Issue Seven - Conversations on Technology, Business and Society

PC GAMING
REVIEWS, ANALYSIS
66
Hands-On: Microsoft
Kinect a Major Let Down
Kinect is a “controller-free gaming and entertainment experience” by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game
platform. Based around a webcam-style add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to
control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a controller through a natural user interface
using gestures, spoken commands. Above is the peripheral. Some think it promises more than it delivers...
While promising in theory, our less-than-stellar experiences
with Kinect left us itching for our controller
back.
First there were Atari’s paddles. Then D-pads, analog
sticks, and rumble packs. While most innovations in
controller design have incrementally boosted the number
of buttons, triggers and other inputs crammed into
a two-handed brick, Microsoft’s Kinect promises to do
away with them forever.
The unprecedented hands-free control device that
Microsoft introduced last year as Project Natal has finally
gotten a real name (Kinect), a price ($150) and
a launch date (November 4). More importantly, it also
has real games. After jumping, ducking and flailing
along with many of the new titles for Kinect, including
Ubisoft’s Motion Sports and Warner Bros.’ Game Party,
it’s easy to see the appeal, but the execution remains a
troubling question mark.
Put Down the Plastic
Gaming journalists seldom like to admit it, but stepping
up to an E3 demo with even the most familiar
controller carries with it a certain sense of anxiety. What
does square do? Is left trigger brake or accelerate? Do
I need to invert the Y axis? It’s the same sense of confusion
and uncertainty that turns your parents, grandparents
and skeptical friends away from video games. And
though vets only feel it for a second with new games,
it still exists.
Kinect bulldozes that sense of intimidation. Without
a piece of plastic to pick up, hold properly, or otherwise
fumble with, stepping into the game isn’t even a choice
anymore. By the time you’re watching a game, you’re
controlling it.
Ubisoft Motion Sports Test
In Motion Sports, the menus are dead simple. Every
activity has been sorted into a grid on the main screen,
which players can select from by merely holding their
hand up and leaving it on the right one for a few seconds.
A glowing profile of the player in the back of the
screen makes it obvious which game you’re reaching
for.
A few claps through the instruction screens, and
you’re into the action.
Football
We started out with football, which would seem like an
awfully complex sport to distill down into just movement.
Ubisoft did it by reducing the game to merely
dodging incoming defenders as you race for a touchdown.
You don’t run in place, steer your character, or
cradle a virtual ball. Just perform the right movement
– dodge, jump, duck – at the right moment, and you’ll
make it to the end zone.
It’s like Dance Dance Revolution without the music
– and surprisingly difficult to master. We found our-
PC TECH | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2010 | pctechmagazine.com