Dancing is no longer just “dancing”. Can motion sensing games become a new form of family entertainment in China?

Nintendo's Famicom and Subor "learning machine" became the introduction to gaming for the generation born in the 80s and even the 90s. The arcades that were everywhere back then are also filled with many memories. In addition to floor-standing game consoles, dance machines and shooting games also became the prototypes of today's somatosensory games.

Facing the precious memories of the past, looking at the present, the entry of Sony and Microsoft's next-generation game consoles into China, and the competition between domestic game consoles, have also brought the concept of somatosensory games into the field of home entertainment. So can somatosensory games become a new way of domestic family entertainment?

The development of somatosensory games is very tortuous

When it comes to motion sensing games, we have to mention Nintendo, which has many fans following it. With its initial VR technology, game positioning, etc., Nintendo can be said to be a legend in the gaming industry, and motion sensing has also become a symbol of Nintendo.

During the tenure of the late president Satoru Iwata, the seventh-generation home game console Wii launched became a classic in 2006. It also opened up a place for somatosensory games in the gaming industry and created a new model for somatosensory games.

In fact, before Nintendo developed the Wii, motion sensing was just a concept. At that time, Nintendo was also considering motion sensing through camera recording, but because the technology was not up to the task and the capture and positioning methods could not be perfected, it simply gave up on this direction. The motion sensing gaming method once again returned to the table for discussion.

When developing the Wii, Nintendo actually took a huge risk. Most of the research and development focus was on somatosensory games, which weakened the computing power and image processing capabilities of the game console. It was destined to be a console focused on casual games and sports games, and was powerless against high-difficulty action games and RPG games. This is why the Wii was despised by many gaming giants such as Microsoft as soon as it was launched.

However, the novel operation method of Wiimote made the sales of Nintendo Wii soar instantly, and it became the winner in the competition with Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 at that time. Nintendo's motion sensing remote control Wiimote also became the object of imitation by many businesses.

Although the official appearance of motion sensing has won Nintendo a lot of praise, it did not develop it after grasping it. While others were paying attention to motion sensing and starting research and development, Nintendo continued to rely on the sales of Wii and the novelty of motion sensing, and did not improve this technology.

The rough game quality and the low-end processor of the game console also led to the poor sales of Nintendo consoles and losses after the emergence of consoles such as PS4 and Xbox One. Microsoft and Sony cooperated to develop motion sensing and catch up. The Wiimote, a revolutionary motion sensing remote control, was also replaced by Sony's PlayStatio Move motion sensing remote control.

Somatosensory games look at technology

Kinect is a somatosensory peripheral for XBOX360 officially announced by Microsoft at the E3 Expo on June 2, 2009. Although it looks unremarkable, its internal technology and actual effects shocked the entire gaming industry at the time.

Don Mattrick, vice president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, once said about the Kinect motion camera: "This technology allows us to enter a new era of interactive entertainment without having to release a new console." Without adding any external remote control devices, the Kinect motion camera can make the game easy to play based on the player's own movements. This patent undoubtedly brings motion sensing into the era of free movement.

At the E3 game show, players can not only use their limbs to play sports, but also use their imagination to manipulate their bodies to play games. What is even more amazing is that they can operate specific scenes through verbal descriptions. This means that the black box of Kinect not only has mechanical rotating parts, but also requires the steering angle to be precisely controlled within a certain range. All the parts of the sound and light motor must be placed in it, which places high demands on the heat dissipation and smoothness of the box material.

A rough calculation shows that there are nearly a hundred main components in a Kinect, and if broken down into the smallest units, there are nearly a thousand, which is basically five times as many parts as a Wiimote.

Microsoft also said that Kinect not only relies on 3D to identify players, but also uses faces to confirm players and voice to issue commands. However, with such powerful computing functions, Kinect will take up 10%-15% of the CPU when running, which makes many critics in the industry believe that this makes it impossible to increase the function of Kinect through updates.

Although the emergence of Kinect has made the way of somatosensory gaming more free and unrestrained, attracting many somatosensory game manufacturers to cooperate with Microsoft, the difficulty of technical support has also made somatosensory devices rise to an unimaginable level.

Are motion sensing games a necessity for family entertainment?

The emergence of Wii and the development of Kinect have led to the popularity of motion-sensing games. Domestic game manufacturers have also noticed this seemingly treasure trove of game types, and sports and shooting motion-sensing games have appeared one after another.

For such a new type of gaming method, are somatosensory games suitable for the needs of domestic family entertainment?

Whether somatosensory games can be popular depends on two points:

First, hardware and technical requirements. As a killer of somatosensory games, Kinect has two types of depth sensing lenses: 320×240, 16bit, 30fps and color sensing lenses: 640×480, 32bit, 30fps. It supports Xbox LIVE group chat and voice chat in games, echo cancellation system to enhance the quality of sound input, multi-language voice recognition and other performances, and can support simultaneous recognition of 6 people and simultaneous operation of up to two people, with only 66 milliseconds of delay.

Most of the somatosensory cameras in China can only recognize two people at the same time, but only one person at most, not to mention voice recognition and operation, which require other peripherals to input, greatly increasing the burden on players. Most of the domestic handles or remote controls have a delay of 133 milliseconds, which undoubtedly greatly reduces the player experience.

Second, the gaming experience. Most domestic TV games are casual and puzzle games, and occasionally there are some heavy games, but they do not support motion sensing. Therefore, domestic motion sensing games have also been elevated from casual games. The actual effect of the game is just standing in front of the TV with a controller and waving your arms.

When it comes to some large-scale games, domestic motion sensing devices are completely useless. Even the outdated Wii can be controlled by raising the hand to shoot the joystick to control "2K", and the earliest motion sensing guns can be used to play "Call of Duty" on Wii. Not to mention using Kinect to play "Dancing" on Xbox One, which is almost no different from real dancing.

Motion sensing games seem to be very popular, but in fact they are full of hidden dangers. The technology is not in place and the gaming experience is not satisfactory, which makes motion sensing games not well received in the domestic game market. Although the motion sensing of Microsoft Xbox One and Nintendo Wii is indeed leading the trend, the effects of motion sensing games are not as strong as those of 3A games. The high technology of Kinect is just a capital for most players to show off, and the novel way of playing has also become a way for many losers to pick up girls.

Can motion sensing games become a new form of family entertainment? At this stage, I can only say "haha".

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.