The official price for Xbox 360′s motion control peripheral was released yesterday. Kinect, as expected, will set gamers back $150 and will include the launch title Kinect Adventures.

For those new to the Xbox 360 party there will be a $299 console bundle on the release of the sensor. The bundle will include the redesigned 360, Kinect, and Kinect Adventures. The console will not include a 250GB hard drive but will include 4GB of internal memory.

According to IGN.com the sans-hard drive console will not have the shiny finish of the more expensive version but will include the other features such as the built in WiFi.

Also if you haven’t heard, the new Kinect games will be packaged in purple cases.

Looks like Walmart wants in on all the excitement surrounding the November release of Xbox 360 Kinect. Until July 23rd Walmart is offering a a pre-order bundle for Kinect. It includes Kinect, a $30 eGift card for Walmart.com, and your choice of one Kinect launch title. The bundle will run you $199 asuming Microsoft is going to stick with the $150 price tag.

Via msnbc.com

Microsoft has not officially announced the price of its forthcoming motion-control device known as Kinect, but according to their own store it’s likely to run $150.

So it may not be official but it’s looking like gamers will be shelling out big bucks for Kinect. I shouldn’t be surprised but I am a little bit. As cool as Kinect looks (to me at least) the hardcore gamers are just not interested. Hardcore gamers are a staple for the Xbox 360. A price like that will push any thoughts of buying it right out the window.

As for new buyers to the 360 it might prove too expensive for a console, Kinect, and games. Unless they have an amazing bundle around Christmas time. Personally, I would have rather seen the price closer to the $100 mark but I’m still going to buy it.

So MS you’re not fooling anyone. We all expect that to be the actual price. So just get it over with and make it official so you can be bombarded with complaints from people who will buy it anyway.

So last night the name Project Natal was put to rest and Kinect for Xbox 360 was born. They also gave us a few game titles for the peripheral but let talk about the name first.

No barriers.
No boundaries.
No gadgets.
No gizmos.
No learning curves.

You Kinect, you are the controller.

A little cheesy if you ask me. Project Natal sounded a little cooler. But that’s a minor thought.
As for the the games that were revealed…

via teamxbox.com

Kinectimals
You can play with virtual animals. Lol cat Kinect!

Joyride
A racing game where players steer with their hands.

Kinect Sports
Boxing, bowling, beach vollyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis.

Kinect Adventures
River rafting with friends.

Dance Central
A dancing version of So You Think You Can Dance.

Star Wars also seems to have a game coming to Kinect. No surprise there as motion control and lightsabers seem to go hand in hand.

Personally I don’t think the the new name of the games that were announced were super impressive. Yes, I’m going to but Natal/Kinect but there are many out there that are not. And I don’t blame them. Hardcore gamers on Xbox 360 are not going to but it. If they wanted/cared about motion control they would have bought a Wii.

On the other hand Kinect opens up a new market for Microsoft. A console that is “fun for the whole family.”I don’t blame Microsoft for wanting to get in on that market. With the money the Wii brought in, motion control was the next logical step for their console.

As usual we shall see how well it does in the Fall when Kinect hits the stores.

It’s just about that time of year again gamers. E3 2010 is fast approaching and people are wasting no time at making predictions about the most anticipated things we will probably see come out of it. So I shall start making mine as well.

Project Natal and Sony Move

This is a no brainer. With these two looking at a Fall 2010 release date I’m sure we’re bound to see something in regards to exact dates or maybe some compatible games we can expect.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

I, of course, am most excited to see what Treyarch brings to E3 in regards to the new Call of Duty: Black Ops. With so much hype surrounding this next COD installment I think we can expect something awesome at E3.

Gears of War 3

We haven’t heard or seen much about this third and final game in the Gears series. A trailer, a release date, some magazine articles. Ok maybe we’ve seen a lot but I want to see some action. I want to see gameplay. Hopefully our wish will be fulfilled at E3.

So what is everyone most looking for this coming E3?

It’s still a long ways away but motion gaming is coming to the Xbox 360. Since it’s announcement at E3 2009 there has been mixed thoughts from the gaming community. Unlike the Wii or the soon to be released PlayStation Move, Microsoft’s Project Natal will be controller free. This allows the gamer to use their whole body and voice commands.

Project Natal will open a whole new genre of games for the Xbox 360. The concern for most “hardcore” gamers is that motion control will infiltrate games that should remain without it. I, of course, share that concern. As excited as I am for Project Natal there are defiantly some games that are better left to the old in hand controller. I’m sure that many would agree that games like Call of Duty would not benefit from motion control. We just want to sit back, relax, and take out the enemy.

There’s a legitimate fear that motion control will be forced into some games. But that is an issue for game developers themselves. They will have a new question in their development process. Will this game benefit from motion control? Hopefully they take into serious consideration the audience their game is marketed to. I’m not saying they don’t do that now but when motion control becomes involved, I feel it will be a bigger question.

Motion control needs to remain it’s own genre. Stay out of our favorite games and we can all get along just fine.