Kinect @ Gamescom

Gamescom, the worlds largest games event, kicks off tomorrow in Germany with Microsoft's Xbox Play Day, a 3 hour event allowing the press to get hands-on time with all of the top upcoming Xbox 360 games.

We expect a Kinect-heavy showing, with new footage for games such as Kinect Sports Season 2, Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Kinect Star Wars and Dance Central 2. There will also be a new playable demo of Fable: The Journey, which will hopefully fare better than its initial outing at E3 which Molyneux described as a "horrendous mistake". We'll also likely get a better look at the new Xbox 360 dashboard launching this fall!

All of the major third party studios will be bringing their latest games too. Ubiosoft will be showing off the latest from games such as Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, The Black Eyed Peas Experience, Just Dance 3 and Rabbids: Alive and Kicking.

EA are taking the latest builds of Mass Effect 3 and The Sims 3: Pets, both of which feature Kinect support, and THQ are showing off their latest fitness title, Adidas MiCoach. Also expect the latest demo's for Rise of Nightmares and Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster.

Of course there will be more than what is currently announced and hopefully Gamescom will hold a few surprises, as usual. Check back all this week for the latest news and content!

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Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Uses Kinect for Weapon Customization and Testing

Ubisoft have unveiled and demonstrated Gunsmith mode for their upcoming tactical shooter, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

Gunsmith allows users to completely customize their weapons from the insane out. Kinect allows players to select and view their weapons using voice and hand gestures, as well as test the weapon out in a firing range using Kinect to aim and fire.

The game also allows players to optimize a weapon for a specific situation using voice commands, such as close quarters combat or long range situations.

Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot finished the presentation by stating that all future titles from the Ghost Recon franchise will utilise Kinect.

Check out the gameplay demonstration from Microsoft's E3 conference below!

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Ubisoft E3 Line-up Revealed -- New Your Shape, MotionSports, Raving Rabbids & Just Dance

Ubisoft have announced their E3 line-up today via press release. There looks to be strong Kinect support given that Ubisoft "rules the casual market", if they do say so themselves, "holding the number one third-party position on Kinect, 3DS and Wii".

The line-up features a sequel to Kinect launch title MotionSports, MotionSports: Adrenaline, as well as a new title in the Your Shape series. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is Kinect's most popular fitness title with both critics and the public, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that it is getting a sequel.

Ubisoft are also going to be showing new entries into the Just Dance and Raving Rabbids series. Just Dance, as we previously reported, is Ubisoft's biggest dancing franchise having sold over 14 million units, and the next iteration will almost certainly be expanding to Kinect as well as Nintendo's Wii. Similarly, the next Raving Rabbids is expected to be hitting Kinect.

Finally, we unveiled earlier today that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will have Kinect support. Though there is no mention in the press release, it is likely that it will be fully revealed at their E3 press conference.

"Ubisoft has been delivering top-notch entertainment for 25 years, and we're incredibly grateful for all of our fans," said Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot.

"We plan for the upcoming years to be just as exciting and full of innovation, and the wide range of creative, fun and unique titles we're demonstrating at E3 illustrate the stellar talent of our development teams and Ubisoft's ongoing investment in delivering entertaining and innovative products to consumers." 

Keep checking Inside Kinect and we'll keep you up to date with the latest news as it happens.

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Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is "Better With Kinect"

The box art for the upcoming Tom Clancy game, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, has been revealed on Xbox.com and features the purple "Better With Kinect" banner along the top, indicating compatibility with the device.

The game, a tactical third person shooter, will likely not be played entirely with Kinect but will be a hybrid, with the game played on a traditional controller with extra features enabled via Kinect, with Kinect support being entirely optional. What might those features be? Being a tactical shooter, the game could feature voice commands (something featured in previous Tom Clancy title EndWar) or gesture commands for team members.

We're left to speculate at this point, but the game will likely be shown at E3 next month. Hopefully, with a Kinect demonstration!

Update: Microsoft have taken the boxart down from Xbox.com. It was probably put up by mistake ahead of a Kinect-supprt reveal at E3.

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