Microsoft shows off Kinect at E3 event

By Ellie Gibson Published 14 June, 2010

Sports! Star Wars! Dance! Yoga! Tigers!

Microsoft has been showing off the Xbox 360 add-on previously known as Project Natal at a pre-E3 event in Los Angeles. No date or price was discussed at the event, although marketing materials pointed to a November launch.

The event was put together by Cirque du Soleil. The audience got to watch performers play a wide range of Kinect titles, including racing game Joyride and the previously seen River Rush. Turns out River Rush is not a standalone game but one element of a bigger game which, according to USA Today, is titled Kinect Adventures.

It features another mini-game shown today in which players must jump and wave their arms to collect virtual floating balls. The image on-screen was of players' avatars standing on a mine cart-type platform as it moved through a tunnel.

Check out the first Kinect product photographs, and snaps from the premiere event, including one of the fabled elephant.

News of a deal with Disney was confirmed with a brief animation of Tinkerbell, but no games were shown. There was footage, however, of a new Star Wars game. The audience watched a man on stage wave a virtual lightsaber as his on-screen counterpart took out waves of droids.

Next up was what looked like a yoga or tai chi title. The Kinect camera is able to recognise individual joints in the body and the game seemed to use this to analyse their alignment.

1

This was followed by Kinect Sports, another collection of mini-games. Two teams of performers played bowling, beach volleyball and football, tackled hurdles and threw javelins. A huge virtual crowd cheered them on from the sidelines.

Then there was Kinectimals, a game which allows players to pet big cats. A girl on stage played with a tiger cub and taught it to copy her movements.

Microsoft is teaming up with MTV for Dance Central. An avatar on the screen performed dance moves and a player copied them. When he was unable to keep up, the avatar repeated the moves at a slower rate.

Finally, video chat was demonstrated. It looks like you'll be able to show the person you're talking to still photographs while you chat.

Microsoft did not reveal a price point or announce a definitive release date; a press release says Kinect is still "coming to living rooms around the world this holiday", marketing says November. Expect more news on Monday when Microsoft holds its proper E3 conference. Visit Eurogamer for our live blog of the event and all the news as it happens.

A model family plays a range of Kinect titles.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (87) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • laharl80 #1 2 years ago

    You forgot to mention the fetching kkk poncho.

  • degville #2 2 years ago

    Haha it gets more like Eyetoy every day remember Kinetic....

  • spudsbuckley #3 2 years ago

    So no actual games then?

  • davisorle #4 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • Stompy #5 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 23:13:35 17-04-2012

  • Stompy #6 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 23:13:35 17-04-2012

  • RedPanda #7 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • bdaggers #8 2 years ago

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOKCjFyDTq8

    Gameplay

  • des #9 2 years ago

    MS conference is today,not tomorrow...i think

  • spudsbuckley #10 2 years ago

    That gameplay video is embarassing.

  • anomagnus #11 2 years ago

    the star wars game sounds like it has potential to be cool. i like the idea of the force push

    But i know lucasarts will fuck it up.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #12 2 years ago

    Kinectimals?

    That just doesn't work. Are they dropping acid over there?

  • Harmonica #13 2 years ago

    Jesus, that bunch of painfully WASPish actors playing the game in their Lovely House.

  • Harmonica #14 2 years ago

    Anyway, motion sports games without holding controllers, if they're any good, that'll do me.

  • NotSoSlim #15 2 years ago

    That gameplay vid was shocking, who are MS trying to kid? Themselves?

  • Lee_Morris #16 2 years ago

    Wow I didn't expect all the announced titles to sound so generic. I will reserve final judgement till I see the 'games' in action.
    The name isn't that bad but I can't see it catching on with the crowd they're obviously after.

    As I've always thought though, more games using the voice recognition please.

  • bdaggers #17 2 years ago

    The vid is shite. Showed it to my two sons (7 and 4) and they hardly paid any interest.

    No visible signs of feedback on the screen - you might as well be jumping while someone else presses the button

    Where's the killer app ?

  • Geordiemp #18 2 years ago

    OMG - That Vid was worse than Wii

    I felt sick at the point where the kid went good job mom in his whiny USA accent.

    NO LAG though (LOL).

  • dr_zoidthrob #19 2 years ago

    Odd that it's black and not white like the *current* Xbox

    EDIT: AH, this might explain the colour - [link url=http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/13/xbox-360-slim-outed-by-italian-ad/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+weblogsinc/engadget+(Engadget)&utm_content=Netvibes
    ]http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/13/xbox-...[/link]


    (ooh, snappy URL)
    Edited by dr_zoidthrob at 14/06/10 @ 08:08

  • Dolly #20 2 years ago

    Nice that they've actually added air vents to Big Bills Self-Combusting Engine this time.

  • Yossarian #21 2 years ago

    Significant latency is visible even in that video.

  • mgillespie #22 2 years ago

    Hmm, everyone dressed in VERY carefully selected clothing there.... Anyone that thinks Natal will actually work in the real world, outside a carefully controlled lab is frankly an idiot.

    I find it incredible that Microsoft actually think gamers are stupid enough to waste more hard earned cash on new Microsoft hardware, when the last 2 have been total disasters, and have screwed gamers over royally.

    They rushed it out before Sony, as as a result, it didn't have Blu-Ray, it didn't have Wifi, it didn't have HDMI, it didn't even work. Sure over the last 5 years they have made a Wifi dongle and made gamers buy a equally unreliable HDMI version if they wanted HDMI, but come on.

    Do they REALLY think gamers are stupid enough to make the same mistake again?

  • Bitkari #23 2 years ago

    Great name.

  • LeD #24 2 years ago

    Well, that doesn't look so hot. I already own a shitty motion controlled gaming system, thanks but no thanks.

  • Skurmedel #25 2 years ago

    Those kids will never be able to look their parents in the eyes again.

  • INSOMANiAC #26 2 years ago

    A little bit of me died inside when I watched that gameplay video, what an absolute bag of vomit inducing wankleberries

  • smelly #27 2 years ago

    eye toy + shit wii games = kinect


    cant wait!

  • Syrette #28 2 years ago

    I'm as unsure about Kinect as the next guy, but I think it'd be more fair of us to at least see what they have to show in their proper conference later on today. This conference was about the product itself, hopefully their keynote later on will reveal some more substantial news about the games themselves.

  • Negotiator #29 2 years ago

    You haters are idiots, and I am being serious. For the first time we have tech that is a leap over anything else on the market, and all you fools can say is it looks crap. Like it or not but from the few titles they showed in that apple pie video it looks better than anything on Wii. Its full body motion control, if you jump the avatar jumps etc, no more having to hold a stupid controller to mimic movment like moving forward, jumping just movment in general.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #30 2 years ago

    Also, their living room is bigger than the footprint of my whole house !
    I wanna see some vids of this thing working in a regular living room or even a bedroom...

  • john_gunn #31 2 years ago

    What the hell is this shit?

    Can the last actual gamer left in the world please turn off the light when they're done?

  • Beano #32 2 years ago

    "No visible signs of feedback on the screen - you might as well be jumping while someone else presses the button"

    A thing I noticed ... in the dance sections the on-screen characters were dancing in perfect sync together while the kids were not moving together - meaning the players were mimicking the onscreen action, and not the other way. That could be the gameplay of that section, or the video is another fake.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #33 2 years ago

    Finally, video chat was demonstrated.

    Pfft. M$ ripping off Apple again. Everybody knows Steve Jobs just invented video chat last week.

  • INSOMANiAC #34 2 years ago

    '' You haters are idiots, and I am being serious. For the first time we have tech that is a leap over anything else on the market, and all you fools can say is it looks crap. Like it or not but from the few titles they showed in that apple pie video it looks better than anything on Wii. Its full body motion control, if you jump the avatar jumps etc, no more having to hold a stupid controller to mimic movment like moving forward, jumping just movment in general. ''

    Ahhh, I wondered how long before Peter Molyneux turned up
    Edited by INSOMANiAC at 14/06/10 @ 09:02

  • Syrette #35 2 years ago

    Haha, -2 for saying "well they've actually got another game-revealing conference in a few hours guys, best to be a bit more patient"?

    You guys...

  • Syrette #36 2 years ago

    That video is atrocious, admittedly.

    I can't wait till someone trips over whilst doing that hurdles game.

  • Kerome #37 2 years ago

    Looks kinda fun, the gf will like it. Maybe a bit too active for long-term play though, I don't imagine most people will be able to keep that up for more than 10 minutes tops. Buying decision postponed until launch ;)
    Edited by Kerome at 14/06/10 @ 09:08

  • Kadayi #38 2 years ago

    I'm not too sure whether the old lady downstairs would appreciate me and my friends galumphing up and down whilst playing those games tbh.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #39 2 years ago

    I still think it looks OK, actually. Their lineup looks like it covers the casual games market better than You're In The Movies and Lips did.

    It's looking more and more like it'll have little impact on 'core' games, unless this evening's conference changes matters, but that's OK, 360 still has a very good, well supported traditional controller available.

  • Syrette #40 2 years ago

    HOLD UP

    "Galumphing" is a real word?!

  • gylo #41 2 years ago

    JUMP MOM!..... JUMP!

  • Dolly #42 2 years ago

    As awful as that video was, I would still boff that kids 'Mom'. Kinetic meets Kleenex.

  • muscleblade #43 2 years ago

    @PatAU

    Its still the most played console by far with the most satisfied owners. I dont think you have one. Im i right?

  • JonFE #44 2 years ago

    @Beano:
    "...in the dance sections the on-screen characters were dancing in perfect sync together while the kids were not moving together - meaning the players were mimicking the onscreen action, and not the other way..."

    I think this has already been mentioned in the article:
    "Microsoft is teaming up with MTV for Dance Central. An avatar on the screen performed dance moves and a player copied them. When he was unable to keep up, the avatar repeated the moves at a slower rate."

    EDIT: Rating a comment down just for repeating what's mentioned in the actual article, is great use of the karma system...
    Edited by JonFE at 14/06/10 @ 09:51

  • spudsbuckley #45 2 years ago

    While this does look utter shit, it will sell by the truckload just like the Wii. We gamers are no longer the most lucrative market

    Real games for real gamers are going to put on the back burner in the future in favour of Waggle Tat 2012.

  • des #46 2 years ago

    "All you marketing geniuses said the same about the Wii.

    No one will buy it cause of cheesy family gameplay videos, overpriced, stupid name and stupid games.

    People really forget how small a proportion of the game buying public come to sites like this. "


    Yeah,this thing is really bringing crazies out,just like Wii launch did.


  • Skurmedel #47 2 years ago

    paddy29: You don't have to take a crap on the product just because you think that video is unbearably cheesy :) It looks like something from TV-Shop. Granted, maybe I'm not the target demographic here.

  • IronGiant #48 2 years ago

    I'm already sick of hearing about natal, what a load off toss.. I'm looking forward to the tech being used for more interesting applications down the line. For gamers it's utter junk, I'll be avoiding the MS event like the plague, will just read the 'games' related stories afterwards.

  • Dylbot #49 2 years ago

    Wii Cavorts.

    *rimshot*

  • DrR0b3rts #50 2 years ago

    Ugh - that family. Remember the bit in American Werewolf in London when the deformed Nazi pig-men burst into the family home and massacre everyone? I kept willing them to appear.

  • drumbaby #51 2 years ago

    Does a twee fake family using a lame looking gaming device really need a room that fugging huge?

  • Dylbot #52 2 years ago

    In all seriousness though, that trailer was painful to watch. Then again, this isn't really aimed at us lot, it's aimed at the Wii Fit crowd, so it should sell pretty well.

    Just, please, developers. Please don't try to shoehorn support for this travesty into real games. If you come up with a good idea based around it from the start, great. If you're making waggle-fests for the bored housewives wanting to get some meagre interaction from the children they've let technology raise, go for it. Just don't force us to use this bloody thing in a game that really doesn't need it. I implore you.

  • Praetorianer #53 2 years ago

    DAMMIT! I puked on my laptop when I watched the gameplay vid! Now it stinks in here and the keyboard feels sluggish. Thanks, Microsoft!

  • deadlock17 #54 2 years ago

    "The audience watched a man on stage wave a virtual lightsaber as his on-screen counterpart took out waves of droids."

    Don't tease us with the Geektacular stuff. Wheres the footage?

  • CallousB #55 2 years ago

    I'm interested in the Star wars game..although if Lucasarts had half a brain it would have been released 6 months ago on the Wii (they must really hate Nintendo if they are willing to leave that much money on the table). Stil..Star Wars looks like it'll be a 2012 release to me considering the pre-rendered nature of the video (maybe christmas 2011..if we're lucky.

    The other stuff..I'm not so sure about. It might sell to some 360 owners who want to get their families playing..but there's not much yet to get mainstream Wii owners to switch.
    Edited by CallousB at 14/06/10 @ 10:09

  • mcmonkeyplc #56 2 years ago

    Are people ignoring the Star Wars game on purpose cause we haven't seen a video yet?

    If that's any good I'll get this, fuck I'll probably get it just to control my xbox dashboard!

  • Stratix #57 2 years ago

    "Next up was what looked like a..." Yoda? Oh, yoga, damn.

    I'm not sure I like the name much, but then I said that about the Wii too...

  • TheRealBadabing #58 2 years ago

    Was hoping to be impressed by some real software for this thing but I'm not seeing anything there that couldn't be done just as badly with the Wii.

  • JetSetWilly #59 2 years ago

    Beyond awful.

  • CallousB #60 2 years ago

    You can see Star Wars at the end of this clip. -

    http://videos.videogameszone.de/v/35iRUQ...

  • Retroid #61 2 years ago

    Ugh.

    My interest in this extends only to using it for interfaces. Directly controlling a dancing avatard can fuck right off.

  • Alterego-X #62 2 years ago

    "All you marketing geniuses said the same about the Wii. "

    It still wouldn't be a safe logic to say that "The Wii received criticism, and became a huge success, therefore everything else that is criticized by the hardcore must also become a huge success"

    Everything has naysayers. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong.

    In this case, I think the main selling point is not the weird name, the presence of colorful party games, or the ads, but the fact that Nintendo could always create SOFTWARE that the masses, (read: tens of millions of people) would go crazy for, while other developers failed at it even on Nintendo's proven popular platform, with its huge install base.

    They made Wii Fit, and the best reply was the ten times less popular EA Sports Active .
    They made Wii Play, and the best reply was the ten times less popular Carnival Games.

    What can non-Nintendo software developers hope to achieve on the smaller Kinect userbase, without such system-sellers?
    Edited by Alterego-X at 14/06/10 @ 10:19

  • IronGiant #63 2 years ago

    Star wars? Yes of course, in the movies the Jedi all fought just by waving their arms about.. A lightsaber game will be so much better on Move or even the Wii.

  • spudsbuckley #64 2 years ago

    You can see Star Wars at the end of this clip. -

    What i can also see in that clip is how the people on stage are having a hard time keeping up with what's going on on the screen. they're reacting to it, it's not reacting to them.

  • bodypopper #65 2 years ago

    @IronGiant
    "in the movies the Jedi all fought just by waving their arms about"

    They did actuallly. Using something called the Force if I remember. And how many kids (big and little) have pretended to have lightsaber fights using just their imagination?

    Kinect sounds like a Kraftwerk album to me.
    Edited by bodypopper at 14/06/10 @ 10:53

  • mossychops001 #66 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 11:49:27 04-05-2012

  • Beano #67 2 years ago

    "You can see Star Wars at the end of this clip."

    The footage shown at the dance show was not real gameplay - just a dancer/actor mimicking prerecorded Nata... damn it.... Kinect footage. But I expect we will see real demonstrations of Kinect at their event tonight.

  • Praetorianer #68 2 years ago

    I hope so...it has been so obviously a fake up to now...it made me blush due to the shame I felt for M$

  • I\'mListening #69 2 years ago

    This is all a far cry from the whole Milo thing they used to pitch this thing originally. That looked interesting, this looks...well...anyone else want to finish this one for me..?

  • TheJuriel #70 2 years ago

    Of course, no actual games. Pfft.

    Still, you can use it with regular games too, but the usefulness of that depends on the input lag... we'll see.

    It looks like just a gimmick this generation.

  • Praetorianer #71 2 years ago

    Oohhh I thought you might be delighted by this copypasta of reactions to the Nat....Kinectic event:

    20. @oliviamunn: Walked in late to Microsoft Natal E3 event with every single person in white rob shirt thing.... No. No, I don't want any koolaid, thank u.

    19. @jeffcannata: Yes, Kinect does nintendogs, too. But it is a tiger! Extreme!

    18. @mattbertz: Somewhere in Los Angeles, Nintendo is laughing

    17. @CheapyD: And the only thing better than playing motion control sports mini-games is watching video of other people playing them

    16. @Vahn16: That Star Wars trailer was so obviously pre-rendered. I think this event is actually making me angry with it's underwhelming-ness.

    15. @CheapyD: I'm in a marketing acid trip!

    14. @jwhdavison: At Microsoft thing. Wearing a white sheet, having stepped through a hole in the wall to be greeted by a family in multiple languages.

    13. @Vahn16: If any creepy dancing people touch me, I will fight them.

    12. @BenKuchera: Guys, you can take the ponchos off, it's called kinect and it has Wii Sports. We know already.

    11. @jeffcannata: You know what wod make this event better, Microsoft? Anything.


    9. @GI_AndyMc: In any other place this many people in white sheets would be hit with tear gas. I hate myself right now.

    8. @louiethecat: I don't know WTF to think about this but I am scurred and wanna go home.

    7. @Andrew_Reiner: I don't even know what to say...

    6. @jeffcannata: Microsoft now has a standing army.

    5. @jeffgerstmann: So does Sony rename their thing to Müv or Mooove or something now to complete in the misspelled motion controller wars?

    4. @Vahn16: From now on, when I'm embarassed, I'm going to imagine everyone in these ponchos.

    3.@andrew pfister: Can't wait to see what E3's closing ceremony is like.

    2.@Vahn16: The only way this could have been worse was if James Cameron came out and talked for two hours

    1. @GI_AndyMc: Now I know why Robbie Bach quit.
    Edited by Praetorianer at 14/06/10 @ 10:44

  • Beano #72 2 years ago

    "In any other place this many people in white sheets would be hit with tear gas. I hate myself right now."

    Classic :)

  • Weezer #73 2 years ago

    'Kinell. I hate this more than I thought I would.

  • captainrentboy #74 2 years ago

    ''Who the fuck is going to buy this crap?''
    Probably the same 18 Billion people that bought Just Dance, if MS can successfully tap into that market (Which they wont with adverts like that) then they'll be fooking laughing.
    The geek rage is rather amusing on here though, what exactly were you all expecting? All the leaks and vids up until now have been showing this same old shit. It appears Kinect isn't being aimed at the hardcore gaming crowd just yet, hopefully more interesting stuff will be released six months down the line.

  • spudsbuckley #75 2 years ago

    Lead ballooning amoung those in attendance?

    Good. Waggle is just an excuse for shovelware. Shit games are made to seem more entertianing because you're waving your arms around like a tard. Fair play to Ninty for kicking everyones ass with the Wii but i know mine hasn't be used since the release of the first Mario Galaxy. Don't infect 'proper' consoles with this garbage.

  • spiritsnake #76 2 years ago

    umm maybe my eyesight is not good but i dint see the kinect camera peripheral in those gameplay vids with the american family.where was it placed????

  • mossychops001 #77 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 11:49:27 04-05-2012

  • Alterego-X #78 2 years ago

    @captainrentboy: By 18 billion, you must mean 2 million.
    See my previous post.

    Apparently, one of the best selling non-nintendo casual games ever, couldn't sell as much as Wii Music, that was a relative failure for Nintendo.

    And that was still a normally priced game on a huge install base, unlike Kinect.
    Edited by Alterego-X at 14/06/10 @ 11:04

  • chrisno21 #79 2 years ago

    I feel ashamed and dirty for watching that video. Abysmal.

  • captainrentboy #80 2 years ago

    Ohh, Just Dance only sold 2 million did it? I genuinely thought it had sold more than two times the Earth's current population :/
    To be honest I couldn't care less if Kinect fails, I'm faaaar too fat and lazy to do any of the stuff in that video (I could maybe wave my hand in front of my face, that's it) and I doubt there will be any software that even remotely interests me for a good while yet. But I still believe if it's marketed right, especially that dancing title, it could be a whopping hit..... Just not with us whinging bastards.

  • theiceman #81 2 years ago

    Oh God! Why do americans always act like they are the perfect family?
    If this is the future of gaming then i'm gonna Dis-Kinect the consoles i have and get a ipad!!

  • theiceman #82 2 years ago

    Xb0x360+Kinect= FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL.
    Also,where are the games????????

  • s11mmy #83 2 years ago

    The lightSaber would suit PS Move perfectly

    Also, wheres Mylo?

  • local_celebrity #84 2 years ago

    What a wholesome family. As American as Momma's apple pie!

    Please chuck one of those kids on the fire.

  • ronuds #85 2 years ago

    Are these the kinds of comments we can look forward to all week? And will this be true of only MS events or all of them? Holy crap - are we grumpy today.

    Only negative comments, please - otherwise you're getting a minus!

  • Calgon #86 2 years ago

    "SDFGamer.net"

    Sounds more fitting each passing week.

    Twas a cheesey video no doubt --looks perfect for american TV though, doubt it's at all aimed at your typical mr SDF who plays nothing but UC2 and MotORstormz-- but it doesnt matter what they put out since most of the haters gave their game away too early, determined to see it fail, claim its shit when all you've seen is... not much. The whole event sounds like a marketing idea as in its all about the MTV audience when its aired on Tuesday, so it looks like most of us gamers can give that a miss and concentrate on E3, you know since it was basically a seperate event.... no need for all the negative overreactions.

    Que claims its still laggy and its overpriced too(haven't actually looked wouldn't suprise me at all if someone has been stupid enough) with nothing but SDF speculation to go off.
    Edited by Calgon at 14/06/10 @ 17:26

  • Pablo2k5 #87 2 years ago

    That looks sooooo gay. Will NOT buy into this shite.