Why Halo Kinect will be with us in 2011
Bungie thought about adding Kinect to Halo: Reach but why didn’t it happen? X360 knows…
When we sat down with Bungie’s Community Manager Brian Jarrard last week at GamesCom, he told us that they did have discussions with Microsoft about getting Kinect into Halo: Reach. Ultimately they realised the traditional controller worked better and that’s the road they chose to take.
The question has to be, then, when will we see Halo embrace the world of Kinect? We say next year and here’s why.
1) 343 Industries
Directly funded by Microsoft and set up to develop Halo Games going forward, there’s no way that 343 Industries’ first Halo project won’t use Kinect. With Microsoft wanting its motion technology to sell and promising that more core games are on the way for it, why not get its biggest franchise to lead the way? We would assume that Microsoft has more say in what 343 Industries does and doesn’t do which means Kinect functionality is almost a dead cert.
2) Halo: Reach
If you’re not going to put Kinect in Reach then surely it’s going in the next Halo game? Bungie didn’t out-and-out say no. They sat down with Microsoft and discussed it which means ideas are already on the table. These plans won’t just disappear and it wouldn’t be too shocking if Bungie deliberately said they’d rather 343 were the ones to involve the gadget. Reach is its last (for the time-being) Halo game and they understandably want to make the best version of a game they’ve been working on for years, opening up the door for a brand new experience with new ideas. You can’t top perfection, after all…
3) There has to be a Halo 2011
Say what you will about ODST but it still sold a lot of copies and showed Microsoft Halo can get away with coming out on a yearly basis. We don’t think we’ll ever see a Call Duty situation but 343 Industries have to be doing something with their time and we all know Microsoft want a Halo launch in 2011. When we arrive in the late part of next year, Kinect will be crying out for a big title to continue its post-launch campaign. If you think there’s anything more suited to that than Halo, you’re mad.
4) If it works, everyone else follows
Halo is successful and insanely so. If you’re not aware of this fact you’re not just living under a rock. You are that rock. If Microsoft brings out Halo: Kinect and it captures our attention and sells all of a sudden other ‘core’ games will jump on-board. Assassin’s Creed? Gears Of War? Call Of Duty? If Halo can do it, why can’t they?
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Kinect Gears of War sound the worst thing ever.
The only way I can see this implemented well would still require a controller and have the Kinect as a non-essential add-on. For instance the Kinect could track your head moments if you wanted to peek around corners and say you wanted to throw grenades, it could track your arm movements rather than pressing a button to throw grenade, but other than that I can’t think of what else you could use it for in FPS. I’d hate to think of playing “air gun” with your hands and no tactile response for when you pull the trigger. Will kinnect be able to recognise the subtle movements of your fingers when pressing an invisible trigger. I doubt it, not this generation anyway perhaps Kinect 2.
I think the ‘IF’ it works needs to be underlined and put in bold…
…because it’s pretty guff at the mo.
Halo and the other shooter games have great potential. The first to capitalize on the merchandising will lose out on making shooter games supported by KInect. Here’s why–imagine “Guitar Hero/Rock Band” type of equipment–especially now with the Rock Band kit (comes in a small leather chest for all your equipment on sale at Costco). So–imagine a military style footlocker with a Halo rifle (with appropriate controllers sensors embedded into the weapon (actionable trigger, removable magazines for uploading ammo, targeting buttons for your non-shooting hand to rotate thru your statuses, basically, turn your hand controller into a rifle). For body action wear a “Halo” vest of sorts that is programmed for Kinect recognition. this same strategy applies for CoD and other shooter games as well, if they go Kinect. If Jeep can have a CoD/Black Ops edition for sale or a Harley Davidson F-150 Pickup limited edition…surely we have Halo/Cod on Kinect.
Worst idea ever, if i want to play silly games and look like a ninny i’d would have bought a Wii.
I think its a bad plan, just because kinect exists (very nice piece of kit in the right situation) doesn’t mean every game should use it. Look at the state of some absolutely amazing franchises like resident evil… On Wii, what a joke! Microsoft should look into games that will be enhanced by kinect and not run our big titles into the ground. Fps games require a pad… End of.. Unless we all start paying treble what we pay now do we can get every item needed to play a game ( in reference to the post above) there’s no need to complicate and ruin game experience just so the developers can claim to use kinect. Don’t turn my box into a wii! :P
i’ve got one problem with this… on Forge how will you ‘kinect’ falling of that funny mountin on island. or jetpackin. or flying/driving a vehicle. or gettin grenaded. or assasinated. or doing that infinite armor lock glitch. or…
that would rock kinect halo
ive seen it on youtube its cool id love it
I know why! cos it would suck. kind of like wii shooters. except even more embarrassing.
We don’t need halo kinect we need a crossover game like call of Halo or simply coh. It would rock