Earlier this evening, USA Today confirmed rumors of the official branding in advance of Microsoft's Cirque Du Soleil event, which is due to air on MTV this Tuesday. As expected, the hardware publisher has since announced Kinect at the event and even demoed several of the games that will use the device. The games announced and shown thus far won't be unfamiliar to those with a Wii sitting in their entertainment center. Microsoft is set to publish a collection of sports-themed mini-games called Kinect Sports, a river-rafting title named Kinect Adventures, and a pet-training game called Kinectimals.
Joy Ride, as rumored, is set to be a Kinect title and will eventually be joined by an MTV Games-developed dance game called Dance Central (which might be the rumored Harmonix-tied Kinect title). A Disney-developed and a LucasArtsStar Wars game are also in the works.
But most importantly, we'll be able to finally control the NXEMinority Report-style. According to USA Today, users with Kinect will be able to grab and intialize apps like Netflix with gestures. Freedom!
The general public will love it and it will sell by the boatloads. The rest of the people who actually play video games ("hardcore gamers", you could say) will scratch their heads and scream that Microsoft has forgotten their demographic.
I understand the argument but seriously, am I the only one who thought "Wii Sports" sounded just as lazy - regardless of whether it was "copied" or not?
Glad I'm not the only one who thinks that name sucks. Wave wasn't great but it wasn't a bad alternative either.
Also I think it's too late for a name change. It's been practically marketed as Natal for so long weve all gotten used to calling it that. And will casual gamers who don't keep up on gaming news ( ie the people its made for) know about the change or simply think it's something else?
" Lmao- "Kinect Sports" I loved the 360, but now they are ripping off the wii so blatantly... If Playstation Move launches with "Move Sports" im just going to sit the rest of this generation out. "
"Move Sports" was the first game announced for the thing.
Microsoft should have announced the proper name for their glorified Eyetoy camera a lot sooner than this in my opinion and that was a mistake. The Natal name has been adopted by the press and gaming public for months now. Thus making it honestly friendlier and easier to say. The way Kinect is spelled is unattractive and I don't even like to say it. Just curious to see how this does once it's released and i'm not seeing much right now.
My personal interest in Natal is slim to almost none now but i'll still call it Natal whenever I talk about it.
kinect is a stupid name. Everything that moves is kinetic, so it's basically a fancy way for them to say Microsoft Move. It doesn't connect in anyway the original 360 does so that's bullshit also. It's just a stupid marketing name.
@camozombie: Aw, c'mon, I thought it was clever :( but yes, I do admit it does sound horrible though and it doesn't exactly look nice when written either. But who knows, there might be a game where you can virtually punch Microsoft's marketing team in the face.
@Jeffk38uk We may have blasted Natal, but Kinect is probably one of the worst names for a thing I've ever heard. This is just yet another reason why I'm not buying this crap.
Also, someone totally called the name Kinectimals for a game yesterday. Good job, sir.
Yeah I'm not paying over 50$ for just the UI stuff, and that's all I care about (Come on, Kinectimals? Really?). Oh well, The hype was fun while it lasted. I'd like to punch whoever came up with "Kinect" right in the teeth. "Kinetic" would have been better. Or even "Connect". There is no reason for those two words to be combined.
" Sound alright to me, I suspect whatever name it was going to get, it's going to be mocked and blasted regardless. Did we all forget we mocked the name Natal when it was first announced? "
Sound alright to me, I suspect whatever name it was going to get, it's going to be mocked and blasted regardless. Did we all forget we mocked the name Natal when it was first announced?
The problem with this name is, when I first read it I wasn't sure how to say it. Surely that's a big problem for a mainstream product. At least "Wii", "XBOX", "PlayStation" and all these other terrible names we have in the video game industry are kinda easy to say.
I was trying to say "kinetic", then I got stuck on "key-nect", finally sticking with "connect" which I THINK (though I'm still not entirely convinced) it's supposed to be.
Kinect? That's the worst. The worst! It should roll off the tongue, but I have to push it out of my mouth, terrible. Kinect. Name it Kctckct why don't ya?
Boy #1: "Yo dude! Let's go play some kinect sports!" Boy #2: "Naw son, I got a hankering for a kinect adventure." Boy #3 "Then how about we train our kinectimals?" Boys #2&3: "GET DA F*CK OUTTA HERE!" I think this name is silly.
Kinect... Yes but how the F*** do you pronounce it, anyways?! I get there's some kind of lame AOL style speech involved but since english is not my language i'm just left puzzled by it.
" I sure do love train wrecks. Make sure you don't miss their presser tomorrow, you'll want to be able to tell your grandkids the story of how you watched Microsoft's Xbox brand burn to the ground live on the Internet. "
I sure do love train wrecks. Make sure you don't miss their presser tomorrow, you'll want to be able to tell your grandkids the story of how you watched Microsoft's Xbox brand burn to the ground live on the Internet.
" To everyone who thinks Microsoft is trying to sound cool or hip or whatever, you're completely wrong. Kinect is a portmanteau of the words "connect" and "kinetic." I really shouldn't have to explain why. "
Marketing shouldn't need explanation. They should have just stuck with Natal. It's what everyone knows it as and the name is unique enough that you don't need to think about it. Kinect, like everyone has said, sounds like microsoft trying to be "cool" and that's what 90% of the people seeing it will think. Either way, I hope we see some innovative uses for this. Better not be a bunch of move-about-like-a-goon "games".
You know what, I'm not doubting the Kinect being a good piece of hardware. But after a couple of years with the Wii, this just doesn't seem that interesting. Same goes for the PS-Move.
Microsoft, Sony, I understand this is a new take and your perspective on the whole motion sensor gaming thing, but this is nothing new. Nintendo did this already back in '06.
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