Last week saw the release of a fun new trailer for the seemingly long-in-development Kinect Star Wars. The only thing it was missing was actual gameplay and that's what fans are still waiting to see more of before jumping into the controller-free experience.

We had a chance to check out Kinect Star Wars at E3 and other events last year and the experience simply wasn't polished. The motion controls didn't sync well with player movements and the game saw a lot more development time due to concern over the game. LucasArts is almost down now, announcing today an official release date that lines up with when we expected it to come out.

Kinect Star Wars and the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Kinect Star Wars console bundle will both be available on April 3rd, 2012 in North America for $49.99 USD and $449.99 USD respectively.

If any hardcore Star Wars fan doesn't have an Xbox and wants to introduce both the gaming console and Star Wars to their family, the bundle is a rather neat offering, albeit an extremely expensive one. This Limited Edition Xbox 360 console is designed based on R2-D2, and includes a Kinect device, the game and a gold, C-3PO-themed controller.

Kinect Star Wars isn't an in-depth story-driven campaign for players to experience, it's more of a Kinect Sports bundle of activities, including five main modes:

  • Jedi Destiny: Dark Side Rising
  • Podracing
  • Rancor Rampage
  • Galactic Dance Off
  • Duels of Fate

Along with the Kinect Star Wars release date announcement, LucasArts has also unveiled new gameplay features. In Jedi Destiny mode, players will be able to duel against Count Dooku and Darth Vader, pilot land speeders and speeder bikes from the movies, and engage in space battles against the Empire.

I'm unsure how appealing Star Wars dancing is to any fans old enough to have seen the original trilogy in theaters, but should they purchase the Xbox 360 bundle, they'll get the exclusive C-3PO for the Galactic Dance Off mode.

Is this the Star Wars game you were looking for?

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