Recently I got the chance to try out Microsoft’s new killer accessory, Kinect. The most technically accurate description of Kinect would be that (take a deep breath) it’s a webcam-like peripheral which combines complex depth perception and voice recognition technology to allow interaction with an Xbox console without the use of a physical controller (aaand breathe). But if that description means nothing more to you than an elaborate amalgamation of syllables, let me describe how I was first introduced to Kinect. I had just walked into a room bustling with eye level HD screens when a sweaty, fifty-something Microsoft employee approached me and asked, in an enthusiastic but slightly out of breath voice, if I wanted to play a game with him. What followed was the first time I ever played a video game with someone who had grey hair.
That’s the point of Kinect, to get a larger demographic – young kids, women, people over thirty -in front of an Xbox 360. And it’s selling point is that there is no controller; there is only your body. Menu screens are navigated by simply pointing your arm at a selection, whilst games are played with your whole body, physically. The motivations behind such a move are obvious when you consider the success of Nintendo’s Wii, which replaced strange, knobbly controllers with an accessible white stick that you wave around. But by removing any sort of controller from the Kinect experience, is Microsoft making the logical next step towards total gaming accessibility, or a huge mistake?
At first, the Kinect device seems slick. For the first five seconds or so, it’s hard to repress the innermost sense of glee at witnessing your in-game avatar move its body in rhythm with your own. But sophisticated manoeuvres – such as scratching your head or spinning around – are often interpreted wrongly by the device, resulting in spasms or jerky movement. Such immersion-breaking glitches are commonplace when using Kinect; when riding the rapids with another person in Kinect Adventures, the raft will move erratically in response to your movement, and when bowling in Kinect Sports the ball will often refuse to leave your grip.
Other than highlighting the system’s imperfection, such detection problems flag up a further drawback; that the system has a learning curve. You don’t feel like you’re inside the game, but rather, that your avatar is a rather slow and ignorant mime which you have to guide with broad, obvious movements. It takes time to learn how Kinect responds to you, just as it takes time to learn how the buttons and sticks of a controller work; something which may prove to be a barrier to the gaming-illiterate demographic which Kinect is aimed at.
In regards to the actual games, the ones I got to try out were of varying quality. Kinect Adventures Seemed to be the most entertaining, and often required the player to make full use of their body to duck, dodge and jump through the levels. Kinect sports, being Microsoft’s answer to Wii Sports, worked well enough – which is to say that seemed exactly the same as its rival. Finally Joy Ride, a racing game in which the player controlled their cart by outstretching their arms and turning a non-existent steering wheel, felt awful to play. Even if the imaginary wheel was a responsive or effective way to control the cart, which is wasn’t, it had none of the satisfaction and physicality which an analogue stick or an actual steering wheel can afford.
But the really interesting titles appear to be coming from third parties. Demonstrated on-stage, Dance Central by MTV Harmonix was a simple dancing game that, thanks to Kinect, didn’t need a dancing mat to function. Furthermore it understood how to utilise the device; rather than showcasing the player’s (probably) awful dancing, the on-screen dancer played out pre-contrived animations when the player pulled off the moves, keeping the whole thing looking slick. It reminded me of Ubisoft’s Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, which will purportedly allow players to gain instant feedback on their exercising in a similarly ingenious use of Kinect.
Kinect is showing a lot of promise. Though the device might not function as flawlessly as would be desired, it can definitely deliver on its main promise: to be a system that doesn’t need a controller. That is, after all, a landmark achievement for a gaming console. What is yet to be seen is whether Xbox games can really exploit this quirk to deliver an experience which will justify the device’s price tag. With a number of third-party publishers backing the device -including EA, Ubisoft and Konami – I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.
Kinect is due to be released this November and will be sold together with Kinect Adventures for £129.99.