Kinect Star Wars

The best Kinect (Project Natal) game that has been demoed so far at E3 2010 is an unnamed Star Wars game that will be released in 2011 by LucasArts. It looks like an on-rails lightsaber and force powers game specially for the Project Natal.

Here’s the Star Wars Kinect Trailer:

LucasArts weren’t brave enough to actually demo the gameplay live, so instead Cirque Du Soleil mimed along to the prerecorded trailer. Here is a short clip (the only one I could find):

Unfortunately the above clip focuses on the part that is impossible with Kinect: pushing against your opponent’s light saber. As Newton’s third law of motion tells us, you can’t push against something unless it is also pushing back against you an equal amount. And empty air won’t do that. Fortunately, that law of physics doesn’t apply to the Force, so I’m looking forward to Force Push gestures, Force Speed gestures, and other force powers. And deflecting laser beams and slicing up Storm Troopers also looks fun, since it makes sense that Storm Troopers wouldn’t offer much physical resistance to a light saber. But light sabers aren’t supposed to be able to go through other light sabers, so there’s going to be a limit to how well light saber combat will work.

Why is it on rails? Well, so far nobody has shown how people will navigate in a Kinect game without a controller. Oops. Kind of an important oversight. Sony’s PlayStation Move also had that exact same problem, which they only solved by introducing the Move SubController, which is basically a Nunchuk.

Personally I think navigation would be one of the most fun parts of Project Natal. There are several ways I imagine it could be done. You could walk or run on the spot to walk. You could turn by turning the upper half of your body, or by swinging your arms around your body in the direction you want. Or you could just turn your feet, or one foot. You could lean in the direction you want to go. You could move one leg in the direction you want to go. You could stand on different parts of the floor like a virtual dance mat. There are lots of possibilities and I hope someone looks into it.

Anyway, this will be a great Star Wars game to look forward to next year.

Two other Star Wars games are being shown at E3.

The Force Unleashed 2. The original game made a big deal about motion controls, so I’m surprised there’s been no word yet on Kinect or PlayStation Move compatability. It will be released a week before Kinect. It would be a shame if this only supports Wii Motion plus.
Here’s the E3 2010 cinematic trailer (betrayal):

The Old Republic. This is a Massively Multiplayer Online game set a few thousand years before the Star Wars period we are more familiar with. Currently it’s only for the PC, which is unfortunate. However online games have a longer life than other games and are more likely to receive large updates.
Here’s the E3 2010 cinematic trailer: