Can wait to read the deliciously negative reviews. It should provide some good entertainment.
have you played the games? (just wondering because I would think some of those games would do better and some worse than your list)
MS specifically said they don't need good reviews to sell the system.
what they really meant was, we're predicting quite a few system glitches and negative reviews which will result in poor sales so we are not allowing pre-launch reviews.
on a serious note, if they're confident about their product, positive reviews will only act as another channel of marketing. they seem to be hiding something with this embargo.
like how shitty movies do not have pre-screenings.
Again, review embargos until the day a game is released is pretty much the rule and not the exception nowadays.
really? i don't really follow video gaming as closely these days, but Move hardware was sent to reviewers weeks in advance iirc, and it no doubt helped the system with all the positive press it was getting.
i guess that was an exception eh?
really? i don't really follow video gaming as closely these days, but Move hardware was sent to reviewers weeks in advance iirc, and it no doubt helped the system with all the positive press it was getting.
i guess that was an exception eh?
Sonic Free Riders is, ultimately, a fairly standard racer that works well for Kinect. Pretending that you're on a hoverboard is actually a lot of fun. The tracks are well designed, the level of board customization makes the game more robust than many racers, and the numerous multiplayer modes keep the game entertaining past the main missions. It's not amazing, but it's definitely one of the games you should get to round out your Kinect collection
My predictions
Good (80+ metacritic)
Decent (70-79 metacritic)
- Kinect Adventures (bundled with Kinect)
- Your Shape: Fitness Evolved
- Dance Central
- EA Sports Active 2
- Kinect Joy Ride
- Sonic Free Riders
- Kinectimals
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 The Videogame
- The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout
- Kinect Sports
- Zumba Fitness
- DanceMasters
Crap (69 and under metacritic)
- Game Party: In Motion
- MotionSports
- Deca Sports Freedom
- Adrenalin Misfits
- Fighters Uncaged (will come across as a tech demo)
I'm quoting this so we can come back in a couple of weeks and check up on it. :biggrin:
Got my stuff yesterday. Dance Cental is really really great. Harmonix really gets rythm games and it totally shows here. I'm possibly the worst dancer on the planet, and this game totally empowered me hehe. No seriously, it sounds like I'm joking but I'm not. You'll see.
Really though I think the Fitness games like Fitness Evolved, The Biggest Loser and EA Sports Active 2 are going to be HUGE! Kinect is SO built for these types of games. Working out with extra peripherals (like strapping the Wii Remote to your thigh) is an annoyance, so this is a step in the right direction. I think once the word gets out, people are going to go nuts for this.
I'm having a Kinect party with a bunch of non-gamers and looking forward to peoples reactions.
We can't help but quote our Google TV review here: "It's always hard to review version 1.0 of a platform -- it's tempting to give concept and potential nearly as much weight as execution." The Kinect as hardware is great, but there's plenty of room for software engineers and UI designers to improve. And speaking of room, if you're worried about cramped space, you might want to get a measuring tape before shelling out $149. Former Microsoft exec Robbie Bach called the Kinect a "midlife kicker" for Xbox 360, so you can bet the company will continue to pool resources into improving the experience for a good while (and hopefully the Dashboard is pretty high on that list of to-do's).
The comparison everyone wants to make -- including Microsoft and Sony themselves -- is how Kinect stacks up against the Move. By the numbers, picking up Move starter bundle and an extra controller is the same price, and in that setup you also get a two-player experience. Move's Sports Champions is arguably a stronger bundled title compared to Kinect Adventures. But really, we feel like both systems -- along with Nintendo and the Wii -- are just taking a different approach to the same issue. Where does interaction go next? How do you bring it to the living room? Back to the Kinect, though: we think there's some fighting spirit inside that glossy shell, but it's definitely got a lot of growing up to do first.