My thoughts on the Xbox Kinect
The Xbox 360 Kinect is being released next month, and there is a lot of hype about it. Will it live up to expectations though? I’m not so sure, as I think it’ll be difficult for the developers to build games purely to use the new control system, as a lot of Xbox users won’t buy it straight away, but trying to incorporate it into games using existing controls could end in disaster. Even so – I’ve ordered it and am eagerly anticipating its release!
The basic idea of Kinect is that you can control the game without using a standard controller. Instead, a camera system is used to detect where your body is. The goal is to detect when a person moves and then respond accordingly. It sounds great, and it can detect up to 4 different people at once. I have Nintendo Wii though, and while it’s fun to play, I think the motion detection is a bit of a letdown, so it’s important not to get carried away with the Kinect.
The great thing about the Kinect is that it can detect where a person is in 3D space, and it can track all the person’s limbs. This means you aren’t just limited to the movement of your hand, such as when using the Wii, and you don’t need to worry about throwing your controller through the TV screen by accident!
There are some things I’m worried about though. In a first person shooter, how is the walking going to be handled? Will Kinect really be suitable for games as they exist now, or will it only be useful for games that are developed specifically for it? I can’t imagine playing Halo using it, as it would be much too restrictive. Fighting and sports games should work well though.
Also, after a long day I want to sit down and relax while playing some games. I’m not sure I’ll really want to be standing up and waving my hands around for hours, so I hope developers take this into consideration. Subtle use of the camera, such as reading people’s facial expression, will be far better than trying to use overblown gestures to control a game that worked perfectly fine with a regular controller.