BioWare enamored with Kinect after Mass Effect 3

BioWare's Casey Hudson talks about how the company developed the Kinect functionality in Mass Effect 3, calling the device "the future of interactive storytelling."

17

If you listen to Weekend Confirmed, you probably heard Jeff Cannata raving about the Kinect functionality in Mass Effect 3. It was dubbed as "Better with Kinect," and that title doesn't seem to be an empty marketing gesture if BioWare's own enthusiasm for the device is any indication.

"It feels like the future of interactive storytelling," executive producer Casey Hudson told OXM. "You're just talking to a character, and you're going deeper into their conversation, asking them questions and telling them things and after it's over you pick up the controller, and it's a cold piece of plastic, and you think 'this is the old way, and what I was doing was the future'."

He says giving oral squad commands frees up your thumbs, but the company was particularly excited about the conversation system. "It's very fortunate how it works with the existing system, which is that we have paraphrases. Speak those paraphrases, and they trigger that line," he said. "Once you start doing that, you realise you're using different mental pathways to interact with the game. You're not pressing buttons to talk, you're talking to talk."

We're not sure what BioWare has up its sleeves next, but given the company's tendency to use conversation trees, using Kinect seems like a likely bet.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 30, 2012 2:15 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, BioWare enamored with Kinect after Mass Effect 3.

    BioWare's Casey Hudson talks about how the company developed the Kinect functionality in Mass Effect 3, calling the device "the future of interactive storytelling."

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 2:18 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 2:38 PM

      I still don't get why I would have to have a Kinect for the thing to listen to me, when I have a perfectly functional headset-mic for communicating over xbox live. Does it really need the processing power inside the Kinect device to parse speech?

      • reply
        March 30, 2012 3:37 PM

        Nope, Tom Clancy's End War had great speech recognition through the headset.

      • reply
        March 31, 2012 9:42 AM

        The special $140 Microsoft Revenue Generator is the key.

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 2:46 PM

      Could he be more full of shit?

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 2:56 PM

      The Kinect has voice recognition software built into it that developers can use so that they don't have to code their own. Saves time and money and considering that it's actually pretty decent, you don't end up with as many "Lifeline" scenarios where you are screaming at the game in hopes of it recognizing what you are trying to say.

      • reply
        March 30, 2012 4:39 PM

        but does this actually have to do with the kinect hardware? or just the kinect SDK? Could they just package the voice recognition portion of it separately if they wanted? My guess is yes.

        • reply
          April 2, 2012 9:53 AM

          They go hand in hand so the answer is no. The SDK is specifically designed to use all of the functionality of Kinect, and to say just use the headphone throws away all the advantages Kinect brings you out of the box. If using a headset was so easy why hasn't some one done it already?

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 3:15 PM

      ME4, all interactive sex scenes all the time. Just you wait and see.

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 3:17 PM

      I wonder what percentage of players actually used it with ME3.

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 3:17 PM

      It has to be amazing living in your own world like that.

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 3:18 PM

      Cannata liked it for ME3, said it would be even better in a Skyrim game. So why not? I'm ok with this.

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 3:31 PM

      Tali, suck my...

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 4:05 PM

      Every time I see a Mass Effect 3 related post, all that goes through my head is "that'd be great if the ending hadn't gutted my entire desire to ever play the series again." Amazing how 15 minutes can destroy over 100 hours of awesome.

      • reply
        March 30, 2012 5:20 PM

        So true, I despise how roughly 120 hours of entertainment with hundreds of choices that carried through and affected your story from game to game boiled down to 2 "choices" (if they can be called such) that ended up with the exact same half-assed ending, other than the colour of some graphical effects.

      • reply
        March 30, 2012 5:31 PM

        I havent beat it yet, but based on what everyone keeps saying my expectations are so damn low that it would impossible for them not to be exceeded.

        • reply
          March 30, 2012 5:42 PM

          It's not like it negates the fun you did have playing them, but it's definitely leaves a sour taste.

        • reply
          March 30, 2012 6:03 PM

          Trust me, I thought the same way until I reached the end. I can't believe anyone involved honestly thought that was the proper way to finish off the series. Such a let-down.

        • reply
          March 30, 2012 11:50 PM

          WRONG! I thought the same way. And then I finished the game. And still had my mind blown by how low budget/ill thought out it was.

          "Hey guys, I know! To finish our epic series of fantastic story telling let's NOT make any in depth, cool cut scenes about the universe we've created; also lets throw in some barely explained metaphysical stuff that has never before even been hinted at in the 3 games story line - THAT WILL CHEAPEN THE ENTIRE STORY ARC!! Our players and fans will LOVE how we leave them not understanding clearly anything that happens after their hero makes his/her last choice...!"

        • reply
          March 31, 2012 12:58 AM

          Honestly, I would ignore the negativity and finish the game. I didn't find the ending anywhere near as bad as anyone said I would. There are things that aren't properly explained in the ending but I didn't feel like the last 80 or so hours that I've put in to my character over the last three games was a waste.

        • reply
          March 31, 2012 2:31 AM

          Yeah my expectations were so low, I didn't hate it as much as everyone on the internet.

      • reply
        March 30, 2012 6:07 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          March 31, 2012 12:22 AM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          March 31, 2012 6:45 AM

          Yeup. It's putting game journalism in a pretty bad spot IMO.

          I've never looked to journalism to suitable cover any subject in detail, journalists, even specialist ones are notorious for fucking up everything that requires more than a cursory glance to understand the details. However games journalists don't have the same excuse of limited time that newspaper/TV journo's do. They should've seen this coming a fucking mile off.

          Instead they come off as not particularly smart, nor understanding of their audiences. No matter how much I hate writers at Fox News or the Daily Mail, they are smart and they do understand their audiences.

      • reply
        March 31, 2012 12:24 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        March 31, 2012 6:35 AM

        That, and also that they managed to take a franchise with beloved characters and go out of their way to make it so if there is a ME4 it's either going to be a prequel or take place so far in the future that none of the characters that we actually care about are going to be around.

        It's almost as if they wanted to make a Star Wars game without any of the Original Series characters AND any of the KOTR characters so nobody would care about anyone! OH WAIT

      • reply
        March 31, 2012 10:17 PM

        Oh please... the ending was great, it was a test to see if you got indoctrinated or not. once you get tagged running to the beam, your screen is tapered black, you're bleeding black blood, your character is indoctrinated. you're presented 3 options at the end, 2 of which allow the reapers to continue to live. did you choose either of them? congratulations, you've just been indoctrinated and mindfucked into following what the reapers wanted you to do.

        • reply
          April 1, 2012 1:18 AM

          The Indoc Theory is absolute rubbish. Seriously, could you create a bigger plot hole? No hint of indoctrinationon Thessia, yet all of a sudden at the end you're indoctrinated. Get a grip.

          • reply
            April 1, 2012 4:22 AM

            "The Indoctrination Theory is proof that the fanbase cares more about the game than the people who made it"

            That being said, It still would make some sense after getting blasted less than a football field away from Harbinger, the "leader" of the reapers and most likely to be able to induce indoctrination on Shepard.

          • reply
            April 1, 2012 7:18 AM

            It's not, and there's nothing sudden about it, they're just subtle. IE: James constantly talking about the mysterious new hum on the ship.

          • reply
            April 2, 2012 4:23 AM

            Hey egobrain, if you always see stuff like that then Yeah Sure, you're never going to believe anything.

            For those of us with more IQ than a rat, we understand how the writers wanted it to end. You talk about plotholes, like if the ending wasn't full of that to begin with.. the theory makes them a lot less.

            But again, I understand why you don't understand :)

    • reply
      March 30, 2012 6:06 PM

      sounds more like EA just got a hunk of cash to make the Kinect worthwhile.

      • reply
        March 30, 2012 6:06 PM

        The Kinect is pretty awesome tech-wise but I don't think anyone but Double Fine has actually done anything cool with it.

    • reply
      March 31, 2012 12:54 AM

      I guess it was great being able to shout Red, Blue or Green at your tv and see the ending.

    • reply
      March 31, 2012 5:11 AM

      Casey Hudson is a real authority on good story telling.

    • reply
      March 31, 2012 6:42 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      March 31, 2012 6:33 PM

      I like pressing buttons. Buttons are fun. I don't like talking to a piece of hardware like a crazy person. All this voice recognition hype is a steaming barrel of horseshit.

Hello, Meet Lola