Looks like Kinect is real, with USA Today detailing the system previously known as Natal’s first games. Microsoft’s Marc Whitten credits Nintendo with setting things in motion, naturally, says the website:
“They have done some amazing things and brought new people to the category. This is fundamentally different. It’s (about) my body being the controller (and) being able to communicate with just my voice to the system.”
These are the games USA Today lists as being ‘in the works’:
- Kinectimals lets you train and play with 20 different virtual cats, including a lion, cheetah and tiger.
- Joyride, a racing game, lets players use their hands to hold an imaginary steering wheel — pull your hands toward you and push back out for an acceleration boost — and their bodies to execute jumps and tricks.
- Kinect Sports has six activities including boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis. To serve a volleyball, you mimic the real motion; in soccer, you can kick the ball or do a header
- Kinect Adventures includes a river-raft time trial and obstacle course, playable by up to four players. On the raft, playing as a duo, you and a partner must lean one way or another to steer. Jumping helps the raft reach special areas for extra points
- Dance Central, in development by MTV Games, brings a So You Think You Can Dance experience home.
- Star Wars characters and iconic Disney favorites will be featured in separate new games being developed at Microsoft in conjunction with LucasArts and Disney.
“For lots of people, [the] controller is a barrier,” says creative director Kudo Tsunoda. “We set out to make a new control paradigm where anybody can get in and play, without having to read the instructions or learn a complicated set of controls.”
We’ll have everything from the Natal conference in the morning.
Jas-n
Hmmm, no matter motion control what platform you always seems to get the same games, with a different look, and same mechanics.
Sports games is a prime example, hope the move will be different, and I’m sure it won’t be as much shovelware as the Wii has.
Paranoimia
The games sound as lame as the name.
52pickup
VG247 says there are 2 versions of Kinect,1 of them is priced $189.00
Paranoimia
Around £130. I nearly fainted. It’s more expensive than the bloody console!
If Sony price the move right, it could be insta-win.
UsernameHere
Did they mention why? Was the 189 version the more expensive one?
bajere
maybe the more expensive virsion works well.lol. you can wear any colour clothes you like. ;)
but seriously, this game list looks nothing diffrent from PS2 eye toy?!?! and the animal game, is EyePet. Which pushes my thoughts on the fact that most of Moves games will be mainly camera based as devs can just port Natal games over to it
yogh_wayne
Those titles sound very uninteresting. But obviously Micorsoft’s main focus is on the casual market, if they try to “remove the controller barrier” with Natal (or Kinect or Wave), and I fear games like these will be more the rule than the exception. I just hope Sony doesn’t do the same with Move!
Paranoimia
Are they really going to win the casual market with a peripheral that’s dearer than the console?
yogh_wayne
Maybe it’s the price for the console including Kinect?
Paranoimia
I suppose it’s possible that it could be bundle pricing, but that would be the equivalent of giving it away.
When you think of the extortionate pricing of the HDD and wi-fi units, it would seem quite possible that £130 is the asking price.
PhilipJWitow
Wow… these games pretty much justify why you need a controller. I have no idea how these games could be any better without a controller than by using a controller.
It’s obviously super casual, so maybe it’ll have the Wii phenomenon of lots of people buying it based on looks and advertising, then never using the console as it has no games and ultimately isn’t fun. :\
benny boy
I agree. I can’t imagine holding my arms out on a fake steering wheel for very long. There’s only so long a person can do that before their arms collapse.
gurglesletch
Or they get ridiculed for looking like an idiot.
Apnomis
+1 clearly they are going for a Wii clone and I don’t think Sony will feel any threat from Kinect – mini-games just like Sony did on the EyeToy 10 years ago, and could someone explain to me why pretending to hold a steering wheel and moving your hands back and forth is more intuitive than, you know, actually holding a bloody steering wheel!!!
This confirms MS aren’t interested in gamers for this venture they’re interested in Sales – they look at people buying a Wii for nothing more than the free collection of sports games and maybe WiiFit, they’re not buying a console in a traditional sense they are buying a toy with built in games to play. All MS are interested in is tapping into this non-gamer market…
Yes Sony will do the same with Move but at least that will benefit their core audience too – at the end of the day with both these systems their success depends on sales and for me, on the evidence of the above games, Kinect will not have existing owners running out to spend £130+ on it (unless MS bribe them by bundling it with a Halo game).
YOURMUMANDME
Kinectimals lets you train and play with 20 different virtual cats , including a lion , cheetah and tiger .
Haaaa Haaaaa…… WHAT !?
*has tear of laughter*
nofi you have to be taking the p*ss ??
No Way
Raen
Heh, Nintendogs sold insanely well.
Lorcan
So what’s this? Microcats?
a inferior race
I would love a microcat. When I leave the house in the morning I put it in my pocket. Then when to get the bus-station I can play with it and when I get to work it can play around with all microcats.
Sorry PSP but you have been dumped in favour of the microcat.
DuffyBox
I forsee the microcat getting dumped when it relieves itself all over your phone in your pocket…
TSBonyman
Kinect ? I wonder if they heard of the EyeToy Kinetic sports game..
Those games don’t surprise me in the least considering this is Microsofts attempt to swipe Nintendo’s lead in the casual market.
We can expect the same from Move of course but at least we know how Move is also going to cater for the core gamer. So it’ll be interesting to see what Kinect secrets Microsoft have been keeping from us.
Lorcan
I think it’s a smart name to be honest.
It’s connecting people who don’t know how a controller works using kinetic energy. Kinect.
I still think that the name change is a rubbish idea though.
Natal made a massive impact when it was announced AS NATAL, so now it’s changed it’s going to lose a bit of it’s impact before the massive marketing push it will inevitably receive.
UsernameHere
Whoops the article is gone lol.
Zoddi
Only the dance game sounds like some fresh things but the rest is old….very old.
A race game….think many of us tried it in the past to hold his arms straight away of your body. The race must be over fast!