Today was the first day of the official Project Natal reveal event. But before a scary man with a red nose and green hair could tell the presses, the internet leaked that the name of Project Natal was not Wave but in fact Kinect. Seeing the name doesn’t make me think motion control, Kinect actually makes me think of the latest Microsoft mobile device the Kin. Upon hearing the name I get it more kinetic energy, which makes way more since. Rumors were that Kinect was just a regional name. Thevowel on Twitter, Eric Neustadter Xbox Live Operations Manager a.k.a ‘E’, confirmed the name wasn’t regional by saying “Wow! Congrats to everyone making Kinect happen. That was great! #XboxE3”
The Kinect was not the only thing announced, a slimmer Xbox 360. Leaking the slimmer xbox 360 was an ad that was probably released too early. The ad states that the new Xbox 360 has a 250 GB HDD and integrated Wi-Fi functionality, and compatibility with Kinect. This makes me wonder if my launch Xbox 360 is Kinect compatible, I sure hope so.
Some of the games that are rumored to release are Kinect Adventures (a river raft and obstacle course game), Kinectimals (no joke. It’s a game that allows a player to interact with a variety of cats, such as lions, cheetahs, and tigers), Kinect Sports (big surprise. No need to explain), Joy Ride (the cart racing game that was announced last year at E3), Ricochet (the dodgeball game at last years E3), Milo and Kate (also revealed at last years E3 as Peter Molyneux’s project), Fable III (we already know that one), and finally Brunswick Pro Bowling (my guess is that this might be a bowling type game).
Update: Two more rumored games are MTV Games-developed dance game called Dance Central (which might be the rumored Harmonix-tied Kinect title). A Disney-developed and a LucasArts Star Wars game are also in the works. We might get that Star Wars lightsaber game we’ve been waiting on since 2006.
