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Kinect's Tsunoda Says Device Will Appeal To Both Casual, Core
by Colette Bennett [PC, Console/PC]
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September 2, 2010
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Kinect's creative director Kudo Tsunoda recently spoke out about the Xbox 360 motion control add-on's launch lineup, saying that although there are no Mature-rated titles, he felt that “skill-based gameplay” was the key to attracting the core gamer.
In an interview with consumer weblog VG247 at the recent Gamescom event, Tsunoda also stressed the presence of a Sonic The Hedgehog game in the launch lineup as evidence that Kinect titles would appeal to the core gamer as well as the casual.
Tsunoda also says third parties are working on various titles for the motion control hardware, so users can look forward to a wide selection of content. “If you’re talking about M-rated content or action games, I think that you saw at E3 we announced a Star Wars game, and I think that will have a lot of action content,” he said.
Kinect will have fifteen games available for its November 4th launch, including Kinectimals, Kinect Sports, Kinect Joy Ride and Harmonix's Dance Central. The hardware will be available as a device-and-game package for $149.99, a standard console bundle for $299.99 and an Elite bundle for $399.99.
Kinect competitor PlayStation Move will launch with a similar number of titles when it comes out later this month. It does feature add-on compatibility with several previously released Mature-rated titles, including Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition and Heavy Rain.
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Really. You're saying core gamers should get Kinect, an expensive piece of hardware, based on a Star Wars game that we have no idea if it'll actually release? I was excited for Kinect, and it would've been the tipping point for me to get a 360. But there are no games that attract me. Whereas the Move, I thought would be crap, seems better and better. Killzone 3, Socom 4, Heavy Rain, Resident Evil to support core gamers, as well as the awesomeness that is echrochrome ii.
with that said the price tag is the biggest turn off for me, I had fun with the kinect , kinectimals, and joyride but that was not $150 worth of fun. hopefully microsoft creates a better priced bundle because at $150 for a peripheral and 1 game I am not pleased.
The Sonic game is pretty good at working around technical limitations of Kinect though. From the videos of it, it even detects hand motions so you can hold your hands out to grab items. Nice touch. Having a hoverboard game definitely makes more sense than forcing a ridiculous amount of rail shooters into our throats.
Just looking at the control schemes they come up with for some wii games makes my head do circles. How is the Kinect going to innovate in this regard and also bridge the hands free flaw, passed on like a feature?
The XBOX kinect tech demos were the worst, I have to ask myself, what are these developers not smoking. The forza demo pissed me off to no end.
One way the Kinect can appeal to hardcore gamers is by utilizing the controller and the camera at the same time.
Leaning while playing an FPS to help a character look around corners, putting your strumming arm in the air while playing Guitar Hero can unlock Double Star Power , adding voice commands to an RPG where you can summon a Pheonix by calling out it's name in battle, and motion capturing a celebration to use in Madden when you score a touchdown are all examples of where a player may be very enticed to pick up a Kinect because it adds a lot to their traditional games.
But it seems that as it stands we aren't going to see these sorts of hybrid or complementary controls schemes anytime soon. I just hope, as a hardcore gamer, that MS considers it. I would have loved to been able to put my face on my created NHL superstar in NHL 11...that would have helped push me to consider a Kinect, for example. The Move and Kinect can be very robust technologies...if the software is up to it.
Though I think there is a good explanation for why, and that is because these devices had a small install base that made developers think that the effort wasn't worth the potential payoff.
If the Move and Kinect can grow to a sizable chunk of each console's userbase, the effort may be worth it. Still, maybe not as you say. I agree with your realistic expectation.
I'm pulling this figure out of thin air, but I think it's safe to say that both the Kinect and Move will eclipse sales of the Live Vision Camera and the Eyetoy within the first month. If not the first month, the first three months. So maybe, just maybe developers will look at developing this feature and porting it to both devices (which are not too dissimilar) at the same time.
"To have a game you need some type of "intelligence" creating a conflict that challenge you". I can´t think of a game that match this definition that don't makes you grab something to be able to play it.
What grab refers as a concept is human action; human activity, action, accomplishment; achievement, deed; feat; effort; exploit, touch; touching, catch, grab, snatch, snap, shoestring catch, rebound, reception, interception, fair catch.
To play a game (and I am leaving puzzles and toys out of the definition) you need to interact, and to interact you need a medium, and this medium couldn't be abstract because abstract is impersonal, indirect and noisy. In games the things you grab are the tools (medium) of communication. The act of grab something is a human expression of control, control on this communication. So this "somethings you grab" are symbols that social convention gave the two most important power properties you need to be able to play a game: control and communication.
Wanting to push the market and raise the ante kinect lose this "something" to grab, and this is something that they would not be able to maintain much more. I'm 100% sure that in a very very near future kinect will start to release some gadgets that compensate that abstract control otherwise will turn into another virtual boy on game history.
Thanks
You do not need tactile response in a movie to entertain viewers, and in the same way the Kinect can be a very entertaining product despite the lack of tactile response.
That is part of why the iOS has been so popular, it doesn't have anything you have to hold or manipulate, rather it just responds to natural movements and gestures. If done right, as in making sure movements are intuitive and natural, Kinnect could be the same.
It is true that Humans are tool users, but we have to learn that. More natural is using our body.
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/News/230934,microsofts-kinect-launch-laug hs-at-sweat
y-gamers.aspx
Maybe they will mock long hair or beards next...
hence why the Wii may be shunned by the general hardcore populace but still manages to outsell the ps3 and xbox 360 month after month.
however also using nintendo and the DS as an example clearly there is even more success in creating games for both audiences. The same console that brought us DQ9 also brought us nintendogs and has been steam rolling the portable games division almost during the entirety of its release.
I suppose when you need lenses that large you have to go all out on the frames. You just gotta. I can't imagine those glasses with a minimalistic sort of frame.