Trash-Talking Sony Engineer Blasts Kinect Lightsaber Game

[Mr. Socky]

Microsoft- "Ha, we have this weird camera thing that tracks your movement and is actually kind of innovative and cool!"
Sony- "Ha, we ripped off the Wii and put a lolipop glowy thing on the end! We win!"

Honestly, I don't like motion controls much, but this is just stupid.

 

[Jumplion]

Strong words. Let's see if he keeps them.

As for Kinect with lightsabers, wouldn't having a stick to simulate the saber defeat the purpose of Kinect? Kinect by itself is an interesting piece of technology, but if you add a peripheral to it it's basically just the Move! This is the main reason why I'm skeptical of Kinect, it's that, while on it's own it's a good piece of tech, it cannot function on it's own anyway. Some games utilize Kinect to the fullest (Dance Central), but to get a true, full fledge experience, you're going to need a controller no matter what which basically makes Kinect an expensive webcam.

But that's enough of my ranting, we'll see what comes from Move and Kinect...

We'll see...

 

[Dana22]

Here you are, Kinect lightsaber, with a stick. Remember that this is amateur work using freeware drivers.

 

[RandV80]

Technically he's more or less right but realistically neither can really pull off a true lightsaber game because of a shared inherant flaw: the gamer. When it comes to martial prowess the fictional Jedi with a lightsabre is basically on par or beyond the level of a kung-fu master, able to rapidly deflect multitudes of blaster fire with a sword. Most gamers unfortunately if they try the same thing will be on par with Star Wars kid. Unless the gameplay is heavily assisted, but by that point you may as well be using a regular controller.

The problem with you being the controller concept is that unfortunately many of the actions our video game avatars perform with the push of a button is beyond human capability. Even things within realistic limits will likely require a certain amount of inherant or trained skill to play effectively. In this case a more modest medieval style sword fighting game can work if the game takes it slow to get the gamer into the basic movements.

 

[kouriichi]

Ah! But there in lies the problem. While the Lightsaber itself would be better fit for move....

The force powers would be better set for kinect! FORCE PUSH HUUU!! *moves both arms forward*

And think! Arking your hands above your head like a sith lord could shoot lightining!

I dont care if i cant wave an overused peice of fan service around! i wanna force choke people!

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

A Ps3 person dissing an Xbox...

... I'm sorry but I fail to see the news here

 

[AugustFall]

Here you are, Kinect lightsaber, with a stick. Remember that this is amateur work using freeware drivers.

That's what he's getting at, the kinect's "thing" is the lack of peripherals. And that's no ordinary stick, it has special sensors on it.
However I would like point out using the Force in a kinect game would be far superior to the move.

 

[Mako SOLDIER]

Strong words. Let's see if he keeps them.

As for Kinect with lightsabers, wouldn't having a stick to simulate the saber defeat the purpose of Kinect?

Not in the slightest. If you are controlling movement, force powers, etc with your body then holding some kind of small prop (it doesn't have to be the full length of the lighsaber after all) doesn't render everything else irrelevant. What Kinect does is remove the necessity to hold something, but when doing so adds to the experience (using something as a lightsaber is not the same as holding a controller by a long shot) then it's not exactly a betrayal of the idea behind Kinect to use it.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

I dont care if i cant wave an overused peice of fan service around! i wanna force choke people!

Don't we all...

 

[Mako SOLDIER]

Technically he's more or less right but realistically neither can really pull off a true lightsaber game because of a shared inherant flaw: the gamer. When it comes to martial prowess the fictional Jedi with a lightsabre is basically on par or beyond the level of a kung-fu master, able to rapidly deflect multitudes of blaster fire with a sword. Most gamers unfortunately if they try the same thing will be on par with Star Wars kid. Unless the gameplay is heavily assisted, but by that point you may as well be using a regular controller.

The problem with you being the controller concept is that unfortunately many of the actions our video game avatars perform with the push of a button is beyond human capability. Even things within realistic limits will likely require a certain amount of inherant or trained skill to play effectively. In this case a more modest medieval style sword fighting game can work if the game takes it slow to get the gamer into the basic movements.

I agree in the sense that the player will hardly be able to do flips through the air when jumping, but considering that people are able to follow visual direction well enough to use Dance Central or Your Shape, it shouldn't exactly be difficult to teach the player to execute a few lightsaber moves. Heck, I learned an entire sword fight for a semi-professional (not paid but it was with a highly reputable Shakespeare company) theatrical performance in the space of a weekend. Most of that time was taken up with safety training because we were using real swords.

 

[Jesus Phish]

Here you are, Kinect lightsaber, with a stick. Remember that this is amateur work using freeware drivers.

That's what came into my head too. Just grab yourself a stick from the yard. Like we did as kids!

 

[Jumplion]

Strong words. Let's see if he keeps them.

As for Kinect with lightsabers, wouldn't having a stick to simulate the saber defeat the purpose of Kinect?

Not in the slightest. If you are controlling movement, force powers, etc with your body then holding some kind of small prop (it doesn't have to be the full length of the lighsaber after all) doesn't render everything else irrelevant. What Kinect does is remove the necessity to hold something, but when doing so adds to the experience (using something as a lightsaber is not the same as holding a controller by a long shot) then it's not exactly a betrayal of the idea behind Kinect to use it.

From what Microsoft have been hyping up with the Kinect, they seem to be taking the opposite approach in that Kinect is a "completely new platform!" or something like that.

I have no problem with Kinect being used as an add-on or an enhancement to games, but I don't think Microsoft are taking that approach.

And what you described is essentially the Move. I mean, it's already got the camera and the wiimote thingamajig, it's pretty much the median between the Wii and Kinect.

 

[Dana22]

Here you are, Kinect lightsaber, with a stick. Remember that this is amateur work using freeware drivers.

That's what he's getting at, the kinect's "thing" is the lack of peripherals. And that's no ordinary stick, it has special sensors on it.
However I would like point out using the Force in a kinect game would be far superior to the move.

I see no reason why they couldnt do it in retail games.

 

[cerebus23]

i am sure ms will make tools for kinect etc in a year or so and will charge 60 bucks a pop or something. after all for "hardcore" game buttons > stomping around breaking stuff. and xbox has a long history of selling extras you have to pay more and more for. like the wheel that only works on xbox and does not work on pc at all etc. or the other extras early on that if you bought them ballooned the price up close or past the ps3 at 500 bucks.

the lead designers wanted a controller integrated into the thing after all, arguing that only them would you have the control you needed for a bunch of games, but ms said no that it was too expensive or something. then we get the article where the components for the thing only cost like 50 bucks minus r&d and etc.

so give ms 6 months to year or so we will see special controllers for a fee, after people break tvs and stomp on their kids and destroy ceiling fans yadda yadda then they will add stuff that can be tracked by the thing somehow and have nice physical buttons so your flailing and stomping a tad less.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

Well it's a Star Wars game, so it's most likely a Lucas Arts game, which means it's most likely going to suck no matter what controller it uses.

Boom! That is a fact, Medal awarded

http://www.coloradofishing.net/images/medal.gif

 

[GonzoFish]

I guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm inclined to agree with his assessment though. But if kinect can create a light saber game that matches truly matches your movements on screen without the need for a peripheral and it works well, it will be a huge technical achievement.


My sneaking suspicion is that it will have you pretend to swing a lightsaber which will trigger a pre-made animation, this is basically what the wii does. If Microsoft ends up taking this road, Sony's gloating will be justified.

If adding a peripheral will make for better lightsaber-ing, I hope microsoft will swallow it's "you are the controller" pride, and make a better game instead.

 

[Sneaklemming]

Here you are, Kinect lightsaber, with a stick. Remember that this is amateur work using freeware drivers.

That's what came into my head too. Just grab yourself a stick from the yard. Like we did as kids!

You still have a depth issue... kinect games will end up like a window-washing type minigame..