Companies:
Microsoft
The #XboxReveal, as it's being called all over Twitter, got me thinking back to a video from E3 in 2009: 'Project Natal Xbox 360 Announcement'.
"Kinect 2" and new motion-gaming is key to the Next Xbox. But why? I picked the initial video apart for you to see if the very first Kinect ever came close to fulfilling the sort of hype that the new Xbox is dripping in even ahead of its proper announcement.
Don't believe the hype? Or trust in the Big Promises. Let's see... oh, you can skip to the end of this piece to see the entire sales video for Kinect from 2009.
Now, let me step you through it and reflect the light of reality onto the promises:
Promise: You’ll have a massive living room.
Reality: Pretty much every Kinect advert since the original video has perpetuated the notion that we live in houses pretty much built for playing with Kinect.
Promise: Games and Kinect will recognise you and address you by name.
Reality: We can sign-in with Kinect, although it’s often quicker with a controller. We’re still waiting on an old martial arts experts addressing us by name.
Promise: 1:1 Body Tracking allows you to really fight!
Reality: Body tracking has generally been hit and miss with lag being the biggest issue of all. At least this video recognises that any such games will be on rails and offer limited room for movement. To be fair, one of the launch games for Kinect, Fighters Uncaged, was a body tracking 1-on-1 fighter. It was also a heap of crap.
Promise: Control driving games by holding an invisible steering wheel.
Reality: Plenty of games tried it, from the awful Kinect Joy Ride to Forza 4. In all cases the fact that you could only control the wheel, unlike the girl in this advert who uses her hand and feet on gears and peddles, made them pretty dull to play. They also had a tendency to make your arms ache.
Promise: Your Dad will help you change the tyres.
Reality: While we’re yet to see this little mini-game in an actual game there’s no reason why Kinect couldn’t do this; the motions seem rather similar to the tyre lifting exercises in UFC Personal Trainer.
Promise: Be a monster and use your whole body.
Reality: This is pretty much the Rancor elements of Star Wars Kinect. The kid roaring to make the monster breathe laser beams hasn’t happened yet but there'’s no reason why Kinect couldn’t do this, although it would probably react to the roar rather than the open mouth. The boy in the video gets rather close to the screen here; where’s Kinect telling him to back off?
Promise: Full body motion capture.
Reality: Yep, been achieved by plenty of games including both Kinect Sports titles. However, the level of control and zero lag was misleading.
Promise: Scan your own gear into the game.
Reality: Maybe this is a licensing issue but we’re yet to see this. Kinect Fun Labs played with this but they were more tech demos than games.
Promise: Skate using your whole body.
Reality: Yeah, we weren’t able to get that working with Tony Hawks’ Ride and that used a physical controller. Also, at the start of the game the kid says ‘play’ to start the game. One out of two isn’t bad.
Promise: Facial recognition sign-in.
Reality: We’ve had this from day one and although it looks a lot faster in the video we’ll give this one to Kinect.
Promise: Voice-activated calls.
Reality: Nope, and considering how far voice-enabled apps have come (Siri, Google Voice) I’m surprised this hasn’t happened yet. I’m also surprised Microsoft hasn’t added Skype to Xbox either as it’s pretty much what we see in this video.
Promise: Share content over video chat.
Reality: Not even close. Later in this clip the girl twirls around as a realistic avatar shows off a dress her friend has shared with her; maybe Microsoft was expecting retailers to come on-board instead of just video streaming services.
Promise: Families using their hands as buzzers in quiz games.
Reality: Where to start, if the lag hasn’t stopped this from happening it’s probably the fact that I doubt Kinect would recognise two hands coming together. Add in the limited number of quiz games and we’re nowhere close. If only Microsoft had kept ‘1 Vs. 100’ going.
Promise: Controller free entertainment.
Reality: The final example is the one that Microsoft manage to achieve 100%. From scrolling movies by hand to playing them with your voice, it’s all there. Of course, some of this is still quicker with a controller but we can’t hold that against them.
In short... remember never to forget. So, let's see what it's like all stitched together...
"Kinect 2" and new motion-gaming is key to the Next Xbox. But why? I picked the initial video apart for you to see if the very first Kinect ever came close to fulfilling the sort of hype that the new Xbox is dripping in even ahead of its proper announcement.
Don't believe the hype? Or trust in the Big Promises. Let's see... oh, you can skip to the end of this piece to see the entire sales video for Kinect from 2009.
Now, let me step you through it and reflect the light of reality onto the promises:
Promise: You’ll have a massive living room.
Reality: Pretty much every Kinect advert since the original video has perpetuated the notion that we live in houses pretty much built for playing with Kinect.
Promise: Games and Kinect will recognise you and address you by name.
Reality: We can sign-in with Kinect, although it’s often quicker with a controller. We’re still waiting on an old martial arts experts addressing us by name.
Promise: 1:1 Body Tracking allows you to really fight!
Reality: Body tracking has generally been hit and miss with lag being the biggest issue of all. At least this video recognises that any such games will be on rails and offer limited room for movement. To be fair, one of the launch games for Kinect, Fighters Uncaged, was a body tracking 1-on-1 fighter. It was also a heap of crap.
Promise: Control driving games by holding an invisible steering wheel.
Reality: Plenty of games tried it, from the awful Kinect Joy Ride to Forza 4. In all cases the fact that you could only control the wheel, unlike the girl in this advert who uses her hand and feet on gears and peddles, made them pretty dull to play. They also had a tendency to make your arms ache.
Promise: Your Dad will help you change the tyres.
Reality: While we’re yet to see this little mini-game in an actual game there’s no reason why Kinect couldn’t do this; the motions seem rather similar to the tyre lifting exercises in UFC Personal Trainer.
Promise: Be a monster and use your whole body.
Reality: This is pretty much the Rancor elements of Star Wars Kinect. The kid roaring to make the monster breathe laser beams hasn’t happened yet but there'’s no reason why Kinect couldn’t do this, although it would probably react to the roar rather than the open mouth. The boy in the video gets rather close to the screen here; where’s Kinect telling him to back off?
Promise: Full body motion capture.
Reality: Yep, been achieved by plenty of games including both Kinect Sports titles. However, the level of control and zero lag was misleading.
Promise: Scan your own gear into the game.
Reality: Maybe this is a licensing issue but we’re yet to see this. Kinect Fun Labs played with this but they were more tech demos than games.
Promise: Skate using your whole body.
Reality: Yeah, we weren’t able to get that working with Tony Hawks’ Ride and that used a physical controller. Also, at the start of the game the kid says ‘play’ to start the game. One out of two isn’t bad.
Promise: Facial recognition sign-in.
Reality: We’ve had this from day one and although it looks a lot faster in the video we’ll give this one to Kinect.
Promise: Voice-activated calls.
Reality: Nope, and considering how far voice-enabled apps have come (Siri, Google Voice) I’m surprised this hasn’t happened yet. I’m also surprised Microsoft hasn’t added Skype to Xbox either as it’s pretty much what we see in this video.
Promise: Share content over video chat.
Reality: Not even close. Later in this clip the girl twirls around as a realistic avatar shows off a dress her friend has shared with her; maybe Microsoft was expecting retailers to come on-board instead of just video streaming services.
Promise: Families using their hands as buzzers in quiz games.
Reality: Where to start, if the lag hasn’t stopped this from happening it’s probably the fact that I doubt Kinect would recognise two hands coming together. Add in the limited number of quiz games and we’re nowhere close. If only Microsoft had kept ‘1 Vs. 100’ going.
Promise: Controller free entertainment.
Reality: The final example is the one that Microsoft manage to achieve 100%. From scrolling movies by hand to playing them with your voice, it’s all there. Of course, some of this is still quicker with a controller but we can’t hold that against them.
In short... remember never to forget. So, let's see what it's like all stitched together...
Companies:
Microsoft