It’s a heck of a day to start writing about gaming as today Microsoft launch their brand new hands-free device they have called Kinect (formerly Project Natal). The device works with your existing XBox 360 console and means that you can now play games, start and stop movies and interact with your console like never before. Quite literally, your body is the controlling device!
Microsoft put on a glitzy opening ceremony in Germany to launch the device which went on sale last night at midnight. The controller (or receiver I guess?) itself costs £130 (€149) and Microsoft are billing this as the next big thing.
I guess the nearest we’ve seen to this sort of gaming before is the Nintendo Wii but even that requires 1 or two controllers to play the game and was responsible for quite a number of smashed LCD TVs when it was first introduced into the market back in 2006. Nintendo aren’t too far behind though as they are both bringing out devices to match Microsoft’s Kinect called Nintendo Wii Plus and Sony PlayStation Move but could the fact that Microsoft have got their device out first mean they have a good enough head-start for the others to catch up? I guess time will tell but in the meantime, these are going to sell like hot cakes before Christmas and no doubt it’s going to be top of many people’s Christmas list!
You can buy XBox Kinect here or check out the video below to view Kinect in action!
