LOS ANGELES — There's a growing movement in video games — motion control. And Microsoft's latest twist: Its new system for the Xbox 360, dubbed Kinect and being unveiled this week, requires no controller at all.
Nintendo started the wave with simplified, wireless, movement-sensing Wii controllers in late 2006. Since then, consumers have bought more than 28 million Wiis. (In comparison, sales of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are about 20 million and 12.3 million, respectively.)
MORE: Electronic Expo themes
At the Electronic Entertainment Expo game convention beginning today, both Sony and Microsoft will reveal new details about their motion control systems, due later this year.
Microsoft got a head start Sunday night by incorporating its game system and footage from new titles into a performance by Cirque Du Soleil at the University of Southern California. The performance troupe, which spent four months developing "a customized experience," took its inspiration for the event from Kinect, the official name of what had been known as Project Natal under development.
The 4-year-old Xbox 360 has long seemed targeted at hard-core gamers, with a controller that could be intimidating.
"For lots of people, that controller is a barrier," says creative director Kudo Tsunoda. "We set out to make a new control paradigm where anybody can get in and play, without having to read the instructions or learn a complicated set of controls."
Kinect's built-in camera and microphone (due later this year, no price set) uses facial and voice recognition to let you, for instance, log onto Xbox Live, start games and pause movies. And a new menu lets you choose games or services such as Netflix by simply reaching out and pointing toward the screen selection. Video chat lets Xbox 360 homes connect; the smart camera widens when another person enters the room.
Microsoft's Marc Whitten credits Nintendo with setting things in motion: "They have done some amazing things and brought new people to the category. This is fundamentally different. It's (about) my body being the controller (and) being able to communicate with just my voice to the system."
Among games in the works:
•Kinectimals lets you train and play with 20 different virtual cats, including a lion, cheetah and tiger.
•Joyride, a racing game, lets players use their hands to hold an imaginary steering wheel — pull your hands toward you and push back out for an acceleration boost — and their bodies to execute jumps and tricks.
•Kinect Sports has six activities including boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis. To serve a volleyball, you mimic the real motion; in soccer, you can kick the ball or do a header.
•Kinect Adventures includes a river-raft time trial and obstacle course, playable by up to four players. On the raft, playing as a duo, you and a partner must lean one way or another to steer. Jumping helps the raft reach special areas for extra points.
•Dance Central, in development by MTV Games, brings a So You Think You Can Dance experience home.
•Star Wars characters and iconic Disney favorites will be featured in separate new games being developed at Microsoft in conjunction with LucasArts and Disney.
"This is (Microsoft's) attempt to leapfrog the Wii and broaden the appeal of the Xbox," says Geoff Keighley of Spike's GameTrailers. "The questions are, 'Does the controller-free environment make (the Xbox 360) more accessible?' and 'Is it fun?' "
USA Today - http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2010-06-14-vidgame14_ST_N.htm
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