So Kinect is finally out for public consumption. Reviews and opinions are still flooding the internet, and it’ll be a while before the dust settles and we start to hear some more concrete details on the long term potential of the system but the initial reaction seems to be pretty positive. Sadly we haven’t got our hands on Kinect or its various games yet, but I have to say that what I’ve seen is actually impressing me.
I’m certainly not going to pass any sort of formal opinion on Kinect and its games without actually playing the system. That would be frankly ridiculous and I’d feel pretty guilty about doing so. Informally the reviews and videos I’m seeing have me hopeful. I mean I was fairly on board for Dance Central back at the Eurogamer Expo (and yes, that’s probably the hundredth time that article’s been linked to), but seeing the general reaction for the game actually has me more excited than I was before.
I don’t really know why I’m that excited about the ability to dance to a camera. I don’t like actual dancing, mostly because I have zero sense of rhythm. You can actually tell I have a complete lack of rhythm if you watch the Dance Central video linked above, I look incredibly stiff and uncomfortable while playing it.
The thing is despite that it’s a lot of fun to play, and the more I see it the more fun it looks. It’s the same as Guitar Hero, before that launched I doubt many people would be excited by the prospect of playing a plastic instrument. I can actually remember thinking the whole thing was a little silly before I stayed at a friend’s house and tried it out. I was pretty much instantly hooked on the series, and Dance Central has the same effect. Sure it seems ridiculous from the outside, but once you actually have a go it digs its hooks in and won’t let go.
YourShape is second on my list of wants for Kinect. Yes it’s a fitness title, and wanting one of those may well lose me a little respect from my more “hardcore” friends. Aside from the fact that it looks entertaining and that it’d probably encourage me to exercise a lot more if I had access to a virtual trainer in my front room, the menus just look insanely cool. That does seem like a fairly stupid reason for wanting the game, but one of the things everyone talks about with Kinect is the “Minority Report” menus; YourShape comes the closest to this and puts the default Microsoft menus to shame.
That does actually seem to be one of the issues with Kinect’s launch, other developers are using Kinect better than Microsoft’s first party studios. That’s frankly bizzare, and not something you’d expect to see. When you look at a console’s launch line-up it tends to be the first party developers that dominate, at least in terms of technical quality.
Kinect seems to turn this notion on its head, with second and third party developers bringing out titles that just work better. Not only do they seem to have better accuracy, but from what I’ve seen and played Microsoft have basically chosen the worst possible implementation for menus. We’ve already seen a few varying menu systems, and most of them seem to work better than what Microsoft have selected.
So am I hopeful for Kinect? Yes really. I’d love to have it sitting in my front room to try out in a ‘real’ environment and to try in more than short bursts. I have no idea whether it’ll be fun to use for a whole day, or even a session that lasts a few hours. Will it be fun in a year or two from now? These are the questions I want answers to, and the questions that’ll probably take a while to get any real thoughts on. Even just the two games I’ve mentioned have me very tempted to part with what little spare cash I have, but without answers to those questions it becomes much harder to justify.
Darth Newdar
What I’m fascinated about with both PlayStation Move and Kinect is what Nintendo will do to combat them in the future. I think the Wii is coming to the end of its life – for hardcore players, if it ever was an option, Move is better, and for casual players, Kinect is newer and “cooler”.
A Wii 2 must be coming soon. But what will it be? What media will it use? What motion controls will it use? There are so many different paths Nintendo could follow.
My personal guess is that they’ll come out with new-and-improved Kinect-style hardware. And add Mario to the mix :)
cc_star
Great debating point, it will be really interesting to see how they differentiate themselves with their next machine.
With the exception of the SNES over the Megadrive they’ve never been about horsepower and always about doing something new whether its analogue control, motion control or glasses-free-3D on a handheld.
The current crop of Wii games like Epic Mickey, Goldeneye, Kirby & next year’s Zelda remind me of God Of War 2 on the PS2, a real leap over what was available before in the twilight year of the console.
I really wonder what new they could bring next time around, perhaps a combination of Kinect & Move with a Kinect style high powered stereo-camera for 3D perception and infra-red for poor lighting, and some sort of controller so both game types are possible without the limits of either a weak camera or having no buttons – but that in itself isn’t very original just a mash-up of the two techs already in the market place, so who knows what a Wi successor will bring…
Darth Newdar
I know, they could do so many different things…
GranTurismo-Disciple
This has never interested me at all, i read in an xbox magazine that spielberg said “its not about re inventing the wheel its about no wheel at all” (something like that i can’t remember) what’s the point in that! Give me a G27 with true to life force feedback anyday, i wouldn’t wanna sit there holding nothing, how can you be in control when you don’t feel how the car behaves etc. So my view is pointless for racing games, forza 4 will have kinect support so i read somewhere.
Raen
I hate to tell you there are non-racing games. And he didn’t mean an actual wheel, it’s a metaphor.
GranTurismo-Disciple
It was on the news late last night, someone was in japan doin a topic on videogames and this japanese bloke said there is rumours in japan about a wii 2. If any1 wanted to know
toutski
I watched a Kinect demo for about 10 minutes in HMV last week, ( the game where they have to row the old train/mine cart thing ) and it failed to recognise one of the people playing and seemed very laggy.
I need to see a lot more to convince me that its any good which is funny as I have the same opinion of Move.
solidsteven
i give it 6 months before MS pulls the plug on Kinect.
cc_star
Yeah, they’ll do that for sure /sarcasm
TSBonyman
I wonder how much of the Wii pie either Move or Kinect will actually grab this xmas.The Move tech works really well but i don’t think the games have judged the casual market too well. Kinect games seem to have judged the casual market perfectly regardless of how perfectly the tech works. I can’t wait to see the sales figures in the next few weeks. I have no doubt Kinect will do well but i still find it hard to say if it will take a big bite out of Wii. I think it will take a bigger bite than Move will. Really interesting times with all three consoles now competing on motion control.
cc_star
Wii worked because it was a new way of playing games that made it accessible to whole families from young kids right up to grandparents, even my Mum.
For me Move has some barriers which prevent those people choosing to upgrade to it, sure you can waggle a move stick and make a game based around it, but why would anyone want to buy that, when 1) their Wii already does it or b) they can ‘be the controller’. The Move tech which makes it such a precision device and makes it suitable for ‘core game uses’ is probably, largely speaking irrelevant, I’ve never heard anyone playing Wii Boxing or Bowling crying out for more precision, but a controller-free way of playing them… potentially wow!
Listening to Sony’s motion researcher – Richard Marks, it appears that Move is the culmination of his life’s work, he wanted it with the PS2 but Sony couldn’t see the point, and its only Nintendo’s dominance at home & abroad this time around, that has made them look at what this guy has been working at on their dollar (well, Yen) He’s the one who has told them you can’t only go for a camera as it limits game experiences, but hey – here’s this cute sponge ball thing I made at college 10 years ago.
What remains to be seen is whether Richard Marks’ undoubted and great precision tech can be turned in a sell-able product, judging by what we’ve seen so far I’d say – yes it can, and indeed already is, but whether it sells outside the existing PS3 user-base and can catch Wii upgraders remains to be seen.
If I was Sony I’d install Move in every game retailer, shopping centre & department store with Tumble running, because that title shows off the great hi-precision tech better than anything, and could counter any ‘hands-free fun’ to be had elsewhere, but instead they’ll spend their money on sub-standard advertising across Europe, and when the ad money has ran out, it will be no clearer if Move has made a mainstream breakthrough or not.
crit10
Great points dude. I agree that the fact the Wii was not entirely precise meant nothing to the market it was targeting, and for those who can classed as ‘exceptions’ who dislike the lack of accuracy, are catered for by the ‘newish’ Motionplus; Nintendo have been very intelligent in giving their target market exactly what they want.
Also, the PS Move is, relatively speaking, a pricey piece of kit, not only is the PS3 required, but so are nearly £100’s worth of Move peripherals (for local multiplayer anyway). The casual market are not going to be interested in this, as affordable, original gaming is what they are likely to be desiring, Sony can only offer HD visuals and added precision… which, in my view, does not make a used and successful concept (the Wii) worth pushing aside, especially, like I said, with prices so different.
I still can’t see what Sony are aiming for with the Move, I can’t see it being successful unless: a) they make it far more affordable or b) they advertise it far, far more and produce a lot more related PR.
TSBonyman
some good points there, i also think that the 2nd wave of Move developers should be looking closely at Tumble and how they could expand on that idea.
minerwilly
After getting my first Move controller only yesterday and playing with Tumble demo i absolutely 100% wholeheartedly agree with your last paragraph i know im flogging a dead horse but Sony just dont market their excellent products well enough .
off topic – I thought the motion controls in the John Daly demo where top notch though the presentation and graphics where not (gameplay most important though i guess ) Now if only EA could hire these guys to put their implementation into the next Tiger 12 then we would have something very very special .
Darth Newdar
I disagree about its cost. A lot of games don’t need the Navigation controller, and those that do are probably single player experiences. (Heavy Rain, Resident Evil, etc.) Here in the UK you can get the PS Eye and a Move for £40 + £30 for extra Move controller + £17 for a Navi + £20 for Sports Champions = £107, so still cheaper than Kinect for £130. Many people wouldn’t need a second controller, others wouldn’t need the Navigation controller. So it’s not so expensive.
MrBlack
the hybrid games, i.e using peripherals/controllers that are rumoured to be in development could be amazing. Also have you seen the people offering $2000 dollars to the first to reverse engineer kinect, might be of interest to some of you tech heads
Tuffcub
Ive used Kinect and it was terrible – laggy, glitchy – and Ive used it and it was OK.
My main criticism would be who wants to run on the spot for two hours? or so anything physical for a long time? Its great for 5 min party games but you’re never going to use for more than half an hour at a time and that seriously limits “big” games using it. I mean think if they made COD Kinect manditory – no one would play it for more than half an hour then.
Quinlank
Heard from a couple of interpals who made the ill advised move of getting a Kinect and the moaning(/Damage control/self justification) has been pretty steady so far. Sounds like it’s actually more of a pain in the ass to use at home than it is to try out in a shop. Speaking of which, I saw one was set up in a local shop of mine, and it didn’t seem to be responding to anyone. I assumed it wasn’t properly set up… or would hope that is the case.
Regardless, with everything new I see and hear of Kinect it sounds like a worse prospect all the time. I was never likely to buy one, and would usually balk at the idea of dismissing something new and gaming related outright and completely, but this is one occasion where I feel completely comfortable doing just that.