Ever since the beginning of the motion gaming movement we have been waiting for a game that lets us slice and dice with a lightsaber. Finally that dream is becoming a reality with the brand new game Star Wars Kinect, a motion based game that puts you in the Jedi army during the thick of the clone wars.

This game was originally meant to be released last year, but a release date has finally been confirmed for the long awaited project, April 3rd. And to celebrate the release a special edition Kinect bundle pack is being released with a 320GB R2-D2 themed 360, a C3-PO gold controller, a white Kinect and of course the game as well.

Additionally more details about what we can expect in the game have been released, including the new Duels of the Fate mode which pits you one-on-one against Sith baddies, cool. Also a Galactic Dance-Off where you can take on Darth Vader Dance Central style, much less cool.

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A year ago, Activision proved you could have too much of a good thing with their Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock release which has been the last major band based rhythm game to come out with any sort of real backing to the mass market. For years, guitar and band games dominated sales charts between Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Those who presumably had taken this the worst had to be Harmonix who had pioneered the plastic instrument market with the original Guitar Hero only to see their own new franchise Rock Band take a beating from the oversaturated market caused by Activision. But from the ashes of so many plastic guitars and drum kits, a new genre came back to life with the dance game with both Dance Central and Just Dance.

Dance Central would captivate the world by measuring the full use of the dancer’s body to see how accurately they could replicate the motions on screen which quickly made it the defining piece of hardware for the newly launched XBox 360 Kinect peripheral. Now, Dance Central 2 returns to show you really can’t have too much of a good thing… as long as you do it right.

Gameplay:

Dance Central 2, like its predecessor, revolves around players standing in front of their TV and mirroring the dance moves in front of them. At heart, it is an incredibly simple concept but anyone who has tried dancing at any point in their life can vouch that just because you can see it done in front of you, it doesn’t mean you can do it too without a little practice.

Dance Central 2 works with all levels of dance skill thankfully so people who are experienced dancers can be challenged while rookie rump shakers can still enjoy themselves even though their arms and legs flailing in the air may make them look like they are having a seizure to passersby. Thankfully, individual dances still have the freestyle sections where the Kinect takes pictures of players to remind them just how silly they look in motion.

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The origins of The Gunstringer are not what most people would expect. At Comic-Con in San Diego, TwistedPixel CEO Michael Wilford let us in on the story that has already spread throughout the internet that the pitch for the game came about during the time span of a bathroom break.

After talking to TwistedPixel about the Kinect technology, Microsoft executives went to the bathroom. Michael and one of the other’s on his team looked at a skeleton marionette on the wall of the Mexican restaurant they were at and came up with the pitch by the time the Microsoft suits had returned. The rest, as they say, is history.

Gameplay:

At first, the Gunstring appears as a fairly simple concept. Players use one hand to control the motion of the character left, right or jumping while their other hand aims an imaginary gun at up to six targets. Players fire by lifting their right hand quickly just like they would back in the childhood days of playing cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers.

There is something to be said for the immediate nostalgia brought to this game with that one simple action. Not only does it have a control that is intuitive to the Kinect sensor for the action it represents, but it brings people back to their childhood which makes it almost impossible not to like.

Whether its ninjas, ducks, cowboys or Indians, everything in the Old West wants to take out the Gunstringer and the player needs to be able to shoot it out before it gets to him or at least get out of the way.

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Taking a break from our Gunstringer review, we at the Flickcast realized something. It comes with a download code for Fruit Ninja Kinect.  We at the Flickcast have already played and reviewed Fruit Ninja Kinect so why not pass it along to you guys?

If you remember when doing our Summer of Arcade reviews, we took a look at the iOS turned Kinect title Fruit Ninja. First off, the game is a workout and just a few play sessions will have you shedding the calories. On top of that, it makes excellent use of the Kinect technology.

The one-to-one motion is captured with amazing accuracy in Fruit Ninja Kinect. Our main qualm with the title was its 800 Microsoft ($10.00) price compared to .99 cents on the Apple App Store. Luckily since we are giving it away to you for free, you don’t have anything to worry about!

Make sure to follow us on Twitter @TheFlickcast tomorrow, September 22nd, to win a download code for Fruit Ninja Kinect. Please own an XBox 360 connected to XBox Live and a Kinect so this code doesn’t go to waste.

If you own an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, you have most likely tried the already classic casual title Fruit Ninja. In its first three months, it sold over a million units and continues to top the App Store charts. Players are tasked with swiping through a fruit cluttered screen while not letting any fall off the bottom and avoiding the dreaded bombs. It is a fun frantic minigame that uses a mobile smart phone’s touch technology in an intelligent and rewarding way.

Now Halfbrick has teamed up with Microsoft for the Summer of Arcade to bring Fruit Ninja Kinect to the XBox 360. Using the Kinect motion technology, players hands act as ninja swords to slice and dice apples, oranges and strawberries in one of the most accurate uses for the Kinect since its release.

Gameplay:

In Fruit Ninja Kinect, players must use their arms to slide through flying fruit while avoiding contact with bombs or allowing fruit to fall off the screen. From what we can tell, the Kinect sensor has near pinpoint accuracy in the game allowing for control that is as accurate as it comes for motion gaming. Players can slowly move their arms into position but only when a player speeds up will it count as a sword swipe which is very important for avoiding bombs. An acrobatic player can even use their legs to kick through a wayward pear if necessary.

There isn’t much difference between Fruit Ninja for the iPhone and the Kinect in terms of gameplay mechanics save the inclusion of the pomegranate. Everyone’s favorite source of antioxidants can be used to end timed stages where players can hack away for a few seconds and build up ridiculous combos.

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Last week, we brought you the E3 Live Action trailer for Rise of Nightmares from SEGA.  Today, we let you see the game in action.

From what we can tell from this gameplay trailer for Rise of Nightmares, the graphics resemble that of other first person horror titles like Condemned with dark, gritty overtones along with the gore levels of House of the Dead. The animations look solid as the shambling attackers bring their constant threat to the player.

One thing that stands out as out of place in the trailer is the disembodied arm of the player when using the chainsaw. When using other weapons, the player’s arms are always there but in the snippets featuring the chainsaw, the player’s arms are floating in air. Hopefully this visual will be fixed by the game’s release as it is a strong visual disconnect at the moment.

The hardest part about seeing Kinect titles is that the gameplay footage is only half of the experience. Even more so than games using a controller where players are used to standard experiences like platforming, shooting and traversing though a level, the Kinect is bringing these to players in a new way. It will be interesting to see just how they play out when Rise of Nightmares is released later this year.

Check out the trailer after the jump and stick to The Flickcast for more on Rise of Nightmares from SEGA.

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So back in 2010, Microsoft debuted the next great technology, where they let people be their own controller. No more holding plastic gizmos to get characters on screen to perform actions. Instead, they just had to do it themselves and their character would follow suit. People could bowl or play soccer in Kinect Sports, river raft and traverse obstacle courses in Kinect Adventures and improve their dance moves with Dance Central… and then there was a drastic shortage in titles for the Kinect that anyone really cared about playing.

This E3, Microsoft intended on showing people this wasn’t the case when they announced a slew of new Kinect games and the implementation of Kinect in other existing titles and franchises. One of the stand out titles in terms of curiosity is Rise of Nightmares from SEGA. Now, the horror survival genre is nothing new. Games like the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill perfected the formula early on. It has even made its way to the first person with titles like F.E.A.R. and Condemned. But never before have those trying to survive been forced to fight their way out with their own two hands… and feet… and even head.

Rise of Nightmares promises to not only let players use their body as the controller, but it also acts as the weapon to. It’s one thing to punch a zombie’s face off, but it’s a whole other thing to headbutt it clear off. This is definitely a game we will be keeping an eye on and will hopefully be getting some hands on preview coverage with in the coming months.

Check out the live action teaser trailer and in game screens below and stick to The Flickcast for more on Rise of Nightmares coming to the XBox 360 for Kinect.

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Last week at E3, tons of new and innovative games and software enhancements were announced that will completely change the face of video gaming and technology in general as we know it. One new announcement was one surrounding UbiSoft’s new Ghost Recon Future Soldier game that will make science fiction look like an everyday toaster.

Tying in with XBox Kinect, the game has an exclusive “Gunsmith Mode” that allows the user to reconstruct and upgrade your gun using Minority Report-like hand and arm gestures.

This is exactly the use that had everyone up in arms when the Kinect was first announced, that basically brings the technology we’ve seen in sci-fi movies for decades to the real world, and at an affordable price!

This is just the start of what we can expect to see with technology and the future of gaming. With the creation of the WiiU, you can also expect to see tons of new and innovative ways that people play everyday games, and we have to say we’ve never been more excited.

Check out exactly what you can look forward to with Ghost Recon Future Soldier on the Xbox 360 after the jump, and grab the game when it hits shelves March of next year.

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That’s right boys and girls it’s E3 time again. So, you know what that means, right? It means we will have a bunch of game trailers, videos and more to share over the next couple days.

It also means photos. Lots of photos. We like photos. Photos tell a story. They tell a story of E3 full of exotic booths, exotic games, exotic trips to far off lands and exotic booth babes.

That’s right, the booth babes are back this year and we’ve got pictures to prove it. So, click on through for what will probably be the first of at least a couple more galleries of photos showing off the sights, sounds and even smells of E3 in Los Angeles.

Well, maybe not the smells. That would be a little difficult. Click through for all the excitement.

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Even if you can’t be at E3 this year, don’t worry. It’s Monday and we’re not even there yet either. Oh the benefits (and hindrances) of working on a site that doesn’t just cover games. We’ve also got Apple’s WWDC announcements today and a bunch of other stuff for a Monday.

But getting back to Microsoft, our pals over at Geek Week have put together a nice list of the highlights of this year’s Microsoft News briefing at E3. And being the nice guys that we are, we’ve gone ahead and listed it right here for your use and enjoyment (with a few added bits and comments as wel).

Also, be sure to click through for the Halo 4 trailer as well! Okay, here’s the highlights’ of what Microsoft announced this morning:

• PGA, MADDEN, and FIFA will support the Kinect later this year – Nice

• MASS EFFECT 3 will support Kinect voice recognition; you will be able to speak the dialogue choices and voice combat commands to party members

• GHOST RECON: FUTURE SOLDIER will utilize Kinect for weapon customization

• YouTube, Bing, and live television are coming to Xbox Live

• Announcement of remastered HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED ANNIVERSARY

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Whether it’s the customization or the ability to play as your favorite wrestlers, something keeps drawing an audience of people into buying the newest WWE or TNA wrestling game year after year. Now fans are getting the chance to use more than their thumbs in the digital squared circle with Hulk Hogan’s Main Event.

From Majesco, the game is set to release on the Xbox 360 and utilize the console’s Kinect system by integrating the moves and motion of the player themselves into the game’s mechanics. Here’s a breakdown.

In Hulk Hogan’s Main Event, players will learn the ropes from the man himself as Hulk Hogan schools them on delivering the best show for the crowd by emulating famous Hulk poses and performing more than 30 punishing combos.  The Kinect sensor tracks players’ every move; the more dynamic the motion, the more high impact the wrestler’s performance is.  Players will create their own unique wrestler personality through a robust create-a-wrestler feature including many choices for face, hair, tattoos, outfit, ethnicity, body type, and entrance music.

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In what may be a good thing or a bad thing, today Microsoft  announced it will buy Skype for $8.5 billion in cash. This news comes just days after reports cam out that Facebook and Google were both interested in purchasing the online video chat company.

Microsoft said Skype will be used to support Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and other Windows devices. Microsoft also said it will connect Skype users with Outlook, Xbox Live and other software platforms.

“Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world,” Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.

Skype, which currently has 170 million users, will become a new business division at Microsoft with Skype’s current CEO Tony Bates taking on the role of president of the Microsoft Skype Division.

Click through for the full press release from Microsoft. So, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

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