Kinect at E3 2012

Why does Microsoft keep showing off Kinect stuff? It is the same sort of things they keep showing. If I remember correctly, the Kinect didn't even sell very well.

Do they think that they aren't providing good enough content on the Kinect? Do they think that they are giving us better stuff with Kinect? Do they not realized that we do not want Kinect?

The past few E3's for Microsoft has been all about Kinect. That's very disappointing. Aside from the beginning which showed off Halo 4, Gears of War: Judgement, and Splinter Cell Blacklist (and I guess Forza Horizon), it was all about Kinect.

That said, I am looking forwards to SmartGlass. That seems pretty cool. I just hope it supports more than Windows Phone, which is what the man on stage had. Hopefully it will come to Android and iOS as well, which is what I guess it will do, but you never know with Microsoft and their first party stuff.

I'm pretty sure he stated several times during the presentation that it will work with all the different devices, although i'd be ok with the windows phone only as that's what I have. Anyway, yeah it will work with iOS and Android. On a side note it didn't seem to me that they did very much Kinect stuff, mostly just crap media offerings.

I must have tuned in at the wrong time, but all I saw was fitness and stuff. Thankfully, not kids.

I've posted these thoughts in a couple of Kinect threads now, so here we go again;

Microsoft has made a business decision to focus on Kinect and transforming the Xbox into an all-in-one media center. It is a very smart decision from MS and I think a good thing in the long run. There are of course some things that they need to do, but change is always a long process which not everyone is going to be happy with. I think that we should give MS the benefit of the doubt. They've always provided a great experience across all their platforms (at least for me) and I am glad to see them trying to innovate and take some risks. The days of consoles being sole game focused are over, like it or not.

They do need to do some things to ensure Kinect's sucess such as making it HD and packaging it as part of the 720 system for no additional cost. Surely everyone has seen some of the amazing things that have been done with Kinect off the Xbox platform (just hit YouTube). I am happy for them to spend a few years getting everything right so we don't have another RRoD fiasco with the next console.

We'll still get amazing 3rd party software so I don't know why everyone is too bothered with what Microsoft are doing. Let them continue to innovate. It can only be good for the gaming industry in the long run.

Another thing we have to face up to is that hardcore gamers are quickly falling into the minority. Most people only have time to play a few hours a week these days and kids with disposable income and parents looking for an entertainment center that they can use to connect with their kids are where the market is heading. It's not a bad thing. It injects more money into the industry and we WILL see the benefits of that.

All I am saying is that we should give MS the benefit of the doubt for a few years and see what they can come up with. They usually don't disappoint.

I also think that it is a good decision to make the Xbox and all-in-one box. However, after the showing of Halo 4 and the trailers for Gears of War: Judgement and Forza Horizon, they moved on to showing SmartGlass, which is good, and the other services they will add. Then Nike+ Kinect, Wreckineer or whatever, which should not have even been at the event, and Usher. Instead of making the show focus on Kinect and all that after the first 30 minutes, they should have gotten gameplay or at least a new GTA V, or something similar.realguitarhero5

I disagree. The people who want to play those games (GTA V etc) are going to find out that info anyway. E3 is not just about games, it's about technologies and innovations too and is the correct place for them to show case all of that stuff. There are plenty of other solely game based conventions for them to show off new games.

Usher however, should be banned everywhere. MS loses points for Usher.