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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Kinect: A Post-Launch Observation

The Kinect for the X-Box 360 has been out in the video gaming market for 2 weeks now - well, technically, it was only readily available at the launch date unlesss you are willing to shell out a lot of cash for the Kinect + console bundle - and I must say that I do want to get one based on how the actual hardware has been proven to perform post-release. The large electronic store that I frequented has the device out for people to try out, as long as you are not shy to flail about looking like a fool grooving to Lady Gaga in Dance Central in front of a crowd of shoppers, and actually seeing the camera's tracking ability live, I was very impressed with the effectiveness of its full-body recognition technology. Still, I was disappointed to also see the signal lag between the player and the camera but Kinect definitely has its potential and place in gaming.

It's that time again to charge people a lot of money for something that is supposedly out of stock.

The one thing that really bothers me to no end now that the Kinect has been released to the masses, is that there are a lot of articles that actually dare to suggest that the controller-free device is a contender to the game controllers. I just cannot believe that these perhaps brain-impaired critics have the audacity to think that the Kinect has even a remote chance of replacing the controller. They were paid by Microsoft maybe? The Kinect doesn't deserve such comparison: It is a simple, yet effective device that could be used in addition to the controller - for example, you move your character about using the controller and perform a variety of different actions via the buttons but then when you open the menu screen, you can swipe it left and right using your hand or something stupid like that. But! The Kinect will never, ever replace the game controller. Ever. The precision and split-second immediacy provided by a controller in your hands can never be matched by full gesture-based applications: even in year 20001000 if humanity would even survive that long. Yes it looks manly cool when Tom Cruise used exaggerated, sweat-inducing gestures to navigate through a complex holographic screen in Minority Report but note that the character he was portraying wasn't playing a game, he was at work, working! Shoot, I would probably be excited to use a Kinect-like application at work but no, I still want an awesome controller-like device in my hands to play my video games! I am not denying that the Kinect has its allure - motion gaming can be fun, even during its PlayStation 2's Eye Toy era. But, please don't be deluded to think that it can even come close to replacing the controller. You lose your credibility for saying nonsensical things like that. It's like claiming that your religion is the one true religion: funny to think that there are many religions out there isn't it and that every single one of them claims to be the one and only real religion?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kinect will never replace the controller for obvious reasons.
They still dont find the perfect use for that. I think i would be great for rts.