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E3 2011: Kinect integration coming to wide variety of new Xbox games

The Kinect is becoming more than a separate platform; it's being supported across games for the Xbox 360 in 2011.

Scott Stein Editor at Large
I started with CNET reviewing laptops in 2009. Now I explore wearable tech, VR/AR, tablets, gaming and future/emerging trends in our changing world. Other obsessions include magic, immersive theater, puzzles, board games, cooking, improv and the New York Jets. My background includes an MFA in theater which I apply to thinking about immersive experiences of the future.
Expertise VR and AR, gaming, metaverse technologies, wearable tech, tablets Credentials
  • Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps
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Scott Stein
Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3 is just one of several games getting broad Kinect support. Sarah Tew/CNET

LOS ANGELES--While last year's Microsoft E3 briefing focused on the Kinect as debut hardware, this year seems to be about integrating the Kinect more deeply into mainstream games.

EA Sports, EA Games, and Ubisoft are among the first to formally announce baked-in support for Kinect in their 2011 Xbox 360 games. Tiger Woods, Madden, FIFA, Mass Effect 3, and Ghost Recon Future Soldier--along with, according to developers, many more--will support the Kinect in unspecified ways. Forza 4, the latest iteration of Microsoft's racing simulator, will also support Kinect.

It looks like there will still be standalone Kinect games, too. Microsoft's new first-party game, Ryse, looks like a Kinect game set in ancient Rome, using full-body fighting motion.

Whether these games will integrate head-based motion tracking, voice command, or other features remains to be seen, but the move seems inevitable. The Kinect has sold well since November, but it remains a separate platform within the Xbox 360. Finding a better way to make top-to-bottom support for the Kinect seems like the only way to prevent the Kinect from being a fad peripheral instead of a true integral part of the 360's system evolution.

Will you want to play your favorite games with Kinect augmentation? Sound off in the comments below.

More to come