Rare: Lag Not an Issue for Kinect

[Logan Westbrook]

Rare: Lag Not an Issue for Kinect

You won't have to worry about lag on Kinect, not according to the developers of Kinect Sports [http://www.gamestop.com/gs/natal/], one of its flagship titles.

Lag is one of the biggest concerns with the Kinect technology, and probably one of the trickiest to deal with. But Nick Burton, an executive producer at Rare, says that gamers have nothing to worry about.

"Lag is not an issue. As with any prototype stuff, of course it was in the past. That's to be expected. Where we're at now, not at all. Yes, we've done a lot work to make sure it wasn't a problem, but when you've got something that's copying what you're doing you can't have a lot of lag."

According to Burton, the lag on Kinect Sports is set at 150ms, which I must admit seems a little high to the PC gamer in me, but must be quite reasonable when you're actually playing the game.

Burton also said that Rare was excited about the possibilities that Kinect presents: "There's so much more data, so much more fidelity, so many more things you can do," he said. "Kinect's not just about tracking - there's voice recognition, identity, so many things. It's more than the sum of its parts. I've been involved for a couple of years and even now we're like, 'Wow, there's all these things we could do!'"

"We are continually looking at what the next thing's going to be. It might be casual, it might be core, we've had such an eclectic mix over the years and we'll continue to do that."

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/rare-kinect-lag-not-an-issue]


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[Jack and Calumon]

Kinect sports?

*Facepalm*

I'm more worried about the price than the lag.

Calumon: I wonder what it would think of me if I used it?

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Awesome! Oh wait £100 price tag? ... Meh

 

[Daedalus1942]

Rare? As in Rare Ware? wow... they have officially been raped.
Rare are creating shovelware. Never thought I'd see the day!

 

[SonOfIkaros]

Well, Wii Sports was sort of fun, and it used the Wii's controls pretty well. Maybe Kinect Sports will be just as good? If not then this is a really sad launch line-up we've seen so far. Most of them are casual games, and even worse, reek of shovelware. I'm still willing to give Kinect the benefit of the doubt, but so far it has done nothing to wow me.

Out of the two, I have to say that Move is appealing the most to me so far. It's pretty much just a glorified Wii, but that's not a bad thing. Now you can have a Wii with the PS3's graphics and power, allowing for far more complex games. That should be fun. Not to mention that it will be launching with support for a couple of high-profile games, like Killzone 3 and such. So Kinect is lagging (get it, pun?) behind if you ask me, it needs to show something that isn't just mini-games and Shovelware if I'm going to believe all this talk about "revolutionary technology."

Also, that said, looking at the newest Move games up on Gametrailers a lot of them do look like a foul bunch of Shovelware. Only Sorcery really appeals to me so far, all the rest looks like old Wii titles with a new paintjob.

 

[Sebenko]

Kinect sports?

Isn't there something similar on the Wii? Wii sports?

Oh yes, because Kinect is a shitty attempt to get the Wii market.

 

[Brotherofwill]

"Kinect's not just about tracking - there's voice recognition, identity, so many things.

Hahahaha.

Identity? What the hell is he talking about? So it can track and recognize voices and...give you an identity? It has an identity? Will further diminish Rare's identity?

From what I've seen of it so far (only from videos, no 1st hand experience) lag was as much as 1-2 seconds. I doubt they'd release the product like that and I'm pretty sure they've improved it, but lag is the last of my concerns with this software.

Kinect Sports...flagship indeed.

It's rare to see a developer go down like this.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

So lag isn't an issue because they say it isn't one, not because it isn't noticeable?

 

[Georgie_Leech]

First, three demerits for copying the Wii BLATANTLY. At least give it a marginally more creative name.

Ten more demerits for having more lag than said copied game as well. At least do better than the "prototype" technology used years ago.

 

[imgunagitusucka]

It's early days, games will get better, ideas will get bigger and unlike the wii or PSmove, kinect does have the potential to be genuinly amazing. M$ are a stubbon lot and they will persevere with kinect regardless of how successful it is to begin with. Prediction...in two/three years kinect will have a game that the whole world will want to play. Kinect units will sell out and M$ will claim victory over sony and nintendo.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Nah he means it identifies you when you walk in the camera's view. IE each person is tied to their gamertag, and all you have to do to sign in is walk in front of the camera. Which is kind of a cool feature, but ultimately doesn't really affect gameplay.

Why would anyone want that? Unless you have 3 different people using 1 Xbox I hardly would call that a feature. It's cool beans for the gimmick crowd but c'mon man...it's the third thing on his list?

So lag isn't an issue because they say it isn't one, not because it isn't noticeable?

Yeah. Developer logic.

 

[olicon]

150ms is game breaking in any game that I would care to use the Kinnect with. For starter, that would be infuriating in any action game that isn't just repetitive action. (Think any bullet hell games, or even some of the harder Mario maneuver).

 

[slopeslider]

It's early days, games will get better, ideas will get bigger and unlike the wii or PSmove, kinect does have the potential to be genuinly amazing. M$ are a stubbon lot and they will persevere with kinect regardless of how successful it is to begin with. Prediction...in two/three years kinect will have a game that the whole world will want to play. Kinect units will sell out and M$ will claim victory over sony and nintendo.

Just like MS persevered on the RROD crisis and fixed the probl...I mean extended the warranty after a couple years.
Just like they made you buy a $100 wireless adapter that came in a $129 DS LITE and are only NOW putting it in free? I wish they had a $130 wireless network adapter, maybe then they'd throw in a fully functional dual-screened wifi-enabled Handheld gaming system attached to it!
In order for kinect to sell they have to get the new people to spend $449.99 + games. The wii was $249 + games. Which is an easier sell?

Or do you be trollin'?

 

[dududf]

"... This is due of course because the shovelware i.e. Future natal games, requires only a tenth of the processing power of the system. As such there is no delay with the natal function at all."

 

[Baby Tea]

It's so sad they are considering themselves hotshots whilst they are failing hardcore. Sure, Kinect seems amazing for Dashboard intergration but for gaming itself. Hell no.

You now, I went on Google yesterday and searched up some Kinect hands-on previews from E3 2010. You know what I found? Largely positive previews. Were there some issues, and some complaints? Of course! But nobody could deny it was fun to play.

Secondly: As a 'hard-core' gamer, you have to remember: This isn't for you. Microsoft isn't making a secret about it: This wasn't made for hard-core gamers. It can be used for the hard-core crowd (As seen with the Forza Demo, and will be seen how it works with Fable 3), but that's not their primary intent. Not every peripheral is made for hard-core gamers, and they are the ones complaining the most! I see plenty of interested people who aren't gamers, my wife included. That is what Microsoft is looking to get into.

And, you know what? I'm totally looking forward to this. Not for controller replacement, but for controller enhancement. Not to replace my controller, but to tag along with it, adding to the experience. The Forza demo teased it, and Fable 3 will show it (It uses Kinect and a regular controller). Plus the sports game, the Ubisoft fitness game, and the dance game all look like a blast!

Everyone is so freaking negative when they haven't even tried it yet.
Geez.

 

[hazabaza1]

Well, I certainly won't have trouble with lag.
Because I'm not getting it! Ha! Haha. I'm so witty.

 

[iLikeHippos]

... I'm not buying that for 60$..
Or 759 sek (kr). No matter what name you put on it.
... I'd have to say, "Sex machine" would kind of lure me though.

I mean, sensor controls are cool until they start to lag in multiplayer, making the attacks come even MORE behind schedule. It's bad enough as it is!

Well... I stand corrected than!
Had to post this for my own good.