E3 2010 is over, and now we have a better idea of the motion control systems that the two big companies (Nintendo already has it) have been telling us about for over a year. Microsoft have finally unveiled the name for Project Natal – Kinect. Sony also unveiled some more games, a price point and a release date.
Microsoft had a huge marketing spending splurge, which kinda made me sick just looking at it all. As a gamer, I don’t care what some actor says about a peripheral (cheque please). But then, Microsoft isn’t aiming Kinect at me, they want that whole casual market to cash in on.
Controller free gaming isn’t new, Sony did it during the PS2 days with the EyeToy. It was fun, but you got over it quickly, and came about the same time the SingStar franchise was starting up – the party was always up for more SingStar than EyeToy. But, it never took off, and never got any compelling gaming experiences. As Richard Marks (the guy at Sony behind the EyeToy and Move) has said about it, sometimes you just want a button.
Now Microsoft is trying it on for size, and whilst they’ve got better technology, with infrared and 3D cameras and stuff, they’re still to convince me that it is a better system. There are signs that it is, but they’re going to have to capture me on more than the first round of shovelware. Which I think is the problem, Microsoft is focusing too much on the casual gamer, rather than its core audience. As IGN have pointed out,
Microsoft needs the core audience to tell the casual gamer what is cool. And if Microsoft doesn’t get that long-time Xbox 360 gamer behind Kinect, it will fail. We need some games that show what Kinect will do for someone who loves games like Halo or Castlevania or Gears of War. I’m not saying it has to be a first-person shooter where you are the gun, but we need to see more gamers that have depth to them.
Sony on the otherhand have a system built around the PlayStation Eye. They’ve been trialling ball-on-stick tracking for years now, since about 2000 (here is Richard Marks’ demo from about 2003/2004), but only now got a commercial product. PlayStation Move doesn’t just use the wand though, but it can do head and body tracking, facial recognition, all that fun stuff that’s ripe for exploitation.
There is definitely a broader range of games on Sony’s system, games that cater to the casual and the “core” gamer, and they’re also showing how it can be flexible by enabling support in other games as well, such as Heavy Rain and Little Big Planet. They must be taking their lessons about the EyeToy seriously – no compelling games? No sale.
Whilst this is the “first wave” that any platform has to suffer through, this first wave of games is coming right in the middle of an already mature game console cycle. We are getting bigger and better games all the time, and that was especially evident at the Sony press conference where they just kept whacking you with new, big, better games. It’s all up to Microsoft and Sony to show us the direction they want to head in with their motion controllers.
Meanwhile, Nintendo is laughing to the bank with all the core games they just announced for the Wii.