After more than a year spent waiting I finally got to try Microsoft’s new motion control system, which was given the official name Kinect at last week’s E3 video game conference in Los Angeles. Microsoft brought the device—a sleek, motorized black bar consisting of infrared and RGB cameras as well as a microphone—to Toronto to let local journalists get…well, not hands-on time since one doesn’t actually touch it, but perhaps face time.
First impression: This technology works, and it works well.
The infrared camera found and recognized my body almost instantly, and it was difficult to trick it into losing track of me. I was told it looks for objects that look like people and then assigns them a wireframe with joints at hips, knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows, and wrists (you don’t see a wireframe in-game—I was shown it as part of a demonstration explaining the technology). The only significant recognition error I saw Kinect make was when it briefly interpreted a swinging jacket on the back of a chair as a torso, but that’s less a slight and more a testament to its acute sensitivity.
And sensitivity is just what players want.
My movements were translated to game inputs with a high level of accuracy. I shuffled my avatar around on a raft to tip it left and right as I steered it down a raging river. I ducked, sidestepped, and jumped to make my avatar avoid obstacles in a gauntlet. I pretended my hands were holding a steering wheel to maneuver a car around a small racing track, making subtle movements to correct direction. I reached out and stroked a virtual baby cheetah’s head, ear, and chin with my hand.
I did all of these things intuitively and without frustration. The camera rarely missed a movement, and the delay between my actions and those of my avatar was so slight that I’d guess most casual players wouldn’t even notice it.
So Kinect works—and better than I’d have thought.
Still, I foresee some challenges, the first being the space required to play some of Kinect's more active games.
Most of the activities I tried demanded plenty of movement—much more than any Wii game I’ve played. The key differentiator is that the player’s feet are now involved, which means we no longer stand in one spot and just move our arms; we actually move around the room.
I’d estimate that I was moving left and right at least three metres while I was steering the raft and a couple of metres forward and backward in the handball game. And that doesn’t include the two metres between my movement zone and the television—space necessary in order for the camera to get a full picture of your body and the area in which it moves—or my flailing limbs.
This is just a guess, but I reckon some of the games I tried require up to 150 square feet of clear space in order to take full advantage of the sort of movement they promote. I can’t imagine regularly manufacturing that kind of space in my smallish living room. I’d have to move all of the furniture into the dining area.
Microsoft’s reps pointed out that sometimes you can get away with just a lean, which takes up less space than a shuffle, but try doing that in, say, the gauntlet game, and your body will still hit obstacles.
Check out this Parade Magazine video, which made the rounds just before E3, to get a clearer idea of the sort of space some Kinect games demand. You’ll note the room is almost completely cleared of furniture.
You can see that space requirements grow when you add more players. You can also see that there is a very real risk of players bumping into each other. In a game like handball, for example, you could easily accidentally hit a fellow player should you both happen to be going after the same ball.
Of course, all of the images floating around online depicting flat-screen televisions shattered by Wii remotes didn’t keep tens of millions of people from buying a Wii, so I doubt the occasional story of a Kinect-induced bruise or black eye will keep people from buying Microsoft’s new interface.
However, what might keep them from jumping on board is a combination of what I’ll call “motion control fatigue” and consumer perception that Nintendo, not Microsoft, makes games for kids.
Over the years this blog has seen countless reader comments written by disillusioned consumers who say their Wiis are gathering dust. I take that as an indication that there are many people out there who saw Nintendo’s much hyped and inexpensive machine as an interactive novelty worth taking a risk on, but that after a few weeks of playing Wii Sports they grew tired of motion-enabled gaming.
Of course, there is one group of people who never seem to grow tired of motion control: kids. That makes sense, given that children are less inhibited and more active by nature. They’re much more likely to get into the swing of things (figuratively and literally) by standing up and flapping their limbs in family friendly games.
Based on the Kinect titles I’ve seen and Microsoft’s messaging about expanding its audience, it seems clear that this new interface is Microsoft’s attempt to court these youthful players.
Thing is, the Xbox 360 has a reputation for catering to mature players. Sure, Microsoft’s console gets its fair share of Disney movie adaptations, but its bread and butter are adults who enjoy shooters, action games, and RPGs. The Xbox 360 will need a major image makeover in order convince parents that it's a viable alternative to the kid-friendly Wii, and that they will be able to offer a family friendly gaming experience and breadth of software that’s better than what they can get from not just the Wii, but also Sony’s new PlayStation Move.
Which brings us to the Kinect’s final challenge: cost.
Microsoft has yet to officially price its new interface, but Gamestop in the U.S. is already taking preorders for the Kinect, tagging the unit at $150. This sounds expensive. The new Xbox 360 250GB costs $300, so people yet to purchase Microsoft’s console—and let’s face it, Microsoft’s talk about expanding its audience means that these are the people the Kinect is being targeted at—are looking at a $450 hardware bill. That’s a far cry more than the $200 Nintendo is asking for a Wii, which comes with one of the system’s best games.
However, this is one battle Microsoft should be able to win—assuming they do a good job of disseminating information.
The Wii may cost just $200 to start, but if you want it to be a true multiplayer platform—which, when it comes down to it, is really what the Wii is designed to be—you’ll need to purchase up to three more Wii remotes and nunchuks for a total of $210 dollars, which puts the Wii’s total price almost on par with a much more powerful, high-definition Xbox 360 bundled with a Kinect. (Keep in mind you just need one Kinect, not four, for multiplayer gaming).
Moving to Sony's offering, people without a PlayStation 3 who want to get in on multiplayer action with the Move will be looking at a $400 PlayStation 3-with-Move bundle to start, plus as many as three more $50 Move controllers and up to four $30 Navigation controllers (Sony’s answer to the Wii’s nunchuk), for a potential grand total of $670.
Factor in rumours that a cheaper version of the new Xbox 360 sku is in the works (with less storage, one would assume), and suddenly Microsoft's motion control system seems highly competitive.
I can’t help but think that had Microsoft introduced Kinect at the start of this generation the console landscape might look a lot different than it does today. Kinect is the most sensitive and accurate motion control system I’ve yet encountered. Had it launched in tandem with the Xbox 360—and been accompanied by software that made the most of its advantages—it surely would have taken some of the wind out of the Wii’s billowing sails.
However, superior technology doesn’t automatically trump in the world of consumer electronics; timing and brand names often play more important roles. In launching Kinect this late for a platform now firmly established as one geared for core gamers, Microsoft may have missed out on the opportunity to capture many single-console households in which only the kids play.
Regardless of the outcome, it should be interesting to watch the new motion control battle when it begins this fall.
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