Core Games Will Come To Kinect, Says Molyneux

Outspoken head of Microsoft’s European Game Studios Peter Molyneux has said that it will take time for companies to make the most of the Kinect hardware, and people should not be too quick to write it off based on the launch titles:

“We can do core games with it, we can do totally immersive games. It enables us designers to do unique experiences that have never been touched before but that takes us time, it really does.”

“When we transitioned from the PC to the console with Fable, it took us five years to do that. And that's just going from a mouse to a controller. And this is like going from a controller to nothing. I'm sure that's going to happen. And I'm fighting for that to happen with Milo and whatever we do with Fable in the future. It just takes time.”

“I'm not saying this as a Microsoft person, I'm talking purely as a designer -- I really truly believe that something like Kinect, changing that input device, could make us leap forward in the form of entertainment we make.”

“…And this is one of the reasons why I'm absolutely vehement about not giving a release date for Milo. Because as soon as I give that release date, then I'm on this express train and it's gotta get finished. And it requires so much artistry and balancing and tweaking and polishing.”

And regarding the Kinect launch titles, he went on to say:

“To be a launch title is very, very hard. Actually, I've played a hell of a lot of Sports. And it's pretty good. And [Kinect] Adventures is pretty good. Considering the amount of time [they’ve had to develop the games], I think they're pretty good experiences."

“I think anybody that gets Kinect that and buys those titles, they're not gonna be disappointed. But they should really, really be excited by what comes next. Because that's what I judge Kinect on, is what the next step is.”

Is this damage control following Fable III dropping Kinect support, or have Microsoft realised that they need deep, core experiences and not just poor Wii rip-offs for the hardware to be a real success?

There’s no doubt at all that the device has tremendous potential and that new experiences are going to be possible. However, many gamers including ourselves are cynical that nothing shown so far is catering for the 360’s current market, so we hope Microsoft has some new, in-depth experiences ready for its traditional audience capable of proving what Kinect can really do.