One of Halo Anniversary's Inoffensive Kinect Hooks Revealed

The mere mention of Kinect will cause some people to twitch. When 343 Industries and Microsoft started mentioning Halo and Kinect in the same sentence, the response was appropriately hyperbolic.

Almost immediately, the line from Microsoft was that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary's Kinect hooks would have nothing to do with waving your hand around and shooting Covenant.

We don't know all of the Kinect features in the high-definition update, but 1UP spoke to franchise development director Frank O'Connor, who revealed one that makes some sense: switching visuals.

By saying "classic" or "remastered," you'll be able to swap between the two versions of the game.

We should know the rest of the Kinect features soon enough, sometime next month.

"We don't want to oversell it," said O'Connor. "It's not something that radically changes the gameplay; it's just another additive bonus on top of the other stuff we've added. We think of it like the 3D: something that makes the experience better, but doesn't change it."

Ugh.

I'm pretty sure adding 3D doesn't make it better.

I'm sure the Kinect owners are really happy with their purchase now!

Not trying to troll but why is this an article?

This just sounds like advertisement.

Wait so instead of pressing a button you can say it out loud? Ok.

Sure, why not?

@Gumby said:

Not trying to troll but why is this an article?

This just sounds like advertisement.

Because there are people who are interested in this information. I don't really see what makes it sound more like an ad than any other article about announced game features.

Man, it sure is a lot less calories for me to hit that toggle than to say classic. WE ARE LAZY

@Gumby: It's reason to make fun of weeping children (gamers) who are constantly looking for something to feel indignant about.

Why not? No Kinect, you lose nothing from the experience, don't even know its there. This is the best way to implement it - give the player the choice - instead of forcing motion controls on us :)

Why would I do that, if I have a controller in my hand anyway and it's a button press away?
 
KINECT GUYS IT'S THE FUTURE

THIS MAKES ME ANGRY.

TIZZY.

In serious - this should be in like, all games. I don't have a kinect, but adding an optional audio hook rather than a button press for some actions could be helpful in about 70% per cent of games, and doesn't hurt non-kinectees.

THIS IS A FUCKING STAIN ON THE LEGACY OF HALO I THOUGHT THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS ANNIVERSARY EDITION WAS TO PRESERVE HALO AS WE ALL KNOW KNOW AND LOVE IT THERE WAS NO FUCKING KINECT BACK WHEN THE FIRST HALO CAME OUT AHHHHHHHHH I'M SO FUCKING ANGRY RIGHT NOW

I'm not trying to sound like a sarcastic prick, this is a genuine question. Does the Kinect have some special tech in it that recognizes voice better? Why couldn't you do this with a regular mic?

I can imagine 'remastered' not being picked up a lot.

Well, that alone just sold me on a Kinect.

It's so goofy.  Shout "lightsaber on!" or just press a button.  It will be 'Hey, look at me I'm in the future!' fun for like 5 minutes and then you will just press the button every time after that.

3D never made anything better.

@RE_Player92 said:

I'm not trying to sound like a sarcastic prick, this is a genuine question. Does the Kinect have some special tech in it that recognizes voice better? Why couldn't you do this with a regular mic?

Probably yeah, I think it's just there as a bullet point. Basically if you have your Kinect on, you can use it. I imagine that there's other little things you'll be able to do for this game.

Sure, why not?

I'm sure the Kinect owners are really happy with their purchase now!

Wow, now I can take Halo to a whole new level of immersion.......

"classic.....Classic, oh for gods sake, CLASSIC!......oh fuck this, *presses back button* "

Such innovation.

All you people complaining really need to get a life.. Its simple really, if you dont like it dont buy it or use it! I just dont understand what the complaints are for. Yes pushing a button is really simple but sometimes in the heat of battle its probably easier to say it and dont pretend like you wouldnt want to switch during moments like that.

Trolling Roommates!

That's who this is for. So the people living with me can walk by and shout "CLASSIC" and mess up my game.

That's sort of funny. It's just so utterly useless, it's funny. It's the SNL-parody of Kinect uses.

@d0x said:

All you people complaining really need to get a life.. Its simple really, if you dont like it dont buy it or use it! I just dont understand what the complaints are for. Yes pushing a button is really simple but sometimes in the heat of battle its probably easier to say it and dont pretend like you wouldnt want to switch during moments like that.

I agree with you but I laughed really hard reading that.

Trolling Roommates!

That's who this is for. So the people living with me can walk by and shout "CLASSIC" and mess up my game.

That's sort of funny. It's just so utterly useless, it's funny. It's the SNL-parody of Kinect uses.

@fargofallout said:

I'm pretty sure adding 3D doesn't make it better.

For sure.

Oh man I can just imagine the number of times it will switch with out you wanting it to with words like "Classic" and "Remastered." If "XBOX Pause" can be triggered without actually saying those works... yikes.

All you people complaining really need to get a life.. Its simple really, if you dont like it dont buy it or use it! I just dont understand what the complaints are for. Yes pushing a button is really simple but sometimes in the heat of battle its probably easier to say it and dont pretend like you wouldnt want to switch during moments like that.

OMG I CANT WAIT FOR DIS GAMEEE!!!!

i only playd da 1s on my 360 nd it wuz ugly. its gunna be soooo much better wit di awsum looking!

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this is the greatest tragedy ever to occur

Yeah!

@buzz_killington said:

THIS IS A FUCKING STAIN ON THE LEGACY OF HALO I THOUGHT THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS ANNIVERSARY EDITION WAS TO PRESERVE HALO AS WE ALL KNOW KNOW AND LOVE IT THERE WAS NO FUCKING KINECT BACK WHEN THE FIRST HALO CAME OUT AHHHHHHHHH I'M SO FUCKING ANGRY RIGHT NOW

You are such a buzz-killer.

@CallofSpartansofWar1337 said:

OMG I CANT WAIT FOR DIS GAMEEE!!!!

i only playd da 1s on my 360 nd it wuz ugly. its gunna be soooo much better wit di awsum looking!

I agree kind scholar.

Haha I'm sure there will still be a bunch of assholes who'll just say "Ugh"

"This game's a classic..."

*Kinect changes to classic graphics*

"Oh Goddammit!"

@TheSpartanDon: That alone just sold my Kinect !.

Sure it´s innofensive, but is it really adding anything? To me it just sounds like another opportunity for them to bang the kinect drum. I wish they would be a bit more inventive with this stuff, as others have said, why on earth would you want to speak it out loud and risk it messing up when you can press a button? Makes no sense to me, why waste the time on implementing that?

So the Kinect is a glorified mic now? Why can't we use headphones again?

Sounds good, hope these sort of subtle features become commonplace.

What I don't understand is why you would need Kinect rather than a simple headset.

@buzz_killington said:

THIS IS A FUCKING STAIN ON THE LEGACY OF HALO I THOUGHT THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS ANNIVERSARY EDITION WAS TO PRESERVE HALO AS WE ALL KNOW KNOW AND LOVE IT THERE WAS NO FUCKING KINECT BACK WHEN THE FIRST HALO CAME OUT AHHHHHHHHH I'M SO FUCKING ANGRY RIGHT NOW

well, you could always just pick up the original halo.. works on the 360 and it's unpolluted by changes. Or did you want it to be tweaked slightly in visuals? Guess you're not a purist, then.

@HBK619 said:

@CallofSpartansofWar1337 said:

OMG I CANT WAIT FOR DIS GAMEEE!!!!

i only playd da 1s on my 360 nd it wuz ugly. its gunna be soooo much better wit di awsum looking!

I agree kind scholar.

LOL thanx 4 sayin im kind but how do u kno? lol. still dis gam will be da BEST! at least till I get MW3 4 chismas :D 2011 is da year of my fav games!!

I love how Microsoft has no real ideas for Kinect for the core games, so they just come up with useless features for games to justify owning a Kinect. Kinect = Garbage.

Speak for yourself Patrick. I'm offended by how pointless it is.

Check that off the back of the box!

@RE_Player92: It can be done via a normal mic, ala End War. They are just trying to use tech so that more people buy it, I'm sure microsoft has set some sort of demand for developers/publishers.

The only purple I want to see on my Halo: Anniversary box is Covenant armour, not the Kinect logo!

How MS just need to make voice possible in none english speaking country's ...

Lightsaber ON!

I would think only when you actually design a game from the start with Kinect in mind that is actually holds some real value to that purchase.