Microsoft’s Kinect has been available to the public for a week and the general consensus is a bit mixed. Some folks seem to dig it, some love it and other couldn’t give a damn about it right now as there’s nothing worth wild to play for the Kinect. Even putting aside the technical issues with the Kinect, one of the biggest issue people have with it right now is how there aren’t any compelling or core centric games available for it. As I’ve said before, the Kinect launch line-up is probably the most casual centric software release I’ve ever seen and that’s a damn shame.
But next year core gamers will get the games they want as Kinect GM Kudo Tsunoda confirmed that both Kinect Star Wars and Forza Kinect will be released next year. Speaking to the BBC, Kudo revealed that Kinect Star Wars is set for a Holiday 2011 release, which will probably make it one of Microsoft’s big, if not the biggest, Xbox 360 exclusives for next year. Speaking about future Kinect releases, Kudo also revealed that the Kinect version of Forza Motorsport is also on deck for next year as well, though a specific time frame wasn’t mentioned.
Both Kinect Star Wars and Forza Kinect made their debut at Microsoft’s E3 presentation earlier this year and the initial impressions weren’t that good. Kinect Star Wars has the chance at being a godly game experience but the seemingly on-rails nature of the game and slightly thrown together look of the demo didn’t really send the hype train into hyperdrive for those who watched the video. Forza Kinect on the other hand has the potential to provide an enhanced racing experience (head tracking ftw) but using the Kinect may not become the default control method for the racing enthusiasts out there.
I sure hope they improve on the SW massively, the E3 showing looked horrendous. It has promise but they have a lot of work to do. Forza could be epic too.
