I'm one of the few people not getting a check from Microsoft that actually believes in Kinect. I'm not insane; I realize that Kinect is not as conducive to gaming as the PR folks want us to believe--I mean let's be honest, trying to change game controls from digital controller input to motion control is almost literally like abandoning instant messaging in lieu of semaphore. But what I do see in Kinect is the future of home entertainment system. Kinect is a chance to throw away the stack of remote controls you can't keep track of, as well as create a system more intuitive and faster to control than traditional home entertainment setups, and the video linking has the potential to be the first commercially viable stab at a cheap video-phone setup.
In truth, Microsoft would have been better served releasing Kinect as a stand alone device instead of tying it to Xbox, but I'm guessing some marketing genius somewhere (I picture him wearing a wizard hat) decided that the company's best move would to be to try to ride the large installed user base from their gaming console. But since Kinect IS tied to Xbox, and I want to see the system survive and evolve, I compiled a list of things that Kinect SHOULD be doing if it wants to keep relevant.
VOICE MACROS
EA showed at the Microsoft E3 press event that they clearly get which part of the Kinect is most useful to where gaming currently is--voice commands. High action games already require you to keep your fingers reflexively close to up to two analog sticks and 18 function buttons to stay ahead of the game, so the early hypothetical “making a tossing motion to toss a grenade in game” Kinect application is nearly useless, especially if there’s already a button on the controller that doesn’t require you to remove one hand from it.
Taking one hand off the sticks can cost you big time, but voice commands get around that problem. Shouting “Grenade!” doesn’t require much shift of concentration in the middle of a intense action sequence, and is a whole hell of a lot more player friendly than taking a hand off the controller.
So if voice actions are such a boon, why can’t we program our own? A simple voice-driven macro program would be next to nothing to piece together, and ‘forgivable flaws’, like only recognizing the command if given by the person who programmed the macro, would simplify the process exponentially. As the Dashboard becomes a more Kinect friendly experience, I expect we’ll see more functionality in this realm applied to menu navigation, but how handy would it be to be able to preset a game with a command like “Xbox: Map” or “Xbox: Save Game”. Microsoft even offers Touchstudio for WP7 Phones, a “build-your-own-touch-screen-macro” program, so wouldn’t a “build-your-own-voice-macro” system for Kinect just make sense?
Until some joker figures out how to macro “Xbox: Ultra Combo” during a MVC3 match, I suppose...
VOICE COMMAND GAMES
Beyond programmable and supplemental macros, why haven’t we delved into the realm of voice-driven games? There seems to be little hesitation to make a segment of titles solely Kinect motion driven, so why hasn’t voice driven been explored yet?
Strategy games seem like an obvious place for this. I’m not going to pretend that pro-level Starcraft players are going to want to shout out “Zerg Rush” (alright, who are we kidding, they do that anyway), but how righteous and investing would it be to issue commands to your units from the role of a Civil War or medieval army commander? “Archers, forward!” “Men! Shore up that left flank!” “Take the North Wall!”
Similarly, adventure games would be great for voice commands. I know, you’re hesitant to follow me on this one, but stay with me. Voice commands are limited by the number of commands you can include in the game’s programming. This is why games with a militaristic background work best for voice commands, because issued commands can be expressed with a minimum of vocabulary.
Now think back to the birth of adventure games, the text based adventure. The number of commands that actually worked were limited, usually far below what people attempted. I have faith that modern game designers would be able to apply adventure game tropes to a limited command vocabulary in a way that is both intuitive and largely unfrustrating.
And, for the love of God, make me a Star Trek voice based command game where I can issue orders to the bridge like Picard. “Engineering, report!” “Open hailing frequencies.” “ENGAGE!”
GAME SHOWS
This one is so obvious that Microsoft put it on their own target videos--Kinect based multiplayer game show styled games. With voice and face recognition, and the ability to update question packs online, games show-styled games seem like the most obvious choice around, but still nothing has shown up on the market…or even in previews.
Gamers are largely geeks, and geeks love proving that they’re smarter or more knowledgeable than others. How is this not yet a thing? The all-too-short lived 1 vs 100 venture proved that there is a market for competitive online trivia gaming, including pooling thousands of players to go up against each other; basing these ideas in a Kinect environment just makes sense.
COCKPIT VIDEO
This has always been an obvious use to me, since Playstation 2’s Eye Toy, that I have just never been able to understand why the makers of the console-based cameras haven’t played with more. These cameras (Eye Toy, PS3 Eye, Kinect) have the capacity to do what I call “poor-man’s green screening”, where they take an image of the backdrop of the room and wipe out anything that stays static. So the walls, furniture, items on screen that are inanimate/stay put can be ignored by the camera and replaced with any backdrop desired, while animate objects (like you) appear to be moving in front of the new backdrop. The obvious application to me has always been placing the player of the game in a cockpit environment, particularly for driving and mech combat games.
You're playing a mech game, online with a buddy. They open a video link to communicate with you. A small thumbnail video of them appears in the corner of the HUD, and you see a live video of them, but instead of sitting in their living room, you see them embedded in the cockpit of their mech, which could be unique to the model, or even customized by the user.
This concept works outside of gameplay, as well. You call your friend up over video communication, and they're in the background of their choosing. I'd be a lot more likely to drop Microsoft Points on a background my friends can see, like a WWI foxhole or lollipop island or even licensed Castle Grayskull backdrop behind me while I chat with them, than I would the current Theme system where Microsoft wants me to pay three-to-four bucks for a dashboard background only I can see.
KINECT/WP7 CONNECTIVITY
So, I know this flies in the face of the whole “controller-free” company line, but between the Kinect’s motion tracking and the WP7’s gadget list (accelerometer, touch screen, camera, et al), the WP7 could be set up to link to the Xbox’s Wi-Fi to accomplish the kind of preciseness of control that is turning off the majority of Kinect’s dejectors. Microsoft is already trying to sell the WP7 dashboard style to Xbox users, so why not?
And not just precise controls, a WP7 platform with Kinect and Xbox doing the processing for it could handle all level of Alternate Reality camera games, and even simpler, let you use the WP7 touch screen as a low-function controller or a video remote control. I have a hard time believing that Microsoft isn’t forward-thinking or future-proofing enough to already have these features in the works, but I do worry that they might want to wait until market permeation on the Kinect and WP7 Phone becomes high enough to make such features cost effective, which in my eyes is the wrong business strategy. A better strategy would be to pull the trigger on Kinect-WP7 connectivity as soon as possible and use it as a marketing point to encourage consumers to buy into which ever half of the program they haven’t yet adopted.
Face it, all you need is a link between the two, and you already have
the WiiU ready to go for nothing more than a firmware update...
VISUAL CODE/BARCODE SCANNING
Smartphones have all manner of one- and two-dimensional barcode scanners, and if you’ve ever had to input a Microsoft code you know how frustrating it can be to input the code, only to realize you typed it in wrong and now have to scrutinize the code for the error (not to mention the frustration of trying to input a 25-digit code on the soft keyboard). And as “online passes” become more common with new retail games, wouldn’t it be so much easier to just hold up the included card in front of the Kinect and let it scan and input the code for you?
Microsoft even has it's own proprietary code system, and no one's sure why, but they could lend themselves a lot of legitimacy by giving the Kinect the ability to read a code and then add content to your game or Avatar, or instantly pull up a movie trailer or music download. The idea begs for the cross-merchandising and marketing that will make-or-break new technology. The "do-everything" concept has already been deep in the marketing strategies of both Microsoft and Sony, to not apply it to their peripherals could be a dangerous mistake.
I suppose there is always the danger of folks hacking the codes to give themselves free downloads, but realistically there’s not any more danger than already exists in trying to decipher a 25-digit code.
