Kinect Beta Includes A Dashboard Update, Kinect, And Games

Remember those Kinect beta invites Microsoft was supposedly sending to a chosen few prospective participants a week ago? The emails have been proven as genuine, as at least one beta user is already shredding up his NDA and leaking information and showing off a much sleeker, Kinect-enabled dashboard.

Joystiq has some hot screen grabs of the said dashboard, which we assumed was coming with the launch of the Kinect hardware. As a whole, the dash appears to be less bulky, both in-game and out. Its colors are a lot more sensible and refined, too, much like the new, more human-like avatar that Rare has been working on.

But the coolest thing about the beta isn't the new dash. It's the fact that participants are set to receive Kinect devices and three Kinect-enabled games: Kinect Adventures, Kinect Sports, and Kinect Joy Ride. That's quite a haul, if you ask me and I'm guessing we'll hear a lot more about the device and these titles as Microsoft gets the items into every participants' hands, even though the selection e-mails specifically tell those chosen few things like "DO NOT Talk with the media or press about the beta materials. This includes bloggers, newspaper reporters, and television reporters."

Kinect launches on November 4 in the US. As previously reported, it'll be packed in with copies of Kinect Adventures for $150. There's also a 4GB console bundle that will retail on the same day that includes the Kinect device and a copy of Kinect Adventures for $300.