Something went wrong. Try again later

Giant Bomb News

65 Comments

Microsoft Announces Tons of Partnerships, Kinect Games At TGS

A handful of notable Japanese game creators are making their very own Kinect games.

Microsoft's TGS 2010 press conference wasn't without its share of surprises. The publisher unveiled a smattering of Kinect-exclusive titles that are all being crafted by Japanese studios. In all, details were kept light on each announced title, but as Shacknews notes in its report, some big name developers, including Yukio Futatsugi, Goichi Suda, and Masaya Matsuura, will be behind some of the new stuff we'll see in the future.

In the interest of keeping you awake and alert through what would be a mound of text and names, here's a short list of the Kinect-exclusive, Microsoft-published titles:

Codename D
Microsoft Games Studios is partnering with Grasshopper Manufacture to produce this weird action title. The debut trailer at the press conference featured a protagonist lighting a baseball on fire and throwing it at enemies in some sort of haunted amusement park. Also, there was a man wearing a tiger mask. 
 

 

Project Draco
This is Yukio Futatsugi's Kinect-enabled title, which will have you babysitting and training a dragon until it develops the necessary skills to be a good combat buddy. Microsoft's PR bills it as more of an action title that stresses Xbox Live online battles, though given Futatsugi's involvement, many are excitedly viewing Draco as a spiritual successor to the Panzer Dragoon series.
 

No Caption Provided

== TEASER ==Haunt
Being developed by NanaOn-Sha, this is a haunted house title looks to combine puzzle solving and trap avoidance. Here's the official word: "you’ll need every ounce of your wit and cunning if you hope to unravel the veil of rumors that hide its darkest secret. Dodge traps and outwit ghosts, ghouls and frights that lurk with glee around each and every corner." 
 

No Caption Provided

Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor
Perhaps the most exciting of the bunch, this new Steel Battalion title won't require a massive, expensive controller (or any controller). You'll just need Kinect and your hands. Capcom and From Software are developing it, and though it's been announced, all the known details can be gleaned from the game's announcement trailer
 
  
  
 
Rise of Nightmares
According to Microsoft, Sega's Rise of Nightmares will "offer a spine-tingling horror experience" that we'll be able to feel with our entire bodies. Whoa
 

No Caption Provided

A few other titles were announced at the press conference as well, including an XBLA remake of Radiant Silvergun. As previously reported, it'll feature online co-op and better visuals and the ability to make eBay sellers cry. Fire Pro Wrestling by Spike, pictured just below, was announced, too. It'll feature our avatars as our wrestlers, but the game as a whole is being kept fairly under wraps. 
 


 
That's quite a bit of stuff. Is there anything in particular you're looking forward to? I've got a animal training itch that Pokemon hasn't scratched for me in years, so I'm definitely looking forward to Project Draco. Don't make fun of me.

65 Comments

Avatar image for deckard
deckard

447

Forum Posts

4

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 6

Edited By deckard

Controlling dragons! WIth my hands! Truly the future is upon us. SIgh.

Avatar image for count_zero
count_zero

492

Forum Posts

4797

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 51

User Lists: 13

Edited By count_zero

I'm not too impressed with the Fire Pro Kinect game concept to me, as part of the appeal of that series to me is the fact that I'm basically playing as real wrestlers from Japan and the US with the serial-numbers filed off, in real arenas with the serial-numbers filed off, for real promotions (with, again, the serial numbers filed off). 
 
Until I get some hands on time with this game, I'll pass.

Avatar image for damien
Damien

1378

Forum Posts

668

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By Damien

This sounds promising, but the finished product still needs to be good.

Avatar image for michaelbach
MichaelBach

975

Forum Posts

75

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By MichaelBach

The walkers in steel betalion looks pretty awesome.

Avatar image for eijikun
Eijikun

69

Forum Posts

31

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By Eijikun

Prah...ject...Draco. Please please please.

Avatar image for ariesdog
AriesDog

41

Forum Posts

25

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By AriesDog
Avatar image for fokismoney
FokisMoney

55

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By FokisMoney
@Tordah:  dont want to burst your bubble but steel battlion is a sequel and fire pro is maybe a sequel (or spin off if its JUST avatars) still interesting line up and good to be thinking outside the box.
Avatar image for sin4profit
Sin4profit

3505

Forum Posts

1621

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 37

User Lists: 2

Edited By Sin4profit

I still want to see a controller for Kinect like the move wand...nothin stopin them from comin up with their own.

Avatar image for cannedstingray
cannedstingray

528

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By cannedstingray

Have your say here...

Avatar image for slaveone
SlaveOne

12

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By SlaveOne

There is some potentially cool stuff in there. I hope they don't mess it up.

Avatar image for authenticm
AuthenticM

4404

Forum Posts

12323

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

Edited By AuthenticM

Am I in the minority when I say that I don't care at all for any of these games?

Avatar image for teh_pwnzorer
teh_pwnzorer

1493

Forum Posts

10

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By teh_pwnzorer
@Orestes said:
" i am slighty optimistic when it comes to kinect.  i have some faith that someone smarter than me will find some good use for this device.  "
Paperweight or doorstop.
Avatar image for death_unicorn
Death_Unicorn

2879

Forum Posts

12136

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 6

Edited By Death_Unicorn

This is more in line with the types of games I'd like to see with motion-based hardware.

Avatar image for poltergeist13
poltergeist13

100

Forum Posts

16694

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 6

Edited By poltergeist13

Project Draco, Codename D, & Steel Battalion returning.....some tasty morsels indeed.  Radiant Silvergun remake by Treasure....there is nothing more awesome than this. Looks like its taking Japanese devs to bring some core games to Kinect.

Avatar image for hy8rid
HY8RiD

25

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By HY8RiD
@Akeldama: Haha Agreed.
Avatar image for akeldama
Akeldama

4373

Forum Posts

28

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By Akeldama
@xyzygy said:

" @Akeldama said:

" Good luck aiming and firing weapons on Natal. "
It's called a cursor, and it's been proven to work in Child of Eden.  "
If I werent a lazy slob, I would have made a GIF of Kevin Butler with his gun hands. How is a cursor gonna help you with the actual firing? How will you be able to accurately and reliably tell your system you are firing?  
 
Pew pew pew.
Avatar image for xyzygy
xyzygy

10595

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By xyzygy
@Akeldama said:
" Good luck aiming and firing weapons on Natal. "
It's called a cursor, and it's been proven to work in Child of Eden. 
Avatar image for akeldama
Akeldama

4373

Forum Posts

28

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By Akeldama

Good luck aiming and firing weapons on Natal.

Avatar image for feser
Feser

546

Forum Posts

1638

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By Feser

Does anyone else find it odd that Japannese studio is making a World War 2 style game where you defend the American Homeland from an evil invasion? It's like a US company making a game where you are Ace pilot defending your home of Hamburg from US strategic bombing in WW2.
Avatar image for salad10203
salad10203

684

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By salad10203
@xyzygy:  It definitely is hardcore, but I think it is too niche.  I would've been happier with a hardcore fps, rpg, or any other genre besides mechs to be honest.  But I guess your right, it still does classify as hardcore. 
Avatar image for tordah
Tordah

2604

Forum Posts

621

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 10

Edited By Tordah

Can't really comment on any of those titles without seeing any gameplay first. 
 
None of them are sequels, so that's a good thing, I hope.

Avatar image for xyzygy
xyzygy

10595

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By xyzygy
@salad10203: Steel Battalion is only semi-hardcore? lol
Avatar image for orestes
Orestes

47

Forum Posts

222

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

Edited By Orestes

i am slighty optimistic when it comes to kinect. 
i have some faith that someone smarter than me will find some good use for this device. 

Avatar image for salad10203
salad10203

684

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By salad10203

Optimistic Me - Suprising line up semi-hardcore games.
Pessimistic Me - It will never work with motion controls.

Avatar image for battletoad
Battletoad

146

Forum Posts

1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 8

Edited By Battletoad

Im very skeptical of Steel Battalion on Kinect. Take a game that required 40+ buttons to operate, put it on a system that cannot detect individual fingers or even wrist movement? Seems like it would have to be drastically simplified to work, which kind of defeats the purpose of calling it Steel Battalion in the first place. Definitely a wait and see title for me.
Avatar image for nibi
nibi

21

Forum Posts

3

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By nibi

Really excited by what I saw. Nice lineup for the core audience and some solid title for Kinect. 

Avatar image for xyzygy
xyzygy

10595

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By xyzygy
@journeys said:
" Folks don't get ahead of yourselves.  This was a trailer...it did not show how kinect was being used to control the game.  What did Kinect add to the game?  As of right now they have not shown anything. "
We're just excited to see games like Draco (Panzer Dragoon) and Steel Battalion actually coming back. Sure we don't know what the gameplay will be like but does that mean we can't be excited for the fact that these franchises are coming back?
Avatar image for battletoad
Battletoad

146

Forum Posts

1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 8

Edited By Battletoad

Announce a game that will either be later revealed to be an official Panzer Dragoon game, or one so close in character design that it might as well be, and I buy your system. I'm really easy to please like that. 
 
Panzer Dragoon, Zwei, and Orta are already on rails, no navigation controller-type setup required. The lock-on shooting mechanics would work just fine, as Child of Eden shows. Moving the dragon from side to side could only require leaning in the appropriate direction. Rotating the camera view should be easy enough with gestures.  
 
This seems like a perfect fit for where Kinect's controls stand at the present time. 
 
Avatar image for ___pocalypse
___pocalypse

566

Forum Posts

253

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By ___pocalypse

I wasn't all that interested in Kinect before, but these games could end up being worth getting it.  We'll see how they develop! Not gonna lie, I totally want a dragon.

Avatar image for manlybeast
ManlyBeast

1234

Forum Posts

49

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 6

Edited By ManlyBeast

good for people that care for kinect I guess.

Avatar image for journeys
journeys

40

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By journeys

Folks don't get ahead of yourselves.  This was a trailer...it did not show how kinect was being used to control the game.  What did Kinect add to the game?  As of right now they have not shown anything.

Avatar image for karmann
Karmann

606

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By Karmann

...all I have to say is, meh.

Avatar image for mistermouse
MisterMouse

3608

Forum Posts

272

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 5

Edited By MisterMouse

It will be interesting to see how these games play.

Avatar image for vormitag
vormitag

10

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By vormitag

I choose you, Dragonchu

Avatar image for kefkaesque
Kefkaesque

203

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Kefkaesque

Real Games, on your Kinect?
 
It's more likely than you think!

Avatar image for get2sammyb
get2sammyb

6686

Forum Posts

1993

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 4

Edited By get2sammyb

The games sound fine for sure; but how will they play? I mean, I can't imagine what I'll actually be doing in some of them?

Avatar image for piranesi
Piranesi

467

Forum Posts

20

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 6

Edited By Piranesi

Steel Battalion + Kinect = happy, happy, joy, joy
Avatar image for themasterds
TheMasterDS

3018

Forum Posts

7716

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 31

Edited By TheMasterDS

This sounds like a really solid line up for Japan. I hope they're into it, because it sounds perfect for them.

Avatar image for shabs
Shabs

906

Forum Posts

312

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 4

Edited By Shabs

Very impressive showing. This is what Microsoft needed at E3. I'm not personally excited for these until I hear details, but these Kinect titles are legit games aimed at the current 360 audience. 
 
My only worry is that Japanese studios often expect gamers to put up with more obtuse control schemes than Western-developed games so there might be some element of fighting the controls even with Kinect for these titles.

Avatar image for korax
Korax

261

Forum Posts

8107

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 14

Edited By Korax

Damn. I was hoping that Tiger mask was actually Skittles going berserk on the player.

Avatar image for mrklorox
MrKlorox

11220

Forum Posts

1071

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By MrKlorox

For real? MS is finaly allowing the avatars to hurt eachother/get hurt?
 
And FYI Kinect IS a controller. So Steel Battalion is in a similar situation as before. Except that there are other games that will use the controller.
 
How has the Japanese public reaction been to Kinect? Do they think it's garbage just because it's for the 360? Even the American public has been against it because of their complete and total lack of imagination.
 
edit: Also Project Draco seems more like Seaman than Panzer Dragoon. At least early on.

Avatar image for sanitysend
Sanitysend

97

Forum Posts

253

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 4

Edited By Sanitysend

Hey some kinect titles that seem more interesting than petting a virtual cat!

Avatar image for professoress
ProfessorEss

7962

Forum Posts

160

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 11

Edited By ProfessorEss
@teh_pwnzorer said:   

Enjoy the worst controls in the history of computer-human interaction.

Personally I feel the WiiMote already bottomed things out as far as controls go. So even if I scored Kinect's controls 0/10, that'll still be within the status quo of motion controls as far as I'm concerned.
Avatar image for cartoons4andy
cartoons4andy

24

Forum Posts

62

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

Edited By cartoons4andy

Now this is more like it - video games on the Kinect!  I guess well will have to start paying attention to it next year.

Avatar image for xyzygy
xyzygy

10595

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By xyzygy
@teh_pwnzorer: As you can see from that video they were swapping players.You need to scan yourself with Kinect to measure your body size and the length of your arms, etc before you can accurately play a game. Swapping players will screw the whole thing up.
Avatar image for milkman
Milkman

19372

Forum Posts

-1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 3

Edited By Milkman

Not going to lie, that wrestling game is probably the most exciting thing to me.

Avatar image for steve_c
Steve_C

1768

Forum Posts

1897

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By Steve_C

It seemed pretty impressive seeing some of the creators and old titles they're bringing back for this. At the end of the day though, they're still kinect games. We'll have to see how deep these games actually are.

Avatar image for man_flannel
MAN_FLANNEL

2472

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By MAN_FLANNEL

Wow, Kinect might not be a giant piece of crap.  Those games seemed pretty cool.