According to USA today, Microsoft’s motion controlled system formerly known as “Project Natal” has been redubbed “Kinect”.

Push all thoughts of modern day erector sets out of your mind, because the USA Today info springs all types of obnoxious branding in your facehole.

Among games in the works:

- Kinectimals lets you train and play with 20 different virtual cats, including a lion, cheetah and tiger.

- Joyride, a racing game, lets players use their hands to hold an imaginary steering wheel — pull your hands toward you and push back out for an acceleration boost — and their bodies to execute jumps and tricks.

- Kinect Sports has six activities including boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis. To serve a volleyball, you mimic the real motion; in soccer, you can kick the ball or do a header.

- Kinect Adventures includes a river-raft time trial and obstacle course, playable by up to four players. On the raft, playing as a duo, you and a partner must lean one way or another to steer. Jumping helps the raft reach special areas for extra points.

- Dance Central, in development by MTV Games, brings a So You Think You Can Dance experience home.

- Star Wars characters and iconic Disney favorites will be featured in separate new games being developed at Microsoft in conjunction with LucasArts and Disney.

You may remember Joyride up there as the kart game the Fall Damage crew was discussing on the show a couple weeks ago that vanished off the face of the planet after its reveal at E3 last year.

What are your thoughts on the name change?

This week Mixmoff, and Dr. Scares are joined by forum fanatic Trefoilknot as they answer a barrage of listener questions, talk a little about the forum D&D game, and trade E3 rumors.

I can’t imagine a better piece of news. Back to the Future, the best movie property to get brutally abused as a game series, is getting the episodic treatment by the masters themselves: Telltale Games! After bringing adventure games back with their refreshing new episodes of the Sam and Max and Monkey Island series, now we get to see what they’ll do with Back to the Future and Jurassic Park.

Scares, get your raptor dance ready.

Connors said the games, which are in the early stages of development, would tell new stories extending the “Back to the Future” and “Jurassic Park” lore. He teased that the “Back to the Future” games may include a DeLorean ride back to the 1970s while the “Jurassic Park” games would be intense and add new backstories to the series’ man-versus-dinosaur mythology.

“The games are going to exist within these worlds,” said Connors. “I wouldn’t call these games sequels per se but a new interpretation of their worlds for a new medium. For one generation, it’s an introduction to these series. For another generation, it’s a thing they can look back on and something they can share warmly with their family and friends.”

This week Mixmoff, Dr. Scares, and Aevan answer some listener questions, name the new Listener of the Week/Month, and talk about Red Dead Redemption and Jake Gyllenhaal’s abs.

This week Mixmoff and Dr. Scares are joined by Mephianse as Aevan takes the week off. The crew talk about why “gamer” is still a term with negative connotations as well as excitement over Red Dead Redemption, Insomniac working with EA, and the possibility of a Ico/Shadow of the Colossus HD re-release!

Graaaaaggghrgrgaggggaggghggegegrh. Ahem… in this show the crew is joined by Kragg from Evil Avatar’s Shotgun podcast. We talk a little about the forum D&D game, a lot about what differentiates the Sims and Farmville, and much rage is shared over pixel-counters trying to ruin every damn multiplatform game out there. Also we try to take call-ins and it breaks the show about 12 times.

This week Mixmoff, Aevan, and Dr. Scares interview the last man standing in Halo 2: Apache N4Sir. They also talk about where the evolution towards multiplayer gaming has brought the industry, Steam on Mac, a particularly intriguing Sleep is Death experience, and EA’s one time online ticket.

Mac users, your time has come. Steam is out on Mac now, and it offers cross-platform play with the PC community.

As a kickass side note, Portal is free until May 24th. Just for the hell of it. You rock, Valve.

Portal used to cost money. Until May 24th, it’s free. End of story.

Well, technically speaking, there are some strings attached. Fortunately, they’re entirely decorative. We just like the way they look, swaying in the gentle breeze created by a million people simultanously fainting from shock at the news that Portal is free. Now you have no reason not to try Portal.

“I have a reason,” some of you are probably typing into an angry email. “You see, sir, I own a Mac.”

Well guess what: For the first time ever, Portal is also available for the Mac.

“Capitol news! But the excellent puzzle adventure Portal won over 40 Game of the Year awards; Surely it must cost at least five or six hundred dollars.”

You’d think that, especially since it actually won over 70 Game of the Year Awards. But, like we keep saying, Portal is free. Free on the Mac. Free on the PC. But only until May 24th. So you only have a few days to decide if your free copy of Portal is worth the price we’re currently charging – which is you ever-so-slightly moving your index finger just barely enough to click the big red “download” button right there to the left.

It’s time for the team’s monthly live show, where we apparently sacrifice audio quality for interactivity! The crew talks Splinter Cell, Resonance of Fate and Arkham Asylum before giving away a free copy of Sleep Is Death and ending the show with their very first call-in segment.

It’s finally happening.