Microsoft did not unveil new hardware at games exhibition E3 this year
MOTION GAMING has taken a further step forward as Microsoft announced new games that would bring its Kinect controller to existing franchises and new titles.
The company was the first of the big games firms to unveil plans ahead of games exhibition E3, in Los Angeles this week.
Kicking off the presentation with a demo of the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 3title, Microsoft announced its plans for the year's gaming.
The games company was not unveiling any new consoles or hardware at E3 this year. Last year it announced the availability of its Kinect motion sensitive controller, and showed off a slimmed down Xbox 360 console.
Despite increasing competition from its rivals, Microsoft’s head of interactive entertainment Don Mattrick said its console will become the top selling games system globally.
Microsoft and its partners took to the stage to demonstrate how Kinect would work with titles ranging from popular franchises such as Tom Clancy's Ghost Reconand Forza Motorsportto EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tourand football game Fifa.
The company is also beefing up its Xbox Live platform, promising new live TV partners globally and Kinect integration to allow users to control all their media from the console.
The latest instalment of the popular Mass Effect series, Mass Effect 3, will also allow players to use Kinect to control gameplay. Voice recognition will form part of the control system, allowing players to select lines of dialogue when interacting with characters, simply by speaking them. The same technology can also be used for tactical control in the game.
Kinect, which went on sale in November last year, has sold more than 10 million units. This year, Microsoft is throwing its weight behind the platform. Other upcoming third-party titles for Kinect unveiled at the Galen centre yesterday included the historical themed Ryse from Crytek, and a new addition to the Star Wars series of games.
Creative director of Kinect Kudo Tsunoda announced Kinect Fun Labs, a new addition to the Xbox Live Dashboard that will allow players to try out new functions developed for Kinect directly from the console. New features that will be showcased on FunLabs include the ability to create an avatar from a scan of your body, finger tracking and object scanning.
Microsoft also showed off some family-friendly titles, including Sesame Street-themed games and a collaboration with Disney.
Typically, Microsoft saved the biggest teaser for last, giving attendees a brief glimpse of a new addition to its popular Halo series simply known as Halo 4.
Nintendo is set to unveil its successor to the Wii at a press conference today ahead of the opening of the show.
The company became the latest to be hit by a security breach and admitted at the weekend the server of one of its affiliates had been attacked by hacker group Lulzsec. No consumer data had been lost in the incident, the company said.
