News Never Sleeps

So i've fallen a bit behind on the latest in gaming news over the last week or two, so here's a quick catch-up on what you may need to know...

• Microsoft have re-confirmed Kinect as a success by announcing the sensor has managed to sell 8 million units in it's first 60 days.
• Microsoft announced Avatar Kinect, a program which seems to use the Kinect sensor to capture your facial movements and apply them to your avatar for the purposes of having chat sessions with others. Avatar Kinect will be free to gold subscribers within the next few months.
• The demo of Avatar Kinect got people talking when it showed finger movements on the avatars, however Microsoft has officially responded to the chatter by saying "The Steve Ballmer Avatar Kinect animation was a video created using some of the Avatar Kinect technology for the Microsoft Keynote at CES. Avatar Kinect, which launches this spring on Xbox LIVE, will have some of this functionality."  So it looks like while MS have the finger tracking technology in the works, they're not ready to release it yet.
• THQ are bringing back the online pass used on games such as UFC 2010, but this time it will be found on Homefront. New copies of the game will come with a free one-use pass allowing full online multiplayer access, and pre-owned buyers can buy a pass for 800 MS Points. People without a pass can still play online with full access to all maps, however will be unable to pass a level cap of 5.
• Assassins Creed: Brotherhood has received another free multiplayer map, although this one is really only half new. The Rome At Dusk map is a dusk version of the game's Rome map.
• Xbox Live Arcade fans keep an eye out as the Arcade House Party will be kicking off in two weeks. Seeing the release of 5 new games in 5 weeks, the party will start on February 16th with the release of Contra prequel, Hard Corps: Uprising, which will be followed by the releases of Full House Poker, Bejeweled Blitz Live, Beyond Good & Evil HD and finishing off with a console port of the hugely successful Torchlight.

Well thats pretty much it, but you can expect my usually gaming news coverage to return from this moment on, plus i'm sure mike and steve will continue posting whatever they choose, so welcome back to The Arkhive for 2011.