14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has announced that it is aiming to blur the line between real life and virtual space by launching a new line of interactive plush toys based on the Kinectimals video game for the Xbox 360 home-gaming system.
The toys include: White Tiger, African Lion, Asiatic Cheetah, Bornean Clouded Leopard and Iberian Lynx.
All of them can be bought at retail chains like GAME, Smyth Toys and Toys'R'Us for the estimated retail price of 9.99 dollars.
Microsoft says that it has also launched a new Collector's Edition of the Kinectimals video game which comes packed with all the seven plush toys and will sell for 44.99 dollars at the same retailers.
The new Kinectimals-inspired toys include special Microsoft Tag technology which allows the buyer to scan the toy using the sensor of the Kinect motion tracking system in order to get new game characters and content in the video game.
Microsoft has not detailed the exact nature of the content that is linked to the real-life toys or if they will be integrated into Kinectimals in any other way.
Kinectimals allows players to create a virtual pet and then develop its skills and play with it, with all the movements that a player makes translated into input for the game by Kinect and with the interaction between animal and player taking place in a pretty natural way.
The virtual pets also respond to verbal commands coming from the player and can recognize him when he powers up the game.
The Kinect motion tracking system has so far only been used to power fairly casual gaming experience, but Microsoft has said that it plans to launch titles aimed at more core gamers that use it during 2011, with rumors suggesting that this summer might see the release of an on-rails Gears of War themed shooter that uses the motion tracking.