Microsoft unveils its next big step in gaming
The device – previously codenamed Project Natal – was shown ahead of this week’s E3 games expo, the world’s largest gaming trade show.
Kinect packs laser motion and voice sensors into a box on top of your TV and allows gamers to control the on-screen action by moving their entire body rather than bashing buttons on a game pad.
Hailed by Microsoft as the next big technological step in gaming, it is hoping its more intuitive control method will introduce a wider audience to gaming, as Nintendo did with its popular Wii console.
Kinect can be used to control games, TV services (including Sky), or even for video chat with MSN users across the world. However, unlike the Nintendo Wii and Sony’s upcoming Move device, voice recognition and hand gestures do away with the need for a physical remote control device.
Kinect was given a sneak reveal at a celebrity-packed party hosted by Cirque du Soleil. Video game fan and TV presenter Jack Osbourne and Girls Aloud’s Nadine Coyle attended.
Coyle said: “I support the Northern Ireland’s Children’s Hospice and Xbox are awarding them consoles for the kids. And I think it’s just fantastic that they can move around and they don’t have to fiddle with buttons, and it’s just a brand new piece of technology that I’m really excited to see.”
Microsoft showed off a selection of titles for the Kinect, including a Star Wars game which allows players to wield a virtual light sabre; an instructional fitness and yoga lifestyle title; an urban dance trainer; and a children’s game which lets players interact with a pack of playful baby tiger pets.
Microsoft also announced the launch of a slimmer and more powerful Xbox 360 console, featuring wireless connectivity for the first time. The new Xbox is being delivered to the first shops this week, priced at $299 (€242).
Microsoft said the Kinect will be on sale in Ireland for Christmas but no price has yet been revealed.
The world’s leading gaming hardware makers, hoping to reignite the slumping $60 billion (€48.6bn) industry, will unveil a plethora of futuristic gadgets at the E3 convention this week.
The rush of technology comes just as the video game industry, which dwarfs the $10bn domestic movie box office, needs it. US industry sales – hardware, software and accessories – are down more than 10% to $4.7bn this year through April, according to research firm NPD Group.
The arrival of Kinect may pressure Nintendo, which pioneered motion-sensing gaming through an all-purpose controller with its Wii system. Nintendo is expected to unveil more details on its 3D games system that requires no glasses at E3.
“This year’s E3 gives the gaming industry the first real opportunity to prove that it’s not just about making shoot-em-up games for testosterone-fuelled boys,” Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said.
“This is because the secret to the gaming industry’s future is the realisation that game consoles are the most powerful device in the living room,” he wrote in a note.
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