Matt: I've often been rather bored by the "other two" press conferences. I may perk up a little when something's mentioned that intrigues me—typically something that nobody else in the briefing is remotely interested in—but the endless parade of loud games about taking cover and shooting aliens/foreigners bores the crap out of me.
The conference started out this year in much the same fashion, but the back half of the briefing actually proved to be rather interesting. Where the incompetent and overbranded presentation of Kinect from the night before obscured my ability to make sense of the software Microsoft intended to sell Kinect on, the briefing today actually showed me quite a few interesting things.
I didn't go in totally Natal-blind, but the Kinetic-enabled 360 dashboard demonstrations finally crystallized to me how navigating the UI is supposed to work, and I like what I'm seeing. The whole thing sports a sort of iPhone-like sensibility, using arm gestures for getting around and performing actions. One of my favorite functions of the Wii has always been pointing, and Kinetic's brand of pointing looks really quite cool. And while I'm a touch wary of the fact that the integration with Zune media might mean a limitation of choice, the features like watching a movie with someone far away with the camera's voice chat are similarly interesting.
As for the games, there's a bit more of a mixed bag. I was once a Nintendogs fan, though should Nintendo decide to revive that series, I would take a look but need some substantial changes in order to get back on board with the virtual pups again. Kinectimals wasn't demonstrating anything interesting along those lines, and frankly, the little cub was a little freaky-looking besides. Similarly, I don't see a whole lot of point to Kinect Sports, except to maybe be a checklist for someone who would be buying a 360 instead of a Wii and wanted bowling—the implementations of most of the sports simply don't look compelling at all.
But then there's a few bright spots. Kinect Joy Ride and Kinect Adventures are both fun-looking titles that I think really start to explore the kinds of play you can make when you take Kinect for what it is and don't try to simply ape the kinds of motion control Wii already pioneered. In particular, I got an Excitebots vibe from Joy Ride—a huge plus in my book—as well as just really liking the ideas going into play in Adventures. Both of these titles are on my to-watch list, along with Your Shape—as a still-user of Wii Fit, I'm really intrigued by the new possibilities here, and I can't resist the amusing subtitle.
Don't speak to me about the Star Wars game, though. Crossing swords with Vader with not only no feedback but no physical object in your hand, either? No thanks.
Yes, I am getting a shiny new Xbox 360, probably by time I return from the show. And I'm going to use it immediately for exactly what I always intended to use one for, should I have found it in my price range—getting into XBLA titles I've always wanted to like Pac Man Championship Edition and the Arkedo Series games.
But I am going to be keeping an eye on Kinect. If the price is right when it launches this November—a bundle with some games that actually show it off rather than try to ape the whole sports craze would be ideal—I think I may just be in line to get one of these. I like what it's doing, and I think that it's going to be a good addition to the industry's repertoire of motion controls, once people start appreciating its potential... something I got explained a whole lot more clearly during today's show than an event like last night's ever had a hope of doing.
The conference started out this year in much the same fashion, but the back half of the briefing actually proved to be rather interesting. Where the incompetent and overbranded presentation of Kinect from the night before obscured my ability to make sense of the software Microsoft intended to sell Kinect on, the briefing today actually showed me quite a few interesting things.
I didn't go in totally Natal-blind, but the Kinetic-enabled 360 dashboard demonstrations finally crystallized to me how navigating the UI is supposed to work, and I like what I'm seeing. The whole thing sports a sort of iPhone-like sensibility, using arm gestures for getting around and performing actions. One of my favorite functions of the Wii has always been pointing, and Kinetic's brand of pointing looks really quite cool. And while I'm a touch wary of the fact that the integration with Zune media might mean a limitation of choice, the features like watching a movie with someone far away with the camera's voice chat are similarly interesting.
As for the games, there's a bit more of a mixed bag. I was once a Nintendogs fan, though should Nintendo decide to revive that series, I would take a look but need some substantial changes in order to get back on board with the virtual pups again. Kinectimals wasn't demonstrating anything interesting along those lines, and frankly, the little cub was a little freaky-looking besides. Similarly, I don't see a whole lot of point to Kinect Sports, except to maybe be a checklist for someone who would be buying a 360 instead of a Wii and wanted bowling—the implementations of most of the sports simply don't look compelling at all.
But then there's a few bright spots. Kinect Joy Ride and Kinect Adventures are both fun-looking titles that I think really start to explore the kinds of play you can make when you take Kinect for what it is and don't try to simply ape the kinds of motion control Wii already pioneered. In particular, I got an Excitebots vibe from Joy Ride—a huge plus in my book—as well as just really liking the ideas going into play in Adventures. Both of these titles are on my to-watch list, along with Your Shape—as a still-user of Wii Fit, I'm really intrigued by the new possibilities here, and I can't resist the amusing subtitle.
Don't speak to me about the Star Wars game, though. Crossing swords with Vader with not only no feedback but no physical object in your hand, either? No thanks.
Yes, I am getting a shiny new Xbox 360, probably by time I return from the show. And I'm going to use it immediately for exactly what I always intended to use one for, should I have found it in my price range—getting into XBLA titles I've always wanted to like Pac Man Championship Edition and the Arkedo Series games.
But I am going to be keeping an eye on Kinect. If the price is right when it launches this November—a bundle with some games that actually show it off rather than try to ape the whole sports craze would be ideal—I think I may just be in line to get one of these. I like what it's doing, and I think that it's going to be a good addition to the industry's repertoire of motion controls, once people start appreciating its potential... something I got explained a whole lot more clearly during today's show than an event like last night's ever had a hope of doing.