Disconnecting Kinect- the end of something promising

It has then been announced that from early next month (June 6th to be precise), Xbox One will go on sale without the Kinect sensor. For many, this will come as welcome relieve from the gimmicky attempt to incorporate motion controls into a gamers consoles. It will also be a relieve for those that have held back on purchasing a next-gen console because of the extortionate price; from now on the Xbox One will be able to match the price of the PS4 at a mere £349.99.

The hope of course for Microsoft and Xbox is that the sales of the Xbox One will now be able to made some gains on the PS4 which has been outselling its rival by 7 million to 5 million. It should, however, be pointed out that both consoles are doing substantially better than their predecessors at the same time in their respective life cycles. Saying that, ignoring a 2 million sales dip compared to your biggest rival would be a mistake that even Microsoft couldn't make.

But what of Kinect? Is it dead? If so, is it a good thing? Well, the sad truth is probably yes. Reports coming out of Xbox are that the console will be able to improve its output without the Kinect sensor. If this is true, why would developers take a risk making games for half of half the market. Many made it quite clear that they didn't want a motion sensor when they decided to jump ship over to Sony this generation. That, though, doesn't mean that losing Kinect is the best thing to happen.

source: digitalrivercontent

The Wii U has been embarrassingly far behind its two rivals this generation with motion controls that have failed to impress and the PS4 has opted to keep its motion control options as an added extra. Yes, the Xbox One's graphics may have suffered slightly and the frame rate might not have been so impressive, but it has the potential to become the best of both. Very few people could actually notice the difference between 900p and 1080p on a television smaller than around 55 inches. With time motion control could have been a very impressive, integrated feature of the Xbox One. That doesn't mean it had to be fundamental to every game, but the option was there for something a bit different; something that let the games industry move on slightly from the same format we've seen for the past two generations.

Ah well, I suppose we'll just have to wait  and see what happens next time.

Sexism in gaming: a problem that needs fixing

Earlier this week a moderator on the Star Citizen forum banned a user and pulled a thread called 'Female gamers group'. Today, it was announced, the developer has reinstated the user and the thread while also suspending the moderator pending investigation.

There are so many questions that come out of this. The most pressing of course is, was the thread pulled because it was meant to be a female only thread? Such threads are created in the first place because of the intimidating environment created by some senseless, aggressive male gamers who don't think that women should be invaded 'their personal gaming space'.



source: statista


The problem for male gamers inclined to take this view is that the gender split in gamers in shortening all the time to the point where at the start of 2014, 48% of US gamers were female. That is not a proportion that can be shrugged off as an insignificant minority and for any of the male gaming community to think that would be a falsehood. As platforms evolve, the gaming community is growing to incorporate a wider range of people that in the past would not have fitted into the typical gamer mould- that is something that should be embraced, yet still people want to live in a time where games were for men who, so to speak, had no life.

Star Citizen is by no means the only example however. Spend a few hours on any MMORPG or multiplayer shooter and regardless of gender you're likely to suffer from some kind of abuse- for some reason however some find it acceptable to make it gender specific in the case of women.

It is true that gamers have a somewhat tarnished reputation. A stereotypical image would be of a socially awkward teenage boy who develops an aggressive streak while spending the majority of his time on some kind of video game. We only have to look to current affairs, where recently the Daily Mail made the (albeit somewhat tenuous) link between the game playing habits of a teenage boy and the charge of murder that he is facing.

When things like such as blatant sexism occur, stemming from influential members of the community (I'm talking about the moderator in this case), it is hard to see how the reputation of what is generally a very positive and progressive group of society can be improved.