“As with any new technology that comes out, the longer developers have access to it, the more different kinds of experiences they are going to be able to create using it. Mass Effect 3 is a great example, in that maybe it doesn’t make as much sense to have people moving and jumping around.” Kinect doesn’t just need to be about running around your living room. Its voice control and ability to recognise more subtle body movements, mean games are now turning up which you can play entirely while sitting down. Fable: The Journey springs to mind. Kinect does away with the controller altogether. In doing so, it removes any sense of touch you could get from a game. In a very basic way, the controller allowed for rumble or force feedback with steering wheels. “Even in existing game controllers today the sensation of touch that you get through rumble you can use creatively, but I dont think it’s the end all, be all of physical interaction. “I think with Kinect we have done a lot with both visuals and audio to create physical reactions from people when they interact with content. A lot of times you will see people react when they get hit with something in game and their body will react to it in real life like they are actually being hit.”
So how could Kinect change in the future? How could it incorporate different software concepts into a controller-free environment? “I think that as far as how games are played in the future, there are probably two different areas that we are excited about creatively," says Tsunoda. “One is just starting to build kind of gaming experiences that help teach you real world skills. It’s amazing to me how much you’re actually able to start teaching people something by having them play a game.” And the second things? Mass Effect 3 showed another innovative way Kinect can be used. Being able to reply to character’s questions just by talking is a fairly amazing feature. Kudo agrees. “I am really excited about the potential for redefining how interactive narrative works through the Kinect technology. I think Mass Effect 3 is awesome and I think we can do a lot more with how people interact with digital characters. “Communication is not only what you are saying but also your tone of voice or your physical expressions and your body language. I really believe that with Kinect we have a way of doing interactive narrative that makes you more like an actor inside the story. Having a story unfold that is very personal to you makes something unique.”
