Kinect motion lags, lack of depth disappointing
Last Saturday, I told you about my first experience with Kinect, Microsoft’s supposedly ber console add-on. Like I said then, Dance Central on the Kinect was a blast, but there is no way this peripheral can live up to the hype it has been building, especially with the problems I have with two of its other games, Joyride and Kinect Adventures.
Rewind. On June 14, I went to one of the weirdest introductions for a gaming peripheral. Under the auspices of a Cirque du Solei performance, Microsoft introduced the name and some of the games it will be releasing for Kinect. The environment, with palm trees and drum beats, was natural, primal, nearly religious as the attendants clothed me with a white smock and asked me to stand with a large crowd of similarly dressed attendees. Then, the show began. Obviously hyperbole, Microsoft touted the new peripheral as life-changing, Light of the Island stuff. Entertaining, but I didn’t learn much about the add-on.
Still skeptical, I jumped onto the stage and played with Dance Central. I left impressed, going so far as to tell TechZulu’s Efren Toscano that I would pay up to $200 for the device, justifying it like I would a piece of exercise equipment.
June 16, after waiting in line for more than an hour, I had the chance to play with two more Kinect games, Kinect Joy Ride and Kinect Adventures!. Unfortunately, Kinect let me down. While racing Toscano during an obstacle course mini game, Adventures and Joy Ride kept perfect track of all of his movements but were extremely delayed in processing mine. Though I didn’t have a stop watch, I peg it at about one-third of a second, more than enough time to screw up a hurdle jump. When I asked the Kinect rep who was leading us through the game about the lag, she said that the game was 75 percent complete and that multiplayer functionality should have been ready. Yes, it should have.
As for Joy Ride, the game was bland. Granted, Toscano and I only played one round, but it was uninspired and didn’t give any reason for me to give up my controller for an air wheel.
Then there’s the problem of pricing. What will these games cost? Right now, I can tell you that I would never pay $60 for what I played.
Finally, rumors abound that the Kinect demos during Microsoft’s conference were faked, an elaborate, choreographed performance (Source: http://www.gogaminggiant.com/2010/06/15/kinect-on-stage-demos-faked/). So far, I haven’t been able to confirm this, but if true, it makes one ask “why?” What problems are there with the add-on that a live demo was too much of a risk?
My final verdict: wait and see. So far, the games are dull. With the exception of Dance Central, the motion-control experience was not enough to justify another $150. Even if Microsoft and developers eliminate the lag and come out with phenomenal games, will people be willing to spend the money on a peripheral versus a console like the Nintendo Wii? If Kinect fails to sell, will Microsoft scuttle the whole thing, leaving early adopters abandoned? Like I said, wait and see.
