In a bid to get its teeth firmly into the family gaming market, Microsoft has this week revealed the latest Xbox 360 add on – Microsoft Kinect.
Showcased at the E3 annual gaming Expo in Los Angeles this week, the Kinect – previously known under the codename Project Natal – plugs into the 360 console and uses a video camera, infrared sensor and microphone to track players’ actions and commands and convert them into on-screen movement.
So while the Nintendo Wii requires gamers to wave a plastic wand or other device to carry out their living room gaming experience, Microsoft Kinect goes one step further with a completely hands-free method of control. Players simply move their bodies around and shout orders at the console to control their on-screen characters.
It’s like something out of Back To The Future isn’t it?……
But does Microsoft – an expert in hardcore gaming – stand any real chance of capturing its share of a market which is already saturated by Nintendo?
According to some “experts” – Microsoft just “doesn’t get it”. The word on the street is that Microsoft doesn’t have a chance of swaying casual gamers away from Nintendo’s niche. It has already been done. Microsoft is too late, and Kinect does nothing different to anything else on the market, so why should people buy it? Microsoft should stick to what they know and concentrate their efforts on hardcore gamers. Right? Wrong!
Apart from anything else, the technology behind Kinect is far superior to anything else on the market. Simply put, it is revolutionary. The easy setup is designed to appeal to casual players and newcomers, rather than hardcore gamers, and family-friendly games will include an athletics simulation in which participants run and jump to compete in the hurdles, throw an imaginary javelin, and play football with kicking actions, a yoga simulation, white-water rafting and a dancing tuition game called Dance Central, which gets users to perform a series of steps and moves in time with pop music, including tracks by Lady Gaga.
Several Kinect games will be closely compatible with Twitter and Facebook, allowing users to send screenshots of themselves playing the games.
So will people buy into Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect?
Definitely.
Nintendo itself is continuously releasing new versions of the DS (most of which have only very subtle revisions) and people lap it up every time. The same can be said for the iPhone. If I remember rightly, people actually set up camp outside various retailers to purchase the next generation iPhone, and for what? Because the latest release can ‘Copy and Paste’?!
With that in mind, I think Microsoft is most definitely onto a winner with Kinect and is likely to enjoy a multimillion-pound marketing push in the run up to Christmas.
Sony is also set to provide the PlayStation 3 console with its own motion controller, named PlayStation Move – a wand-like device which more closely resembles the Wii’s remote controller. Due for release in the autumn, putting it in direct competition with Kinect, we’re all set for another pre-Christmas Microsoft v Sony battle.
So does Microsoft “get it” with its Kinect technology? I’d say so. If you ask me, it’s pure business genius.
Microsoft starts 2009 in fine form by launching Windows 7 beta which despite initial download problems has been welcomed with rave reviews. One of the companies success factors behind Windows 7 beta has been Microsoft’s ability to re-engage with its enthusiasts which was sadly lacking in the launch of Vista two years ago.