Kinect Gameplay Video

Kovacs 78 Comments

Despite calls for a media blackout, video of Microsoft’s Kinect event over at E3 are starting to appear online. Destructoid have posted up a snippet of what was on display at the elephant-infested media show, footage of which we’ve embedded here for you to dissect/ridicule/gush over.

You’ll see Cirque de Soleil, River Rafting, an elephant with a flashing arse (seriously) and, most importantly, some Star Wars lightsaber action right at the end.

Oh, and you’ll get to see the ponchos, too. Words fail me.

Source: Destructoid

Tags:

Related stories from TSA

Microsoft Officially Discontinue The Kinect Adapter For Xbox One S And X
Microsoft Cease Production Of Kinect
No Kinect Adaptor To Be Included Or Offered Free With Xbox One X Purchases
Xbox One Kinect Sensor To Officially Be Available From October 7th

78 Comments

  1. A lightsaber makes everything instant win, hopefully Move gets one as well.

    • I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t.

    • I highly doubt it wouldn’t, plus it’s easy to imaging with that sphere.

    • Although I kinda suspect none of the performers on stage are actually playing Kinect (as you’d expect in a weird stage performance), they’re just acting out moves to video footage

      • Yep – ZERO lag on the performer doing the wave thing. That was all orchestrated. And, sure, why not. It’s a show. Not a tech demo.

      • In fact, not only zero lag, but I swear when he pulled out the lightsaber, the character on the screen got there first.

      • Anti-lag?

      • I noticed that too, maybe it reads minds but they have not announced it yet.

      • Yup, in the raft section, the guy on the left jumped a good half second after his screen character, what a crock!

      • on the force unleashed part the character on screen moves before the “player” when he readies the light saber.

    • That Kinect Star Wars game was awful. The character moved before the player. Staged much?

      • It was all staged. As I mentioned above – it was part of the show. Focus on the fact that it exists. How it performs is a different matter.

      • But focusing on something actually existing, and seeing it actually work are two completely different things. djh has an extremely valid point here. A year after they first announced Natal, they’re still staging the damn thing? Why can’t they just have a bunch of actors on stage actually doing those motions in real time? You know, like Move does? It’s almost as if they STILL don’t trust their tech to be shown yet. BAM.

      • You cannot have a decent light sabre game. It cannot be done in the living room. Looking at the facts in front of us, The video depicts the CPU controlled player resisting the actions of the player on the stage. This cannot be done. This game will be a idiot swing-fest when it comes out, just like every other game I’ve seen so far. I can’t help but feel that Microsoft are putting all their eggs in this basket. Don’t they realise that the casual market will love you for a short while then move on the the next big thing. This is a huge gamble from Microsoft, and I got £20 on this thing being swept under the carpet within 18 months time. Anyone taking me up on that bet?

      • Kovacs: “Focus on the fact that it exists. How it performs is a different matter.”

        Are you serious? If I saw this a year ago when Natal was revealed, I would excuse it. How it performs ISN’T a different matter and this wasn’t just a show. This was their first real reveal and therefore you can’t fool people with fake, pre-recorded material.

        I don’t see how you can excuse them for doing that, especially since Kinect’s launch is only five months away.

      • Of course I’m serious.

        MS’s conference is in 3 hours. Judge Kinect based on THAT, not this which was obviously a show. The montage was staged to show off the device’s capabilities with people jumping in and out. This was all marketing. It’s not supposed to represent how the actual device works in real time.

        I can’t believe I’m defending Kinect as I have NO interest in it. All I’m saying is that, this was a media show, NOT a keynote. The montage at the end was ALL staged because it had to be to show off all they wanted to display in a brief few seconds.

        I don’t care if it was staged. The proof is in the pudding and that’s what we’ll see in a few hours where MS can’t hide behind what this was (a media event).

        Personally I would have liked to see a warning like: “Does not represent actual footage” but you’re not going to get that with a media display. It was what it was – marketing. And we all know marketing is just smoke and mirrors used to drive up interest in a product.

      • I see what you mean, so you expect Microsoft to show a real, live demo of the game today? I wouldn’t get too excited if I were you.

        The Star Wars game was over before it even started, why would Microsoft risk embarassment? Besides, there was barely any movement going on there! Fair enough it was a show but it’s not like he was trying to breakdance with the game. He was literally standing still which required no effort at all.

        Believe what you would like, I could be wrong anyways. However, I think soon you’ll see the same thing you saw yesterday – a staged demonstration.

      • “I see what you mean, so you expect Microsoft to show a real, live demo of the game today? I wouldn’t get too excited if I were you.”

        Yes, I expect a live demo. And no, I don’t expect to be excited about it. As I said above, I’m not interested in Kinect. I still didn’t expect a live demo at a show though. That’s not what the Kinect event was about. It was an introduction, a media spectacle. A crap one, I might add – but that’s what it was.

        “The Star Wars game was over before it even started, why would Microsoft risk embarassment?”

        It’s Star Wars! Instant nerd points. Do I think the event has backfired on MS? To some degree, yes. I think they missed the mark entirely. I can see what they were trying to do, though. It just didn’t work, in my opinion. That said, it wasn’t meant to be a “here are the games of Kinect” event.

        “However, I think soon you’ll see the same thing you saw yesterday – a staged demonstration.”

        Perhaps. I sure hope not as THAT would be an embarrassment. I don’t think MS can afford to do another smoke and mirrors staged event. Not when the device is playable on the floor. As already mentioned elsewhere on here, the games they have at E3 “work” in as much as they’re supposed to. I expect to see some Dance Central and some of their sports line-up in about an hour’s time. And I expect them to work. I also expect not to want to play them, however. As I’ve said numerous times – I’m not part of the audience MS are targeting with this.

      • Looks like I was right. There was actual footage of people playing the games and, apart from Dance Central, it all looked bad. Yay! \o/

      • We were both right. Not only was the Star Wars thing staged, it’s nowhere near playable. That was a weak conference, hopefully Sony will do better.

    • A lightsaber with Move would be so much cooler IMO.
      As you really hold it in your hands and you kan twist your hand even in the slightest possible way and your lightsaber onscreen will move accordingly…

      I have been checking the current motion control in the DS3-controller and it really is accurate in games like Blazing Angels and Killzone 2 (a little too responsive for the sniper rifle though).

    • But again (and I’m saying this without seeing the vid as it’s blocked at work) – why would you want to pretend to hold a lightsabre when you can really hold a lightsabre, in so much as holding a Move controller would feel a lot more like the sensation of holding a lightsabre than holding nothing would! Add to that the inclusion of Move’s augmented reality actually showing you on the screen holding a lightsabre and include the PS3’s ability to upload to YouTube and that is instant win – a whole new generation of fat kids doing lightsabre martial arts to watch!

      It makes me laugh how much stick the PS3 got for dropping rumble in the SIXAXIS, yet here MS are trying to convince you that waggling your arms is a more authentic lightsabre experience than holding a vibrating handle with a glowing end – the thing even looks like a lightsabre when it’s doing nothing! Same with racing games – holding an invisible steering wheel is not fun, Kinect only works for things where you wouldn’t normally hold something for or get feedback from in real life – things like martial arts and potentially Football penalties, it’s limited scope is exactly the reason why the EyeToy didn’t take off…

      • Families are going to love it, and there’s no buttons to press which might mean even my mum can play it, who spent all yesterday afternoon watching me & my daughter play Shaun White on their Wii whilst calling him Shaun the Sheep, not just once but continually.

        I think Kinect has just made the Wii (and even WiiHD) obsolete, but Sony obviously have something very different, but whether that will appeal to anyone who doesn’t already own a PS3 is a different matter altogether

      • Actually, thinking about it, even boxing would be more fun with Move – granted you have to hold something, but at least that allows you to feel the impact by way of the rumble and/or colour change features.

        The only thing Kinect brings to the table is the ability to use your feet – and really how many games/genres will that actually help with? And how important is the £130 hardware for leg detection, what leg movements would you need in a game that couldn’t be done on a basic level with the PS Eye (see Kung Fu Live)?

        Maybe it’s something you need to actually use yourself to appreciate, but currently I’m really struggling to see Kinect becoming a success… I trust Microsoft’s marketing department are at DEFCON 1 to address this though!

      • Assuming that certain previous claims are true you could hold an actual light sabre when playing. There have been claims that it’ll work out you and ignore stuff you’re holding to you could do it with a light sabre, an actual sword, a tennis racket. We haven’t actually seen that though, so it may just be more bluff. If that does work it’d be pretty cool, although I take the point about lack of force feed back.

      • cc_star wow, top marks for you in you defence in this pile of rubbish. Now, fast forward three or four years when the next round of consoles hit and maybe, just maybe this technology will work as designed, until then it looks very much like PSEye on PS2, i.e. clearly the tech is not ready. Sony know this and that is why MOVE with it’s reasonable price point is absolutely on the money for the here and now.
        Still top marks to you for trying :)

      • Retro_ – top marks to you for slamming something as a pile of rubbish without actually trying it. ;)

      • No,

        I’ve played games with my daughter through the ages of 5, 6 & 7 and I’ve recently played them with my 63yo mum

        Both of whom find a controller impossible to use, daughters hand isn’t big enough to hold the controller & press the shoulder buttons and my mum has got zero chance of pressing a solitary button at the correct time in gameplay (nevermind a controller with loads of buttons on)

        My mum however is a keen gamer, and between her & my Dad they spent many, many hundreds of pounds (maybe far more than I have on PS3) on Wii DS & iPod Touch games, but would never in a million years be able to work a PS3 or its many buttoned controllers.

        Kinect, however would let her straight in the action, therefore it’s not a much of a leap of the imagination to predict this is going to impossibly huge, maybe not amongst TheSixthAxis audience (but they’re hardly the target market anyway) but huge in the conciousness of its mainstream target audience.

        Don’t really recognise your point about Move’s price, each of the 2 players needs 2 Move sticks (£30-£35ea) (not forced to, but for maximum participation & fun), so thats 4 altogether and then you need 2 subs and a camera, altogether that will be £150-£180 surely?

        In addition, Digital Foundry has tweeted “So Kinect is good and the key games are pitch perfect for the intended audience. Tech held up extremely well in crowded environment. People in background, stray arms and legs in view all effortlessly filtered out. Kinect Adventure, Kinect Sport and Dance Central stand out.”

        So technically it appears to work very well along with it looking awesome fun for local multiplayer gaming with a family

      • Sums it up nicely. I know people are pointing out that this is just a show not a tech-demo & that’s fine.
        But why would you spend the money on a flashy show, then leave it a day (for the internets to dissect it all) before the tech demo and diminish all the buzz (or not) that the show created.

      • After last year’s fake demos, MS really need to show actual live gameplay this year if they are going to convince anyone of kinect’s functionality.

      • Eirekun: Probably because this isn’t solid enough for them to demonstrate it live…either in a show or in a conference.

  2. What the…

    • my thought exactly… out of all the nonsense, i spotted star wars and water rafting. neither of which looked like the people doing the movements were replicated on screen 10:1, let alone 1:1!!! So yet another demo that actually shows nothing diffrent from the old EyeToy?!?!?

      Im not a Move fanboy, but at least the creators have shown us some good, solid tech demos. The basic demos at E3 last year, and the one where they laid out pics and videos around a room gave us a little insite into what Move could do, and what functions may open up gaming. ALL the Natal stuff has been rubbish IMO. Really think MS should of left this ‘Project’ as a project and spent the time on somthing else. seems very rushed and very undeveloped. They are trying to cover up that fact with all these videos, smoke and circus!?!

      • but wait there, Peter Molyneux sais it’s far better than Move…..whats that you say?, everybody raises their eyes to the heavens every time he opens his M$ sponsored mouth…. oh!

      • I think there’s something wrong with your keyboard.

  3. Pre-recorded much?

  4. I’m going to have to stop typing “Kinetic” when I mean “Kinect.”

    Fingers are NOT liking that spelling whatsoever.

    • *cough*EyeToy Kinetic*cough*

      • If they’d called it Kinetic that would have been one massive cock up by MS (though it would have been a better name than Kinect)

    • I keep calling it K’nex…

  5. If this hadn’t have had StarWars in it would we be that interested?! Most feedback that i have read shows people a bit underwhelmed over the whole thing.

    Will be interesting to see if that StarWars game gets a firm release date or its just in for the wow factor.

    Wonder what Sony have planned? if they get Kevin Butler on stage with the Move its an instant win, never mind the StarWars footage!

  6. No Vid on laptop or iPhone?

    :-(

    • yeah, its a locked down vid at the min – nothing on Youtube

    • What’s above is all we have at the moment. I’m sure it will be on YouTube soon enough.

  7. That made me laugh.. what the hack was that all about?

    But I really expect they’ll show something stunning later on, else it would be such a fail..

  8. That was poop wasn’t it? What was even the point to this show?

  9. I take your point Kovacs, about it being a show not a tech demo, but with the move at the end, with the ‘player’ forcing his saber against Vader’s, what stops the player forcing their lightsaber right down? The character cannot push his lightsaber down (because Vader is there), but this relies on the player holding their saber in position. If you do the action, what does the character do? (In the real game, not the show). Do you get me?
    And I know this problem will be the same for Move.

    • I get you. I can only assume that when you’re “locked” in a saber clinch, if you move “back” – you’re dead. If you move forward or down you simply stay in the clinch. Or, if you don’t play by the rules it simply breaks the attack and you go back to “Vommmmmming.”

      • Yeah, really good point.
        I’ve only seen on-rails shooters before so they don’t have that problem which is quite unique to melee

      • LOL. Vommmmmming.

    • I assume it works the same as sword games on the Wii, although I can’t actually remember how that does work right now.

  10. Christ, that was more staged than…er…any other microsoft advert/presentation.
    Terry Blair, indeed!

Comments are now closed for this post.