Games By Matthew Humphries Feb. 3, 2014 7:28 am
Microsoft has taken a big gamble this generation of console hardware by forcing gamers to invest in Kinect. It means the Xbox One costs $100 more than the PS4, but Microsoft’s thinking is that Kinect brings something new and unique to the platform, and that by making it mandatory developers will take advantage of it.
But the potential for Kinect has yet to be realized. It’s great for voice commands and control, but you don’t need a motion tracking system for that. What Kinect needs is a must-have title, one that you need to use Kinect in order to play and people rush out to purchase. We don’t have that game yet, but the Global Game Jam has pointed to where it may actually come from.
The Global Game Jam is a distributed game jam held every year that brings together teams of people who create new and experimental games over the course of 48 hours. One of the games produced during GGJ 2014 is called Fru, and it requires Kinect be used to play it.
As you can see in the video above, the levels consist of two views, one of which is only visible through the body of the player. In order to get your character to the exit of each level, you need to not only control his movement, but contort your body to reveal the path he can take to get the exit door.
Fru is just an experiment and a bit of fun created by a team of seven in a weekend. But it won both the Judge and Audience awards and has the potential to become a full game that can be sold on the Xbox. Fru isn’t the game that will make Kinect a hit with gamers, but it points the way forward for the motion controller.
Microsoft should sit up and take notice of this game. Selling Kinect to gamers is a struggle because it doesn’t have any compelling “Kinect-only” experiences that attract more than a niche of players. The key to unlocking the potential for Kinect doesn’t lie with the big brands and professional development houses. It’s indie developers experimenting that hold the key.
Kinect needs a game as popular as Minecraft to really establish it as a peripheral worth having attached to your console, and in my view that’s not going to come from a big developer like EA or Activision. It’s going to be some experimental game like Fru, but given the proper attention and funding by Microsoft to make it onto store shelves.
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But the potential for Kinect has yet to be realized. It’s great for voice commands and control, but you don’t need a motion tracking system for that. What Kinect needs is a must-have title, one that you need to use Kinect in order to play and people rush out to purchase. We don’t have that game yet, but the Global Game Jam has pointed to where it may actually come from.
The Global Game Jam is a distributed game jam held every year that brings together teams of people who create new and experimental games over the course of 48 hours. One of the games produced during GGJ 2014 is called Fru, and it requires Kinect be used to play it.
As you can see in the video above, the levels consist of two views, one of which is only visible through the body of the player. In order to get your character to the exit of each level, you need to not only control his movement, but contort your body to reveal the path he can take to get the exit door.
Fru is just an experiment and a bit of fun created by a team of seven in a weekend. But it won both the Judge and Audience awards and has the potential to become a full game that can be sold on the Xbox. Fru isn’t the game that will make Kinect a hit with gamers, but it points the way forward for the motion controller.
Microsoft should sit up and take notice of this game. Selling Kinect to gamers is a struggle because it doesn’t have any compelling “Kinect-only” experiences that attract more than a niche of players. The key to unlocking the potential for Kinect doesn’t lie with the big brands and professional development houses. It’s indie developers experimenting that hold the key.
Kinect needs a game as popular as Minecraft to really establish it as a peripheral worth having attached to your console, and in my view that’s not going to come from a big developer like EA or Activision. It’s going to be some experimental game like Fru, but given the proper attention and funding by Microsoft to make it onto store shelves.
More...
