I Can't "Kinect" With This Next "Move"

With the holidays coming up, it is a prime season for the big video game companies. There is always anticipation for around November. Where the biggest titles are always released and new consoles seem to always fall around the month before holidays. This November will see only one new hardware upgrades for the next generation consoles. Microsoft will be launching Kinect on the 4th for around $150 for the device. Sony's Playstation Move launched mid Sept, earlier then the competition. It retails with the camera, one wand controller, and Sport Champions for $100. There is also another controller available, the navigation controller that sells for $30, its basically the "nunchuck."  So over all the Move is about $20 buck cheaper out the gate. It can be even more cheaper if you own a Playstation Eye camera, and all you would have to do is buy the controllers and the games. But on Microsoft's side, all you have to do is buy Kinect and that is basically it. No controllers are going to be needed, and no batteries or chargers are going to have to be purchased versus the Sony set up.

First off, I want to say that this is all targeted towards the "casual gamer" audience, it seems so far. Well at least Microsoft has admitted thats who they are after, i'm assuming Sony is after the Wii audience also. That's what it is all about! Taking as much away from Nintendo's very popular Wii sales. They achieved this with a more affordable price point at launch and the casual games they offer for all audiences. I consider myself to be a "hardcore" gamer. I didn't purchase a Wii or plan too, just something that doesn't appeal to me. It doesn't cater to a lot of gamers, and those gamers are the ones who went out and bought the Xbox 360 or PS3. We wanted the better graphics, faster processors, the online community and hardcore titles they offer are the best on the market. So first sights of something coming towards what I play, I was a little skeptical, and I still am now.

I will start off with move first and talk about what its all about and its features how it fairs right now. The move is basically a direct rip off off a Wii-mote, no getting around that fact. But what it is set out to do, which the wii doesn't offer, is true 1 to 1 control. The Wii controls for the most part besides a hand full of games out there, is poor. They had to release a controller add on, the Wii Motion Plus to try to tighten up the controls, and charged the customer for it too. Thats BULLSHIT! Sony must have seen this mistake and tried to make something that is superior over the Wii controls, thus came the Move. The Move uses the Eye camera and the Balls on the end of the remotes to track the motions at a claimed 1 to 1 ratio, meaning it will work better the Wii. The games that launched with it have had mixed reviews about how they handle, and the complaint about how the buttons are very hard to press and basically confusing keep stacking against them.

For the most part this whole package not assuming you own a Playstation 3 will run you about min. $450 doesn't seem to be appealing to the casual person who can just get a Wii for under $200. Kinect and a Xbox go for about $300, but thats with a 4GB Hard drive. I don't recommend that at all. Stupid marketing on there behalf. The $300 360 comes with 250GB hard drive, that is what you will need to get all out of the system. So with that and Kinect your looking at $450 min, still not close to the Wii. Out of the two new hardware upgrades I believe that the Move has more promise then the Kinect. If the controls do work as promised, games could be interesting such as an Oblivion or any FPS game where the controls would fit better suited. But titles like Kung Fu Rider make these seem, well a far cry. This $50 title is nothing more then a $10 downloadable game, if that. You ride down a hill in this acrcady old Taxi Driver style game play that is not even worth talking about. Where as Eye Pets and Sports Champions far much better and some what show case the experience to casual consumers. It still isn't going to make any core gamer want it in my opinion.

Kinect is just something else all together. A devices that sits above or below your tv, plugs into your 360 and offers you a gaming experience with no controllers. I don't ever bet on seeing this being as good as the controlls of an analog/button scheme layout, impossible. You need quite the amount space in your gaming environment to play this, which wont appeal to people that just don't have that kind of space. The games that they have show cased so far look terrible! And that is being nice! Games that have mini games attached to them. Like WTF! All that the Wii has become is just that, mini game garbage for the most part. That is just one of my beefs with this product. The dashboard will be updated so you can browse through it will your hand gestures. When you walk in front of the camera it will sense that you are there and log you into your profile. You can set up voice recognition, and talk to the system and tell it to turn off or play movie or music in your library. Those couple features seem cool, I have to admit. But as far as the most important part, game play, nope.

The Kinect is just a bad idea. I could be proven wrong, but from what I have seen it will have to be awhile before i'm ever sold. I seen footage of people playing this and it looks so stupid. People flailing their arms and legs around trying to hit the in coming balls in some preschool looking game. I can see the enjoyment for the younger audience and non games, which is where they're heading will all this. The average person who plays there box for hardcore games looks as this as a joke. I just hope that they don't plan on moving it all to this style. It would never come to that I don't think, but you never know. Like how good would a Forza game be on this? No controller for precise turning, gas and breaking? And there is no buttons, how the fuck can that possibly be any good for core gaming? There is a lot to witness over this holiday season in gaming and with all these new devices. So we will just have to see. If it proves me wrong, I will be shocked! But for now I will just watch it hopefully flop, and fade away!