Xbox Natal renamed "Kinect", allows you to fight Darth Vader...

[Jason]

USA Today apparently inadvertently leaked the news earlier today, but it's now been confirmed from those in the know that Project Natal is going to be known as "Kinect" (see what they did there?), and amongst the usual family-friendly rubbish masquerading as launch titles will be a Star Wars-licensed game that allows you to fight with a lightsaber by waving your arms about.

Details will no doubt soon be all over the internet, but the word on the street is that it looks pretty damn awesome.

[Lance]

May be interesting - might want to add in more than Vader to make it a game though :lol: Personally I wanna be able to slice Luke's hand off myself.

I don't get why they needed to change the name though - Natal's a decent enough name, everyone was use to it (even if it is just a project name) and sounds better than Kinect. But still - if the level of game being made is better than the Wiis, I may just get this.

[Jason]

I'm intrigued, but concerned about the tech. Apparently early developers have been having all kinds of tech issues (http://www.mature-gamers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13465&postcount=5) with it, so I'll likely wait a few months before putting hand to pocket.

[MyNameDidntFit]

Personally until I can see something that says something other that 'party game' or 'novelty item' to me, I'm not going near motion controllers.

[Jason]

I'm more inclined to investigate Natal Kinect than I am the PS Move, simply because the price of Kinect is rumoured to be not much more than a new full-price game, and it's worth it if there are some decent party games to be had.

[JustaBitOutside]

I'm with you on the party game thing MNDF! Lame lame lame.

[Anne]

Aw, I love party games! But I admit that we do get together with other people kind of a lot, so we make good use of them too.

And while I will probably wait for them to get any glitches out before I buy one, I have to admit that I'm pretty darn excited about the Kinect. I'm a sucker for anything new and shiny.

[MyNameDidntFit]

Don't get me wrong, I love party games too. It's just that things like Wii and this are... not really suited to the way my mates and I party. TVs totalled, bones broken and lives lost is how that would end up :p


I'm really just waiting for something like this that can actually be played for fun by yourself when you're sober.

[Jason]

Mario Party and Fusion Frenzy are hands down the best party games I've ever played. Neither required you to move much, but that tends to matter little in the heat of battle when you're all jumping around like lunatics through sheer excitement (plus a desire to 'accidentally' disconnect a rival's controller).

[Serio]

In my eyes, it's no worse than Move or the Wii controls. And some of the applications they showed actually looked quite interesting. Heck, I'm even surprised it didn't mistake some of the hand gestures made during the demonstration.

I'm really just waiting for something like this that can actually be played for fun by yourself when you're sober.
I don't think you'd want to be among other people when playing the dancing game they showed. People tend to react badly when you're kicking your legs and flapping your arms in a manner that makes it look like you're summoning an old, angry god.

[Jason]

In my eyes, it's no worse than Move or the Wii controls. And some of the applications they showed actually looked quite interesting. Heck, I'm even surprised it didn't mistake some of the hand gestures made during the demonstration.

Apparently, Kinect doesn't register individual hand gestures, which makes me wonder exactly how flexible the system is. I think realistically, the only time we're really going to know how well the system works is once the journos get their dirty mitts on it and really start testing it.

I don't think you'd want to be among other people when playing the dancing game they showed. People tend to react badly when you're kicking your legs and flapping your arms in a manner that makes it look like you're summoning an old, angry god.

:lol: - I smell a meme coming from that video... someone's already superimposed the 'Guile' music from Streetfighter over it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTYtH28esTg

[Jason]

Apparently, retailers have agreed amongst themselves that the launch price will be in the region of $150. Expect the next couple of months to be full of furious undercutting and counter-promotions.

Whilst it's not extortionate for what is undoubtedly a complex bit of hardware, it's not increased my chances of getting one - it's basically half the price of a brand new 360 for an unproven piece of hardware, and with the launch games on offer so far, I can't see the hardcore gamers (who are often the ones who stump up for consoles etc at launch prices) being too excited about this one.

[dimples]

I don't even know how to say Kinect :D Natal was much better. But in the end it's just a name

[Lance]

I don't even know how to say Kinect :D Natal was much better. But in the end it's just a name

It sounds more like a new lego set actually....

[MyNameDidntFit]

Mechano?

[Landy]

Nothing beats the Wii when it comes to motion controllers, IMO. Although i love my Wii, i normally just play it when I got friends over. For anything else i use the 360 and PC.

[Steph]

I went in Gamestation today on my lunch and asked the guy about this Kinect and if it was worth buying. He said it looks like a lot of fun, but I'm still not really convinced.
It's like a £10 deposit at the moment which comes off the price when they get informed ... the guy thinks it'll be roughly £100?

I want it to be good and I want to buy it, but I have a bad feeling about it haha.

[Konrad]

Nothing beats the Wii when it comes to motion controllers, IMO. Although i love my Wii, i normally just play it when I got friends over. For anything else i use the 360 and PC.

Has anything else really tried? The PS3 Move isn't out yet, neither is "Kinect". The Wii doesn't exactly have much competition in motion control unless you count the Eye Toy, which is just so retarded you shouldn't.

[Jason]

I went in Gamestation today on my lunch and asked the guy about this Kinect and if it was worth buying. He said it looks like a lot of fun, but I'm still not really convinced.
It's like a £10 deposit at the moment which comes off the price when they get informed ... the guy thinks it'll be roughly £100?

I want it to be good and I want to buy it, but I have a bad feeling about it haha.

Yeah, £100 looks about right at the moment. I definitely won't be getting it at launch, and unless Microsoft can come up with a real killer app for it, I may not bother at all. Motion Control is still too gimmicky for my taste.