Microsoft has recently released the Kinect. Billed as the controller-less system, where “you are the controller.” However, we find ourselves asking just how long that will actually last. Since the Kinect sensor is really just a depth-sensing camera, it can use objects as well as your body for input; and it seems like only a matter of time before game companies realize they can sell us overpriced pieces of plastic as peripherals.

The Wii has been notoriously plagued by shovelware based on simple motion gimmicks, and Microsoft best be careful or they might end up the same way. Be on the lookout for such great titles as:

Game devs (if they’re smart) might even find a way to make the game almost completely free and make more money just selling the peripherals. For instance, if you buy an epic fantasy RPG for $5, you would also need to spend $20 for your sword, $20 for your battle axe, $20 for your bow, etc. The model already works for peripherals like Rock Band, and since it doesn’t require electronics, it’s even cheaper to produce.

Of course, once that starts, hackers will simply start making replicas of the objects to avoid paying for them. This “piracy” could then kick off an arms race of harder to replicate items and better object recognition.

Get out the shovel — it’s about to get deep.

Source

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Man-on-top Simon Jeffrey has rounded on developers for drowning Wii in below-par tat, but is confident that publishers – starting with Sega, naturally – can put that to rights.

Chewing the fat over at Venture Beat, he says:

“There is a lot of crap coming out for the Wii in general. But if it’s not a good game, it doesn’t sell. That flood of crap will die down as publishers become more coherent.”

Let’s hope this isn’t a case of Simon Jeffrey misspeaking again. He also lets loose on the tug-of-war between Sony and Microsoft for Wii ‘graduates’, putting everyone’s favourite game – Mad World – on the frontline for reaching out to the more hardcore Wii audience.

“No one is doing that. With Mad World from Platinum Games, we are trying to show that millions of Wii gamers want to move on to mature games. They don’t have to have an Xbox 360 to do that.”

There’s more to come from Sega when it comes to Wii – Jeffrey just loves the accessories:

“We are fans of the Wii Zapper. Our Ghost Squad game keeps selling. We have more Zapper games going. The same for the Wii Balance Board, although we have nothing announced yet.”

Never say never. Nothing may be announced *yet*, but Leipzig GC is only round the corner.

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• New Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games Coming?
• Wii/DS Review: Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games
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• Wii Review: NiGHTS Journey of Dreams