The Nintendo Wii revolutionized the gaming world because of the new level of interactivity it brought through its motion controlled interactivity. With that, the Wii took Nintendo back into the gaming ball game after disappearing post-GameCube.

Microsoft and Sony wouldn’t have none of that though, as they plan to take away Nintendo’s competitive advantage by introducing their own motion controllers for the Xbox and the Playstation in the recent E3 event.

Microsoft call theirs “Project Natal” and Sony dubbed theirs the “Eye.” Quite interesting but they wouldn’t change the fact that Nintendo beat them to the game. These additions of motion controllers now challenges Nintendo’s technologies. The combination of motion control with the Xbox and PS’s advanced graphics is quite potent.

Competition’s always good though since it would push the boundaries of interactive gaming to the next level.

The first release candidate (RC1) for Microsoft’s next OS has been released for beta testing. As a beta test, downloading it is free and only requires a valid Windows Live ID (i.e. a Hotmail account will do). Full download instructions are here.

As expected Microsoft is not giving away free licenses of their OS without a catch: this version of Windows 7 comes with two expiration dates:

Watch the calendar. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use.

You have to give them credit, though. Ten months isn’t that long, but it should be enough to help you decide whether to upgrade to Windows 7 or stick with Vista.