The promise of the Kinect and the PlayStation Move is that, like the Wii a few years before them, they’ll open gaming up to a more casual class of gamer. And there’s nothing wrong with that! However, making a racing game that literally plays itself for you stretches the definition of “gaming” entirely.
Meet Kinect Joy Ride, “the first controller-free racing game”; while it’s billed as a kids’ game, what you see in the video above does not seem like it would be too much fun for anybody (although you’ve got to admit the guy’s expression is pretty priceless). While it wouldn’t be fair to tar all of the new motion controller games with the same brush, this does show the limits of making games too accessible; if everyone can be a winner with no skill or practice, what’s the point?
Blogger GEL, who’s behind the (invisible, self-steering) wheel in the video above, explains what you see in more detail on his blog:
Well obviously I own a Kinect and had one hooked up while chatting with some friends on XBox Live. Knowing full well that chatting through the Kinect microphone is a mess (as it picks up the TV audio) I figured I couldn’t do much with it. Then I remembered I downloaded the demo of Kinect Joy Ride and decided to pop it in as I could probably still play it despite having a wired headset attached.
But as I raced I really didn’t feel like I was in much control. It felt like it was trying to automatically guide me along a track. So, I ran an experiment and tried just sitting there holding the “wheel”. To my amusement, it worked! So yeah, the next day I hooked up a camera and got the madness on film.
The YouTube description is even more succinct: “I WONDER IF THIS GAME HAS AUTO-STEERING. WHAT DO YOU THINK?”
(words via GameBabble, video via Reddit)
