This year E3 offered some enlightening news on what we can expect later this year on our very own 360. A new iteration of the console in a slimmer form with built in wifi, 250 GB hard drive and Kinect ready — oh yeah, and there’s the Kinect. This fall you’ll be able to explore your Xbox dashboard with no controller a la Minority Report and experience Kinect compatible games sans controller — this is both novel and unique in the gaming world.
It’s pretty obvious Microsoft is trying to do something it hasn’t ever done before; directly compete with the casual gaming market that Nintendo caught with the Wii and DS. So it was a smart move for them to have a wide range of Kinect ready games shown off at the most recent E3. You have your Nintendog’s for Kinect: Kinectimals, you have Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures and Kinect Joy Ride. But you don’t have to worry about every launch Kinect game being an iteration of a Wii title with “Kinect” latched on. Other than the set of games Josh covered in his recent 360 post there is a growing list of third party developers working hard on their very own Kinect centric creation.
You can expect titles like EA’s Sport Active, Zumba Fitness, Sonic Free Riders, Ubisoft’s Your Shape: Fitness evolved and THQ’s The Biggest Loser game to meet your fitness needs on your 360 this fall, as if one of these wasn’t competition enough against the Nintendo Wii’s Wii Fit brand. If dance games are your thing then you’d probably want to look more closely at titles like Dance Central, Dance Masters, and Michael Jackson: The Game. There are also big exclusives coming this fall with limited or optional Kinect compatibilities; games like Fable 3, Forza, and Child of Eden. Star Wars fans also get some love from the Kinect with their very own duel action title Star Wars Kinect.
Microsoft made itself clear this E3. They’ve got a whole market out there that they haven’t put much thought into, and now they’re going all out to fulfill the needs of casual gamers and soccer mom’s everywhere. If you remember last years E3 with Lionhead Studios demoing Kinect using a little boy simulator named Milo, you can also be sure to play a full game featuring Milo from the creators of Fable in Milo and Kate. For now just keep your fingers crossed and wait for the release date this upcoming fall to see if Kinect is even your thing.
