Trash-Talking Sony Engineer Blasts Kinect Lightsaber Game

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Tiswas

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Not defending the Kinect or anything. But we CLEARLY saw in the adverts people scanning in stuff like skateboards in order to play games. This'll be exactly the same thing.
 

JUMBO PALACE

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AugustFall said:
Dana22 said:
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.
Yeah I can see using hand gestures for force lightening or push but I just don't understand how a lightsaber would work without some kind of controller or prop. And that game looked terrible anyway.
 

Unrulyhandbag

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Lucane said:
it could follow your movements as you do them but when it comes time to connect with a object it shakes(rumbles)
That move sports gladiator game does just that. It's better than nothing and once you've trained yourself to pay attention it's pretty helpful, still a long way from good though.

Everyone on this thread, including Mr Sony, has missed one thing, using a sword isn't only about moving it around; what about force?

The move has a gyroscope and accelerometers inside it to tell exactly what angle and how powerful an attack is, these are really, really hard to judge from observation alone. When is an attack a feint or a punch pulled? It looks the same until the attacker pulls back so kinetic would have to register it as a full on hit, the move (or even wiimote) could sense how much force was actually in the swing and so wouldn't make that mistake.

When it comes to angle I think my Kinect would have issues, it follows big movements and a small twist at the wrist isn't something it's set up to see.

Look at the complaints about 'the fight' for example (most are legitimate the game's utter toss). People say you have to punch really hard but that's not true, you have to punch through the target, without something to hit people naturally pull their punches robbing them of impact at the last second and the game registers it as a weak hit.
Once you adjust to that you can get good damage hits with only mid power punches; Kinect would just see the arm movement and register it as a hit a speed.
Sounds okay as you don't have to re-train your instincts but when you want to pull those punches Kinect is going to feel floaty and unpleasant, like an eyetoy game but with an added dimension of depth.

Edit: I don't think motion controls are truly ready for the big time yet. The move and wiimotion+ are pretty nice peripherals with a lot of potential use today.
I think the ideal would be a Kinect like system with more than one set of cameras and a move type controller. Imagine a a game like populous where you could literally reach in and sculpt the terrain by hand and then pick up your wand for fine control and interacting with the people. But how given that Microsoft own a tonne of patents for depth sensing cameras now how likely are we to ever see that?
 

ThirdPrize

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Light sabres on Kinect don't sound like rocket science to me. Hold both hands together and the lightsaber is on. Move both hands right and character on screen moves its lightsaber right. This means tilting it left (for effect) and making the noise. If it is stationary then it assumes the upright position. It is not like the machine has to know the orientation of your hands to get it right. Both hands pushing out for Force power.
 

monnes

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Misterpinky said:
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.
Yes, because a movement-tracking camera is a completely new and original idea. The kinect is nothing like the eyetoy..
 

Smooth Operator

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Well apart from his obviously biased rant he is right.
Kinect can excel in games with full body control (dancing, sports, joga,...) because others simply cannot do that, but when it comes to hand held apparatus they lack the accuracy to compete.
Then again the novelty factor of these games wears off in 10-30 minutes, so it's not like you need a good controller... or a good game.
 

Rayansaki

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tellmeimaninja said:
Couldn't the kinect user just hold something, then? A stick perhaps? Maybe a Playstation Move Controller, or a Wiimote. It's not like either of those have any real uses.
No matter what the kinect player holds, the system is still only using visual tracking. Move uses both visual and physical tracking. No matter which way you look at it, Move will always be better at any game that needs to track only your hand movements, and Kinect can potentially be better in all other games, unless they are complex enough to require more than one action at a time, in which case Move wins again because of buttons.
 

Sheinen

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I've always thought that the true greatness of Kinect wouldn't come through without some kind of additional control mechanism. Specifically integrating your movements and voice into standard controller use, but I digress...

Pick up a stick, a broom, a mop, whatever you have lying about and turn it into a lightsaber. You could even use your £100 Light Saber Replica! I don't think it's cheating the 'you're the controller' approach too much, they just need to stretch the marketing to 'Gives YOU control' or 'The power is in your hands.' Hey, that was pretty good...anyone know hoe to become a marketing...erm...guy?

More to the point, I've just spent 7 minutes pretending to pick things up and throw them around with the force WITHOUT the Kinect and it was fun - THAT game would be awesome!
 

Lucane

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Unrulyhandbag said:
That move sports gladiator game does just that. It's better than nothing and once you've trained yourself to pay attention it's pretty helpful, still a long way from good though.

Everyone on this thread, including Mr Sony, has missed one thing, using a sword isn't only about moving it around; what about force?
Seems like if you think about it enough the reason(s) why melee combat wouldn't work well on the Kinect without a sensor linked controller just keep adding up.

Oh and thanks for the tip on Sports Champions whenever I get around to getting it(or seemilar titles) I'll have to remember that.
 

twm1709

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Kinect could do more than just the lightsaber. How about holding the saber with one hand and shooting lightning with the other. Or jumping great heights....
 

orangecharger

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Oh yeah well my dad can beat up your dad. With or without a stick -- even one with a glowing ball on top. From a purely aesthetic standpoint the Move is the most ridiculous looking controller. I imagine Mickey Mouse or Tinker Bell swirling merrily around with their magic wands. Funny that the hardcore system has the goofiest looking hardware. Then we have the Kinect -- other than the dancing game I don't see much use for this "controller" -- I don't dance so until someone comes up with something on the Kinect that shows it can do more than that I am going to stick with my thumbsticks. Who knows maybe this Star Wars game will change it all. Would it be so bad to have a stick? or a golf club? real world objects are still not controllers. I will have to wait and see.
 

RatRace123

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That guy seems like he's just a teeny tiny bit biased.
I'm willing to wait to see what Kinect's Star Wars game actually is, because from where I stand it's just about the only reason that I would even consider getting a Kinect.
 

Mr. Socky

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monnes said:
Misterpinky said:
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.
Yes, because a movement-tracking camera is a completely new and original idea. The kinect is nothing like the eyetoy..
It may be similar, but it's also a lot better. The difference between the playstation move and the wii remote is negligible. The difference between actual usability in the EyeToy and Kinect is the difference between night and day. I'm not saying that Move is bad, it's just a Wii Remote with Wii motion plus built in.
 

Shale_Dirk

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Misterpinky said:
monnes said:
Misterpinky said:
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.
Yes, because a movement-tracking camera is a completely new and original idea. The kinect is nothing like the eyetoy..
It may be similar, but it's also a lot better. The difference between the playstation move and the wii remote is negligible. The difference between actual usability in the EyeToy and Kinect is the difference between night and day. I'm not saying that Move is bad, it's just a Wii Remote with Wii motion plus built in.
You are completely incorrect on all fronts, and I have a distinct feeling that no amount of my correcting you will prevent you from continuing to be ignorant.
 

Fursnake

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I don't think either of these devices has what it takes to do a good lightsaber game yet. If a hands based fighting game like The Fight: Lights Out doesn't work so well (and it doesn't) with the PS Move, then a lightsaber games would be even worse. So I have a hard time believing that a lightsaber game for the PS Move would be any better or worse than one for the Kinect. And the Kinect...well like it hsa been said before, the Kinect really needs somekind of tool to scan and track as a lightsaber or it would not work so well at all. There needs to be a lot of improvement to the hardware and the software before a lightsaber game should even be attempted. But you know that some idiot developer is going jump onmaking one as soon as they can and it will most likely suck and ruin the potential for other lightsaber games.
 

HyenaThePirate

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I'm going to adopt the policy of "wait and see" here. Game designers are an inventive lot. I remember when Shadow of the Colossus came out people dismissed it thinking "How much fun can it be to have a boring, empty world with a bunch of boss battles?"

The game was AWESOME, because of the creative team really working on the scale, the atmosphere, the emotion of the game.

Then Heavy Rain came along and people said "What?! A game full of QTE? Balderdash!"

Again, a game people didn't think would be "worth the hype" turned out to be awesome.

The one great thing about the gaming industry is how often it surprises me with innovation and creativity. Sure this might be a cash grab on the star wars name, but I'll reserve my final opinion until I actually SEE what's going on.

After all, Sony touted "Home" as this awesome "second life" alternative to "Xbox Live." We saw how well THAT worked out.
 

Mr. Socky

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Shale_Dirk said:
You are completely incorrect on all fronts, and I have a distinct feeling that no amount of my correcting you will prevent you from continuing to be ignorant.
I'm glad to know that you are capable of having a reasonable discussion about this. How about some reasons on why I'm wrong? I have data to back myself up. For instance, Playstation Move has been shown to have true 1 to 1 motion sensing. The problem is that it's just as expensive as a Wii remote with Wii motion plus (which is so close to 1 to 1 sensing that most won't notice the difference), and everyone already has a Wii, whether Sony has the idea first (as they claim) or not. In Kinect vs. Eyetoy, the main issue is that Eyetoy is largely, well, broken. I've used it in a well-lit enviroment, and the Eyetoy just plain didn't work. Everything I've heard about Kinect is largely that it works well. It also happens to have a terrible software library.

Of course, none of them are as good as a plain old mouse and keyboard, but they all are way more fun than someone who trolls for Sony any day.
 

UberNoodle

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This is basically what all the system related trash talking amounts to:

Companies and media:
"Your orange sucks at being a lime! Therefore it is the worst orange ever!"
"Your lime sucks at being an orange! There it is the worst lime ever!"

Fanboys:
"Hah hah, your orange sucks!"
"Hah hah, your lime sucks!"

Common sense and maturity:
"..."
 

duchaked

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man...that Yoda quote was boss!

but idk, Kinect or Move...gonna suck regardless as expected with motion gaming

personally I'd take a gun-kata Kinect game over any lightsaber Move game but that's just me being incredibly geeky