there were over 100 people online at time square toys r us last night. I believe its over 500 people now and there is still what 9 hours to go before the event happens. ALmost everyone is sold out of stand alone kinects of which i heard they had 1m ready for launch day.
The non-standard game interfaces discussion thread (move, voice, vitality, etc.)
- Thread starter patsu
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there were over 100 people online at time square toys r us last night. I believe its over 500 people now and there is still what 9 hours to go before the event happens. ALmost everyone is sold out of stand alone kinects of which i heard they had 1m ready for launch day.
I'm not aware of the kinect situation is about, other than being released next week (?) so I don't know if any of this is new or interesting but I attended a MS conference (developer oriented) and I got to play with kinect. Qualified Meh. It's not for me but Dance Central and even Kinectanimals or whatever they called it will probably sell tons. River Rush and Joy Ride were a bit too gimicky. The hardware/software looked impressive though. They showed some developer techdemos showing what the various cameras can see and the result after some algorithmic passes and it has a lot of potential (Biometric login for instance). The lag is there but mostly negligible especially since the games they demonstrated didn't require extreme precision. Probably won't work as well for FPS, etc.
The menu navigation using your hands is a bit finicky but the software does recover nicely if you move behind the sensor and back again (just wave - nice touch). It also nearly efortlessly supports more than one person. It does require some distance away from the sensor. In Kinectianimals teaching the tiger to sit didn't work. It asked for a sitting position so I don't know if that's because kinect doesn't support playing on the couch or whatever but if so it's weird the game asked to perform something it can't support?
Again, even if I did have an xbox I'd probably wouldn't buy one unless a particularly interesting game came out for it but I can see how families or when throwing a party it would be compelling. I believe it's pretty much the same reason why anyone would want to buy Guitar Hero/Rock Band after the original, playing alone just isn't the point.
The menu navigation using your hands is a bit finicky but the software does recover nicely if you move behind the sensor and back again (just wave - nice touch). It also nearly efortlessly supports more than one person. It does require some distance away from the sensor. In Kinectianimals teaching the tiger to sit didn't work. It asked for a sitting position so I don't know if that's because kinect doesn't support playing on the couch or whatever but if so it's weird the game asked to perform something it can't support?
Again, even if I did have an xbox I'd probably wouldn't buy one unless a particularly interesting game came out for it but I can see how families or when throwing a party it would be compelling. I believe it's pretty much the same reason why anyone would want to buy Guitar Hero/Rock Band after the original, playing alone just isn't the point.
Kinect initially had some issues with sitting. So a lot of the first launch titles may not use it. If Kinectimals is requiring it I must assume it's working in that title. Also, the dashboard will support sitting for navigation just fine(like Kinect Hub, Netflix, Zune, etc). Anyway check the Kinect Technology thread, there's a link posted in there a week or two ago about how Microsoft solved the sitting issue & how it will be supported in their developer tools for future games.
Tommy McClain
Tommy McClain
Ah, so that's why they said it was coming out next week. Thanks for the heads-up.
Thanks. Right now I'm mostly interested as a developer. If they can miniaturise it in a couple of years and support it on PCs that'd be excellent; I have some ideas to make use of the real-time skeletal recognition features but a console-only addon isn't the most exciting proposition for me.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
I'm not sure how much smaller they can make it. IIRC, the current width was the minimum they could do while still maintaining good audio isolation of sound sources. They may eventually be able to do something about the depth and height of the system, but not sure they can do much with the width.
Then again width might not be much of a problem if they can work out universal way to attach it to monitors (desktop use) or TV's (living room). Of course, that would give up motorized tracking of the player which would necessitate a higher resolution camera with a wider FOV.
Regards,
SB
Then again width might not be much of a problem if they can work out universal way to attach it to monitors (desktop use) or TV's (living room). Of course, that would give up motorized tracking of the player which would necessitate a higher resolution camera with a wider FOV.
Regards,
SB
Did they say nothing of Kinect support on Pc through XNA? A lot of us are hoping the indie scene will be able to play and explore.
You could probably lose the mic array for a desktop PC part. The 3D camera should then only need be the size of a chunky webcam. I am repeatedly taken aback by how big Kinect is every time I see it! The mic array could also be included as a separate device, similar to a Wii sensor-bar in size. I would hope it doesn't need to be placed relative to the camera to be able to isolate the speaker.
To be fair, I was actually surprised how small it was, but not being in the know I had only seen some early shots, etc. If they could reduce the height and depth that would be sufficient to attach it to the top of monitors/laptop displays. But right now it's bulky (again, once you get to grips it's smaller than you were expecting) and has vents on the side. I didn't remember to gauge the temperature during operation but I'm guessing it's not easily miniaturisable. v2.0 then.
Nothing about pc use.
http://www.siliconera.com/2010/11/0...-to-serve-as-expanded-audience-titles-on-3ds/
(Video inside. Argh, promo video)
(Video inside. Argh, promo video)
upnorthsox
Veteran
So I went out again today to buy a couple of individual Move controllers but once again they were out at the 4 stores I went to (BestBuy, Target, Sam's, and Toys R Us). It's beginning to piss me off a bit now as Sam's had some in last week. I saw plenty of Kinect's in stock so at least MS understands the importance of having actual product to sell.
Over here it's slightly the reverse. I found one store out of many that at least appeared to have some bundles left, but a fair few of them still had some individual moves.
upnorthsox
Veteran
Yea the pisser for me was that Sam's had some last week, I had 2 in my hands but I was heading to Miami for a week and didn't want to spend my emergency cash. Now that I'm back and didn't spend (read drink) that cash, I was ready to buy but once again there's no product. I might have even broken down and got a bundle if anyone had had at least 1 individual controller but no go.
I think that'll be the selling point. Kinect is for the family, something MS have finally got right with their gaming platform! Move doesn't appear to have that same appeal, certainly not that buzz. Sony didn't market it, even saying they are letting MS do the marketing and riding on the back of Kinect. Strange approach, deliberately being second place.
ShadowRunner
Veteran
Its a bit of a funny one. I think they always knew that they would lose out trying to compete with Kinect for the super casual audience. Instead of competing head on they seem to have gone for the 'Motion control for gamers' route. Cant say if its a good tactic or not though. One things for certain, looking at the sales of the HD consoles before the new motion controls there seems to still be a huge number of 'gamers' still up for grabs, sony seems to be going more for these than converting non-gamers. IMO they wont pick up more new users than kinect does for MS, but im not sure if by going this route they wont be still better of than if they went the super casual route. Either way they should market it more, regardless of who they are marketing it to.
ShadowRunner
Veteran
Id imagine the majority of the reviews are from gaming media though.
Not that strange. Sony Playstation is geared towards the core gamers first. If you recall their communication, it's all gamer and tech centric. To attract the casuals quickly, they'd have to spend a lot of marketing dollars, but I don't think they are in a position to do that, especially not at the current currency rate.
The Move has its advantages in the core games, but they need to get the proper games out. Blu-ray is their mainstream hook. Even though they said Move is for everyone, that's just the capability. The software and UI are still for the tech savvy.
The strange part is after all the tech demoes, where is the differentiator from Wii ? Where is the Tank demo ? What have they done with the sketch recognition ? Why stopped using PSEye for voice chat (at least echo cancellation) ? Did they just spend all tech effort on precision alone and nothing else ? Why give up on PSEye ? Will 3D positioning stop at Tumble ? etc. etc. ^_^
It looks like they lack leadership in product conceptualization, and pulling the teams together. From their interviews, Shuhei came across as a regular workhorse or traffic controller between the Japanese engineers and the western developers; Peter Dille worries about making money and making PS3 do everything; Kaz Hirai and Jack Tretton vanished into thin air.
The rest are middle management working on their tactical agenda. Like many organizations, they are too inward focus. I don't see Playstation Plus or Playstation Reward making a difference in customer satisfaction. Their measurements only account for effort done and quantitative tasks (X Move games, Y shipped, Z% margin, made $A money)
I expect some management shuffling again next year. Move may be selling well. Playstation Home may be making money. But if that's all they are after, they might as well be in the food business.
Thank God the studios are amazing.
The Move has its advantages in the core games, but they need to get the proper games out. Blu-ray is their mainstream hook. Even though they said Move is for everyone, that's just the capability. The software and UI are still for the tech savvy.
The strange part is after all the tech demoes, where is the differentiator from Wii ? Where is the Tank demo ? What have they done with the sketch recognition ? Why stopped using PSEye for voice chat (at least echo cancellation) ? Did they just spend all tech effort on precision alone and nothing else ? Why give up on PSEye ? Will 3D positioning stop at Tumble ? etc. etc. ^_^
It looks like they lack leadership in product conceptualization, and pulling the teams together. From their interviews, Shuhei came across as a regular workhorse or traffic controller between the Japanese engineers and the western developers; Peter Dille worries about making money and making PS3 do everything; Kaz Hirai and Jack Tretton vanished into thin air.
The rest are middle management working on their tactical agenda. Like many organizations, they are too inward focus. I don't see Playstation Plus or Playstation Reward making a difference in customer satisfaction. Their measurements only account for effort done and quantitative tasks (X Move games, Y shipped, Z% margin, made $A money)
I expect some management shuffling again next year. Move may be selling well. Playstation Home may be making money. But if that's all they are after, they might as well be in the food business.
Thank God the studios are amazing.
