I did read the article.

***The one area where the device seems to fall short, however, is support from actual game developers.***

Kinect's biggest, non-packaged sellers are from third-party developers. Many of them listed above.

***Maybe Microsoft could have had a more expansive lineup planned than dancing and sports, like how they were talking about all the ways they were going to integrate it into tons of different genres***

Integrate into does not mean completely utilize. So, the things the author complains about, such as using it for some things in Forza or voice commands in ME3, that is exactly what Microsoft said. Otherwise, there are games being made that fully utilize Kinect.

*** not make the same mistakes Nintendo did with the Wii; you cannot rely wholly on casual titles to move your idea***

Which is why they integrate Kinect where they can in core titles. Forza, BF3, ME3, etc.

We could argue various titles as 'casual' or not, but at least Microsoft is supporting their product in a variety of fashions and are establishing more studios. To say, and I quote, "they aren't focusing on games" is ignorant at best.

*** I find myself at fault for wishing that Microsoft would stop focusing on all the different ways I'm going to be able to control my TV with the Kinect and instead would focus on more gameplay integration.***

Again, it's a problem with perspective. Forza, BF3, ME3 alongside the other games they have don't show a focus just on TV control. The fact that they make it useful for TV control shows that they are supporting their device as a whole and rather than just with casual games. They want to make it a centerpiece.

The author is being extremely single-minded in his/her desire when Microsoft is doing all they can to make the device the center of your entertainment center, for all purposes, not just casual games and TV controls.

Look, I disagree with a ton of how Kinect is implemented and how far the technology can go, but even I admit that Microsoft is doing exactly what this author claims they aren't.

Now, getting back to your specific comment, you said "We need a kinect game that will revolutionize gaming or least set the the bar of how a hands free game should be like."

And, my post above already shows that those are there. No other controller out there allows you to truly emulate actual motions with your whole body for dancing or sports titles. None of them. Only Kinect allows this at this time, and so those are the games that show Kinect's true potential. Kinect otherwise is going to be a device that is made an option for other games. Games that rely on real-time accuracy in multiplayer games will use a controller, but you can use voice commands alongside your controller. Games that rely on minute control in a car's speed will use a controller (or, if you're into it, a steering wheel and pedal), but you can uses the camera to aid in looking around.

The games that show off Kinect's technology are there. They are the games that utilize a person's full body. No one wants to stand up for a few hours putting one foot forward or backward for moving. That's not real-world emulation, that's a gimmick. That wouldn't add to the experience, but make it annoying.

Kinect is about integrating options where they work, not about just integrating an option that can replace the controller entirely.

Cgoodno i fully agree with what you have just said. I think ms knew they needed a change in the type of games it was known for and they put it on kinect to rebrand the 360 to be a all round console like the ps3 and not just a fps console like it had its name for being.

But i do think the next xbox will be where we start to see what kinect can do in core games because kinect came too late in its gen just like move and the wii motion + that not every developer will support it but if the next xbox has kinect included in its bundle just like if move is sold with every ps4 developers will make games to use the device and we will start to see some new ways in playing core and none core games.

Sorry, but the meat of it was

- Developers are not supporting it
- Kinect is not making games to show off its ability
- I want more than sports/dance games

Guess which of those doesn't matter in order to invalidate the other two?

Guess which point you didn't follow up on either? You just posted a list of Dancing/Sports titles. No clue why you can't just admit you hadn't read the article by the time you posted that first comment... LOL

These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse

Contractual agreements are not the same as “gentlemen” agreements. If you think that they work with their distributors a month before production then their entire business model is trash. They work with companies like nvidia constantly for building the graphics cards they need. They work with companies that build motherboards years in advance. This is what proper business planning does.

They are not buying components on a whim like a consumer. So again, considering the ram isn’t a singular module and is integrated into the motherboard I highly doubt they wouldn’t have a final schematic that they are supposed to be building around.

If they are delaying production another 3 years then it’s obvious again this is an after though project and is just trying to be responsive to their bad execution they had the last 14 years.

It also isn’t far fetched to use their failure to produce first party titles the last 7 years including the highly anticipated games I mentioned all being cancelled. That they would continue to you know… lie

Yeah with FSR 5 they should be able to offer a much cheaper version of Helix.

Series S is what has killed Xbox Series so... Will they dare?

The factors are largely external. Covid and Russia-Ukraine war causing inflation led to the first price increase in 2022.

Then we get Trump's tariffs increasing hardware prices, AI boom causing a RAM crisis, war on Iran causing a worldwide fuel crisis which impacts the cost of everything.

Gaming doesn't exist in a vacuum. The last few years have been a shitshow and lot of it was definitely avoidable.

LucasRuinedChildhood,

For sure. No disagreement on the external factors doing a lot of this. Where I have to gently push back however is on two fronts:

1. The pandemic definitely caused some issues: asynchronous development was a big issue and really complicated timelines and affected game quality. At the same time, when it comes to price hikes, it's really difficult to know what was genuine necessity and what was taking consumers for a ride. The pandemic brought about "stag-flation" which was increasing prices and stagnant wages, which was a problem caused by supply chain constraints. There was also "Greed-flation", where companies that were slightly affected or had no issues took advantage of the situation and squeezed everyone citing supply chain issues when there were none.

2. It's definitely true that the tariffs, AI boom, and RAM crisis were all things enabled by tech broligarchs throwing money at this caricature of a world leader, one of them being Satya Nadella. I don't think Sony and Nintendo have contributed much to this problem if at all, but Microsoft's Nadella I feel was instrumental in causing every one of those issues. Microsoft as a company contributed to both candidates (though they gave Harris 4x as much if I recall), but Nadella was all in on letting AI run wild. He paid for unregulated AI, and got a war that's not a war (even though Trump called it that at least five times on television) that screwed up helium access. So for me, I feel that one of the players in the gaming industry is a key architect of these issues, and for that reason I struggle a bit to think of it as "external".