American McGee: Kinect will Fail without Shovelware
Flip-flopping on control inputs make for "a pretty half-assed paradigm shift."
Alice 2 developer American McGee has been vocal about Microsoft's Kinect peripheral, suggesting that the device is "destined to fail" unless it can attract and embrace shovelware games.
Labelled as a peripheral for 'everyone,' Microsoft has previously stated that games for Kinect have to be written from the ground up and that no existing Xbox 360 games will be patched to become compatible with the device. It is suggested, via an interview with Gamasutra, that Microsoft wants to avoid a 'plague of endless shovelware,' like the Wii has endured.
"Shovelware plague? If a “plague” brought with it success and riches beyond my wildest dreams I’d hardly deride it," McGee writes on his blog. "Nor would I think of altering the plague in hopes of re-creating that success the came with it. If plague = success, then more plague, please!"
It seems that McGee takes issue with Microsoft "emphasising constraints" on the content that is released for Kinect. In reference to a quote by Xbox platform marketing director Albert Penello that says that "We continue to say that the controller is the best experience for controller games," McGee argues that Microsoft should really be constraining the input methods, rather than the type of games released for the platform.
"The [sic] creates a demand for original ideas and innovation to solve the most basic problem of getting known-genres to work on new hardware," McGee writes. "A giant audience awaits, Nintendo proved it – we just have to solve this problem … except that the MS strategy says “you don’t have to solve it, just use controllers with controller games”. That’s a pretty half-assed paradigm shift.
"I’ve got nothing but love for MS... but if the nature of the launch/publishing model isn’t as natural and innovative as the hardware, then the thing’s destined to fail."
Controversial. Do you agree? Let us know in the comments box below.
Labelled as a peripheral for 'everyone,' Microsoft has previously stated that games for Kinect have to be written from the ground up and that no existing Xbox 360 games will be patched to become compatible with the device. It is suggested, via an interview with Gamasutra, that Microsoft wants to avoid a 'plague of endless shovelware,' like the Wii has endured.
"Shovelware plague? If a “plague” brought with it success and riches beyond my wildest dreams I’d hardly deride it," McGee writes on his blog. "Nor would I think of altering the plague in hopes of re-creating that success the came with it. If plague = success, then more plague, please!"
It seems that McGee takes issue with Microsoft "emphasising constraints" on the content that is released for Kinect. In reference to a quote by Xbox platform marketing director Albert Penello that says that "We continue to say that the controller is the best experience for controller games," McGee argues that Microsoft should really be constraining the input methods, rather than the type of games released for the platform.
"The [sic] creates a demand for original ideas and innovation to solve the most basic problem of getting known-genres to work on new hardware," McGee writes. "A giant audience awaits, Nintendo proved it – we just have to solve this problem … except that the MS strategy says “you don’t have to solve it, just use controllers with controller games”. That’s a pretty half-assed paradigm shift.
"I’ve got nothing but love for MS... but if the nature of the launch/publishing model isn’t as natural and innovative as the hardware, then the thing’s destined to fail."
Controversial. Do you agree? Let us know in the comments box below.
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