Rumor: Mass Effect 3 Getting "Better with Kinect"

[Greg Tito]

Rumor: Mass Effect 3 Getting "Better with Kinect"

An image popped up in the Electronic Arts store proclaiming that Mass Effect 3 would be made "better with Kinect."

It has been well over a year since Mass Effect 2 re-launched the Normandy, and we all thought we'd be playing the next iteration of the saga of Shepard by now. Apparently, the folks at BioWare have been cooking something that all hardcore Mass Effect fans have been clamoring for: Kinect support. Keen eyes on the neoGAF forums discovered an image of the box of Mass Effect 3 with the words "Better with Kinect Sensor" emblazoned in large friendly purple letters on the cover.

We have no idea how deep the rabbit hole of Kinect support goes. I find it really hard to imagine shooting Collectors in the face while standing and pointing at the screen, so perhaps BioWare is experimenting with using Kinect for some other nefarious purpose. The mining or whatever resource collecting that appears in ME3 could be spiced up with some Kinect exercise I suppose. Or maybe Kinect could figure into the whole relationship part of the game.

Will Mass Effect 3 become the first Microsoft-approved Kinect sex game? Probably not, but a guy can hope to squeeze some blue alien butt, can't he?

Smart money says that adding this Kinect support is a major reason why the game is delayed. In all honesty, most folks would probably like for the game to be out rather than fiddle around with motion controls.

Source: Destructoid [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=432108]

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[EonEire]

C'mon making Shepard look more like me with some sort of face scanner!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Flame shields up everyone. This is gonna be a doozy!

"Better with no bugs" would be preferable.

 

[slimeonline]

Yay, could they be possibly making mining resources even more fun.....
'now with added pick motion'

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Wait, who has actually been clamouring for Kinect in ME3?

I have visions of the internet erupting about it being 'dumbed down' like it does everytime EA or Bioware mention anything about the game.

 

[Chrono212]

Kinect + Mass Effect = Omnitool.

"Lift your arm up to open your Omnitool!"
Read: Open menu by lifting arm...away from the controller...in a firefight...yeah.

 

[mattttherman3]

Oh god, please no, don't waste BioWare's development time with such trivial matters. Kinect is not good for a single player RPG, I don't like to move when I play Mass Effect, much less jump around like a jack ass.


Here is what came into my mind when I read the title of the article http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc&NR=1

 

[TitanAtlas]

NOOOOOO!!!! Goddamit Microsoft why do you insist in ruining everything i like!! And ring me Conker Bad fur Day sequel back!!!

Dam you microsoft, how did a company with such awfull ideas got to be so popular >.<

Oh wait... bill gates and windows.... nvm then....

Still kinect for Mass effect 3.... bad idea and for me it will be a nono...

 

[TehKnifeh]

*sigh* This feels like a hopeless shoe-in off features that are not needed. I am sure this will serve to incite even more flaming into the whole ME3 debate before its even been released, but to me it doesn't bode well that they are doing this, but again its purely speculation and could quite possibily either a)not be true or b) actually have some merit.

The only practical use I can see is making some more of forward gesture to use a specific biotic power that projectile based, although not all are like that.

Second thought.. using the kintec to grab your face to stick it on your own Shep sounds like an interesting idea.

 

[TornadoFive]

C'mon making Shepard look more like me with some sort of face scanner!

Yeah, this was my first thought too. If it's not something along these lines I'll be surprised.

That said, I don't WANT Kinect support. So far Kinect has just been for casual stuff, which is great for getting people into gaming, but not so much for people already in. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great piece of technology and there's tons of potenial there. It's just thats there's nothing to entice me into getting one yet.

Who knows? Maybe ME3 will be the thing that does that.

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

Not one for raging, but here we are.

Give it a fucking chance, people! The whole internet complains "oh motion controls only have party games, let's get some real games!" and then it happens, and everyone loses their shit over it. Do any of you know how this is going to be implemented? Because I think maybe navigating the universe map with hand gestures could be pretty sweet. Or maybe for biotic powers.

Yes, it might be poor. It might be shoehorned in. But at least give it a chance to see what the thing is.

Bioware aren't stupid, they aren't going to change the ENTIRE game to make it usable with Kinect. Maybe we should just see what they are up to, before we tear them up for trying something different.

Sheesh.

 

[bladester1]

That might explain why it is delayed on the xbox, and possibly the ps3 if they are doing the move crap with it, but that does not explain why it is delayed on the pc as well. Granted I get they want to release on all platforms simultaneously, but I still do not think delaying a finished game because one version is getting addons is stupid.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

I see this as using objects and maybe melee attacks, as I do know melee attacks were supposed to get a bigger focus for the game this time around.

 

[windlenot]

Can motion sensors and stuff really make anything better? I know for a fact I'd much rather have a controller...

 

[Canadish]

I assume this is the result of the comment made by EA about changing some core features to make the game more appealing to a broader market.

If so, I could live with it. It could have been worse. Still, Kinect wastes 360's RAM power, so there's some good ol' frame rate issues for us 360 owners.
...wonder how much Steam is selling Mass Effect 1&2 for?....

Still, this feels very lame. I assume E3 will show us how this is implemented. Hopfully just converation gestures as Bioware suggested a few months back. Or face scanner for character creation.

I'm Commander Sheppard and this is my LEAST favorite article on the escapist

Thank you Hankman.

 

[ALYKZANDYR]

Loved ME1, bought ME2 expecting great things, played it for awhile and found most of the things i liked about ME1 gone, never finished it. needless to say i wont be buying ME3.

on topic, Motion control has no place in fps, racing and rpg games. it should only be in family and kids games. shoehorning into above listed genres is just wasted dev time on a gameplay mechanic that will make the playing experience worse not better.

 

[Ekonk]

I think this could be cool while using biotics, but otherwise this is a bad idea.

 

[AgentBJ09]

If this is 'enhanced' by Kinect, here's some things I hope work with it attached to my system...

1. - Voice recognition for dialogue selection. This is pretty much a no-brainer. This IS an RPG after all. Give us some way to speak the selection, then have the NPC respond.

2. - Face mapping. This would only really work if Bioware allows for placement of the face for old PCs within Mass Effect 1, or for new PCs in Mass Effect 3.

3. - Combat orders. Again, a no-brainer, and if used right it would keep combat fast. Tom Clancy's Endwar showed how you could do it well, so follow that example.

4. - Interactive environment. While simple, using your hands to operate keyboards or keypads within the game is still more interesting than using the analog stick or directional pad.