Kinect

That's what Project Natal's new name is.

So discuss it.

At the Microsoft press conference, the spokesperson said, "Kinect will have a wide range of games, from Kinectimals to Dance." At that point I burst out laughing. Can we assume Uberman will rip these games to shreds in a review with extreme prejudice?

I thought the same thing, they made Uberman's job a little too easy with it.

I hate how the answer to more interactivity in games tends to be "have the player make weird body movement to grab stuff." I'd like to see how immersive it would be if, say, Amnesia would be ported to consoles after it came out and it used Kinect. Here is a promotional video of a dev screwing around with some physics objects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwO533cANKg

It's not actual gameplay, and I'd shoot someone if you had to sit down and take a drink by a fireplace as part of a mission objective in a game, even if it was to enhance the atmosphere. But imagine a puzzle where you have to drag a heavy box and then drop it into a large hole in order to break it open and reveal the contents inside. What exactly the fuck sort of movements would you make to do that sort of thing? Would you make a sort of "FORCE PUSH" move at the TV? That sure would be intense, not being able to actually see, what with your hand being in the way.

What I'd enjoy more is if more games used something like the Novint Falcon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YOIiAws2Tw It's less focused on moving shit around and more focused on having the player feel interactive. I don't have one, but being able to feel things and interact with them in a virtual world is an enticing premise, far more enticing to me than dancing around or petting an invisible animal.

Whine whine whine. An angry god is not coming down from the skies and burning all of your controllers and joysticks, you can still play traditional video games. Deal with it.

Yeah, I agree with Numbers. I'd prefer it if the atmosphere itself was gripping and immersive, rather than waving my hands at the TV.

I still remember playing that eye toy thing on a PS2...
It was pretty terrible, I'd much rather play the game the traditional way!
I quote Uberman: "THIS is me... THIS is someone playing the new Tony Hawk: Ride!"
:P

Yeah, I'm not worried insofar as we will still have traditional gaming. What worries me is that feels like the hardware side of the console industry flailing around spastically looking for the next 'big thing'.

Think about it. You develop the X360 and sell as many as you can. Some time in the future you will make another console, but you can't make it too early, or people will complain about their current console becoming obsolete. So you're stuck in a kind of limbo. Your sales slow down as most people who want your current gen console already have one and it's too early to launch a new one.

So what can you develop to stimulate sales ? Answer : gimmicks and peripherals. And does it work ? Nope. Look at the EyeToy for PS2 as one of many, many examples. The only thing this has really worked for is instrument games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

My prediction is that this will die in the ass. People with X360s and PS3s generally deride the Wii and I don't think this is complete fanboyism. I think that a lot of these gamers, like me, genuinely don't want to fuck around with motion controls.

I'm never one to panic when products I don't want are launched. It's not going to have a negative effect on the things I like - developers aren't going to stop making traditional games in favor of this bullshit. And six months in, I'll be surprised if anyone is developing for it.

Uberprediction - massive failure. But I've been wrong before. Once.