The Downfall Of Microsoft’s Kinect

It's not even good for voice controls in the sense that any 10 dollar microphone would do the same thing. The original idea was simply not going to work and as can be seen it never did. Sony and their move totally bombed too however they are using that to increase the chances of VR working more naturally.

Kinect has a LOT of potential in other markets though, just not in gaming.
 
It had potential but both times they just let it rot. I only use it to pause movies, turn on the xbox and my entertainment center. which I could have done with a cheap microcontroller and an ir emitter.
 
Wii motes are not a gimmick.
They make gaming that much more engaging if implemented correctly.
 
I never really gave the Kinect a chance; I have no interest in using my body as a controller and knew it would never be used in the genres I enjoy. But do any of you own one and actually love it?

…after Microsoft sold about 29 million of them for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, it just kind of faded away. A cursory Amazon search shows only seven games designed explicitly for Kinect have been released since the Xbox One console came out almost two years ago. Developers have abandoned it in turn, with no new real Kinect games on the slate for the foreseeable future.

Yep, still have it and still use it. Hand gestures, voice control and Skype usage is what I use it for. I do not use it in games much because I do not game enough to remember the commands each time. :D It is an excellent device that has it uses.
 
Best thing I ever saw Kinect related was the guy calling himself "Xbox Shutdown" and then going trolling on the multiplayer games.

Genius!

"Hay stop being a douche Xbox Shutdown...oh wait sto........"
 
I've got both the Xbox 360 and one versions. Had a lot of fun with the 360 version for sports and dance games.

I was really looking forward to the Xbox one version and it was a bit of a let down. Just Dance 2014 was horrible and couldn't track anything and they never patched the game. Still upset about that... Dance central works well and kineCT sports works well enough. I found the face recognition only sorta worked and was annoying and voice commands weren't reliable enough. Works pretty well for Skype as the Xbox one version is really wide angle and can get the whole family at once.
 
Fast forward 5 years...and the same headlines will be about VR...
 
its arguable Microsoft barely has first party games/software. They really need to impove it, if sony was on the ball game wise, especially with their first party software, they could have really stomped MS.



As one poster pointed out, its the hardware maker responsibility. MS should have made it 399 with Kinect.

They did a yet people still went ape and would not buy it. However, they went crazy and bought the $399 Kinectless unit without a second thought at the same time that the $399 Kinect version was available. Just goes to show that people do not think logically.
 
Fast forward 5 years...and the same headlines will be about VR...

Totally agreed. If people think jumping around a living room to play a game is stupid, wait until they need to strap and apparatus to their face to do it :p
 
Kinect really only was good for Dance Central 1-3, Zumba Fitness and that Yoga game I forget the name of. Kinect Sports was OK but I had more fun with Wii Sports and Sports Champions (the sword fighting part with 2 controllers was awesome)

Kinect Star Wars was laughable. The fighting games didn't get it right and the controls were bad and did not detect your punches well. If they had good boxing or fighting games maybe Kinect would have taken off. I remember the old boxing game in the arcade that you wore the gloves and punched that was fun till you got tired. If they had that on kinect fighting games that actually worked or something like Police 911 arcade shooter where you could duck to hide and it combined your movements with a light gun on Kinect it might have actually gained traction.
 
It's easy to dismiss the importance of making gaming easy. Growing up, we had a single d-pad and 2 buttons. That's plain simple and the controller fit in a kids hands. That experience isn't exactly available to most kids these days.

The kinect allowed my 2 year old (now 4) to play video games by using the most instinctual human behavior. It was obvious from the first party software that the Kinect had (has) potential. It was also clear that it would never have a purpose in the larger genres. FPS, JRPGs. and Western RPGs just have no need for motion controls.

I wish it could be available at about the $150-$175 price point as a standalone piece of hard ware for the living room. That way developers could know their audience and focus on developing a solid game.
 
There is another upcoming technology that is going to fall into the same trap, I won't mention it because it will just start a fight. But we all know what I'm talking about and no matter how hard people "hope", it doesn't change how things will end up.

I'll say it for you, because I agree 100%

VR, the next (circa 1980) FAD in gaming!
 
I like it for the speech recognition component. I can be across the house and tell it to turn off, or on, or load Netflix etc. That works great.
 
Meh. I'm still going to buy a VR headset :). As long as I have fun with it for a month, it's worth it to me.
 
I think there's more potential for VR, but the head sets needs to be light and easy if it's going to work. And really all you want in it is head movement tracking (though body movement might be nice for a few niche things, but not at the expense of lag or weight). Unlike Kinect the VR gives you 3d and an immersive environment so it has a lot more potential. Yes it may fail, again, but I have hopes.
 
I dont have a Xbone, but when I buy one I want a kinect solely for the audio controls over my TV and media center.
 
My kids still love the kinect for the dance games, Kinect Adventures, etc. My biggest gripe with it is the sensitivity, especially trying to get more than one person playing. It seems to always get confused in Kinect Adventures, for example, because my 5 year old will step too far forward and it thinks it needs to give "first player" control to her instead of my 9 year old... so the inevitable arguing begins to happen. I don't know if it is because of space (we have a clear space, but there is a couch beside and behind the playing area), the carpet color (for whatever reason it can never detect the floor during the calibration), or whatever else it is being finicky about.

As for the comparison to the wii remote.. I wish it was as enjoyable. My kids absolutely refuse to use the wiimote pro's and much prefer the regular controller and nunchuck. My 9 year old has complained that she doesn't like the xbox 360 controller as much as the wii.. and of course that results in them playing the Wii more often. Then there is the Wii U which only gets played on a rare occasion.. and only games that can be fully controlled by the old wii controllers unless I'm playing with them and use the Wii U controller.
 
Developers aren't lazy. Theres just no business case for it. Pushing a proprietary console peripheral is the platform owner's burden, not the developer. Especially so on multiplatform titles. There are business and cost reasons for them to use lowest common denominator features when setting development targets.

And you really can't blame third party developers for "just being lazy" when Microsoft couldn't even be bothered to get their own first party studios to make some killer showcase titles.
no they're lazy MS is lazy too on getting people to implement Kinect.in the games .A dev can not say there are no cases for making something when they haven't gone out and tried.
If there isn't a demand for something then they should go out and create one...
Dev houses have been more sheep like in how they make their games and what they do with them... it's called stepping out of ones comfort zone and making things happen.
 
no they're lazy MS is lazy too on getting people to implement Kinect.in the games .A dev can not say there are no cases for making something when they haven't gone out and tried.
If there isn't a demand for something then they should go out and create one...
Dev houses have been more sheep like in how they make their games and what they do with them... it's called stepping out of ones comfort zone and making things happen.

"Stepping out of comfort zone".. And this is why you're posting on a forum instead of producing videogames, no offense. You're talking about an ideal world that doesn't exist. When it's a multi platform game, it's going to sell anyway, and there's no ROI for spending extra time on one platform's proprietary peripheral, especially one that isn't present on all of those consoles.

"Platform parity" is often an unspoken rule among devs, but it exists.
 
Love it, IR blaster and voice commands are the parts I like most. Nothing beats coming home and saying "Xbox on" TV, console, and DirecTV all launch while turning on my surround sound. Makes a great controller for watching movies not needing to fish around for physical remote.

I feel people just want to hate. If you don't like it just don't buy one, and they people who do own one don't care about your opinion. Everyone who has seen or used my Xbox One loves it, Kinect being one of their favorite features.
 
Wii motes are not a gimmick.
They make gaming that much more engaging if implemented correctly.

Only existed for a single console for a single generation.

Only fully supported by a handful of games and completely replaceable in nearly all.

Were not an advantage in any game where regular controllers were an option and actually were in nearly every single instance a disadvantage when playing against a player with a regular controller.

That is the Very definition of gimmick friend. I'm glad you liked them, but they were a gimmick.
 
All of these accessories are a gimmick. To me, MS tried jamming the Kinect in an Xbox one bundle, realized they were being outsold by PS4 sales and then decided to ditch the bundle. My kinect has been sitting in its box since launch. Of course YMMV, but for me, it was a piece of utter shite.
 
Lemme guess. You've never actually tried one, and think "VR is just this years 3DTV fad".

I've tried one, and I think if they try to focus exclusively on gaming then yes it is the next 3dtv fad. It's got amazing uses, but it's a gimmick in gaming. It's going to be huge in the medical, aerospace and cad worlds though.
 
I loved the Kinect on the 360. Kinect sports was really fun to play. And some of dancing games were a bit of a laugh. It got a huge amount of use. And even though it lost tracking a few a times when there was more than one player, it was still enjoyable.

The Kinect on the xbox one has been a bit of a letdown for me personally. Kinect sports rival was no where near as good as the original. It is brilliant for the fitness programs and the voice commands are really good.

They didn't go far enough, they should have pushed the Kinect to be the number one feature of the Xbox one and had some killer apps/games available on release. But now it's as good as dead. It makes me sad as I really loved the Kinect on the 360.
 
No demise just yet. Everyone that wears a hololens is wearing a kinect on their head.
 
It was a great way to get my 50+ year old (at the time) parents off the couch and play video games with us.
 
Cant do without my kinect. And im not talking about gaming. My wife loves the voice control when watching tv. Also in my sons room, the same thing. The only other time when the kinect is used is for dance central.
Is it necessary for gaming? No but it is a great convenience.
 
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