LOS ANGELES – To appeal to families ready to graduate from the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Corp. wants to build on the success of the Wii’s motion-capture wand – by getting rid of the wand entirely.
On Monday, Microsoft detailed its new Kinect game technology, coming this fall for the Xbox 360 game console. Once known as Project Natal, the Kinect system recognizers users’ gestures and voices, so they can control on-screen avatars in racing, action and sports games just by moving their body. Microsoft showed off a “Star Wars” game, coming in 2011, which will use Kinect to let players swing virtual light sabers from their living rooms.
Kinect’s voice feature also means users can say “pause” or “play” when watching a movie on the Xbox instead of reaching for the remote. And it has a video chat function that can connect people from different sides of the country, as Microsoft demonstrated Monday at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, a video game conference with 45,000 industry insiders.
Kinect will launch Nov. 4 in North America, Microsoft said. Prices were not disclosed, and it’s not clear whether Kinect will come with new Xboxes or only be sold separately.
The technology works with existing systems, including a new version of the Xbox console that goes on sale next week. It’s smaller, sleeker and comes with built-in Wi-Fi and a 250-gigabyte hard drive.
The new Xbox will cost $299, which previously included a hard drive with half the capacity.
Until now the Xbox has been mainly known as the device to play hard-core shooter games such as “Call of Duty” and “Halo.”
Microsoft ranks second in console sales to Nintendo, just ahead of PlayStation maker Sony Corp.
Though it is working to broaden its reach, Microsoft is still trying to nurture its loyal gamer fans, who reliably buy sequels to blockbusters like “Halo” and “Gears of War.”
To that end, the company announced an exclusive deal Monday with Activision Blizzard Inc., the maker of the “Call of Duty” line of games, that will bring downloadable content known as “map packs” to the Xbox first (and then the PlayStation 3) through 2012.
Such extra content is an increasingly important business for the video game makers because they can extend the life of their games.
