Xbox 720 and PS4 must 'go beyond' Kinect, says Jade Raymond

NewsPublish Date 26/07/2012 - 10:13am GMT+1

But what she really wants is a Holodeck.

Ubisoft Toronto boss Jade Raymond thinks that next-gen consoles must "go beyond" what Kinect has done for controller-free gaming.

"I was a big Trekkie when I was a kid and I still have this dream that, ultimately, we're going to end up creating the Holodeck - you know, totally immersive experiences," explained Raymond in an interview with OXM. "I still think one of the huge barriers is the controller, and even people who played games when it used to be just one big red button and a D-pad can't play games now.

"You have to master face buttons, triggers and they all do different things, so obviously we're never going to get to that really mass-market place where we're touching a really broad audience with our messages with controllers, so Kinect and other more natural ways to interact with games are incredibly important. I think we can go further."

In more specific terms, Raymond thinks that the next generation of consoles must build upon the advances made by Kinect and the Wii.

"I think they should, for sure, and I hope that we go beyond what we already have working and extend it even further. I think we saw some great changes with the Wii and a whole bunch of people playing games that hadn't previously and I think we saw another step with Kinect."

It's fair to say that most hardcore gamers remain ambivalent at best about Kinect and controller-free gaming. For her part, Raymond seems optimistic that things will improve – but it may take a while.

"As more of a hardcore gamer I want to see that stuff integrated into hardcore games in a way that makes them better because as fun as all those games are, I don't really play exercise games - I can't picture myself doing that. I'd love to be able to lean and look round the corner and just integrate more natural motions. The tech for those things isn't quite there, but I hope it will soon."

New stuff to check out

Comments

To add your comment, please login or register

User Comments

Batmamerc

I played a virtual reality game at a place in Sheffield when I was kid about 15 years ago, it had the glasses where the screen was and you wore special gloves and straps around your feet, these were used to detect movements obviously, graphics were terrible and it didn't pick up you turning around very well as that needed you to turn your head but wouldn't work but if you moved your hand in front of your face you could see the virtual hand there and same for picking things up just reached out till you could see your hand and grab the virtual object and the glove wouldn't let you clench your fist so it felt like you were actually holding something real. That was 15 years ago and my imagination has gone wild about this kinda thing ever since but no one has managed to bring anything like this to the home or mainstream anywhere else. Motion control is bollocks if all your doing is moving your hands to point at something, moving your hands and actual grabbing something and been totally emerged 360 degrees in a virtual world is where we need to head to, their would be no need for a controller or even a tv just a few foot of floor space enough to walk on the spot In and punch and kick all around you, make it portable or wireless an can go play in the garden or park or even in the office. When we get to that point I will invest in motion controlling till then I'll just stick to the controller games.

Posted 11:21 on 30 July 2012

BC_Animus

Screw motion control I want dream-gaming. Give me a console that allows me to play games and watch movies in my sleep.

Posted 05:07 on 27 July 2012

thedanyrand

I have said it before but I love buttons. I love them on my controller and on my phone. I feel like all the move and touch screen technology is more of a show off feature than being more useful. Eventually Im sure it can get to a really good functioning mechanic but there is a lot to do before that happens.
That all being said we all know everyone in the world has tried to jump a little in their seats or lean a bit with their controllers in hand with a racing game. So if they can sense those little movements and give my Mario a little more oomph in his jump or my Skyline gets around that corner a little faster then Il change my tune.

Posted 16:20 on 26 July 2012

BC_Animus

Haven't even read the story yet, but I just have to say - Jade, you're so pretty, will you marry me?

Posted 14:09 on 26 July 2012

Woffls

It's reassuring that Jade is on the same page as the rest of us given how influential she is these days, and my completely unfounded assurance that Ubisoft will be much more relevant to gamers in the coming years.

I think the tech is fine, and is far more capable of being positively implemented in games than developers have shown us so far. It's the pervasive lack of creativity* that's holding the medium back, not the technology, and this has happened every single time something new has been made available.

*I'm implying that games are not creative enough, not that the people making them are lacking creativity. This almost invariably is down to the publisher.

Posted 10:36 on 26 July 2012