Tech Focus: Kinect - Year One

Curiously, the non-headline feature - head-tracking - proves to be a more interesting implementation for the technology. Kinect can be relocated to the office/bedroom/study, perched on top or below your monitor and calibrated to scan the player's head from just a couple of feet away. From here, not only is the location of the head tracked, but the direction the player is looking towards. This works in all game views, but is most effective in the cockpit, where the player can turn his head towards incoming turns, and even check rear view and wing mirrors. The only issue here is that the lag is significant - not what you want in a game where split-seconds count.

Elsewhere, last weekend's reveal of Halo: Anniversary Edition's Kinect features at the New York Comicon also gives pause. There are no actual gameplay functions short of shouting out audio commands - perhaps for the best bearing in mind the highly bizarre Ghost Recon demonstration at E3 where highly exaggerated Kinect motion control function were mapped onto basic interface elements like aiming and shooting.

That said, the issue with audio control like this - and in the forthcoming Mass Effect 3 - is that it adds latency and friction to a system that has already been refined to one or two button presses. It also raises the uncomfortable question of why this functionality didn't come about sooner bearing in mind that a majority of Xbox 360s already ship with a microphone accessory - the Live headset. It's not the greatest quality kit, but it's more than capable of handling a job like this.

It's the drive and ingenuity of game-makers in crafting experiences designed around the hardware that will ultimately determine if Kinect will be renewed for next generation consoles.

In summary, it's safe to say that the technical strengths and weaknesses of Kinect are such that "tacked-on" functionality doesn't really work. Voice control functions in particular fail to impress - these features are unlikely to draw in a non-core audience to a game like Halo or Mass Effect 3, while a traditional gamer is unlikely to waste his time barking instructions to the console when a button press or two gets things done more quickly and more quietly. You can argue that the additional elements are optional and take the form of value-added extras you can safely ignore, but the argument there moves on to why the features are there in the first place and whether developmental resources are being sacrificed in the process.

Turn 10 creative director Dan Greenawalt talks about a massive research effort undertaken in deciding how best to implement Kinect - and yet the net result of this effort is a conceptual carbon copy of what Joyride did a year previously.

In many ways, developing interface schemes for Kinect is very reminiscent of the iOS platform where motion and touch-based control powered the development of new game ideas, and where direct ports of existing joypad-based designs have not performed particularly well.

We've already seen the exploitation of the obvious routes for Kinect concepts in the form of titles like Dance Central, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved and Kinect Sports - each of which have spawned a bewildering range of similar games with like-for-like interfaces. But there is evidence that original titles are emerging which recognise that Kinect is a unique platform that demands an individual approach.

At E3 we saw Crytek's Ryse, which gave the impression that an Infinity Blade style control system is in evidence, with motion standing in for touch. More impressive was Lionhead's Fable: The Journey. Here, the developer has realised that the weaknesses of Kinect can be repurposed into strengths when combined with new ideas: travel through the land of Albion is achieved with horse and cart, with Kinect hand-tracking translated into movement via the reins. How successful it will be in motion remains to be seen, but it's new, it's different and it's designed entirely to make the game work as well as possible with Kinect controls. On the flipside, Terminal Reality's Star Wars game - a Kinect exclusive - only serves to highlight the challenges in developing for the platform and has disappointed journalists in its recent preview outings.

Going forward, Kinect has proven that it has a unique appeal to a non-core audience and Microsoft must surely be considering a 2.0 iteration for its next console, but equally, it has demonstrated conclusively that it is no replacement for the standard controller. Crucially however, it has played a key role in revitalising Xbox 360 sales from a commercial standpoint, increasing the demographics of its audience and offering up a handful of genuinely great games in the process.

Quite how Microsoft plans to follow it up with its next-gen console remains to be seen. A revised, cheaper to produce design combined with a faster interconnect with the host console is a must, while an enhanced field of view would make sense for increasing its functionality in play areas of different space. To really gain traction, the device would ideally need to be bundled in with the console itself.

In the here and now, it's all about the quality of the games - and in that respect the "pseudo-compatibility" we're seeing added to core games seems unlikely to have much impact on the fortunes of the platform going forward. Indeed, there's a strong argument that the undeniable "magic" of Kinect is undermined by this kind of support. No, it's the drive and ingenuity of game-makers in crafting experiences designed around the hardware that will ultimately determine if the system will be renewed for the forthcoming next generation consoles.