Good uses for Kinect

[Inspector Fowler]

Like a lot of you guys, I watched the Kinect demos from E3 and it didn't seem that special to me. I have a Wii, and it functions as a small but effective blue light for my living room at night. I respect that the Kinect technology is much more advanced than Wii tech, but the type of game that seems to be inspired from the device is just not my style.

But I think there are some good uses for the tech - I believe that the developers can make their own game using the tech, not make the game for the tech.

So for example: Many modern shooters use flashbangs but sometimes the rules on when you get "banged" seem arbitrary - if you face away are you not blinded? Is everybody in the room blinded regardless of which direction they were facing?

Well, why not have Kinect tell if you closed your eyes when the bang went off - it's how people really do it, right? (As far as the ears go, they could even have you cover your ear or ears, although even our local SWAT team has noise suppressing headphones that limit the sounds of weapons).

Just think, something as simple as holding your eyes shut for a second - it keeps you immersed in the game.

What about hand signals in a tactical shooter game? Slowly creeping through the underbrush when you spot a trap or a lone scout ahead. Your guys will take a few seconds to notice you've stopped, or you can raise a hand in the air with a specific signal to stop them more quickly.

What about wiping dirt/grime/mud off your goggles if you've been submerged, etc?

I don't like it when every motion has to be recreated, because after a while it feels fake. But voice control, when it worked, in the old Rainbow Sixes was pretty awesome, and although I tend to dismiss Kinect I think some clever people could use the tech to good end.

Also, I really liked putting my face on a character in R6:V and I think Kinect could do that in about 10 seconds. :D

[Widgetcraft]

Well, why not have Kinect tell if you closed your eyes when the bang went off - it's how people really do it, right?

I really, really doubt Kinect is capable of that.

What about hand signals in a tactical shooter game? Slowly creeping through the underbrush when you spot a trap or a lone scout ahead. Your guys will take a few seconds to notice you've stopped, or you can raise a hand in the air with a specific signal to stop them more quickly.

More plausible, but I think most people will prefer voice chat.

[Jason]

You have some good ideas. How about checking behind you in flight/space sims by turning your head?Maybe ducking down to duck down in the game. There's all kind of ways the Kinect tech can be used to enhance and improve existing games. I hope the developers are given the chance to do so instead of just making Wii games.

More plausible, but I think most people will prefer voice chat.
Why not both? If you talk close to an enemy in the real world, he would know you were there just like your team. Why not have the same in games? That would make people want to use hand signs instead of chat.

[mightbe]

I really, really doubt Kinect is capable of that.

It can track eye movement and whether or not your eyes are closed as long as you're close enough. The problem is the 120ms or so of lag.

[Farsight]

I don't see why you wouldn't go all out and make a shooter game where you actually shoot. Even the pre-MotionPlus Wii handled those well. Doing it by either pointing at the screen and pressing a gamepad button (holding the pad in either your pointing or other hand), or with an -optional- gun controller (just a remolded gamepad, so not too expensive) would end the days of the gamepad-controlled shooter forever.

I'm less interested in adding gimmicky side features to otherwise unchanged games as I am in game-changers. The Wii lacked true game-changers because its motion-detection was so crude, its hardware was so underpowered and third-party support was tepid at best. Kinect will absolutely rectify the first two issues... we'll see about the third.

Once the simplistic launch titles are out of the way and developers have extended time to really utilize the technology, I have no doubt we're going to see some really innovative games.

[Chaos Machine]

id like to see a mechwarrior/mechassault game for the 360 using the kinect as the control scheme, also id like to see a RTS game using the controls. like for instance, drawing a box around units to select, and double tapping an area to initiate an attack or move order.

[Narradisall]

I still hold that I would *love* to see the type of tech showed with the whole 'Kate and Milo' thing applied to games like Elder Scrolls, etc where the dialogue would be more interactive.

[carnage11]

The problem with turning your head to look or look behind is that the screen is still in front of you and if you turn your head you won't be able to see it. Until we get glasses or head gear, an actual head activated viewing hat is not possible.

[Spectre-7]

The problem is the 120ms or so of lag.

A bit of food for thought.
Gamasutra -- Measuring Responsiveness in Video Games (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3725/measuring_responsiveness_in_video_.php)
Eurogamer/DigitalFoundry -- Console Gaming: The Lag Factor (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-lag-factor-article)

[Jason]

The problem with turning your head to look or look behind is that the screen is still in front of you and if you turn your head you won't be able to see it. Until we get glasses or head gear, an actual head activated viewing hat is not possible.

Too true. Perhaps just turning your head a fraction instead?

[Karak]

A mechwarrior game would be good as the bulky huge feeling of moving a mech would fit with the kinetic. I could see really enjoying a mech game.

[Inspector Fowler]

Too true. Perhaps just turning your head a fraction instead?

This is, I believe, how the TrackIR stuff for PC works.

Also, I was talking more about hand signals for AI teammates.

I'm not keen on actually aiming, because I will get really tired, really fast, of holding my hands up like I've got a pistol or rifle. Plus, how would accuracy be determined in that arena?

[inmostlight]

A mechwarrior game would be good as the bulky huge feeling of moving a mech would fit with the kinetic. I could see really enjoying a mech game.

I think there's a lot of potential there for games where you can use your legs -- neither the Wii nor Move can do that. Given the license it would probably turn out crappy, but c'mon, somebody needs to do a Godzilla game where you stomp around, kicking over buildings and squashing tanks and stuff. Or make it a giant robot like you said, or other big monster if you can't get the Godzilla license.

Similarly I bet a revamped version of Boom Blox would be even more fun than the original.

[carnage11]

I think there's a lot of potential there for games where you can use your legs -- neither the Wii nor Move can do that. Given the license it would probably turn out crappy, but c'mon, somebody needs to do a Godzilla game where you stomp around, kicking over buildings and squashing tanks and stuff. Or make it a giant robot like you said, or other big monster if you can't get the Godzilla license.

Similarly I bet a revamped version of Boom Blox would be even more fun than the original.

You can kind of use your legs with the Wii Balance Board.

[inmostlight]

You can kind of use your legs with the Wii Balance Board.

Yeah, but it just sort of tracks the pressure of standing on it. Kinect should register me winding back and kicking over a skyscraper. :)

[Jason]

I think there's a lot of potential there for games where you can use your legs -- neither the Wii nor Move can do that. Given the license it would probably turn out crappy, but c'mon, somebody needs to do a Godzilla game where you stomp around, kicking over buildings and squashing tanks and stuff. Or make it a giant robot like you said, or other big monster if you can't get the Godzilla license.

Similarly I bet a revamped version of Boom Blox would be even more fun than the original.

A Godzilla game like you described would be fun. You could also do an update of the old giant monster rampage arcade game if you didn't want to pay for the Godzilla license.

[roboninja]

The problem with turning your head to look or look behind is that the screen is still in front of you and if you turn your head you won't be able to see it. Until we get glasses or head gear, an actual head activated viewing hat is not possible.

This is what I did not understand about all those swoons over turning your head in a racing game. You turned your head, so the display now shows out your car window. But now you cannot see the TV. Does not seem to be very beneficial. If it was tuned so that small head movements triggered the "look around" feature, then you would need to hold your head pretty still to still view forward. Just does not seem like it would work.

[carnage11]

This is what I did not understand about all those swoons over turning your head in a racing game. You turned your head, so the display now shows out your car window. But now you cannot see the TV. Does not seem to be very beneficial. If it was tuned so that small head movements triggered the "look around" feature, then you would need to hold your head pretty still to still view forward. Just does not seem like it would work.

Yeah, it'd be awesome on a three screen surround set up though. Then again, with three screens you wouldn't need to track your head, just look to the right and the screen is already there. I don't know, I guess with some imagination, head tracking could be useful, but as far as viewing orientation it just doesn't make sense.

[Farsight]

I'm not keen on actually aiming, because I will get really tired, really fast, of holding my hands up like I've got a pistol or rifle.

Seriously? Gun games exhaust you? How do you make it through the day with arms so weak you can't open doors or wave to people? :)

Plus, how would accuracy be determined in that arena?

By where you point... the Wii even manages this with its gimpy motion controls.

[Talanvor]

Well first they have to patch "sitting down" into Kinect. Unless, you know, you play shooters standing up.

[J Arcane]

The problem with all these motion control systems is they focus on simulating minor component actions as a gimmick, rather than creating an actual simulation of movement within a virtual world.

Kinect theoretically would've had the best hardware to overcome this, but instead they cheaped out on the separate accelerator so now the CPU has to do all the work, which means less room for the actual game part.

I don't think the hardware is there right now to create a truly immersive motion experience.

[Mdot]

I always felt like the tech would be more successful for "hardcore games" if it was used in conjunction with traditional control schemes. I was hoping for a game to incorporate something like this at E3 to show off the different uses of Kinect instead of for just "party games", but nothing I saw really captured this. Not sure how much of a factor the whole Kinect-running-off-the-360-processor thing is in terms of triple-A titles using the accessory.

[rein]

I think something like Steel Battalion would be cool.

[DeathtollWRX]

id like to see a mechwarrior/mechassault game for the 360 using the kinect as the control scheme, also id like to see a RTS game using the controls. like for instance, drawing a box around units to select, and double tapping an area to initiate an attack or move order.

Everytime someone mentions the possiblity of a new mechwarrior game I get really happy.

Imagine having the virutal controls on the screen then using your virtual hands to flick switches and control the mech. You would have to sit on a chair to play the game. The kinect would monitor your head movement as you look around the cocking..

(Arming LRM-10 "as I click the switches above my head"...)

[RandoM51]

I'm going to teach it to respond to cat meows and then tape a spotlight to it.

[Inspector Fowler]

Seriously? Gun games exhaust you? How do you make it through the day with arms so weak you can't open doors or wave to people? :)

Seriously, just hold your arms up in front of you. Don't put them down, now your guy thinks he's reloading or crawling or something. Don't scratch your nose, dammit, how does he know where you're aiming? Although, in a sick sense of humor moment, it would make it easy to kill your own character this way...

Now...just...hold you arms like that for a 4 hour gaming session.

Just holding your empty arms up in front of you for 15 minutes without putting them down - you'll be tired.

As far as where you point - I don't want a light-gun style aiming thing on the screen. Plus, how do I move now? How can I run? How do I kneel and low-crawl? I video game in a very, very small room, and in any case - if I want to simulate all those actions I'll go do it in the real world playing paintball.

[Farsight]

Now...just...hold you arms like that for a 4 hour gaming session.

I played Metroid Wii for long periods without suffering debilitating fatigue. You don't have to hold your arm extended and tensed constantly.

People who can't handle moving something other than their thumbs for a while probably need Kinect even more. :)

As far as where you point - I don't want a light-gun style aiming thing on the screen.

A targeting cursor? Tons of shooters already have those.

Plus, how do I move now?

Nothing's stopping games from using Kinect and a thumbstick.

[Inspector Fowler]

I guess we're looking at a couple different types of games here, Farsight.

If I'm not "pointing" my fake gun finger at the screen, why would I use Kinect at all for aiming? I guess what I'm asking is that if I'm holding the controller for moving, do I then hold the controller up for shooting? Or do I just hold it in my lap and move it slightly, a la the Wii? If that's the case, what it the Kinect technology really doing for me? Now it's just Playstation Move, they've already shown that it works okay with SOCOM.

The reticle for light gun games is bizarre because aiming is separate from moving...to a point. It flies around the screen quickly until you get to the edge, and then you kind of puuuuush into a turn. Also, what about more hardcore games where you need the iron sights up to aim?

I guess I'm not really envisioning it very well - holding the controller to move, reload, etc, but moving your hands to aim? Is that kind of what you're after?

That would frustrate me but I can see how it would appeal to some gamers. It sounds like what you're talking about has been envisioned perfectly in Move, the SOCOM stuff seemed somewhat appealing - the reason M&K is so "precise" is because you're using larger muscle groups for smaller movements. If you could use your whole arm to aim you could be incredibly precise.

[carnage11]

So when's the porn game come out where I aim with my penis. Oops! I missed. A wrong hole scores me bonus points? Nice. :cool:

[Yeti2005]

I want to see a Kinect Dragon's Lair. I'm still not going to buy it but I'd play that at a friends house (even though it would be tiring).