Rumble is "a rudimentary form of haptic feedback", says Tsunoda
Kudo Tsunoda, general manager of Microsoft Game Studios, has said rumble is "a rudimentary form of haptic feedback" and he's not worried Kinect users will feel any disconnection with the hands-free controller.
Speaking in the latest issue of Edge Magazine, Tsunoda said he was initially worried over the lack of physical feedback with Kinect, but he got over it, apparently.
"The thing I was most worried about was the [lack] of haptic feedback, but it’s been really interesting how much you can do with visuals and audio," he said.
"In many of the games we have, people will crash a vehicle and they’ll go totally like this [mimes dodging out of the way]! And even people playing games with a controller, there’s always people doing this [mimes driving motion]. They want to be moving. There’s natural movements and reactions involved. I’ve never seen someone doing that from rumble. It’s the audiovisual stuff.
"The overwhelming thing we’ve discovered is that rumble is such a rudimentary form of haptic feedback. It’s not like a little rumble in your palm is your whole way of interacting with the world – it’s not like, 'Oh, I stubbed my toe and I get a little rumble in my palm'.
"It’s almost laughable the way people hold on to rumble as the holy grail of haptic feedback. We’ve gone so far past anything that can be done with rumble, or that kind of restrictive thing you have to hold. It’s been creatively liberating to work on this stuff."
As far as reports on Kinect lagging are concerned, Tsunoda said input is no different than a button press.
"The way we measure ‘lag’ is by putting people in front of the experience and measuring their thoughts," he said. "Either it feels good or it feels sloppy. It’s not how many milliseconds, it’s: 'Does it feel good? Does it react fast? Does it feel as if you’re in control?'”
You can read the full interview in issue 217, and an excerpt through the link up top.
Kinect is out in November, and pricing is still unconfirmed.