Ubisoft reveals big bet on motion-control Kinect games

In 2007, Ubisoft started investigating a 3D camera from PrimeSense, a startup that was exploring the idea of motion controls for video games. Ubisoft, the big French video game company, decided to invest a lot of resources in finding out how to make games more fun with new kinds of gestures.

The Nintendo Wii had taken off in 2006, and then Microsoft announced its Kinect motion control system last year. By that time, Ubisoft was well on its way to understanding what was possible with motion-control games, said Laurent DeToc, North American chief executive for Ubisoft, at a San Francisco event Tuesday where it showed off its Kinect games. The company revealed four major games for Microsoft’s Kinect, which goes on sale on Nov. 4.

[Philoctetes]

"That said, the company has made it clear that it believe Kinect can be attractive to hardcore gamers (its primary audience) as well."

I don't see a lot of hardcore gamers lining up to buy something that can't go beyond on-rails games right now.

[Cratos8780]

"Xbox 360's Kinect 'Leapfrogs' Past Tech, says Ubisoft"

READ: Ubisoft will dump shovelware on Kinect like they do on the Wii.

[tacosRcool]

Exactly with crappy everything. Did anybody read the requirements to even play the Kinect?

[MaximusPrime]

Raving rabbids!!

[HolyOrangeCows]

Ubisoft is putting out more software than Microsoft on day one with this thing. What are you expecting? That they're going to say "it's a worthless pos that pales in comparison to other technologies"? I don't think so...

[Imperator]

@bigwheels

It's a LOT more than the Wii and PS Move require. I can play my Move/Wii 3 ft from my TV, in the dark, sitting comfortably down, with my floor cluttered. And they both work perfectly.

I cannot do any of that with Kinect and I simply have no space for it. It asks for too much.

[M4ndat0ry_1nstall]

"I don't see a lot of hardcore gamers lining up to buy something that can't go beyond on-rails games right now"

I don't see a lot of "hardcore" gamers lining up to play with a wand (move) or no-buttons (Kinect).

Also what were your feelings on motion controls BEFORE the announcement of Move/Kinect? Casual? The fact that these companies offer the ability to choose a control pad or motion controls in enabled games says Move and Kinect are for casual gamers not the "hardcore".

[Philoctetes]

I've been skeptical of motion controllers all along. I haven't bought Move yet. I *might* buy it when Dead Space 2 comes out, but first I want to read some first-hand reviews of whether or how much it adds to the gameplay experience. Same with KZ3.

The difference between Move and Kinect, at least for me, is that I know that Kinect wouldn't be able to offer anything that I'm interested in. The jury is still out on Move.

[gamingdroid]

"The difference between Move and Kinect, at least for me, is that I know that Kinect wouldn't be able to offer anything that I'm interested in. The jury is still out on Move."

To me it is completely opposite. I enjoyed the Wii with the family and I get the sense that those type of games will come to Kinect. I also like the idea of controller less interaction with the dashboard.

With PS Move, it is identical to the Wii except better fidelity, but instead they aim to replace (or at least in addition to) the regular controller. If I pick up KZ3 or Dead Space 2, I will play that with the controller, not the wand.

I didn't care for that type of controller on the Wii for core gamers, nor do I care for it on the PS3. Especially when I can feel the lag relative to the controller and the PS Move wand doesn't bring me any tangible difference in the experience over a regular controller, but actually degrades it.

Some will get hung up on the fact that I mentioned lag is an issue, and I know it supposedly is almost as good as a pad, yet I can feel it while pointing it around. Ruse was far the worst offender (admittedly I tried the demo, so I don't know if the final product is better).

Now if developers would use PS Move to create something unique, something that isn't tacked on and highlights the strength of PS Move, I might strongly consider it.

Until then, I will wait for a sale or official price drop.

[divideby0]

I consider myself hardcore gamer and I aint buying the shovelware or Kinect for my 360 this year.. When I can play real games, I will buy it..

[Sez]

Well I'm a hardcore gamer and yes I am buying kinect for when I have guest over. And I agree with gamingdroid with his arguement on move. To me it seem more of a tacked on feature for games than for dev's to make a game from the ground up to make it seem more hardcore.

I see many people on this site say MS won't take risk. But to me this is a big risk for MS with kinect. Especially with the fact that everyone expect it to fail. Where as Sony took a safer route with move which has already been proven a success with the wii-mote.

Edit: I know a lot of fanboys ( not fans) glorify the move like it's the second coming. But honestly can you give me a link,poll,forum complaints,ect of people saying they are tired of the wii-mote because it wasn't 1:1 precision.

[KingME]

Can someone please explain to my why PS3 fanboys have concerns about kinect whatsoever. I seriously can't grasp why they feel a need to fill "EVERY" kinect thread with a bunch of hate and FUD.

Seriously, what makes you guys so magnetically attracted to troll kinect threads, I seriously don't underderstand why you don't just read the title and "MOVE" on? (PUN Intended)

Please explain.

@Alpha-Male22 - you appear to be a well balanced N4G user, perhaps you can share your philosophy on this anomaly.

[gcolley]

that's what kids do.

[xAlmostPro]

i did notice he said he cant wait to see his 6 year old pull faces at it?.. does this mean or prove the exact market kinect will cater for? i think so

[Lastcall]

I absolutely believe that Microsoft Pays their developers for this Kinect to hype the tech up..Microsoft always hands money under the table for getting publicity on their products..Example: Giving each member at E3 a new 360 slim..Closest thing to kissing ass in my eyes..

[tinybigman]

just gonna say hahahahahahahahahaha because i know as well as others that shovelware is incoming in the biggest way from ubisoft. hey ubisoft i didnt buy your shovelware garbage for wii, and i sure as shit wouldnt buy it for kinect(if i was ever stupid enough to buy an overpriced camera).

[Zir0]

Kinects 3rd party support it pretty crazy especially considering its not even out yet. But apparently Gamestop has already stopped taking preorders for Kinect due to high demand and its already outselling Move in online charts such as Amazon. So obviously its going to be huge so everyone wants to support it.

[8-bit]

I didn't know that MS had anything other than 3rd party support.

[Hank Hill]

Nothing but net!

[WLPowell]

So laser tag, red steel, and rabbids w/ kinect?

I'm sooooo excited. /s

[limewax]

Maybe where you are, but in the UK the support is miles lower, all the local shops who are doing pre-order are saying dont worry, just come in on the day as they have way more stock ordered than pre-orders are suggesting will sell.

Cant really leapfrog tech for one reason, MS have never and will never be the leaders in technology, lots of people like to assume because they are so heavily related to pcs that they are the king of tech, false.

Strikes me as marketing BS considering they said that they plan to be the lead third party developer for kinect.... How does it smell in that end of MS hey Ubi?

Im not here to anti, just clear marketing BS should be called

New? lol yeah right. Eye toy hasnt been around since ps2 then hey, guess sony decided to make it when they saw kinect. Its about as new a whitney houstens cleavage. When and if they can make these gadgets work at even 20% the ability of mocap then im interested, until then enjoy your Shovelware games that may as well be wii ports. 2 years ago the xbox people would have shunned this soooo hard, What happened guys? xbox live used to have core gamers, and lower prices.

Try justify it all you want, your getting ripped from all angles and you know it, same as the move buyers who own wii's. Only difference is there is a couple games that are core getting move support, and I still dont want them, same for kinect. But let me ask a question, If kinect daunts move, why are capcom making RE5 move compatable instead of kinect compatable?

[Zir0]

UK is already suffering from shortages too

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/4...
http://www.computerandvideo...

No need to spread lies now ;)

@jneul
There was never a fear of limited stock for Move by any retailer. It only ever sold out because Sony sent limited amounts. Preorders are massive for Kinect compared to Move and it currently outselling Move it all charts and its still a month from release.

[jneul]

the same thing happened for move game was urging everyone to pre-order move as it would be liited
kinect is about innovative as man returning back to being a cave man, eyetoy been there done it before, adding 3d body tracking is an improvement not an innovation

[GamerSciz]

Just one question...What fantasy world do you live in?

[Bigpappy]

I knew he was lying base or previous article I read. You posting those link showed him up for who he is. Not that he cares though.

@bigwheelstuntshow: That has been happening for quite a while here on N4G. The mods are getting a little more even handed in dealing with the attempted harassments form PS3 crow on other members, but this show that they have a long way to go. If you submit news on this site, you might have also noticed that by in large, there are some people who come up with some stupid reasons to report Kinect related news. I will leave it at that for now. Because if it continues, I will bring it to the attention of someone with more influence on the site.

[gcolley]

it is really a representation of the user base, yet PS3 fanboys claim it is the 360 users that are immature. they are at 'religious nut' levels now pushing their opinions on everyone and anyone in vast numbers.

hey guys, use your fricken brains, if there are 100 agrees to a BS statement by an idiot PS3 fanboy, it does not actually back up the statement, it shows the huge unbalance of this site, nothing more. agrees don't turn cr@p into fact

n4g please solve this problem, i am sure the unbalance is getting worse because you fail at controlling the flaming on your site to the point that actual gamers give up on you. can't remember the last time i was able to read decent comments.

[xboxlj]

That Kinect will outsell Move by the end of the year.

[CharlesDCI]

How does Kinect "leap frog past tech" when Sony was doing this in 2000? Unfortunately the PS2 wasn't powerful enough for Sony to go ahead with motion control.

[gcolley]

maybe Sony didnt realise the potential, or it was ahead of it's time (the market wasnt interested then) or whatever. sometimes innovative tech doesn't take first time around. MS was also doing motion sensing in 2000... what's your point?

[jneul]

SAYS THE DEVELOPERS OF A CRAPPY SHOVELWARE GAME CALLED RAQUET SPORTS WHICH WAS CRAP ON WII, AND UTTER CRAP ON PS3

[gcolley]

shh

[Unicron]

Cool.

Now show me the damn games. Hardware is useless without compelling software!

[JoeReno]

Seriously... Show me the games. How about an interesting tech demo. I saw tons of footage for move. Show me something!

[divideby0]

The technology may leapfrog what we have seen, but today the most important part is the GAMES and they dont leap anywhere.

next year with a price drop and real games, I will buy Kinect for my 360.

[ForROME]

In the end, support is driven by adoption numbers, when Kinect launches we will see who gets backed with a larger support audience that will dictate the longevity and support from devs and easily decide the winner.

[labwarrior]

So, Kinect can use a pad and have full body 3D motion controls for both hands (and feet and whole body) and move around with the stick, something imossible with Move that is ancient technology and as limited as can get

Also no developer is interested in Move at all as it seems, japan and now the whole world jumped to Kinect

It is funny that all PS3 games using two sticks to map both hands will be on rails, while with Kinect you can use a pad in your hand and move around !!!!! (or map the gamer feet as alternative)

PS3 Move games will be either on rails or use only one stick limiting the motion controls to a joke

[blusoops]

So if u have a pad in ur hands to move ur character, how will u use ur hands(that are holding the pad) to control kinect????

Lol.

Also MAG with move is not a joke. Works pretty well actually.

[gamingdroid]

All jokes aside, and to be fair PS Move has its advantages such as precision.

[ocnkng]

For getting the most retarded comment of the year. You actually had to think to come up with that. Maybe you haven't heard of a little thing called move navigation controller. I won't waste anymore words on you. I am referring to labwarrior

[OC_MurphysLaw]

The first wave of Kinect users is going to definitely be more casual. The games for launch all but assure that. However, given what we saw w/ TGS this year Kinect definitely will have more Hardcore offerings for 2011.

Either way, I welcome the new tech. I want my games to be more than just sitting on the couch all the time. Yes, I love my COD's and Halo's but damn if there are times I would rather be moving around and off my ass. Kinect, Move and the Wii all bring that to the table now for each console.

[limewax]

Kinect can launch, I know where the support will be going and it isnt MS, or Sony, Its the wii. Its in too many households for either of the aforementioned rivals to even scratch the surface of support the wii has had and will continue to have. And with a second wii already being planned developers are going to be much less likely to make the jump to Kinect or Move when they have a place dedicated to the casual market to make their sales

Even the companies that are producing for Kinect or Move will be seeing huge shortcomings of sales in comparison to wii sales. The support is going to be staying pretty much where it is, At least until Move and Kinect are a much more viable choice for PS3 and Xbox360 users. Which would have to mean xbox doubling their sales very quickly, of which a fair portion of the sales are already from people who have previously bought xbox's often more than once, same for ps3 which would need sales to quadruple to catch up. It wont be long until both Sony and MS realise the scale of which they will be left behind in the casual market.

And the sooner it is the better. Casual or Core, we will again see consoles more focused to particular areas of the market, and competing in every aspect of gaming doesnt benefit anyone

[0oAngeluso0]

I pre ordered Kinect the day after I saw it at this years E3. I saw the possibilities, rather then trying to find faults. People who bought the PS3 at release saw the possibilities rather then saw the faults.

I cant wait to be able to play it for myself, the voice controlled media is another reason I'm excited. To each their own, but don't hate on something because you "wish" it not to do well.

Ubisoft is making some impressive looking games for Kinect, so is Sega actually.

[likedamaster]

Well said. Bubbles for you sir.

Need more comments like these whether for Kinect or Move.

[UltimateIdiot911]

Tell me these possibilities because most people including me can't find them.

The only possibilities I can see are rail shooters and other shovelware type games. Minority report type control for games will be frustrating for the most part for 2 reason, the interface is not right there in front of you making it hard to accurately and timely input your commands. If they add a on screen capture of you, it's very distracting and takes away from the game.

PS3 is different, the possibilities were easy to spot and people can point out how it will help the future of gaming.

[wages of sin]

Oh that's right, I rememeber. You sound like every other person who's ever lived that didn't "get" or have the ability to imagine the possibilities with new technology.

Bubbs up for Angelus. I agree and I'm with you on that.

[UltimateIdiot911]

I'm asking to tell me what these possibilities are. Because so far everything I imagine or could possibly think of, I can see the major flaw behind it.

Also, it's not like the idea of controller free has never been explored. It has and guess what, it's discovered that if you combine camera while using buttons, the possibilities are much better and greater aka the Move.

It's really tiring to hear some people say it has amazing possibilities but talk like politician around the question "What are these possibilities?"

If you ask people who know me, I am the type of person who's always thinking, trying to come up with ways around things or new ideas.

So thank you for telling me all those wonderful possibilities and great gameplays that are beyond my wildest dream possible only on the kinect because you really showed me.

[Nathaniel_Drake]

Some people forget to have staying power consoles need to have a strong lineup of 1st party games as with any new add on, having a foundation of adaptable 1st party lineup. MS dosen't and never did have this.

Sony and Nintendo always had this and the games are there. I won't list the games because there are too many.

[Nathaniel_Drake]

I want to edit this but what 1st party games can Kinect work on? Halo, or how about any Rare game. Do you see my point? Let's talk about Nintendo, Mario, Zelda, Metroid works great with the Wii mote. What about Sony? Ok, Killzone 3, Socom 4, MAG, Infamous 2, Heroes on the Move. Again do you see my point?

Being weak with the 1st party lineup and also adding a tech that is limited to begin with doesn't help either. With many 1st party game you can use different ones to adapt to new tech, if you have a few 1st party games you are in danger of not having that option, and again not to mention the fact if your tech, Kinect, limits what kind of games to use.

If this is the case then the only games that work with Kinect are dancing games, mini games, party games. But again where are the hardcore games. Instead of MS creating a tech that will add things to there games and keep hardcore in level with casual, they are transforming their machine to a casual base. Ask yourself, what serious games does MS have down the pipeline versus what casual games do they have.

With the disagreers, why?

[tiamat5]

As long as you forget that Eyetoy existed, yeah it does. I try to keep a open mind when coming to motion controls but you see the 'tech never seen before', 'hands free gaming like no other device' and 'original gaming concept' nonsense that the gaming media keeps going on about is total BS. Kinect is not new, it is only improved. But the same problems and limitations are still there whether you want to see it or not.

[HeartDisease]

cgoodno: "it's a real-time tracking of skeleton, not predicting what you'll do with your skeleton. "

B1
|
|
A----B2

point A is shoulder, point b is elbow. the distance between the a and b is constant as your arm will not change size. can you predict where point b will be next, keeping in mind the same speed that was used to carry point b from position 1 to position2? if you cannot then it will be a good thing you have kinect, since its good at maths. your an idiot if you do not see the uses of a prediciting algorithm. i wonder if kinect uses an algorithm to determine speed and momentum, when say they want to predict where a bouncing red ball will go, based on last known positions of the points on your skeleton its mapped and the speed/ direction at which these points are predicted to be traveling next?

You really shouldn't talk about things you don't understand.

[limewax]

and this will be relevant to gaming in the next couple years how? Until they show a real use for this tech other than going 'hey its really high-tech stuff' then tasking it with shovelware. People can only doubt the capabilities until proven otherwise. And with how often we are told something is amazing when its pure junk in this industry can you blame them.

I want Move and Kinect to ADD to the experience. But I speak from a common standpoint of the core gamer(not all obviously), Where the view is, add to the abilities on top of what we can do with the controller, not create an option where you compromise ability for gimmicks. Im not anti-casual. I play casual games with my partner and friends on Wii. But too little too late on MS and Sonys part, they will really struggle to coax in the casual market that already own a wii. especially the ones who only own a wii. I cant justify buying Move or Kinect with the wii there, because truly, other than meaningless until proven figures, move and kinect look like hd wii games right now.

And the uses for either in core games are still coming out as a drawback rather than a benefit

[gypsygib]

stand-crouch-jump-wave: Repeat
stand-crouch-jump-wave: Repeat
stand-crouch-jump-wave: Repeat

99% of games

[ManiacMansion]

stand-crouch-jump-wave:Repeat
...
...

uncharted2?
Call of Duty?
halo?
Killzone?

lol.. thats in every game the same.. you owned yourself hard!

[bviperz]

Actually, in every game you mentioned, you control the ability to move forward, backwards, and side to side. So far for Kinect, everything is on rails, so you can't control where you move. So you pwned yourself pretty hard Maniac...

[ocnkng]

I raise a simple question. How is it going to be possible to move a character around in Kinect without the use of any buttons whatsoever? The only way that comes to mind is a sort of hybrid game where you use the controller to move the character and maybe use hand gestures or head movement etc to throw grenades, look etc. However if the end result is just to buy a $150 peripheral for performing hand motion to throw a grenade, then I don't think its worth it. If you are talking about hard core FPS/TPS games using only Kinect then I am not able to imagine anything other then on-rails, I am sorry to say.

[Paracelsus]

You will find kinect in hardcore XBOX games the same way you did find sixaxis in hardcore PS3 games: throw a grenade "launching" your pad, move your pad to guide your spinning blade in Dark Sector. You know, that kind of stuff. Kinect is nowhere near as accurate to be involved into truly hardcore experiences without having to nerf the challenge.

[EasilyTheBest]

I have played a few of the games and not just at a demo but a proper going over.
Let me just say that I was way way suprised how accurate it was...
The only game that seemed to have any lag issues were the raft game on Kinect adventures...
Its hard to explain to someone what some of the games are like to play...
They are just fun and they feel sort of futuristic.
The best game I tried was on Kinect adventures where you are under water and have to block leaks on your sub.. It sounds crap but honestly its really good.
The local Gamestation in the UK where I tried it says they have had triple the pre orders for Kinect than Sony Moves they have sold so far...

I really was expecting big lag and glichy games but thats probable my fault by reading to much into what is said about Kinect on this site...

[cruncher_20]

I don't know if Kinect will be fun or not, casual or hardcore, accurate or no, etc... I will see. I'm a ps3 owner but i'm interested in any games technologies out there because at the end, I just want to have fun...

But... saying that the local gamestation had triple orders for Kinect... I mean, don't be fool ... Obviously you are there, you tried Kinect and showed some interest... The guy will not say to you that sell are really bad... (that doesn't mean that he lies to you but come on)...

NEVER BELIEVE SELLER'S PITCH...

[alb1899]

jump in!

[ManiacMansion]

move sold only 130k in NA so far... thats a huge flop...

I bet that kinect will sell at least 1 Million units for christmas. MS will take christmas sales for better marketing, cause all magazines out there will report "great sales". Mark my words... in terms of marketing, MS is way above Sony.

What do we hear about Move? Believe me.. Move will be as popular as HOME.

[btk]

Hyping the product is not going to make it better. Lets see how gamers feel about Kinect a month after the product is released. At the moment we are hearing a lot of PR from those who are trying to make money from it. We will know after gamers actually played the games for a while.

[Paracelsus]

It's funny that with every leapfrog we witness -thanks- to those gimmicks actual gameplay seems to take a huge backstep. They don't bring anything worth on the table, they don't add anything to the immersion. They are a lame attempt to make up for the lack of ideas.

What's sad is that you see corporate pseudo-shills enjoying the situation as long as it brings hardware sales to their favorite company.

[-X-]

The fact that Kinect "leapfrogs" past tech is the reason why I think it won't do good in terms of the software that is developed on it. This kind of tech is too advanced. We are seeing bugs, and (a little) lag, but the fact MS released this means they are definitely trying. In the future I can definitely see Nintendo, and Sony coming up with tech like this....I just hope that in the future games are still affordable.

[Beahmscream]

No way I am getting this.