As you’ll hear in our podcast that releases tonight/tomorrow, we have some pretty harsh words for the XBox Kinect. I was never too amped about the thing to begin with, but Monday’s press conference raised some concerns about the technology and the kinds of games that are going to be associated with it.
While I’ve been telling myself that I don’t want to judge it too harshly before it’s even available for regular mortals like you and I to try out for ourselves, it’s hard to watch things like Kinectimals and remain optimistic about the whole thing. People that have tried it out at E3 so far seem to be mostly positive, however, IGN posted a well thought article titled 5 Concerns about Kinect, which totally hit on some things that I had been thinking about since the press conference bomb.
As I said, they raise some good points, and the most disconcerting one is the assertion that some Kinect developers are saying that you can’t play Kinect while sitting on a couch. This has always been one of the big barriers for me and motion control. I’m not a lazy guy by any means, but when I sit down to play games, I like having a controller and hanging out on my couch. It seems that Kinect has problems recognizing a skeletal frame when it is sitting down. In fact, the IGN article actually said this earlier, but was later edited. According to VG247, a Microsoft rep says that this experience differs depending on the game. Once again, it’s far too early to tell this, but it’s definitely food for thought as the launch window rapidly approaches.
So what do you guys think? Fair or foul if you can only play Kinect while standing?
Update: IGN released a kind of retraction later, though the quote here is slightly different from the one given to VG247. Regardless, Kinect still didn’t work well with folks sitting down at E3, and signs point to this perhaps being a future issue with certain games, so this topic stands.
Source- IGN
IGN started a big fuss about this and later corrected themselves with a statement from Microsoft: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/109/1099746p1.html
Yes, my post kind of touched on that. Nothing said in the IGN thing you linked completely negates what the Microsoft rep told VG247 completely, but I’ll go ahead and update the post..
I think this is a concern, but considering most of their game require full body movement, playing on the couch doesn’t seem the way to succeed.
Well according to the source articles, not even the guide and dashboard navigations could work sitting down at E3.
Oh my gawd, where do I start with Kinect?
First, all this motion control shit is a complete waste of time. It pisses me off how these companies think that it’s so great, when it’s quite clear that there are too many flaws. I don’t want to be able to pet a fucking tiger. I want my controller to be responsive and do what I want, and not have contort myself and struggle with a pathetic excuse for an eye-toy just to do simple actions. I don’t want to talk to the game and have it constantly not understand my impeccable speech. I want to press the A button to jump, not have to get up and make noise and get evicted when I’m relaxing with a game. As it is, there are a lot of games that feel clunky and awkward WITH a traditional controller, so how is this pitiful hunk of steaming shit going to help me get “immersed” in these games? Oh look at the cute fucking tiger. BITCH, I want to know if this Kinect horsevomit is going to let me control my soldier accurately! I’m not waving my arms around just to hit balls off of a wall! Who the fuck would like that game?! If I want to play Mario, do I have to do those massive jumps? Do I have to wolf down an incendiary flower? No! The point is gaming is for a fantastical experience, not being limited by your own strengths and weaknesses and a pathetic camera that can’t even understand that you prefer your couch. This is a pathetic waste of fucking time, and I can’t wait for Microsoft and any other company who supports and makes these piles of shit to hang their heads in shame as they see their good-for-nothing creation rot and burn! How does this advance gaming? Are we going to get Mass Effect: Kinect Edition? How about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 19: Deluxe Remix Edition in 3D? Why don’t they focus on making good games that use a controller and just forget about this worthless Kinect shit that doesn’t immerse the player. Immersion starts at the couch, not the awkward fiddling with an Eye-Toy ripoff.
I’ve hated wireless mice/keyboards/controllers my whole life, so imagine my dismay when I heard about the Wii… However, we just moved into a much larger place, and now the only system we can play while sitting IS the wii… Our Nes/Snes/64 controllers don’t reach the couch and now we have to buy extension chords… So my opinion has changed a littl, but still, gotta be sitting to enjoy a game…