Lionhead today announced that they are working on a new title which utilizes the advanced features of the Microsoft Kinect. They had previously intended for the Xbox release of Fable III to use the Kinect in some way, but these features apparently never solidified.
What the new game might be has not yet been announced, but since it’s Lionhead we can count on it being a an interesting, story-driven adventure RPG or strategy game, since that’s what they make. This could be the first truly compelling game to be released for the Kinect. The games in the Kinect library right now are fun, to be sure, but there isn’t much substance there. No story-telling, no engagement or immersion. I get asked about video games a lot in my life, and that’s become my pat answer when I’m asked about the Kinect: It’s a great toy with lots of potential, but no one has used it to really tell any stories yet.
We could hope for a Fable-esque adventure RPG, and that would be awesome to see, but as long as we’re hoping, let’s hope for a Black & White remake. Just take a second to think of how that game would work on the Kinect. While you’re doing that, I’ll explain it to the few who haven’t played the original game:
Okay, so: Black & White is an RTS, and you’re this god-thing, right, and … yea, sort of like Populous… and you have to take care of your people, and complete a bunch of quests, but it’s not just a linear set of challenges. Not only can you choose a bunch of different ways to get things done, but you can also choose to do it in a “good” way or an “evil” way, and how you do what you do affects your people, and their obedience and happiness. Then you have this creature, who the people can see… Sort of like a deity, yeah… and he can be trained through either positive or negative reenforcement to help or hinder the people, and his alignment is separate from yours, so you can be a good god with a horrible creature, and vice-versa.
The thing that’s exciting about all this to Kinect owners is that the interface was all mouse, and not like ‘click-a-bunch-of-buttons’ style either—there were no buttons. The gameplay was based on ‘gestures’ with which the player would cast spells, and interact with people just by the way he or she moved the mouse cursor. Even interacting with the creature was like that, move the cursor over the pet quickly, and you slap or punch the poor thing, move slowly and regularly, and you can pet or scratch the beast. See how that could be an exciting game to adapt for full-body motion controls?
Are the rest of you done imagining? Good.
As I said, there is no announcement of what game Lionhead is working on for the Kinect, but I’m sure you can see which one I would choose if it were up to me. It’s hard to imagine a better gateway game for the system’s library, to show players and developers alike that something real can be made here.
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