BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) – The Xbox One is a great machine with a ton of potential. It will eventually realize said potential but for now it’s good and borderline annoying at times. That time will shrink considerably depending on the release dates of the games you want to play. 

Pregame Warmup – System Overview

In today’s NFL, the expectation is that rookies should come into the league contributing to a team and winning football games. The higher the draft pick, the higher the expectations. Last year, Andrew Luck was drafted first overall by the Indianapolis Colts and for the most part lived up to those expectations. He led the Colts to the playoffs and while they didn’t win, it was a sign of things to come. Even in his second year the Colts are off to a great start.

Continuing with the football analogies, the next generation is starting with the PS4 and Xbox One. Sure you COULD consider the WiiU, but it’s more like last gen than next gen so I will not discuss Nintendo’s offering further. In this metaphor the PS4 and Xbox One are Andrew Luck and RGIII respectively (the WiiU might be Brandon Weeden).

I compare the PS4 to Andrew Luck as the PS4 is highlighting its focus on games. Andrew Luck is a prototypical pocket passer with a very high IQ ala Peyton Manning. Conversely, the Xbox One began its media campaign touting all of the extraneous things that it can do as a machine and then showed off some games at a separate venue. Robert Griffin III (RGIII) has a cannon for an arm AND can run like nobody’s business. RGIII is supposed to revolutionize the NFL and Microsoft hopes the X1 does the same thing both for the gaming industry and the entertainment industry.

The Xbox One comes with one machine, Kinect 2.0 and a controller for $499. The PS4 comes without a camera (Kinect) for $399. For further comparison, the Xbox 360 launched for $399 and the PS3 launched for $599 in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Consoles are complicated computers and while I’m not excited about the cost, when I consider that a decently equipped gaming PC could end up costing four times that price and last me half as long as a console, I’m not complaining. I don’t drink coffee and I haven’t drank sodas since I was 14 – I take that money I save and put it towards gaming. Right now I’m in the black.

Kickoff – Initial Set Up

Unboxing the system was easy. I was able to score a Day One edition and honestly aside from superficial styling, some avatar goodies or achievement, I can’t tell much of a difference. The Kinect fits on a shelf above my TV and thankfully the cord is generously long. I would say at least 6 ft but probably more like 9 ft. I have a home theater so it is resting on top of my center channel speaker (more on that later).

The console is larger than the Xbox 360 but smaller I would say than the original Xbox and can not stand on its side. It looks good in black and has replaced my Blu-ray player. I moved my HDMI for my DirecTV box from my receiver and put it in the Xbox One (HDMI in). I then plugged in the Xbox One’s HDMI out to the receiver to complete the daisy chain. I used a CAT5 cable for internet as I don’t want any interference for online gaming, though the Xbox One does come with Wi-Fi built in.

The OS at initial startup needs an update from Xbox Live. Thankfully I don’t live in Okinawa any longer or I would still be waiting for it to finish downloading. Microsoft did have a way to download the patch to a thumbstick pre-Nov 15th in the event Xbox Live (Microsoft’s gaming network) went down but it was unnecessary. It was a substantial patch, but the 450 gigs went quickly.

While this is inconvenient, I completely understand the logistics of the process. Microsoft has attempted to fix early supply/demand issues that have plagued previous system launches by shipping a system earlier to get ahead of the logistical curve. This is a good move by Microsoft in my opinion knowing that people who were early adopters most likely will get on the internet. I expect that the strategy will work and in future builds will be less necessary as they preload system patches on shipping consoles.

Pass Interference – Gamertag Migration

Once I got online, my fun deviated from the typical gamer experience. What is supposed to happen is any current Xbox Live customer signs into his/her new console with an email and password. The Xbox One then downloads the profile and voila, gaming can commence. That didn’t happen to me and I will take some of the blame.

I have a lovely wife and three minions who live with me. I love them dearly and they tolerate me most of the time. During those times of epic tolerance, we will occasionally play games. Since the Xbox 360 allows for individual profiles (and my reluctance to have minion #2 constantly changing my avatars/spartans to pink females), I created Xbox Live accounts for everyone. The Xbox Live Family program grants four gold passes for less than the price of two so it was a deal. And before you go all crazy math on me, the youngest minion only has a local account.

Anyway, one of the great features that Xbox put in place is this family plan. As a parent, I can put gaming limits on said minions while blocking friend requests and explicit content (including voice chat from the unbathed masses). This seemed like a win-win. Then came some security issues.

Microsoft requires an email account for all gamertags. If you don’t have an email account at the time of creation, it will create an email for you whether you like it or not. And you don’t get a say as to what it is at the time of creation, so one minion is something like lodgedhelmet02851@xboxlivefamily.com (notice I said like). Who remembers this garbage? Why not make it my GAMERTAG that I created to the tune of gamertag@xblf.com? It should be unique because the gamertag has to be unique. But I digress… some more.

Recently security efforts have stepped up to ensure phishers aren’t hacking accounts. One of the measures is to ask for a good contact email for each account. Well, since my kids are gamers and not emailers I gave the system my email for each one. I thought this was for the system to contact me, not for identification purposes.

A few months ago we had an issue signing the senior minion into my console. The system kept asking for his email and password, neither of which we knew. At first I could override that because I am the parental unit/primary account holder but it was an issue I wanted to fix. After several emails and phone calls to Microsoft, we came to a resolution – all family members could sign in with their crazy emails and corresponding passwords. Disaster averted.

Fast forward to Launch night, maybe 0100. I’m ready to go and I enter my info for my account and the system asks for an adult. What? I’m the adult. I try again. It states that my gamertag is associated with a youth and I need an adult’s permission to get on. Remember my email that I typed into everyone’s account? *Facepalm. While I should have tried to contact Microsoft again (during launch night, shah), I was more inclined to try my hand at creative problem solving.

I looked online at some forum posts but ultimately downloaded the wife’s profile then granted myself permission to play on the Xbox. Yes, insert kitchen pass joke here. Thank you better half for permission to play my games  and I will always love you.

One interesting (and disturbing) thing that Microsoft is doing put me out. The way the system recognizes that the wife is a parent is that it charges a credit cart $0.50 each time you ask for parental permission to download a profile. I don’t know about you, but that’s ridiculous. I don’t understand what it’s doing, but I do know it’s doing it. The system states that the charge is mostly going to charity and I’m all for charitable giving, but I feel like I’m held hostage by my gaming system. I just want to play games.

Film Study – Launch Titles

Alright, I have the system hooked up and I’m ready to go and I want to play games. Xbox One launched with nearly two dozen games and this is very good from a quantity standpoint. To go a little further into it, games are either exclusive or nonexclusive. This means that some games will be available on most consoles like Madden football or Call of Duty, but some games will be exclusive to a specific console like Halo on the Xbox. Both PS4 and Xbox One have exclusives and oftentimes these games are system sellers. That said, I don’t think many systems were sold this year because of exclusive games with a few exceptions.

To illustrate my point, we’ll get in a super Delorean and go back in time. When the Nintendo Entertainment System launched in the 80s, it came with Super Mario Bros. Everyone wanted to play that game (we STILL want to play that game). Then Sega released the Genesis and it came with Altered Beast which wasn’t a bad game. When the original Xbox launched, Halo was there on the shelf to move the system, and boy did it move it.

When the Xbox 360 launched, I hoped that the new Halo would be a game called Perfect Dark Zero. It wasn’t. One game that did impress a lot of people though was Call of Duty 2. When I think back on it, I probably played a puzzle game called Hexic more than either of those two games.

Despite not having a fantastic launch game, I loved the Xbox 360 from the beginning. Why? Because it had a large portion of original Xbox games from the get go and in some cases the 360 made them better. Halo 2 from the original Xbox and now played on the new Xbox 360 was actually on a superior wireless controller in HD. I had a library of games to play and I was set.

Historically there have been some good games, a few great games, and a number of ok games with each launch. I think this generation’s crop is similar. Many popular franchises brought out next generation offerings on both systems but few of them took advantage of the hardware changes.

In general, any fledgling system is going to have growing pains. The game developers need to know what the system can do while still making money developing games for the established gaming systems. For example, in 2005 EA published Madden 2005 and everyone expected that the game would be SO MUCH BETTER on the Xbox 360 than on the original Xbox. It wasn’t for a number of reasons, but a major one was because EA would sell 10 times as many copies of the Xbox version than the 360 version. Couple that with the fact that building games takes tools and an understanding of the hardware and it isn’t an easy thing.

Going back to the quarterback situation, while Andrew Luck may have more raw talent than Peyton Manning, Manning has years of experience and it pays off. Peyton can read a defense and make adjustments like no other because he’s familiar with his system. He knows his own offensive strengths and can tailor his plays to work magic on the football field.

Likewise, game developers have had eight years with the current Xbox 360. They are familiar with the current generation hardware and can do amazing things with it. Conversely, they have had Xbox One systems for barely any time (less than a year) so the developers can’t maximize the games yet.

I Formation – My Games on the Xbox One

I picked up two games, Forza and Killer Instinct and both are exclusive. Forza Motorsports 5 is a racing game and looks amazing. The game uses many of the new controller’s enhancements, specifically the rumble in the triggers. When you’re braking you feel the left trigger rubble like ABS and I love it. The minions thankfully will not be driving anytime soon but they do enjoy the driving dynamics and crashing their cars.

Another neat deal with the game is the Drivatars. Using magic and “cloud tech” after you race a few races, Forza creates AI drivers based on your own techniques. So far three of us have played the game and when each of us race through the career single-player mode, the other two’s cars are there competing (or trying to wreck me). Minion #1’s camouflage Subaru is a treat to see in the races and makes for a surreal experience. There are hundreds of hours available on this game if you want to race or design cars.

Some people are upset because previous iterations of Forza had both more cars and more tracks. This is a consequence of the new tech again. Forza had to make the car and track models over again because the tech allows for greater technology. Just like when Blu-ray disks were released, it took time to remaster movies for them. Studios couldn’t simply record DVDs onto Blu-ray and be done. And it isn’t like playing Cruisin USA with a dozen cars (which was epic) – Forza has 200 cars and more to come.

My other game that I “purchased” was Killer Instinct. It’s a remake of a fighting game of the same title from the early 90s. I say purchase because I downloaded what is effectively a free demo but I can buy a copy of the game for $20 on XBL (Xbox Live).

The game itself is pretty good but this is where I show my snobbery. I dislike immensely using a standard controller to play fighting games. I am enjoying the demo, but it’s going to take a number of hours north of a dozen to get comfortable. The alternative is to purchase a Tournament Stick for the Xbox One but at $200 apiece, that’s a lot of money (or coffees not partaken). What’s REALLY frustrating is that the previous generation sticks use a USB connection, the same as the Xbox One, and it is not an option. I hope that this is fixed in the future as some arcade sticks have been compatible with 360 and PC in the past.

One thing about the Xbox One that I love is how convenient it is to purchase games. I purchased both games from XBL and downloaded them straight to the box. Since you have to install each game to play it, I figured I would forego the physical scratches on my disks that ruin them anyway and stay digital.

It has an additional consequence. Since the games are installed from a digital copy, I can go straight to it without inserting a disk. The Xbox 360 had the same functionality for any game that was digital, so it’s not unique but it’s still awesome.

As well, I was able to start playing the game prior to it completing the download. At about 35%, the game told me “ready to play” and I was able to start up. The system OS is snappy and brought me to the game quickly. In fact, all the apps are quick and responsive (for the most part).

In the Trenches – Operating the Machine

So that brings me to the OS. It’s very similar to the 360 in layout and it’s clean. It can multitask very well and I haven’t had many hangups with the OS. I have had problems figuring out what to do or how to do things in the system, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Since day one I have adopted the all-or-nothing approach for the console, or as Yoda would say it “do or do not, there is no try.” The device comes with the Kinect so I am going to use it. However it’s not perfect. So far I can talk to it and it gets a lot of what I say right, but sometimes it doesn’t work. It’s like Siri (Apple’s iPhone assistant) in that regard, and I think the system will only get better. But for something that the system is designed around, it’s not perfect.

The first night I used the Xbox to watch TV but I didn’t have a way to tell the system that I have an A/V receiver. Everything goes through the receiver but I couldn’t initially find the settings to set it up. The next morning I did (call it sleep deprivation) so now I can say “Xbox, volume up” and the volume does up on the receiver. While it’s novel, I can see using “Xbox mute” more often and thankfully that is an option.

When we come into proximity of the sensor i.e. the living room, the Kinect does sign me and the minions into the console automatically. That’s pretty fantastic. However, my minions now all want to talk to the Xbox One and when it doesn’t work, they just get louder and louder (like Americans in foreign countries) but the Xbox is frustratingly inconsistent with its responses. Saying “Xbox Pause” multiple times during Pacific Rim does not impress the wife nor me.

Special Teams – Apps

The Watch TV app was easy to set up. A few steps allowed me to tell the Xbox One my provider, my cable box type and my channel lineup based on my location/zip code. The DirecTV, along with my other devices, is controlled by the Kinect using an IR blaster. Simply stating “Xbox, watch ESPN” changes the channel to ESPN and it works as consistently as the rest of the Kinect commands (again, I have about 90% accuracy – minions are about 20%).

OneGuide is an extension of the TV app. It allows me to pick my favorite channels and they are there in one place. I have no idea what 97% of the channels I have on my DirecTV lineup as I want to watch the four networks and ESPN or NFL only (Sunday Ticket FTW – free with a new signup). This setup has those shows right there in one place, and that’s a plus.

Another crazy thing that is awesome is the “snap” command. The Xbox One allows me to pull up any app on the side of whatever I’m currently doing. Minions watching My Little Pony on Netflix that were previously interrupted by the Buckeyes now can only be mildly inconvenienced as I check scores. I am talking over their program and may lead to future griefing as they think it’s fun to turn off the Xbox with their voices, but that may only happen once (wink wink – the Xbox asks for conformation on that request).

A couple of other apps worth mentioning are Twitch and Xbox Fitness. Twitch is an app that allows you to watch other people playing games. While that may not seem like your cup of tea, it is a fascinating experience observing live play of some games you are considering purchasing. I saw a beta test of Diablo III, Reaper of Souls and it was pretty great to just veg out and watch someone else do the work. It could get addictive and it certainly is informative.

Then there is Xbox Fitness. This is a free app for XBL Gold members and it is basically P90X, Insanity and a few other fitness programs wrapped up with the Kinect Sensor. The Kinect tracks my movement and sends feedback in the form of “great form” or “raise your legs more” during exercises. I did have to stream all of the content, but it’s a different way to utilize the gaming console. When I did the movements correctly, I gained “fp” like playing a game of Rock Band or Guitar Hero. The fp is probably fuel points but I have no idea. Anyway, at the end of the workout it gives a summary so next time I’ll try and beat it. One note – it’s not the entire program but only a taste of each. I hope that they will expand their library in the future.

Monday Morning Quarterback – Some Loose Ends

The Blu-ray player is an app that you have to download separately (why it’s not part of the day one patch is beyond me). It works well as the movies are crisp and look great.

What doesn’t look great is the DirecTV feed through the Xbox One. While my sample size is small, I am a bit concerned that the programming coming through the Xbox One is somewhat diminished in clarity. I still have some experimenting to do and it might be me being picky, but I have noticed a softened picture.

Right now the Xbox One can control my whole system. It’s really wild but I didn’t think that it would do it day one. The wife thinks I’m nuts for talking to the TV, and maybe it’s the “command voice” but it can be great. When you walk in the room and say “Xbox On,” it’s straight out of Back to the Future as the TV, Xbox, DirecTV box and A/V Receiver turn on. Now, the receiver may be on a different input (Apple TV or Xbox 360 – more on that in a second) so there’s that, but it is a pretty big step in automation. “Xbox, Turn Off” does what you would expect and everything goes off.

Why do I still have my Xbox 360 hooked up to my entertainment center? It’s because I have to in order to play some of favorite games. My biggest gripe bar none with the Xbox One is its lack of backwards compatibility (ability to play Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One – think Blu-ray player playing DVD or CDs). I understand that the new system has different internal guts, but Microsoft is THE software company (sorry Apple). The Xbox One has multiple OSes running at all times – what’s one more? Couldn’t they have written code to emulate the 360? Is there an app for that? Again, I don’t get it.

The controller has a lot of potential. I love the trigger motors and I’m meh on the bumpers. It is a lighter controller and that’s a plus. The D-pad (the cross on the left side) clicks and feels a little stiffer.

It has lost some things though. The 360 controller had a light ring that let me know which controller went with which player. This is extremely convenient when trying to help three minions be the right Spartans (oftentimes for dress up) or more likely when playing Minecraft finding which screen to help the littlest minion build another house with her name on it.

Instead, the controller has an infrared-type thingy on it so the Kinect can recognize the controller. It uses this in conjunction with the facial recognition to pair up the controller with the player. This is cool but I can’t see infrared. And even more annoying is when Dad comes in to save the day, the Kinect cries foul. It seems to tell me to give the controller back (or something like that) as it pauses the game to ask who has the controller. I may be able to change that setting, but since I’m not exactly sure what it’s doing we’ll see.

Speaking of settings, the Xbox One seems to be very lean on them. I’m looking for an advanced or administrative tab but I haven’t found it yet. Maybe it’s an app I have to download. You know how I had the issue with getting online with my gamertag, well the device thinks that I am minion #1’s first name. Xbox.com addresses me correctly. My Xbox 360 knows who’s paying the bills. But the Xbox One thinks that I have an identity crisis. Maybe I do and the Kinect can see into my soul, but more likely I think some bits have been switched. And I can’t find on the Xbox where I can correct it.

I also haven’t synced my universal Harmony remote with the Xbox One yet. Why would I do that? Because having a state-of-the-art system that only you can operate is a no go. It’s going to take some programming if it’s even possible but we’ll see.

Lastly, where’s the screen saver? I mean, it came in Windows 3.1, but seriously? I learned in the 80s while playing in an arcade that static images can be harmful for a display. Maybe it’s there and I haven’t waited long enough for it to come on, but it’s a risk I’m not going to take on my own equipment. Google doesn’t offer any resolution, thus I am forced to act as if it doesn’t exist. Call it R2T2’s Wager.

Postgame Quotes – Wrapping It Up

When Peyton Manning took over the Indianapolis Colts, they didn’t win hardly anything. It took them a year or two to become perennial contenders, but they did and it was a phenomenal run. Fast forward to the Colts QB transition and Andrew Luck took over for Peyton. It was a messy transition. Peyton is having an MVP season but the Hall of Fame QB is a little long in the tooth. So maybe it is time for Luck. Luck doesn’t have the experience of the veteran, but he has the tools to be successful now.

The Xbox 360 wasn’t the system that it is today right out of the box. Microsoft did some great things with both major and minor semiannual updates throughout the lifecycle of the system. I expect that they will do it again with the Xbox One, refining and polishing the OS and overall game experience to a mirror finish.

Speaking of games, for me it won’t be long for those next generation games to arrive. The major Xbox One exclusive that everyone is talking about is Titanfall. March 2014 will be a big time for the Xbox. Spring will also have Destiny (or at least its beta) the new game from former Halo developer, a Plants vs. Zombies FPS and I’m sure a few more.

Is the Xbox One a great system? Yes. Should you get one? I have no idea. It’s not going to make your dreams come true or help you realize some existential life goal. It will however allow you to play next generation games and also do some other amazing things in the process.

Let me know what you think, and hopefully I’ll see you on Xbox Live.

Written by: Jay Sharritt
Posted by: Situated Research

The post A Football Fan’s Take on the Xbox One appeared first on SituGames.

PS4 camera

When Sony announced that the PS4 will only cost $400, the crowd at E3 went wild. It drastically undercut the Xbox One’s $500 price tag, and set the internet ablaze with warm feelings towards Sony. Unfortunately, with a price that low, the camera won’t come bundled with the console itself. It’s an optional accessory that costs $59.99 on its own, and effectively splits the userbase. No matter how many PS4s Sony is able to sell, the accessory will never reach marketshare parity. Sadly, that leaves hopeful developers holding the bag.

Game makers hoping to reach the widest possible audience are now effectively being discouraged from developing camera-based games on the PS4. Why take the financial risks of developing a whole game that you can only sell to a fraction of the total audience? Unsurprisingly, we saw similar problems with the last generation. The Kinect and PlayStation Move were sold separately, and that lead to a dearth of high-quality titles designed with motion controls in mind. The Xbox One already has an early lead in the motion control race with the promise of games like Fantasia, and the PS4 has little chance of catching up at this point.

Stress-sensing controllers

In the early days of the PS4′s development, Sony’s Mark Cerny was interested in implementing galvanic skin response sensors (GSR) in the DualShock 4. If players aren’t sweating enough, a game could dynamically ramp up the difficulty until the desired stress level has been reached. Combine this idea with the Kinect’s ability to monitor your heartbeat with its high-res camera, and this could be quite a compelling way to make games feel more intuitive and responsive to individual players. Regrettably, the final version of the DualShock 4 didn’t end up including GSR technology.

Even though Sony isn’t bothering with GSR at the launch of the PS4, we’re already seeing the competition jump on the possibilities. Earlier this year, reports started to surface that Valve is toying with the idea of sweat-measuring devices. Sony is undoubtedly playing it safe this time around, but maybe Valve can pick up some of the slack.

All digital, all the time

Microsoft received a lot of backlash for its overly demanding DRM restrictions with the Xbox One. From the get-go, consumers hated the 24-hour check-in and rejection of the traditional rental and used games business models. After facing non-stop complaining for months, Microsoft finally caved after E3, and ditched the draconian DRM. The check-in requirement is gone, and disks will work like they always have. Good news, right? Well, not completely. Microsoft’s sudden about-face came at the expense of some very cool features.

In the original plan, disk-based games would be added to your digital library as soon as they’re played on your Xbox One. Even if you lost the disk, the entire game could still run off of the hard drive, and it could even be downloaded from Microsoft’s servers. In addition, Microsoft also scrapped its plans for the family sharing feature — the system that would have allowed up to ten different people to play your entire game collection. Even though consumer response kept the DRM creep at bay, we have lost some outstanding features in the process.

Microsoft poured the baby out with the bathwater, and that has left some gamers even more angry than they started. Over 25,000 have signed an online petition to ask Microsoft to deliver on the original Xbox One concept, and that leaves Microsoft in an uncomfortable situation. At this point, the Xbox team is damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. They’re going to get screamed at in internet comments no matter what.

In an interview at our sister site IGN, Microsoft’s Marc Whitten explained that not all is lost for the features left on the cutting room floor. Microsoft is clearly listening to the feedback it’s getting, and that could bode well for the return of family sharing. “If it’s something that people are really excited about and want, we’re going to make sure that we find the right way to bring it back,” says Whitten. Regardless of Microsoft’s plans, Steam is already moving in a similar direction. If Valve can pull it off without hassling consumers, Microsoft and Sony might not have any other choice but to offer game sharing sooner rather than later.

[Image credit: Vox Efx & John Trainor]

Written by: Grant Brunner, ExtremeTech
Posted by: Situated Research

The post Xbox One and PS4 Are Filled with Missed Opportunities appeared first on SituGames.

You can predict what that entertainment might be like just by extrapolating from technology that already exists.

Start by imagining CGI on steroids, a future version of the computer-generated imaging that today enables battalions of post-production wizards working for movie-makers like James Cameron and Peter Jackson to put up on the screen real-seeming 3D renderings of anything that anyone can dream up.

Add to that the successor to the virtual reality technology now used in Google goggles, which relocates those digital fantasies from the screen into the real space all around us, but swap the goggles for contact lenses or neural implants.

Combine that with the power to convincingly simulate the feel of touching objects that don’t exist, which haptic gloves can currently approximate, and extend that capacity to your whole body, whose entire anatomy will become an exquisitely sensitive, interactive input device, the nth gen of game controllers like Wii and Kinect.

Throw in superb 360-degree sound, plus a way to trigger micro-spurts of the molecules that cause the sensations of smell and taste.

Miniaturize everything down to the atomic scale, which is where computing is already going, so that the gizmos that do all this are featherweight and forgettable.

Store the content — the entertaining stories and experiences that this technology delivers — in the cloud, which is where more and more software is heading now, so that it’s ubiquitous, available (for a price) to anyone in any place at any time.

And just as advances in processing power have turned laptops into animation and recording studios, imagine that this new entertainment content will be produced not only by the Comcasts and NewsCorps and Activisions, but also by scrappy startups, and kids in dorm rooms.

Think of the porn that will make possible.

And the first-person shooters.

And the trips to the rain forest, the Sistine Chapel, the moon, the gates of heaven and of hell.

It’s not a question of whether the technology to confect and convey this digital dream, or nightmare, will one day exist; it’s only a matter of when.

In 1975, as molecular biologists were recognizing the potential dangers of the recombinant DNA technology then becoming widespread, Paul Berg, a future Nobel Prize-winner, organized a conference at Asilomar State Beach in California, where some 140 researchers, doctors and lawyers drew up voluntary principles of self-regulation, in order to prevent labs — both at academic institutions and in industry — from unleashing untold horrors on humanity. Today, it’s next to impossible to conceive of a comparable convening of itself by the entertainment industry and the innovation labs that supply them with new wonders.

It’s easy to brush off the National Rifle Association’s response to the Newtown massacre: Violent video games have created a culture of violence that has spawned deranged killers. It’s easy because, for starters, there’s no scientific evidence connecting the dots between exposure to video game violence and actual violent behavior.

But there’s plenty of research supporting what we all intuit: Entertainment really does influence us. It affects what we know, how we feel and how we behave. If it didn’t, there wouldn’t be an advertising industry, or propaganda films or Sesame Street, and DJs wouldn’t be pied pipers, Putin wouldn’t have prosecuted Pussy Riot, Plato wouldn’t have banned poets, Romans wouldn’t have run circuses, Uncle Tom’s Cabin would have just been a best-seller and Sheherazade couldn’t have saved her life by withholding the endings of the stories she told.

There’s a debate raging now about whether the movie Zero Dark Thirty depicts torture as an effective way to get intelligence. Critics are passionate because the stakes seem so high — for politics, history, public opinion and public policy. We’ve been here before. In one of the best-known storylines on the series 24, Jack Bauer used torture to get useful information from terrorists. The scenes were so powerful that, as Jane Mayer reported, the dean of West Point flew to Hollywood to meet with 24‘s writers and producers to explain that real U.S. soldiers — instead of paying attention to their teachers and their textbooks; instead of learning that torture is wrong, counterproductive, inefficient and produces false intelligence — were instead trusting the instruction about interrogation methods that they were tacitly getting from a fictional, made up TV show.

The NRA is obscenely wrong about the relation between gun regulation and gun violence. But before we dismiss its case about popular culture out of hand, we might want to take seriously the way that entertainment thrills, enthralls, enrages, instructs and inspires us, all of us, no matter how sophisticated and media-savvy we may think we are. One fine day, awesome technology will enable the pleasure industry to pretty much erase the line between simulation and reality. I wonder whether we’ll arrive at that point without first having wrestled with the consequences that might follow from that fun.

Written by: Marty Kaplan, Director, Norman Lear Center and Professor at the USC Annenberg School (from The Huffington Post via Presence)
Posted by: Situated Research

The post Fear of Fun appeared first on SituGames.

Summary: Inconsistent gestures, invisible commands, overlooked warnings, awkward dialog confirmations. But fun to play.

Kinect is a new video game system that is fully controlled by bodily movements. It’s vaguely similar to the Wii, but doesn’t use a controller (and doesn’t have the associated risk of banging up your living room if you lose your grip on the Wii wand during an aggressive tennis swing).

Kinect observes users through a video camera and recognizes gestures they make with different body parts, including hands, arms, legs, and general posture. The fitness program, for example, is fond of telling me to “do deeper squats,” which it can do because it knows how my entire body is moving. Analyzing body movements in such detail far exceeds the Wii’s capabilities, though it’s still not going to put my trainer down at the gym out of work.

Kinect presents a far more advanced gesture-based user experience than any previous system seen outside the fancy research labs. Yes, I saw similar interfaces as long ago as 1985 at cutting-edge academic conferences – most notably Myron Krueger’s Videoplace. But there’s a big difference between a million-dollar research system and a $150 Xbox add-on.

On the one hand, Kinect is an amazing advance, especially considering its low price. On the other hand, the 25-year time lag between research and practice for gesture UIs is slightly worse than the usual fate of HCI research advances. For example, 20 years lapsed between Doug Engelbart’s invention of the mouse (1964) and the first commercially feasible mouse-based computer (the Mac in 1984).

Gesture-Based UI = Usability Weaknesses

Kinect exhibits many of the weaknesses Don Norman and I listed in our analysis of gestural interfaces’ usability problems:

Visibility

Sometimes options display as an explicit menu, making them visible. But there are no explicit affordances on the screen during gameplay for most of the things you can do. Primarily, users are forced to rely on memorizing the instructions shown before the game started. (Even though it’s a key human factors principle to reduce reliance on the highly fallible human memory.)

For example, how do you know to jump up to make a long jump in Kinect Sports, even though it’s a completely illogical move (and would make more sense for a high jump)? By remembering what you read before your avatar entered the stadium, of course.

Kinect exhibits another type of visibility problem: on-screen alerts are easily overlooked because the user’s attention is focused elsewhere. This rarely happens with mobile touch-UIs: because of their small size, you see anything that pops up on the screen. In contrast, it’s common for users to overlook error messages on cluttered Web pages.

On Kinect, users don’t overlook messages because of clutter, but because of engaging action. For example, in observing users play Kinect Adventures, I frequently saw a warning message in the upper left telling users to move to a different part of the floor. Yes, as the usability observer I saw this – but the game-playing users didn’t. They were too focused on the compelling movements in the middle of the screen. They watched their avatar and the gamespace, and didn’t notice the appearance of UI chrome in the corner.

How can users miss the huge “Move Forward” warning?
They miss it because they’re fully engaged in steering their raft down the river.
(Kinect Adventures)

A similar, but less serious problem occurs in Your Shape: Fitness Evolved when you’re trying to complete a hard cardio program. The number of reps left in the set counts down in the corner, but you tend to focus on your trainer and keeping up with her movements.

It’ll be a design challenge to increase users’ awareness of system messages without detracting from their engagement in the game’s primary activity.

Feedback

Related to the lack of visibility, it is hard to know why certain actions have specific effects because there is little direct feedback. In the table tennis game, making a smacking movement with your hand mimics hitting the ball with a paddle and you do get immediate feedback showing whether or not you “hit” the ball. But it’s difficult to figure out why you sometimes succeed in making a hard smash. For sure, it’s not dictated solely by hand-movement speed.

Other times, Kinect gives great feedback based on its direct observation of your movements. In Dance Central, you try to follow the movements of an on-screen dancer, whose body parts light up to indicate where your dance moves are lacking. This is better (and less disruptive) feedback than a voiceover saying, “move your left arm up more.”

Consistency and Standards

That there are no universal standards for gestural interactions yet is a problem in its own right, because the UI cannot rely on learned behavior. The Kinect has a few system-wide standards, however, which do help users.

For example, there is a standard way to pause a game to bring up the menu: stand with your right arm straight down and your left arm held at a 45-degree angle. Definitely not a natural stance-  indeed, it was probably chosen because it will never occur in normal gameplay.

The pause gesture becomes the user’s lifeline, but there are no standards for other, commonly desired generic commands, such as “back.” This makes it harder for users to navigate the UI, because they need to figure out these basic operations every time. Less learning takes place when the same thing is done differently in different games.

As the following two screenshots show, there’s not even consistency as to which hand is used for “back,” let alone which gesture to use or how the feature is presented visually.

“Back” in upper right; activated by holding hand still over button.
(Kinect Sports)

“Back” in lower left; activated by swiping left hand rightwards.
(Dance Central)

At least you can tell that the designers have done their usability testing: they’ve applied a Band-Aid to the UI in the form of a note saying “left hand” next to Dance Central‘s inconsistent “Back” command. Whenever you have to explain a GUI widget, it’s probably wrong.

Within Kinect Sports, different movements are used to throw a bowling ball, a discus, and a javelin, and still different moves are used to smack a table-tennis ball and kick a soccer ball. However, this across-game inconsistency is less of a problem, because the design embodies external consistency: the game gestures are similar to those used to deal with these objects in the real world.

Reliability and Accidental Activation

Kinect generally does a good job of protecting against the accidental activation we see so often when testing mobile devices. If your finger brushes against something on your phone or iPad, off you go – often without knowing what happened (because you don’t know what you touched).

Kinect usually demands a confirmation gesture before it acts on user commands. This request for confirmation alerts users that something is about to happen, and prevents unintentional gestures from initiating actions. Unfortunately, the confirmations are inconsistent:

• Hold your hand still over a button, while an animated circle is completed. (Most games)
• After selecting a menu item, swipe your hand left — unless you want the “back” feature, in which case you swipe right. (Dance Central)
• First select a command, and then keep your hand still over a small confirmation button that pops up next to that command. (Your Shape)

Touching a button doesn’t activate it;
instead, this gesture brings up another button as a confirmation step.
(Your Shape: Fitness Evolved)

These confirmation gestures are annoying, even though I’m sure they save time in the long run by reducing accidental activation. (I still occasionally activated features accidentally by leaving my hand over something for too long. That’s when the poor undo support and inconsistent “back” features become doubly annoying.)

Good Usability

Kinect has many great design elements that clearly show that the team (a) knows usability, (b) did user testing, and (c) had management support to prioritize usability improvements, even when they required extra development work.

This makes sense; the only reason for Kinect to exist in the first place is as a casual game system that’s easy to pick up. It’s not for hardcore gamers who are willing to suffer through contorted combos of button-pushes to make their game characters do moves. Kinect is targeted at the much broader masses, which requires strong usability. (Indeed, the game sold 4 M units during the first 6 weeks after launch.)

Good usability examples include the above mentioned on-screen hint in the exact spot of a command that would have been otherwise difficult to activate. How do the designers know where users need hints? From having watched real people play games and taken note of where they got stuck.

Another nice example of usability fit-and-finish is the snap-to effect: buttons feel “magnetic” and attract the cursor whenever your hand moves close to a button. (Thus enlarging the effective Fitts’ Law size of the button and alleviating the impact of shaky hand movements.)

The most compelling usability advance is the way Kinect automatically signs in users after recognizing their faces. Step in front of the sensor, and “Jakob recognized” appears on the screen, after which the current game starts using my customized avatar. This is the type of interaction technique I called a “non-command user interface” in 1993: You don’t feel that you’re issuing commands to a computer; you simply go about your business the way you normally would, and the computer does what’s needed to complete its part of the task.

We know from researching enterprise portals that single sign-on is one of the most wanted (but least-delivered) intranet features. But automated sign-on is even better and eliminates an entire class of interaction steps.

Fun Game, Despite Usability Problems

We set up a Kinect system in the coffee break area during the recent Las Vegas Usability Week conference so that conference participants could experience this new UI paradigm firsthand. (We’ll have it again at our New York City conference in February.)

People had great fun and were able to play the games after only a short demo.

As was clear in this situation, the same type usability issues that cause substantial problems in iPad user testing are brushed off by Kinect users. So how come Kinect’s overall user experience works, despite its many user interface deficiencies?

The explanation lies in the difference in user tasks between the two systems. Usability is defined relative to two points: the users and their tasks. Comparing iPad and Kinect, even if the users are the same, usability will differ if people are trying to do two very different things.

Sure, people play games on iPad – indeed I have whiled away many hours in airports with Solitaire City and We Rule, and other members of Nielsen Norman Group swear by Angry Birds. However, whacky interaction styles in games rarely pose problems. What we really care about in tablet design are business-oriented user interfaces for things like e-commerce, stock trading, and information access. That’s when inconsistencies and weird design reduce usage, and thus cost you business.

Also, Kinect users don’t jump from one context to another every minute or two the way mobile users do. When you play a Kinect game, you’re immersed in that game (often for half an hour or more) and don’t see any of the other games. In fact, switching games is done not through on-screen navigation, but by swapping DVDs, thus reducing the load on the on-screen UI.

Finally, different games often have wildly different activities and goals, so it’s okay to have varying user interfaces. Whitewater rafting and dancing to Lady Gaga’s latest creation are no more similar than chalk and cheese.

On the iPad, whether you’re shopping for one thing or another, you expect to be treated to best practices for e-commerce user experience as defined by the countless websites you’ve already used. Similarly, whether you’re reading a magazine or a newspaper, you expect similarities in the UI for navigating among articles and for moving through an individual story’s content. And whether you’re researching investments in your brokerage account, checking the weather forecast, or modifying an airline reservation, you expect similar interaction techniques for operations like filtering long lists or changing measurement units.

• Purposeful use of iPad or gesture interfaces on other tablets and phones is comprised of fairly similar tasks, with strong user expectations and frequent context switches that penalize inconsistent design. Also, users have to manipulate large data sets with feature-rich commands and spend a fairly large percentage of their total time operating the UI. User experience quality is mainly determined by UI usability and whether the content easily satisfies users’ information needs.
• Playing with Kinect involves highly distinctive activities, where users focus on one game at a time and thus are better able to overcome inconsistencies. Here, users navigate a fairly small data space and spend most of their time playing with only the occasional detour outside the gameworld to operate the command-oriented part of the UI. User experience quality is mainly determined by gameplay.

A final difference is that mobile devices are the ultimate in individual use: your phone is yours and it’s usually a solitary activity to interact with the device. Even when connecting to a social network, the on-screen actual user interface is being operated by you alone. In contrast, gaming consoles are often used in a group setting where new users get a gentle introduction to the new user interface by the more experienced users in the group.

This difference in usage circumstances means that consoles can rely less on having a self-explanatory UI, whereas a mobile UI must have extremely high learnability.

Kinect is an exciting advance in user interface technology, but many of the user experience characteristics that make it so also mean that it’s not the road ahead for the practical user interfaces that businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations need for their everyday websites, intranets, and applications. Design ideas that make Kinect fun could cost you millions.

Written by: Jakob Nielsen
Posted by: Situated Research

The post Kinect Gestural UI: First Impressions appeared first on SituGames.

New Technology

Folks stood in line for up to three hours to try out the new Nintendo 3DS at the E3 Expo. Was it worth the wait? Let’s look at the pros and cons of the new device.

Pros:

• Displays three dimensional (3D) graphics without any glasses
• Wirelessly connects to the Internet
• Takes 3D photos of you and your friends
• Has three cameras (one internal, two external)
• Two screens (one 3D and one touch screen)
• A slider to turn down the 3D effect (down to 2D)
• A motion and gyro sensor
• Microphone

Cons:

• Difficult to change your 3D view (with the round button in the upper left corner; see picture below)
• After staring at the screen for two minutes, many people were complaining about their eyes / headaches
• Second screen is small; hard to view images
• Nintendo’s exhibitors had a hard time connecting the device to the Internet (took several tries)

While the pros outweigh the cons, the point of buying the 3DS is to experience games in 3D. Nintendo has some issues to work out. Release date is set for sometime next year.

Our next stop was at the Microsoft exhibit, where we experienced the new Kinect technology (formerly Project Natal). With camera, audio sensors, and a powerful motion sensor, this add-on for the Xbox can track the detailed movements of everyone in the room simultaneously.  No longer will each player need their own controller. As demonstrated at the E3 Expo, the Kinect will allow new games like Your Shape to not only track your body movements, but also to analyze your dimensions for precise exercise regiments that are tailored specifically for you.

Pros:

• Light weight; sits on top of your TV or on a shelf
• Precise
• People had fun while playing the games
• Promoted exercise, got users active
• No lost remotes!
• Next step towards virtual, controller-less gaming
• Many possibilities for accessories

Cons:

• Four of the new game titles are fitness games
• Games on demonstration seemed childish
• Kinect had a hard time with voice recognition
• Voice recognition feature in only in two languages right now
• Only one person at a time can communicate
• Voice recognition picks up everything (background noise / chatter can accidentally have unintended outcomes)

We highly recommend getting Microsoft’s Kinect, which will be made available for gamers in fall 2010. The gaming experience was fun and enjoyable by those that tried it out at E3.

Next, we visited the Sony exhibit to check out the new PlayStation Move for PS3. The PlayStation Move controller is Sony’s response to Nintendo’s tremendous success with the Wii. Using a combination of internal sensors and the PlayStation Eye, the PS3 is able to track the Move’s position and orientation to enable Wii-like motion based controls. Both the PlayStation Eye and a Move controller are necessary to enable motion controls. For games that require an analog stick, a regular Dual Shock controller can be used, or a more optimized one-handed controller that Sony dubs the PlayStation Move sub-controller. So what did we think?

Pros:

• Built in rechargeable battery
• Nice color
• While play was similar to the Wii, the PS3’s better graphics made it more appealing to players

Cons:

• Weak rumble
• Too similar to the Wii controller
• Motion was not always picked up
• Cannot be used as a regular controller like the Wii remote

We didn’t care for the Move remote when we tried the new game Sports Champions at the exhibit. The archery game was the most fun to play; however, the accuracy of the arrow was not always dead on. In addition, when we played the ping-pong game with the remote, the rumble feature was weak and did not feel lifelike. Still, for under $100, it is worth a try and adds new possibilities for gameplay on the PS3.

Games

The E3 Expo previewed many of the games that will be released in the next few months. Our first stop was at the Electronic Arts exhibit. Wow! How could they go wrong with their huge TV screens, awesome Need For Speed display, and the Sims 3: Ambitions demo? With Gus Johnson, CBS Sports announcer and the voice of EA Sports “it’s in the game” in attendance, EA did not disappoint the huge crowd this year.

The Sims 3: Ambitions demo was worth the wait in line, and we plan to purchase the game upon it’s release. As you entered into a theater you were greeted by a live Sim character, much like you would find in the game. Unlike the other versions of Sims where you must make sure your character eats, sleeps, and bathes, the new version allows you to keep your character happy with one click. An added feature of the new Sims is ‘karma’ where players can curse other Sims, ‘score’ easier with other Sims, and even cast plagues on neighbors: making for some entertaining gameplay. The Sims 3: Ambitions is available on all consoles and will allow online play with your friends.

Retro Titles

We saw some ‘oldies but goodies’ – some great game titles that are coming back. First, we looked at Sega’s exhibit where Sonic the Hedgehog is coming back in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. We were lucky enough to give it a try, so what did we think? The new game is just as fun as the last version that came out in 1994. Although the game was structured similarly to previous Sonic games (with check points, etc.), we felt that Sega nailed it with the great graphics. Check it out for yourself and tell us what you think: http://www.sonicthehedgehog4.com/us/

Sony is reviving Twisted Metal and it is crazier than ever. Our experience with the new game was in a multiplayer match with 16 players. We had a blast zipping across a city map, shooting missles from a helicopter. Behind the wheel of a car is exciting too. Players can pull off quick 360-degree turns with the handbrake to stay close to an enemy or evade strikes from an oncoming chopper. Players drive or fly through the environment, snagging power-ups in the environment. During the match, a big-rig would speed by that players could drive into for health boosts. The new game provides hours of fun and great competition, and can be yours in early 2011.

Our last stop was the THQ exhibit, where they had a great demo of Red Faction: Armageddon that will be released in March 2011 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Set fifty years after the events of Red Faction: Guerrilla, Armageddon sees the Martian colonists going back into the tunnel systems featured in the first two Red Faction titles. To shake things up this time around, the colonists accidentally stumble upon some alien life lingering in the mines.

Besides a new threat, Armageddon features some prominent changes to the Red Faction: Guerrilla game mechanics. Building on the Geo-Mod 2.0 engine’s able to destroy pretty much anything; Armageddon will allow gamers to rebuild structures thanks to a new tool called the “Nano Forge.” Apparently this Nano Forge will host a whole slew of new abilities including a “Magnet Gun.” This game will definitely go on our list of games to get.

With all the ground-breaking innovations in technology, the gaming experience is moving into the future at lightning speed. Developers are doing everything they can to enhance the graphics, controls, usability, and emotional impact of video games. These new technologies open up completely new possibilities for video games; not only making games more fun, but more lively, intuitive, and appealing to people of all ages. Overall, the E3 Expo was a huge success and we will definitely be back next year.

Written by: Michel Ann Sharritt & Travis Larsen
Posted by: Situated Research

The post Motion Controllers & Revived Classic Titles Rule at E3 appeared first on SituGames.