E3 2010: Project Natal to 'Kinect' With These Titles in the Works

115
Jason Debelyak
 
Today, an advertisement from the Italian Microsoft website seems to have leaked some of the big details that Microsoft planned to drop on the gaming world.  These were seemingly expected from many of those within the industry, and the advertisement confirms many of those expectations.  First and foremeost, the most anticipated feature to come out of the Microsoft camp this year, Project Natal, is going to be going by a new name.  The newly-named Kinect will be expected later this year, and USA Today confirms that there are several titles that are already in the works for the new motion sensing technology:
 
  • Joy Ride - This is the major title that was revealed recently to be a bigger and better adaptation than the XBLA arcade game that was revealed at last year's E3.  The title will now be fully functional with Kinect and will have users' holding an imaginary steering wheel, while using their body movements to perform acceleration boosts, tricks and stunts.
  • Kinectimals - This title shows the route that Microsoft may be taking for the most part with Kinect, which should have been expected.  Getting all cutesy for the younger generations, this game will allow you to train 20 different virtual cats, which will include a cheetah, tiger and lion.
  • Kinect Sports - Sound familiar anyone?  This adaptation will have players' using their body movements to play sports including boxing, bowling, table tennis, soccer, track and field and volleyball.
  • Kinect Adventures - This title will include both a river raft time-trial and an obstacle course. Up to four players can play at a time, and partners will need to move side to side in order to steer their rafts.
  • Dance Central  - Supposedly being created by MTV Games, players will be busting a virtual move in their living rooms.
  • Both Disney and Star Wars characters will be used in games that will be developed in conjunction with Disney and LucasArts, respectively.
We will certainly be keeping a keen eye on these titles throughout the week and will be bringing all the details regarding Kinect as we hear them.
 
The other major detail to come out of the advertisement is a potential reveal for an Xbox 360 Slim, which will come with a 250 GB hard drive, built-in WiFi and will presumably be bundled with Kinect.  Again, all details will be brought to you directly throughout the week, especially when we get confirmation from the Microsoft press conference, starting tomorrow at 1:30 pm EST (10:30 am PDT).
 
Comments
115
  • Kinect? The hell?
  • Well, that's an interesting name, for sure. And hey, the Slim could be good!
  • oh i so want that slim, my 360 has rrod'd once and i need to get another one before it craps out on me again. and 250gb=all games downloaded ftw!
  • I think i'll pass on both.
  • OH BOY WII!
  • *sigh*
  • Not too bad... just hope they're good :)
  • gay.
  • i can't wait for Kinect 4!
  • See, I was desperately waiting for a dancing game for the 360, and now my wishes have been answered.
  • What is this I don't even.
  • boring....
  • Kinect? Seriously? I think the only reason they named it that is so Shadow Assa5in could make his Kinect 4 joke which is so bad I should have said it!
  • I am sure the next game to announce will be: KINECT FIT!!!!
  • Interesting name. I guess it's better then "Natal." I'm waiting for the announcement on real games that will be Kinect based.
  • project natal sounds so much cooler then kinect. this is a must have addition to my xbox360 collection
  • Wi-Fi? sounds tasty..mhhmm
  • Original name was better. I'm likely to use it for the video calls
  • Not excited.
  • Geez, isn't there a better name?
  • I liked the name Natal better. Just like Revolution was better than Wii. Anyways, none of these games surprise me. The Wii had plenty of titles like these when it was first released and so will the Move. I will wait a year before I make a opinion on the Kinect. All I can say right now is that it does have big potential, although so did the Wii.
  • Kinect? AAHAHAHAHAHAH Give me a minute... AHAHAHAHA Damn you Microsoft. You idiots and your stupid motion camera. Dumb fools.
  • I would love a 360 slim. built in wifi should have been in there from the start... but I don't want natal so I hope slim is also sold separately.
  • I thoguht natal could be good but now all my hope is lost.
  • maybe MS's new motto will be "Get Kinected", "Get Kinect'd" etc....
  • That name really sucks. Seriously, I would have lived with Natal as the name.
  • So you try to appeal to the casual market by making Natal, then fuck over your marketing that's been going on since last year's E3 by changing the name. Anyone who actually maybe would've bought Natal (aka. casual gamers) aren't even going to know what the hell Kinect is. Good god, MS is dumb. I'll say it right now, their CEO doesn't play games, and it shows.
  • Kinect Sports? Wow, they're not gonna even try are they? Still relatively hyped, as much as I can be for a glorified Eyetoy (don't get me wrong, the eyetoy was fucking awesome).
  • Image and video of the 360 slim here: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/13/rumor-xbox-360-slim-and-kinect-outed-by-micros oft-ad/
  • new console with BUILT IN WIFI would be nice. about time too, fucking greedy micro$oft.
  • Oh my God, the 360 Slim is gorgeous... lol Hopefully, it's less prone to failures than the regular 360, but I'm sure it shares a failrate.
  • 360 Slim sounds like a great buy to me. Kinetic however needs something for the Core gamer to interest me. From the games I see, it seems like nothing more then a Wii.
  • Natal...what a joke...
  • All I can do is cry at how sad all of this. All of this will probably let me down just as easily as the Wii did.
  • Yeah, so when I posted before I didn't actually LOOK at the 360 Slim. What a waste. It is roughly still the same size, only now there's a vent cut out where the diffuser would've been inside the case, which means two things, they probably needed that extra airflow to avoid heat damage, and that it will probably run louder than the full size 360, now the case has another opening. Built in WiFi and 250gb HDD won't be cheap either. This is seriously how you plan to combat Sony, MS? HDD space matters NOTHING, make the game discs bigger already!
  • I'm sure "Kinect 4" will be an achievement name for one of these games.
  • Kinect isn't even a word.
  • Kinect really isn't as catchy as NATAL to me, honestly... If they would have stuck with NATAL, they could have not hired whoever they did to come up with names...
  • "Kin" must be the new in word at microsoft.
  • I reckon that Kinect will probably be the same as the Wii in the respect that only 1 in 20 games will be actually be worth buying.
  • See, I hate when they do this. Yeah, we'll get used to it eventually, but right now we're used to calling it Natal, and Kinect sounds weird. Same crap Nintendo did changing "Revolution" to "Wii". @36: You kidding me? "Kinect 4" will be an achievement name for any game that can have it even remotely tie into what the achievement wants you do to. Just look at all the "1.21 Gigawatts" trophies and achievements there are out there...
  • Kinect? You serious? Oh wow... That lineup of titles isn't doing them any favors either.
  • Christ ... they've killed JoyRide.
  • It was never alive.
  • Natal ---> Kinect = LOL Does anyone give a shit about games anymore? MS better not blow their entire E3 show on gimicky bullshit or I'll "Kinect" my foot with their ass.
  • Yeah I LOLed @ #9 :D
  • I propose we get all the name jokes out of the way now like we did when the Wii was first renamed. Like how they'll come out with a kids game collection with Kinect The Dots. Or a classic games show bundle with Love Kinection. And so on.
  • i probably wont get natal idk it juz doesnt seem interestin 2 me or worth the money that its gonna cost
  • i probably wont get natal idk it juz doesnt seem interestin 2 me or worth the money that its gonna cost
  • Looks stupid to me.
  • @11 Yeah, I agree...
  • What a waste, I have a wii already and i never play it cus its so gay. kinect is a 100% no buy for me if the games do not change into games for adults. Even little kids dont need stupid games for kids nowadays anbymore, just give us awesome shooter and action.
  • I might just give this a chance, if they make a dancing game like DDR that utilizes Kinect then I'm all ears!!!
  • @25- Probably something more along the lines of "X360 would like to play."
  • Hmmm...Wonder if we will get better games that the shovelware thats pumped out on the Nintendo Wii...?
  • Project Natal = Kinect like Blue Harvest = Star Wars Episode VI...its the fake working title. Like mjc0961 said, we'll eventually get used to the name change but, definately, some will get over it quicker than others. It might not be the best title but it makes sense from Microsoft's point-of-view...easier/catchier marketing toward the casual gamer...catchier than Project Natal...at least now they are conveying the purpose of the peripheral in the title...Connecting to others while in motion (kinetic energy). As for the 360 Slim, hopefully we get more pics to be able to compare it to the current model better...250 GB and Wi-Fi is nice as long as the RROD problem doesn't rear its ugly head again and as long as there is a nice price drop...that is, unless of course it comes bundled with the Kinect in which case Microsoft will find it reasonable to aim as high as they can with the price...I guess the future is only a couple of days away @ E3.
  • Now theres no hope for it. I shall always called it Natal.
  • Kinect = Bah I want that 250Gb slim xbox ill sell mine then buy that one, 20gb is way too small i got 1.2gb left and i deleted tons of stuff to fit the newer stuff.
  • http://zishan07.livejournal.com/10362.html I'll leave you peeps with that.
  • Well Kinect Sports isn't as much as a joke as the motion controls from the ps3. Now that is a blatant ripoff with a lightbulbish think thrown at the time to make it look different. I think it looks like a lollypop. That silly. Even with the name change, I am still holding out hope Natal will be successful for hardcore and casual games and hopefully e3 will show it because I won't be buying this thing until it does. As nice as a 360 slim sounds (with built in wireless!!!) it doesn't sound well enough for me to purchase a system I already have. I have the red xbox and, as far as a I know none of those have RROD and this being my first xbox and over a year old, I think I am pretty set for now. Current harddrives better fit the slim though or allow for transfer otherwised I'd be PISSED if I did decide to get one. Of course, thats assuming the rumor of it is real or not.
  • Kinect is a better name than Natal. I think this could be fun and most of all because most of these games will be aimed at kids, a lot of you seem to miss the fact that these games will have EASY achievements ! Bring it on I say. Plus, this means that I can get some exercise while getting achievements - Bonus !
  • I want to play that ball breaker game lol :)
  • Kinect? wow thats shit calling it "move" wouldve been better XD if its not too pricey then I may as well try it out
  • price???????????
  • Very interested in the new 360 slim, since mine is starting to die...again goddamnit. I'm still not convinced they don't make them fucking unreliable on purpose just to get more money out of you. Not so interested in the motion cam, maybe with starwars games but i don't see it being as big as the hype.
  • I'm not really interested in Kinect right now, but 2-3 years from now we'll see what uses this has other than games. I don't see this revolutionizing video games at launch, but when they figure out what they can do with this we'll see.
  • about time they release a console with wi-fi built in.so much more convient.all & all good console version coming out but who will be the 1st to bring out the terra-byte harddrive built in hardrive? now that would be something!
  • I wont be a surprise for me if they relese the next bundle with kinect and call it xbox fit. Still thinking of purchasing kinect. Right now i think even if i get it, i wont use it much.
  • Oh well, it's better than 'Wave'.. just. Natal was always only going to be a working title and not the release name. Still it's probably something that won't grace my living room. As for the 'slim' my original Xbox Pro has yet to suffer from any RROD's although it does lock up on the odd occasion but only on the dashboard so no big deal there. Not interested in the wireless aspect as I have a perfectly good and hidden setup with a cable to my router. So far then nothing of too much interest to me.
  • wow wii on 360 how fucken shit ...
  • are these bundles together with Natal or is it like arcade games u download for a price? Xbox SLIM 360, kinect sports? i know there fighting competition but this is just stealin there ideas. Probly Microsoft gettin back at sony for stealin the achievements idea. not sure about Nintendo.
  • And what time does it start in GMT?
  • Zero.
  • Natal was a horrible name. I'm not feelin Kinect either though. But honestly who gives a shit. It's coming from a company that named a console Xbox lol. I just hope it performs as good as it's supposed to.
  • @72 About 1830 I believe.
  • Um...yay?
  • Haha i actually preferred Natal to Kinect but oh well :)
  • Natal sounded way cooler than Kinect. Goddamn what a piece of sh name.
  • Project Natel or Kinect (worse name ever by the way Natel sounded better) does nothing for me. I like my controller simple as that and the day they disappear is a sad day indeed
  • #61 has a very good point
  • As people, Wii KINECT and Move. This had to have been some kind of plan from the start, to make some unison.
  • Shame about Joyride, MS missed a trick with that.
  • Sounds lame. I was a big fan of 'PROJECT NATAL', but this whole new name just sounds awful. Even so, I might pick up Natal, because it has some good potential. And sure, it's using the Wii idea, except it'll be better. I hope. *Gulp*.
  • I'm interested in this Star Wars game they speak off, but the new name just sucks, Natal FTW.
  • Surely that slim was a fake. The slim either needs to come with Kinect and be cheap (compete with the Wii) which seeing as an elite with a 250GB HDD was £200, needs to see cost cutting, posibly a smaller HDD. The other option is to make it the top of the range model to get people to feel the need to upgrade with a 500GB HDD and Kinect (for the install base obviously).
  • Kinect & Star Wars? I smell Lightsaber Duels.
  • Fuck my life. 360 Slim with built in WiFi and 250GB?! I bought a MW2 Limited Edition 360 six months ago and a dual Network Adaptor. Great. Absolutely great. And what the hell kind of name is Kinect? What the hell is this? What are you doing, Micro$oft? Well time to look on the bright side - at least M$ can now release a game called Kinect Four without fear from MB.
  • Hey, Microsoft...? Kinect THIS! No wait, nevermind.
  • Reminds me of those K'NEX building things I used to play with when I was little!
  • Ninja'd by #9...
  • I read the name 'Kinect' and died a little inside. Also the line-up of games sounds poor. I had higher hopes for Natal than what one day's line-up of information has brought us. Still, I guess I'm not the target demographic for Kinect. Mind you, who the hell is? Casual Gamers already have a Wii, why would they fork out x amount of money for a whole new console and extra hardware? Not to mention that I highly doubt their Wiis get that much usage as it is, would they fork out more money for something they'd eventually stop playing. Right?
  • Kinect sounds very childish in fact. Well, surely because it's designed for children (Make me think of Kleenex ^w^) At least I'll save my money this year. Not so much appealing games for the moment =(
  • It seems that Xbox are possibly trying to follow in Nintendo's footsteps and appeal to a much larger audience to me. Revolution sounded hard-core, whereas Wii sounds slightly more family orientated. And most people have gotten used to this name now anyway. The same with Natal, really. Kinect sounds like Microsoft want to encourage players to play together and connect... or something. It could also have something to do with physically having to move, kinect may have come from kinetic. I think it's quite a clever name.
  • This is so awesome.
  • Me wants a silm!!
  • Kinect is an epic epic epic name fail.
  • I love it
  • It always angers me when they bring out slim versions of consoles. I think I've forked out enough on the original thanks.
  • it wouls be cheaper to just buy a Wii rather than a X360 AND Kinect. i dunno how good this will sell. best of luck microsoft (under-breath: waste of money).
  • umm, thats not a Disney/Star Wars collaberation is it? That would be awful...Although slicing up Disney characters with a lightsaber or throwing them off high stuff would be...entertaining in a sadistic way. Btw I don't like Disney in case you hadn't noticed.
  • @99 I think it will be cheaper to buy a Wii than Kinect, just look at the price of the 360 Hard Drive Disk
  • In the time Microsoft will have launched their "Kinect", Nintendo will have mastered the genre. Also, for what I recall from their Xbox Live Arcade game "Totemball" that has camera motion recognition feature, this was working really badly. Finally, Kinect is a horrible name.
  • Kinect = Fail 360 Slim = Epic Fail (WII copy, and ugly too!) ps. Don't set the slim model up straight, it'll ruin your games (mark my words, there will be a lot of people crying out loud when this shit happens, and I will be like "told you so!) (yes I will also be smiling and having the time of my life, because that's just me)
  • and btw, it's possible to save everything on a USB harddrive right?? Why are people complaining, just get 70-80 euro's and buy 1 TB at your local nerd-shoppe. problem solved?
  • @104 Does the 'Slim' do away with the 16Gb cap on USB storage? Unless it does or you'll use the rest of the HDD space with a PC what's the point in buying a TB HDD?
  • Too early to know if it's my cup of tea, but so far my interest is somewhat sparked. :)
  • OMG THIS LOOKS SO GOOOOOD :D:D:Derp.
  • Kinect? More like Diskinect lololol :)
  • just watched like 1 minute of the natal kinect thing on spotlight and all I can say is Super G@Y! Oh and L@me,its nice to see microsuck taking the money they make off us and put on some really gay showing of craptal! As for Cirque du Soleil keep that north of the border please!
  • XBOXERCISE!!!!
  • ZZZZ... No thanks, I'll just stick with the better games... They all sound like Wii games.
  • Well im pretty sure the slim will be just as unreliable as any other 360.
  • OMG I geddit. Kinetic + Connect = Kinect! Wow I R SMART. MS fail again.
  • 3 years too late Micro$oft. Man, this is embarrassing.
  • haha kinect...they had a year to come up with a name for project natal and the best they could do was kinect? lol...its beter then natal tho i will give them that. as for the new 360...it looks kinda cool but doesnt look much slimer than the old model. its selling point imo has to be the 250gb hard drive. they say its also not as noisy as the original. thing is i didnt hear them say anything about fixing the RROD issues or the issue that i and so many others have had with the disc drive failing to read the disc. if they could actually make it smaller and say that the old issues have been fixed then i might be interested. but to me this is a fail for the time being.
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