I own the Kinect… As matter of fact, I rather enjoy it. It’s been a source of entertainment for my family as we come together every now and again to traverse the Magic Kingdom in Disneyland Adventures or shoot for a high score in Kinect Sports. We also love controlling the user interface on the Xbox dashboard, including apps with voice and simple hand gestures. The Kinect has a place in gaming and not a person on earth is qualified to argue otherwise, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept it with enthusiastic praise in all forms of gaming when the ends don’t fit the means.

 

There is no denying the impact Microsoft’s latest motion/voice controlled peripheral is having on our beloved hobby of video games. Countless games branding the now signature purple box have been popping up at retailers across the world and Microsoft is certainly seeing a return on their investment as the Xbox brand has managed to become relevant to new demographics of customers. Microsoft, in large part, has been achieving what it set out to do… make money and bring customers into the fold.

 

What Kinect has managed to achieve in terms of dollars and cents, brand growth, and late generation strength, it’s garnered equally a bone of contention amongst a certain and very critically proud faction of gaming known as the “hardcore”. What Microsoft has been able to boast in terms of weaving its way into many homes since Kinect’s launch, they fail to make a whisper at when speaking of the inexplicably absent offerings meeting the tastes of the hardcore.

 

Will 2012 be the year Microsoft finally convinces us to lower our guard and offer a warm embrace to the Kinect technology? Let’s consider what’s on the horizon...

 

There is certainly an effort being made to broaden the Kinect’s appeal amongst the hardcore. In early March, BioWare’s Mass Effect 3 will release on the Xbox 360 with some fairly weighty Kinect options, though absent will be a motion control option. Microsoft hopes to show that the integration of voice controls will prove appealing enough to entice the hardcore into seeing the benefit of a more streamlined experience with Kinect. Similar options will be available for Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier as detailed in the “gunsmith” portion of the game. What lies further are games that seem to rely on the functionality of Kinect’s gesture based control much more heavily. Lionhead Studios is developing a chapter of the Fable franchise with Fable: The Journey and Crytek, makers of the Crysis franchise is developing a fully Kinect compatible game set during ancient Rome called Ryse. Seemingly, both games will not be skimping on putting Kinect front and center in terms of gameplay and features and will boast perhaps the biggest argument as to whether Kinect will be seen in a positive light amongst the hardcore.

  

There is no doubt at this point in the generation that core gamers have little interest in putting the controller down for good. Motion controls have done admirably well in many games in several genres though it doesn’t take an industry insider to see that they still have a long way to go before they crack the mind set of core gamers and 2012 marks a sort of crossroads for the device. The next generation is coming and what it will usher in seems more clouded in mystery than ever before in the history of the industry. If Microsoft sees its device as a player in the next gen battle, there has to be proof amongst consumers that it is worthy of playing deep, imaginative and complex games or else I see it being pigeon holed into the abyss of one trick ponies of years past. Success will rely upon developers creative and innovative ideas to integrate what Kinect does well and steer away from its shortcomings. I believe success will happen through consistency and well thought out implementation of ideas and not through tacking on a Kinect feature and immediately assuming it is, “better with Kinect” just because the label says so. I for one hope they succeed. The possibilities make gaming more interesting and broaden its appeal. I believe we’re smart enough to know that there is room for many different ways of interacting with a video game and I welcome it, so long as the minds creating the experiences care about core games as much as I do…