Microsoft To 'Triple' Its Kinect Game Portfolio This Year

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Richard Walker

With Kinect enjoying an installed user base of millions, Microsoft has declared that it's set to up its game in terms of support for the motion-tracking device with 'triple' the number of games in the Kinect portfolio before the year is out.

"Between now and the end of the year, the Kinect game portfolio is expected to triple its current number of games with new titles," reads an excerpt from a press release posted on the Official Microsoft Blog, which also trumpets the platform holder's strong NPD figures for April 2011.

Apparently, there are 26 Kinect games currently available, with a further 26 in development. Does that mean therefore, that Microsoft has a further 26 titles yet to be announced? If it's planning to make good on its claims of tripling its Kinect game output, then expect Microsoft to announce a raft of Kinect titles in the coming months.

"We've seen some of the media start to ask the question, 'When are we going to see more Kinect games coming?'," Microsoft Product Manager David Dennis told Joystiq. "As we sat there and looked at it we realised we've got a lot of games coming and we're going to show a lot of them at E3."

So, expect a huge E3 for Microsoft this year as far as Kinect is concerned. But what of the device's neglected core audience? Will MS address this? Apparently, it will: "We know that the core took Xbox and made it the home for core games, whether they're first-party games or third-party games. We would certainly never leave that audience behind," Dennis said. "So for us and for Phil [Spencer] and the folks over at MGS, it's not about deprioritising one or the other. It's about how we go big on any and all: Go big on Kinect games; go big on core games."

Plenty of core games from Microsoft at E3 2011, then? It looks like it. "We certainly expect to have a big E3 and we're saving a lot of our cards until then," Dennis concluded. Exciting stuff!

Comments
45
  • Kinrct Star Wars! But I wonder what will be the lightsaber?
  • The lightsaber will be... YOU KNOW.
  • Quantity does not equal quality. Look at the Wii.
  • @3 If so I hope theirs no local multiplayer duals 8/
  • Until they start releasing games for Kinect that involve more than shuffling a dinghy left or right, I really couldn't give a toss!
  • 26 games currently available ? That many ?
  • I'll wait till there's any game that i want or till the price dropped.
  • Looking forward to Child Of Eden.
  • kinect, move, and wii all garbage... just stick to a controller really it's more fun anyway.. if i want to move i'll go outside and play basketball or something
  • they should release a cleaning accessory for kinect, as mine is just covered in dust, even my kids can't be bothered with it anymore.
  • Triple the shit, then?
  • im so glad i decided not to buy a kinect because there will never be any great games like cod or la noire on it
  • My friend plays killzone 3 on this ps move. He also plays tiger woods masters with ps move! Yes it has a peripheral, but still I want to play hardcore game with kinect. I sold mine because of this factor. I want to play cod, bf, golf with it. I don't want to go into my local game store and see the only options are fantastic pets & Mel B's work out. Oh let's not forget the 5* title which is Zumba!
  • Whilst I wasn't ever going to rush out and buy Kinect, it was a future possibility. But the lack of decent games out on it, or any real innovation has meant it's gradually pushed itself out of any contention - along with rumours of a new Xbox sooner than anticipated. It'll take something genuinely phenomenal for me to go and get a Kinect now, and I really don't see that happening.
  • Gunstringer looks awesome, as does Children of Eden. And if there's 26 games unnounced, not including the star wars game, there should at least be some games worth picking up. And a lot of announcements for non-kinect 'core' games confirmed for E3 as well? I don't understand how anyone can be negative about this news
  • There's 26 kinect games available?! I've only heard of maybe 6. And three of those I've only heard or seen mentioned once. Sounds like the worlds fastest selling paperweight to me.
  • How about the neglected non-Kinect audience? Ever since they launched Kinect, it doesn't feel like Microsoft talks about or invest in anything else.
  • Were are all those Kinect games for core gamers MS promised? So far the only one on the radar is Child of Eden, which I'm looking forward to
  • I bet there will be A LOT of Kinect games reviled at E3.
  • How good would Skyrim be with Kinect controls?!
  • I thought they said originally Kinect was gonna replace the controller. It would recognize your fingers movements and button pushing motions. Sometimes, it doesnt even know i'm waving my arms around let alone a freaking finger.
  • I'm sorry but I think the kinect is a fail. My wife bought it and we are just thinking of selling it now. There are no other games other than workout or dancing types. I think all the increadible sales they had on this during release was nothing more than hype and Christmas pushing. I will wait to see what is on the table from E3 but I just don't see it having to much more life left in it especially with the soon to be announced Wii 2.
  • This was what I thought was going to happen. Quanity over quality. They are turning into Wii. Let's hope the games are at least playable and not more sh*t.
  • In my opinion, this big of an increase means more focus on the games. That means more people focusing on QUALITY games. I think this is a good thing, and expect to see at least a handfull or two of good games this year. Could be wrong, but that's the way I see it.
  • The three Kinect games that have caught my interest: 1. Children of Eden (also playable with a standard controller) 2. Star Wars Kinect (which if it is on rails like it sounds like immediately makes me uninterested. Never cared for games like that) 3. Gunstringer Not a very convincing line up. We'll see what the new 26 have in store.
  • So they picked out the next 26 Wii games to re-skin with HD graphics? How exciting! Pass on all 26 now, the next 26 and the next 260 after that.
  • @5 Never, ever cross the streams!
  • So far as I have seen, no developer has made use of the Kinect feature I was most excited for pre-launch. That is the purported ability of the Kinect to read facial expressions and craft individual responses based on your mood at that given time. I had crazy ideas of playing a truly dynamic RPG in which, instead of carefully choosing your character's response to stimuli based on the basic good/neutral/evil choices in RPGs, the player unconsciously responds to the environment and in turn, the environment responds to the player. Perhaps the technology is not there yet, but the pre-launch hype certainly made it seem so.
  • Most likely these titles will be Wii knock offs because I'm sure another Kinect Sport and Kinectamals is coming. @ 23. People did fall for the hype and Christmas pushing while I knew it would be worse then the Wii with the whole exercise and Wii-esque games. @ 25. MS isn't that much on quality, but Sony heavily focuses on that while Nintendo is either a hit or miss on that. @ 26. Children of Eden can be played without Kinect, which thats the onlygood one out of the 3. Star Wars will most likely be on Rails because you need a controller for simple and advanced controls. The Gunstringer looks interesting because of the concept while it won't do that well on the Kinect because of the controls.
  • there's really been nothing that interest me gaming wise for the kinect. At first I wanted one but the I took a real hard look at the catalog and there really wasn't anything that jumped at me. I'm going to wait and see what happened after e3.
  • Looks like Sony landed way better with Move. Shame the don't have as much money as MS to advertise it, because they are not charging theri customer for every single cookie... Now it's only going to get worse for them with all those security breaches - I feel for them. I hope this will never happen to 360, because one time is enought to worry about. OT: I still can't imagine any other games then dance/act/workout/arcade, so by the time they MIGHT release something noteworthy Kinect should be cut in half for me:-)
  • @20, it seems that the people in this thread already revile alot of kinect games. (yes, I realize that was a typo)
  • well its about time! i just dusted mine off for MJ:TE. cant wait for good core quaility games like starwars & that ubisoft fighting game. the lightsabre just hold with one or two hands. has been in many demos showing so. i want full career boxing,hockey,ufc & fps games! before you jump me on ufc. look at ufc trainer. good indication it can be done :) bring on E3!
  • @30 Oh, im sorry I didnt realize you know everything there is to know about gaming. Who died and made you the King Douchebag of the internet?
  • 26 games already available? Can I have a list please I've only ever seen around 16
  • Out of those 26 games coming I'm guessing 20 of those are probably sequels like kinect sports 2 and so on
  • @ 7 and 17 That's because 21 out of the 26 sucked. I expect it to be the ratio for the next batch as well.
  • HOLY COW! That means there will be 78 more exercise video games on the kinect. SWEET! :P
  • @15, I wouldn't be mad at 15 good Kinect games. We'll see.
  • @38 rather. Woops.
  • I already have Kinect(I got it last Christmas) and i'm thinking of selling it as it's generally boring.
  • When I read 26 games available i thought "no way are there 26 out in the UK" so i checked the list on wikipedia and the shop I work in have actually stocked 25/26 of the games. I was quite surprised
  • @ 34. Demos don't show off that much especially when you need to design a whole game around that, which is possible with a controller and impossible without a controller. I doubt a good boxing or fighting type of game can be done on the Kinect especially when UFC Trainer is just another exercise video disguised as a game. The only Shooters that will be done on the Kinect will be on Rails while its a different story on if those games would be good or bad. @ 35. Actually the one who's the King Douchebag of the internet is you while its not my fault that I know more knowledge then you do. @ 38. MS would need a controller with the Kinect before a good ratio of games exist on the Kinect.
  • @22 No one ever said that the kinect was going to be that accurate and it was def not marketed as replacing the controller, just that you could use your body as a controller.
  • I just got mine for $50 at a pawn shop, it was dirty, dusty, and scratched. I cleaned it and polished out the scratches and bingo! A perfectly functional Kinect. I bought it solely for UFC trainer and Dance Central games for the girlfriend, otherwise its cool to impress my technologically impaired friends by shouting at the xbox while they are around and being all jealous and stuff
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