Usually when a television screen bleeds, it's not cause for celebration, nor does it signify the cutting edge of new technology. Microsoft's Illumiroom challenges that thought, using Kinect and a projector to transpose relevant video and images around the TV, on walls and furniture, while playing games.

Illumiroom can add flickering lights, particles and ambiance to certain games, or expand the environment in others, though it's still a prototype for now. Microsoft showed off Illumiroom in a video at the Samsung CES keynote, and it looked something like the above film.

"IllumiRoom is a proof-of-concept Microsoft Research project designed to push the boundary of living room immersive entertainment by blending our virtual and physical worlds with projected visualizations," the Illumiroom YouTube description reads. "The effects in the video are rendered in real time and are captured live – not special effects added in post processing."

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How many more episodes of Kinect Sesame Street and Kinect Nat Geo are up on Xbox Live today? Eight! Ah, ah, ah. Season passes for each game/show/thing are available for 2400 Microsoft Points, with individual episodes selling for five bucks each.

Kinect Sesame Street TV's second season adds SmartGlass tech to build playlists. Kinect Nat Geo season 2 adds ... probably some cool footage of a tiger, or something like that.

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Late last year we discovered that Dead Space 3's Kinect voice commands were best used during couch co-op, but here's a trailer in which EA is showing off some other commands. The Kinect functionality will allow players to "find objective," use stasis or "reload."

That all sounds clever, but was tapping down the right analog stick for objectives, or hitting the X button to reload, like the buttons were mapped in Dead Space 2, really less efficient? We know, we know, so many buttons to remember!

Maybe it's for when playing the game co-op with mom? You know, if she's into it.

Microsoft has beat both Apple and Google in acquiring a startup named R2 Studios, which primarily works in home automation and entertainment. R2 holds a number of patents that have to do with using various mobile devices to control home entertainment software and hardware, and Microsoft is reportedly sending the company to work with its Xbox division. R2 was founded by Blake Krikorian, who also founded the company behind the Slingbox, a set-top device that allows users to stream video across the cloud.

This all sounds like fuel for Microsoft's SmartGlass application, which uses various mobile devices to control and interact with the Xbox. Since we're expecting to see a brand new Xbox console this year, R2 could be sent to work on any number of new products or services.

A demo for the delayed Kinect rail shooter, Crimson Dragon, whose title and visual resemblance to Panzer Dragoon reflect "inspiration" from that series (not to mention shared staff), went up on the Japanese Xbox Live Marketplace earlier this week.

The demo was apparently released early, as it was taken off the service soon after. However, it wasn't quick enough to elude the single person paying attention to the Japanese Xbox Live Marketplace. YouTube user draikin1 captured footage of the demo, which you can now enjoy here, to see how eerily similar dragon riding and hula hooping are.

Just two years ago, Joystiq awarded the top spot in its Game of the Year list to Mass Effect 2. In borrowing from our description of that game, we could equally incite "the rather whimsical notion that a fictional world has some sort of permanence" when talking about Mass Effect 3. The gravity of every decision in the series is intended to elicit a feeling of dire consequence. Did you lose your favorite squad member in the second game? Factors like that are expected to play a role in the final chapter of your adventure.

For some, this third game began to fall apart at the seams for that very reason: we've come to expect that as the most important human in the galaxy, our decisions will leave a permanent imprint on the universe. Commander Shepard is expected to be the seemingly unstoppable hero that defies the odds and ultimately comes out the victor. That's hardly a fault of players, as those who have stuck around since the beginning should remember a rugged Shepard strutting out from the debris at the Citadel with a confident smirk at the end of the first game.

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We grew up in a household where swearing wasn't exactly commonplace, which made playing the particularly terrifying games of our collective youths somewhat of a challenge: Sometimes you just need to bust out some language, especially when the going gets tough and your courage gets going.

Kids these days though, with their newfangled Kinect devices, will get more from cursing out their horror games than just a talking to from Dad, at least as far as Dead Space 3 is concerned: "There are commands where you might be in a certain situation and you might yell a specific expletive and it might behave in a way that you want it to," Dead Space 3 executive producer Steve Papoutsis told CVG, regarding the game's "Better With Kinect" functionality on the 360. "We definitely have done some things there."

As we discovered earlier this month, Kinect voice commands are primarily used to trade items between players and accomplish other communal goals during co-op play. Of course, all that intended functionality will take place after the solid 30 minute swearing session scheduled to commence as soon as the game is first turned on.

Tapping in to that long-held Yuletide tradition of throwing fruit around and trying to slice it mid-air, Fruit Ninja Kinect and its add-ons are splattered all over Xbox Live's Countdown to 2013 Xmas Day sale. Halfbrick's produce-pruner has its price chopped in half today to 400 MSP, while its four DLC packs - namely 8-bit Cartridge, Art Box, Space Capsule, and Storm Season - are down by 50 percent to 80 MSP each.

Four other games also got price cuts in their stockings today. Carrying on the Kinect-ified ninja theme, Mini Ninjas Adventures is 50 percent off at 400 MSP. Also discounted on this merriest of days are Rock of Ages (75 percent off at 200 MSP), Hydro Thunder (67 percent off at 400 MSP), and another Kinect game in Leedmees (75 percent off at 200 MSP).

Dance Central 3 has been on a contemporary kick and step, and kick, and turn lately. Lady Gaga and LMFAO tracks arrive over the holidays to keep the party rocking.

On Christmas Day, December 25, Lady Gaga tracks "Paparazzi" and "Alejandro" are available as downloadable content. They can be purchased individually for 240 Microsoft Points ($3) or as part of a Lady Gaga pack for 400 MSP ($5).

To ring in the the new year, LMFAO apologize for their ways with "Sorry for Party Rocking." The single is 240 MSP or can be purchased in the LMFAO Pack 01, which also includes "Party Rock Anthem."

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SmartGlass functionality, get off the bench and get into the game! Both the NBA Game Time and ESPN apps on Xbox Live have added SmartGlass functionality to their playbooks for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Sports metaphors.

With SmartGlass, you can make selections and navigate options within each respective app with your smartphone or tablet. SmartGlass is available on iOS, Android and Windows 8 devices.

There's also a new Sports Picks app that Microsoft has dropped onto Xbox Live, where you can make matchup selections across a variety of sports and compare them with friends on the leaderboards. Personally, we don't like to compete with our friends because, well, our friends usually win. Always win.

NBA Baller Beats has been updated with some of the features mysteriously absent from the original version, publisher Majesco has told us. Leaderboards have been implemented in the Kinect rhythm game, allowing you to determine who is the best dribbler on your friends list, and accordingly whose living room is safest.

Photo capture and Facebook sharing have also been enabled, a missing feature that made our reviewer Richard Mitchell suspect the game was unfinished. There's also a new opening cinematic.

Still absent is the music store, to which the game's ESRB rating makes reference. In any case, we're impressed Majesco is putting additional work in on a game that has yet to find an audience.

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As Vin Diesel and Bow Wow taught us in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, drifting is the coolest possible way to travel from Point A to Point B, regardless of situation, circumstance or the amount of neon lights underneath your car.

We bring this up because Forza Horizon's latest bundle of DLC is a rally racing expansion pack, available next Tuesday, December 18, for 1,600 MS Points. The "Rally" expansion includes five new rally-purposed cars, new stages, new online multiplayer events and even co-driver announcements, so you can keep your damn eyes on the road you lunatic.

Anyone who purchased Horizon's $50 Season Pass will get the Rally expansion for free, along with an exclusive 2003 Ford Focus SVT. Under any other circumstances, a 10-year-old Ford Focus isn't really what we'd call a "motivating incentive."

During an EA showcase last week, Dead Space 3 executive producer Steve Papoutsis took to the stage to introduce Kinect voice commands for the Xbox 360 version. For example, Isaac and Carver can share items with each other when the player says things like "give Stasis" or "share ammo."

EA also had a small room to test out the Kinect functionality, a place I accidentally discovered the best use of the feature: couch co-op. A PR representative was there to supervise and offer help, but she ended up healing me and forcing Isaac to share resources while I concentrated on fighting Necromorphs. It was an interesting and, to be honest, incredibly useful union.

Sadly the demo itself was no more than 10 minutes, if that – so there wasn't really anything exciting going on content-wise. But for those who may be more content to watch a pal play Dead Space 3 on Xbox 360 rather than pick up the sticks themselves, they can still have a positive impact if there's a Kinect in the room.

If you own a Kinect, there's no cost barrier between you and a raucous Kinect Party. Double Fine's latest motion controlled minigame collection will be free upon its December 18 launch, and will stay that way throughout 2012. The regular price is currently unannounced, but it'll be more than nothing.

You can see the kind of augmented realities you and your friends will be entering in this new trailer. You do have to bring your own friends, however: Double Fine isn't supplying those for free.

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It's that time of year again!

The annual Spike Video Game Awards are about to kick off with host Samuel L. Jackson in Los Angeles and we'll be to cover all of the world exclusives and crack jokes about the giant hologram walls. So join us over the course of the next two hours or so while we try not to devolve into madness.

Update: Show's over, thanks for joining us in the liveblog!