E3 2010: Ubisoft announces Michael Jackson game – dance battle ensues

Grab your zippered red leather and get to moon walking people, because this is war. Less than 24 hours after Microsoft revealed that its motion-sensitive baby Project Natal would be renamed Kinect, we have not one, but two dancing games competing to make you look like a doofus in your living room.

The first, Dance Central, is coming from Harmonix. However, you had to know that Sony, which owns Michael Jackson%26rsquo;s catalog, was about as likely to give Microsoft access to the King of Pop%26rsquo;s tunes as Lady Gaga showing up to a concert in curlers and sweat pants. Instead, they appear to have cut a deal with publisher Ubisoft to create an entire Kinect game centered around Michael Jackson%26rsquo;s music, mainly singing and dancing to it.

Aaaaannnnddddd%26hellip; that%26rsquo;s about all we know at this point. The game%26rsquo;s name might actually be Michael Jackson, if the screen at Ubisoft%26rsquo;s press conference is to be trusted. It might be something else. But it will clearly have the song %26ldquo;Beat It%26rdquo; somewhere on its soundtrack, and it%26rsquo;s an iron-clad certainty that you will not look as good while playing it as you think you do when it comes out in winter this year.

Article continues below

June 14, 2010

CATEGORIES

I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.