Microsoft's Kinect to take on Wii

Microsoft aims to challenge the dominance of Nintendo's Wii games machine with the launch of Kinect next week.

Kinect is a motion-sensing flatbox that tracks a player's movement and voice and sits on top an existing Xbox 360. It was premiered in the US last week and will be rolled out to the rest of the world this week.

Kinect works with every Xbox 360 game and Microsoft said it would "transform home entertainment". It has created a range of games called "Kinectimals", "Kinect Sports," "Your Shape" and "Dance Central". LucasArts and Microsoft will launch "Star Wars Kinect" next year. The Kinect hub can also store films, TV programmes and music in one place and is controller-free.

Microsoft boosted its Kinect sales forecast last Wednesday to five million units up from three million after the device sold out in pre-sales by retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy.