During Microsoft’s E3 press conference last night the company announced that Kinect (previously known as Project Natal) would be releasing on the 4th of November across the US with more than 15 launch titles.

One of those titles is Kinectimals, a virtual pet game that lets you train and play with up to 20 different virtual cats, including lions, cheetahs and tigers. Kinectimals was demonstrated during the conference last night, with a young lady showing how you can stroke your cuddly looking tiger, hide from him and even play a skipping rope game with him.

The Kinectimals respond to your voice so when you call them they’ll come running, they will also respond to commands such as ‘jump,’ ‘roll over’ and ‘play dead.’ Of course it won’t be as easy as that, you will have to train them to learn their name and the different tricks such as fetch, play activities (like the jump rope) and master agility courses (including hops, stops and balancing acts). You’ll also be able to include a friend and his pet for contests.

Exploring the island in-game will yield Kinectimals rewards, including treasures, toys and new environments. You’ll also be able to customise your pet and house as well as buy items at the in-game store. You can even pick up limited edition plush toys at stores, which you can then scan with the Kinect sensor and watch as they come to life in the game.

So far Kinectimals looks really interesting and seems to respond well. However, it does bear more than a passing resemblence to Nintendogs and only time will tell how well it is received. You can get to know your prospective new digital pet in the debut trailer and screenshots below: