I've always seen Kinect as a way of introducing fun party gaming onto the 360. Something it lacked. I also found the technology more compelling and forward thinking than the Wii. In that regard, Kinect has provided what I wanted. It's been a bit slow with a big drought throughout early and mid 2011, but there have been a good selection of quality titles coming lately. Companies like BioWare, Double Fine, Twisted Pixel and Harmonix are paying attention, and I'm excited to see what the future brings.
On the other side of the coin we have more core games. Now, 90% of games on the 360 are hardcore games. I don't really need a Kinect shooter, I'll just play Gears of War or Halo. I don't need to race with my hands, as fun as it is for 10 minutes. Which is why I'm satisfied to bat balls and dance. BUT Milo was undoubtedly the most exciting aspect of Natal's unveiling, and I was hoping for at least one genuinely deep Kinect experience to enter the market this year. Games like The Gunstringer stand in a nice, fun middle ground and future hybrid integration looks solid, but I hold out hope that a company will nail a AAA Kinect game that core gamers can easily embrace. Maybe Fable: The Journey will be that game. Maybe not. Without it, I feel Kinect's full potential will remain unexplored. I won't regret the fun I continue having with the device though. And the new dashboard is wonderful to navigate with voice and gestures. It's what the Hub should have been on day one.
You say that as if the quality of releases has dropped, teamdoa. In the last 6 months Kinect has had its most critically acclaimed titles. Child of Eden, The Gunstringer, Dance Central 2, Sesame Street and now Disneyland Adventures looks like it might be the most acclaimed Kinect game of the year. They're not getting away with it because some of those are aimed at kids, they're getting away with it because those are good games.
From what I've gathered at various different sources, it is VERY hit and miss. Some have said it works perfectly, others have said it makes things worse. For some it depends on the game. It's obviously a hard thing to review, because you can't recommend something that works in your set-up but not others,
Gertmint, it should come as no surprise that Kinect's biggest hits are getting sequels. That is hardly something unique to Kinect. Guess what, Uncharted, Gears of War and Call of Duty will be big titles too!
What you're insinuating though is that those two games are ALL Kinect has this year. Child of Eden, The Gunstringer, Leedmees, Disneyland Adventures, Forza 4, Fruit Ninja Kinect, Powerup Heroes and more... The first half of the year suffered a bit of a drought, but there is no doubt that Kinect is in a MUCH stronger position than it was last year and strong third party support continues.
2012 already has the likes of Fable, Ryse and Project Draco... more fully realised genre games. These things take time, developers aren't sitting on their laurels and even a casual title like KS2 is showing the advances being made with accuracy and precision.
I think it's way too premature for an article like this. Write it after E3 if the situation hasn't improved. Naturally any big game Microsoft is sitting on, or any big developer, will be saved for E3.
That aside, any comparison to Move in terms of numbers isn't entirely fair. Many Move games are just standard games that support Move (because it's far easier to quickly implement), or games that are easy to port to such a device because devs are so used to creating games for the Wii and it's uses are obvious. Kinect naturally needs more attention and creativity from developers; games can't simply be patched or ported from the Wii.
As it stands, I think Kinect is in a much healthier position with regards to UNIQUE games created from the ground-up entirely for it. Whilst the first half of the year has been a drought (as it is after the launch of virtually any new hardware) we already have the likes of Project Draco, Child of Eden, Steel Battalion 2, Codename D, Haunt, Star Wars Kinect, The Gunstringer to look forward to in the second half of the year, whereas the only game built for Move that looks interesting that I know of, is Sorcery. It's nice that it is used in games such as Killzone, but I bought Kinect for new experiences, not same old games, different input.
Comments 6
Re: Review: The Black Eyed Peas Experience (Xbox 360)
Man, such a shame the music is so offensively bad. They wasted the Michael Jackson license, I wish that game played like this.
Re: Talking Point: What's Kinect Doing Right or Wrong?
I've always seen Kinect as a way of introducing fun party gaming onto the 360. Something it lacked. I also found the technology more compelling and forward thinking than the Wii. In that regard, Kinect has provided what I wanted. It's been a bit slow with a big drought throughout early and mid 2011, but there have been a good selection of quality titles coming lately. Companies like BioWare, Double Fine, Twisted Pixel and Harmonix are paying attention, and I'm excited to see what the future brings.
On the other side of the coin we have more core games. Now, 90% of games on the 360 are hardcore games. I don't really need a Kinect shooter, I'll just play Gears of War or Halo. I don't need to race with my hands, as fun as it is for 10 minutes. Which is why I'm satisfied to bat balls and dance. BUT Milo was undoubtedly the most exciting aspect of Natal's unveiling, and I was hoping for at least one genuinely deep Kinect experience to enter the market this year. Games like The Gunstringer stand in a nice, fun middle ground and future hybrid integration looks solid, but I hold out hope that a company will nail a AAA Kinect game that core gamers can easily embrace. Maybe Fable: The Journey will be that game. Maybe not. Without it, I feel Kinect's full potential will remain unexplored. I won't regret the fun I continue having with the device though. And the new dashboard is wonderful to navigate with voice and gestures. It's what the Hub should have been on day one.
Re: Video Proof That Kids Love Kinect
You say that as if the quality of releases has dropped, teamdoa. In the last 6 months Kinect has had its most critically acclaimed titles. Child of Eden, The Gunstringer, Dance Central 2, Sesame Street and now Disneyland Adventures looks like it might be the most acclaimed Kinect game of the year. They're not getting away with it because some of those are aimed at kids, they're getting away with it because those are good games.
Re: Nyko Zoom Reaches United Kingdom Next Month
From what I've gathered at various different sources, it is VERY hit and miss. Some have said it works perfectly, others have said it makes things worse. For some it depends on the game. It's obviously a hard thing to review, because you can't recommend something that works in your set-up but not others,
Re: Hands On: Kinect Sports Season Two
Gertmint, it should come as no surprise that Kinect's biggest hits are getting sequels. That is hardly something unique to Kinect. Guess what, Uncharted, Gears of War and Call of Duty will be big titles too!
What you're insinuating though is that those two games are ALL Kinect has this year. Child of Eden, The Gunstringer, Leedmees, Disneyland Adventures, Forza 4, Fruit Ninja Kinect, Powerup Heroes and more... The first half of the year suffered a bit of a drought, but there is no doubt that Kinect is in a MUCH stronger position than it was last year and strong third party support continues.
2012 already has the likes of Fable, Ryse and Project Draco... more fully realised genre games. These things take time, developers aren't sitting on their laurels and even a casual title like KS2 is showing the advances being made with accuracy and precision.
Re: Talking Point: Are Small Games Kinect's Future?
I think it's way too premature for an article like this. Write it after E3 if the situation hasn't improved. Naturally any big game Microsoft is sitting on, or any big developer, will be saved for E3.
That aside, any comparison to Move in terms of numbers isn't entirely fair. Many Move games are just standard games that support Move (because it's far easier to quickly implement), or games that are easy to port to such a device because devs are so used to creating games for the Wii and it's uses are obvious. Kinect naturally needs more attention and creativity from developers; games can't simply be patched or ported from the Wii.
As it stands, I think Kinect is in a much healthier position with regards to UNIQUE games created from the ground-up entirely for it. Whilst the first half of the year has been a drought (as it is after the launch of virtually any new hardware) we already have the likes of Project Draco, Child of Eden, Steel Battalion 2, Codename D, Haunt, Star Wars Kinect, The Gunstringer to look forward to in the second half of the year, whereas the only game built for Move that looks interesting that I know of, is Sorcery. It's nice that it is used in games such as Killzone, but I bought Kinect for new experiences, not same old games, different input.