Much of the excitement surrounding the new Xbox can be directly attributed to the next-gen Kinect sensor. Building off what the original Kinect started this takes NUI (natural user interaction) to the next level. From natural speech recognition to more accurate facial recognition and more detailed body motion capture. Kinect has been improved so much it's almost unfair to compare with the original incarnation. In this article let's go over what we know.
The New Xbox Revealed
It’s been an exciting couple weeks for Xbox fans. The new console was announced dubbed the “Xbox One” and the next-generation Kinect was debuted and detailed. We’ll give a brief synopsis of the new system as well as more in depth analysis of the new Kinect sensor in a later piece.
Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Gameplay Screenshots
After a new trailer last month, Capcom decided to demo Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor at this years Tokyo Game Show. Japan's biggest video game magazine Famitsu have had a chance to see the game in action, bringing us our first shots of gameplay.
Project Draco Revealed - Screens and Gameplay Details
After a gameplay demonstration at this years Tokyo Game Show, we bring you all of the latest screenshots and gameplay details from one of Kinect's most anticipated upcoming releases.
Just What Is Fable: The Journey? - A Closer Preview
We take a deeper look at Lionheads upcoming Kinect Fable title to find out just what the game actually is; Not on rails -- on reigns.
Grasshopper Manufacture Officially Reveal Diabolical Pitch -- Video Demonstration
Having been announced last year as Codename D, Grasshopper Manufacture officially reveal their upcoming Kinect game, Diabolical Pitch. Click for all of the gameplay details as well as a video preview!
Remember that video of someone playing Skyrim with voice contros? Well it clearly inspired the people over at Bethesda as the game is to be patched to support Kinect with over 200 voice controls added allowing players to equip magic and weapons, give commands and, of course, do dragon shouts.
The update will be free and available later this month. Bethesda also announced that the first set of additional content including new quests and locations will unveiled soon, exclusively for the Xbox 360. Check out the Skyrim Kinect trailer below!
Skyrim is one of the biggest games of the year, and there are certainly many aspects of it that conjure up exciting ideas for Kinect fans. Just a couple of days ago Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski even got excited by the notion.
"I want to play Skyrim and cast my spells using my hand or maybe occasionally doing some other strategy things in other types of games using hand gestures or voice, and do an integrated Kinect experience that has both. That's the thing that excites me the most" he said.
And now thanks to YouTube user KinectFAAST, Bleszinski's dream has become a reality. Using a program called FAAST, he was able to convert Kinect gestures into keystrokes. He also used a program called VAC to pair spoken words with keystrokes. This allows the player to, for example, swing their arm to hack with a sword. The left arm is used to control the players view, as well as the aiming of any equipped magic.
Nagivation is handled similarly to Rise of Nightmares, with the player putting one foot forward to move, and subtle leaning controlling direction. Voice control helps with menu navigation and equipping weapons and magic, as well as bringing up the map or starting a conversation with an NPC.
None of this is likely to excite the majority of Skyrims fans. As Bleszinsky states, "hardcore gamers are terrified by [Kinect], to the point where they get fiercely defensive", but there is definitely room for Kinect to complement a controller instead of necessarily replacing it here. The voice commands alone could be beneficial and genuinely immersive and Mass Effect 3 will hopefully be the first of many games that use voice for a tactical advantage.
Check out the full video below. Lets hope we'll get to see an actual retail game with this much ambition soon. We're looking at you, Ryse.
With Kinect support slowly making its way into more traditional games and genres, if only to complement the controller in the likes of Mass Effect 3 and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, could Bethesda be next to make use of Kinect in its future titles?
"We support technology like that when we feel the addition of it makes sense." Bethesda's VP of PR Pete Hines told MCV
"I think we would look to support things, whether it be a special type of control or whatever, when it does something we can’t already do with a normal controller. Our motto has always been: We want to make our games available to the widest audience possible on whatever platforms that will support the game.
So to whatever extent new consoles fit with the kind of games we are making and support them technologically, we would certainly do that." he added.
Bethesda's highly anticipated RPG, Skyrim, will not feature Kinect, but it is good to hear that Kinect support isn't out of the questions for future titles. With Fable: The Journey featuring a first person spell-casting system using Kinect, we think there is ample opportunity for similar experiences to find their way into other games.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Glen
Remember that video of someone playing Skyrim with voice contros? Well it clearly inspired the people over at Bethesda as the game is to be patched to support Kinect with over 200 voice controls added allowing players to equip magic and weapons, give commands and, of course, do dragon shouts.
