French site Logic-Sunrise has posted shots of what appears to be a new version of the Xbox 360 Dashboard interface. And if you are the skeptical sort, the images have been removed from Logic-Sunrise, replaced by a Microsoft takedown notice. That should make things clearer.

This UI features a “Natal Tuner” application and a “Natal” setup process, which directs requests for help to the @xboxsupport Twitter account.

“Project Natal” has now become Microsoft Kinect. Several demos were shown, like Star Wars and even tiger petting. The Kinect interface to the Dashboard was also shown and a video chat app where you can talk to up to four friends and also share photos.

Nothing on price or date yet, but we can expect a holiday release. Price rumors are as high as $150. Likely it will be cheaper than that since this is a console add-on and not a full console. We will have to wait and see.

There has been no official confirmation, but word is that Microsoft could be ready to unveil an Xbox 360 Slim at E3. Sony has the PlayStation 3 slim after all and they do want to compete.

Let’s not forget that the PlayStation Move and Project Natal motion sensing controllers are just around the corner too. Things are heating up in the console wars. A slim Xbox 360 will be good as long as they don’t remove any important features to do it.

Hard to believe a Hockey game hasn’t come bundled with a Wiimote hockey stick until now. This one is even endorsed by Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky himself. The game is EA’s upcoming NHL Slapshot, which comes with the small hockey stick shown above.

The stick holds both the Wiimote and nunchuck and has a foam blade that your TV will thank you for. I almost laughed when I read that Gretzky says that the stick is “very realistic” and “almost like playing in the NHL”. His drive to make money is also very realistic, and almost like playing in the NHL.

Microsoft’s Project Natal is coming soon, but what games will support it? We don’t know, but we can tell you about one game that will. Crave Games, the developer of Brunswick Pro Bowling for the Xbox 360, has confirmed that the upcoming version of its bowling game will support Project Natal.

The Natal version of Brunswick Pro Bowling will also offer support for the PlayStation Move. We’re looking forward to seeing Project Natal and the PlayStation Move hit shelves. We should know more soon.

Swedish retailers to the rescue! Looks like some Swedish retailers have listed the Xbox 360 motion controller Project Natal for 1,499 SEK, which means $200 in US money. If this is accurate, it isn’t looking good for Natal. Most games already cost $60.

This is not the finalized price point yet since it could be a placeholder figure, but if it does turn out to be accurate, I know that I would rather spend my money on quality games that don’t use Natal.

Word on the street is that PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 could get some price changes later this year. According to the rumor, Sony could be planning an entry-level £200 (or $295) version of the PS3 that offers a smaller hard drive with a single controller.

While the Microsoft side of the rumor says that it might include the upcoming Natal with the Xbox 360, though there is talk of a possible version of it without Project Natal going for less than £100 ($147). And IF the rumor is true, Nintendo is also looking at a price drop in order to compete with the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

Now we get a fresh confirmation on when exactly Natal will be launching. According to Microsoft’s Syed Bilal Tariq, there will still be an October launch date for Natal. Microsoft’s marketing manager for Saudi Arabia says that the Natal launch: “is going to be somewhere in October and we will be in a position to confirm the date at E3, which is in June, but definitely it is going to be October 2010.”

So there ya go. Soon you’ll be able to play all kinds of Motion controlled games on your Xbox 360, while looking a bit less silly than those using a wii. And it’s about time.

If you like your clock to look like nature and have a thing for Woodpeckers, here’s a clock for you. It was designed by Natalie Duckett. The Woodpecker Alarm Clock has no clock face to tell the time. Instead it will measure how long you have been asleep and wake you up when you’ve had the right amount.

I don’t need to stinkin woodpecker clock to tell me when I’ve had enough sleep, but hey that’s just me. There are two alarms, one for the evening, telling you when to go to sleep, and one in the morning, telling you when to wake up.

It doesn’t seem like much of a prediction, but Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter foresees a new slim Xbox 360 hardware configuration before 2011 rolls around. More specifically he thinks that the new slim version will feature a 250GB hard drive with Project Natal bundled with it, without any price reduction or increase.

That means you would be getting the bundle for the $299 price point. Unless of course, Sony lowers the price of the PS3. Then it may go down to compete with Sony.

The image above apparently shows a new model of the Xbox 360. For the first time the console combines the CPU and the GPU in a single chip and it’s smaller. Testing has recently been completed in China. It’s not just a new board for the existing hardware, it’s supposedly a total redesign of the console, like the PS3 Slim.

This remains rumor for now, so take it with a grain of salt, but it makes sense with Natal launching later this year. And since the PS3 slimmed down, the XBox 360 would want to shed some pounds as well.

Looks like someone from a respected UK gaming publisher may have outed some Project Natal launch plans early, which come from closed-door Microsoft meetings in the UK . The information says that Microsoft will be manufacturing 5 million Natals for a worldwide launch in November 2010. Some are standalone, some in 360 bundles.

Natal will apparently cost anywhere from $50-$80 with 14 games included. The price is certainly in the ballpark and doesn’t surprise us. But it’s all just rumor and speculation until Microsoft says it officially.

We had been hoping for a Wii HD in 2010 or 2011 and it looked like it was a possibility. But sadly Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime says that this is not the case. There will be no Wii HD with Blu-ray player and 1080p.

Wait. If they don’t want to compete, does this mean they are getting out of the gaming business? My Wii has been collecting dust for about a year. They need to do something with the 360′s Natal and the PS3′s motion-wand on the way very soon.

Sony has some plans to add facial recognition capabilities to their PlayStation Eye webcam, trying to one-up Microsoft’s Project Natal. According to Kish Hirani, Sony Europe’s head of developer services, the functionality will soon be added to the existing hardware, with developer libraries available for games studios so that they don’t need specific coding for the new system.

According to Hirani, the technology will be able to “detect gender and even the age of the face, separate facial features such as the nose, eyes and ears, and even detect whether you’re smiling or not.” Sounds a little too good to be true. It will also work with the upcoming Sony Motion Controller, with the Eye camera tracking X, Y and Z motion by using the area of the glowing sphere.

Up until now, all we knew about Project Natal’s release date was that it wasn’t going to happen in 2009. Now we have word that it will be hitting store shelves in 2010. So says Steve Balmer, Company CEO.

He let word slip during his speech at The Executives Club of Chicago today that the Xbox 360 motion control interface will be coming in 2010. Now that could mean all the way in December of 2010 for all we know, but at least it’s not 2011.