Microsoft Reveals Kinect, Launching This November
Project Natal is reborn as Kinect.
Today, Microsoft officially revealed during their E3 presentation that Project Natal is releasing as Kinect. The controller-free, motion-sensor device allows players to become part of the game.
“Kinect is here and it’s real. This is what happens when technology gets out of your way,” said Marc Whitten, Corporate Vice President for XBox Live.
15 games are releasing at launch. Some of the titles shown during the presentation are:
- Kinectimals
- Kinect Joy Ride
- Kinect Sports
- Kinect Adventures!
- Dance Central
Besides gaming, Kinect is involved in other areas of entertainment on the 360.
Video Connect allows users to have video chats using Kinect with anyone on their 360. Those is the chat can watch movies together or listen to music, as well as see news and TV shows.
Kinect can track the person as they move around. It keeps the person in the shot, and there’s no need to self-adjust the camera.
A user can sign into the system using just their hands. Voice recognition allows you to control 360 with simple voice commands. The user can control Zune movies, pausing or playing the movie with the commands “Xbox Pause” and “Xbox Play”. Movies can be fast forwarded or rewound with the user’s hands.
The same applies for music. Users can find their music and control their play lists by using their hands and voice commands.
Whitten said:
No headsets, no controllers. The technology is invisible but the connection is more engaging than a phone call. This is your living room more social than ever before.
Kinect is fully compatible with all Xbox 360s sold in the past and currently on the market. For old models of 360s, a separate power supply is needed to run Kinect. The new 360 model has Kinect support already built-in.
Kinect releases November 4th. A launch price has yet to be confirmed by Microsoft.
Here’s a video demonstration of Kinect Adventures! shown during the conference:
[photo by Joystiq]
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