Tue, Sep 07, 2010 | 08:49 BST
Rare, Molyneux originally wanted buttons for Kinect
Buttons, you say, Watson? Astonishing.
Rare’s George Andreas has told Edge the studio and Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux had strongly wanted buttons for Kinect originally, going as far as being “very vocal” to boss Kudo Tsunoda at the time, before deciding down the line they weren’t needed.
“We were absolutely adamant that we needed a button, something with haptic feedback, that would initiate an action,” said Andreas.
“It took a long time – we threw some prototypes together and then we saw you didn’t need one.
“We were very vocal to Kudo [Tsunoda, Kinect lead] at the time, and Peter Molyneux was as well, that you needed something in your hand,” he added.
The tech for Kinect allows the player to become the controller itself instead of using a physical controller.
Kinect launches on Novemeber 10 in Europe with Rare’s Kinect Sports being a launch title.
14 
Posted in: Kinect, Microsoft, Xbox 360
Tags: George Andreas, lionhead, peter molyneux, rare
14 comments
#1
Blerk
07/09/10, 8:52 am
Frankly I’ll be astonished if we don’t get an official ‘wand’ add-on for Kinect within the first 12 months.
#2
KAP
07/09/10, 8:58 am
When will they realise playing video games without buttons sinply wont work… the most fundamental rule is “buttons”. We simply aint there yet in terms of the interaction between kinect and gamer…. unless you bring out simple shovel wear bollox. Which will obviously happen now.
#3
Freek
07/09/10, 9:07 am
It’s all gesture based so you can hold a wireless xbox controller in your hand while you use Kinect.
So if you want a button, all the hardware is already in place to make it so.
#4
DrDamn
07/09/10, 9:11 am
I think the argument was more about accessibility than practicality. There is quite a big conceptual jump between Kinect which needs/uses buttons and Kinect which doesn’t. It’s clear from MS approach games wise they are going very strongly for accessibility.
#5
cookiejar
07/09/10, 9:52 am
Kevin Butler will be pleased
#6
2plus2equals5
07/09/10, 10:14 am
Ms move?
#7
OrphanageExplosion
07/09/10, 10:30 am
Any one who has played Kinect on the instore demos, and attempted simply to press an on-screen button in Joy Ride will know that Rare and Molyneux’s original instincts were entirely right.
#8
freedoms_stain
07/09/10, 11:55 am
@3, a predominantly two handed controller isn’t the best of fits for a gesture based system, that’s why Wii and Move have two separate hand held controllers.
I can predict the obvious retort, hold your 360 controller in one hand and shake it around, not very stable eh?
#9
Blerk
07/09/10, 12:02 pm
My kids think the 360 controller makes a pretty good gun if you hold it by one of the ‘prongs’. The little bastards.
#10
DrDamn
07/09/10, 12:18 pm
@Blerk
“The little bastards.”
Technically that would be your fault
You can use a sixaxis/dualshock as a substitute for a navi controller for Move – but I would only use that option if playing sat down and preferably use the older sixaxis as it’s lighter. A 360 controller would get heavy very quickly if stood up.
#11
frostquake
07/09/10, 12:44 pm
Until we get HoloDecks, Kinect is nothing more the an expensive microphone for me!
#12
onlineatron
07/09/10, 1:15 pm
As they said on the Eurogamer podcast, some third party will create a brightly coloured peripheral for better tracking.
#13
Erthazus
07/09/10, 1:17 pm
@12 I’m sure for 80% it’s Ubisoft.
PS: Always wanted to listen to the EUgamer podcasts. Can you link em?
#14
onlineatron
07/09/10, 1:23 pm
Here you go: http://www.eurogamer.net/archive.php?type=podcast
They are very funny, Tom B is a hoot!