For about a year we’ve associated the name Project Natal with Microsoft’s new motion gaming peripheral. For those who didn’t know, Project Natal was simply a code name and now that Microsoft’s big E3 conference is only hours away they’ve decided to finally announce the new name for this device. Project Natal is now named….Kinect.
“For lots of people, that 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.”
The objective is simple for Kinect, break down the barriers of a controller and allow everyone to jump in. But I must say, a name like Wave would of been better suited to say and would probably more recognizable to a general audience. This just seems too similar to Microsoft’s phone, which is called Kin. Along with the new name, USA Today also got a short list of games available for Kinect. Most of them seem like mini-games and of course you have your Wii Sports rip-off.
•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.
