Microsoft breaks adorable new ground with Kinectimals for iPhone, iPad

You read that right: Microsoft Studios has released a game for an Apple device. (Did you see that pig?!) Kinectimals, the popular kids game that launched with the Xbox 360 Kinect, is now available for iPhone and iPad for $2.99. The game appears similar to the original in that players can interact, feed and play with a number of wild pets through touch controls.

The game also provides five exclusive new pets for those who already own the Kinect version of Kinectimals for their Xbox 360. The visuals in this mobile version of the motion-controlled selling point for Kinect look nearly identical, which is far from a bad thing. If anything, based on screen shots, it's testament to how far iPhones and iPads have come in the graphics department. As for play hooks, they look like much of the same, but with the novelty of touch rather than motion.

Created by Frontier Developments and published by Microsoft Studios, Kinectimals on iOS devices not only breaks its exclusivity with Windows Phone, but could mark the start of an interesting relationship. Microsoft and Apple aren't exactly best buddies, and never would the latter release a product on the former's hardware. Perhaps this is an attempt to foster some sort of relationship with the iPad maker. What we do know, however, is that your kids are probably going to go bonkers over this.

Click here to download Kinectimals for iPhone and iPad Now >

[Via Major Nelson]

Did you see this one coming at all (neither did we)? Will you pick this one up for your kids to play around with?

Xbox 360 cures gamers' loneliness, goes social in Dashboard update

Alright, so maybe they weren't lonely, but we'll bet that, after this Xbox 360 Dashboard update, players friends list will magically grow. Microsoft's Major Nelson, or Larry Hryb, made the announcement earlier this week that the next major Xbox update will hit Dec. 6 on his blog. Come the week after next, players will be able to share to Facebook straight from the Dashboard.

But the updates go a bit deeper with the addition of Beacons, which allow players to broadcast status updates to their friends that share what games they would like to play with anyone interested. These open call-outs for in-game teammates can be pushed to players' Facebook Walls too. Other changes include cloud storage for games, meaning more space on players' hard drives and access to games from any Xbox 360.

In a way, you could say that makes games more "social" as well, lowering the barrier to playing games with friends in person (IRL, if you will) ever so slightly. But we can't help but notice Microsoft's growing focus on social, and wonder if it's a response at all to the arrival potential game changers like these to Facebook. It may only a matter of time before that competition heats up.

[Via Inside Social Games]

Are you excited at all by these changes to Xbox gaming? Do you think Xbox-like games could ever be popular/successful on Facebook?

Facebook has more gamers than Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo combined?

Social games have no doubt garnered more players in such a short amount of time than any gaming platform to date. But, if you look at the amount of consoles shipped and sold by all three major manufacturers, Beard's claim appears to fall a bit short. That is, unless Beard is talking online gamers. Then Facebook just might have the big three beat, to which Beard said, "These aren't games with friends sprinkled on top; it's more about social interactions with gaming on top."