A Kinected World

Call me a fan girl, but I think a little revolution snuck up on us while we weren’t looking.

[nepotism alert: I do work at Microsoft, but not currently in games. However I have been hearing about Kinect for a long time, under the codename Project Natal, whispered around the usability labs with a reverance usually limited to the more deserving nirvana or mecca.]

Moving your body instead of your controller(s) creates a range of viscera that surely denote a million possible magic circles. Sure Wii paved the way and some may continue to like that experience, but this is true evolution. The controller-less interface liberates developers to entertain any possibility for interaction. Select the best aspects, refine them, imagine what’s possible, and what people want that they don’t even know they want.

I have been watching my kid play since digital Santa delivered the magic device: dancing, delighted, shouting AWESOME!! repeatedly, enchanted by the physical experiences enabled by a small black bar, with wonder shouting ‘Mommy, I can fly!!’, nurturing pets and programming hamsters to compliment her in the way she loves. Always, always MOVING! ‘You can do two players and you don’t have to select anything, the second person can just jump right in!’, she crows. Techno-ambivalent auntie is even awed as they play dodgeball with one person controlling legs and another controls arms.

I'm enchanted in a somewhat uncustomary way:  gamer-me, parent-me, vain-me (unboring exercise!), citizen-me and educator-me. We’re living in the future, people.

And now we have it, a Kinected WoW. Next time you see me: 30 pounds lighter.

Comments

[Richard]

1.

>The controller-less interface liberates developers to entertain any possibility for interaction

Thus far, however, they've only seemed to use it for controlling representations of the human body. When we see AAA games that use it for controlling armies or managing a soccer team or controlling trading fleets or building cities, then we're in with a chance of getting something more liberating.

Personally, though, I'm a bit wary of the claims that it's the future of computer gaming. It's some of the future, but its physicality is actually a turn-off for some people. I spend hours every night playing games; that's not something I could do on a Kinect even if I were young and fit.

You've seen WoW with a Kinect interface, of course?

Richard

[Chris]

2.

Wii paved the way? Well, created the commercial momentum if nothing else. Technically speaking, Sony's EyeToy is clearly the precursor of Kinnect.

I'm convinced this is one of the interfaces that will move forward, but unconvinced this will replace conventional control mechanisms. I wrote about this late last year in this post.

Best wishes!

[Lisa Galarneau]

3.

Don't disagree with any of the comments, thanks!... (and certainly agree that sitting is needed for marathon gaming).

I should probably clarify that I was blogging from elated self, not pragmatic self. It's certainly just one step along the way... to the holodeck?! ;-)

[[email protected]]

4.

Hi Lisa,

I see two problems with this.

1. MMOs are massively multiplayer. Chatting with fellow players is amuch more central to the game than soloing crocodiles in the swamps. If an interface does not support chatting it will not be usable for these kind of online games. A head set might help if you are only playing with people in the same voice chat but other than that it is a problem.

2. Skip Rizzo explaines how great it will be to replace the game pad and thumb movement with body movement. Maybe you could replace a gamepad. However, World of Warcraft is normally not played with a game pad (save of a few hardcore pvp heroes who probably don't type to much but play in an environment where you have to be way to quick in your reactions for the Kinect as of now). It seems to me that they just used World of Warcraft because it is well-known and brings more attention. Nothing wrong with that. It just seems to me that they could use a bit more knowledge of the actual requirements of game interfaces or maybe they should play the games a bit more they are designing interfaces for.

I agree with you that it should be awesome fun to play this way once it works well. I am looking forward to swinging my virtual sword myself, hell I do! However, I think we would get there faster if there was a bit more attention payed to the actual game.

Greetings,
Patrick Prax

[Cunzy1 1]

5.

Yep and judging from how the Wii development has evolved we'll probably end up with five obvious uses of the tech copycatted into oblivion whilst more interesting uses become considered too 'risky'.

Also, that's if the games work in the first place. More and more so the Xbox 360 and PS3 resemble PCs....