Jubenhimer
Member
It was 2009, and the Microsoft Corporation was riding high on the success of the Xbox 360. The follow up to the first Xbox, the 360 was a leader in mainstream gaming with stellar exclusive titles, superior third party support, and the best services you could ask for on a gaming platform. Plus a really comfortable controller. But this was also the time Nintendo was at a high as well. The 360 may have perfected the Home Video Game system, But the Wii completely flipped it on it's head.
Using a remote like motion controller, and a particular focus on people who never even played games before, Nintendo stole the show for most of the generation, and lit up sales charts with hits like Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Super Mario Galaxy, and Mario Kart Wii. Naturally, with all that success, competition wants in. While Sony decided to strike with a more direct answer to the Wii in the PlayStation Move Controller. Microsoft, had a much more radical idea. Remove the controller from the equation altogether.
Thus, at E3 2009, Microsoft unvieled Project Natal. A new device designed to extend the appeal of the Xbox 360 with an ambitious concept. YOU are the controller. No remote, no buttons, just flesh, and voice can control the action. Initial reception to the peripheral was mixed, but many saw the potential in the technology.
One year later, at E3 2010, Microsoft gave it a final name. Kinect, hitting store shelves in November that year, Microsoft's final showing of the device before launch was filled with fake acting and a lack of interesting games, many of which *ahem* "Borrowed" from Nintendo's accomplishments. Not that it mattered though, as Kinect eventually became the fastest selling consumer electronics device in history, backed by a $100 marketing budget and the built-in user-base of the Xbox 360, Microsoft's shameless strategy of trying to steal the non-gamer audience that Nintendo previously had more or less to themselves up to that point, worked.
It was at that point though, that Kinect's limitations quicky became apparent. "You are the controller" sounds great on paper, but in practice, it's the equivalent of driving a car with no engine. Without a physical object to manipulate, Kinect's actual gaming applications became very limited, very quickly. No physical inputs with Kinect means no navigating a 3D space, no precise, versatile actions only buttons can provide, no tactile feedback of any sort. That means what would've been a more complex, free roaming, Action game experience on the Wii or PlayStation Move, had to be a wattered down, On-Rails experience with Kinect. On top of that, the lack of a physical controller made all your actions in Kinect feel floaty and imprecise. Motion controls already have a mixed reception in the gaming community, but Kinect did little to combat the stigma.
Yet Microsoft didn't care, they were swimming in money with this thing, and by God they were going to make sure you see Kinect whether you liked it or not. Thus, subsequent years of the 360 had basically devolved into Kinectapalooza. With each E3 showing afterwards being more and more drowned in Kinect games and features. What little non-Kinect content Microsoft did publish durring this time, was safe-bet franchises like Halo and Gears.
The infamy of Kinect came to a head, when it was revealed that a new version of the device would be standard issue with all Xbox One consoles, thus making the system $100 more, than Sony's PlayStation 4 for no damn reason. Adding insult to injury, users were initially required to have Kinect plugged in at all times, and it was always on whether you wanted it to be or not. This quickly raised privacy concerns signalling Microsoft's intententions may have had a sinister bent. This, combined with the console's already draconian DRM controversies, the fact that motion controls were no longer the hot new thing, and gamers instantly wrote off the Xbox One as a joke.
Fortunately, new leadership at Microsoft stepped in, and as part of a change in Management, Kinect was gradually phased out until it was discontinued in 2017. Kinect, for many was a device that did little more than to artificially lengthen the lifespan of the Xbox 360. While the Wii and PlayStation Move had genuine substance in their concepts, and technically still live on through PlayStation VR and the Switch Joy-Con, Kinect was a concept that nobody is Keen to try again, and for good reason. It was all flash, no substance, the textbook example of a soulless gimmick. Created to ride off of a fad, but not do much more than that, and it nearly killed one of gaming's most iconic brands because of it.
Using a remote like motion controller, and a particular focus on people who never even played games before, Nintendo stole the show for most of the generation, and lit up sales charts with hits like Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Super Mario Galaxy, and Mario Kart Wii. Naturally, with all that success, competition wants in. While Sony decided to strike with a more direct answer to the Wii in the PlayStation Move Controller. Microsoft, had a much more radical idea. Remove the controller from the equation altogether.
Thus, at E3 2009, Microsoft unvieled Project Natal. A new device designed to extend the appeal of the Xbox 360 with an ambitious concept. YOU are the controller. No remote, no buttons, just flesh, and voice can control the action. Initial reception to the peripheral was mixed, but many saw the potential in the technology.
One year later, at E3 2010, Microsoft gave it a final name. Kinect, hitting store shelves in November that year, Microsoft's final showing of the device before launch was filled with fake acting and a lack of interesting games, many of which *ahem* "Borrowed" from Nintendo's accomplishments. Not that it mattered though, as Kinect eventually became the fastest selling consumer electronics device in history, backed by a $100 marketing budget and the built-in user-base of the Xbox 360, Microsoft's shameless strategy of trying to steal the non-gamer audience that Nintendo previously had more or less to themselves up to that point, worked.
It was at that point though, that Kinect's limitations quicky became apparent. "You are the controller" sounds great on paper, but in practice, it's the equivalent of driving a car with no engine. Without a physical object to manipulate, Kinect's actual gaming applications became very limited, very quickly. No physical inputs with Kinect means no navigating a 3D space, no precise, versatile actions only buttons can provide, no tactile feedback of any sort. That means what would've been a more complex, free roaming, Action game experience on the Wii or PlayStation Move, had to be a wattered down, On-Rails experience with Kinect. On top of that, the lack of a physical controller made all your actions in Kinect feel floaty and imprecise. Motion controls already have a mixed reception in the gaming community, but Kinect did little to combat the stigma.
Yet Microsoft didn't care, they were swimming in money with this thing, and by God they were going to make sure you see Kinect whether you liked it or not. Thus, subsequent years of the 360 had basically devolved into Kinectapalooza. With each E3 showing afterwards being more and more drowned in Kinect games and features. What little non-Kinect content Microsoft did publish durring this time, was safe-bet franchises like Halo and Gears.
The infamy of Kinect came to a head, when it was revealed that a new version of the device would be standard issue with all Xbox One consoles, thus making the system $100 more, than Sony's PlayStation 4 for no damn reason. Adding insult to injury, users were initially required to have Kinect plugged in at all times, and it was always on whether you wanted it to be or not. This quickly raised privacy concerns signalling Microsoft's intententions may have had a sinister bent. This, combined with the console's already draconian DRM controversies, the fact that motion controls were no longer the hot new thing, and gamers instantly wrote off the Xbox One as a joke.
Fortunately, new leadership at Microsoft stepped in, and as part of a change in Management, Kinect was gradually phased out until it was discontinued in 2017. Kinect, for many was a device that did little more than to artificially lengthen the lifespan of the Xbox 360. While the Wii and PlayStation Move had genuine substance in their concepts, and technically still live on through PlayStation VR and the Switch Joy-Con, Kinect was a concept that nobody is Keen to try again, and for good reason. It was all flash, no substance, the textbook example of a soulless gimmick. Created to ride off of a fad, but not do much more than that, and it nearly killed one of gaming's most iconic brands because of it.
