Hello Ladies and Gentlemen of the Escapist,
I have been following the forums a lot lately and i noticed a growing trend of dissatisfaction and disgruntled attitudes towards Kinect. Being a gamer, as you all are, I understand this feeling. The fact that it was rather unimpressive at the Microsoft Conference despite being the homecoming queen... if you will.
I want to give you some reasons that, despite my underwhelming impression, there are reasons Natal shouldn't be outright rejected by the gaming community.
1) Whether or not we like it motion sensing is the growing trend with console gaming. The Wii was a huge massive success and the other big boys want a piece of that pie. Wonderful i say! Competition will force the big three to innovate the medium and the hardware. The overall goal is to make you feel like you are a part of that game and you're in that world. I think thats a wonderful goal for developers to have, but, i am not naive they really just care about money but then again we are all trying to eat right.
Overtime we'll see motion evolve as developers figure out new ways to use the technology it'll take time but I have no doubt we'll see some really cool games come out of there. One day we might even see a strategy game where we need no controller and everything is done on screen using your hand motions to issue orders and set up positions... i just think its pretty cool what we might see come down the pipes. Is it gimmicky? Yea sure, but i think a lot of the cool things we love about games were seen as gimmicky at first too.
2) Controllers will not be made obsolete anytime soon. If anything we'll just see controllers evolve as well. See the ENN news with the "power glove".
3) Games will still come out that let us use our precious plastic controllers. It won't be anytime soon that developers refuse to develop for controllers. They are accurate and simple. I'm no expert but i would assume its somewhat difficult to account for all the movements people make.
4) You can still play the Wii like a lazy bum sitting on the couch flicking your wrist and i'm hard pressed to believe should you want to you couldnt do the same with Kinect. Though I do believe it is a good thing to encourage our younger generation to be more active and jumping around tires you out. Really not a bad thing if you happen to get in shape doing what you love.
Now this is a point i think will be on the minds of most people who take the time to read this. Keep in mind i too love sitting down for hours on end playing through whatever game has sucked me in so much. But there are times when i finished my session and its midnight and i'm thinking too myself... did i really just play this game for 6 hours, on my ass... and man i stink.
Then again thats a choice each person makes for themselves but like i said before there will always be games we can sit down with a controller and play after we finish jumping and flailing about for a wee bit.
5) Finally, the day Professional gaming is not seen as a joke by the mainstream will come when gaming is seen as active and challenging to become skilled in. Buh buh buh... i know i know it takes real skill and it is challenging to be at the level of the creme of the crop but outsiders looking in dont think so. Its just a guy on his ass with too much time on his hands to them. It'll take some innovation and change to change that and even if Kinect isnt that holy grail because i dont think it is, it might be a step towards that direction.
Anyways that was kind of long, feel free to tear me to shreds i just felt like putting some sunshine on the Kinect debacle.
I have been following the forums a lot lately and i noticed a growing trend of dissatisfaction and disgruntled attitudes towards Kinect. Being a gamer, as you all are, I understand this feeling. The fact that it was rather unimpressive at the Microsoft Conference despite being the homecoming queen... if you will.
I want to give you some reasons that, despite my underwhelming impression, there are reasons Natal shouldn't be outright rejected by the gaming community.
1) Whether or not we like it motion sensing is the growing trend with console gaming. The Wii was a huge massive success and the other big boys want a piece of that pie. Wonderful i say! Competition will force the big three to innovate the medium and the hardware. The overall goal is to make you feel like you are a part of that game and you're in that world. I think thats a wonderful goal for developers to have, but, i am not naive they really just care about money but then again we are all trying to eat right.
Overtime we'll see motion evolve as developers figure out new ways to use the technology it'll take time but I have no doubt we'll see some really cool games come out of there. One day we might even see a strategy game where we need no controller and everything is done on screen using your hand motions to issue orders and set up positions... i just think its pretty cool what we might see come down the pipes. Is it gimmicky? Yea sure, but i think a lot of the cool things we love about games were seen as gimmicky at first too.
2) Controllers will not be made obsolete anytime soon. If anything we'll just see controllers evolve as well. See the ENN news with the "power glove".
3) Games will still come out that let us use our precious plastic controllers. It won't be anytime soon that developers refuse to develop for controllers. They are accurate and simple. I'm no expert but i would assume its somewhat difficult to account for all the movements people make.
4) You can still play the Wii like a lazy bum sitting on the couch flicking your wrist and i'm hard pressed to believe should you want to you couldnt do the same with Kinect. Though I do believe it is a good thing to encourage our younger generation to be more active and jumping around tires you out. Really not a bad thing if you happen to get in shape doing what you love.
Now this is a point i think will be on the minds of most people who take the time to read this. Keep in mind i too love sitting down for hours on end playing through whatever game has sucked me in so much. But there are times when i finished my session and its midnight and i'm thinking too myself... did i really just play this game for 6 hours, on my ass... and man i stink.
Then again thats a choice each person makes for themselves but like i said before there will always be games we can sit down with a controller and play after we finish jumping and flailing about for a wee bit.
5) Finally, the day Professional gaming is not seen as a joke by the mainstream will come when gaming is seen as active and challenging to become skilled in. Buh buh buh... i know i know it takes real skill and it is challenging to be at the level of the creme of the crop but outsiders looking in dont think so. Its just a guy on his ass with too much time on his hands to them. It'll take some innovation and change to change that and even if Kinect isnt that holy grail because i dont think it is, it might be a step towards that direction.
Anyways that was kind of long, feel free to tear me to shreds i just felt like putting some sunshine on the Kinect debacle.
