15th June 2010: Microsoft announces new Xbox 360 to launch with Kinect - video courtesy of Giant Bomb (Great idea, a quieter, smaller, better Xbox 360 to get Kinect out to the masses. They'll have to push hard with advertising to get them sold at $299, I would've put it at $249 myself and everything else $50 lower. That'll still leave room for a price drop to $200 for the future. But if they manage to get these sold at $299 all the more power to them. The games that Kinect use speak for themselves, not to sort of game any current 360 owners will seriously want to play. Forza looked like it had a good idea but whether that will release as Forza 4 or Forza Kinect remains to be seen. I would go for the latter, there's more money and a bigger fan-base to be made be separating core and casual releases. It may convince the casuals to buy regular Forzas and cores to buy Kinect Forzas.)


14th June 2010: At the Natal Experience event Project Natal became Kinect for Xbox 360 (I've heard worse names, a bit too close to Connect 4 for my liking)

Games Announced for Kinect

Kinect Sports. Featuring Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Bowling, Football (Soccer), Table Tennis and Track and Field (To be expected, you cannot take on Wii without eating into their Wii Sports market)

Kinect Adventures. Four player, currently known modes are River Rafting and an Ostacle Course (I like the sound of an Ostacle Course, River Rafting gives me bad memories of the Wii)

Kinectamals: Pet game that focuses on wild cats such as Lions, Tigers and Cheetahs (It's a change from puppies and kittens, they'll have to do something special and promote it heavily for Sarah Average Girl to want it.)

Joy Ride: The game that utilises 360 avatars, it's a former Xbox Live Arcade game that's now a Kinect game. (Avatars are one of the few pre-Kinect casual-gaming aspects, to be honest I'm surprised it has been pushed more, maybe later in the week.)

Dance Central: A dance game, rumoured to be made by Harmonix. (Something for all casual fans with this addition too the collection. Wouldn't be surprised if Harmonix was involved though I doubt it would affect its sales as the casual fan doesn't know Harmonix unless you told them they were "the Rock Band people")

Star Wars game: 3rd person, features an unknown Jedi protagonist. Darth Vader is apparently a boss. Lucas Arts will likely be involved. (Positive: A big name like Star Wars is just the ticket to get Kinect out there to the current 360 user-base. Negative: If the player doesn't have control over the player and can only use his/her lightsaber at pre-set events I can't see many core players being interested.)

12th June 2010: E3 2010 Microsoft Updates page is a go (Facts go outside of the brackets, my opinion goes in them)