I've seen some (a lot) misinformation (hate) on Kinect. I'm putting this up for gamers who are actually curious about it. I have Adventures, Your Shape, Kinectimals, Zumba, and Dance Central. My wife isn't a gamer and I have two boys, one is 3 and the other is 8 months.
Posted Nov 22, 2010, 5:28 PM UTC
2 Q's: Do you see yourself and/or your family still playing it 6 months from now?
Can you imagine there being future Kinect-based games that do appeal to hardcore gamers (once/if MS satisfies their lust for a piece of the casual market pie)?
Most likely - My wife and I moved to the west burbs of Chicago and don't have very many friends to watch the boys; this makes working out difficult. I found Your Shape to be vastly superior to Wii Fit (no offence, it was a great start to a great genre). However, this is only because it fits with a lifestyle choice that my wife and I are wanting to make; it makes that choice accessible. What will actually make it used forever is my answer to number 2...
DEFINITELY - Why? This delivers multiple new input methods that both completely unique from the original methods and still optional. That's different than Wii. Want to issue voice-commands in game? Make it an option. This will let developers expand their ideas for interaction rather than have to jump ship. Separately, I've imagine plenty of ideas that are hardcore and would freaking shine with Kinect. Let's get me into the industry and I'll show you ^.^
Hope that answers them to your satisfaction. I can make it longer if you like the style.
Thanks for answering! Yeah, I can see a pretty awesome future where hardcore games still focus on controller input, but rely on Kinect for stuff like head-tracking to control the camera, or use voice and gestures to order troops or control your inventory or what have you. Sky's the limit, really.
I worked on one of the launch titles (don't want to say which to avoid NDA compromising), and it's great to see some positive thoughts about the device starting to emerge on Reddit. Obviously it's aimed at the casuals for now, but there's so much potential that the hardcore crowd doesn't want to acknowledge for some reason.
Much respect and envy for working in the industry of my dreams; I'm working on getting into it.
It's a shift in how we think about gaming, so I can't blame us too much. Every single submission to this medium used to target only us. We've been spoiled by it. Now that the medium is expanding, we perhaps feel like the neglected child now that the newborn is home. Whoa, I just came up with that analogy; that's my quota for the day.
Ha! That is indeed a great analogy. It reminds me of when someone's into a great, but underground band and then they get famous and they feel all betrayed and bitter. Gaming's the way of the future for the whole planet is the way i see it, and anything that moves the tech forward is going to be good for everyone. Not sure I have any contacts in your area, but PM me if you have any Q's about the industry. Go for it!
I guess I can delete my other post asking how people like Voice Chat in Kinect if you answer, but ya, how's voice chat in a game like Halo where there's lots of background noise, but you still want to be able to talk to your team
My weekly Halo-Reach-Night-With-Old-College-Friends is tomorrow, I'll test it and respond again to your question.
How'd it go?
I chatted with my friend while playing Oblivion. It wasn't too bad, but if you're going to do something 'hardcore', you should have a headset. It'd be great for casually chatting while playing hexic or something.
ahh, yeah Im a casual chatter, I don't talk much during a match, but I'd like to be able to yell out when I want to without them getting too much feedback
So you like playing motion based games.
Do you understand that you being a consumer have the power to stop turning consoles into kids toys and old lady work out machines?
I think it's fun for the kids probably and zumba must be great for the wife...but waving your hands at your TV hardly makes you a gamer.
I like some motion based games. Right now I'm replaying The World Ends With You on my DS, Oblivion on my 360, levelling my third toon to 20 in Guild Wars, and just toyed around with my second trial character in EVE. I've made a few small games and am working on an iPhone game right now. I've completed every halo on single-player legendary. That's a small subset of my gaming life.
I humbly submit my claim to the title of gamer.
Do you understand that what is happening now in gaming has happened to EVERY medium before it? The range of video games now exceeds the interests of the largely static consumer base of the past 20 years. I think this is a very good thing. You can ask why if you are curious...
I personally dislike motion based games and view them as "cheapening" or "dumbing down" the consoles to the point where honestly...I am now a PC gamer only.
I was wrong to imply that you aren't a gamer. If you do more than just play motion based games then you are.
I just don't get how people say things like "I am totally a gamer" then the only games the play are for the wii or something. I think it would be fair to say that if your only games were similar to Zumba or Dance Central...you would be a person playing with a TOY not a game.
That's exactly what is changing, people are using the medium that you have used for years to do something in which you have no interest. 'Gamer' is 'someone who plays video games'. It used to also indicate a common interest, but that needs to change.
That being said, I don't think we should hate on this. Movies and books still have their greats, but widespread acceptance makes them socially acceptable, easier to access, part of our culture as a whole, etc. This is my opinion of course, but I think it's great that games are blowing up: we just need some new vocabulary!
Well it's not like I'm out blowing up Kinect bundles to save the world. I just feel like it is lowering the quality of gaming overall with little toys. If this is the direction console gamers wanna take consoles then go ahead.
I was fed up with xbox and Live before kinect even showed up.
What do you honestly not like about it?
Good question:
It DOES require plenty of space; I'm re-arranging my living room. I know future iterations of this type of technology can remove this limitation, but it's a pain for now.
Different companies are all trying out different interface ideas; some are great, but others are HORRIBLE (Zumba's is atrocious, but I'm not too surprised there). This will probably iron out as people borrow ideas from the ones that work well or if M$ provides them a template.
Nothing there scratches my itch for 'hardcore gaming'. I know that's just a matter of time, though.
All of these are tied together: it's a new way to interface with games. Developers and consumers are still trying to figure it out, and we'll see a better experience with it as it ages.
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