title that looks just like Kart Rally, but is published by a group of shady con artists in Wisconsin and crashes at the start menu every time.

A new update for Skylanders Cloud Patrol, the arcade shooting gallery tie-in for iOS, is available for download right now. The biggest feature of this new update is Retina Display support for the latest iPad.

The other major feature of this update is allowing more Skylanders. Activision specifically calls out "Warnado, Wham-Shell, Camo and all of the Legendary Skylanders collection" in the update notes, though the full list of now-supported Skylanders is something we're trying to track down right now.

Edmund McMillen of Team Meat has so far been coy about what the mobile version of Super Meat Boy is, but he's fairly vocal about what it isn't. Super Meat Boy: The Game won't be a shallow, easy-to-play money-making machine like so many other mobile titles today, McMillen writes in his latest update. He even tells us a little bit about what it will be:

"We want to make a game that WE would love to see on the platform, a feature-length reflex-driven platformer with solid controls that doesn't manipulate you with business bullshit in order to cash in. We want SMB:TG to show the player we respect them, not only by not manipulating them, but also by understanding they want a real challenge and they want a real sense of fulfillment when they have achieved something that's difficult... you know, like real games do."

Team Meat has also revealed the first bit of art from Super Meat Boy: The Game, the chapter screen for The Green Hills you can see above. McMillen assures us that even though there are only eight visible level pads, the mobile title "will rival the original" and have dark worlds.

'Silver Lining' is a new column from freelancer Taylor Cocke dedicated to pointing to the pieces that showed the most potential in recently released, bad games. Even in the mediocre, we can find a silver lining.
Games tend to take death rather lightly. Characters die constantly, extra lives are collected and wasted, and respawns are regularly infinite. NeverDead eschews it (almost) entirely, adding an interesting layer to core convention of death in games. As a whole, however, NeverDead is mostly a mess. Combat leans toward the tedious, and the dismemberment mechanic is poorly implemented and clunky. Even the story is paper-thin and mostly unfunny, in a genre not generally lauded for well-crafted narratives.

But it could have worked. The concept of playing as the immortal Bryce Boltzmann is one that's fascinating, especially if he's unhappy with his blessing and/or curse. He's able to lose and reattach his limbs and head at will, even if it causes him a good amount of pain. He's bitter. Plus, the same demon that literally immortalized Boltzmann killed his wife in the process. With all the free time he has, it's understandable that he may be a little whacked in the head.

We could have gotten a story about a man forced to abandon all hope, even if he does not have the means to do so physically. Instead, we got the story of a snarky, sneering jerk with no redeeming qualities.

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The HD remake of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards is breaking out the slow jams. Its Kickstarter campaign successfully raised $655,000 last week, which means more content in-game and a longer development cycle in reality, Replay Games has announced. The title was originally slated to drop in October, but it has now been pushed to launch in 2013 so Replay can add "more rooms, another girl, and all new dialogue in the game."

Founder Paul Trowe said Replay could probably make the game complete by December, but he wants to avoid the holiday madness and make sure it's fully polished at launch. He's set up a development blog for voyeurs fans to keep track of Leisure Suit Larry's progress.

PS3-based Call of Duty Elite members will have another "content drop" this Thursday, in shocking defiance of Sony's usual Tuesday download schedule.

The maps "Sanctuary" and "Foundation," released just about a month ago on Xbox 360, will be available this week in Modern Warfare 3 for paying Elite-ists. "Sanctuary" is a monastery high above Greece, and "Foundation" is a former concrete factory in South Korea. Both are home to dudes who will fire guns at you, and at whom you will, in turn, fire guns.

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Tyler Glaiel, creator of Closure, likes to stay busy, apparently. The developer banged out a game in 48 hours for the 23rd Ludum Dare 48 competition, which went down from April 20-23. Entitled Fracuum, the game tasks players with navigating a cube through a maze of traps and hazards. Graphically, it's not terribly different from early efforts on the Atari 2600, though it comes packing a twist.

Taking on the Ludum Dare 23 theme of "Tiny World," each level of Fracuum has another level embedded inside of it, creating a loop of levels within levels and a mild case of tunnel vision. It's easier to play than it is to explain, so just head over to Glaiel's website and try it out. Ludum Dare 48 voting closes in just under a week.

[Thanks, Cal.]