Could this be KINECT's Killer App this Fall?

There's no denying Nintendo has been phenomenally successful with the Wii. A large part of this is attributed to the simple yet addictive aspects of Wii Sports. A pick up and play game comprised of 5 Sports related activities. I can't speak for everyone but one game in that mix gets far more play time than the others. That game is Wii Sports Bowling. RARE has made it their mission to one up Nintendo in almost every regard using the power of Kinect.

[TheTeam06]

Nice hit-attracting headline. You could've just told us.

Basically, it's just the Kinect version of Wii Bowling or High Velocity Bowling.

@below - You edited your original statement so I'm updating mine. It's apparently 1:1. I can see it being better than Wii, but Move does 1:1 as well and has rumble. Bowling is not a killer app just because it is more precise than the Wii's version. It needs games that can make Kinect something more than just Eye games. This game bundled with Kinect is $200 without the console, making it a $400 purchase at the very least. People need something more than Wii Bowling to pay double.

[hardknock]

It's actually far more advanced than those games. This is the one game I feel will be a hit across all demographics. Check out the video.

[Fishy Fingers]

What bowling? Yeah I can see all the COD, Halo and Mass Effect gamers dropping their pads and running to the nearest shop now.

[hardknock]

@Fishy Fingers
Not saying this is a killer app for hardcore gamers. Can you not see your mom, brother, cousin, grandparents having a blast with something like this?

[Fishy Fingers]

So by "across all demographics", you dont actually mean, across all demographics.

And yeah I can see them playing it, but they've probably already got a Wii if this is their bag.

[hardknock]

@Fishy Fingers
I'm as hardcore as they come and the game was a blast. For whatever that's worth. When I said demographics I was referencing Age, Race, Gender, etc.

[Montrealien]

Well, bowling seemed to work well for the Wii, so why not?

Harknock is not being aggressive here, why so edgy and arguing semantics Fishy?

[Fishy Fingers]

How am I being edgy? On a gaming site in a thread about a game is it wrong to take "demographics" as referring to gaming demographics?

I'm not suggesting it isnt fun, or wont be successful, but it's hardly the killer app thats going to make you drop £100 and if it were, you've probably already jumped on the Wii by now.

I didnt think I was being off towards hardknock, if I came off that way, my bad.

[Christopher]

If it is, that's really sad...

[kneon]

It's actually less advanced. everyone who's tried it (except this one article) says it can't detect twisting of the wrist so you can't put a spin on the ball. I can do that in high velocity bowling

[scott182]

How on earth is this more advanced then wii sports bowling?

On the wii you can add any kind of spin you want, I don't see that in the video.

How does the game know you're releasing the ball? It just automatically does it for you?

As far as realistic bowling is concerned, wii bowling looks like the way to go still, unless you want this extreme casual version!

This is crazy man, this game just doesn't look good at all.

[IHateYouFanboys]

@Fishy Fingers: "What bowling? Yeah I can see all the COD, Halo and Mass Effect gamers dropping their pads and running to the nearest shop now."

way to miss the point.

Kinect is NOT going after the COD, Halo and Mass Effect crowd - the Xbox already HAS that crowd, it doesnt need to attract them.

Kinect is going after the people that bought the wii, want to buy the wii, and dont have/want a PS3/360 in general. Kinect is all about EXPANDING the 360s market share, not keeping its existing market share happy.

[Kerrby]

Wow it looks so damn laggy.

[adamx]

get off microsoft's nuts

[Conloles]

This is Kinect's 'killer' app

[Microsoft Xbox 360]

Kinnect can't detect accurate movements of the hand. I doubt this bowling game will take any skill at all. Wii Sports bowling is indeed more advance than this.

[Montrealien]

have you, or any of the people agreeing with you tried it?

From the previews I have read from the people who played it, it seems to have pretty decent control.

[Bigpappy]

When did you get you hands-on play with kinect? You guys are great. Don't even need to touch it and you can tell all about Kinect and how bad it plays. I am impressed.

Every rumor you read on the internet is now a Kinect specification: Can't sit, can see fingers, can't detect rist, ... I could have sworn I read atlease twice, including this article, that you can put spin on the ball.

If you really to know what it can do, head over to Macy's then come back and post your hands-on

[Ju]

Some people have. And they have even written about it. Like here:

http://www.techradar.com/ne...

You will be up for a surprise. BTW: Bowling was there before. High Velocity already supports motion controls on the PS3 w/ sixaxis (and works quite well), but I have to admit, Wii Bowling is more fun.

If you want something more accurate, take a look at this:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3...

(Sorry, only PS3 link - haven't found any 360 vids). It's coming for Kinect as well: http://www.1up.com/do/newsS...

[hybridtheory12]

People say the same thing about Move. "Its a Wii HD" has ANYONE played the wii HD??

[Imperator]

The fact is that Kinect is far more limited and even inferior than the Wii's Motion controls, and much, much worse than Move.

[Inside_out]

Kinect itself is the killer app. There are many great Kinect games coming out...here's a few...

Kinect Dance central: Watch at :38 when Kinect maps the dancers moves...impressive...Killer app anyone. The far right corner of the screen shows your moves and the big square pictures grade your performance. A great list of modern music is shipping with this thanx to MTV.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Ubi-softs your shape is " shaping " up to be a killer app as well. Watch how Kinect scans her body. The program also recommends a fitness regiment based on body style. It offers Yoga, boxing, martial arts and aerobic exercises. The Wii Fit has sold 10+++ million...hmmm...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Kinectanimals, Kinect sports and Kinectadventures will be available at launch. I wonder if any kids would want to play these games.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Here's the Star Wars game from Lucas arts...releasing in 2011 tho...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

For fans of space combat, I guess this title releasing in 7 weeks will have to do...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

BTW...Sony is burning the midnight oil beating it's developers and engineers with wips to come up with a similar device ( entire 3D mapping ) to play the Kinect games as well. Can't wait for the Fanboy spin when that happens...Pew,pew indeed.

[R2D2]

I really hope they price this at $99.99 with the sport bundle included.

[Bigpappy]

I see you guys qouting prices and doing the Math with no official price.

On topic. I have seen several "killer apps" already for Kinect, and I will list them: kinect sports (Bowling, boxing, hurdle racing,...); Dance central; Motion Sports (Skiing (Love this), Football trainer, volley ball,...); Kinectamals (big with little girls); Your fitness trainer (huge with moms and fitness crowd). I am sure there are others.

Not having a controller in your hands for these game turn out to be a really big deal for mass appeal for the games. It also make the games unique to the 360 which works out great for M$ to use as a tool to fight against the Wii's big lead. And, yes. I do expect Kinect to hurt the wii.

[TheTeam06]

You really think those are killer apps?

Not having the controller in your hand doesn't make it cooler for sports games. They don't even make them more immersive. It's all motion either way. The difference with Kinect is that there's no rumble feedback involved, which was considered a gripe with the SIXAXIS, although somehow it's okay now.

If people really think the controller was an obstacle, it really makes me wonder why you think the Wii sold so much when the EyeToy sold about 60mil less on a much cheaper console. People take casual consumers for idiots and - while they are a lot of the time - the fact that they buy extra Wiimotes, Nunchuckes, MotionPlus' and Wii Balance Boards like they're cheap strikes me as them not caring about the controller as being an obstacle. Instead, it looks as if they buy more of it.

If anything, the fact that there ISN'T a controller is enough to be considered an obstacle in itself. Dance games, sports games, EyePet/Nintendogs... it's all been done before and for much cheaper.

[edhe]

On controllers...

See the Core are having issues understanding that the this isn't for them yet.

[dcbronco]

Microsoft hasn't said it will be $150. And no one has said the games will be $60. Especially since most games of this type from MS have eliminated the $10 license fee in the past. Think Kameo. All we have seen is what retailers think. There is no reason to believe a bunch of mini-games will be premium priced while there is every reason to believe that MS can bundle Kinect with an Arcade and a game for $230. The current Arcade is $150 with two games and the cost of the 360 alone has to be close to $150 for MS. Bundling Kinect, a game(really a tech demo developed in-house)and an Arcade could be done for even money with no problem for $230 and maybe a little profit.

[Boody-Bandit]

Please answer honestly.
Is there 1 hardcore gamer here that is excited for Kinect to launch?
Not sales, reviews, what it will or wont offer gaming, "but" actually looking forward to this product to launch fom MS for your own personal use. If so, please tell me why.

[dcbronco]

I'll get it when they bring out some games I'm interested in. I do think it will be much better next generation. Once they build a console with Kinect in mind, it will become far more powerful. More power will allow for more accuracy and creativity.

[edhe]

That's like asking fish eaters if they're interested in Bran.

It's not for the core .. yet.

Aside from Child of Eden.

Give it a year.

[bennyace]

That the gamers interested in Kinect don't spend their time commenting on N4G. It will probably sell well. Don't forget that there are other gamers than the 50 or so hardcore gamers or fanboys, depending, that are on N4G. It's like for the WII owners, you rarely see them commenting here but they do buy Wii stuff and WII games.

Don't think for a second that you're (hardcore gamers) the only gamers on the planet and casual gamers are a large part of gaming. As matter of fact casual gamers just play for fun. Which is what gaming is supposed to be. They don't count pixels, or don't complain about not liking the shadowing or textures or whathever makes you think you're a hardcore gamer. And don't you think Microsoft or Sony didn't realize that. Why do you think they would release such motion controllers after the massive succes of the WII. And I'm pretty sure that none of those controllers would've been released without the success of the WII.

And I can already here you say that Sony's move will have harcore games. If you have some honesty left, you know that the party games will be the bread and butter of the Move with the occasional hardcore game here and there. Same goes for Kinect. It's normal it's the targeted audience.

That's my opinion, I'm not saying that I hold the truth....We'll know in a few months.

[lelo2play]

Lot of fanboys ranting about the lag the last couple of weeks with dubious articles and comments bashing Kinect... and i don't think it was that bad according to the video. Looks pretty accurate. Guess who's interested in Kinect, has to wait and try it when it comes out to pass judgment, instead of listening to stupid fanboys.

As for the game shown on the video... it's crap. Probably appeal to the casuals. Kinect is made for casual gamers, not hardcore gamers, so not surprised with the games presented.

[gman_moose]

But the Wii already has THAT crowd. Why are they going to drop potentially $500 to play an HD version of something they can already play?

[chazjamie]

wat u talking about. its hard core, remember it has achievements. and the hardcore crowd eats that shit up according to microsoft

[Natsu X FairyTail]

Hey its working.

[MaximusPrime]

that bowling going to be really wierd. i mean... how can you spin the ball?

[GiggMan]

Thats what I was wondering. I thought I read (don't quote me) that natal can't track wrist movements.

[acky1]

It does look on the video that someone put spin on the ball (and that they meant it) but not sure if it was an accident on the games side.

For about £150 though I'd still rather just go to my local bowling alley with my mates and actually bowl....I've heard its pretty realistic!

[Raoh]

doesnt seem like you can.. you see the ball when you grab it and hold it up, it disappears when you bring it back and the only motions outside of release is to push forward i guess for more momentum.

never thought i'd see a casual version of wii sports

[Biggest]

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Easy mode on bowling. Gotta love where this is heading.

[HolyOrangeCows]

From what I've read, you have to swing your arm to give it a spin. Because Kinect doesn't detect wrist movement (And unlike Wii and Move, no controller to detect a spinning movement).

[siyrobbo]

you have to scream 'LEFT ABIT' at the top of your voice

[chazjamie]

hahahahah. that was hilarious. cause thats what kinetic is supposed to do, apparently. imagine it gives u advice after the throw, u respond by telling it to fuck off. and then it apologises, like the bitch it is.

[TheHardware]

yeah this is "killer" i can see the lines at store for this game...look out Kratos, watch yourself Master chief...its ....Bowling...yawn

also check out at 1.06 in the vid....lag shows his ugly head ...again, not 1.1

[hardknock]

Yeah there was that one hiccup but for the most part it tracked you 1-to-1. Wherever you moved it tracked you almost flawlessly.

[Montrealien]

I saw people lining up for Wii for nothing more then tennis and bowling, and it was not 1:1 at the time either. I bet when you saw the Wii 7 years ago you assumed it would be a failure also?

I am not saying Move or Kinect will have as huge an impact as the Wii did, but there are very decent attemps, each having their own little bells and whistles.

[livewires]

Sorry for answering for soemone else but in my own experience when the wii first came out I got it day one as it was new innovative and looked amazingly fun after two weeks i dont think i played it for another good year near christmas. Now this far on maby its my age but Kinect has to bring more to the ball park to get a sale from me. It seems like a very good idea executed badly I think if another company tried it in a few years maby not for gaming like sony's ICU ( ICU is basically kinect but more advanced its not ready for gaming but is used by medics in sterile conditions and is accurate to 0.2mm.) Like Move even through its "less advanced" took what the Wii did and built apon it instead of going in a different tangent.

[TheHardware]

was a fan of the wii, and though I never owned one... I workrd at toys r us times square at the time, and I saw the effect it had on non gamers...was I impressed? yes..did it sell great, yes, will kinect impress people ..yes...will it sell well...yes

then a half year later, 50-60% of its user base will get used to it and not support it 100%....us core gamers that they will tack on just to say they havent forgotten about us...are the ones that will keep it alive.

OH and its still not killer ;P

[Seijoru]

Lame, I was expecting some cool futuristic stuff or something.

[J-Smith]

kin-ect

[xxLuckyStrike]

accurate to me, the casuals will eat this "crap" up

Camera pans to cut scene of:

360 fanboys high five each other and jump in antcipation.. then pans left to.. PS3 fanboys with envious eyes looking on in disgust running into the crowd shouting weird things like "what about killzone 3" "what about uncharted2"...... "what about the Wii"...."i mean Move"......"Nooooooo oooo!!!!!"

[hilliat2783]

As a troll goes your pathetic...only casual gamers want Kinect. If you want to talk about Move then you need to remember that my PS3 hardcore games don't require me to buy Move where as all of your games that use Kinect can only be played with Kinect. Move just happens to be a add on for those PS3 gamers that would like an HD Wii with better accuracy to enchance the ever expanding experience provided by the PS3.

[stuna1]

And then what happened? You woke up huh?
OT: They have got to do a lot better than bowling to entice the masses!

[adamx]

lol you like kinect. I feel sorry for you.

[TheBreezyBB]

Yes!1 I would like to pretend to play Bowling on air and see how that feels!!

[TheObserver]

...?

Why not.... Go bowling for reals with bowling balls instead of air...? Probably cheaper start up costs too.

Whatever float your boat.

[Bigpappy]

Instead of play Call of Duty. Why not beatup and shoot some whores, instead of play GTA. See why your statement is dumb?

[oldjadedgamer]

@bigpappy

I should hope that you see the HUGE difference between your argument and his.

Bowling (real life) vs. Bowling (video game w/ motion) are very similar.

Playing a FPS vs. joining the military - not similar. I could describe the difference, but I hope I wouldn't have to.

[jf3sh13]

no, but I see why yours is. Killing real people in war and committing real violent crimes are a lot different than the mere suggestion that someone could save money by going out and playing a real(sort-of)sport instead of its video game counter part..... jackass

[No Way]

Lemme help Bigpappy out, a bit.
Instead of playing Madden, NBA, MLB..
Why don'tcha actually go out, and just play?
Prolly cheaper than going bowling, as well.

Fixed!

[The Iron Sheik]

How could you think that is a valid question?

Fighting in Iraq and shooting whores carry serious life and death consequences with them.

Bowling is a fun activity that anyone can participate in with no fear of being killed or incarcerated.

See the difference?

[stuna1]

Not anymore than yours, maybe you should really think about leaving gaming along if that's how you make associations!

[scar-leg]

@Bigpappy

That's some messed up shit you just said man :S

[bjornbear]

dumb -_- stupid comparison.

realize BLOWING is ok in society, beating and shooting prostitutes isn't, and signing up for iraq is not as easy as going to the bowling alley with friends.

you fail so hard.

[Graey]

I take a bit of an offense to the Iraq comment.

I've been there before boots on the ground, and even beginning to hint that playing an FPS and having it be even remotely similar to real War is just wrong. Killing someone for real and seeing them not...respawn, vs getting a head shot on a mate in say MW2 and having them respawn is quite a diff. story.

Not that I'm angry or anything and I see what you were going for but perhaps you should choose your words a bit carefully next time.

Mind you its my opinion and it might not really matter to you one way or the other.

[oldjadedgamer]

Stupid article. Kinect has sports games. I get it. They may even be better than wii sports. Yay.

[EasilyTheBest]

I wouldnt say its a killer App but I was shocked by how good it tracked the players. Yes there was 1 or 2 slight glitches but I am well impressed.
I have probably been on here too much and the haters have took hold as I really expected terrible lag..

Talking about haters check out the Guy below.
Hilliat2783 Exactly what are you expecting? You expect the Kinect game to Bowl for you before you have bowled yourself? That would be time travel.

[mac4u10]

Didn't really see anything that I haven't seen before, but It looks impressive and responsive in the video.

[Kemicalbeliefs]

It does look impressive albeit slightly jittery but you can see its potential. The things I can't see are, how does it pick up when you let go of the ball (too early, too late)? How does it detect spin of the ball (like twisting the wrist)?

These features even the Wii offers already and I can imagine the Move will as well.

[oldjadedgamer]

The lack of precision in this game (and possibly other kinect games) could put it as the least competitive motion system.

I put spin on the ball when I bowl in real life. Why wouldn't I want to do it in a video game. Can kinect capture the my wrist turning?

[hilliat2783]

You got to be kidding me only a handful of segments in that video displayed on time 1:1 the rest of the time the ball was nowhere near the location of the players hand...get a grip fan boys and stop drinking the purple drink that MS puts out for you.

[bjornbear]

if this is the killer app, no WAY do I want to know what the shovelware will be =S

damnit! i thought it was a real game like a crazy strategy game or something -_-

[xc7x]

oh as in killer casual app,get it. :-/

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

I wonder how it knows when to release the ball. Does it do it on a downswing? I would purposely flub my shots in Wii Sports. This isn't fidelity in-game, just you as the controller.

I liked Wii Sports Bowling when I used to go over this lady's house. She had Wii Sports and a Sponge Bob game, that's all. This could be good for casuals if its bundled with Kinect.

Wii's still cheaper.

[DuneBuggy]

I think that dance game may be the hottest seller for it at first.
But people did buy the hell out of Wii Sports.....

[s45gr32]

Yes more bowling games for the casuals real innovative Microsoft. More games that try to one up say same games for less on the wii instead of new game experiences for the casuals well I will pass.

[Nathaniel_Drake]

Not to be a fanboy here but first there is no physical feedback, and nearly a 1 second delay which would really hurt the accuracy of the thing. But casuals have put up with less so it still might sell a good amount.

[tiamat5]

Bowling is their killer app? You mean bowling like both the Wii and Move have? The same bowling that you can barely put any spin on the ball like the Move does? You want me to pay at ieast $190.00 to pretend to bowl with no feedback or weight to the ball? You know at first I was worried that the Kinect was going to be a match for the Wii or The Move but my worries are at ease. I don't care anymore. I will buy my Move with a clear conscious that I won't miss any experiences on the Kinect that can't be done better with the Move.

[alb1899]

is a waste of time to reply to a ps3 fan but please be cold intelligent more than so passion blind about games. What i see is that every game that they show looks better and response better in Kinect and by the way i have a 360 ill buy first day kinect and i will enjoy it with my kids and friends i don't have a wii because i consider my self a hardcore but i'm looking forward to kinect.

[peyote]

bowling, that's so... meh

[Tron_Rocks]

Wii sports what?!?

This game looks so much better and the immersion I hope is better than what I get on the Wii. no controller in this genre looks much much funner!

[scar-leg]

The idea of no controller seems interesting... But so far we have only seen what it CAN'T do rather than what it CAN do. Even with small casual games like this it is at a disadvantage due to the lack of wrist tracking. Don't get me wrong I'm not bashing the Kinect, but I think that they should have gave us the technology that they promised at last year's E3, but instead Microsoft as usual rushed it to get it to market quickly.

[tiamat5]

alb1899 I am happy for you. You are just the kind of person Microsoft wants to buy the Kinect. I used to think that maybe I was just too fussy to ask questions about the things I buy but I realised that I was mature. Instead of running out to buy the latest tech without a thought in my head like a naive teen, I consider things instead. You see that's who Microsoft wants to sell to. If you stop and think too much you realise that the Kinect is just another inferior piece of Microsoft tech that they pass on to you so they can beat Sony, instead of working on it for another year to perfect it. I don't really care that much . Go ahead and buy it from the liar company who never had a successful family or casual game on their system. I'm only here to give my opinion. Can't reason with the unreasonable. It's pointless.

[Bigpappy]

You then realize that your hate is pointless. People don't log on here to see if you think they are "smart" like you. I think we are all capable of figuring out what we like and who to buy from. You like your MAC and I like my cheaper more flexible PC. Now off you go.

[scar-leg]

Actually many people believe too much of what they see on TV ads. Microsoft takes advantage of this all the time. Just like how it puts the Xbox 360 logo at the end of a multi-plat game ad to make consumers thinks its an xbox exclusive. If Sony followed the same strategy I'm sure they would be miles ahead by now.

[Shnazzyone]

it's 3 years behind the times... old people bought it just for bowling. Do you honestly think those old people want to upgrade? My grandma still uses a computer from 1998.

[Dorwrath]

My grandma wants kinect, so whats your point.

[Shnazzyone]

Or your grandmother is patronizing you. Either that or your very young and your grandmother is still in her 40's.

[pixelsword]

That's the error of both Sony and Microsoft. Move and Kinect are just for casuals to me, and the casuals have been spoken for already by the Wii.

Another few things they're missing is that:

the Wii is cheap (we're in a recession)

the Wii is cheap (great for retirement pensions)

the Wii is cheap (you don't need a HDTV to see it's graphics at maximum quality)

you could just plop a kid in front of a SDTV and don't have to worry about him breaking it, as it'll cost $50 to replace it.

Do the same thing with kinect or move, it might cost you a little more to replace your HDTV.

[bviperz]

I'll have to try it before I'll pass my 2 cents.

[lonix]

when you have let go of the ball?

what if i wanted to spin my arm around in circles without letting go

[Spenok]

If a Bowling game is Kinects "Killer App" then im definitly not going to be getting it. They say its for the hardcore as well (or at least that the hardcore wll still buy it) But i will not buy this for anything (except for maybe Milo) thats coming out for it at the moment.

[Jason143]

Ill stick with high velocity ty

[strickers]

It's so accurate that to put spin on the ball you draw your arm across your body not bowl as you would properly.
Milo is apparently not a commercial release now.That's todays news.I've seen the demo but it may be just a tech study software.

[Alcohog]

Can Kinect even track wrist movements?

[megazeroxuxm]

The thing cant even track black movements!

[gololo]

well...i just don't see how people with a wii could justify buying kinect (or a kinect+xbox in case they dont have one) just based on the games that are being shown. but then again, ms will market the heck out of this....sooo

[megazeroxuxm]

if bowling is what they're going for, i think i'll stick with my wii. at least with the wii, my 5 year old cuzins and 80 year old grandparents wont have to pay me to buy a new game every time they come over.