News: Steel Battalion on the Kinect
Posted on : 15-09-2010 | By : Cacophanus | In : News, Videos
Hardware: Xbox 360
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4Gamer has the scoop from Capcom’s press briefing today. In short From Software are developing a new Steel Battalion game for Capcom that uses Kinect to control the vertical tanks. This looks like a reboot as well, as the tech seen in the previous games is narratively absent apparently. Naturally, there aren’t many functional details at present but of all the developers – bar the original Nudemaker – who could handle Steel Battalion well it would easily be From Software (especially considering that Chrome Hounds pretty much went down that route already). No word on who’s penning the new mecha designs as yet, as the original games used mecha designed by the very talented Junji Okubo, but we’ll hopefully know more on that in a day or two. In the meantime, here’s the teaser trailer.
Update: It’s been confirmed that Junji Okubo is not penning the mecha designs for this, which is a pity, but the good news is that the Chrome Hounds team are developing this Kinect only game – so we’re very cautiously optimistic about this.
Somehow knowing without that huge controller, looking at this trailer, it just doesn’t give me the same feelings as I do for my copy of Steel Battalion in the living room. The game’s focus seems different too, kind of akin to what AC5 has done; smaller more detailed game environment. Probably should of called it something else then but “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” We need gameplay.
So the new Steel Battalion still needs a $150 special controller to play, eh?
This is, quite simply, a bizarre announcement. I don’t understand how this on the Kinect could possibly work, but I’m optimistic regardless. I had completely written off the Kinect in my mind as something for poorly designed “family games” and here is From Software trying to actually do something meaningful with it.
It’s been a bizarre TGS so far; all bets really are off this year. They could announce a Super Robot Wars cover-based squad shooter and I wouldn’t bat an eye, it’d be just one weird announcement in an event entirely composed of weird announcements.
Oh dear… It’s rare too feel so much excitement and disappointment at the same time.
I can’t imagine how to make a game like this with a controller you can’t touch. And that’s before taking Kinect’s apparent imprecision and also lag into account.
Apart from that, having a magical “air controller” doesn’t seem to fit the style of the game at all. I feel that for mech simulations the haptic element is probably even more important than for most other games.
Of course they won’t want to manufacture a giant custom controller again, but Steel Battalion could have worked with a standard controller in principle.
Well, hopefully From Software will still manage to pleasantly surprise me with this one. Unfortunately I never played Chromehounds online, but from what I heard about it this seems to be the right team for the job : )
I’ve been thinking about it, and the Kinect could probably be good for certain types of mecha games, but as you say, something like Steel Battalion needs precise control.
Specifically, I think a lot of Super Robot games would work, where movement is usually more methodical, and I could see Sandlot (Robot Alchemic Drive) using this technology to great effect.
They could also make a game where you control mecha through an air guitar. I’m just throwing that out there as a possibility: if From Software wanted to outdo the crazy in Metal Wolf Chaos, they have the technology in their hands…well, kind of in their hands. In their hands, but it’s an imaginary guitar, so kind of in their hands? You know what I mean.
Macross 7, the Kinect game. I’d buy that day one.
Although if they do it in some sort of cool sci-fi fashion where it’s like Minority Report style screens or something, but most of the game operating on controller functions… that’d be kinda cool.
Considering what I’ve seen of Kinect so far, I can only see this game being nothing more than some gloryfied on rails shooter, time will tell, but given Kinects aim at casual players I just dont see anything good comming out of this, other than a quick arcade blast.
So the Chrome Hounds are behind this game eh? I wonder what the hell is going on with Armored Core 5 then??? It was no where to be seen at this TGS and it’s coming out this year in Japan, supposedly.