Molyneux Says Kinect Breakthrough Will Come

[JakobBloch]

Did mice ever cost $150?

This was my first thought too. The mouse has always been a cheap piece of plastic. Sure there has been development through time with laser instead of ball, more buttons and mouse wheel. If you are ina bind however you can still get a mouse for 10 bucks.

Another thing is the mouse was easy to understand and to program for (relatively speaking). Its output was simple information: 4 buttons (the first mouse that only had 1 button only had 3 signals). All simple and easy to experiment with.

The Kinect is somewhat more complex. Not only is the output of it far more complex but the internal system is also far more complex. Several layers of recording, an infrared "map" and who knows what else. It is not simple. That being said it is obvious that people know how to use it. The sheer number of hacks for it attest to that.

I think Kinect has the potential for greatness but it is not at that point yet. The movement recognition is not good enough yet. For it to break the "holy" barrier it needs to recognize complex hand gestures. Something as simple as a fist with 2 fingers extended. It needs to learn to extrapolate pointed commands. For it to be the "next great thing" it needs to allow a person using it to operate it merely by hand gestures, pointing and looking. Blizzards april fools joke "SC2 for Kinect" is not so far from the mark for what the Kinect has to be able to do for it to be accepted. Speed and precision is the name of the game and right now Kinect has neither. Fortunately I am pretty sure it is mostly a software issue. The actual physical tech seems to be able to gather all the necessary info, it is simply a matter of interpreting it better.

I hope Molly is right. I hope that someday you will be able to play RTSs on the Kinect, but for now I will stay cautious.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

That's a very accurate chart you got there. I like how it has no measurements and can see into the future.

OT: Hate to be "that" guy again, but how is this news? Pete is a spokesperson for Kinect, what else could he say?

 

[Phlakes]

That's a very accurate chart you got there. I like how it has no measurements and can see into the future.

OT: Hate to be "that" guy again, but how is this news? Pete is a spokesperson for Kinect, what else could he say?

Fuck, I knew someone would do that. It's the idea of it. I never tried to make it accurate in any way.

 

[Meggiepants]

First thing:

Bioware are not doing anything that new or innovative with Kinect.

All they're doing is what previous games have already done. Only they require you to buy a $150 accessory to do what a normal headset can do.

This. Bioware are clearly shoveling on Kinect functionality because they were forced to. There is nothing innovative about what they've done. Speaking the same lines Shepard is going to say again? Yeah, no. Speaking to order my teammates around? Well, I found something I won't really be able to use the "Never a miscommunication" line about. I can't get those characters to do what I want when I use the controller, and it is far more accurate than voice recognition.

Second:

This is seriously the funniest comic I've seen on the Escapist in weeks.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

That's a very accurate chart you got there. I like how it has no measurements and can see into the future.

OT: Hate to be "that" guy again, but how is this news? Pete is a spokesperson for Kinect, what else could he say?

Fuck, I knew someone would do that. It's the idea of it. I never tried to make it accurate in any way.

Then what was the point of making a chart, especially one that is incomplete at best and bound to annoy some people greatly?

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the post up to the chart.

 

[bombadilillo]

And he's right. Motion controls have potential. No matter what they're like right now, they do. If we just give up on them because they don't work well yet, then we'll be wasting all that potential.

Of fucking course there are huge problems with the Kinect, but instead of whining about it and how it's "ruining gaming", give it a chance to develop.

I guess there's another idea to it. Regular controls have basically reached their limit. The gamepad is almost perfected and hasn't really changed since the last generation, and mouse and keyboard has been at its peak since gaming mouses were invented. Motion controls have the potential to go past that point, but they have to start behind.

Here's a fancy graphic I just whipped up in Paint. Standard controls in red, motion controls in blue-

Well you assume they will get better then a standard controller and thats just pure speculation. They will improve, but you cant know if they will be superior to a gamepad. The computer joystick is all but forgotten, and those were awesome.

Also you chart is off because the Wii has been around for a good while "perfecting" motion controls, so its not starting with kinect here. Wii/move have many orders of better precision then kinect and if there isnt hand gesture recognition then kinects got crap.

The dream "minority report" computer will not be realised with the kinect. Maybe its kinect2. Even in that move there were special gloves...

Perhpas they can come out with green fingertip gloves and do a reverse greenscreen to understand gestures, but there is no way the 360 does this ontop of a game already taxing the system.

Take this as what it is, 1st gen hardware. Kinect is going nowhere except to be a prototype for future devices.

 

[Kinokohatake]

I can't wait to play Mass Effect 3 at 1 a.m. and while verbally issuing commands to my squad be told to shut the hell up by my wife, thus making me play with the controller. Oh wait, I won't be yelling at my tv, cause that's fucking stupid.

 

[Phlakes]

Take this as what it is, 1st gen hardware. Kinect is going nowhere except to be a prototype for future devices.

Exactly. Developers have to actually work with the technology to improve it. They can't just magically invent the next big step in motion controls.

 

[bombadilillo]

The whole verbal command this has been done before. Plenty of times. It that seriously all they can do with kinect? And why cant my blutooth headset accept commands too...or my PC mic...

Woooo kinect...150 microphone.

 

[bombadilillo]

Take this as what it is, 1st gen hardware. Kinect is going nowhere except to be a prototype for future devices.

Exactly. Developers have to actually work with the technology to improve it. They can't just magically invent the next big step in motion controls.

Yes, I love the idea of kinect. I'm not jumping on till next gen though. The nextbox should have dedicated resources for this and hell build the system around it as a upshot to the ps4. But you have to go wholehog if you want it to be as awesome as it could be.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well, atleast the Kinect has someone sticking up for it.

Unfortunately, it's Peter Mollycoddle.

 

[Nieroshai]

Molyneux says a lot of things.

I apply a 90% expectation filter to every word the man says. I think we've all been hurt by his broken promises in the past. *sob*

A certain "Milo" that was poortrayed as a nearly sentient AI comes to mind.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Molyneux says a lot of things.

I apply a 90% expectation filter to every word the man says. I think we've all been hurt by his broken promises in the past. *sob*

Indeed, he is kind of a nut job when it comes to unlimited, never wavering, blind optimism...
And I disagree with him. He himself will probably do too in a few years, as taking back stuff he said is what he does best! He will say "Back then I said X because of ... . Now I see that X never came to pass because of Y. But at the time it really looked like X was gonna happen!".

 

[JWAN]

I can't wait to play Mass Effect 3 at 1 a.m. and while verbally issuing commands to my squad be told to shut the hell up by my wife, thus making me play with the controller. Oh wait, I won't be yelling at my tv, cause that's fucking stupid.

lol. Unless its a football game (or American football for that matter)

 

[Bromion]

as is always the case Peter Molyneux said it, so it will never actually happen.

 

[sleeky01]

Take this as what it is, 1st gen hardware. Kinect is going nowhere except to be a prototype for future devices.

Exactly. Developers have to actually work with the technology to improve it. They can't just magically invent the next big step in motion controls.

I wonder if the return of the infamous Power Glove might improve things.

Edit: Hey a new Captcha!

 

[Supernova2000]

Molyneux I don't know if he's a great visionary just without the tools to do what he dreams of doing, Or one of the greatest Trolls in gaming history...

He's definitely a controller troll, considering how he once claimed that 'that piece of plastic in your hands is holding back evolution' or something along those lines. What he and many others in the industry continually fail to realise is that together, the controller and screen make up the door into the world of the game; when you open a door, you don't give a shit about the door itself, you're interested in what's on the other side. It's much easier to put yourself in the shoes of the protagonist from this other world when you're motionless - apart from the tiny movements necessary to press buttons or turn a page - as opposed to waving your arms around like a twat, which only brings you crashing back to the reality in which you are embarrassing yourself. Besides which, standard controllers already offer the smallest possible response delay - a vital ingredient in immersion - short of us actually being projected, Matrix-style, into the game.

So, until we have these Matrix chairs and/or Holodecks in our homes, we should stop wasting money on these pathetic imitations (yes you as well, stereoscopic 3D!) and hope that the games industry finally remembers that it's supposed to be about the fucking games!!