What a night.

Tonight, Microsoft has officially unveiled Kinect, or what we used to know as Project Natal. Through the use of an honestly unnecessary Cirque du Soleil and a set of great actors, Microsoft has shown us just what Kinect can accomplish tonight.

The event was coated in a jungle-like atmosphere. Sitting next to Ripten’s Rangebar Merani, I told him how I’d gotten an James Cameron’s Avatar-type vibe out of the whole thing. Like somewhere out of nowhere a seven foot tall blue creature would walk in and start doing flips with the Cirque du Soleil performers. That didn’t happen, unfortunately. A gigantic elephant did make an entrance, though.

When the elephant walked out. The first thing I thought was “cool, but what the hell does this have to with Natal?” Take in mind I was a little frustrated, as the show took nearly forty-five minutes to start after our initial seating. And the answer is, the elephant didn’t have anything to do with Natal. It was just there because it was exciting. Excitement is good for a crowd.

After the opening prologue, which saw the Cirque du Soleil crew perform an ancient-looking clan dance, we saw a young boy climb onto the first in a line of three rocks. Three screens dropped down on top of each rock. The boy made his way up each rock, playing what was on screen with an Xbox 360 controller. After he finished the third rock, he climbed onto a new, cloaked platform. The lights dimmed and the platform began to rise – the cloak falling slowly. There we saw it – the giant Xbox 360 ‘X’. logo The crowd cheered and our ponchos given to us before entry glowed bright green.

This is when the boy is greeted with an Xbox Avatar on the new screen, doing exactly what the Avatar does like its some sort of sick virtual mirror. This is Kinect for Xbox 360.

Afterward, Microsoft revealed a series of new games through an intriguing performance from both actors and Cirque du Soleil. It was an amazing show, I will admit. These new Kinect games include: JoyRide, river-rafting, volleyball, a moving train cart type game, an Olympics-styled game, and more. It was obvious the company was trying to show off the platform’s impressive ability to track body joints; in the train cart game, the player would have to make various shapes with their bodies to collect points, which are an “A” with a circle around them. These “A” points where featured in some of the other games, as well.

Speaking of “A” points, later on in the show, the Xbox 360 dashboard shows the big “A” in the game’s dashboard box. That means that games such as river-rafting and the train cart game will probably all be included in a bundle a la Wii Sports.

There was one game they showed that didn’t seem like it was for the “casual” audience. It was a Star Wars game. It looked interesting. What had me on the edge was the fact that the player couldn’t move. Instead when he wanted to gain steps, he would perform a burst move that shot him forward. The swordplay looked very unique and interesting, though. The video showed a Jedi battling a batch of Star Troopers, ultimately taking on Darth Vader. I’d like to give it a go – teach Vader a lesson.

A new animals game was revealed for Kinect, as well. We saw the little girl on stage play with and interact with her pet cougar, or whatever it was. She made him lay on his back, jump towards the screen, and do cute things you wouldn’t normally get a cougar to do.

When the show ended, we left the show room and were handed a plush animal based off the Kinect animals game. The tag of the animals contain a URL: http://xbox.com/animals. There’s nothing there right now. Maybe tomorrow.

I will admit. There’s one thing that I really didn’t like about the show. The actors shown on screen demoing the games where also shown on stage demoing the games, performing the same moves and manuevers. However, they weren’t really playing. They were acting out them acting on screen – if that makes any sense. They should of performed actual live demos, rather than staging a performance.

Microsoft will announce full details on Kinect for Xbox 360 during tomorrow’s E3 media briefing. I wouldn’t expect anything too big, as they really seem to be aiming at the casual market. Though, that’s just my own prediction.

“No barries. No boundaries. No gadgets. No gizmos. No learning curves. With Kinect, you are the controller.”

Check out the first three images of the new Kinect at the gallery.

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