Microsoft: We'll start showing off the good Kinect games in 2011

Where are all those hardcore Kinect games it promised when it first showed off the motion-sensing technology? As of now, we're swimming in mini-games, fitness games, and other casual arm-wavers. Soon, says Microsoft. Or, at least, they'll be shown off soon - by the end of 2011, at the latest.

"We'll start showing more [games for core gamers] in 2011," said Microsoft UK marketing chief Stephen McGill in an interview with CVG. "2011 is going to be an amazing year for gamers both on Kinect and normal controller-based games for Xbox 360. I think there's something for everyone."

McGill also stressed that the launch game line-up should not be considered lackluster, but rather a bunch of accessible games needed to make Kinect a success. He argued that some of these, like Dance Central and Kinect Sports, are actually very deep games. We don't know if we'd say very deep, but point taken, Dance Central is very good - it's a great use of the tech, and is far more substantive than, say, Wii Play.

But it does seem like Kinect will have a harder battle to reach hardcore gamers than its competitor, the PlayStation Move. From day one, Move already had support from high-profile games like Heavy Rain and MAG. Those titles received updates to become compatible with the motion controller. Doing the same for back-titles on the Xbox 360 would be virtually impossible due to the no-controller aspect of Kinect.

It's the same issue Nintendo has been struggling with ever since the Wii launch. It has high-profile first-party games like Metroid: Other M, but it has failed to attract many big-budget third-party projects... it generally gets the B-teams. Much of that may have nothing to do with motion controls, and be more a result of the Wii's less powerful software, but still, it seems that it may be tough for Microsoft to avoid the same shovelware onslaught. Right now, its first-party Kinect games aren't getting us excited. At least Nintendo has Mario.

We'll just have to wait and see what 2011 brings for the motion camera.