IGN writes: "It was only a matter of time before Microsoft's Kinect got its first fighting game, and Ubisoft's there with the very first offering: Fighters Uncaged, a single-player one-on-one brawler that claims 1:1 control using the Kinect camera for all of its attacks. The game made its debut at Ubisoft's booth behind closed doors in a pre-alpha build, but even in this early form you can see exactly what the development team aims to accomplish in Fighters Uncaged".
MMGN: It's been roughly one and a half years since Kinect launched worldwide in late 2010, selling over 8 million units in its first 60 days and making the Guiness World Book of Records for being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device" ever.
Since then, the motion-sensing device has sold over 18 million units as of January 2012.
It's safe to say from a financial and commercial standpoint, the device was a success as a product, and has no doubt helped prolong the life-span of the Xbox 360 and helped Microsoft sell millions more consoles.
But what else has Kinect notably accomplished or changed other than impressive sales? In my opinion, not much.
Yes. 99% of Kinect games don't sell past 300k and most of them score in the 50s or below. Even powerful names like Star Wars, Disneyland, and Pixar can't help Kinect games sell past 700k and this is on a system where supposedly the exclusives sell well. EVERY core Kinect game bombs hard. Just look at the latest core Kinect game Steel Battalion which scored a 39 metascore and a measly 20k sales. That is the lowest score and lowest sales of any exclusive of all time. If that's not failing gamers then I don't know what is. Look at the rest of Kinect games released this year like Huant and Diabolical Pitch. Yep, you guessed it, they both sold less than 300k and both scored low. Notice the trend?
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And yet Microsoft still believes that they are attracting the casual gamer with it. Microsoft is full of a bunch of idiots.
Well technically they are attracting the casual gamer with it. Thats why it became the fastest selling consumer electronics device..... when it first came out.
But now that leads me to a serious question. Why do people buy such garbage?
LOL @ this fanblogger claiming because HE doesn't enjoy HIS Kinect that all 18 milion people dont.
Listen at how far he has to reach to complain about Kunect.
'Kinect's failure in providing gamers with quality first-party Kinect titles is also reflected in the fact that only one of Microsoft's big three exclusive franchises (Halo, Gears and Fable) are being made to really use Kinect (Fable: The Journey)'
How ridiculous is it to claim that Kinect has failed because it's not used in every Micrsoft hardcore exclusive.
But it also show that this guy has no clue about the games Kinect is used in or he would have known that other than Fable..Kinect is used in Halo Anniversary and Forza 4.
Who cares if we never got Gears: Exile..It led to the the Gears prequel coming next year.
Here's the facts..Kinect is optional and EVERYONE isnt going to enjoy one.
The reason for it's success is for what it DOES and not what it does not.
360 'core' gamers bought Kinect in the millions just like casual gamers did. Core gamers didnt NEED Kinect in Gears 3 or the upcoming Halo 4, or ANY Call of Duty because the 360 controller is absolute perfection for shooters.
Millions of people didn' buy Kinect to play Steel Battalion, but it's clear the game polorized critics.
IGN claimed the couldnt get the game to work, the author claims he had to keep recalibrating..while others like Gamer magizine praised Steel Batallion for praised it's 'responsive Kinect based controls'.
Look at the usual suspects like Strongman claim that Kinect failed because XBLA's Haunt and Diabolical Pitch sold under 300K.
Look at the agrees..that MUST mean sales MATTER right.
'Yes. 99% of Kinect games don't sell past 300k and most of them score in the 50s or below.'
Look let's play Evil's advocate..if sales matter then what does that tell you when Kinect Sports with only a fraction of the 360 install base outsells 'core' games on the PS3 like Uncharted, Killzone 2&3, God of War 3, Resistance, Infamous, and Little Big Planet 2?
If SALES mean everything then Kinect must be doing something right.
Disney has like 15+ titles on the PS3..count how many sold over 700,000.
Count how many titles on Move or even the Wii that sold less than 300,000.
Hey..I'm just using the criteria Strongman used as supposed 'failure' for Kinect..HE is the one who claims SALES matter the most. So if Kinect is a 'failure' for sales then what are those games..according to HIM..not me
Heres the truth I own all of the motion control devices and they all have their advantages and disadvantages..Kinect is far from perfect..but neither is Move or the Wii.
Evil
Hmm i wouldn't know if it failed me as i didn't waste my hard earned cash on this worthless camera.
Everyone gets up in arms when Nintendo catered to "teh casuals" with the Wii...
...and yet when Microsoft says "Kinect will be for core gamers" but instead aims it at children and soccer moms, gamers rush to M$'s defense and say "HEY! It's okay to focus on a different audience! Kinect is...uh...it's a lot of fun! Don't say mean things about Kinect!"
LOL
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Strongman aren't you one of those Sony exclusives guys. Considering the install base, most of thos Kinect games still outsell most of those Sony exclusives. Kinect is limited right now because of the parts and USB1.0. Both things are set to change. Most tech kinda sucks when it first comes out. Just pretend they are Sony exclusives and they will sell over time.
And at least they're cheap to make.
Can always tell from a post like this who is emotionally affected. Since Sony is irrelevant to the conversation, you, in turn, look worse than he does.
CGI, you would be wrong. I couldn't care less about Kinect. Don't own one and I am not interested unless they develop something better than a remote. I was simply pointing out the hypocrisy. Notice the first sentence were I reference his previous bragging about Sony exclusives. Sorry that got too complicated for you.
no it hasn't failed all the gamers just the hardcore and even then when theirs something that's even remotely appealing to said hardcore gamers don't by mods or hacks they bounce back with comments like " Like why would i play like that?" or "Fake!" or "kinect sucks" every time after they witness things like that. Has kinect failed gamers not exactly it soars in the social market but as the CTO of the creators of Epic Mickey has said theres to much bias over the device for people to actually try it he even talks on how its so hard to do skeletal programming when its being done by middle schoolers I mean think about it the only people who have actually pushed the kinect to do things even remotely beneficial to the constant shooting that hardcore gamers want is ubisoft and even then even when they had a movement system in place for the E3 2011 build they basically toned it down to not even allow movement but then we go to just random old people on the internet then we have an easy to make skeletal program, a hack ( wouldn't know if its a hack since hes using a program used by some collage) for bulletstorm, dead island and skyrim that implements everything you can do with a controller to the device that makes it actually work. Hardcore can be done but developers aren't pushing the device or even taking notes from these people.
Right i know your one of the three kinect cheerleaders here, but do you expect anyone to bother reading a post like that.
Learn something called paragraphs, and your studying wow back in the nes we had games with bad or broken controls. You shouldn't have to perfectly/precisely replicate the motions for kinect to recognise them.
Steel battalion was always going to be a niche game, i doubt that many people have a issue with it being a difficult games. But no one, wants to have to put up with a game with a bad or broken control scheme.
Hence why it is dead in sales, patch in voice commands(to both the demo and retail and advertise the new voice commands on the marketplace), screw the games storyline, and make the thing playable for the rest of people interested in the game.
Sorry but i really have a hard time believing, that thousands of 360 gamers are wrong, because 3 people on n4g claim it perfectly playable, your just doing it wrong.
Why does Kinect have 13, 14 games that have passed the one million mark then? Its not like the install base for Kinect is 70 million like the Xbox 360 itself. The install base is much, much smaller. You'd have to think anything over 100k sold is pretty profitable.
I'd consider your whole 99% theory to be bunk at this point. If you spent half as much time actually playing your beloved PS3 that you spend trolling Microsoft articles, I'd actually believe you were a gamer.
StrongMan "99% of Kinect games don't sell past 300k" that's not true stop making crap up.
Compare Kinect and Kinect game sales to Move :D We all know which one really failed.
Most Kinect games have sold over a million like kinectamils, kinect joyride pretty much most of the launch titles have sold over a million and a few others have as well like Fruit Ninja and the disneyland and star wars game will eventually sell 1 million no doubt about that.
The thing with most Kinect games is they sell a lot in the long run they have legs. It hasn't failed gamers since a lot of people like Kinect. It's mostly the "hardcore" gamer who bashes kinect which ironically most don't even own.
News Flash to most uneducated people like you Kinect is not for the hardcore if you still can't comprehend that then I really don't know what to tell you.
It was obvious from when it was for revealed it was geared toward the casual. They release games like steel batallion just to shut most people who complain about Kinect not being hardcore but they don't care. They know who there audience is just look at what games get the actual advertising money it's definitely not these "hardcore" kinect titles it's games like Dance central that get the advertising money. So No I really don't think Kinect has failed the hardcore gamer which it was never intended to please to begin with.
Do you need links to prove that micro said from the start that kinect was for hardcore too? I mean it was mentioned in a lot of interviews, I can post links if you like? Not bashing on kinect just stating facts
lol I guess you lack reading comprehension. Actions speak louder than words I don't care what MS says they can say they are the best console out there is it true just because they said it? By your logic it is.
Like I said judging by what Kinect games MS actually seems to support as in Advertising them a lot it's obviously not the "hardcore" Kinect titles it's the casual games like the Disney game, Kinect sports, and dance central type of games. Have you seen any advertising for Steel batallion as in commercials as much as you see for a game like dance central I'm guessing you haven't because the truth is they haven't. So like I said actions speak louder than words. Not hard to comprehend.
Like I said from the very beginning Kinect was made to entice the casual/Wii gamers you really don't need to be a genius to figure that out. I don't care if they said also the hardcore just look at the launch titles and then you tell me whether they actually cared about the hardcore.
Wow defensive much? Don't get ur knickers twisted man, you said it was never ment for hardcore yet micro came out right at the start and said it was, that all I was saying, you need to calm down with the camera love there bud, it's actually funny how one little comment got u so hyper, my comprehension skills are just fine by the way, all I did was point out that half your comment was based on what u think rather than what the company reps said, micro fully intended to support the hardcore, obviously limitations with the device held that back from happening. Anyway why so defensive?
i suppport kinect and yea i remember when they said it and honestly they shouldent have i guess they just belived the developers would be more supportive of the device and have more of an innovative approach to the device or atleast be able to come up with a control scheme that could be implemented into the stander first person game. Ive seen it done for hardcore titles with hacks or mods on the PC just not pushed for on the consoles.
@blue7_7 I agree with what you said. I think Kinect has been a success in terms of opening up the xbox name to everyone. What people are missing is the bigger picture. MS said by the 3rd gen of Game console they want the Xbox name to be house hold and the Original Xbox get there foot in the door with the core fans but not enough to make any dent in Sonys sales. Then then looked at the Market when the 360 came out and hit the ground running with the so called core games and the xbox name was fully in the door with the core gamers but Nintendo were running away with the none core market which if you look at sales numbers is bigger than the core market for selling consoles.
The next step for Microsoft was changing the 360 image from being all about FPS games and this is where Kinect came in. It has give the 360 some new IP's Like Kinect Sports, Dance Central, Kinect Start wars, your shape fitness evolved and more and this gave the 360 the image of a console for everyone which is What Sonys market was all about.
Kinect sales are still going strong and I think the core games that have come out so far have worked well. Forza 4, ME3, Steel Battalion (Which works well for me and im enjoying even though it is a really hard game) and Halo CEA.
Kinect is not for everyone just like move or the Wii but for what I use it for it works very well for me and the family. But No matter what people say hater will hate and fans will back it just like a sports team ect.
The world is full of people who like to moan if they don't like something and think they are always right but at the end of the day I think if you like something get it if you don't then don't get it and carry on using the things you like rather than moaning about the things you don't like.
It's not about reading comprehension, it's about false advertising! One would have to be crazy to believe that a nice chunk of the xbox 360 fanbase didn't buy a kinect in the hopes that it would offer some hardcore gaming! That is evident with the sells of all three consoles.
To make it simple, do you think the whole fanbase of the wii are all casual gamers? What about those who purchased the move, were they all casual? No! So why would anyone even consider believing that it was just the casuals that bought into the marketing hype of kinect?!
Gamers failed kinect, from the minute it was announced it was attacked. It was never given a chance by these gamers who are always crying about the lack of innovation in gaming, I am glad I bought one. I had a lot of fun with it, but it did get boring after a while. At least I gave it a fair chance though. I am just to into my sim racing :)
'I had a lot of fun with it, but it did get boring after a while'
Reviews, pundits and casual observers told people like you it wouldn't work, but you are glad you bought one regardless, but got bored with it... at least you gave it a tried it though?!
Microsoft loves people like you
You were sold a fantasy based on fake demos and future potential.
Exactly! What's better way to advertise to casual, by using their hardcore gaming fanbase as the test subjects! Word of mouth is a very effective tool!
The beta for kinect was a stroke of genius on micosoft part, it gave them the ability to garner a massive amount of attention right from peoples living rooms. Anyone who came to your home became a potential customer.
hennessey86 Do you still use Kinect on Forza 4? I know its only left and right head movement it tracks but imo it helps esp when online racing (if you play inside the car) I also think developers of other racing games should use it but maybe the next F1 or Dirt will use it too. Also if you fancy a change pickup steel Battalion as it is one of the most challenging games I have ever played and if you setup Kinect as per the instructions it also works too.
It was never aimed at us, I just wish Microsoft wasn't constantly pretending that it is.
I think it's a brilliant system and has provided some of my favourite gaming experiences of this generation, most notably Child of Eden and Steel Battalion: Heavy Armour.
TPV's Jonathan: "You may have received Kinect for as a Christmas present and you may be wandering what games to buy for your new and sexy Kinect. Right here, right now I will attempt to steer you away from the many Kinect shovel ware games that only exist to give grandparents something to buy their grandchildren. Kinect does have some great games out there but you need to do a lot of digging in the dirt."
From the Review:
"Fighting games make violence an accessible and risk-free past-time for many people. They help us live out fantasies of taking it to someone else (whether they deserve it or not) without any real negative consequences*. With the current generation, the interface between us and our virtual fists seemingly blurs the line; or does it? We take a look at Ubisoft’s Fighters Uncaged for the Kinect to see where the current evolution of fighting is at."
Notice how they say ''it was only a matter of time''
That goes for all hardcore games.. its only a matter of time... i hope
Is the new N4G ready for this? Or will we end up with another discussion marred by fanboys?
OT: here's some of that oft spoken kinect potential trickling in. A sign of good things to come