RIP Kinect

[AzBat]

Manufacturing for Kinect has shut down...

https://www.fastcodesign.com/90147868/exclusive-microsoft-has-stopped-manufacturing-the-kinect

Tommy McClain

 

[BadTB25]

Writing was on the wall when they enabled standard USB cameras with the Fall OS update.

I still have mine although it is not plugged in due to it randomly disconnecting.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Great technology, they just never realised mainstream gaming applications for it. Reminds me of PlayStation Move. Kinda of a failure on PS3, slightly less of a failure on PSVR/PS4. Although not by much.

 

[function]

It could never replace a controller or sensible, two dimensional digitally navigated menus. MS shouldn't have tried to make it do that.

It should have been treated as an additional input module, increase input type and bandwith. Waving at a menu and saying menu words and trying to make your arms act like an analogue stick was stupid.

Truly incredible technology in the hands of executives who don't just think inside the box, but think inside the wrong, rigidly defined box.

 

[Nesh]

Good riddance. Not because the technology wasn't good but because I hated all the hypocritical marketing fluff that surrounded it about its relevance to gaming.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I think it required too much processing power to make sense packaged with a console. The real application space was with personal computers, mostly for R&D stuff. It should have been released the way hololens has been released. Should have been released to developers for years before it ever saw a commercial application. I had a lot of fun with kinect sports, but that was pretty much it. Since then, it's been a glorified by useful microphone array. The home it has found with hololens makes a lot more sense. I could even see a usefulness in a vr room setup, with two kinect cameras from different angles doing full body scan. Again, processing may be an issue. The tech isn't bad, it just wasn't right for xbox.

 

[DrJay24]

It was never very good, at least not the SW. My kids an I were playing Sport Rivals last week. It was mostly fun to watch the impossible positions the char gets into while trying to play soccer or bowl. It had so many issues just trying to detect whether you are kicking or not it could never make for a fun gaming experience. I think I paid $60 for a used Kinect, at least I was not one of the $500 launch day suckers.

 

[HMBR]

it's kind of amazing how "hot" motion control and other methods were around the late 2000s because of the Wii and how dead it looks now for consoles, a shame that MS had to compromise the Xbox One so much (well mainly the high launch price I guess) by going this route.
but, it feels like it died in 2014.

 

[bunge]

I wish it could have found a “niche” since the install base was larger than PSVR and the cost of entry was much lower. It had a space, like PS Home, that was viable but simply was missed. :/

 

[Arwin]

it's kind of amazing how "hot" motion control and other methods were around the late 2000s because of the Wii and how dead it looks now for consoles, a shame that MS had to compromise the Xbox One so much (well mainly the high launch price I guess) by going this route.
but, it feels like it died in 2014.

It’s a shame I agree. I think they made some bad mistakes on several levels that could have prevented this, like not allowing hybrid applications of the technology from day one and although it was brave to include it out of the box, partly by such policy mistakes and partly through lack of imagination they didn’t manage to make it essential. And considering how conservative early adopters can be when it comes to hardcore gaming, they probably should have known better ... hindsight is 20-20 but Sony did recognize this.

As for PS Move, I know I am probably a minority (though less so in Europe) but this for me was one of the best things in the PS3 era. It was the only platform that offered hardcore gameplay experiences that you couldn’t cheat on and that was lag free enough. I think 50% of my game time was spent on PS Move controlled titles after it came out and Sports Champions, Killzone 4 with Move, Move Fitness, Tumble etc are still some of my highlights for that generation.

They also don’t really feel dead, but just taken to the next level, with both really good integration of the technology into the DS4 and with VR using the old Move controllers pretty effectively for several games and the VR headset itself also being a motion controller. I am really disappointed though that a game like Sports Champions didn’t get a VR remake yet.

 

[Billy Idol]

Stupid unecessary device with bad inaccurate tec and pr people promising stuff it was never capable of until the end. Only false pride of MS kept this thing alive anyway...almost killing Xbox as a gaming success.

Glad it is done and we can move on with gaming and get the strongest console to date in return.

 

[Devious]

I still have mine hooked up to my XB1. But I really only use it to say simple commands like go home, pause, record that (this one I use a lot when playing Gears and Halo).

Still though, good riddance. MS tried with this and it fell flat on its face.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Stupid unecessary device with bad inaccurate tec.

Kinect 2 inaccurate? The problem, which is always the case in, is that the hardware manufacturers didn't develop the software. Can you imagine how successful PSVR would be if it was getting the sort of limited content that PSEye and Kinect and Move got? Or even a console. You don't launch a new console with 5 games and 1 a month for the next five years. If any-one wants to try this again (and I'm sure they've all given up - Sony without Phil Harrison pushing innovation is definitely cowardly), they need to back it absolutely, with meaningful content and lots of it. If you haven't the conviction to support the platform, don't waste time starting on that road.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Stupid unecessary device with bad inaccurate tec and pr people promising stuff it was never capable of until the end. Only false pride of MS kept this thing alive anyway...almost killing Xbox as a gaming success.

What are the accuracy issues? I use voice commands extensively on my PS4, which in part compensates for the UI which really doesn't scale great when you have 100+ games, and it's very reliable.

I much prefer the XMB from PS3/PSP.

 

[orangpelupa]

somebody with kinect 2 just sitting unused wanna send it to me? i would love to use it for 3D animation.

last time i used Kinect 1 it was super fun!

 

[Deleted member 11852]

That's the least insane thing I've seen from Japan in months.

 

[orangpelupa]

That's the least insane thing I've seen from Japan in months.

the only thing from japan are the 3D model and the music, everything else was made by me and my friend (the dancing girl on the left, she was mocapped using kinect1) many years ago. hence the low resolution video hahaha (like... when the max video a phone have are just 480p)

 

[Deleted member 11852]

That explains not. Not insane because not from Japan!!!

 

[mrcorbo]

I think it required too much processing power to make sense packaged with a console. The real application space was with personal computers, mostly for R&D stuff. It should have been released the way hololens has been released. Should have been released to developers for years before it ever saw a commercial application. I had a lot of fun with kinect sports, but that was pretty much it. Since then, it's been a glorified by useful microphone array. The home it has found with hololens makes a lot more sense. I could even see a usefulness in a vr room setup, with two kinect cameras from different angles doing full body scan. Again, processing may be an issue. The tech isn't bad, it just wasn't right for xbox.

It seems lessons were learned, at least.

 

[AzBat]

Kinect 2 inaccurate? The problem, which is always the case in, is that the hardware manufacturers didn't develop the software. Can you imagine how successful PSVR would be if it was getting the sort of limited content that PSEye and Kinect and Move got? Or even a console. You don't launch a new console with 5 games and 1 a month for the next five years. If any-one wants to try this again (and I'm sure they've all given up - Sony without Phil Harrison pushing innovation is definitely cowardly), they need to back it absolutely, with meaningful content and lots of it. If you haven't the conviction to support the platform, don't waste time starting on that road.

This. 2 months ago MS announced 3 Kinect games. The first Kinect titles since 2014. SMH They're even remakes of titles made for the 360(Disneyland Adventures, Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure & Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection). I was hoping for at least Kinect Adventures & Kinectimals remakes but alas that won't happen. What's even more depressing is these new remastered titles won't even be out until Monday. Announcing the death before they even ship? WTH

I have a love/hate relationship with the sensor. Kinda sad to see it go. I still have mine & it gets every day voice command use & Skype video chat use a couple times a month. Use had gone down over the years due to poor updates to the OS & Skype. Don't have many games for it either, mainly demos & Dance Central Spotlight. But that's mainly due to a total of about 20 games released for XB1 vs 180 for 360.

Thanks Microsoft. /sarcasm

Tommy McClain