Microsoft’s new Kinect plugs into Xboxes and lets players control games with body and hand gestures. No controller. Microsoft previously referred to Kinect by the name “Project Natal.”

The new system uses cameras to read player movements. It then translates those actions onto the TV screen and into the game.

Microsoft first showed off this technology at the E3 trade show www.e3expo.com/ in 2009, but did not reveal many details about the system.

Kinect is a three-camera system that plugs into Xbox and allows for hands-free games and controlling the console with voice commands. In addition to watching player motion with cameras, Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 also uses a microphone to listen to player voices.

Kinect can be used for video chats as well as to listen to music and watch movies with friends in other locations. The command “play movie,” for example, makes the system start playing the film a user has selected. The new platform is said to take gamers a step beyond Nintendo’s Wii.

Nintendo, which pioneered motion-sensing gaming through an all-purpose controller with its Wii system, is expected to soon release more information on its 3D games system that require no glasses.

Sony also has a new motion-controlled gaming system in development called Move, but like Nintendo’s Wii, it requires players to hold remotes in their hands.

Kinect’s ability to read a players’ body movements without the aid of remotes uses a technology developed by Microsoft Research.

Microsoft announced six games for the system, which will be available when Kinect launches in November, 2010.
Upcoming titles for Kinect include a Lucas Arts game in which Jedi Knights do battle with light sabers. One game called Kinectimals lets youngsters play with virtual wild animals.

The new Xbox 360 will not be able to read player motions without the Kinect add-on.

To learn more about Kinect, visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect or www.xbox.com/en-US/community/events/e3/kinect.htm.

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