Kinect Star Wars Lightsaber Game Comes Christmas 2011

A Microsoft executive has confirmed that the Kinect based Star Wars video game that the company has shown initially at the E3 presentation which focused on the motion tracking device is currently scheduled for launch in the Christmas shopping period of 2011.

Kudo Tsunoda, who is the creative director for Kinect and watching the development of titles for the device, has said, “We have a Kinect Star Wars game coming out for next holiday”.

He added, “I think you could just easily imagine being a Jedi and using Kinect to make you feel you're part of a Star Wars experience, building yourself up into a Jedi. I've seen a bunch of the game and it's super compelling.”

The Kinect powered motion tracking using Star Wars video game is being developed by Terminal Reality, the same studio which worked on Ghostbusters: The Videogame, apparently using the same technology.

The initial showing of the game at the E3 trade show gives the impression that Star Wars will be on rails, taking the player from set piece to set piece and giving them a chance to wield a lightsaber that faithfully replicates the real life movements of the player.

Darth Vader is set to make an appearance although the game will not probably have a place in actual Star Wars cannon.

Lightsaber combat video game has been something that players have been looking forward too ever since Nintendo first introduced the Wii and its motion tracking solution.

Initially the accuracy of the tracking was not good enough for such a title but the introduction of Kinect and Move and the addition of the Motion Plus to the Wiimote has opened up new possibilities.

The Star Wars Kinect title also has the potential to attract a more hardcore and engaged player base than the current plethora of Kinect based titles.