Failure to Kinect

E3 is finally over and I can honestly say, it was one of the blandest E3’s in recent years.

All this years E3 served to do was confirm my purchases for this coming Fall and introduce gamers to Microsoft’s new love affair with waggle. 

Look, I understand that for business reasons Microsoft has to go all in with Kinect. With over 10 million sensors sold, it would be financially murderous not to double down on their investment. As a gamer, and someone who knows a thing or two about managing a business, I understand. 

But Microsoft failed to understand that they needed to have a nice mix of both controller based games and their new-fangled Kinect experiments. I know I’m not the only one here that groaned when Crytek’s glorious new IP Ryse was revealed to be an on-rails Kinect experience. 

If that’s not a hell of a bait and switch from last years announcement, with Phil Spencer showing that they were investing in a glorious new IP being powered by Crytek’s engine; I don’t know what is. 

Fable, a franchise already on it’s last legs of good will with last years buggy Fable III is now riding the on-rails train as well. Microsoft’s promise of core experiences for gamers with Kinect, is amounting to little more than on-rails games with terrible controls and a couple of added on gimmicks to titles like Mass Effect 3 (to be fair the squad voice control does look interesting) and Ghost Recon. It’s more than a little insulting, but honestly why are we surprised?

Microsoft from the beginning of Kinect’s launch has been hooting and hollering to get a slice of Nintendo’s Wii audience and has done an amazing job so far in getting it. But in their pursuit for casual dollars, it seems to be giving only scraps to core gamers, the very ones who have given Microsoft their success this generation. 

Yes, Gears of War 3 looks fantastic, but we already knew that.

Halo Anniversary has been hinted at for at least 4 months now and was as surprising as the sun rising tomorrow — as in not surprising at all. Microsoft’s only true ‘surprise’ and I use that loosely was the reveal of Halo 4. Then again, we’ve known for years that 343 Industries had to be doing more than just churning out Master Chief mugs and Halo comic books over in Redmond.

I’ll be first to get excited for a new Halo title. I love the Halo series, but at this point, it seems that’s all that Microsoft has… unless you count their new Kinect titles. And call me crazy, but I don’t see Kinect Star Wars pleasing core gamers.

Without a doubt, it will sell. Star Wars and Kinect Disneyland are going to jump off shelves this Holiday season! Did you see that little girl hugging Mickey Mouse? That alone is going to help sell at least 2 million copies. 

I just feel that Microsoft is going more than a little Kinect heavy, and as a core gamer this worries me. The addition of a new overhauled dashboard looks fantastic! As a UI snob, it’s great to see Microsoft’s Metro design making its way to Live. The new addition of YouTube coming to Live is also great to see, but where are the games? Where’s the first party commitment to core controller based games that Microsoft has shown in the past?

At this point, I believe its taken a backseat to getting more Kinect games for casuals and it’s a disconnect that core gamers are more than a little upset to see. I’m all for opening gaming to everyone. Bringing casual games into the mix is always a wonderful thing to see, but when it comes at the cost of forgetting to invest in the one that brought you to the dance, it’s more than a little disappointing.

By: Mike