Project Natal is no more as Microsoft has officially revealed that the name of its motion-control technology for the Xbox 360 is going to be… Kinect. Like it? We think it sounds like a late ‘80s board game but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The finished product.

Kinect was unveiled at a pre-E3 event in Los Angeles (to be screened on MTV later this week) which involved performers from Cirque de Soleil. TechRadar reports that in addition to a number of new games announced for the new Xbox 360 motion controller, Microsoft reps were also showing off ‘video chat’ application for the peripheral.

An official press release on the Kinect is due this evening so more details will be available soon. Meanwhile, most industry folk are guessing at a November release in the UK so hopefully we won’t be too long waiting for the Kinect after that, indeed you can’t imagine Microsoft will want to miss out on any extra Christmas cash they can bring in.

Before more details on the technology arrive though, the first details on the initial line-up of games for the Kinect have been revealed. Microsoft has announced deals with games and entertainment giants LucasArts and Disney, with a new Kinect-controlled ‘Star Wars’ game being shown off at the LA event.

Apparently called ‘Dispensing with Vader’ the press release says that players can “swing their arms in order to control on-screen light-sabers – an interesting new way of dispensing with the dark lord Vader”. Sounds cool to us.

Other new games in the Kinect launch line-up include the following:

• ‘Kinectimals’: This title lets you train and play with 20 different virtual cats, including a lion, cheetah and tiger.

• ‘Joyride’: A racing game, lets players use their hands to hold an imaginary steering wheel – pull your hands toward you and push back out for an acceleration boost – and their bodies to execute jumps and tricks.

• ‘Kinect Sports’: This has six activities including boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis. To serve a volleyball, you mimic the real motion; in soccer, you can kick the ball or do a header.

• ‘Kinect Adventures’: Includes a river-raft time trial and obstacle course, playable by up to four players. On the raft, playing as a duo, you and a partner must lean one way or another to steer. Jumping helps the raft reach special areas for extra points.

• ‘Dance Central’: Continuing the MTV theme of the launch this is in development by MTV Games, and apparently it will bring “a So You Think You Can Dance experience home”.