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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Molyneux: 'I agree with scepticism, core Kinect breakthrough will take time'

Speaking to Xbox 360 World magazine, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux has sympathized with the scepticism towards core games for Kinect. Likening Kinect to the introduction of the mouse to gaming, Molyneux reiterated that it will take time for a breakthrough to come.

"I can remember everyone writing about how the mouse is the worst thing for gaming and it took a little while for the development community to start exploring and experiment with it. But out of that exploration and experimentation came Wolfenstein and Doom and real-time strategy games," he said.

"Before that we were all doing stuff with a joystick." he added.

Molyneux argued that developers have yet to create a game as exciting as the best controller games, and that such a game will take time.

"I think that any invention as big as Kinect just takes a while for us to get our teeth into," he said.

"I agree with the scepticism from core gamers because there is no example yet of anything which is as dramatic or as exciting as a game on a controller or even an experience that lasts more than 15 minutes. When you get past the idiosyncrasies which every control mechanism has, Kinect is a wonderful device to innovate on."

Molyneux also talked once again about navigation in Fable: The Journey, and how important voice implementation is, as well as allowing the player to play in any position, not forcing them to sit or stand.

"You can tell the most incredible and immersive story if you can get over the player's embarrassment of using their voice for control. Once people get into that mindset it's an incredible way of telling stories.

Another big lesson we learnt [from Milo] is, if you try to tell the player how to sit or how to stand, or if you preach to them about gestures then they will start feeling very uncomfortable and they won't be ready for a story. So there's a lot of technology in The Journey allowing you to slouch, cross your legs, sit on a sofa or play and jump and stand up."

Molyneux will be taking a new, playable demo of The Journey to Gamescom next month, so stay tuned for the very latest news about the game.

Source: Xbox 360 World magazine via CVG

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Fable: The Journey Announced

Peter Molyneux today unveiled the new entry in the Fable franchise, Fable: The Journey. Exclusive to Kinect, the game follows one man's adventures to becoming a hero.

Using the Unreal 3 engine, it looks to use Kinect in a number of unique ways. Demonstrated at E3, the game showed the player riding a horse and cart into a battle in which the player cast spells using hand gestures. Movement looks to be on-rails, with the player interacting in a cinematic adventure quite unlike previous Fable games.

“In using the Unreal Engine with its excellent tools for crafting cinematic in-game experiences, it allows our developers to focus on the quality and uniqueness of ’Fable: The Journey,’” said Peter Molyneux, creative director of Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Game Studios Europe.

”Already we are seeing a more beautiful, vivid and unique world full of dramatic moments and have crafted new, never seen before gameplay experiences.”

Check out the trailer and gameplay demonstration below!

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Is Fable: The Journey Lionhead's Kinect title? Plus Domains found for Dance Central 2 and Kinect Sports Season 2!

With Lionhead working on an unannounced Kinect title, it was largely expected and rumored to be part of the Fable universe. Thanks to Twitter supremo Superannuation, the domain FableTheJourney.org has been discovered.

Although we can't say for certain that this is a Kinect title, it seems highly likely given Peter Molyneux and Lionhead's commitment to the platform. We also hope and expect the game to continue Lionhead's work with the Milo tech, rather than play as a direct sequel to Fable 3.

As well as Fable: The Journey, domains for Kinect Sports Season2, Dance Central 2 and Kinect Fun Labs were discovered, 3 titles long expected to be revealed at Microsoft's conference.

Check back and we'll keep you up to date with the latest E3 news, as well as exclusive news and previews directly from the expo!

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