Kinect

[Yantelope]

So, it's been out for a while now and I'm not seeing any new games coming out for it or it being talked about. I know MS touted how well it was selling but is it still selling? Is it burning out super quick?

[deanb]

There's that Children of Eden.

But yeah they seem to have dried up for now. Only major thing on the radar for Kinect at the moment is the PC SDK.

[TheMightyEthan]

Honestly that's not surprising to me. When a product like that first launches most of the games that are going to be coming out in the near future shoot for the launch window, so then there's kind of a dropoff after the launch window. I imagine it will pick back up somewhat in the next few months.

[Yantelope]

Yeah, maybe at E3 we'll see some new Kinect games. I just find it strange that there's not even a trickle of new games.

[Yantelope]

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Destructoid/~3/P6I3xuvT2g8/molyneux-kinect-has-some-problems-lol-on-rails-lol--204251.phtml

 

He's right about something for once. Motion control sucks because there's no way to navigate the game world.

[excel_excel]

Its more that Kinect sucks because you can't navigate the gaming world. I think a nav controller would have helped Kinect immensely.

[Strangelove]

I can TOTALLY Navigate Killzone 3's world with my Move controller. It's awesome.

[deanb]

http://feedproxy.goo...l--204251.phtml

 

He's right about something for once. Kinect sucks because there's no way to navigate the game world.

 

FTFY. Wiimote n Move have Nunchucks which eliminate the problem. Lack of navigation has been, and will continue to be, a major thorn in Kinects side for gaming applications. As I was not long ago saying in Steam chat: It's like Activision trying to force all their games to use the Guitar Hero controller. It's a very specialised controller and does a very specific gaming task very well. But it fucks up on everything else. Only difference is Activision weren't betting a lot of money on the Guitar Hero controller but the games and stores instead.

[RockyRan]

I will never understand why Microsoft introduced Kinect into the Xbox brand. The technology is really neat and the applications people are cooking up for it are great, but the peripheral's a joke for anyone who plays games longer than 5 minutes at a time.

 

I wish Microsoft would stop with the charade about how "WE SO EXCITED" for Kinect on gaming. Nobody cares, MS. And repeating it that we SHOULD care isn't going to suddenly convince us that we will.

[Yantelope]

Yeah, forcing every single first party game to include some sort of Kinect gimmick isn't helping things either. It just makes the $150 novelty seem even more out of place.

[excel_excel]

But...BUT FRUIT NINJA :'(

[staySICK]

more and more Kinect seems to come up with neat integration into how the 360 works. Throughout their post Kinect E3 conferences, I find myself saying "that's cool" or "that's kinda neat" at the 360 specific applications of the Kinect.

 

Then they start showing games and I'm all lolwut?

 

Although tbh that Fable game looks interesting since its apparently not on rails. I liked the magic stuff.

[Yantelope]

Yeah, Kinect might have worked as a $30 add-on for some voice and video integration. As a $150 "new console launch" it's kind of a joke. The irony of it is that the XBL camera was supposed to do some of this stuff already and it was abandoned quick.

Edited June 22, 2011 by Yantelope

[CorgiShinobi]

Still, don't underestimate the popularity of Kinect. My sister and her husband have been thinking of getting one after playing Dance Central. The whole, "no controller" thing is a huge factor in attracting non-gamers. Really, it seems like everyone has some story that goes, "Hey did you playing that Microsoft thing, the Kinect!"

 

The only game I would be excited for is Fruit Ninja. I was telling my sister yesterday that, yeah, the Kinect is an impressive device and her husband (being a mechanical engineer) has seen some of the applications the device has been put through outside of games.

 

Then there's the games aspect, and it's kinda sad that it's primary purpose happens to be it's weakest attribute.

[Yantelope]

Really, it seems like everyone has some story that goes, "Hey did you playing that Microsoft thing, the Kinect!"

 

Yeah, but this is the fad element that dies very quickly and you're left with pet rocks and pogs. If you want a sustainable base of loyal customers you need more than just Dance Central and Fruit Ninja.

[CorgiShinobi]

Really, it seems like everyone has some story that goes, "Hey did you playing that Microsoft thing, the Kinect!"

 

Yeah, but this is the fad element that dies very quickly and you're left with pet rocks and pogs. If you want a sustainable base of loyal customers you need more than just Dance Central and Fruit Ninja.

Yeah, but people still buy fads. I mean, a Pet Rock is really just a rock in a box, but people still said to themselves, "I've got to have a rock from a box!"

[Yantelope V2]

The reviews for the somewhat highly anticipated Star Wars Kinect are not good. I'm wondering if we can finally declare Kinect a failure as device even if it did sell well. Thoughts? Disclaimer, I haven't played anything on the kinect since Dance Central.

[deanb]

Digital Foundry have a look at Kinect n where it went right and wrong the past 3 years.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-what-went-wrong-with-kinect

[Livingtarget]

Urg, I haven't played it but I'm still holding out in hope for Steel Battalion. Not going to read reviews, why ruin my fun (I got it through a friend, so I didn't pay for it anyway).

[Strangelove]

Well, nothing really went wrong with Kinect since it sold a lot. Like, a lot. It sold so much that God felt that slap on is face as we took a shit on humanity.

 

I think its a big fucking failure as the revolutionary new thing it was supposed to be. At least to the brainwashed or to the ones with a naive imagination.

Outside of that Milo movie, it never even tried to outdo itself in any way either. What people got from it was something that was believable. No game ever came out where people were thinking, "Oh my god, how is this possible!? This is the future!" What you got at launch is what you got a month ago. Theres a few tweaks here and there, but it's still the same old thing.

It failed the "core", but it was never really meant for the "core" either. If that's what MS said and you believed them, then that's really your fault.

 

And don't throw in the word "potential." I'm sick of it. Shit, I have "potential." Give ME money. My cats have potential too. Give them money too.

Edited July 2, 2012 by Strangelove

[deanb]

It needs to sell software on top of selling the hardware (unless they're making a profit on it, and they reckon not hence the high price of the PC version). It really did fail to deliver though, most core titles have fallen back on using it for voice, something that any old headset can do, and on the casual front we're now up to yearly sequels of Dance Central and Ubisfot fitness game (Your Shape?). Milo would have been something but it never became anything beyond a...I don't know, it wasn't really even a tech demo I guess. More of a "what we'd like to do" than a "what we can do". It was nearly the price of a whole console and it didn't do what a console could do. Wii managed to hit both core n casual alike, same with the Move. The kinect became relegated to casual titles very fast. And casuals tend not to buy in the same scope as enthusiast market.

[Strangelove]

It just cant do what people always wanted to do with technology like this. Like, the crazy stuff we imagined this kind of technology could do, this thing cant do it. Its cool if people read to you or tell you what it's capabilities are, but once you actually try it or see someone else do it, you realize how hopeless it is in it's current state.

You might as well strap on Wiimotes to your arms and legs and fake it.

[deanb]

See the tech could potentially be okay (aside from having nothing physical to use with it) but MS releasing it at its current state nearly a decade before it'd be totally fine is just totally stupid on their part. Kinda sets it back a bit on acceptance than it would have been if they'd have just waited.

[Strangelove]

But it did help sales of the 360 quite a bit, which I think was the main purpose, moreso than trying to truly incorporate a new way of control.

 

And to be honest, after this(Kinect actually selling a buttload) i am more than confident that MS can completely win over people again with a new version of this for their next console by making the same promises they did the first time. Their marketing approach is really something else, for better or for worse. I frankly think theyre unbeatable when it comes to selling shit to people. I don't think Nintendo or Sony could have ever made Kinect a success the way MS did.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

the balance board sold multi times better than the kinect and on a more limited scope of what it could do, so I don't think Nintendo exactly failed on the marketing front with regard to peripherals of dubious benefit.

 

Also, if this article is to be believed there may not be more Kinects than moves out in the wild. Though it does hint at MS's better marketing since it seems 90% of them were bought in the first month or so before there were any games out and after that sales dropped off a cliff when people thought, 'hang on what am I actually buying this for'?

 

That would imply it's only Sony not marketing that well, as it looks more like people are buying the move when they see a compelling game to buy with it. You could say that's actually the better marketing strategy though in the long run as it means you don't end up with a load of resentful customers with a £100 microphone sitting in the corner of their room with less inclination to buy the next life changing peripheral you try to push in to their homes.