Kinect Adventures preview unearths our frightening lack of coordination
By Paul Miller 
posted June 15th 2010 5:04AM
posted June 15th 2010 5:04AM
Things went downhill from those middling heights, however, with the very vague and unsatisfying block-busting ball game, that seemed hardly responsive to our quick, desperate motions (or maybe we just weren't very good at it), and the frenetic but ultra-loose controls of the river rafting. At least the teamwork aspect of the rafting game is interesting, and we'd love to see how good we could get with a dedicated partner, but there's just something about hopping and side-stepping that just can't feel as complex and comprehensive as "real" controls. In all we recognize these experiences as stuff that could only be done with Kinect... we're just not sure yet if they needed to be done. You can check out video of our miserable performance after the break.
Safari 5 on PC is fast as hell.
Just thought Id express my inner geek for a little bit :P
@uckApple
Im running safari on windows btw, the new Mac mini got me in the mood for trying some mac stuff. Im thinking of getting it, its so frikkin SMALL compared to my BEAST tower I have, and its almost as powerful!
(my inner geek is really hard to control)
@uckApple
There's that whole Mac Mini article where these comments would have been passably relevant.
@Paul Miller
Ha! You wont say that once porn games are released!
kinect porn... the next generation of pron cams
I am so sick of the Apple Ad bots! They are considered spam and should be banned from the website.
I bet anything this game is going to be the bundle game with Kinect. I'm sure the 3rd parties have an agreement with MS to not make Kinect Sports a pack-in since all the 3rd parties are putting out similar sports games. Also this game includes the Ricochet/Rallyball game in it which I've always had a feeling Microsoft intended to bundle with Natal.
@cool8man Spot on!
At last...my initial apprehension at the disconnect between everyone's imaginings of how this would work and how it does work is starting to make sense. I've yet to see anything so far on the Xbox front that makes me excited.
@Tes I agree - Surely this is just a glorified eyetoy from the PS2?
@Bomberman, in the same comparison, isnt the PS3 a glorified PS1? and a iphone a glorified newton?
@Nidan If you want to look at it that why, why not? Depends on how daft you want to get. The PC is merely a glorified abacus.
However, my point is actually relevant to the discussion at hand. This appears to display the same failings as the eyetoy (IMO) in that there's no real 'connection' between the users and the action - something the wii (and possibly the move) avoid by still retaining controllers (force feedback an added bonus).
@Nidan
You're being overly simplistic. This does what the Eye-toy did...but a BIT better. The concept is still the same and the concept back then, even when I was much younger, did nothing for me.
Can I do MORE with a PS3 than I could with the PS1? Yes. Could the PS1 stream media, play HD movies or surf the web? No. The same for the Newton and iPhone.
This tracks your body and lets you interact with stuff on the screen...which is all the Eye-toy did. Not enough of my friends are on Xbox live to make video chat worth anything...and the ones I have on Skype etc...we never video chat anyway! I'm in the UK, so announcements about Netflix, ESPN, Hulu, Zune etc, mean nothing to me...I can't use those services. All in all I'm a disappointed Xbox owner. It's not like us in Europe get a discounted Xbox Live Gold membership seeing as we can access only half the things available in the US.
@Tes
Xbox Live has always been pretty good, MS definitely set a standard there. The 360 hardware isn't bad at all either, if you forget about the RROD issues for a moment. But otherwise, I agree. When this whole Natal thing was announced I already expected it to fail. Motion control is overrated, it only works for a select subset of games, and it gets boring pretty quick. Just look at the many Wii's gathering dust because there are almost no games that are worth playing for longer than 10 minutes a few times.
@Tes
Zune my friend is coming world wide with the release of Windows Phone 7.
@abedinthehouse
One of a host of services that we can't get is coming...underwhelming.
That solves music...something I already get from elsewhere. I'm loath to use services that lock me in and Zune locks you to Windows phones or Zune players. Spotify has followed me from my Nokia phone onto my iPod Touch and now Android phone as well as my PC.
@Tes Indeed. A racing game with "air wheel" as opposed to a proper controller? Save for the dancing game (too bad I don't dance) and the fitness game (the likes of which people are interested in for about a week, if Wii is to be used as a benchmark), it all looks... stupid.
@RoyFokker
Exactly! I was worried I was the only Xbox owner who could see that this was frankly silly. All I could see was "ha ha, take that Sony!" and "This is so epic!" posts while all I could see was Wii Advanced.
@Tes I'm also in England, stuck with very few of the services that seem to get Americans all excited. Sucks.
But at least here, I don't have to worry about Microsoft slapping me on the ass about software patents.
About Kinect: it's just got too high latency. That can mean the difference between fun and infuriating, and here, it really does.
I think there could be an awful lot done with motion gaming that simply isn't. I'm excited about the technology, but underwhelmed about the effort game makers put in. I'm fed up of golf and tennis already.
@Tes Zune doesn't lock you into Zune hardware unless you subscribe to the Zune pass. All the music you buy from the marketplace come in an mp3 format.
@Omen
If that is so it's even worse. There's no value to Zune for a UK citizen because nothing can't get elsewhere is available. I can get mp3 files from Amazon, iTunes, 7digital etc...and all these can already stream to my Xbox. The other services offering their own content I can't access anywhere else are not available.
@Bomberman. My point is that that natal is vastly different to eye toy, otherwise MS would have just sold everyone a $30 camera, and used software. technolgy wise i do think that its far different to the eye toy.
Secondly,I dont see any reason why natal should not work [if devs start supporting it] with a controller or prop in ones hand, for instance a steering wheel, skis poles or a gun, , which will give the user a better experience.
Maybe we will see hybrid games arrive where it uses a combination of controller and motion. For example a fps, where you can strafe with your body, or push them away with your arms, or even turn around faster by moving your head!
@Nidan while I agree with you on hybrid games. This really is the same thing as the eyetoy. They are charging more than $30 because it is more profitable, not because they have a superior product
Actually it seems quite fun to me. I am not a hardcore gamer, I usually play RPGs, I never got used to console controls, and a lot of things about wii seem unnatural to me.
But side-stepping and ducking around the room? This seems like real fun :).
i have to say this is starting to look like fun
Looks like fun. The unresponsivness is probably THE GAMES FAULT, not kinect.
Xbox is still king of social gaming(on consoles) so im sure it"ll only add to the experience.
Im gonna buy it and chances are, so are 75% of all xbox owners....
( im on my 4th xbox, they all overheated, but i love it). Kinect is prolly awsome
@Nestea69 King of social gaming? Seriously? You heard of this Wii thing?
@Nestea69
Social gaming?! With Xbox Live, no device has encouraged more anti-social behaviour and loneliness despite playing with a bunch of people apart from WoW on the PC. I used to go round to my friends with a spare controller...now I just play with them when we're online so I never have to see them. I play with strangers because apart from FIFA 2010 me and my friends all have different game tastes. My Girlfriend can't get her head around the controls so she won't play, so it's alienated me from her while I play too.
She'll play the Wii when we go round to a buddy's place though.
@Tes
That last line was pure win. B-)
@DefPoet
Hay! I'm always there supervising! No funny stuff.
@Nestea69 Problem: THIS IS NOT A COMPLEX GAME. The game mechanics and graphics are quite simple. If this is enough to throw Kinect out of sync with your motions, imagine trying to play any decent FPS-style army game.
@Nestea69 Its a demo from Microsoft designed to showcase the hardware.. Its the games fault not the hardware, you sure ?
Reading this review, in fact reading practically all of the reviews from every gaming site, none of them have been blown away or really impressed with any of it..
The whole point of Kinect is Z axis mapping anything on the x and y could already be done with webcams
This is a list of the launch games:
Zomba Party
Game Party: In Motion
Motionsports
Kinect Adventures
The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout
Kinect Joyride
Kinect Sports
Adrenalin Misfits
Deca Sports Freedom
Dance Central
Dance Masters
Sonic Free Riders
Kinectimals
EA Sports Active 2.0
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved
6 Fitness /exercise games I see listed and at least 3 sports games which are again really fitness games, 2 dance games which are again really fitness games..
What else is there, oh yes a couple of party games and 1 joy ride racing ... Do you really want to stand up and pretend to hold a steering wheel, and have absolutely no feed back ?
Wheres Milo ? Where is the fire breathing kid with all of the facial mapping stomping around ? Where is the skateboard scanning ? Why is this just rehashed Wii games and what appear to be hidef eye toy games ?
@McDuckScrooged
Agreed. These games are just wii trash all over again. I can't see paying $150 for the device just to play the things that made the wii collect dust in our house. This really is a poor showing and is destroying the excitement I had for the project.
@McDuckScrooged at least the Wii has Nintendo platformers, the kinect has no good games.
My gosh, this music sucks. People actually listen to this crap?
The latency is too high. Simple as that.
@Timmmmmm
Forget about latency, I'm not buying two large lights to go behind my TV so I can be blinded while playing a game!
hmmm so ps move is crap,kinect is crap,guess it all on nintendo as usual
like codename refers natal this stuff is still learning to walk,biggest point of all this is new type of input,i think in 5 years we will see real games ,that have fixed the latency,fixed the everything,oh well at least theres a new xbox that hopefully(i know sonyfays hopefully!) fixed the rrod with its extra fans built in same way as alot of modders have done to the originally xbox and had success with.,but i look forward to people modding kinnect for use with pc
@n1hmrd
Even Bill Gates has said that they want to bring Natal (kinect) to the PC, plus it's USB.... I would be surprised if your pc WOULDN'T recognize it a little while after the launch.
@coolicer I'm sure some hackers will make drivers for kinect so it can be used as a webcam
@loismustdie Both In fact
There is a big latency !
did anyone ever think that microsoft has gone out of its way to make everyone on this site NOT its target audience? the most attractive games to anyone above age 7 are the ubisoft fitness 'game' and the harmonix dance game. MS doesnt care if anybody that already owns an xbox (aka 14 to 30 year old guys) buy this. they know they can sell you xboxs already. they are trying to reach a completely different audience. IF MS was interested in selling this to the average engadget or joystiq reader they WOULD have made Halo or Geers or Fable work with kinect in SOME way. The fact is they are intentionally not going after the kinds of people who play those games.
@cmwind
But that's why it's been so frustrating for so long. I was convinced this was not aimed at us as soon at they mentioned NO controllers. But it seems Xbox fanboys HAD to bash the PS3 and talk up this until expectation was way high. I don't want to get a PS3 as I think it costs too much and I already have a Blu-Ray player, but the Move is a much better product.
@cmwind So who are they going after ?
Please provide us with some insight into their "target" market, because I cant see any one other than the most loyal 360 fans buying this right now, especially considering its rumoured $150 price tag.
@McDuckScrooged
i'm not MS i don't know what is said behind closed doors for a target market. the point is this. the 'most loyal' 360 fans are guys who play shooters and we have built xbox a strong base... but that base will only carry MS so far. in the 90's MS had the vision that every desk in the world will have a PC on it. mission accomplished. xbox is their play to get every tv in the world to have an xbox (aka PC) hooked up to it. they will never achieve anything like that as long as they are targeting the current loyal 360 owner. sure MS wants current 360 owners to buy kinect but want they want even more is mom and dad and 7 year old billy and janey to all use the xbox not just moddy teenager mike. cause as long as moody teenage mike is the only one using the xbox to go shoot and kill things the rest of the family is not going to use it as the "primary" living room box. MS wants to eventually eliminate cable boxes and dvd players and all the extra boxes and they want the only box under a tv to be the 360... they WILL NOT achieve that by targeting current "loyal" 360 users.
that being said i too wish kinect had more in depth hardcore games. but like i said. i think it is lacking those for two reasons. one MS made a choice to not have any hardcore games to position kinects image at launch as family friendly. the second reason is this is a launch catalog. remember what we got when the 360 first came out? a bad perfect dark game. kameo. and an old port (call of duty 2) so lets settle down everyone the point is it still shows promise. and everyone who likes move better... it is always an option for MS in a year or two to come out with a xbox wand that adds a trigger and a joystiq so everyone can play the shooters they want with kinect
Your expression on the picture reminds me of Shrek and donkey's "Welcome to Duloc" shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rasphuetyuw
You realize this is alll mime-training, don't you? Microsoft isn't fooling around anymore.
I think video footage exagerates the latency. But, these games look like they'll be responsive enough.
The thing is... I'll just have to get an opportunity to play before I can totally judge. The Your Shape game looks amazing even though it's most likely not something I would typically buy.
Can't wait for star wars.