Kinect game count to triple by end of 2011

Start stretching folks! Microsoft is set to unleash more Kinect games than your spindly-windly flailing arms can handle. In a recent press release about their positive showing with the NPD research group, “Microsoft announced the size of the Kinect games portfolio will triple by the end of the year.” By the strength of Wikipedian estimates, tripling the number of games utilizing Kinect would bring the total of games released and in development to 78. It’s expected that Microsoft will be showcasing a substantial number of new Kinect-based games at E3 this year along with a renewed effort from Microsoft Game Studios to push additional core XBox games.

Of the current Kinect games in development—one of the most anticipated is the sequel to Steel Battalion which will eschew the face eating 500lb super controller in favor of using the Kinect to control the game. Given Microsoft’s current direction with Kinect, it’s clear they they are trying to push the position that the Kinect is a peripheral that can really change gaming rather than something that generates shovelware. So here’s hoping that E3 will be filled with really interesting uses of Kinect like Steel Battalion, and less…waggling.

[via Joystiq]