Nothing better with Kinect, say scientists

A team of scientists at Cambridge University, England, have concluded that absolutely nothing can be improved, bettered or enhanced through the use of Microsoft’s popular motion sensing input device.

Since launching in 2010, numerous Xbox 360 games have claimed to be better with Kinect. However, scientists involved in the 3-year research project have stated that, despite extensive testing, they could find no evidence to suggest that Kinect was capable of benefiting anything.

[Ksar]

Seems legit.

Xbox One, day One.

[Godlovesgamers]

"Seems legit" LOL! It's satire smarty pants!

[guitarded77]

That was the joke. I think you missed it.

Technically, I'm a scientist (computer scientist), and I can say silly stuff too. Like when they have a "Doctor" on commercials and you read the small print at the bottom of the screen and it says they're in their residency.

[JhawkFootball06]

This has to be the most satire troll article I've seen. How does this get approved?

[abzdine]

Kinect is the worst things that happened to gaming if you ask me.
The tech is just broken and doesn't work.
Now with the sky high PS4 pre orders Microsoft are wetting their pants

[Conzul]

@JhawkFootball06

For funzies? Lighten up FFS

[Gster]

This article could potentially DisKinect some loyal fans who may not have a sensor humour :p

[Dee_91]

woah
http://images.cryhavok.org/...

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

@guitarded77

Scientist here too, a biologist. You probably knows as much as I on how the whole stuff about publishing papers work, doesn't really matter who's doing the talk as long as the scientific method was applied and the paper was submited to peer review. Not disagreeing with you, most of those commercials, resident or doctor, it's just paid bull, but it has little to do with residency, just a paid opinion, not proper science.

Back on topic, obviously this article is a satire, but actually it would be easy to make such a study, just get a sample of people to test games available with and without kinect and ask 'em to measure their enjoyment through a set ammount of time gaming in either method. As long as the sample is wide enough and the rating is well defined, you can say if Kinect make games more enjoyable to most people or not.

[NewMonday]

"Seems legit" is slang, he means the opposite.

[ZeroX9876]

fitness games, dance games, mini-games benefits all from kinect. voice recognition could be done on a headset.

Kinect is not better for me, but my sister has been enjoying it like crazy! I showed her the move and she liked it, just not as much as kinect.

What kinect can't do is movement through large areas in a game. find a way to play skyrim with kinect per example. I know you can't at the moment, but moving freely in this large open world would be hard without a controller.

motion control when playing with a controller at the same time isn't convenient at all. Kinect is great, just not for everyone.

Am I the only one who thinks that maybe MS is targeting all those original Wii owners? people that are searching for a new experience like the wiimote, but doesn't find this "new experience" on the Wii U.

[guitarded77]

I agree with you. I have Move and Kinect, and I prefer Move, but my wife and her friends like the Kinect. The Kinect has its advantages when it comes to dancing and fitness games, but that's about the best use for it so far.

[Narutone66]

It took them 3 years to come to that conclusions. Lol.

[rainslacker]

I wouldn't doubt that MS wants that audience. I'm sure Sony and Nintendo do as well. But even MS is smart enough to know that they will not get that audience with a $500 system.

Wii had more going for it with the casuals than the WiiMote making it more inviting to get into gaming. It was also a great party device, and the price was low enough to make it appealing for a family looking for a good value in a gaming machine.

Unfortunately, IF MS were looking to capture that audience, I believe they won't get it even if they were willing to spend $500. Kinect has been around long enough that people that wanted to try it probably already have. All in all, if the word starts getting out to the casuals about it, there is plenty of Kinect 1.0 articles that will make it seem not quite that appealing.

I also believe the appeal of this type of gaming among the family casual group has waned as this gen has drawn to a close.

I believe MS, based on it's reveal, is squarely targeting the group of people that want an all purpose entertainment device. Those that are so into doing everything on their smartphones and tablets. It's been their focus for a while to get that group anyway possible...even to the point of designing an entire OS line around tablets/phones, and their game machine is squarely focused on convenience...whilst using that same OS.

[Gster]

I really don't know what those scientist guys are talking about. I used it for wiping my arse and I had a great time with it, no shit!
Only afterwards it was dis-Stink-tly less responsive!!
Maybe I'm just losing my touch, or is it my toilet paper!!!

[iceman06]

Lol....well played!!!

[negative]

don't do that

just don't

[StoutBEER]

Im no fan of Kinect... but this is utter bullshit. I looked at the title and was like right, someone needs to calm down.

[RobbyGrob]

It doesn't really matter how much you improve upon something that just isn't a good idea to begin with. Gaming with your body and voice isn't gaming.

What difference does it make how close to the real thing that playing a tennis game is when you don't enjoy playing tennis in real life? If you enjoy tennis, you go play tennis. You don't turn on your console and pretend to play tennis against virtual opponents. Playing a virtual sport in a faked real way takes the joy AWAY from both the sport and from the game. You'd much rather play actual tennis, or play a tennis video game with a controller. See what i mean? There's no point in turning this activity into a video game which is played in the same way that you'd perform the real thing, because it's not nearly as entertaining as the actual thing, nor as entertaining as a classic controller-based tennis game would be from the perspective of a gamer. It doesn't ADD anything. It just TAKES AWAY both worlds when you realize that you're not getting neither of the good bits of either experience..

When you turn on your console, you expect to play a video game. And video games are played with controllers. That's what they've always been for. Similarly, you expect to play tennis when you enter a tennis court. There's absolutely no good reason to move any of the actions that you could do in a game with a controller to a motion-sensing technology. It will wear you out and piss you off once you realize that you have to repeat swinging your arms or shouting a word every single time that you need to perform that certain repetitive action. That's what nice little buttons are for.

Motion-controllers lose their charm and become horrible chores very quickly. A device that takes you as far away from comfortable, precise and reactive gaming as you could possible come, by removing all button interfaces and only using your full body motion and voice as input, is about as good an idea to a gamer as it is to introduce controllers to a person who likes to sing and dance. It's a really, really corny idea that only ever will be mainstream with the Singstar people.

All you people who say that it's a good thing that you're forced to get a Kinect when you buy an XB1 because it makes it a sure bet for developers to include motion-sensing functions into their games as everyone will be able to use them; have you considered that this very idea might actually scare AWAY a lot of potential customers because they absolutely DON'T want to have to use any form of motion-sensing to play their games? Kinect is the sole reason for why i for one would never ever get an XB1. It alone destroys what could have been a great gaming console. No way am i gonna pay for something i'm not only never gonna use, but that i'm completely principally against for the good of all gamers. These terrible ideas need to die a terrible death. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to find that a lot of the PS4 pre-orders were made by Nintendo Wii people who first-hand learned how terrible motion-sensing is for gaming and who are run the other way when they see another console forcing them to do the same shit.

As ridiculous as the article was, i completely agree with it. 97% of gaming activities with a motion-sensing camera as opposed to a controller remaining unimproved or being worse sounds about right. I feel genuinely sorry for all the people who are fooled big-time by the idea of their new Kinect giving them great new pleasures in gaming. You're going to be terribly, terribly disappointed when you realize you spent a hundred bucks on this most pointless of all console ideas.

[RobbyGrob]

By the way, where i write " run the other way when they see another console forcing them to do the same shit" i'm aiming at the XB1, not the Wii U.

[Gster]

I made a couple of jokes about Kinect above, but really, thats all they were, were jokes. I think we can safely say that the new Kinect 2 has been vastly improved over kinect 1 with regard to latency, tracking, view and other features.

With that said, I think there is a market out there for those who would prefer to be physically active while playing a game, especially if their movements respond exactly as they should on screen. Anything that involves physical movement and gets the old ticker beating is good for you fitness wise.

If the new Kinect is as precise as they claim it is, I think it would make the whole experience that more realistic and therefore a lot more fun. What you said above maybe true, but if its made more realistic with Kinect 2, and your a sporty, active person, you could be very happy with your new purchase for those rainy, cold, dark, long winter days.

Personally though, I'm not one of those people so I'll be stickin to my DS4 simply as a matter of personal preference and choice.

[TomShoe]

That guy's funny. Looks like someone is a bit lacking in the sarcasm department.

http://bit.ly/19hDmHh

[Zeref]

Why is this getting approved?

[digitalscrutiny]

Because it's science. And science is fact!

[coolmastermarktwo]

It's not just science. It's rocket science.

[NatureOfLogic]

"Why is this getting approved?"

uh, Maybe because it's gaming related and kinect's worth seems to be the hot topic right now. I may be wrong, but I'm trying to use a little common sense here. Something that most fanboys like yourself seem to be incapable of.

[gamebrit]

It's a parody article.

From the site:

"The Daily Pixel is a comedy website featuring spoof and satirical news reports from the world of video games and technology. All of the content is made-up and should not be taken as factual."

[Zeref]

You fail at common sense. Ironic for someone with the nickname "NatureOfLogic"

[p0tat0stix]

Touche, good Sir.

[XboxFun]

Maybe I too should dig up flame/spoof articles from 4 or 5 months ago and get them approved on N4G.

All I need is a "MS is bad" or "100 reasons not to buy Xbox One" type of article from a blog or some other no name site...

[christocolus]

Dude it baffles me too...but in other news.I listend to major nelson and phil spencers podcast and I'm glad ms is also planning to make a strong showing at tgs..most likely one of the new ips in the works may be lost odysee 2 or blu dragon2.

[slimpickens]

Now don't you start getting me excited! If this news is true then I'm even more excited about XBO. Only thing that sucks is I can't find any to reserve at reasonable price.

[DA_SHREDDER]

sequels = new IP's?

[christocolus]

Dude it baffles me too but i guess its to be expected from N4G. That aside,I listened to major nelson and phil spencers interview and I was kinda glad to know that ms has big plans for tgs too.most likely phantum dust2, blinx 3 ,blu dragon 2 or lost odysee 2 may be announced.... Just hopeful.

[Xsilvermist]

And ya name zeref i mean shit i like fairy tail as much as the next guy u choose a character that hardly shows his face in the show call me natsu.

[vigilante_man]

It is not any worse than most of the daft articles we will be seeing until new consoles are released.

20 reasons to buy PS4
20 reasons NOT to buy PS4
20 reasons to buy XB1
20 reasons NOT to buy XB1
blah... blah...

At least this was funny!

[Phoenix76]

@coolmaster - it's not rocket science, it's quantum physics!!! Lol

[Ashlen]

Did they test rocket science?

[boing1]

Don't have to be a scientist to know that.

[KonsoruMasuta]

Unless it's an Eroge. Now that, I would buy.

A for Adult kinect game, FTW!

[DA_SHREDDER]

or just get a real chick?

[SirBradders]

He might have one and just want a new experience lol

[arbitor365]

best article I have read in months

[CalamityCB]

Why the hell are satire/comedy articles being approved?

[Belking]

This just shows how much garbage is here on this site. Just look at the date on that article...lol

[Rhaigun]

In all honesty, I found most titles that included Kinect voice commands annoying. I literally had to yell at my squad in Mass Effect 3, and even then, they only worked half the time.

[Zeref]

Yeah I know, But this time it will work MUCH MUCH better.

Just watch this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Around the 4:00 mark. But I recommend watching the whole thing. It is really impressive this time.

I hated the first Kinect too, it didn't work as advertised. But I am giving Kinect 2 a second chance. This is one of the things that keeps X1 from being just a glorified gaming PC.

[Rhaigun]

I'll have to see it work for myself. They played the audio supposedly running through their filters, but until I see a real world scenario, I'll remain skeptical.

The camera mapping looks great though.

[JamieL]

They may have sucked to you, but I found them to be VERY helpful to me, in Skyrim as well. I'm a very special case though. I lost the use of my right arm about 2 years ago in a motorcycle accident. I'm not looking for any kind of sympathy or anything, and I even had Evil Controllers build me a controller I can play with, but those "voice commands" freed me from having to deal with a couple of menus and button presses, this helped me with the gameplay significantly. I will admit they worked a lot better on Skyrim than on ME3, but for me they are a welcome addition to any game. So just because they are crap to you doesn't mean they are crap to everyone. At the same time I know that goes both ways, just because I find them useful doesn't mean you will, but they can serve a purpose.

[Rhaigun]

I agree they have a use for some people. I just don't think its optimized very well. Especially when I have my Klipsch surround blaring.

[slimpickens]

I like the current voice commands and hope they are better suited for controlling the entire search experience this time around. THe thing that sucks is when the volume is high and it can't hear you. It would be great if the camera could read my lips lol.

[Thomper]

British humour 1 - fanboys....err... Whatever

[trywizardo]

we shouldn't believe everything "that have scientists approve, scientists says" will this is true ... but we shouldn't , but still this one is true

[nosferatuzodd]

Lol Microsoft is a joke of a company can some tell me something that is original to Microsoft anyone ? Something they came out with that's not ripping off apple google Nintendo or Sony

[theWB27]

You show us something Apple, Google, Nintendo or Sony is releasing that has never been released before.

If you can give me something they've released that's totally and utterly original then I will defend Microsofts ability to do the same. I GUARANTEE YOU CAN'T DO IT.

[nosferatuzodd]

i can name 2 things from Nintendo the rumble pack yes that was from Nintendo thumbstick yes that was them Sony doubled it the same invention you first person shooter so love if it wasn't for Sony you halo fans wouldn't be talking right now same gos for apple and Google they invent lots of stuff
what does Microsoft ever did ? and don't say online that was already done by Sega

[SirBradders]

@theWB27 go to the formats and technology section. There is a rake of sh**.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/w...

Nintendo have invented a huge library of games.

Apple invented the word re-invented.

Google invented google.

[theWB27]

The sega saturn 3d controller had a thumbstick before Nintendo. Rumble is a good one.

Sony improved upon something, that isn't introducing.

Microsoft were the first to make hard drives a standard. Dreamcast did online, the Jaguar did it before that Microsoft made online gaming what it is in consoles. . Wireless controllers a standard. Achievements...

If you think Microsoft has never invented one thing and yet they are where they as a company, then I don't know what to say really. They came late to the game compared to Sony and especially Nintendo, but have ushered in standards that people take for granted.

[nosferatuzodd]

Microsoft watch every one then if they're successful they flew in and add a little more you're design and people say that's invention really why you think every market for the last 10 years Microsoft is late in Zune dead it was too late phones ipads video games they copying Google with bing they watch youre success and then try to replicate it you'll never see them try something new until others have

[JamieL]

@ nosferatuzodd
So what do you have to say about Sony and the PS4? The only thing they're doing is cloning the 360's recipe for success. What are they doing new this gen? Really besides introducing new media formats to gaming, what has Sony ever done new? I swear they've been doing the same thing since the PSX. Not that that's a bad thing when you're as good at what you do as they are, but when do they move forward. I don't just want "prettier" games, I want totally new concepts as well. Not that I'm saying MS or NIN will/are bringing anything either, but I do see them trying more than Sony. I also hate seeing all these gamers go on and on about how they want everything in gaming to stay the exact same. I've said it before, but I'm glad the N4G hoard is not in charge of game development in the real world, otherwise we would be playing the best looking version of pong ever.

Edit: I was thinking and Sony did try more with the PS3 than any other system, but we know how that turned out for them.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Achievements? TrueSkill connecting on Xbox Live?

Just a couple off the top of my head.

They all borrow ideas from each other. Are they all a joke to you?

[Mithan]

Dumb fuck article. Not a kinect fan, but come on. Shit like this cheapens this site.

[kryteris]

fake news, belongs in the wannabe humor section not gaming news.

[Kidmyst]

Man I was hoping they'd find Kinect shot you with a laser and zapped you into the game grid with their research.

[hazardman]

What complete bullshit!!!

http://youtu.be/eWmVrfjDCyw

[Elit3Nick]

Lol why did I know what the link would be, when I first saw that I thought that was totally badass

[SITH]

LMAO this was good, the idiots who did not read it were better, the idiots that did read it and still did not get it, legendary.

[yeahokchief]

What are they talking about?!?!?

It helps the government spy on terrorists better.

Kinect protects freedom and MURICA! You damn communists!

[corvusmd]

Wow, this is how desperate some people are? They make up fake articles about Scientists "disproving" opinions? Even if we just look at the tangible upgrades of the Kinect 2.0 over the original you can say it's "more better". I don't get this insecurity of Fanboys that hate the XB1...if I don't like something, I don't buy it...I don't typically feel that I need to be responsible for crushing it with my lame version of propaganda...that is a massive level of insecurity. So since I like pepsi better, should I go out and write an article about how Coke looks stupid with it's red can and cursive writing? ...seems ridiculous huh? The only explanation for this level of hate is insecurity....if the XB1 is so horrible, these kinds of people would just let it destroy itself...they are acting like it's a mentally challenged kid with a helmet that tripped and fell...but if that was the case, would you feel the need to stomp and kick the kid with the helmet?

[wishingW3L]

the only reason that this article has high degree and lots of comments is because nobody realizes that it's freaking satire because most people only read the tittle.

Satire article should be banned.

[Bzone24]

Satire should either have it's own category or be marked as such in the title.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Not Funny

[TemplarDante]

Xbone delayed :)

[xKugo]

This is literally the biggest dump on a university I have ever seen. Satirical comedy at it's finest.

Really good laugh.

[FaSCoRP]

This is old. I read the same article three months ago, liked here also