We’ve been referring to Microsoft’s motion controller technology as Project Natal for the past year, now we need to face the official retail name: Kinect. I won’t lie, right now I’m not at peace with it. It just sounds weird to say and weird to write down. Maybe Microsoft’s original idea was to call it Move, but since Sony took that earlier, they had to fall back to something else.
We now also know of a few titles that are designed for the Kinect (still feels weird):
- Kinectimals, basically a petting zoo with lots of animals to play around with
- Joyride is the racing game where you pretend you’re holding a steering wheel
- Kinect Sports will bring the generic array of sports
- Kinect Adventures is a rafting game with obstacle courses to master
- Dance Central will be a dancing game (shocking, ain’t it)
- Additional games later to be named by Disney and LucasArts (Star Wars \o/)
I’m not really sold on Microsoft’s take on motion controls. I live in a relatively small apartment, it’s the same issue with Tony Hawk’s Ride, you need to clear out your whole living room just to have enough space to move around. Sony’s Move has slightly more appeal and I can picture myself sitting in my couch while playing LittleBigplanet 3 or something.