Peter Molyneux has compared Kinect to the dawn of the computer mouse, stating that the criticisms people have for Microsoft's EyeToy are similar to those had for the now-crucial computer peripheral many moons ago.
"You know what? This is exactly like the mid-80s when we got the Amiga and we started playing with a mouse," said the snake-oil salesman of gaming. "I can remember everyone writing about how the mouse is the worst thing for gaming and it took a little while for the development community to start exploring and experiment with it. But out of that exploration and experimentation came Wolfenstein and DOOM and real-time strategy games.
"Before that we were all doing stuff with a joystick. I think that any invention as big as Kinect just takes a while for us to get our teeth into. I agree with the scepticism from core gamers because there is no example yet of anything which is as dramatic or as exciting (as a game on a controller) or even an experience that lasts more than fifteen minutes. When you get past the idiosyncrasies which every control mechanism has, Kinect is a wonderful device to innovate on."
Yeah, the difference of course is that the mouse opened us up to whole new ways of playing games, whereas Kinect seems so far to just be restricting us to on-rails shooters. Sorry, but Kinect is not a PC mouse. Developers talk a big game about how it opens up possibilities, but when you look at the sheer lack of appreciable input afforded by the device, you're more restricted than anything else.
Peter Molyneux: 'They used to criticise the PC mouse... Kinect will take time' [CVG]
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Contest:
12:45 PM on 07.13.2011 | 
Black & White 2 already came out a few years back. It sucked. You didn't miss much.
Also, I really used to respect this guy. Damn shame what happens to some people when a modicum of success goes to their head.
...Which is about as basic as an EyeToy game, but... but... I use the Kinect for Photoshop and Excel! It's just like a PC mouse! Screw you!
Difference here, Pete, is that the mouse drastically reduced the amount of time it took to make decisions. Look at your PC desktop. Do you really want to only use your keyboard? The Kinect is not a mouse. It's like that thing that you put on the ground for Genesis fighters. It's like a big trackpad without buttons. WE NEED BUTTONS, PETER.
When I heard DOOM and Wolfenstein mentioned, I had to go check something. I just played the original version of DOOM with the original "classic" controls and that game was very dependent on just the keyboard. The mouse is not like it is now with aiming, it is used for awkward complete movement control. People forget that in the early days of FPS games, they were usually controlled with the arrows and you used CTR to shoot. Same goes for Dark Forces and even Duke Nukem 3d if I recall. Of course now we all have these great mods that bring in mouse control. I just found it funny that someone who has been making games since the early PC days like Molyneux has a slightly skewed memory.
You know? If Peter Molyneux actually gave us some great games on the Kinect, then I'd be inclined to believe him, but even then I wouldn't give a shit about the hardware itself, just the games.
Who has ever cared about hardware, in the first place? It's just a means to an end.
Who the fuck played DOOM with a goddamn mouse?
He always has this hilarious way of totally talking shit on whatever he's trying to promote.
Mhm, and having been a veteran of the keyboard only setup for years at the time Quake came out, I tried to play Quake without the mouse at first too. You can imagine how poorly that went. It was with great trepidation and no small amount of resentment than I forced my right hand to grip the mouse in a gaming context.
I've still not forgiven id software for that.
Cars are better than shoes as they make me go faster!
However, the part that cracks me up: "Molyneux said he has learned from the mistakes in the original. The concept was innovative. But here's hoping the sequel has better execution." as well as "But Peter Molyneux still has a lot of credibility with gamers. I'm excited about his next game and the other cool projects he's associated with. " These games were the Movies and Fable, respectively.
Just to clear this up: Molyneux has been promising the moon for over 10 years, failing to live up to it, then "apologizing," admitting his mistakes, then just repeating the whole God damn thing over again.
Kinect has a single on-rails shooter right now, and that's Child of Eden, which is the best game on the device so far. Hell, Playstation Move has more on-rails shooting games than Kinect right now, yet people ignore that entirely.
Everyone just wants a reason to hate on a device they don't like or haven't even tried.
Move also has crazy off rail zhooter like RE5, Killzone 3, Socom 4.....etc
I see these being impossible on the Kinect without a controller of sorts.
Neither Wolfenstein 3D or Doom had mouseaim. The first ID game with mouseaim was Quake.
not the only one. prefer the mouse though, thank you very much
Kinect is a good thing. It's a good thing for some types of interface, it's good for creating mocap or making music videos, as a lot of PC users with kinect has shown us. It's just bad for games as the MAIN way of control. As some kind of thing that enhances the normal control - it's great, yeah.
People weren't sitting around trying to figure out how to update inputs to achieve a killer new game idea. The hardware makers are putting the cart before the horse, releasing new gimmicks and software developers have to figure out what to do with them and often times they have no good ideas.
This shit is marketing, not innovation.
Molyneux:"You know, Kinect wass really limiting for developers. its technology only allowed for on rails gameplay, and as a developer myself, I think 'boy, this Kinect is just not enough for the core gamer.' But now with Kinect 2.0 we can deliver an innovative experience not unlike when the first Dual Stick controller was released for an FPS game."
Your argument us weak. You say that you're comparing the mouse to the kinect, bur you're actually comparing the mouse+keyboard to the kinect. In a competition between the mouse and kinect, the kinect will win everytime because it can handle way more input. The only reason it's been pretty unimpressive in games so far is because it hasn't found its "keyboard" yet. If the kinect star wars game could come with a peripheral lightsaber controller for free-movement and jumps it would be a killer combo.