Prediction: The Next-Gen Xbox Will Have A Form Of Kinect In The Controller
Recently I remembered that World of Warcraft episode of South Park. In particular a feature that I mistakenly assumed was apart of the game: the in-game characters lip-synced to what the players were saying. I thought the game had a cool voice chat system where the avatars’ mouths opened and closed in sync. It seemed completely possible, and for a brief time it satisfied my queries as to what was so appealing about WoW.
Alas, that feature does not exist. Maybe in the next Blizzard MMO (codenamed ‘Titan’) they can implement a feature like this. Would certainly enhance how players interact with each other.
I’ve seen a few games that had puppet-like gameplay on the Kinect. An onscreen character would flap its mouth to what is being said to the Kinect microphone. The Kinect is actually not looking at your jaw to determine the mouth movements, rather it’s listening to the audio wavelength you are generating. It’s interesting, but not an immersive experience.
To truly have an onscreen character mimic your voice and behavior, the Kinect needs to be placed up-close and personal — in the very controller itself. It wouldn’t be like the current Kinect, which is trained to focus on your body. This version would be fixated on your voice and face.
Not only will lip-syncing be demonstrated by your onscreen character when you use voice chat, but facial expression and eye direction will also be indicated.
Imagine playing Call of Duty with this system. Not only can you see your virtual teammates talking, but you can read their expressions too. The wide-eyed panic of a noob, to the cold bored eyes of a seasoned pro can be seen. You can also observe the look of frustration and joy on others as the game progresses. Imagine seeing a kill replay, and the camera jumps to a smirking or laughing sniper.
Applying this idea to FPS or MMO games enhances the experience. Though I believe new games would appear which are dedicated to this type of system. A few examples: a murder mystery party (think L.A. Noire with a large group of friends), film re-enactments, and dialogue-reliant game shows like Jeopardy to name a few.
The best application of this would be chatting with friends using avatars. Emoticons would become extinct because your Avatar would actually emote. And laugh out loud.
Other applications for the camera: taking your picture and creating an avatar based on your appearance (Remember when Perfect Dark was going to do that?), and profile recognition.
Posted on October 28, 2011, in Electronics, Gadgets, Toys, Video Games and tagged Microsoft, Video Games. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
I will agree to disagree here; I don’t think this has any chance of happening and I don’t even think it’s reasonable.
To have Kinect built-in to controllers is much too limiting; remember Kinect’s slogan, “You are the controller” - MS doesn’t want to require you to have a controller in your hand to use Kinect. Microphone in a controller - plausible. Speaker in a controller (ala Wii) - more plausible. Microphone + IR camera + camera in a controller - not plausible.
What the next-gen Kinect needs is a dedicated processor, superior optics, high definition recording, better firmware, and a larger range (both distance away and wideness left/right). Also, the option to connect two Kinects to one Xbox for a full 360 degree 3D experience would be incredibly beneficial to the potentiality of Kinect. Even if 3/4 of games won’t use it; it will be that feature that can set games apart from others and set Kinect apart from Move/Wii (note: this would only be practical with dedicated processors).
With a more powerful set-top Kinect (like we already have), it should be able to read your facial features accurately from any reasonable distance, and while it may not be able to read the precise motions of your eyebrows and eyelids (I definitely think it could with 1080p and a decent optical - even digital - zoom), the wide-reaching capabilities of a set-top Kinect vastly outweigh the limitations of a controller-based Kinect.
Could they exist together? Sure, but I think that if MS wants to make a powerful new Kinect, its pricing will undoubtedly increase, and it would be in the own interest to keep basic controller prices reasonable, or at least not more expensive than their current iterations.
Facial recognition and virtual syncing (with onscreen characters) is not that important to the next-generation of gaming, I think. It’ll definitely be the future (I’d say next-next-gen), but it is not something that would make games seriously better in the short run. Next-generation games should focus on physics and secondary graphics/rendering (i.e. landscapes, backgrounds, anything that isn’t the main focus of the gameplay), as well as accuracy of motion controls.
Really? They put cameras - multiple cameras sometimes - in handhelds and mobiles. The Wii U controller has a camera!
To say it has no chance or is not reasonable to start your argument is a non-starter. There is already plenty of precedent.
This isn’t a replacement or successor to Kinect. This would be a complimentary feature. I should have expressed that, but it seemed obvious.