MS man: Kinect "perfect name" for Natal

Microsoft's Stephen Toulouse believes that the name "Kinect" is a great fit for the Project Natal concept even though he admits it will be polarising.

"People will either like it or dislike it, proclaim it to be an inspired choice or a mistake that will doom the product to failure," Toulouse wrote on his blog following today's announcement of the name.

"I, like many others, decried Nintendo naming their new console the Wii. And yet look at how many units it's sold. The trick is in the magic of the experience."

Toulouse wrote that he had always been cynical about product names, but really liked "Kinect", regardless of his Microsoft affiliation.

"Evoking both 'Kinetic' and 'Connection', it embodies so much of what the technology achieves when you actually use it...

"Critics always s*** all over the marketing people who choose names they don't like, and when they really nail it, rarely give them the honours they deserve.

"So congratulations to the marketing folks in our group. Kinect is a perfect name for this technology, you nailed it. And I simply cannot wait for everyone to be able to use it."

Xbox Kinect was unveiled at an event in Los Angeles overnight along with a range of games that draw upon its controller-free technology.

Announced last year, it bore the Project Natal moniker right up until people were queuing for the event, when USA Today - ironically a paper Microsoft had been working with to manage the announcement - published a story early.