Microsoft, according to a press release issued this morning as part of their Gamescom line-up, has announced its release date in Europe for Kinect. The day for your diaries: November 10th, with the controller-free system launching with 15 titles, including ‘Kinect Sports,’ ‘Kinect Adventures,’ ‘Kinectimals’ and ‘Kinect Joyride.’
In addition, the press release says that MTV Games and Harmonix will also announce new chart-topping dance tracks for the highly anticipated ‘Dance Central’, so presumably that one won’t be ready for launch.
Microsoft continue to push the ‘simple to play’ ethos behind Kinect, as well as the fact that the new Kinect Hub ‘puts your favourite movies and TV programs, music, live sports, and social networks all in one place’. Kinect recognises you, the bulletin says, responds to your gestures, listens to your voice and works with every Xbox 360 console, also 175 MB of space is needed for the software.
The company are also keen to mention the big games for this year (naturally, there’s mention of Halo: Reach, Microsoft’s big gun) as well as quickly pointing out that Windows Phone 7 is going to bring the ‘quality, consistency and community of the Xbox experience to gamers on the go’.
We’re at Gamescom today for something hopefully rather tasty, we’ll be reporting soon.
52pickup
A month? Doesn’t PS Move launch in the UK on Sept. 17th,Nov. 10th would make that almost 2 months after PS Move.
I’m still not convinced by Kinect. There is absolutely no games of interest to me and quite frankly the lag and price is off putting.
iAvernus
The price is a little off putting, but the LAG!! Serious gamers won’t buy this, which I think is what MS was going for. Diversity?
cc_star
The lag is hardly much worse than Killzone2, the games where the lag appears massive is more down to human lag (it takes far longer to make massive movements with a whole limb (or your whole body) than it does to press a button.
What lag there is, is software based and as we all know with software it can be ‘tightened up’ over time. I would expect it to be tightened up by the time its released, then I’d expect 2nd wave titles to be better than 1st wave and so on…
Also with the type of fun social experiences MS is going for lag won’t really be an issue because people will be too busy laughing at their mates/family than they will over geeky technical matters, but like I said for geeks (and haters) amongst us its all software based so to get the lag down from 200ms to KZ2’s 150ms will be with firmware updates and title updates c most of this could be done by release or 2nd wave anyway
iAvernus
You maybe be right, but people are judging it by how it’s looking now, and to be fair to it, it looks fun, but still a bit too laggy, for ME. If I had an XBOX, I won’t go for it to be honest. Not a fanboy by any means, just can’t afford an XBOX.
At the end of it, casual gamers aren’t going to care about the lag as much as the price.
ghost5
If I had a Xbox I would go and buy it, or get it as a Xmas present, but by the looks of it so far and comparing to what they promised with Natal, I won’t go out and buy a Xbox just for it. It will sell by the shed load though. If you walk into Argos they are already promoting it along with the Xbox Slim.
bunimomike
cc – likening Kinect to a single PS3 title seems a bit strange. Sure, KZ2 was cumbersome and slow-feeling… but seeing as the entire gaming community (fans, haters, casuals, developers even) has noticed Kinect’s fundamental lag, surely it would’ve been fixed by now if it could have. That’s what bothers me quite a bit. It’s not about the body movement, it’s about Kinect working its frikkin’ socks off trying to interpolate all the data of said body movement.
For me, it’s the very reason why Move is proving so accurate. They’ve got this lovely glowing orb to track.
Although none of my comments address how well anything will sell and both Sony and MS might shift bucketloads of their own respective new hardware.
cc_star
No, I could liken it to any number of them, but likening it to a popular one, which people know about, with similar lag times is the best way to do a comparison, is it not?
Millions of people enjoyed enjoyed KZ2, and Kinect’s lag is recorded to be not to far off that by people who have actually played it and measured it with recording equipment as opposed to people who are just jumping on a bandwagon which constantly permeates through the comment section on every single TSA article on Kinect.
Not that this will matter one jot to the reported 4 million pre-Christmas customers Kinect is now expected to have.
bunimomike
Hello matey.
I’m not sure likening lag in hardware to lag in software is the way to go. I’m no hardware expert but seeing as we’ve had countless PS3 games with negligible lag (to the point of most games feeling utterly perfect just like PS2/PS1 games) my gut feeling tells me Kinect’s hardware is the problem. Tweaking here and there will hopefully reduce the situation but, as of now, there seems to be little evidence to suggest any noticeable shift in milliseconds.
However, regarding the barrage of “slag off” comments, I agree. It gets very tiring and you’re pretty much on your own when sticking up for Kinect. Regardless of hardware, picking things apart and dissecting things is fine. Although, simply smack-talking something down into the ground again and again gets boring fast. It also strikes me as childishly defensive.
Bilbo_bobbins
I can see what you are both saying, but to be fair, I’ve seen reviews of it on tv and online and everytime they show Kinect and someone playing it, it seems laggy. I mean, if you can see the lag watching it, you will feel it playing it. I wouldn’t put it down till it’s out anyway, but me not having an xbox, I definitely wouldn’t buy this. If I DID have an xbox, personally I would be thinking of waiting at least till i’ve tried it. That wont stop the massive amount buying it for christmas though.
bunimomike
I think cc is tired of the blind slagging off of MS (and their associated products) when, if we’re honest, they’re still outselling the PS3 in global sales. Ok, the margin is closing, which is great news, but MS know how to market products and reach an audience.
If a product deserved to be slagged off, that’s fair enough (to a certain degree) but Kinect isn’t even out yet. Sure, most of us are working with assumptions, videos, write-ups, etc, but there’s a way for us to conduct ourselves and it seems MS brings out the worst in people.
For example: Instead of saying “their games look like shit”, the same message could be conveyed by iterating how “none of the Kinect titles interest me so I’ll be curious to see how it performs in the long-term” or words to that affect.
Sorry, Bilbo, not aiming this at you. I’m probably just next in line with the replies. :-)
Personally, I think Kinect’s sales may well suffer very quickly (from the initial healthy pre-order figures) if they can’t produce games that stand out from the wealth of Wii titles. Especially with rumours surfacing of a Wii 2 next year! That’s a tight time-scale with which to steal a hefty slice of the casual market.
cc (Chris) – sorry if I’ve spoken on your behalf and have it totally wrong.
JesseDeya
cc, kind of ironic you used Killzone 2 as an example. Everyone, including Guerilla Games realises there was too much lag in Killzone 2. GG have said they will fix the controller lag for Killzone 3, so yes Kinect having as much lag as Killzone 2 IS an issue. Sure, gamers will game around it, but it’s still there and it will still put a lot of people off, just like Killzone 2’s lag did.
I don’t think the lag is related, necessarily, to the full body movement – rather the processing speed MS have afforded Kinect. Remember, the original device had a chip onboard to do the tracking but it seems MS have removed that a put the load on the Xbox itself. Logic would dictate a fair portion of the lag we’re seeing as a result of this limitation and I’d be surprised if there is much they can do about it in the future.
Move on the other hand seem incredibly processor friendly, requiring very little of the PS3’s computing power to get incredibly fidelity.
Regardless things like lag and accuracy really only matter to gamers like us, not the general icecream licking public who MS (surely) are targetting. The thing that is most telling however, is that every article like this is full of people ‘defending’ Kinect – rather than the awesomeness of Kinect speaking for itself.
cc_star
Not really ironic, its a landmark game for the PS3 and one enjoyed by millions, yes its not as twitchy as Unreal Tourney or CoD, but it does have a solid weight to it.
Once guerilla announced they were reducing the lag, the internet was bombarded by fans saying the added weight helps separate it from all the other shooters out there.
the fact that Kinect will generally be played by groups of drunk friends or families makes lag irrelevant, even if the early pre-release software already performs close to a landmark PS3 shooter.
spek
GT5 comes out in November.
Ooops Should i have posted that? lol ;)
gazzagb
At least they’ve got 15 launch titles, Moves got about 4.
monkeyspoon
Actually move has a lot more support. Every Kinect game is crap while Move has some very good games.
cc_star
Every Kinect game is crap? Have you played them
The experience it looks like it gives is similar to the hilarious Wii experiences that are enjoyed by many 10’s of millions of people, almost twice as many people as enjoy pixel perfect PS3 gaming. To dismiss people having great fun, as crap is odd. Not to your taste, maybe but crap?
Kamokazi-UK
I don’t think thst they are ‘crap’ just targeted at kids with the ‘ nag ‘ factor.
bajere
I dont really think you can say they are crap, as they are brilliant to the casual 7 year old gamer and his mum. They wii wouldnt of sold so many units if everyone thought it was crap. Kinect is NOT made for people like us. Hardcore gamers will not flock to the shops to get a game to run on the spot and jump around like a prat, but casual wii owning families…you bet they will!!!
Kinect is piss poor IMO, but thats my opinion as a ‘proper gamer’, lots of TSA’ers will be saying the same. BUT, i think people on TSA are really getting this product confused with something thats aimed at them. You need to see Kinect in the eyes of its target market, they will think this is amazing, and when the adverts start dominating each and every TV channel with perfect families all having more fun than a bunch of monkey on speed, you will see the sales go through the roof! It will out sell the Move 2/3:1 unless Sony do some great advertising and sell the PS3 features,games ect along with it.
Padre
Doesn’t matter if you have a 1000 launch titles if they are all crap ;)
iAvernus
HA! Good one =)
fps_d0minat0r
quality > quantity
kevatron400
Personally, in terms of non-casual motion experiences, I think driving games look like they’ll be better on kinect; the gadget show’s Jason Bradbury was pretty excited about it, and I don’t think the move controllers are geared to work as well in a driving position (although I’m sure they’ll eventually release a steering wheel to plug your moves into).
jayboy31
Did you not think that the lag was very obvious whilst Jason Bradbury was playing Forza, was he not just being polite whilst standing at the 360 stand? He was also ‘pretty excited about’ The Fight using the MOVE, and that is very laggy (i’ve actually played it at Beta Rooms). It seems to me that that E3 coverage was just a general report on whats out there rather than a specific review.
And is it E3 time or was that filmed a while ago?
bunimomike
Keep in mind that the Kinect-enabled Forza didn’t allow for breaking and accelerating. It did it for you.
Bilbo_bobbins
I watched this last night funny enough. I was saying it looks ridiculously slow. The steering was about a second after he moved his arms and the fact you can’t accelerate or brakes is moronic IMO. He was just excited for all the new stuff coming out, but personally when they showed him playing it, it didn’t look accurate at all. Very odd. PLus Fight was definitely laggy too.
badgersnapper68
Chances are both Move and Kinect will do well at retail – Christmas will be upon us before you know it and the kids will be telling their parents just how cool it all is. However, from a personal perspective I think the novelty of of Kinect may wear thin quite quickly unless MS can provide proper games for the hardcore gamer. Seems to me that Sony will fulfil this criteria more successfully in the short term at least?
hazelam
by downgrading the camera they’ve not only ensured kinect can’t read sign language but also that it will be limited to simple games.
it can’t tell what your fingers are doing, and i don’t know if it can even tell if you hand is open or closed into a fist.
so any subtle interaction is pretty limited, just broad motions. maybe molyneux assumed kinect would able to read fingers and that’s why fable 3 no longer supports kinect.
so even without the lag, whether it’s software or hardware based, and the price, it’s the limitations of what it can, and more importantly can’t do that put me off kinect.
look at the racing games played with kinect, you can steer, but no brake or accelerator.
that’s ok for a minigame, but the whole game played like that?
i like to use driving aids on many racing games but i also like to have some control.
the way i see it, the hardware could do well, but i doubt it.
but then after the first, or if they’re lucky the second, generation of titles the demand will drop off significantly.
Radboud
Exactly.
If they hadn’t downgraded the camera and it would have cost like 50 euros more, I would be tempted to buy a 360 for it, but with the limitations of the lower quality camera, I’ll let it go.
Some limitations could be handled by better software, but the hardware would still be lacking.
I’ll wait for Kinect2.
daveydaver34
I’ve never been fully convinced by Kinect since it strikes me as an updated eyetoy or PSeye. Microsoft however are pushing Kinect more than Sony did so there should be more variety than just the odd compliation or eye pet. Not to mention the fact that the updated technology should improve upon the experience.
Ultimately i’m undecided and I was hoping to try Kinect out, but at that price I can’t see anyone I know buying one anytime soon. Meanwhile I am convinced by Move, which I preordered now that you can pick up 2 Move and 2 sub controllers for less than £100.
cc_star
Not a bad mini hands-on by 2 people with differing views
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/10916237
bunimomike
Nothing to see on the screen itself (in their video) but their feedback was interesting. It ranged from your opinion to my opinion! Hahaha! :-)
Radboud
I’ll be checking out Kinect myself soon.
Perhaps it can convince me it is good, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if it did though ;)
Charmed_Fanatic
Then i guess Move has the upper hand!