So Microsoft ‘officially’ unveiled their new motion controller – Kinect. I think I preferred Natal, but what I have seen/read about the device leaves me completely uninterested. There are a few issues with the device that Sony is also going to face with Move.
- It is a standalone peripheral for a huge established base of Xbox 360 consoles. Publishers will not spend millions of dollars developing Kinect only games when the base is zero. They may add tacked on controls (a la WiiMote) for big titles, but core games will not be Kinect specific.
- It looks like you have to stand the whole time, annoying, plus you have to mimic gripping things for extended periods. Go ahead pretend to hold a steering wheel for 20 minutes and see how it feels
- The marketing is already atrocious, fake families pretending to play, games that are simplified to the point of annoyance. The best looking game is an on rails star wars that has you flailing like the Star wars Kid.
- Too little, too late, nothing about this looks like a must have concept, there needs to be a killer app that everyone must play, and that is nowhere to be seen.
- Where is Milo? Hyped as the true face of natal, Milo is missing but that my a good thing. The concept was creepy and boring.
- The video chat and Minority Report controls are a gimick and will be used very rarely. Hmm will I fire up Kinect and flail my arms to get to the My Games blade or push up on my controller?
Plus the unit looks like a Sony accessory, not Microsoft, guess the rumours of the new Xbox360 design (sleek and shiny black) may be true. No sale here Microsoft.
Serious/Gamer 