EA Shows Off Dead Space 3 Kinect Commands

[Andy Chalk]

EA Shows Off Dead Space 3 Kinect Commands

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Electronic Arts says Dead Space 3 is "better with Kinect."

We already know that potentially fun things will happen when you swear at [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121284-Kinect-Will-React-to-Swearing-at-Dead-Space-3] your Kinect rig while playing Dead Space 3, but there will be more practical applications as well. Instead of just dropping f-bombs all day long, you can tell it to reload, or give your partner some ammo, or take care of any of a number of other mundane tasks that would normally require you to mash a button or thumb a stick.

"We're the first game to ever have co-op Kinect commands," Dead Space 3 Executive Producer Steve Papoutsis explains in the Kinect promo trailer. "You don't have to fumble around with the controls. You just do what you normally do."

I suspect that what I would "normally" do if confronted by a Necromorph infestation is scream, run blindly into a wall, vomit and die, but Papoutsis is presumably talking about what we would do if we were Isaac Clarke, Space Engineer Extraordinaire, or the other guy, Rockjaw Whatshisface. Either way, it leaves me wondering where we draw the line on this whole voice command thing, and how long it will be before someone makes game in which we just sit on the couch and say "Shoot that guy. Shoot that guy. Shoot that guy," over and over again.

And why do we need a Kinect for this anyway? There are appears to be no use made of the motion control, so why can't we issue these same commands through a conventional headset? I don't get it.

Dead Space 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Space-3-Xbox-360/dp/B0050SWVIQ/ref=sr_tr_sr_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357594738&sr=8-1&keywords=Dead+Space+3] comes out on February 5 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.


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[Abomination]

I'm sorry, I just saw them advertise the idea of saying(/screaming) "Revive Parter" to Kinect in order for your character to perform that function - right when there's a giant "A" appearing on the screen telling you to push that to revive your partner.

And they wonder why Dead Space III costs so much and they need to sell X million number of copies to make a profit. It is because they're spending all this development money on pointless things like Kinect. Oh, and then they need to make sure the technology is "refined" enough to recognise different accents and dialects... I bet that comes cheap.

I don't need to say "Revive Parter" to revive my partner when I can just press "A" when I am near my downed partner to revive my partner.

Congratulations, EA, you have created the perfect White Elephant of game design.

 

[Juan Cantu]

So many times I have tried my kinect to navigate on the menus of the xbox (and this is without background noise etc) and I allways just get mad take the control and press the buttons, kinect is an ok webcam, nothing else.

 

[Vault Citizen]

how complex do they think that the Dead Space controls are?

 

[Falterfire]

I just... I don't get this. For very casual applications it kind of makes sense. My older sister enjoys being able to use the Kinect voice commands for Netflix to just say 'Xbox' and then 'Next episode' without having to stop whatever it is she's doing. Not exactly groundbreaking or a reason to acquire a Kinect, but at least it's a useful application if you have one.

For any sort of game though, the reactions tend to come down to how long it takes you to go from 'I need to do this' through 'I do this by pressing that' to pressing that. Voice commands add another step 'Wait for the Kinect to process that I said that' which is going to slow you down as long as the Kinect isn't instantaneous.

Plus it isn't going to be automatic until there's a standard. On my computer quite a few things are reflexive actions by now: Incoming fire? Either control+A or space+A depending on game to roll/jump out of the way. Got a moment to breath? R to reload. Need to pull up my inventory? Press I. I don't have 'Saying "Inventory" brings up my inventory' as a memorized thing to do yet, so it'll just get in the way.

It also breaks flow by...

Ending post in order to cease my sermon before the choir starts throwing things.

 

[ritchards]

Anyone else now have Necromorph Soup in their heads?
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound/2986-Necromorph-Soup

 

[gigastar]

I still think my idea for spawning more morphs during a panicked outburst of F words [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ClusterFBomb] was a better idea.

And it seems that Visceral have only squandered time on creating a redundant feature.

It might work for a player whos missing a finger or maybe a thumb, but im sure theres speciality gamepads for such people.

 

[NLS]

Hmm, some of the voice commands could be more fluid to the actual in-game experience. Examples:

"(Come on) get up!" instead of "Revive team mate"
"Where are you?" instead of "Find partner"
"Take some ammo" instead of "Give partner ammo"
"Switching over to my"/"It's time for"/"Get ready for the" [Insert weapon name here]

Of course, I guess they want it loud and clear what commands are specific for actually performing an action, and what will just be casual talk between two friends, instead of accidentally performing something you just said that you didn't really mean to. But it still feels a bit too robotic saying those commands like you're actually talking to the game itself rather than your friend.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Andy Shandy]

And why do we need a Kinect for this anyway? There are appears to be no use made of the motion control, so why can't we issue these same commands through a conventional headset? I don't get it.

But then they wouldn't be able to put that "Better with Kinect" on the box, Andy! Isn't it obvious!

Honestly, I have no idea. Just seems daft not to have it on everything, if there's not going to be any Kinect swishing.

Suppose it means I may have another use to dig out the Kinect, which is neat I suppose.

 

[dragongit]

Yes, Deadspace 3 works best, when you pay an extra 90 dollars for a peripheral that hardly functions for the games it's designed for. Not all Xbox owners went hook line and sinker for the Kinect, and I doubt they would want to dish out 150+ dollars for the "best" experience.

 

[Kurt Cristal]

And why do we need a Kinect for this anyway? There are appears to be no use made of the motion control, so why can't we issue these same commands through a conventional headset? I don't get it.

Because everyone figured out a long time ago that the Kinect's only good features were the voice commands so we're going to have to stick it out until they make a voice-command peripheral when they come to their senses.

 

[josemlopes]

How can saying a frase be faster then pushing a button that is at most 3 inches away from your finger?

Yeah... Better...

 

[weirdee]

I'm just waiting for this to turn into another Steel Battalion.

 

[Waaghpowa]

This looks like a MASSIVE waste of time. I can do all of the stuff they showed with my keys faster than I can say it.

OH MY GOD I CAN RELOAD BY SAYING RELOAD! Why don't you just hit the reload button?

 

[The Almighty Grigard]

Everyone has already mentioned the huge obvious points of redundancy and slower response time, but that is not my main issue.

There is one (and quite possible only one) thing Dead Space does right: Immersion. I've played both Dead Space games and while I found them lacking in most departments I really enjoyed being immersed due to the lessened UI and fluid controls. This however completely ruins that. You used to be Isaac, desperately fighting for survival. Now when I'm supposed to scream "Reload" I'm just some douche on the radio giving Isaac orders. Any thing that takes unnecessary and redundant paths to simple things throw me out of the experience, but this is just the worst I've seen in a long while.

They didn't even set the commands to something you'd say in character. That would be hard to do, almost impossible, and that is why they shouldn't have bothered with this distraction at all. This system is at best clunky and an immersion killer. At worst, it won't even work properly.

 

[Akexi]

Another waste of development time and money for the auxiliary function of the kinect that a headset can accomplish. Not going to help you reach that 5 million sale quota, EA.

 

[Ldude893]

You know what, I'm just going to sit back, and watch this game make a bigger explosion on EA's face than Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

 

[Joccaren]

Because everyone figured out a long time ago that the Kinect's only good features were the voice commands so we're going to have to stick it out until they make a voice-command peripheral when they come to their senses.

As said though, traditional headphones. No need for a specific peripheral, just use the Mic in the headset the player has plugged in instead of Kinect. In doing so, voice commands work over all platforms instead of just on the Xbox as well. There is honestly no reason to use the Kinect exclusively for this other than plastering it on the box.

 

[unstabLized]

Great... Another useless gimmick.. Oh well.. This will provide some entertainment when the use news article comes out "Dead Space franchise shut down, EA reached lower numbers then expected".