Kinect Joyride First Look

Earlier today, during its E3 2010 press conference, Microsoft unveiled a number of games that are designed exclusively for its Kinect system. One of those games was a kart racer named Kinect Joyride that, controls aside, appeared to do little that other, similar games haven't done before it. Brightly colored cars raced around a Grand-Canyon-like environment, there were coinlike tokens to collect in areas of the track, and performing drifts and midair stunts appeared to be earning the driver boost. Not many surprises there, at least not until we paid attention to the person playing the game onstage.

It's difficult to know exactly how all of the Kinect Joyride controls were working, but while steering by moving her hands in the air as if holding a steering wheel, the player appeared to be initiating stunts and drifts by simply saying the words "drift" and "stunt" out loud. She could also be seen jumping occasionally, though until we play the game ourselves there's no way of knowing whether this was a technique for gaining airtime or simply an attempt to look excited in front of the assembled media.

Based on this brief stage appearance, Kinect Joyride appears to check all of the boxes that a kart racer should. The question then is whether or not playing without a controller will revolutionize the genre in the way that Microsoft tells us it will. As with all of the Kinect games shown at today's press conference, the proof will be in the playing. We look forward to bringing you a hands-on report on Kinect Joyride just as soon as we're afforded an opportunity to play it.