The non-standard game interfaces discussion thread (move, voice, vitality, etc.)

[Silent_Buddha]

Either they're wimps or its bad design

Or gamers/programmers.

They need to get non-console gamers (or just non electronic gamers) that have a healthy active lifestyle to try them out.

Although when you think about it, it's good that they are exhausted after 30 minutes. Keep pushing them at it and you'll have some lean geeks that can attract the ladies.

Lady: "Oooh do you work out a lot?"
Geek: "No this is all from playing games."

heh.

Regards,
SB

 

[tha_con]

Aaron Greenberg has clarified that it is...





Plus there are 50 people at Lionhead on the "Team Milo" project...

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/29/project-milo-team-about-50-strong-product-not-coming-this-h/

Tommy McClain

I'm pretty sure Aaron Greenberg was the one who said it wasn't coming to the market anytime soon, so I don't know how much you can honestly take from his words.

It is more likely that the "Team Milo Project" is doing more work on technology libraries and helping to make those available (and innovating new ideas) than they are "working on a game". IMO. There isn't a market, at all, for Milo as it is. It's a demonstration of what may (or may not) be possible with Kinect. Even though it's been denied, I still believe that some of the technology created for the Milo project is in Kinectamals.

 

[AzBat]

Kinectimals is not being done by a Microsoft studio. It's being done by a 3rd party studio named Frontier Developments. Although Microsoft could give them Project Milo tech, I find it highly unlikely. Personally I'm more apt to take Peter Molyneux & Frontier's comments at face value. Meaning that there is a Milo & Kate game being worked on and it has nothing to do with Kinectimals. Is it possible some of the tech makes it to other future internal projects? Possibly, but I see no evidence as of yet.

Tommy McClain

 

[specwarGP2]

Free form speech may be hard. "My Playstation game blah" may get matched to "Milo play game" too. My old speech recognizer required me to pause when addressing the system:
"Milo" <computer acknowledge after 0.5 second> "play game" <kick off action after 0.5 second>
.

my android powered phone works better if you speak naturally. The speech recognition isnt perfect, but its actually pretty good. I would think speech recognition performance would be significantly better on a console that has a lot more processing power than a phone.

 

[patsu]

Yap, I mentioned the same point above. The designer will still need to work the UI carefully to focus on the strength of speech recognition.

 

[AzBat]

From... http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1449201&postcount=75

Kinectimals can be huge. MSFT needs to figure out a way to have an "IT thing" bundle for the holiday that is NOT $300 (at least as a display price)...and maybe work on the "immediate..." scanning

I agree a $250 bundle needs to be their target with a game. They will most likely bundle Kinect Sports, but I'm thinking it needs to be Kinectimals or Adventures. If they bundle the new 250gb Slim mode with Kinect for $300 I think that's too much value for them. Yeah, the consumer is getting a great deal, but I think they will sell more bundles if it's $250 and Kinect would get crazy adoption rates & exposure, not so at $300.

Tommy McClain

 

[eastmen]

I don't think it will hit at $150. I Thnk they are smart enough to keep it under $100 . So if thats true we may see bundles of $300 if they put in a regular game and a kinect game it might do well enough

 

[Graham]

It would be nice for at least one of the motion controllers to not be bundled with a sport minigame collection Adventures makes more sense.

 

[Squilliam]

From... http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1449201&postcount=75



I agree a $250 bundle needs to be their target with a game. They will most likely bundle Kinect Sports, but I'm thinking it needs to be Kinectimals or Adventures. If they bundle the new 250gb Slim mode with Kinect for $300 I think that's too much value for them. Yeah, the consumer is getting a great deal, but I think they will sell more bundles if it's $250 and Kinect would get crazy adoption rates & exposure, not so at $300.

Tommy McClain

I guess we'll find out more in August at Gamescom! In any case its a messy, messy, messy proposition *3 for added emphasis because we don't know about four important factors.

1. Cost of the Xbox 360 S base model.
2. Cost of Kinect.
3. Various quantities of supply for both Kinect/Xbox 360 S.
4. Microsofts intentions in relation to margins and strategy.

Even their statement "We intend to price Kinect competitively" is completely DEVOID of usefulness. Who are they competitively pricing against? Immediately one would think of Sony and Move and yet really they are both competing with Nintendo and the Wii. The Wii is $199 so is competitive pricing vs that, $199? $249? $299? There are so many angles to swing!

So it could be $149 Arcade and $249 Arcade with Kinect or $199 Arcade with Kinect or $149 Arcade and $229 Arcade with Kinect and the standalone could be $60 or it could be $120! Maybe because Kinect is "that much better" than the Wii its competitive at $149 in their eyes!

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Even their statement "We intend to price Kinect competitively" is completely DEVOID of usefulness. Who are they competitively pricing against? Immediately one would think of Sony and Move and yet really they are both competing with Nintendo and the Wii. The Wii is $199 so is competitive pricing vs that, $199? $249? $299? There are so many angles to swing!

That's going to be the hardest part to sell to the customer. For example how do you communicate to the customer that Kinect for 2 player games is more cost effective than either of the other two consoles controllers for 2 players for example?

If a customer walks into a store and only sees Kinect X dollars. Move controller Y dollars and Y is less than X, they may just instinctively think that Kinect is overpriced. If if enough controllers for two players with move controllers ends up being more.

I think it would be a bold move if MS were to put in LARGE letters on the X360 Kinect Bundle...

NO EXTRA CONTROLLERS REQUIRED FOR MULTIPLAYER.

Maybe even in caps like that.

Regards,
SB

 

[Squilliam]

That's going to be the hardest part to sell to the customer. For example how do you communicate to the customer that Kinect for 2 player games is more cost effective than either of the other two consoles controllers for 2 players for example?

If a customer walks into a store and only sees Kinect X dollars. Move controller Y dollars and Y is less than X, they may just instinctively think that Kinect is overpriced. If if enough controllers for two players with move controllers ends up being more.

I think it would be a bold move if MS were to put in LARGE letters on the X360 Kinect Bundle...

NO EXTRA CONTROLLERS REQUIRED FOR MULTIPLAYER.

Maybe even in caps like that.

Regards,
SB

I don't think Microsoft really will be approaching this from an angle such as "look we're cheaper than them, buy us". They will probably instead be portraying the value of the interface. I don't think that proving that Kinect is cheaper when Kinect accomplishes things in a completely different way is a very effective strategy. That only really works for Nintendo and the Wii because its similar to the Move interface.

I suspect the cost/value argument is easiest to push when not being explicitly pushed. All they have to do is show one Kinect camera and two people using it at the same time to portray the multiplayer value of the device whilst at the same time also showing off its unique value to people compared to the other interfaces. That way they can prove the value of Kinect without the explicit assumption that a purchaser would also be buying the controller for someone else at the same time.

Kinect really has nothing to do with Move. I really do doubt that people would actually cross shop the two given the fact that Move is a core game interface which effectively attempts to replace the Dualshock PS3 controller. Sony has enough trouble by themselves to convince people they need to buy a $99 controller set to replace their already adequate DS3. What Kinect is up against is the Wiis 'core' market.

Consider the biggest Nintendo motion games:

Wii Fit -> Kinect Fitness/Dance game.
Wii Sports -> Well they win this one.
Wii Play -> Kinect adventures.
Mario Kart -> Forza Kinect / Joy Ride.

Kinect is targeting the widest spread of potential gamers really. Its the people whom Nintendo were originally targeting with the Wiimote, not with Wii Motion +. They are coming at it from two angles, their utilitarian angle -> I.E. Kinect is useful because you can become fitter/more educated and you can use it as a wonderful media interface and the accessibility angle. -> I.E. Easy to play, even more intuitive than the Wiimote and allows you to physically use your body in a completely new and fun way.

So maybe for that reason a launch price of $199-249 for a Kinect Xbox 360, maybe even without a wireless controller? It depends whether they are thinking of the original Wii price or the present Wii price!

 

[obonicus]

But they're competing with the current Wii price, aren't they?

 

[Tchock]

$100 more for the "in" thing that looks much nicer on TVs... I think that's an easy upsell.

But I predict a Wii $50 drop again as a reactionary response... and this time Nintendo can get the less-rich children crowd that traditionally do not have a console but a PSP/DS exclusively.

Adventures seems to be the game to be bundled with Kinect though. Very impulse experience that doesn't drag too long to be understood in-store.

 

[patsu]

It would be nice for at least one of the motion controllers to not be bundled with a sport minigame collection Adventures makes more sense.

I want Sorcery, but my gut feel is the developers may not have enough time to make a good Adventure game from scratch at launch.

If there's one, it may be short, or a motion controller patch to an existing Adventure game.

 

[obonicus]

$100 more for the "in" thing that looks much nicer on TVs... I think that's an easy upsell.

Provided it really is the "in" thing -- it may not be wise to count your chickens before they've hatched. And I don't think 'looks much nicer on TVs' is much of a factor, or at least not a $100 factor for the audience they're supposed to be targeting.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I expect demo kiosks will be tailored to stores.

Imagine Kinectimals on a demo kiosk at Toys-R-Us for example. Imagine the mob of kids begging their parents to get them this NOW!

I'd agree, adventures seems the "safest" bet for an all around bundle though.

Regards,
SB

 

[AzBat]

13 Macy's stores nationwide are getting Kinect kiosks starting July 15. They will also be giving away a Kinect sensor one-a-day for 30 days here from August 12 to September 10.

Source: Press Release

Tommy McClain

 

[patsu]

Did they say which 13 stores ?

 

[AzBat]

Press release doesn't say & I didn't have any luck finding it elsewhere. Hopefully there is one close to me, but I have a feeling Dallas or Kansas City would be the closest locations for me.

Tommy McClain

 

[obonicus]

They already have the final product, or they'll be giving away vouchers for when it's released?