Last week I bought an xbox 360 with a kinect for my future birthday. I was ecstatic.
I got home and plugged everything in, reading through all the support rather quickly and of course turning on the kinect first to see how well this technology has been developed. I enjoy it.
In a few months the game Skyrim from Bethesda studios will be released as the next successor in a long line of role playing games released by this company. They are talking about a few different systems that will be implemented to make the gameplay more fun. Well, what about this?
The kinect has a few key features. It can read where people are, how low they are and where they put their hands. It can also take pictures and understand people's voices, I believe. Why not make a game that uses the controller as well as the kinect?
For example I'm playing a game like halo and I need to throw a grenade. Why can't I just shout grenade at the kinect, expect it to understand what I'm saying, and let the grenade fly?
If I am playing a game based on a book like Harry Potter what if every single spell had a certain phrase that needed to go with it? My pronunciation of avada kadava would make the difference between an ineffective spell or a death killing one.
If I were playing a game that requires a new language I could say certain phrases to NPC's like keywords that would open up their trust to me.
If I were playing a sword fighting game that requires two hands I could literally make the movements of a sword while having the controller in my hand to control what I am doing or where I am going. This could get complicated but it leaves room for a huge range of possibilities.
I hope that future companies will implement such technologies so that games are no longer who has the fastest reaction to which button only but who actually knows what they are playing?
I think It would be a possibility however, a system more like the move would seem to be a step ahead seeing as they already have motion controllers with wrist straps so you aren't throwing your controller across the room. :)
ReplyDeleteWhile you make a good point, the main problem that lies in buttonless control is the lack of absolutes. In halo for example, squeezing left trigger will absolutely throw a grenade, every time. If you were to shout "grenade" and the kinect somehow misinterpreted (perhaps because of your accent, etc.)... oops, you're dead. Voice recognition and picture processing are still in their infant stages in that accents, colors, and other factors can throw a wrench in the software.
ReplyDeleteIf you've ever played a game on the iPhone that has virtual buttons, you'll know what I'm talking about. Every once in a while, you'll tap the virtual button, and nothing will happen, either because the game lagged at the precise moment you tapped it, or perhaps because you're finger was 1/16" off. I think it's annoying.
Either way, I think it's interesting technology thats perfect for a casual gamer, but for anything beyond that, I prefer the comfort in knowing that any mistakes made are my own (that is, I failed to press the physical button at the right time), not because of faulty motion/voice/picture processing technology.
As for a specific trigger I can totally understand that when it comes to yelling grenade for a grenade.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking more specifically for magic casting games where accent would matter in real life. How you say it and what diction in real life is an attribute that is required for proper usage of certain spells as far as the fantasy world has defined them.