Kinectimals Impressions

Unless you're dead on the inside, it's hard to not feel something tug at those heart strings when an adorable, fluffy, bright-eyed tiger cub is pawing at your screen, desperate for your attention. To capitalize on the cuteness at the Microsoft press conference, a young girl was brought out to demo Kinectimals, one of six launch titles that will be included when Kinect hits store shelves.

Kinectimals is like Nintendogs, except instead of being able to play with a collection of all the popular breeds in the United States, you get to snuggle with exotic baby beasts from all over the world. There are 40 different animals to adopt and play with in the game, as well as 30 unique activities for you to bond over with your new friend. We're not sure if you can take your furry friend on walks or leave the lush jungle that it was placed in, but you can talk to your pet and get it to mimic your moves. The girl who was demoing the game cooed at her tiger named Skittles and got it to roll over, sit, turn around, and even play dead. When she hid from Skittles, the cub pressed its face up against the screen and pawed longingly, waiting for its owner to return. When the girl returned, its expression and demeanor changed, and it happily nuzzled the screen before turning around to go frolic in the grass.

Another activity included jump rope, where the cub brought a skipping rope in its teeth to the girl, and she was able to swing her arms to turn it, with the help of (what we assume to be) an imaginary friend on the other end. The tiger cub happily pounced up and down, sometimes tripping over the rope and, at one point, did a slow-mo bullet-time rollover in midair. That bit seemed to have come out of nowhere, but it was funny and entertaining--bullet time makes everything more dramatic.

Once you go through all the different activities, there probably isn't a lot to do but leave your virtual pet onscreen and see what it does. Will it lick itself? Does it poop? Will it mark a nearby tree? Only time will tell. In the meantime, Kinectimals looks like it'll be worth spending some time with, if only to get your baby animal fix without the fuss of dealing with the not-so-pleasant perks of having a real pet.

Kinectimals and the other launch titles will debut on the Xbox 360 on November 4.