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Yo, it’s Range here. Just got back to my crib in downtown LA, just a few miles from USC campus where the Project Natal Experience was held at the Galen Center and, well, what an experience it was.

The show started off really slow at first, with Xbox 360 staff handing us silky white ropes with shoulder pads in them. My first initial reaction was “what the f*ck?”. As we all entered the auditorium, the first thing you had to notice was the jungle-like theme that Microsoft had set up and the Cirque du Soleil performers all dressed up like an Amazonian tribe. The auditorium was also set up with three massive screens that had the Xbox 360 avatars hanging in their own little jungle. These screens were eventually used to show off the gameplay.

They kept us waiting awhile before the show started but once it did, it was quite impressive. The performers kept us entertained by dancing, interacting with the crowd and, of course, performing really odd and agile acts. There was even a floating couch up above with what seemed to be a family of three just chillin’ up there.

Eventually the pre-show started to wrap up and we actually got to see some of what Project Natal is all about. First, a huge robotic elephant appeared through the crowd on the main floor (I was sitting in the stands) and had a boy atop of it. Then the jungle performers grabbed the boy and took him up in front of a large white platform on top of some boulders. Kind of reminded me of something out of an Indiana Jones movie.

Once up there, he pulled out a Xbox 360 controller and started playing a few games regularly with the controller, but once he reached the top of the hill, the last boulder turned into the Xbox 360 green “X” logo and the large white screen then showed an avatar of the boy. The boy started to make movements in which his avatar imitated simultaneously. Then the biggest news of the show was revealed, as the screen faded away from his avatar, the word Kinect prompted up, the official name of Project Natal.

The large white screen then turned sideways and a curtain drops, revealing a family of four who are about to demonstrate how to play Kinect. An assortment of games were then shown including a racing game which was Joyride, another that had you going down a river in a raft collecting coins, and eventually a few track and field games like hurdling and javelin throwing. There was also a bowling game, a beach volleyball game and a yoga/pilates type game, kind of like Wii Fit. Seems like all these games may be bundled into one game, sort of like a ripoff of Nintendo’s Wii Sports titles.

The baddest game though had to be the lightsaber game! The demonstrator was able to act like he had a lightsaber in his hands, but with no controller, and act as though he was fighting with it. And at the end of the demo Darth Vader showed up! It was dope. Looks as if LucasArts may have something in the works with Kinect.

There was also a brief moment where Disney’s own Tinkerbell made and appearance, giving the impression that Disney has also got a game in the works for Kinect.

That pretty much sums up the whole event, minus a few Cirque du Soleil acts that just shocked me. The experience was weird, odd, a little crazy, but a fun time. Make sure to keep checking back with us this week as we’ll have the latest and breaking news from E3 2010 in LA!

• Microsoft Announcing New Xbox 360 Slim at E310, Renaming Natal as Kinect
• E310: The Project Natal Experience, It’s A White-Robe Affair
• Several E3 Ready Project Natal Games Announced
• Namco VP Predicts “Very Big” E3, Reveals Natal, Move, & 3D Announcements
• Playing Natal Is Similar To Drunken Dancing
• Natal Pre-Order Date Revealed By Major UK Retailer

Read more…

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