So, here's how my train of thought was going. For some reason I was pondering mobile gaming, how big it's becoming, which is also annoying. Now people can access Farmville on the fly on cell phones, PDAs, iPads, PSP, I think even the DS... oh great, nothing like more push for Zynga. But then I thought, maybe that's not so bad, there's some decent mobile games that can get their pushes too. So then I got to thinking, whoever invented mobile gaming sure had a monopoly in mind, had they invented it just a little bit earlier on the timeline they could have fully gobbled up the portable gaming market. So then I got to thinking, wow, if it wasn't for the PSP, the DS, the mobile phones, the iPads, the PDAs, and... wait a minute... *record scratch/skip*... woah, where's Microsoft in this whole equation!? I mean, I think I always thought about it in the wrong direction before.
Also to throw the bone out there, some of you may say, "well, what about those phones using the Windows Mobile OS"; I have to point out that Windows Mobile OS is the software, whereas typically somebody else manufactures the hardware that it's running on -- as an example, I used to have a Blackberry that had Windows Mobile OS, so the mobility point goes to Blackberry in that equation. I always asked myself, "why doesn't Microsoft have a portable gaming system, since the other two console companies; being Sony and Nintendo, do!?". So it got me to thinking, wow, even though the whole everything mobile, forcing you to have to be glued to a phone every second of the day (yeah right, cause that's exactly what we did in the 80s too... ROFLMBO!), by the looks of it, Microsoft (who are supposed to be like one of the biggest leaders in the world when it comes to the computer/OS/app market) haven't quite gotten with that program yet. Say what!? No way, say it isn't so, how can that be!? I mean, can it be true!? Even NINTENDO, the ultimate gaming dinosaur has mobile gaming in their Gameboy/DS, and have done it for years... they were one of the first to hop on mobile gaming with the original Gameboy... O-M-G! What!?
So then I sort of calmed myself down, and did a mental checklist, "yeah, it's okay, let's think about this rationally... maybe they just didn't want to hop on the band-wagon of the cutting-edge
technology that's common place and would keep them on the map!? WTF!? But I digress, let's check the other stuff on the list here... hrmz...". So I thought, okay, let's look at other areas. What about 3D?? Oh wait, O-M-G... yeah, Sony has 3D, that's no secret, they're F'n awesome at it too, especially now that they're merged with Samsung... but guess what, once again, Microsoft not really rockin' the 3D support, which, understandable, as some say, 3D isn't that big of a deal... but let's stop for a second and think of who does have 3D again... yes, that gaming dinosaur, NINTENDO... LOL!!! "Okay, okay, okay, two out of 3 ain't bad, there's no way they could end up on the receiving end of a no-hitter, let's keep on going down the list, hrm??".
Let's see, what about hi-definition. Well, 360 I believe supports HD-DVDs, though Sony supports Blu-Ray which have more storage space... but since visually you get about the same quality, we won't make this a major comparison; though I will say for the record, I really dig Blu-Ray a bit more, and am loving the 25gb of storage on BR as compared to, from my understanding of what I've read, 15GB on HD-DVD if you really push the envelope for storage compression.
So, up next on the list, let's see here, motion control *FUNCTIONALITY*. Okay, now to make a HUGE notice here... NOTICE, I'm not saying which one is more fun or better, I'm saying which are more functional.
Right out of the gate, I'll say it, you won't want to hear it, but I'm gonna say it anyways... Kinect has very BOLD limitations, that are quite obvious from the start, let me explain. I've used every motion control system made to date, and here's my overview. On the Kinect, you can only do so many arm flails, reaching for the sky, kicking your leg, running in place, hopping like a potato-sack race, and body wiggles before there's not much left except combinations from that actual list; I mean seriously, you access the menu by holding your left hand at a 45 degree angle from your body, pointed towards the floor, with hand extended, and most times if you're anymore or any less than 45 degrees the little timer/counter goes away and you have to start all over again, yeah right, pass. Not to mention this interface majorly fails if you live in a very tiny/small/modest apartment; I understand they have the new sleeve you can put on it that amplifies or wide-angles or whatever, but we're talking straight out of the box as not everybody has a bajillion dollars to dump on the Kinect!
Moving onto the Wii; I'll admit, when the Wii first hit the market, it had a lot of promise, but I'll have the "cojones" to go ahead and spell it out for Nintendo, should anybody from Nintendo actually read this. The lack of Blu-Ray support, fine, not a problem. The lack of over-accelerated
graphics, doable, okay. The fact it doesn't even support DVDs, okay, now that one really friggin' hurts, but I might be able to look past that at the correct price-point. But you know what really baked the cake for the Wii!? You wanna know!? You think you can handle the TRUTH!? It was that little friggin wire that connected the Wii Mote to the Nunchuk. For how much it cost to buy, you couldn't just take that one extra step to make the Nunchuk a wireless controller like the Wii Mote!? Seriously!? Doh, I won't say pass, as its still fun, but wow, talk about "coming down to the wire", LULz.
Now, finally, Sony, and I know I'm gonna sound like a fanboy when I say this, but the PS3 Move just kicks all of their @$$es, sorry, but it does, at least in my opinion it seriously does, and I'll explain to you exactly why it does. Many thought, and may still think, the Move was just some sort of wireless controller like the Wii that would just be a different format of the Dual Shock controller. In minor ways it might be technically, but it's actually something of the perfect hybrid between Wii and Kinect. The Move picks up motion movement, as well as button presses made from the hands, so you have the best of both worlds, coupled with their directional stick, oh yeah, this is about as close to virtual reality as I've seen console systems pull off so far. Don't believe me? Go try Socom 4 or the upcoming BioShock: Infinite with the Sharpshooter and tell me that doesn't make a believer out of you (which FYI, it's rumored that BATTLEFIELD 3 won't only have 3D support, but may also have Move/Sharpshooter support!!); though, I will admit, any chance we could get like actual motion walking in that game? Perhaps not even walking in place, just sort of lifting the back of each foot and putting it down or something? *shrug, still more than you can do
on the Kinect; which I'll also add here, best part about a Move game, as long as it's Move compatible, you can use EITHER the Move interface OR the dual shock gamepad... whereas a Kinect title, you can ONLY use Kinect, what!?* Now, some are probably saying that's not a fair comparison, but wait, I must again point out, the comparison was "functionality". Explain to me this, on Kinect, how are you going to do a weapon toggle? A quick reload? Firing a weapon? Opening your inventory? Bringing up a map? Selecting/toggling between multiple spells? What about swapping from ranged to melee??
Okay, here's an easy one, ready, how about bringing up the system menu while in the middle of an intense action game, like a shooter, so that you can answer a message sent to you from a friend. Oh, nope, that's not possible either, here's why. First of all, unless you want to play cops and robbers using the kiddie-style gun made from your thumb and forefinger to shoot a gun and hope the Kinect can pick it up (weren't they still working on finger detection come to think of it!?), there's no real shooters that I'm even aware of that ever plan to come to Kinect with motion-support... which it's probably a good thing they don't, cause if they do, that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back as far as Kinect is concerned. Now the next reason that scenario doesn't work; if they ever DID make a shooter for Kinect, you'd be standing there like a dork with your left arm out at 45 degrees trying continuously to bring up the pause menu while gyrating all over the place because of the intense action, you'd probably be fragged about 27 times before you ever got that little baby known as a pause menu up for usage... so yeah, that's uber-fail there too.
So guess what, the prototype idea of the Kinect may have been awesome, may have even been revolutionary, but here's the kicker and downside, they never thought out the bridge between
hardcore gaming. If you want serious gaming, you need some sort of controls... heck, even the Atari had a single button! I've even heard people say, "oh, well, one day they'll come out with
peripherals for the Kinect", BZZZT! Wrong, cause guess what... Microsoft actually painted themselves into a corner on this one, LOL. They swore it was the functioning system that required NO controllers/functions whatsoever except for your body; so the day they ever make anything to interact with it outside of using your body, they admit complete and total failure of the Kinect... which hey, I'll be honest, that sucks to say, and is sad to say... I'm really not trying to be a dick about that, but that is the exact truth and fact on that!
So, remember, the moral of this whole story is actually...
So with that, I leave you with this...
Peace out mah Homiez!
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