10 Ways In Which Kinect Can Revolutionise Gaming

1. Hey, you look familiar.
As graphics get better and better, we see character models looking more and more realistic. But imagine you could scan in your or a friend's face and/or body shape to make your own character for a game or maybe an npc? In fact, it could possibly even scan in your body movements to animate the character.
Hell, if Kinect's got a built in mic then you could even set dialogues and create your own quests on games like, for example a Dragon Age sequel. This would increase the longevity of the game and also provide some more entertainment.

2. Look mom, I'm famous!
In games like Rock Band, as you're playing along to a song you'll notice in the background your band are animated to also play alongside the song. But imagine drumming with the use of kinect. If it establishes what your body is (kinect still needs to be able to view seated players), then it could map on your movements to the drummer on the game, making you feel more immersed into the experience and making the game even more fun even to the viewers. And on top of that, if it used the body scanning like I mentioned before, it could be even more fun especially if you have several friends and you make your own virtual band.

3. LittleKinectPlanet
With creation-based games like LittleBigPlanet becoming more popular and EA's title, Create, coming out, Kinect could really begin to shine. Many people find the analog stick a sloppy form of moving objects around and creating something. It lacks the smooth, quick manouvering of a mouse but imagine using Kinect, you could mould shapes as you please using your own hands, you could move them around by hand easily and get the exact positioning you want much easier!

4. I put the chair into my pocket.
So far, the point n' click genre has not been predominant on consoles at all. Other than DS and Iphone getting ports of Broken Sword: Shadow Of The Templars, we saw our last decent console point n' click titles on the ps1.
Kinect could effectively bring them back. With your hand as a pointer you can select the object you want to pick up (pick it up virtually even) using your hands, and navigate your character in the same way! The dying genre can be ressurected. I can almost see it now, a port of the old Broken Sword games or Grim Fandango and of course, we are going to be seeing a port of Gray Matter on Xbox 360 in late 2010/early 2011. Could that possibly make use of Natal?

5. Chop chop!
I'm sure I wasn't the only one, during E3 when we saw Metal Gear Solid Rising and the hack n slash gameplay, the first thing that popped into my mind was "will it use natal?".
Because effectively, it could. Of course, keep the core gameplay strictly controller-based but the option of using Natal, using your arms to indicate the direction and speed of the slicing, could be awesome!

6. AAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
The problem with horror games of today is that people are too much into first person shooters and so most games originally intended to be scary tend to have a lot of combat, whether it be F.E.A.R, Alan Wake, Manhunt, etc.
Unfortunately this definately takes away the sense of fear but the thing is, they have to do stuff like this because now there's little more that can be added or changed to the horror genre, it's all been done before. But imagine a first person game, of course you can use the controller as movement but in some aspects you have to use Natal and use hand movements to control what the character does in-game. So for example you need to search some dead body. You have to use your hands and natal to search the pockets of this mutilated corpse. In games usually this animation is done for you in a cutscene but if you must use your own hands it takes the immersion and sense of fear to new heights. Of course the hand animations would have to be shown on the screen, but then imagine this "corpse" is a zombie, it wakes up and grabs your in-game hand, and then you can use natal to select a weapon to use with your other hand and then you make a stabbing movement with your own hands and in-game you plunge a knife into the zombie.
This could really breathe new life into the horror genre. I can honestly see it happening. Of course I gave an extreme example, it could be as simple as opening a cupboard door using your hands and natal and then discovering a severed head inside or something. This would still evoke fear from the players.

7. I'm riding shotgun
Using natal as a controller-free first person shooter sounds a little too complex to be achieved right now but it doesn't mean Natal can't be used in some areas of that kind of genre. For example when riding in a vehicle and some enemies drive past, you wont need to move your character anywhere so Natal could allow you to aim with your hand and use your finger to pull a virtual trigger.
Natal can not only just be used as that but it could also change melee. You may be using your controller to play a game like Halo Reach but then suddenly an enemy comes really close, swipe your controller in front of natal and then your Spartan will melee attack the enemy.
Simple as that. It can be achieved and it can heighten the fun-factor.

8. That's not flying, that was falling with style!
You probably don't know this but Microsoft owns the rights to the Flight Simulator games. One of the reasons they've not made a debut on Xbox 360 so far is probably the control scheme. Controllers simply lack enough buttons to match an aeroplane's dashboard. But I can see, sometime in the future, them releasing a flight simulator game on Xbox 360 which makes use of Natal when in first-person view. Imagine virtually selecting the right buttons in the plane's cockpit. It would not only educate people but could realise the experience of flying a plane.

9. Got any quarters?
I'm sure you've all done it, gone to the arcade, wasted all your cash on games like Time Crisis and House Of The Dead and failed to get very far. Well we know you can get those games on systems like PC, PS2 and WII but what about Xbox 360? These on-rails shooters could be exactly what Natal needs but what's the advantage of Natal? Your own movements. Perhaps not so much in House Of The Dead but in Time Crisis you need to duck behind objects and things in the environment to prevent getting shot. With Natal recognising your body movements, it could easily give you the freedom to duck in real life and then do the same in game. And in games like House Of The Dead, imagine throwing grenades into the mix. Pull the pin and throw!
There could be a roster of these arcade classics coming to Xbox 360 with Natal support but what would make it so great is that Xbox 360 has an amazing online service, these kinds of games could have leaderboards, achievements and fun online play.

10. ---I'm leaving it to you to come up with some awesome way Natal could be used for gaming!

Hope you enjoyed reading this
[although 9/10ths of you will either skim through it or not read it at all lol)

I don't know about number 6, people could be reaching for some more private stuff.

You keep assuming that the tech won't completely fail.

I mean, it's just two cameras and some advanced software.

There are some pretty terrible videos with kinect and move that show the tech just doing bad at recognizing people.

3, that one will be pretty hard with kinect because nothing will give you the feel of a mouse and keyboard when it comes to level editing. plus I can't really see my self moving side to side, just to make a level.

Melonbro wrote:

You keep assuming that the tech won't completely fail.

I mean, it's just two cameras and some advanced software.

There are some pretty terrible videos with kinect and move that show the tech just doing bad at recognizing people.

Yeah I remember the star wars game that was a recording, but I think both Move and Kinect are too gimmicky and will fail. The Wii is the only console who does this thing right.

Teckno wrote:

I don't know about number 6, people could be reaching for some more private stuff.

lol it wouldn't necessarily have to respond to.. Those actions. Lol

Trannyattack!!! wrote:

3, that one will be pretty hard with kinect because nothing will give you the feel of a mouse and keyboard when it comes to level editing. plus I can't really see my self moving side to side, just to make a level.

Think littlebigplanet style. A kinda flat game. On the side could be different tools, a scroll tool and a select tool as an example. You wouldn't have to move left and right, point to the scroll tool to activate it and swipe in front of kinect to move along the stage. Use the select tool to touch an object and freely mould it, eg stretch your arms outward to increase it's size. Use one hand to move it around. I think that would work anyway.

These are all cool ideas, but I doubt they will happen. Plus, the thing doesn't even work, so even if they were made, it would be incredibly frustrating to operate them.

TRF wrote:

These are all cool ideas, but I doubt they will happen. Plus, the thing doesn't even work, so even if they were made, it would be incredibly frustrating to operate them.

Of course Kinect works. It may not work as well as they promised at E3 09 but do you think Microsoft is really stupid enough to ship a product and spend millions on advertising if it doesnt work properly. Most of the videos where it doesnt work are due to poor lighting conditions or backgrounds that will not happen in a regular household living room.

ghost23 wrote:

TRF wrote:

These are all cool ideas, but I doubt they will happen. Plus, the thing doesn't even work, so even if they were made, it would be incredibly frustrating to operate them.

Of course Kinect works. It may not work as well as they promised at E3 09 but do you think Microsoft is really stupid enough to ship a product and spend millions on advertising if it doesnt work properly. Most of the videos where it doesnt work are due to poor lighting conditions or backgrounds that will not happen in a regular household living room.

They did it at the beginning of the generation with the Xbox 360.

If it does in fact work, then they're not doing a good job of showing it. You really think it's a coincidence that it hasn't worked during any demos whatsoever?

TRF wrote:

ghost23 wrote:

TRF wrote:

These are all cool ideas, but I doubt they will happen. Plus, the thing doesn't even work, so even if they were made, it would be incredibly frustrating to operate them.

Of course Kinect works. It may not work as well as they promised at E3 09 but do you think Microsoft is really stupid enough to ship a product and spend millions on advertising if it doesnt work properly. Most of the videos where it doesnt work are due to poor lighting conditions or backgrounds that will not happen in a regular household living room.

They did it at the beginning of the generation with the Xbox 360.

If it does in fact work, then they're not doing a good job of showing it. You really think it's a coincidence that it hasn't worked during any demos whatsoever?

RRoD is a still sort of different. The system still worked but it was just prone to breaking a lot. If you were one of the lucky ones who's launch system didn't break after a week or so, you would have a completely fine gaming experience. What you are talking about is the entire technology for Kinect not functioning which I highly doubt will happen.

ghost23 wrote:

TRF wrote:

ghost23 wrote:

TRF wrote:

These are all cool ideas, but I doubt they will happen. Plus, the thing doesn't even work, so even if they were made, it would be incredibly frustrating to operate them.

Of course Kinect works. It may not work as well as they promised at E3 09 but do you think Microsoft is really stupid enough to ship a product and spend millions on advertising if it doesnt work properly. Most of the videos where it doesnt work are due to poor lighting conditions or backgrounds that will not happen in a regular household living room.

They did it at the beginning of the generation with the Xbox 360.

If it does in fact work, then they're not doing a good job of showing it. You really think it's a coincidence that it hasn't worked during any demos whatsoever?

RRoD is a still sort of different. The system still worked but it was just prone to breaking a lot. If you were one of the lucky ones who's launch system didn't break after a week or so, you would have a completely fine gaming experience. What you are talking about is the entire technology for Kinect not functioning which I highly doubt will happen.

Well I'm sure Kinect will work, but it won't work well. The motion tracking is garbage, and there's a huge delay between motion and reaction. That is, unless Microsoft fixes it up drastically before launch.

TRF wrote:

ghost23 wrote:

TRF wrote:

ghost23 wrote:

TRF wrote:

These are all cool ideas, but I doubt they will happen. Plus, the thing doesn't even work, so even if they were made, it would be incredibly frustrating to operate them.

Of course Kinect works. It may not work as well as they promised at E3 09 but do you think Microsoft is really stupid enough to ship a product and spend millions on advertising if it doesnt work properly. Most of the videos where it doesnt work are due to poor lighting conditions or backgrounds that will not happen in a regular household living room.

They did it at the beginning of the generation with the Xbox 360.

If it does in fact work, then they're not doing a good job of showing it. You really think it's a coincidence that it hasn't worked during any demos whatsoever?

RRoD is a still sort of different. The system still worked but it was just prone to breaking a lot. If you were one of the lucky ones who's launch system didn't break after a week or so, you would have a completely fine gaming experience. What you are talking about is the entire technology for Kinect not functioning which I highly doubt will happen.

Well I'm sure Kinect will work, but it won't work well. The motion tracking is garbage, and there's a huge delay between motion and reaction. That is, unless Microsoft fixes it up drastically before launch.

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

DemonWolf wrote:

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

The Fight: Lights Out has been reported to not work well with the Move. In that case, it's the software.

TRF wrote:

DemonWolf wrote:

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

The Fight: Lights Out has been reported to not work well with the Move. In that case, it's the software.

So you dismiss Move's issues as being software, but Kinect issues as being full-blown hardware issues? Uh huh.... Look I'm not very excited for Kinect since it's targetting a different audience, but still bad Press Demos are hardly a good indication as to how things will work once finished. I remember Halo 1's first E3 showing and how everyone thought it was so buggy and that it was going to fail SOO hard. It's not always like that but still, Microsoft has invested alot on this stupid thing so....

Alan, you always seem to have the last word on every console war related thing! It's becuase you're fckng amazing at it no ones ever able to argue back! Nice one dude.

Alan1994 wrote:

TRF wrote:

DemonWolf wrote:

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

The Fight: Lights Out has been reported to not work well with the Move. In that case, it's the software.

So you dismiss Move's issues as being software, but Kinect issues as being full-blown hardware issues? Uh huh.... Look I'm not very excited for Kinect since it's targetting a different audience, but still bad Press Demos are hardly a good indication as to how things will work once finished. I remember Halo 1's first E3 showing and how everyone thought it was so buggy and that it was going to fail SOO hard. It's not always like that but still, Microsoft has invested alot on this stupid thing so....

Move's problem = bad software development
Kinect's problem = no software development and limitations to just a camera.

Alan1994 wrote:

TRF wrote:

DemonWolf wrote:

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

The Fight: Lights Out has been reported to not work well with the Move. In that case, it's the software.

So you dismiss Move's issues as being software, but Kinect issues as being full-blown hardware issues? Uh huh.... Look I'm not very excited for Kinect since it's targetting a different audience, but still bad Press Demos are hardly a good indication as to how things will work once finished. I remember Halo 1's first E3 showing and how everyone thought it was so buggy and that it was going to fail SOO hard. It's not always like that but still, Microsoft has invested alot on this stupid thing so....

Yes, when Move shows that it doesn't work well ONCE with ONE game, then yeah, I dismiss it as software issues. I haven't seen Kinect work once. When the product is as close to its release date as Kinect is, you would think it would at least kinda work.

TRF wrote:

Alan1994 wrote:

TRF wrote:

DemonWolf wrote:

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

The Fight: Lights Out has been reported to not work well with the Move. In that case, it's the software.

So you dismiss Move's issues as being software, but Kinect issues as being full-blown hardware issues? Uh huh.... Look I'm not very excited for Kinect since it's targetting a different audience, but still bad Press Demos are hardly a good indication as to how things will work once finished. I remember Halo 1's first E3 showing and how everyone thought it was so buggy and that it was going to fail SOO hard. It's not always like that but still, Microsoft has invested alot on this stupid thing so....

Yes, when Move shows that it doesn't work well ONCE with ONE game, then yeah, I dismiss it as software issues. I haven't seen Kinect work once. When the product is as close to its release date as Kinect is, you would think it would at least kinda work.

Kinect has worked well on some games. It's just that the games happen to suck monkey balls. Move's issues could be software related, I'm just saying that we shouldn't be too quick to judge the technology. I'm more pissed off about the fact that all I can look forward to is Kinectimals and Kinect Sports.

Freemon wrote:

Alan1994 wrote:

TRF wrote:

DemonWolf wrote:

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

The Fight: Lights Out has been reported to not work well with the Move. In that case, it's the software.

So you dismiss Move's issues as being software, but Kinect issues as being full-blown hardware issues? Uh huh.... Look I'm not very excited for Kinect since it's targetting a different audience, but still bad Press Demos are hardly a good indication as to how things will work once finished. I remember Halo 1's first E3 showing and how everyone thought it was so buggy and that it was going to fail SOO hard. It's not always like that but still, Microsoft has invested alot on this stupid thing so....

Move's problem = bad software development
Kinect's problem = no software development and limitations to just a camera.

Limitations to a camera isnt bad.Its good.Its true motion control.Move is using very outdated tech.Motion controll should be evlolving,not going 5 years back with the wiimote.

In the future,motion controls WONT have buttons or controllers.And I garentee you that in the future,Sony will use controller free motion tech.Despite them bashing kinect for having no controller.

Eyetoy tried to use controller free tech and failed,the tech just wasnt there yet.Now many years later,it is very possible that kinect will work using controlelr free tech.

And before you say "kinect sucks and doesnt work" only SOME kinect games were deemed bad and no one knows if kinect will work until its release.

Alan1994 wrote:

TRF wrote:

Alan1994 wrote:

TRF wrote:

DemonWolf wrote:

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

The Fight: Lights Out has been reported to not work well with the Move. In that case, it's the software.

So you dismiss Move's issues as being software, but Kinect issues as being full-blown hardware issues? Uh huh.... Look I'm not very excited for Kinect since it's targetting a different audience, but still bad Press Demos are hardly a good indication as to how things will work once finished. I remember Halo 1's first E3 showing and how everyone thought it was so buggy and that it was going to fail SOO hard. It's not always like that but still, Microsoft has invested alot on this stupid thing so....

Yes, when Move shows that it doesn't work well ONCE with ONE game, then yeah, I dismiss it as software issues. I haven't seen Kinect work once. When the product is as close to its release date as Kinect is, you would think it would at least kinda work.

Kinect has worked well on some games. It's just that the games happen to suck monkey balls. Move's issues could be software related, I'm just saying that we shouldn't be too quick to judge the technology. I'm more pissed off about the fact that all I can look forward to is Kinectimals and Kinect Sports.

Have you seen that Ubisoft game called Child of Eden? It's by the guy who made Rez. It's the only Kinect game I'm interested in. I don't think they showed it at the Microsoft E3 press conference, but I think they showed it at the Ubisoft conference.



I'm just still waiting to figure out what the hell this game is about.

Oh, and please link me to a video where Kinect actually worked properly. There is inexcusable lag and whatnot in every video I've seen.

Arbiteris wrote:

Freemon wrote:

Alan1994 wrote:

TRF wrote:

DemonWolf wrote:

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

The Fight: Lights Out has been reported to not work well with the Move. In that case, it's the software.

So you dismiss Move's issues as being software, but Kinect issues as being full-blown hardware issues? Uh huh.... Look I'm not very excited for Kinect since it's targetting a different audience, but still bad Press Demos are hardly a good indication as to how things will work once finished. I remember Halo 1's first E3 showing and how everyone thought it was so buggy and that it was going to fail SOO hard. It's not always like that but still, Microsoft has invested alot on this stupid thing so....

Move's problem = bad software development
Kinect's problem = no software development and limitations to just a camera.

Limitations to a camera isnt bad.Its good.Its true motion control.Move is using very outdated tech.Motion controll should be evlolving,not going 5 years back with the wiimote.

In the future,motion controls WONT have buttons or controllers.And I garentee you that in the future,Sony will use controller free motion tech.Despite them bashing kinect for having no controller.
Eyetoy tried to use controller free tech and failed,the tech just wasnt there yet.Now many years later,it is very possible that kinect will work using controlelr free tech.

And before you say "kinect sucks and doesnt work" only SOME kinect games were deemed bad and no one knows if kinect will work until its release.

And you say me and TRF shouldn't predict the future lol

TRF wrote:

Alan1994 wrote:

TRF wrote:

Alan1994 wrote:

TRF wrote:

DemonWolf wrote:

Not from what I've seen.

If any of them is likely to fail, it's Move.

The Fight: Lights Out has been reported to not work well with the Move. In that case, it's the software.

So you dismiss Move's issues as being software, but Kinect issues as being full-blown hardware issues? Uh huh.... Look I'm not very excited for Kinect since it's targetting a different audience, but still bad Press Demos are hardly a good indication as to how things will work once finished. I remember Halo 1's first E3 showing and how everyone thought it was so buggy and that it was going to fail SOO hard. It's not always like that but still, Microsoft has invested alot on this stupid thing so....

Yes, when Move shows that it doesn't work well ONCE with ONE game, then yeah, I dismiss it as software issues. I haven't seen Kinect work once. When the product is as close to its release date as Kinect is, you would think it would at least kinda work.

Kinect has worked well on some games. It's just that the games happen to suck monkey balls. Move's issues could be software related, I'm just saying that we shouldn't be too quick to judge the technology. I'm more pissed off about the fact that all I can look forward to is Kinectimals and Kinect Sports.

Have you seen that Ubisoft game called Child of Eden? It's by the guy who made Rez. It's the only Kinect game I'm interested in. I don't think they showed it at the Microsoft E3 press conference, but I think they showed it at the Ubisoft conference.




I'm just still waiting to figure out what the hell this game is about.

Oh, and please link me to a video where Kinect actually worked properly. There is inexcusable lag and whatnot in every video I've seen.

No but I'll watch that link.

TRF, I think CoE uses Move as well.

I've got some.



The rest are mediocre casual games.

Edit: how do you make the video show up on the forums.

Edit: Thanks Freeman