Kinect - You're the controller

[ffc]

Oh and whoever said Dance Masters is better than Dance Central clearly does not know what they are talking about. Dance Masters just has you moving a limb, and any limb really it doesn't matter to a certain part on the screen. That game is more about memorizing positions than it actually dancing and learning the moves. In Dance Central you are actually performing real moves for each song and they will talk you through each step if you require it.

Depends on what you're looking for.  If you want DDR arcade style dancing ("memorizing positions"), Night of Fire (and who doesn't??), your image on stage in all its real-time J-Pop glory, and two-players simultaneously, DanceMasters is the way to go.  It's hilarious two-player, and fun to watch people fail during a tricky/unknown sequence or cheer for hitting rapid combos.  Really captures the DDR spirit.

[Strazos]

Para Para...

[ffc]

I think you mean  .  If you don't think I'd bust this out instead of my p-p-p-poker face you better clear the dance floor.   <---green

[Rendakor]

Someone has already hacked the Kinect and created open source drivers. MS is not happy. Sauce.

[Phildo]

I just want to chime in and say that Dance Central is pretty awesome, but I'm glad someone else in my house actually paid for it.  And also that I can kick their ass in it.

[KallDrexx]

I'm having a lot of fun with it, though it helps that there are always 3-4 people at my girlfriend's place.

[NiX]

I just want to chime in and say that Dance Central is pretty awesome, but I'm glad someone else in my house actually paid for it.  And also that I can kick their ass in it.

Me too!

[Kitsune]

If they ever made an Avatar game where you had to perform the various bending katas to make things happen, I would buy a 360 and a kinect the day it came out.

[Xilren's Twin]

My 10 year old is getting this for Christmas and i tend to agree that this will fill the same sort of social gaming space as Rock Band and it's ilk (which includes 90% or more of Wii games for that matter).  I also give it about the same 3 year populairty span.   Im not sure how you could pull off a "serious" game like an FPS or other high speed button mashing game like a Soul Calibur just due to the movement speed; twicthing several fingers a fraction of an inch repetatively is a heck of a lot faster than actually throwing a real punch or kick.

That being said, I;m sure there will be moneyhats to be made of certain concepts.  Harry Potter gestural wand waving anyone?

[Paelos]

I could see a kickboxing game being very fun/funny/destructive

[NiX]

10 days and 1 million units sold. Worldwide is my assumption and Asia hasn't launched yet, though with their lack of space, I don't think it'll be such a huge hit.

[HaemishM]

I already own a Wii.

The last time I turned it on, I still had a BioWare paycheck..

This. Once I got my 360, my Wii went into the bedroom for my wife to use. It hadn't been used for much else other than a Netflix streaming device for a while anyway. There were a few good motion control games when the system came out but other than Nintendo games, most of the 3rd party stuff was either total shit or horribly underwhelming. Developers have no fucking clue how to think outside the controller box these days.

[Yegolev]

Does "move my arm" still equal "mash a button"?

This is all I need to know.

[HaemishM]

That was my biggest problem with most of the Wii games. All the devs could think of was mapping button presses to non-intuitive motions that had nothing whatsoever to do with my avatar's onscreen actions. Fuck that. If you aren't even going to bother trying, why should I bother paying?

[KallDrexx]

Does "move my arm" still equal "mash a button"?

This is all I need to know.

Not in the games I have played so far (which is only Dance Central and the Kinect Adventure mini-games)

[tgr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqVD2FyTyzI

[KallDrexx]

Lol, we've come pretty close to doing that a few times.

[DLRiley]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqVD2FyTyzI

Now imagine doing that for your favorite RPG...for two hours 

[Rasix]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqVD2FyTyzI

Kinect - You're the doofus.

[Daeven]

I'm waiting for the ultimate marriage of the absurd:

Rock Band 4: Air Guitar Victory Edition!

[ffc]

Does "move my arm" still equal "mash a button"?

This is all I need to know.

If the Harry Potter game is any indication of things to come, I say yes.  :(

[DLRiley]

Does "move my arm" still equal "mash a button"?

This is all I need to know.

If the Harry Potter game is any indication of things to come, I say yes.  :(

Wait is he moving on rails 

[tgr]

"The players want a different controller than the pad to play games with. Oh, I know! Let's make an even clunkier interface!"

Seriously, that looked awful. PS Move at least looks like it would be fun to use in, say, a fencing game. Or maybe even in a boxing game.

[Sir T]

That arm movement says so much...

[Azazel]

On one hand, that looks like awesomely immersive gameplay.

On the other hand, I know how to have an even better time making the very same gesture...

[Koyasha]

I can't tell whether he's controlling his facing in any way or not.  It looks to me as though all he's doing is shaking his hand to fire, and the rest is entirely automated.  Including aiming - the hand movement looked the same whether the shots were going up, down, or whatever.  I would hope I'm wrong, and there's more going on there than I can clearly discern.

[Margalis]

"You are the controller" is not really the right term. Many of the games are basically Simon Says and you are the one being controlled. In Dance Central, for example, you aren't actually controlling anything at all.

[01101010]

I think they should bring back Dragon's Lair to play on this system... 

[DLRiley]

Well unlike the Wii, the Xbox 360 has 3rd party support which means it may be interesting to see what major developers do with full body motion control. But the game industry has a long history of rejecting technology too uppity for its time.

[Sir T]

Well unlike the Wii, the Xbox 360 has 3rd party support which means it may be interesting to see what major developers do with full body motion control. But the game industry has a long history of rejecting technology too uppity for its time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWtuKm6C1Sw

Funny that everyone who saw that said it was completely dumb...

[DLRiley]

Well unlike the Wii, the Xbox 360 has 3rd party support which means it may be interesting to see what major developers do with full body motion control. But the game industry has a long history of rejecting technology too uppity for its time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWtuKm6C1Sw

Funny that everyone who saw that said it was completely dumb...

Didn't make it past the first 45 seconds.

[HaemishM]

You know, I didn't mind it so much when I first saw that movie, but it really looks fucking awful now.

[Lantyssa]

It looked pretty awful then, too.

[Yegolev]

Well unlike the Wii, the Xbox 360 has 3rd party support

There are some, like Boom Blox, which is pretty fun.

I'm not suggesting anyone be optimistic about Kinect games.

[Ghambit]

As has been said, the only truly viable Kinect games are those emulating The Last Airbender.  Intricate katas that translate into spectacular magic, etc.  With voice, I guess you could add in some spell recitations also.  There are a few good designs in these thoughts I believe, but not many.

Tbh, my favorite Kinect design idea was simply a new type of MtG UI using voice and katas to throw spells, instead of just tossing the card in front of the camera ala 'Eye of Judgement.'