The only game that doesn't reek of "Wii Shovelware Party Game" syndrome for Kinect is Child of Eden. Otherwise, I think we can expect the same reception the PlayStation Move got. Good/interesting hardware, mediocre software, and every soccer mom wants it for their kids.
To top things off, Microsoft is either behind schedule on production or never made enough for launch, so there's already a shortage of Kinect and it will stay this for a long time.
The only game that doesn't reek of "Wii Shovelware Party Game" syndrome for Kinect is Child of Eden. Otherwise, I think we can expect the same reception the PlayStation Move got. Good/interesting hardware, mediocre software, and every soccer mom wants it for their kids.
To top things off, Microsoft is either behind schedule on production or never made enough for launch, so there's already a shortage of Kinect and it will stay this for a long time.
i find the criticism of stock shortages due to sales from 3 million to 5 million in this quarter to be a little harsh; in fact, while ebgames was sold out (where i got my preorder) walmart had quite a few when i was looking at TV mounts. Seriously, from this thread alone, you would think that m$ would be overstocked if they made 100k of the things. and if they are understocked at 5 million units then they have a hit on their hands. moving from 3 to 5 million quickly suggests that they can crank up the units quickly.
and criticism of games as nintendo rip offs is pretty weak imo as well; that is like saying that call of duty and halo are rip offs of doom or quake or duke nukem and should be disregarded even though they obviously advance the genre significantly to the point where you wouldn't necessarily draw a line from the original source. lots of the wii games were done on atari or an earlier platform, but with some shovelware trickery for the controls; it took some time for innovative games to come out. Zelda and the metroid series showed that the wii could do innovative, high end games, but developers still pushed for the easy sale.
if i was going to criticize the kinect launch titles, it would be the "sameness" of them all; really, how many dance games do we need at the same time?
i would really like to see a madden, tiger woods, fifa or nhl kinect; i think that these AAA titles would really, really move kinect forward. they may be hard to execute, but it would be an awesome experience.
on a related note, initial stats show that users are buying one new game on their way out of the store, in addition to the bundled game.
oh. here come the haters now.
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Franchise > Team > Player
Future historians will celebrate June 24, 2024 as the date when the timeline corrected itself.
I'm not really a hater ... I want to try it quite badly. I do think it will tank though. It's ambitious and I'm sure it will sell well initially, but I simply don't see how a sports game is going to work without being "wii-ized" (simplified). Golf for instance is something I don't see it being able to do as well as a wiimote or a Move controller just because you need those minuscule little movements that the reviews lead me to believe Kinect is currently poor at detecting.
I think the absence of a controller is ultimately going to be the downfall here. Even look at the wii and it's hardcore games. Goldeneye ships with a classic controller and Metroid is played wiimote sideways like an NES controller ... it just seems that for some games you need a controller.
To be fair I'm not just a sony fan bashing MS. I tried Move and while the tech was kind of impressive, I saw very little redeeming qualities.
and criticism of games as nintendo rip offs is pretty weak imo as well;
No, it really is a decent argument.
HD graphics do not make the PS Move Sports game any better than the Wii Sports Resort game. Aside from having a couple more games, the execution is identical. How many times can you do archery practice or play tennis before you say "I've done this before". At least in shooters, the stories, the events you play out, and the items you collect all vary. Tennis is tennis, dancing is dancing, so when the Wii, Move, and Kinect all present a dancing game with similar inputs and songlists, I'm not going to want it.
Like I said, there is promise for Kinect. I really want to try Child of Eden. I want more games like that, games that do unique things with Kinect. Unfortunately we're doomed to see things like the launch title selection of the Move, which is mediocre at best.
HD graphics do not make the PS Move Sports game any better than the Wii Sports Resort game. Aside from having a couple more games, the execution is identical. How many times can you do archery practice or play tennis before you say "I've done this before". At least in shooters, the stories, the events you play out, and the items you collect all vary. Tennis is tennis, dancing is dancing, so when the Wii, Move, and Kinect all present a dancing game with similar inputs and songlists, I'm not going to want it.
Like I said, there is promise for Kinect. I really want to try Child of Eden. I want more games like that, games that do unique things with Kinect. Unfortunately we're doomed to see things like the launch title selection of the Move, which is mediocre at best.
I agree to some degree. The same popular games that kept me away from purchasing a Wii are now re-clothed on the Kinect. That being said, I still want a Kinect...I'll just be waiting till after Christmas until all the bugs (if there are any) are worked out and we see an influx of unique titles. From my limited understanding, the Kinect has the potential to offer far more than the Move and Wii. Once the hyprid games come out that involve peripherals we should see some pretty neat and involving gameplay.
__________________ "It's a great day for hockey."
-'Badger' Bob Johnson (1931-1991)
"I see as much misery out of them moving to justify theirselves as them that set out to do harm." -Dr. Amos "Doc" Cochran
So, picked one up at Walmart on Saturday in Okotoks. No issues with stock, just walked in and grabbed one.
The technology is impressive - detects head, elbows, hands, hips, feet and knees. Also has some type of radar to detect forward and backward movement as well as side to side. Add in facial recognition and voice control - all in all a pretty cool bit of techno-wizardry.
Now, the game that comes with it is a Wii Sports Resort type knockoff - but my kids (9 and 6) love it. LOVE IT. They think this is the coolest thing ever, and yes I have a Wii too. I must admit, it is kinda fun and at the $150 price point, not that outrageous. I picked up some fighting game as well which is decent. I look forward to more and better games though.
I'm not giving up my controller though as I still need to play NHL11 and Red Dead Redemption - especially with the zombie pack.
HD graphics do not make the PS Move Sports game any better than the Wii Sports Resort game. Aside from having a couple more games, the execution is identical. How many times can you do archery practice or play tennis before you say "I've done this before". At least in shooters, the stories, the events you play out, and the items you collect all vary. Tennis is tennis, dancing is dancing, so when the Wii, Move, and Kinect all present a dancing game with similar inputs and songlists, I'm not going to want it.
Like I said, there is promise for Kinect. I really want to try Child of Eden. I want more games like that, games that do unique things with Kinect. Unfortunately we're doomed to see things like the launch title selection of the Move, which is mediocre at best.
i actually think we are saying sortof the same thing. i am just going one step farther with my suggestion that the wii had actually been done before as well. for example, the atari 2600 had games like track and field, tank wars, simple games like that. wii replicated them and added a wiimote. my point was that there are plenty of predecessors in the game world; and to single out this or any generation is pretty harsh given the fact that the replication happened earlier. FPS are FPS, RTS are RTS, Sims are Sims. i just think that games are in a bit of an evolution disguised as revolution...although it does make me wonder what is next.
i could see the kinect technology appear in a version of windows 8 or a phone, where you don't have to touch the screen to make things move.
i do wonder, to agree with your point, whether developers are going to take the risk on some crazy new stuff, or do what has been done before because you have to have a "sports game" at launch.
i am really wondering about the new harry potter game though; apparently you cast spells in the air and it plays coop like that. while that has been "done" on the wii...i can't help but wonder if this won't move the games forward if it is done well.
i don't want to give up my controller though for lots of games.
__________________
Franchise > Team > Player
Future historians will celebrate June 24, 2024 as the date when the timeline corrected itself.
Now, the game that comes with it is a Wii Sports Resort type knockoff - but my kids (9 and 6) love it. LOVE IT. They think this is the coolest thing ever, and yes I have a Wii too. I must admit, it is kinda fun and at the $150 price point, not that outrageous. I picked up some fighting game as well which is decent. I look forward to more and better games though.
this paragraph alone is what excites me about this new gear. i really love to see my kids having fun, and i expect that all 3 of them (youngest 2 same age as old-fart's) will be absolutely ecstatic about this.
thanks old-fart for the update! please do post if you get any other games and your experience with them.
__________________
Franchise > Team > Player
Future historians will celebrate June 24, 2024 as the date when the timeline corrected itself.
Well i bought Kinect and i have to say i love it. I own a Wii, Xbox and PS3 (not move) so i do enjoy all three systems.
What makes Kinect cool is that it sees your entire body. It's wicked standing in the sports game and moving your legs around and watching them move on screen. Especially for workout games this thing could be killer, as it can tell if you're going low enough for your squats, or coming up high enough during a situp.
I would say i'm having way more fun then i did when i first got my wii. My wife wants to do dance battles all the time. I really enjoy leaping up and smashing a ball in volleyball and watching it mirror exactly my legs. I really liked making the "suck it" move while playing my brother - in- law at ping pong and watching it onscreen complete with hip thrusts.
Older people seem to love it. My mother - in -law has the wii fit games but after seeing how in the dance game it sees individual body parts (ie. if your leg isn't twisted far enough, or you didn't step enough it highlights the incorrect part of your body) and corrects them she is thinking about getting this instead.
I don't think it'll take over the AAA games as we see it, but i could definitely see mini game potential in games like Madden/NHL (ie a shootout), or incorporating some of its features into the triple A games. Something like actually calling out audibles in Madden, or making hand signals to your squad mates in COD, or making the grenade throwing motion and your actual throw direction/speed making the difference for the throw.
Even in NHL the game could be as is, but the fights could be done via Kinect. How sweet would it be to actually throw down over XBOX Live with your buddy, its as simple as putting down the controller and standing up and swinging away?
Anyway love it, hopefully they incorporate some of those things above. It doesn't need to recreate the gaming experience, controllers are great. It could however hugely supplement the experience.
41% of the US have seventh gen consoles in their house (same number who have Facebook profiles FYI)
The smart thing Microsoft is doing here is piggybacking off the Xbox already in the house. That way if you can play both hardcore and casual games, as well as use it for movies/entertainment purposes.
And for developers it's nice because they have one large installed base instead of multiple consoles to develop for.
Heres my (and the wives) opinions on the games that are out that are similar to one another.
The Kinect sports = win, must buy for sure.
Motion sports = not so much, the tracking seems a bit off on this one as crossing my arms confuses it unlike Kinect Sports
Dance central = Constant laughing no matter who is playing, its a must buy if you have Kinect IMO.
Dance masters = attempt at dance central, not nearly as good IMO, pass on thi and get Dance central.
Don't base your opinion on the game that comes bundled with the Kinect system, I was not impressed (even though its fun) with the motion capture till I played the other games. I love how the camera moves and adjusts depending on the players height and movements.
Cool videos on how the Kinect generates a 3d model of the room it's in and your body. Pretty awesome to see. Wonder what you could do with 2 or 3 of these things?
Heres my (and the wives) opinions on the games that are out that are similar to one another.
The Kinect sports = win, must buy for sure.
Motion sports = not so much, the tracking seems a bit off on this one as crossing my arms confuses it unlike Kinect Sports
Dance central = Constant laughing no matter who is playing, its a must buy if you have Kinect IMO.
Dance masters = attempt at dance central, not nearly as good IMO, pass on thi and get Dance central.
Don't base your opinion on the game that comes bundled with the Kinect system, I was not impressed (even though its fun) with the motion capture till I played the other games. I love how the camera moves and adjusts depending on the players height and movements.
I went out and picked this up with Dance Masters and Kinect Sports and I was amazed. Its really fun but overall I don't know what they can do to keep people interested in it. Still I am having alot more fun than a Wii right now.
It is neat, no doubt about it. It's going to take some time to learn to compensate for how unresponsive it is. It does track and mimic every movement you make, and that looks cool. It requires more room to move than the wii does, obviously. All I have is the included Adventures game for now and it does a good job of showing off what it is capable of, but I can see it getting old fast. I think the main thing I will use it for is as a work out tool, at least until we see some better games.
All in all it is a neat piece of tech, but it's lack of responsiveness is ultimately quite frustrating.
__________________ "It's a great day for hockey."
-'Badger' Bob Johnson (1931-1991)
"I see as much misery out of them moving to justify theirselves as them that set out to do harm." -Dr. Amos "Doc" Cochran
Dance Central is all sorts of fun, seriously getting 2-3 people together and playing it is good for all sorts of laughs, especially if you have uncordinated siblings like i do.
santa brought one for the kids, and the games kinect sports, kinectimals, and dance central.
this is how i would describe everything; it is like the computer golf at schanks. it is kindof real, but not really, and you have to make concessions to it, but it is fun, and kindof like the real thing, and it gets you moving, and once you do all of that, you tend to be less critical, and depending upon the person the attention span lingers, and it is always fun to watch someone else play it...
i was a huge supporter of the kinect, and i was really pumped about it...but i really hope that it doesn't turn into a bad science experiment. if i really cared about any of the games...then i would be choked when i "hit" something but it didn't respond to me. oh wait. that happens all of the time in my online gaming....
so, i'm happy enough i suppose...but at what point should i trade my gaming loot from NFS:hot pursuit to kinect games? i'm not sure that i will...
__________________
Franchise > Team > Player
Future historians will celebrate June 24, 2024 as the date when the timeline corrected itself.
It's too bad there seems to be a grand total of 10 games available, and only 3 or 4 of them are stomachable. I rented Kinect Sports as it seems to be the only one I would be interested in at the moment, and I have yet to give it a go.
I want to get one of the workout games, but I can't decide which one. Reviews say the EA Active 2 one doesn't alway recognize your movements (EA game with bugs? no way), however it seems more in depth than the Your Shape:Fitness Evolved one. They get the same rating everywhere. The EA Active 2 is on sale at BestBuy right now, $59.99 down from $99.99. Until they start making some better games, this is probably what I will be using this technology for the most at the moment.
__________________ "It's a great day for hockey."
-'Badger' Bob Johnson (1931-1991)
"I see as much misery out of them moving to justify theirselves as them that set out to do harm." -Dr. Amos "Doc" Cochran
