Kinect for XBox360 - TTLG Forums

henke on 4/11/2010 at 18:34

So, reviews for Kinect games have started appearing, aaaaaaand.... they're mostly quite mediocre. I especially liked this quote from Eurogamer's review of Joyride:

Quote:

There's no need to worry about accelerating and braking, as the game does that for you. You've got more important things to fret over, like how you're going to pay the rent after spending £165 on a magic camera and a racing game.

(http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/960507-kinect-joyride/index.html) Kinect Joyride
(http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/997628-kinect-sports/index.html) Kinect Sports
(http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/997630-kinect-adventures/index.html) Kinect Adventures
(http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/997631-dance-central/index.html) Dance Central (I think this is the most critically lauded Kinect game so far, at 85%)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UuaBPMEgmY&feature=channel) IGN special feature which probably wraps thing thing up pretty well

That menunavigation stuff sure looks neat, here's hoping some actually good games will appear for this thing before long.

nicked on 4/11/2010 at 18:42

I know it's all marketing and spin, but Sony have kinda got a point when they say that without some kind of buttons, you're never going to get more than shallow minigames out of it. They would know I suppose - Kinect is basically just 2 Eye-toys glued together.

But how, for example, can you make a first person shooter with Kinect? How do you tell the game when you want to pull the trigger? Point one hand at the screen and nod your head? I can see Kinect quickly descending into ports of Wii shovelware and crap like that. Which seems to be Microsoft's plan, so if they can steal a chunk of Nintendo's grandparents and housewives, I suppose it'll be a success financially. Makes me :tsktsk: for the future of the game industry though.

Ulukai on 4/11/2010 at 18:51

You don't make a FPS for kinect. You make snowboarding and dancing games.

Which I'm cool with, as long as we get a Kinect version of (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0A5smrzVaA) Space Channel 5.

Go on SEGA, you know you want to.

henke on 4/11/2010 at 18:58

Hahaha, I'd heard of Space Channel 5 but I'd never seen it in motion before. We defenitely need a Kinect remake of that! :D

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chtOYOsA7GU) Dance Central looks really fun as well.

nicked, it won't be any good because you can't play FPSes on it? That's the kind of shortsighted thinking that could really endanger the game industry, thankfully it's run by people with more imagination than you have.

SubJeff on 4/11/2010 at 19:27

Space Channel 5! That looks awesome. Forget Kinect, can we have it on PS3 please?

nicked on 4/11/2010 at 20:01

Wow, it's almost like I didn't say "for example".

Ulukai on 4/11/2010 at 20:18

To be fair, that's probably because it was a bit of a silly example.

Sulphur on 4/11/2010 at 20:42

How do you retrofit Kinect for already-existing X360 games? Especially the masses of first- and third-person shooters, the racing games, and the RPGs, to name a few?

And how much of this potentially cool stuff gesture stuff is actually going to carry over to making good games apart from DDR remixes and Wii Sports rehashes? I mean, if you don't even have buttons or directional controls, how do you map those to a gesture system without things getting painful right quick?

What if X360 devs now go the Wii way of shoveling masses of cheap, shitty gimmick games out into the streets? I've had enough of hearing about Wii shovelware already, and I haven't even played a single Wii game yet.

Gosh, I seem extremely cynical and pessimistic, but I dunno. I like the futuristic AI-in-your-living-room-at-your-command aspects, but Kinect doesn't seem like a good thing for the games.

henke on 4/11/2010 at 21:46

Quote Posted by nicked

Wow, it's almost like I didn't say "for example".

I was a bit harsh, sorry about that. I'm just irked by all the cynisism this thing is met with. Noone is forcing you to buy it, and it has the potential to be something really cool. What's with all the negativity?

Sulphur on 4/11/2010 at 21:53

Well, imagination is good, and that was what was supposed to fuel the Wii revolution, but look what we got.

It doesn't help that the system apparently can't recognise small gestures and has like zero button/directional controls. I can imagine Heavy Rain with Kinect, but it'd be too much like performing retarded pantomine instead of being something I'd be comfortable playing.

You know what I think would fit Kinect just fine, though?

Two-player Mortal fucking Kombat.

Oh yes.