#Kinect sports rivals software
Players are then instructed to sit in front of the Kinect camera to have their face brought to life with cartoonish gusto.Īfter a few head pivots and a brief load time, the character was summoned into the realm of virtual existence with a unique and engaging art style that separates the Rare-developed software from its competitors.Īdmittedly, a few things needed to be touched up after the character model had been created in my image. The Kinect scans the entirety of the players body, suggesting a shape based on a myriad of different calculations and readings. To kick off the demonstration, Quakenbush asked for a volunteer to be scanned into the game - a chance I jumped at for several reasons. Wrist flicks, clenched fists, angled kicks and more can all be picked up on the camera, but there's been a zany aesthetic given to the sports title in order for each gesture made to appear a little over-the-top and, as a result, exhilarating.ĭrew Quakenbush, the director behind Kinect Sports Rivals at Rare was kind enough to walk us through a brief gameplay demo while answering a handful of questions. At the forefront of this evolution is the effective utilization of the dramatically enhanced Kinect 2.0, which is able to detect even the most minute body movements.
The new Kinect-focused adventure on Xbox One brings the controller-less philosophy that surrounded past iterations solidly into the next generation of console gaming.
With classic franchises from the firm being shelled out to third-party developers - a la Double Helix's Killer Instinct - Rare's focus has largely shifted to working on Kinect titles in recent years - not exactly the legacy fans would hope for.īut after we got the chance to spend some quality time with Rare's forthcoming Kinect title, Kinect Sports Rivals, it seems that this game may be something to get excited about.
Many gamers have been cynical of Rare ever since the company was acquired by Microsoft back in 2002, and it's an understandable stance given the types of content churned out by the developer ever since.