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Microsoft Natal Is Now Kinect, First Games Revealed
UPDATE 2: The USA Today story is live once more, and the new name has been confirmed at the Microsoft event taking place tonight. Look to the original story below for details and stay tuned all week for more information on Kinect and the games Microsoft is showing for it.
UPDATE: The USA Today story that this article was based on as since been pulled from the site. Perhaps someone over there jumped the gun and posted early? Whatever the case, we caught all of the information below before it was pulled.
ORIGINAL STORY: It sounds like the leaks earlier today were right after all. A new source has confirmed that Microsoft Natal will now be known Kinect, and we've got a list of the first games that will be released when the new device launches.
USA Today has broken the news (which gives you a good idea of the audience Microsoft is hoping to reach with their new device). As previously rumored, what was unveiled last year at E3 as Project Natal will be launched later this year as Microsoft Kinect.
The USA Today article also reveals some of the early games we can expect for Kinect:
- Dance Central - This dance game is being created by MTV Games and is apparently based around the So You Think You Can Dance license. I'm guessing that this is the Harmonix dance game we'd heard rumors of a couple weeks ago.
- Joyride - This was unveiled at last year's E3 as an Xbox Live Arcade game that allowed you to race with your 360 Avatar. This is the first we've heard of the game since then and the first we've heard of it being a motion-controlled release.
- Kinectimals - An animal training simulation of some sort with "20 different virtual cats." Why only cats? Hoping to save other animal types for subsequent releases?
- Kinect Adventures - This game lets you control a raft floating down a river in both a time trial and obstacle course mode. It sounds kind of light right now, so unless it's a pack-in, expect more information.
- Kinect Sports - This one's a bit on the nose, but I guess they had to do it. In case it wasn't totally obvious that Microsoft is going after some of the Wii market, they'll release this collection of sports-based mini-games. This includes boxing, bowling ,beach volleyball, track and field, soccer, and table tennis.
In addition to these titles, the USA Today piece mentions that Microsoft is developing new games using Star Wars and Disney characters "in conjunction with LucasArts and Disney."
We'll have much more info on these games and Kinect in general as we check out what Microsoft has on display this week at E3. Stay tuned to our E3 hub page for all the latest updates as they hit.
[via Joystiq]
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