Hey, remember that thing for the Playstation 2 called the EyeToy?  You could use it to control your PS2 by waving your hands around like an idiot.  No?  Didn’t think so.  You remember the Wii?  That Must have console from Nintendo that totally crushed the competition by letting you pretend to Bowl by waving a wand around?  Remember how that motion gimmick was HUGE for like a year then no one gave a crap anymore?

Meet Kinect

This is essentially Microsoft’s answer to the Virtual Boy, and the Power Glove and ROB the robot all wrapped into one!  Basically, it’s the solution for that which isn’t really lasting or desired.  Let’s look at a list of upcoming games for Kinect.

"•Kinectimals lets you train and play with 20 different virtual cats, including a lion, cheetah and tiger.

My kids love those animal games for the DS.  I imagine this will be sort of like that.  The problem is that in my mind, the 360 is not much of a Kids Gaming system.  Also, call me evil, but I don’t care to be spending tons of money on something my kids will use for a week and get bored of in the first place.  They barely play the Wii as it is.

•Joyride, a racing game, lets players use their hands to hold an imaginary steering wheel — pull your hands toward you and push back out for an acceleration boost — and their bodies to execute jumps and tricks.

You know what I hated about Mario Kart Wii?  The lame Steering wheel.  It doesn’t give any real tactile feedback like real driving and it’s not strapped down to anything like a real wheel.  So how could this be fixed?  Let’s remove the wheel and just put our hands out and pretend we’re holding a wheel.

YAY!

•Kinect Sports has six activities including boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis. To serve a volleyball, you mimic the real motion; in soccer, you can kick the ball or do a header.

So like Wii Sports only there isn’t even a fake Wiimote to simulate the object you’re holding.  Pretty much the same issue as the race wheel.  The boxing could get interesting when people start actually duking it out with each other in a drunken rage.

•Kinect Adventures includes a river-raft time trial and obstacle course, playable by up to four players. On the raft, playing as a duo, you and a partner must lean one way or another to steer. Jumping helps the raft reach special areas for extra points.

Did I mention before the word “gimmick”?  I mean hey, if you want to get together with your friends, stand in a line and look stupid, you don’t need to shell out hundreds of dollars to do it.

•Dance Central, in development by MTV Games, brings a So You Think You Can Dance experience home.

All I have to say is Para Para.

•Star Wars characters and iconic Disney favorites will be featured in separate new games being developed at Microsoft in conjunction with LucasArts and Disney."

This statement is so generic that it’s like telling people “EA will be making sports games for the system.

And there we have the future to look forward to in Video games.  It’s no wonder my interest in consoles in general has pretty much gone poof turning things fully back to PC and Retro interests.