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Microsoft Briefing: Summary

The main points from yesterday's E3 press conference in one place

Microsoft Kinect:

While Kinect was actually unveiled at a Cirque du Soleil press event on Sunday in LA, a good portion of the conference was given over to further details and demonstrations of the technology in a more traditional setting - ready for a November 4 release in the US.

The Kinect Hub looks like a development of Xbox Live, which features gesture- and voice-recognition technology and will act as the basis for various options, including Facebook, Netflix, Zune and more.

Your Xbox Live profile and achievements will also become available on Windows phones too - although apps already exist to bring that kind of thing to iPhones - while Kinect will enable video chat across the Microsoft network.

A deal with ESPN was another of the key reveals here, with US Xbox Live Gold members soon to get access to over 3500 live and recorded sports events over the course of the year, for free - and most in HD.

Kinect Games:

Kinectimals was one of the big software announcements for Kinect - a kind of a take on Eye Pet - demonstrated by a girl, who played with her virtual pet tiger Skittles. The motion-sensing nature of Kinect made it seem fairly straightforward to interact with the on-screen character.

Kinect Sports was always going to happen, given the success of its Wii counterpart, and Microsoft's version also includes some familiar faces, such as bowling and table tennis. It's also got a track and field section, with running, hurdles, long jump and more, as well as boxing and beach volleyball.

Kinect Joy Ride is a motion-controlled racer, with gamers able to control on-screen action just by pretending to hold the steering wheel. It's arcade action, with points for drifting and jump bonuses.

Kinect Adventures rounds off the mini-group, with games designed for multi-player living-room action, including one set on a white water raft, and another involving a moving mine cart.

Ubisoft's YOURSHAPE - Fitness Evolved was the first third-party title to be displayed, and had an extensive on-stage demo, showing off the skeletal recognition technology and unveiling the on-screen instructors.

There are gym activities, personal training and fitness classes available to choose from, and was worked on by Hollywood fitness guru Michael George.

Another third party Kinect exclusive was from Harmonix, called Dance Central. The game tracks your body movement against a series of dance moves and awards points for your performance.

Meanwhile, from LucasArts was a new Star Wars game - only a trailer shown for this, but it looks like you'll be able to swing away with a light sabre against all manner of enemies.

And finally from Turn 10 a Kinect take on Forza Motorsport - not only does the technology allow you to drive without a controller - similar in style to Kinect Joy Ride - but it also allows you to get up close with the cars themselves. That one will be available in 2011.

Slimline Xbox 360:

The final reveal of the night was the new Xbox 360 SKU, which is smaller and quieter than the current design. The main edition features built-in WiFi and a 250GB hard drive, and will retail at the same price as the current Elite ($299, £199).

It will be available in stores in the US this week - although the rumoured European launch date right after the conference was July 16.

Conclusions:

You can read what the GamesIndustry.biz team thought of the press briefing by checking out our blog entries:

Microsoft conference - big on mass market

Microsoft's second helpings