Originally posted August 15th 2013
This one guy got angry at me when I compared the Wii motion controls to the kinect and said "history will repeat itself, all the kinect will bread is shovelware and tacked on motion controls." He was all "no the kinect has much better tracking and has voice recognition." I was ready to comment but someone beat me to it. Here's what I would have said if they didn't create a big conversation, "it doesn't matter how good the screw driver is, they're all kind of equally useless when trying to drive a nail." lol
Originally posted August 13th 2013
Now about kinect costing as much to manufacture as the xbox one, basically saying microsoft is selling the bundle at a loss, and then the countless millions of dollars spent in R&D. Then here's a kicker. I heard that kinect for PC costs $500 USD, so at that price, kinect for xbox would probably also cost $500, so you're buying a kinect and getting an xbox for free. eye roll
Now I really do feel kind of bad for them, wouldn't you after spending probably over a billion dollars on something people don't want, but then again, anyone could have told them the kinect wouldn't be well received. Microsoft do a little consumer research next time, and maybe see WHY people bought the Wii in droves, and notice that after 1 year, NO ONE was buying one for the motion controls. You would have also noticed that no one was buying the play station move. You could have been like both Sony and Nintendo and just let home motion controls die and then people wouldn't hate you to much, but no, let's shove motion controls down your throat because "that's what you want right?"
Originally posted August 8th 2013 with this article Every XBOX ONE includes a chat headset
Well what do you know, Microsoft decided that maybe we should screw the customer less than what they were doing. For those of you who don't know, microsoft was origionally not going to include a headset with the xbox one because "you could use the kinect because the kinect is such an amazing piece of technology and we don't see any reason why anyone would rather have private conversations with people instead of having everything come through the TV speakers." Everyday Microsoft changes their tune just a little bit. Next step, GET RID OF THE KINECT REQUIREMENT!!!! Honestly. I couldn't care less about specks, advanced technology, cloud gaming, and even being pro-indy. I don't need a headset because I don't talk to people anyways. But what is keeping me from buying your console is the requirement to use a stupid peripheral that I will never use, no good games will be made for it and utilize it, and will likely be unresponsive unless you're in this one sweet spot. I'll buy a wii before I buy an xbox one, cause at least with a wii I could play gamecube games, trauma center, and hulu plus without having to pay nintendo for the privilege of being able to access the app. And if you want to know why I hate the wii, just ask zeldamaster93. He knows all my arguments. And many of the arguments carry over to the kinect.
Originally uploaded August 3rd 2013, there was an article called "Microsoft to let game makers self publish on XBOX ONE," but the article is dead now.
So looks like microsoft changed their tune again, making it closer to the PS4. Every time I hear about that, I think about that dorkly picture where they talk about "giving gamers options." Every time I think about that, I think, "well if the option is a giant turd with some gold scraps in it or a block of silver just sitting there, well most everyone is going to chose the block of silver instead of digging through the turd to get some gold." Now all they need to do is get rid of the required kinect. Not only are you losing customers by requiring it, I will never buy an XBOX ONE so long as that stupid thing is required, but I've also heard that you lose money because the kinect 2.0 costs as much to make as an XBOX ONE, and I'm not talking R&D, that might be, but in raw parts.
Originally posted August 2nd 2013
Sorry if I'm repeating myself, but I find it funny when people compare the old xbox one to steam because of the DRM. If there are PC gamers out there, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the reason people do PC gaming because of the ability to have the most up to date hardware on the market, the ability to output the frame rate at insanely high numbers, like close to the refresh rate of the monitor or projector, the ability to mod your games, and lastly the steam summer sales, and with all those features, you put up with the DRM found in steam. Sure, the XBOX ONE had all the DRM, but they would surely lack every other feature PC gamers love. Update the hardware; the XBOX ONE doesn't even have a removable hard drive, so you wouldn't be able to upgrade the video cards, ram, hard drive, video out, etc. without modding the console and then getting banned from xbox live. Output at insanely high frame rates; max I heard was 60 fps from xbox one, and if this was the days of CRT TVs, that would be the refresh rate of the TV, but now we have TVs with 120, 240, even 600 frame refresh rate TVs, so sorry, lost out again on frame rate. MOD your games, you have just been banned from xbox live, you're screwed. Sales, ehhhh yeah right. Since I don't PC game, I'll need some fact checks on this one, but I'd imagine that most of the games in the sale are made by Valve and there aren't many 3rd party games. Microsoft, what do you have to bring to the table in the form of 1st party games? Halo, every kinect game ever made, I don't think that people are going to be biting at the bit to buy either of them sale or no sale. Sure, maybe halo, but everyone who will want to play it will likely have already bought it new for $60. I highly doubt EA or Activision would participate in a 75% off sale. Again, I might be wrong on the sales thing so don't take that as fact unless I get someone backing it up in the comments, but I highly doubt that the sales would happen on XBOX LIVE. And last time I checked, steam doesn't require you to have a web cam connected at all time.
And because I buy games to keep, I might have been able to over look the DRM a couple years down the line in case it isn't really all gloom and doom, but the kinect is a deal breaker, and always will be. I hate motion controls, I've done a rant on them. I see absolutely no use for it. Any feature is stupid and any kinect game is bad. But that's a different topic.
And though this has nothing to do with gaming, didn't want to lose this. Originally posted July 25th 2013
On a much brighter note, this actually happened. I'm watching Nicktoons Network, because I like cartoons, and they're doing this promo for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They're about to show a sneak preview for the upcoming season, and they do a 5 second count down, and right as they're about to show the preview, a test for the emergency broadcast system comes on. At first I thought "this is a joke, it's part of the funny," but then I see my county and city, and being a cable channel, there's no affiliate networks to make custom joke emergency tests. Then I thought "ok something is really happening," but then a lady says "this has been a test of the emergency broadcast system. Had this been a real emergency, further information would have been given." Then as it ends, the guys that were hosting it were all "wow that was amazing, I can't wait for the next season." That really happened. I've never heard of it happening in real life. I'm laughing uncontrollably and for 30 seconds I start talking to the camera's that had to have been there. I went on for a solid 10 minutes.
BR
Originally posted July 13th 2013
Did you know that someone actually complained about sony removing the new playstation camera from the PS4 and made it an optional accessory, saying that "while the kinect is very poorly received for gaming, it did do wonders with robotics when hacked and kinect 2.0 is quite a marvel of tracking capabilities, and now maybe gamers will miss out on multiplat features in some xbox one and ps4 games that utilize kinect." Lets break this down, very poorly received by gamers, so make it optional and lower the price since many gamers won't use it. Did wonders when hacked, well then people can just buy it if they want to hack it, it's an optional accessory. Amazing tracking capabilities, makes no difference if the games are stupid, which they will be. Miss out on features, like what? the ability to yell commands at your game or wave your arms like an idiot? spongebob rainbow nobody cares. If they manage to make it good, I doubt it, but lets assume for the moment that there is a game that utilizes the power of the kinect and move in a way that is fun and engaging, then gamers have the option to buy a move for the one game that utilizes it and isn't required to function instead of being forced to buy it for the console to work. But here's the thing, kinect being useful won't happen. Only tech demo games like just dance will use it. Unfortunately with the kinect being required, we might have another wii on our hands where developers feel compelled to tack on some form of motion controls or voice commands and it actually ends up hindering gameplay. Any wii fan feel compelled to try to tell me otherwise? And this isn't "there were good games for the wii." This is "the motion controls were an asset to the wii and many games utilized them in a way that made sense and immersed me in the game." I don't want someone telling me how great galaxy, monster hunter, metroid, DKCR, or brawl was and you could overlook the tacked on motion controls, I want someone to tell me why those games would have sucked without those "tacked on" motion controls.
Originally posted July 13th 2013
Stop the presses, I am actually having a rational discussion with someone on youtube about if requiring kinect is a good idea. There's no CAPSLOCK and no mention of a promiscuous mother or lack of sexual encounters. We're actually bringing vallid points to the table about if the kinect is a stupid gimmick and microsoft is wasting their time with it or if the mandatory adoption will lead to good games. I think my nail in the coffin was how the Wii required motion controls and only 2 first party games actually gave an in depth experience while fully utalizing the motion, trauma center and skyward sword. Everything else was just a tech demo like wii sports or had tacked on motion controls like DKCR. I'm interested to see what he has to say in response to that.
Originally posted July 11th 2013, not really xbox one specific, but "all digital" was definitely a thing of the pre-launch xbox one days.
I've been hearing a lot of people talking about how "digital distribution of games is the way of the future and the used game market as we know it will be a thing of the past." As a collector, I sure hope that isn't the case. 1: a picture of a full 1 tera hard drive is far less impressive than a wall of games. Another is that, of the 10 consoles I have, only 4 I bought new; the other 6 I bought used, mainly because they're old school and weren't supported anymore when I bought them, and now 2 of the new consoles are last gen and/or old school. So if I want to buy games for 8 of my consoles, and soon all 10, I need to buy used physical copies, because even if I could buy digital games on that console, I can't buy digital after the servers are off line, so all I can do is buy the digital. I could pay through the nose for a factory sealed copy of an old school game, but at that point, I'm just paying the reseller and none of the money is going to the publisher, so to save $200 on a game that's just for the collection, I buy it used. I've even ran into problems with wanting to get the full version of a demo I had on my xbox, mainly the teenage mutant ninja turtles arcade game remake, but it was off the marketplace when I finally had the microsoft points to buy it. It's an xbox arcade game so I can't get a physical copy anywhere, and it sucks because the demo is really fun. I'll make an in depth video on the subject explaining every aspect once I can get access to my nerd cave, but here's a little taste of my full feelings. Since many of you are gamers, what's your take on the matter?
Originally posted July 5th 2013
I know it's kind of died down since they released that xbox one won't be the always on DRM machine that we all hated, but lets look at another glaring problem, and that is the requirement for kinect. Lets get one thing strait, I am not a "they're going to watch us" conspiracy theorist like everyone else that hates this kinect requirement. Why this sucks, is because the kinect is garbage and I laugh every time I see someone with it. Sure, it can track motion much better than all the other motion controllers on the market, or so Microsoft asserts. But here's the problem, HOME MOTION CONTROLS SUCK AND ALMOST EVERY ATTEMPT TO MAKE IT WORK FAILS!!!! Kinect adventures, a couple of lame mini-games that show off what the kinect can do. All the Zumba games, it's just dancing, and while fun for a little while, gets old kind of quickly for me at least. Close to every wii game in existence, tacked on motion controles that add nothing to the game like in DKCR and Galaxy, or stupid mini-games that don't engage me, or racing games where steering controls are far to clunky to give good handling. 2 games are the exception in my experience, skyward sword with the 1:1 motion tracking with the weapons and trauma center with it's precision medical tools. "You can use voice commands to turn it on or go to things," or I could just turn it on with my controller and use my controller to select things. I hate kinect and all home motion controls since no one can consistently do them right and I'm so glad that Nintendo dropped that with the wii u. Microsoft, you still lost me as a customer, not because the sting of DRM always on left a huge scar, but because you still have the kinect knife lodged in my gaming hand. If I were to get an xbox one, I'd hack the kinect to mute the mic and have the kinect always stuck behind the console, and if that doesn't work, I'd hack the camera as well. Sell me a console without the kinect for $100 cheaper than with kinect and then we can talk. Again, I'm sorry Nintendo tricked you into thinking motion controls would catch on and everyone would get it, but get over it, admit they tricked you, and move on and get people back.
Originally posted July 4th 2013
I've heard someone complain that "without xbox one's DRM, I won't be able to play without having the game disk in the console." You want that, go back to PC and leave the good stuff to us console gamers. That or buy the digital copy, which is just about every game available. You want "no disk gaming," go to the DRM machine that is PC or get the digital. You want the ability to get it used, get the physical, that's why we have them.
Originally posted May 26th 2013
I've heard someone complain that "without xbox one's DRM, I won't be able to play without having the game disk in the console." You want that, go back to PC and leave the good stuff to us console gamers. That or buy the digital copy, which is just about every game available. You want "no disk gaming," go to the DRM machine that is PC or get the digital. You want the ability to get it used, get the physical, that's why we have them.
Showing posts with label kinect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kinect. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Saturday, February 2, 2019
My Reaction when Kinect was No Longer Mandatory (Reupload from Google Plus 2013)
(Originally posted August 12th 2013)
Look who might have my business now. The kinect was the only thing keeping me from getting an XBOX ONE. I would have looked into the modding community to see how I could manually remove the parts so that it wouldn't work but would trick the XBOX into thinking it was working. Now if I do end up getting an XBOX ONE and they don't make a bundle that doesn't have it, I can just throw the thing into my controller milk crate. Here's the article if you want to read the source.
http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-wont-actually-need-kinect-plugged-in-microso-1113142909?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow
Oh man, you have to read the comments. So many people are saying "but that was the only thing differentiating it from the PS4." Yes, that giant turd on the lawn was the only thing differentiating it from the PS4, but who in their right mind would be proud of a giant turd on their lawn. I would never use it, even for IR blasting and skype. I hate motion controls, like REALLY HATE THEM. I passed on a $50 Wii at a garage sale because I just don't believe in them and hate them with a passion, and as such would never play the kinect games. And as the guy in the video says, "if it's no longer required to make it run, why would you still require me to buy it?" Also the thing with the whole "the more I used it the more I loved it" thing, yeah no. I played many games that used motion controls, and only twice were they good and I thought "I would play this on a regular basis because the motion controls add to the experience." Skyward Sword and Trauma Center. Just get rid of the thing.
/post
And for an update, I have an XBOX ONE S. They ended up winning me over. And then they completely discontinued the Kinect.
Look who might have my business now. The kinect was the only thing keeping me from getting an XBOX ONE. I would have looked into the modding community to see how I could manually remove the parts so that it wouldn't work but would trick the XBOX into thinking it was working. Now if I do end up getting an XBOX ONE and they don't make a bundle that doesn't have it, I can just throw the thing into my controller milk crate. Here's the article if you want to read the source.
http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-wont-actually-need-kinect-plugged-in-microso-1113142909?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow
Oh man, you have to read the comments. So many people are saying "but that was the only thing differentiating it from the PS4." Yes, that giant turd on the lawn was the only thing differentiating it from the PS4, but who in their right mind would be proud of a giant turd on their lawn. I would never use it, even for IR blasting and skype. I hate motion controls, like REALLY HATE THEM. I passed on a $50 Wii at a garage sale because I just don't believe in them and hate them with a passion, and as such would never play the kinect games. And as the guy in the video says, "if it's no longer required to make it run, why would you still require me to buy it?" Also the thing with the whole "the more I used it the more I loved it" thing, yeah no. I played many games that used motion controls, and only twice were they good and I thought "I would play this on a regular basis because the motion controls add to the experience." Skyward Sword and Trauma Center. Just get rid of the thing.
/post
And for an update, I have an XBOX ONE S. They ended up winning me over. And then they completely discontinued the Kinect.
XBOX ONE's Policy Changes, a Tale of 3 Neighbors (google plus reupload from 2013)
Originally posted August 12th 2013
With the latest 180 by Microsoft with the kinect no longer being required to run the XBOX ONE, and all the fanboys complaining about how "we no longer have the future and now there's nothing separating the xbox one from the PS4," let me tell you a little story.
Once there were 3 houses on a street. One was the oldest there and the owners had many kids, and the owner didn't care too much about what the other houses were doing. Well, he cared a little after people didn't care for him exercising outside infront of everyone. But this house isn't what the story is about. So lets go to the other 2 houses.
Now the 2nd house came a while later after the first house, and the owner competed some with the first house, but it was nothing when compared to the competition once a third house was built. The neighbors would admire both houses, and people would argue over who was better, especially the owners of the 2 houses. They would constantly try to out do each other with flashier lawn ornaments, new paint, and all sorts of things.
Well one day, after admiring the beauty of a farm, the owner of the 3rd house said he wanted to make his house look more like a farm, and to make it look more like a farm, he dumped hundreds of pounds of manure and cow pies on his lawn and said he's making a future farm. There was one problem, this was a residential neighborhood; no one wanted to live next to a wanna be farm, especially one where the "farmer" thought that hundreds of pounds of manure and cow pies would make his house a farm. Well, except for the next door neighbor who used his neighbor's screw-up to showcase how nice his house was.
The everyone said they didn't like the farm look, and hated the smell, but the owner of the 3rd house said "oh just wait till I get some crops and live stock in here, and you'll be really happy." Even after getting some crops and live stock, people still preferred the non-farm house. Even if he offered them farm fresh food, they just couldn't get over the smell and eye sore of a mini-farm in a residential neighborhood, plus the animals made noise at night.
After losing almost every admirer he had, the owner of the 3rd house decided that maybe he should change some things. He got rid of the animals, crops, and a fair amount of manure. However, there was still one section of the lawn that was covered in manure and it still made the house and lawn stink. Some people called that pile and stink a defining feature, but the owner got wise and removed that last pile. The lawn still stinks, but that might go away at some point.
Now you might think that everyone would see that the farm in a residential neighborhood would see that it was a bad idea. You may think that, but you'd be wrong. There were some people who actually wanted the farm. They thought that the farm was the best thing in the world. They even put all sorts of flyers on the 3rd house saying "bring back the farm." Though everyone in the neighborhood told them "if you want that, move out to the country and let us have our nice neighborhood."
Can you guess who the houses are? Oh, and though both the first and second house didn't have any of the farm crap, the first house still had a bunch of exercise equipment lying around and didn't have much in the way of lawn decorations. It will likely get some lawn ornaments, but right now it's pretty plain.
With the latest 180 by Microsoft with the kinect no longer being required to run the XBOX ONE, and all the fanboys complaining about how "we no longer have the future and now there's nothing separating the xbox one from the PS4," let me tell you a little story.
Once there were 3 houses on a street. One was the oldest there and the owners had many kids, and the owner didn't care too much about what the other houses were doing. Well, he cared a little after people didn't care for him exercising outside infront of everyone. But this house isn't what the story is about. So lets go to the other 2 houses.
Now the 2nd house came a while later after the first house, and the owner competed some with the first house, but it was nothing when compared to the competition once a third house was built. The neighbors would admire both houses, and people would argue over who was better, especially the owners of the 2 houses. They would constantly try to out do each other with flashier lawn ornaments, new paint, and all sorts of things.
Well one day, after admiring the beauty of a farm, the owner of the 3rd house said he wanted to make his house look more like a farm, and to make it look more like a farm, he dumped hundreds of pounds of manure and cow pies on his lawn and said he's making a future farm. There was one problem, this was a residential neighborhood; no one wanted to live next to a wanna be farm, especially one where the "farmer" thought that hundreds of pounds of manure and cow pies would make his house a farm. Well, except for the next door neighbor who used his neighbor's screw-up to showcase how nice his house was.
The everyone said they didn't like the farm look, and hated the smell, but the owner of the 3rd house said "oh just wait till I get some crops and live stock in here, and you'll be really happy." Even after getting some crops and live stock, people still preferred the non-farm house. Even if he offered them farm fresh food, they just couldn't get over the smell and eye sore of a mini-farm in a residential neighborhood, plus the animals made noise at night.
After losing almost every admirer he had, the owner of the 3rd house decided that maybe he should change some things. He got rid of the animals, crops, and a fair amount of manure. However, there was still one section of the lawn that was covered in manure and it still made the house and lawn stink. Some people called that pile and stink a defining feature, but the owner got wise and removed that last pile. The lawn still stinks, but that might go away at some point.
Now you might think that everyone would see that the farm in a residential neighborhood would see that it was a bad idea. You may think that, but you'd be wrong. There were some people who actually wanted the farm. They thought that the farm was the best thing in the world. They even put all sorts of flyers on the 3rd house saying "bring back the farm." Though everyone in the neighborhood told them "if you want that, move out to the country and let us have our nice neighborhood."
Can you guess who the houses are? Oh, and though both the first and second house didn't have any of the farm crap, the first house still had a bunch of exercise equipment lying around and didn't have much in the way of lawn decorations. It will likely get some lawn ornaments, but right now it's pretty plain.
XBOX ONE Kinect will fail like Wii motion controls (gogle plus reupload 2013)
Originally posted August 13th 2013.
The short, "full market adaptation of the kinect" will only bread shovelware and stupid tacked on kinect controls. The long, well read.
A message to all the Microsoft fan boys saying that Microsoft is moving in the wrong direction by not making the kinect required and developers will develop amazing titles and uses for it because of full market adaptation. All you need to do is look back 1 generation, and I'm not talking about Kinect 1.0, I'm talking about the Nintendo Wii.
Now all you Wii fans out there, I am NOT talking about the wii as a whole and am only talking about the motion controls. With that in mind, continue reading.
Let's look at the Wii. By design of the freaking controller, every consumer had 100% market adaptation of the motion controls. By your logic, every game would have either used the gamecube controllers or utilized the wiimote in a revolutionary, immersive way that completely revolutionized gaming. Unfortunately, that is far from the truth. I can count the number of worthwhile games that fully utalized the motion controls of the wiimote or just used gamecube controls. Now I am not, I repeat, NOT, talking about if a game was good or not, just if the motion controls of the wiimote were fully utilized or if they just said "screw the motion controls, let's use the gamecube controller." And if someone can produce a list of over 6 games that are actually worth while, not a collection of mini games, that fully utilize the motion controls or just say no, I highly doubt you can produce a list of games that is larger than 31, and with counting in binary, I can get up to 31 on one hand.
But back to the subject of motion controls, aside from maybe 4 games, every other game had tacked on motion controls because developers felt they needed to put some kind of motion controls into their games, and this includes good games like Mario Galaxy and DK Country Returns. That, or they did utilize the motion controls but were not worth while and only fun for 30 minutes, like wario ware.
Now here's now I see the kinect. First, most developers are probably going to go the rout of "screw that, let's use gamecube controllers." If developers do decide to include some kinect controls into their game, it will likely be the "whack-a-mole" like controls we found in so Wii games. Sure, they won't be literal "whack-a-mole" like controls like with wii games, at least I hope developers won't make you suddenly put down your controller and start flailing your arms mid-game, but they won't be super useful and wanted by gamers and they'll just wish that it wasn't there and now you're shovel ware. There might be a hand number of games that fully utilize the kinect and are worthwhile, but for most people, that doesn't warrant an extra $100 to be "included" with the console.
Originally posted August 16th 2013
I decided to torture/laugh today by looking at articles about the kinect no longer being required and I cringe laughing at people saying "but the kinect 2.0 is awesome. Sure the original kinect didn't go over well, and neither did wii motion controls, playstation 2 eyetoy, playstation 3 move, and the PS4 isn't including the eye because people don't want it, but we know that full market adaptation will encourage developers to utilize the kinect in a great way." OK, it's more the just the thing about full market adaptation and then the comments bring up the other failed attempts, but really, it won't go over well. I heard one developer say it's like trying to program for a mouse with no click button. I wish people would realize that it doesn't matter how good the screwdriver is, they're all equally useless when trying to drive a nail and you're better off just using a hammer. That's how I see home motion controls. Home gaming is trying to drive a nail. I don't care how good your motion tracking hardware is, all I foresee is shovelware and tacked on motion controls.
You can use the thing about screwdriver driving a nail, just give me credit. It's a great analogy.
The short, "full market adaptation of the kinect" will only bread shovelware and stupid tacked on kinect controls. The long, well read.
A message to all the Microsoft fan boys saying that Microsoft is moving in the wrong direction by not making the kinect required and developers will develop amazing titles and uses for it because of full market adaptation. All you need to do is look back 1 generation, and I'm not talking about Kinect 1.0, I'm talking about the Nintendo Wii.
Now all you Wii fans out there, I am NOT talking about the wii as a whole and am only talking about the motion controls. With that in mind, continue reading.
Let's look at the Wii. By design of the freaking controller, every consumer had 100% market adaptation of the motion controls. By your logic, every game would have either used the gamecube controllers or utilized the wiimote in a revolutionary, immersive way that completely revolutionized gaming. Unfortunately, that is far from the truth. I can count the number of worthwhile games that fully utalized the motion controls of the wiimote or just used gamecube controls. Now I am not, I repeat, NOT, talking about if a game was good or not, just if the motion controls of the wiimote were fully utilized or if they just said "screw the motion controls, let's use the gamecube controller." And if someone can produce a list of over 6 games that are actually worth while, not a collection of mini games, that fully utilize the motion controls or just say no, I highly doubt you can produce a list of games that is larger than 31, and with counting in binary, I can get up to 31 on one hand.
But back to the subject of motion controls, aside from maybe 4 games, every other game had tacked on motion controls because developers felt they needed to put some kind of motion controls into their games, and this includes good games like Mario Galaxy and DK Country Returns. That, or they did utilize the motion controls but were not worth while and only fun for 30 minutes, like wario ware.
Now here's now I see the kinect. First, most developers are probably going to go the rout of "screw that, let's use gamecube controllers." If developers do decide to include some kinect controls into their game, it will likely be the "whack-a-mole" like controls we found in so Wii games. Sure, they won't be literal "whack-a-mole" like controls like with wii games, at least I hope developers won't make you suddenly put down your controller and start flailing your arms mid-game, but they won't be super useful and wanted by gamers and they'll just wish that it wasn't there and now you're shovel ware. There might be a hand number of games that fully utilize the kinect and are worthwhile, but for most people, that doesn't warrant an extra $100 to be "included" with the console.
Originally posted August 16th 2013
I decided to torture/laugh today by looking at articles about the kinect no longer being required and I cringe laughing at people saying "but the kinect 2.0 is awesome. Sure the original kinect didn't go over well, and neither did wii motion controls, playstation 2 eyetoy, playstation 3 move, and the PS4 isn't including the eye because people don't want it, but we know that full market adaptation will encourage developers to utilize the kinect in a great way." OK, it's more the just the thing about full market adaptation and then the comments bring up the other failed attempts, but really, it won't go over well. I heard one developer say it's like trying to program for a mouse with no click button. I wish people would realize that it doesn't matter how good the screwdriver is, they're all equally useless when trying to drive a nail and you're better off just using a hammer. That's how I see home motion controls. Home gaming is trying to drive a nail. I don't care how good your motion tracking hardware is, all I foresee is shovelware and tacked on motion controls.
You can use the thing about screwdriver driving a nail, just give me credit. It's a great analogy.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Kinect is Officially Dead
"XBOX ONE is Kinect, we are not going to sell them separately." My how the times have changed.
Hey there everyone, Happy Gamer here, and it's official, Microsoft has stopped manufacturing the Kinect 2.0 for XBOX ONE. Microsoft has finally admitted that the Kinect was a mistake, and are no longer wasting their time with it. For those of you who forgot (and I don't blame you), the Kinect was a motion control device that allowed you to control games without a controller using cameras and infra-red. It would sense joints, articulation, and interpret it as control inputs; as well as various voice commands. Now I will admit, from a purely technological standpoint, it's pretty cool. It's kind of space age sci-fi. Buuuuuttttt...that didn't make it worth while.
First, a brief history. In 2006 Nintendo released a little console called "Wii." It used motion controls as it's native input, and aided by the pack-in title Wii Sports, it became the second best selling console in history. Microsoft seeing the popularity of the Wii, Microsoft decided to make their own motion control device for the XBOX 360 and in 2010 the Kinect was released. It received generally positive reviews with how innovative of technology it was, but it didn't really latch on to gamers. Despite their best efforts to make Kinect a thing, primarily through the use of Rare, Kinect for XBOX 360 never received that killer app that made everyone want buy one like Wii Sports did for the Wii. This lack of an install base made developers not want to develop for it in fear of their game not selling. Microsoft tried to remedy this by bundling a Kinect 2.0 with every XBOX ONE and integrating it's operating system to utilize the face recognition and voice commands, forcing an install base. Unfortunately this made the XBOX ONE $100 more expensive than the PS4 which didn't have a motion control camera and gave gamers the option as to if they wanted the motion controls or not. The requirement to always have it plugged in also really blew up in Microsoft's face as it made many gamers question why Microsoft would want to do that if not for spying on them. Eventually Microsoft reversed the requirement to always have it plugged in, but didn't sell a Kinectless bundle until about a year later. The downfall of the Kinect was further advanced when the XBOX ONE S didn't come with a port specifically for the Kinect. And on October 25th 2017 Microsoft officially stopped production of the Kinect 2.0. See ya later guys, DFTBA.
OK, so with my foot of a ferret rip-off complete, let's analyze what happened and why I saw this coming 3 years ago. Kinect just wasn't a good input device for videogames, plain and simple. I now have a 360 Kinect I got at gamestop for $20 to play star wars Kinect, and it just isn't good. It's not that the controls aren't responsive, or that you need to be far away from the TV (a luxury I don't really have), while those are problems, they could have fixed those and it still would be a turd. Motion controls are just not a good input for videogames. The Wii controller could be used like a conventional gamepad; not very easily with a lot of input options, but it could be done. But not the Kinect. Almost every Kinect game I know of was Kinect only. Even if you fix the unresponsive problem, holding your hand up to an option for 5 seconds to select the menu was tedious. If you want to play the whole "Kinect in tandem" card, I know it can be done. There was an XBOX 360 game that utilized Kinect for certain control inputs but not all (name escapes me at the moment), and I saw some gameplay. Rather cool, but rather tedious to control. I'd rather just have it mapped to a controller button. It just wasn't going to be a good idea, and forcing people to buy it wasn't going to make it successful.
OK, but what about all the other OS features? You know, turning on your xbox by saying "XBOX on" and automatic sign-in based on who's playing. Well...I've been using my xbox for a while now and I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Lets look at the different features: voice commands to turn on the XBOX and select games, using Cortana, automatic sign-in, QR code reader, and skype. I've never used Cortana, and I have no intention to ever start. I'm the only one that uses my XBOX ONE, there's only 1 profile on it (mine), and it signs me in automatically every time I turn it on. Skype? I don't use skype all that much after I graduated college. The only thing that really sort of interests me are the voice commands, and that's just because some things weren't that easy to use (clip recording comes to mind). However, Microsoft has made it much easier to use these features. Now I can record with just the press of 3 buttons, no longer do I have to suspend the game, open the app, and then record. The QR code reader is pretty useful, I'll admit, since entering a 12 digit code with a "hunt and peck" on-screen keyboard using my controller is a little tedious. But, I honestly don't buy enough digital content to really make an impact, plus, I tend to have a lot of trouble lining up the QR code with the little box, so I really don't know which would be easier.
"But the Wii was the 2nd best selling console because of the motion controls." Yes, because it was a good casual gaming device that came out before mobile gaming really took off. People bought Wii sports, and maybe Wii sports resort, because they were good casual games that were pick up and play in a time when there weren't really any casual games (aka, a killer app for the console). After the casual hype died out, the Wii was able to keep a player base with Nintendo exclusive games. Remember the Wii U and how it failed? Well, Nintendo was trying to live off the hype of the Wii, and failed. People just aren't interested anymore. Luckily, Microsoft had a pretty good base console to keep itself afloat. Well, this has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and looks like XBOX ONE ISN'T Kinect.
Hey there everyone, Happy Gamer here, and it's official, Microsoft has stopped manufacturing the Kinect 2.0 for XBOX ONE. Microsoft has finally admitted that the Kinect was a mistake, and are no longer wasting their time with it. For those of you who forgot (and I don't blame you), the Kinect was a motion control device that allowed you to control games without a controller using cameras and infra-red. It would sense joints, articulation, and interpret it as control inputs; as well as various voice commands. Now I will admit, from a purely technological standpoint, it's pretty cool. It's kind of space age sci-fi. Buuuuuttttt...that didn't make it worth while.
First, a brief history. In 2006 Nintendo released a little console called "Wii." It used motion controls as it's native input, and aided by the pack-in title Wii Sports, it became the second best selling console in history. Microsoft seeing the popularity of the Wii, Microsoft decided to make their own motion control device for the XBOX 360 and in 2010 the Kinect was released. It received generally positive reviews with how innovative of technology it was, but it didn't really latch on to gamers. Despite their best efforts to make Kinect a thing, primarily through the use of Rare, Kinect for XBOX 360 never received that killer app that made everyone want buy one like Wii Sports did for the Wii. This lack of an install base made developers not want to develop for it in fear of their game not selling. Microsoft tried to remedy this by bundling a Kinect 2.0 with every XBOX ONE and integrating it's operating system to utilize the face recognition and voice commands, forcing an install base. Unfortunately this made the XBOX ONE $100 more expensive than the PS4 which didn't have a motion control camera and gave gamers the option as to if they wanted the motion controls or not. The requirement to always have it plugged in also really blew up in Microsoft's face as it made many gamers question why Microsoft would want to do that if not for spying on them. Eventually Microsoft reversed the requirement to always have it plugged in, but didn't sell a Kinectless bundle until about a year later. The downfall of the Kinect was further advanced when the XBOX ONE S didn't come with a port specifically for the Kinect. And on October 25th 2017 Microsoft officially stopped production of the Kinect 2.0. See ya later guys, DFTBA.
OK, so with my foot of a ferret rip-off complete, let's analyze what happened and why I saw this coming 3 years ago. Kinect just wasn't a good input device for videogames, plain and simple. I now have a 360 Kinect I got at gamestop for $20 to play star wars Kinect, and it just isn't good. It's not that the controls aren't responsive, or that you need to be far away from the TV (a luxury I don't really have), while those are problems, they could have fixed those and it still would be a turd. Motion controls are just not a good input for videogames. The Wii controller could be used like a conventional gamepad; not very easily with a lot of input options, but it could be done. But not the Kinect. Almost every Kinect game I know of was Kinect only. Even if you fix the unresponsive problem, holding your hand up to an option for 5 seconds to select the menu was tedious. If you want to play the whole "Kinect in tandem" card, I know it can be done. There was an XBOX 360 game that utilized Kinect for certain control inputs but not all (name escapes me at the moment), and I saw some gameplay. Rather cool, but rather tedious to control. I'd rather just have it mapped to a controller button. It just wasn't going to be a good idea, and forcing people to buy it wasn't going to make it successful.
OK, but what about all the other OS features? You know, turning on your xbox by saying "XBOX on" and automatic sign-in based on who's playing. Well...I've been using my xbox for a while now and I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Lets look at the different features: voice commands to turn on the XBOX and select games, using Cortana, automatic sign-in, QR code reader, and skype. I've never used Cortana, and I have no intention to ever start. I'm the only one that uses my XBOX ONE, there's only 1 profile on it (mine), and it signs me in automatically every time I turn it on. Skype? I don't use skype all that much after I graduated college. The only thing that really sort of interests me are the voice commands, and that's just because some things weren't that easy to use (clip recording comes to mind). However, Microsoft has made it much easier to use these features. Now I can record with just the press of 3 buttons, no longer do I have to suspend the game, open the app, and then record. The QR code reader is pretty useful, I'll admit, since entering a 12 digit code with a "hunt and peck" on-screen keyboard using my controller is a little tedious. But, I honestly don't buy enough digital content to really make an impact, plus, I tend to have a lot of trouble lining up the QR code with the little box, so I really don't know which would be easier.
"But the Wii was the 2nd best selling console because of the motion controls." Yes, because it was a good casual gaming device that came out before mobile gaming really took off. People bought Wii sports, and maybe Wii sports resort, because they were good casual games that were pick up and play in a time when there weren't really any casual games (aka, a killer app for the console). After the casual hype died out, the Wii was able to keep a player base with Nintendo exclusive games. Remember the Wii U and how it failed? Well, Nintendo was trying to live off the hype of the Wii, and failed. People just aren't interested anymore. Luckily, Microsoft had a pretty good base console to keep itself afloat. Well, this has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and looks like XBOX ONE ISN'T Kinect.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Kinect Bundles are Still a Thing? Well not Anymore on Amazon
I've not been a supporter of the kinect. You can read about it twice here and here. Anyways, Microsoft released a kinectless xbox one bundle about 4 months ago. I gotta say, I don't think anyone missed it. No games were really developed for kinect. No games were showcased with kinect features. After releasing the kinectless xbox one, there were some commercials that still showcased kinect, but those lasted a couple weeks and then were forgotten. In fact, until I read this article, I essentially forgot kinect 2.0 existed. And you know what, that's a good thing.
First, I want to talk about what this means for the kinect. You're dead. No one wants you. Amazon doesn't think you're worth their warehouse space, and they stock some stupid things. You'll be sitting alone in a corner along with the unsold kinect 1.0, and playstation eyes and move. Accept your fate and die in the ditch.
OK so now that I've rightfully added insult to injury, what does it mean that I, the most obsessive videogame collector and trivia aficionado I know, say I forgot the kinect bundles existed? I, a gamer who said "I will not buy an xbox one so long as I need to buy a kinect," forgot that the kinect is a thing. Well, it means Microsoft is doing something right. They really alienated consumers with the launch debacle; always online DRM, no used games, and mandatory kinect purchase and use. Well, that's blown over. Now instead of being points of distaste and not buying it, it's a memory of "boy you screwed up." Not being required to have gold to do everything except buy things and play offline is good as well, making it more competitive. I know some people are upset that Microsoft didn't stick to their guns, like Adam Sessler, but it was a goose egg, and best to just get rid of it. So...yeah, Microsoft, good job at making us forget about how you screwed up. It'll be a while before you get my money, but only because you haven't given me any system seller games. Sure, fanboys will continue to bring up the launch failure, I'm sure BlackBusterCritic is still bring it up, but fanboys will be fanboys.
I know it was short, but honestly I don't have much else to say, and I'm pretty tired. Well this has been happy gamer signing off, and if you make a goose egg, get rid of it and pretend it didn't happen, because we'll forget.
First, I want to talk about what this means for the kinect. You're dead. No one wants you. Amazon doesn't think you're worth their warehouse space, and they stock some stupid things. You'll be sitting alone in a corner along with the unsold kinect 1.0, and playstation eyes and move. Accept your fate and die in the ditch.
OK so now that I've rightfully added insult to injury, what does it mean that I, the most obsessive videogame collector and trivia aficionado I know, say I forgot the kinect bundles existed? I, a gamer who said "I will not buy an xbox one so long as I need to buy a kinect," forgot that the kinect is a thing. Well, it means Microsoft is doing something right. They really alienated consumers with the launch debacle; always online DRM, no used games, and mandatory kinect purchase and use. Well, that's blown over. Now instead of being points of distaste and not buying it, it's a memory of "boy you screwed up." Not being required to have gold to do everything except buy things and play offline is good as well, making it more competitive. I know some people are upset that Microsoft didn't stick to their guns, like Adam Sessler, but it was a goose egg, and best to just get rid of it. So...yeah, Microsoft, good job at making us forget about how you screwed up. It'll be a while before you get my money, but only because you haven't given me any system seller games. Sure, fanboys will continue to bring up the launch failure, I'm sure BlackBusterCritic is still bring it up, but fanboys will be fanboys.
I know it was short, but honestly I don't have much else to say, and I'm pretty tired. Well this has been happy gamer signing off, and if you make a goose egg, get rid of it and pretend it didn't happen, because we'll forget.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
XBOX Changes, XBOX ONE kinect free bundle and Gold is only needed for multiplayer
"I will never buy an XBOX ONE so long as I have to buy a Kinect." I don't know if I've ever said that here on this particular blog, but I know I've said it in the comment section on countless articles and videos about the XBOX ONE. This was not an idle threat, I hate the idea of being required to buy something I will never use and the potential will never be fully utilized except in maybe 1 game. Like before, not sure if I ever did my comparison of the Wii and the kinect on this particular blog, but I know I've said it whenever someone said "the technology in Kinect 2.0 is so much more advanced than the original kinect and it opens up the doors to so much." Yeah, the wii remote also had loads of potential, but all we got from that was 3 games that actually utilized the motion controls while the rest was shovelware or tacked on. The same exact thing was going to happen with the kinect. But back to me never buying xbox with kinect. I saw some amazing exclusives at E3. I saw some amazing exclusives on TV and in demo stations. I thought to myself "that sure looks like it'd be grand fun, to bad I'll never buy an XBOX ONE so long as kinect is a required purchase." Now praise the lord that the kinect is no longer mandatory. With that gone, I'm now considering the XBOX ONE as my next console.
On a less publicized note, Microsoft is now unlocking all the streaming media apps and other features from behind the XBOX Gold payment wall. Yeah, you heard right, you will not longer need XBOX Gold to use streaming apps like netflix, hulu plus, crackle, youtube, internet explorer, MLB, NFL, vevo, amazon instant video; the list goes on and on. What do I have to say to that, well thank-you for wising up Microsoft. Absolutely no other device, at least to my EXTENSIVE knowledge, required you to pay a payment wall to access services that are completely free elsewhere or only require you to pay the subscription for the single service. My PS3, all I have to do is pay my hulu plus subscription, buy the episodes or movies through Amazon instant video, or watch some commercials on Crackle. I don't need playstation plus to access these services. The same goes for the Wii, Wii U, Roku, any cell phone or tablet, apple TV, 3DS, PC, and EVERY OTHER DEVICE! When I heard that, I thought "hmm, looks like I'll be able to finally use my XBOX360 for something other than offline gaming." I only had gold for that 1 free month you get for creating an xbox live account. Never had it since. Never needed it. I don't like online multiplayer and they didn't have all the streaming apps I cared about before I got my PS3. Good on you Microsoft, you're giving us options. They're also reworking games with gold where you get free games for having gold, so now it's more like playstion plus, which is a plus. If I ever get the time to actually play videogames again, maybe, just maybe, I might want to get gold for the first time
Now for something that really irks me, when I read articles about people complaining about the kinect news. They're all sad that now we aren't forced to buy a kinect. The make it sound like Microsoft is completely dropping kinect support. News flash, it's still available, but now we don't have to buy it if we don't want to. "But without the known install base developers can't confidently develop for the kinect." Yeah and how well did that work with the Wii? All 3 of the games I played that actually utilized the motion controls were first party nintendo games. All the others were tacked on motion controls or shovelware. The same exact thing was going to happen to the kinect. And you know what, if a developer has an amazing idea for kinect integration or a kinect game, they're going to make it. Really, no developer is going to say "I have this amazing idea for a game that utilizes kinect and would be a system seller, and people would buy a kinect just to play this game, but I won't do it because there's not enough of an install base." If a serious developer went to Microsoft with that pitch, Microsoft would probably give them kinect royalties. But who am I kidding, no one is taking the kinect seriously except for Microsoft and a couple of crazy reporters and fanboys.
Well, that's enough rambling for this topic. This has been Happy Gamer signing off, and remember, you can't please all the people all the time, but you can please almost all of the people by removing crap.
On a less publicized note, Microsoft is now unlocking all the streaming media apps and other features from behind the XBOX Gold payment wall. Yeah, you heard right, you will not longer need XBOX Gold to use streaming apps like netflix, hulu plus, crackle, youtube, internet explorer, MLB, NFL, vevo, amazon instant video; the list goes on and on. What do I have to say to that, well thank-you for wising up Microsoft. Absolutely no other device, at least to my EXTENSIVE knowledge, required you to pay a payment wall to access services that are completely free elsewhere or only require you to pay the subscription for the single service. My PS3, all I have to do is pay my hulu plus subscription, buy the episodes or movies through Amazon instant video, or watch some commercials on Crackle. I don't need playstation plus to access these services. The same goes for the Wii, Wii U, Roku, any cell phone or tablet, apple TV, 3DS, PC, and EVERY OTHER DEVICE! When I heard that, I thought "hmm, looks like I'll be able to finally use my XBOX360 for something other than offline gaming." I only had gold for that 1 free month you get for creating an xbox live account. Never had it since. Never needed it. I don't like online multiplayer and they didn't have all the streaming apps I cared about before I got my PS3. Good on you Microsoft, you're giving us options. They're also reworking games with gold where you get free games for having gold, so now it's more like playstion plus, which is a plus. If I ever get the time to actually play videogames again, maybe, just maybe, I might want to get gold for the first time
Now for something that really irks me, when I read articles about people complaining about the kinect news. They're all sad that now we aren't forced to buy a kinect. The make it sound like Microsoft is completely dropping kinect support. News flash, it's still available, but now we don't have to buy it if we don't want to. "But without the known install base developers can't confidently develop for the kinect." Yeah and how well did that work with the Wii? All 3 of the games I played that actually utilized the motion controls were first party nintendo games. All the others were tacked on motion controls or shovelware. The same exact thing was going to happen to the kinect. And you know what, if a developer has an amazing idea for kinect integration or a kinect game, they're going to make it. Really, no developer is going to say "I have this amazing idea for a game that utilizes kinect and would be a system seller, and people would buy a kinect just to play this game, but I won't do it because there's not enough of an install base." If a serious developer went to Microsoft with that pitch, Microsoft would probably give them kinect royalties. But who am I kidding, no one is taking the kinect seriously except for Microsoft and a couple of crazy reporters and fanboys.
Well, that's enough rambling for this topic. This has been Happy Gamer signing off, and remember, you can't please all the people all the time, but you can please almost all of the people by removing crap.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Happy Gamer Rambles, the Kinect 2.0 is the root of all XBOX ONE failures
OK, so I've tackled the always online and used game DRM and how micosoft just botched how they handled that. Here is my theory why they botched it; they put all their confidence in the selling power of the Kinect. Here's the problem, the Kinect was Dead On Arrival. Just by definition the Kinect is a failure. Before I get ahead of myself, let me talk about how they handled the Kinect.
OK, first a little history for the guys reading this 10 years from now. Back in the last couple of years of the XBOX360, Microsoft made a nifty little camera thing that plugs into your XBOX360 and you could do motion controls without any controllers, unlike Nintendo and Sony. I tried it, and it was kind of cool. The games were lame, like the Wii tech demo games, but it was still nifty. Well Microsoft really shoehorned it at the end of the 360 with most of the 360 exclusive games being Kinect games. Well, no one really cared about the Kinect. I give them credit for trying something different, but people really didn't care. Fast forward a couple of years, Nintendo reveled the Wii U, a console that didn't rely on motion controls, and it looked like we were just going to get back to simple gaming. Uhhh, wrong. At the revile of the XBOX ONE, Microsoft showcased the Kinect 2.0, a new and improved Kinect that can read people's faces, recognize extremities as small as fingers, automatically sign in whomever is holding the controller, and loads of voice commands. OK whatever, Microsoft made an even more nifty motion control camera. It'll be a nice little accessory I'll likely pick up on sale at the end of the console life. WRONG! Turns out, every XBOX ONE console will be bundled with it, and not only that, the XBOX ONE won't work if the Kinect isn't connected. You have absolutely no choice if you want this or not. We're doing this so developers can confidently develop for the Kinect because it has an install base. Oh yeah, and because of it, our console is $100 more than the PS4, but Sony makes you buy their motion control camera for $60, we're giving you ours for free*.
*$100 higher price is the result of an add on you don't even want.
Oh yeah, 10% of the hardware is reserved for the Kinect. Even if your game doesn't use Kinect features, you won't be able to use all the hardware.
OK, lets break this down:
1. We're forcing you to buy an add on if you buy our console
2. This add on is why we are $100 more expensive than the competition.
3. We want to make sure developers know there's an install base for it so they feel confident developing for it.
4. You have to use it otherwise your console won't work.
OK Microsoft, let me tell you about another console that shoehorned motion controls. When Nintendo made the Wii, it was pretty revolutionary. Home motion controls. Who could beat it? Wiis were flying off the shelf. Everyone was out of stock. Why were people buying it? Because it was a cool gimmick. What happened though is not pretty. No one really bought any games for it. The attach rate was around 1 to 1 (an average of 1 game per console.) People bought it for Wii Sports. The top selling game, Wii Play, only sold that many copies because it was the only way to get a second remote for the longest time. Most of the games that utilized the motion controls were shovelware. The semi-decent games botched the use of motion controls. There were only 2 really good games that fully utilized the motion controls. Everything else was lame or didn't utilize the motion controls. All those average Joe people stopped playing their Wiis after 2 years and left them to collect dust. The "hardcore gamer" didn't buy the Wii for the motion controls, they bought it for Mario and Zelda games. Nintendo realized the mistake with the motion controls and dropped them in favor of a second screen on their next console. On the 360 Kinect, shovelware. Kinect 2.0, only shovelware. People don't care about motion controls or voice commands.
OK so Kinect is a flop. How could that be the root of all their problems? Simple. They put all their eggs in the Kinect basket. Instead of trying to explain why consumers need always online or used game DRM, and explaining how that family sharing thing worked, they focused all their efforts on why you need a Kinect. All this "we built the XBOX ONE with the Kinect in mind. Everything about XBOX ONE is Kinect. We want to make sure that you get the full XBOX ONE experience and the only way to do that is by forcing the Kinect." When compared to 360 Kinect, "no that was an after thought. We built the XBOX ONE with Kinect in mind. You need Kinect." People don't care about motion controls. "That's because it's never been done right with great technology. We have super advanced tracking capabilities that make the Kinect integral to the XBOX ONE experience." What if my Kinect gets damaged? I have a cat that will chew through the cable. "Well, make sure it's safe. It would be a shame if you weren't able to enjoy the Kinect, and that's why we're forcing it." And on and on and on. They wanted the Kinect to succeed so badly.
Fast forward a couple of months,they realize that maybe requiring Kinect for the XBOX to function was a bad idea. Naturally, they make a day 1 patch that will allow you to not have the Kinect plugged in. However, they are not budging on the bundling.
"You made it so I don't need it, so why not just sell me a console without a Kinect for $100 less?"
"No no no, we only did this in case of catastrophic loss of Kinect. This way, if there's some error, you will still be able to use your XBOX. However, the Kinect is still an integral part of the XBOX ONE experience and we want to make sure developers can confidently develop with Kinect in mind."
The Kinect is the problem. If Microsoft didn't waste all of it's lipstick on the pig that is Kinect, maybe, just maybe, they could have found a way to successfully market the always online and used game DRM. As I stated before, always online could have been marketed as a positive. Used game DRM could have been worked out to find a happy medium, and we would have known how family share works. But no, focus all efforts on this stupid peripheral that no one wants and no one cares about. Want to know a funny thing? Once people got their XBOX ONE, they tried the Kinect. They say it is stupid, doesn't work properly, and would rather have their $100. The only reason they have it plugged in is because they have it so why not use it. You put so much focus on the Kinect. You felt that this was the most important thing to try to market. You thought this was more important than always online and used game DRM, that you were going to focus all your efforts on it and not try to explain why the other aspects were good for the consumer. No one bought the "this is integral to the experience" load because they knew that they would not buy games that focus heavily on Kinect. You even had the audacity to not want to include a headset "because you can just use the Kinect, it does the same thing as a headset and so much more," ignoring the fact that people don't want their conversations coming out of the TV and don't want the muffledness of yelling at a microphone that's on the other side of the room as opposed to a headset mic that's right next to their mouth. If you didn't focus heavily on the Kinect and just cut your losses on the most useless aspect of the XBOX ONE, then maybe you wouldn't have had to do all those reversals. There are people who say "I could forgive the always online and used game DRM, but the Kinect is unforgivable and I will not buy an XBOX ONE so long as it's forced into every XBOX ONE purchase."
Now as with everything else, I am not the norm. However, this time, it's a little different. Most people don't want the Kinect at all. However, there's a part of me that does want the Kinect, but not for gaming purposes. The only reason I want a Kinect is for collectors purposes. I have a PS2 EYE, I got it for $1. I want a PS3 camera, and I'm willing to pay $10 maximum for it. I want an XBOX360 kinect, and I'm willing to pay a maximum of $15 for it with the Kinect sports adventure game. I just want them for collectors purposes, and will only pay a little for it. I don't want to spend $100 on something I won't use because I don't care about it.
Alright, I made my peace with the XBOX ONE original concept. As of right now, the XBOX 180 is much better than the XBOX ONE original idea. Until I can buy one without Kinect though, I still won't buy it. Once people start selling their XBOX ONE's to GameStop, I guarantee you that GameStop will offer to resell them without the Kinect. Well this has been Happy Gamer, and don't put all your eggs into the motion control basket, because it will break them.
OK, first a little history for the guys reading this 10 years from now. Back in the last couple of years of the XBOX360, Microsoft made a nifty little camera thing that plugs into your XBOX360 and you could do motion controls without any controllers, unlike Nintendo and Sony. I tried it, and it was kind of cool. The games were lame, like the Wii tech demo games, but it was still nifty. Well Microsoft really shoehorned it at the end of the 360 with most of the 360 exclusive games being Kinect games. Well, no one really cared about the Kinect. I give them credit for trying something different, but people really didn't care. Fast forward a couple of years, Nintendo reveled the Wii U, a console that didn't rely on motion controls, and it looked like we were just going to get back to simple gaming. Uhhh, wrong. At the revile of the XBOX ONE, Microsoft showcased the Kinect 2.0, a new and improved Kinect that can read people's faces, recognize extremities as small as fingers, automatically sign in whomever is holding the controller, and loads of voice commands. OK whatever, Microsoft made an even more nifty motion control camera. It'll be a nice little accessory I'll likely pick up on sale at the end of the console life. WRONG! Turns out, every XBOX ONE console will be bundled with it, and not only that, the XBOX ONE won't work if the Kinect isn't connected. You have absolutely no choice if you want this or not. We're doing this so developers can confidently develop for the Kinect because it has an install base. Oh yeah, and because of it, our console is $100 more than the PS4, but Sony makes you buy their motion control camera for $60, we're giving you ours for free*.
*$100 higher price is the result of an add on you don't even want.
Oh yeah, 10% of the hardware is reserved for the Kinect. Even if your game doesn't use Kinect features, you won't be able to use all the hardware.
OK, lets break this down:
1. We're forcing you to buy an add on if you buy our console
2. This add on is why we are $100 more expensive than the competition.
3. We want to make sure developers know there's an install base for it so they feel confident developing for it.
4. You have to use it otherwise your console won't work.
OK Microsoft, let me tell you about another console that shoehorned motion controls. When Nintendo made the Wii, it was pretty revolutionary. Home motion controls. Who could beat it? Wiis were flying off the shelf. Everyone was out of stock. Why were people buying it? Because it was a cool gimmick. What happened though is not pretty. No one really bought any games for it. The attach rate was around 1 to 1 (an average of 1 game per console.) People bought it for Wii Sports. The top selling game, Wii Play, only sold that many copies because it was the only way to get a second remote for the longest time. Most of the games that utilized the motion controls were shovelware. The semi-decent games botched the use of motion controls. There were only 2 really good games that fully utilized the motion controls. Everything else was lame or didn't utilize the motion controls. All those average Joe people stopped playing their Wiis after 2 years and left them to collect dust. The "hardcore gamer" didn't buy the Wii for the motion controls, they bought it for Mario and Zelda games. Nintendo realized the mistake with the motion controls and dropped them in favor of a second screen on their next console. On the 360 Kinect, shovelware. Kinect 2.0, only shovelware. People don't care about motion controls or voice commands.
OK so Kinect is a flop. How could that be the root of all their problems? Simple. They put all their eggs in the Kinect basket. Instead of trying to explain why consumers need always online or used game DRM, and explaining how that family sharing thing worked, they focused all their efforts on why you need a Kinect. All this "we built the XBOX ONE with the Kinect in mind. Everything about XBOX ONE is Kinect. We want to make sure that you get the full XBOX ONE experience and the only way to do that is by forcing the Kinect." When compared to 360 Kinect, "no that was an after thought. We built the XBOX ONE with Kinect in mind. You need Kinect." People don't care about motion controls. "That's because it's never been done right with great technology. We have super advanced tracking capabilities that make the Kinect integral to the XBOX ONE experience." What if my Kinect gets damaged? I have a cat that will chew through the cable. "Well, make sure it's safe. It would be a shame if you weren't able to enjoy the Kinect, and that's why we're forcing it." And on and on and on. They wanted the Kinect to succeed so badly.
Fast forward a couple of months,they realize that maybe requiring Kinect for the XBOX to function was a bad idea. Naturally, they make a day 1 patch that will allow you to not have the Kinect plugged in. However, they are not budging on the bundling.
"You made it so I don't need it, so why not just sell me a console without a Kinect for $100 less?"
"No no no, we only did this in case of catastrophic loss of Kinect. This way, if there's some error, you will still be able to use your XBOX. However, the Kinect is still an integral part of the XBOX ONE experience and we want to make sure developers can confidently develop with Kinect in mind."
The Kinect is the problem. If Microsoft didn't waste all of it's lipstick on the pig that is Kinect, maybe, just maybe, they could have found a way to successfully market the always online and used game DRM. As I stated before, always online could have been marketed as a positive. Used game DRM could have been worked out to find a happy medium, and we would have known how family share works. But no, focus all efforts on this stupid peripheral that no one wants and no one cares about. Want to know a funny thing? Once people got their XBOX ONE, they tried the Kinect. They say it is stupid, doesn't work properly, and would rather have their $100. The only reason they have it plugged in is because they have it so why not use it. You put so much focus on the Kinect. You felt that this was the most important thing to try to market. You thought this was more important than always online and used game DRM, that you were going to focus all your efforts on it and not try to explain why the other aspects were good for the consumer. No one bought the "this is integral to the experience" load because they knew that they would not buy games that focus heavily on Kinect. You even had the audacity to not want to include a headset "because you can just use the Kinect, it does the same thing as a headset and so much more," ignoring the fact that people don't want their conversations coming out of the TV and don't want the muffledness of yelling at a microphone that's on the other side of the room as opposed to a headset mic that's right next to their mouth. If you didn't focus heavily on the Kinect and just cut your losses on the most useless aspect of the XBOX ONE, then maybe you wouldn't have had to do all those reversals. There are people who say "I could forgive the always online and used game DRM, but the Kinect is unforgivable and I will not buy an XBOX ONE so long as it's forced into every XBOX ONE purchase."
Now as with everything else, I am not the norm. However, this time, it's a little different. Most people don't want the Kinect at all. However, there's a part of me that does want the Kinect, but not for gaming purposes. The only reason I want a Kinect is for collectors purposes. I have a PS2 EYE, I got it for $1. I want a PS3 camera, and I'm willing to pay $10 maximum for it. I want an XBOX360 kinect, and I'm willing to pay a maximum of $15 for it with the Kinect sports adventure game. I just want them for collectors purposes, and will only pay a little for it. I don't want to spend $100 on something I won't use because I don't care about it.
Alright, I made my peace with the XBOX ONE original concept. As of right now, the XBOX 180 is much better than the XBOX ONE original idea. Until I can buy one without Kinect though, I still won't buy it. Once people start selling their XBOX ONE's to GameStop, I guarantee you that GameStop will offer to resell them without the Kinect. Well this has been Happy Gamer, and don't put all your eggs into the motion control basket, because it will break them.
Friday, December 20, 2013
The Uncanny Valley of Graphics, Happy Gamer Rambles
What happens when graphics are so good they almost look realistic. Well this is what happened.
So I went to my local mall and they just put in a Microsoft Store. Being the fan of windows that I am, I decided I'd check it out. It was pretty cool, and they had on display an XBOX ONE demo on a 60 inch TV. Love them or hate them, admit it, you'd try out any console or PC if it was on a 60 inch TV. I have to say, the graphics are stunning. In fact, they're so good, they're absolutely terrible and hurt my eyes. So what do I mean by that? I'm talking about "The Uncanny Valley."
For those of you who don't know, the uncanny valley is "when human features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers;" according to wikipedia. Basically, it means that, in terms of graphics, things look so good but since it isn't an actual video shot on a video camera, it looks terrible. You brain wants to think that it's real, but since there's subtle nuances that don't look real, you perceive it as ugly.
Now how does this relate to the XBOX ONE? Well as I said earlier, the graphics are amazing. These were like 1080p 60 FPS, or whatever. Everything moved so smoothly. Everything had such detail. However, because it still looked enough like a video game, the "hyper realistic" graphics confused my brain and I concluded that it looked terrible.
Now you PC gamers might be thinking "ha, console peasant, that's what you get for not using PC quality graphics." Well ya know what, I'd probably say the same thing about your precious PC graphics. My guess, they're even further down in the valley. "But...the resolution, the frame rate, the textures, they just look so amazing." Yes, and that's the point. They do look amazing, but the more amazing they look, the more off put I am because it still doesn't look like I'm playing real life. Keep your amazing graphics, I'll stick to "it looks so fake that it doesn't look bad."
Now wait, maybe I'm just being to hard on it. I mean I liked The Last of Us and that looked pretty real right? Well...not quite. With Last of Us, they were going for "realistic physics and animations," not "realistic looking visuals." The visuals, though striking with how well they captured human emotions and movements, wasn't trying to make Joel or Ellie look like actual humans, if you get what I'm saying. It looked like a really well done animated movie with a realistic art style, not an animated movie that put so much emphasis on trying to look like live action that it looked bad. It's hard to explain. Basically, it felt real without trying to look real.
I may just be old fashioned. Really, at the time of writing this, I only started gaming on an HDTV 2 years prior. Before then, I played on a 26 inch, 4:3 aspect ratio, tube TV. I still do when I play old school because the old consoles look bad on my HDTV, but that's a ramble for another day. It could have also been the TV. I know when I go to stores like Costco or Sears, they have a movie playing and the TV has a smoothing effect that like adds more frames or something. I don't really know how it works, but I know it makes the movie look like the foreground is completely separate from the back ground and things don't move right. More uncanny valley right there. But it really could be that 1080p 60 fps just looks bad. Well this has been happy gamer and you can keep your ugly 60 frames per second, 1080p resolution. I'll stick with 720p 30 fps where things aren't in the uncanny valley.
PS: As for the rest of the XBOX, I'm very meh. The controller does feel really nice. The interface kind of sucks. They didn't have the Kinect on, but that things just looks terrible. I wouldn't be caught dead with that sitting on my TV stand simply because it looks bad. The UI felt very gimped without the Kinect. I played Forza 5, did not like the physics. The game was in manual. Turning was way to complicated I kept hitting the wall. I am not impressed.
So I went to my local mall and they just put in a Microsoft Store. Being the fan of windows that I am, I decided I'd check it out. It was pretty cool, and they had on display an XBOX ONE demo on a 60 inch TV. Love them or hate them, admit it, you'd try out any console or PC if it was on a 60 inch TV. I have to say, the graphics are stunning. In fact, they're so good, they're absolutely terrible and hurt my eyes. So what do I mean by that? I'm talking about "The Uncanny Valley."
For those of you who don't know, the uncanny valley is "when human features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers;" according to wikipedia. Basically, it means that, in terms of graphics, things look so good but since it isn't an actual video shot on a video camera, it looks terrible. You brain wants to think that it's real, but since there's subtle nuances that don't look real, you perceive it as ugly.
Now how does this relate to the XBOX ONE? Well as I said earlier, the graphics are amazing. These were like 1080p 60 FPS, or whatever. Everything moved so smoothly. Everything had such detail. However, because it still looked enough like a video game, the "hyper realistic" graphics confused my brain and I concluded that it looked terrible.
Now you PC gamers might be thinking "ha, console peasant, that's what you get for not using PC quality graphics." Well ya know what, I'd probably say the same thing about your precious PC graphics. My guess, they're even further down in the valley. "But...the resolution, the frame rate, the textures, they just look so amazing." Yes, and that's the point. They do look amazing, but the more amazing they look, the more off put I am because it still doesn't look like I'm playing real life. Keep your amazing graphics, I'll stick to "it looks so fake that it doesn't look bad."
Now wait, maybe I'm just being to hard on it. I mean I liked The Last of Us and that looked pretty real right? Well...not quite. With Last of Us, they were going for "realistic physics and animations," not "realistic looking visuals." The visuals, though striking with how well they captured human emotions and movements, wasn't trying to make Joel or Ellie look like actual humans, if you get what I'm saying. It looked like a really well done animated movie with a realistic art style, not an animated movie that put so much emphasis on trying to look like live action that it looked bad. It's hard to explain. Basically, it felt real without trying to look real.
I may just be old fashioned. Really, at the time of writing this, I only started gaming on an HDTV 2 years prior. Before then, I played on a 26 inch, 4:3 aspect ratio, tube TV. I still do when I play old school because the old consoles look bad on my HDTV, but that's a ramble for another day. It could have also been the TV. I know when I go to stores like Costco or Sears, they have a movie playing and the TV has a smoothing effect that like adds more frames or something. I don't really know how it works, but I know it makes the movie look like the foreground is completely separate from the back ground and things don't move right. More uncanny valley right there. But it really could be that 1080p 60 fps just looks bad. Well this has been happy gamer and you can keep your ugly 60 frames per second, 1080p resolution. I'll stick with 720p 30 fps where things aren't in the uncanny valley.
PS: As for the rest of the XBOX, I'm very meh. The controller does feel really nice. The interface kind of sucks. They didn't have the Kinect on, but that things just looks terrible. I wouldn't be caught dead with that sitting on my TV stand simply because it looks bad. The UI felt very gimped without the Kinect. I played Forza 5, did not like the physics. The game was in manual. Turning was way to complicated I kept hitting the wall. I am not impressed.
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