MS: Kinect games will span all genres
"It is as core to the platform as Live."
Microsoft envisages Kinect as a "fundamental" part of what Xbox 360 offers - an experience to span all genres and be considered as inherent as Xbox Live.
Speaking to GameSpot, MGS bigshot Phil Spencer said the launch line-up was only the beginning: he has a "real healthy" and "growing" amount of third-party support for the future.
"Well we view Kinect as a fundamental part of the [Xbox 360] platform. It is as core to the platform as Live is. And we think about all the products in our pipeline, including things that haven't been announced," Spencer delivered. "And just like there's an [internet] pipe connected to the dev kits, there's a camera connected to the dev kits, so you think about those dev kits and those teams and that creative space, and how they want to add [Kinect] to that experience.
"Over time for first party, you're not going to see that differentiation between, 'Is that a Kinect game?' and 'Is that not a Kinect game?' You're just going to think about these things as 360 games. Now that doesn't mean there's no controller included. This is just like Live, since Live is used in many different ways across many different experiences that we build.
"Our [Kinect] launch line-up is strong, it's deep - it's great seeing the third parties step up. But our gamer customers should expect to see Kinect across all genres," he added. "All genres will support Kinect at some point."
That universal Kinect support won't necessarily manifest as entirely hands-free romps: rather "intertwined" experiences that use both controller and camera.
"Using the controller comes naturally, but now there's this added feature in the ecosystem: voice, gesture. So absolutely that will become an aspect of what people see as a 360 title," he said.
Microsoft may be spending unprecedented amounts on marketing Kinect as the future of entertainment, but Spencer assured that no undue pressure was put on developers to force motion-sensing controls into games they don't fit.
"This isn't about trying to ram stuff in where it doesn't belong," Spencer stated. "For us, the experience is from the ground up, and that's why you see the first launch experiences are completely body controlled."
"Now one thing we, as a first party, don't want to do is dominate our platform," he added, mentioning no names.
"There's a real healthy third-party ecosystem on our platform; that's really important. We want to foster that. We get our games out to third parties early; we show them what we're doing in first party to help build interest and excitement.
"The level of support we're seeing from third party is growing."
Kinect launches in the UK on 10th November.