STEEL BATTALION HEAVY ARMOR is Broken! - New Challenger

Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton joins Anthony in the studio to talk about the promise and unfortunate failure of Steel Battalion, the first Kinect game that really seemed like it was made for core gamers. Is the Kinect still a promising technology?

Anthony on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/acarboni
Kirk on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kirkhamilton

Kirk is an editor for Kotaku. You know Kotaku. It's here: http://www.kotaku.com

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  Gaming

[onlysublime]

To open the viewport, you hold your right arm horizontally forward, wait until the hand grabs the hand and then raise it to open or lower it to close it.

If your hand is automatically on the grab handle for the viewport, raise it up to take it off the handle. If you pull it down, you'll close the viewport which is a problem I notice a lot of reviewers having.

[Rev3Games]

This is war, man. I've got men and women in this tank that have families. I don't have time for these dainty movements and sticky gestures. TELL MY DEAD GUNNER'S CHILDREN THAT I NEEDED TO RAISE MY HAND UP. LOOK IN LITTLE JIMMY AND SALLY'S EYES AND SAY IT. -Anthony

[onlysublime]

people spent hours, days, months to be able to consistently throw dragon punches, fireballs, and combos. you can't spend a few hours to learn the controls correctly?

[Rev3Games]

1) There was a joke in there. Did you catch it? 2) No one took months to learn to throw a fireball, come on. You don't need to overshoot your point in order to make it 3) The reason you have to return to neutral positions between gestures in Steel Battalion is that the controls aren't very well implemented. It's too nuanced for the Kinect. That's the whole point we're making in this episode. -Anthony

[BloodyBulletShellz]

im going to get murdered for this but WII U FTW!!!!!!!

[Rev3Games]

Actually, I could see the Wii U GamePad doing a fairly decent job with a complex mech game. Though I haven't quite seen anything yet that makes me go "WII U FTW!!" -Anthony

[justin stuart]

Rise and shine, mr. Gates. Rise and smell the kinect.

[donofman]

I have always agreed that motion control gaming has been getting a bad rep since the Wii.

I think kinect got so much hate becuz it was so close to success.

Kinect will definitely be better next gen but it will be more bcuz the next system will have enough power to use it completely.

My biggest gripe with the way kinet has been covered is that since they have been focusing on lies and BS we havent been able to discuss and solve the REAL problems facing kinect and motion gaming in general.

[Daemonocracy]

Actually in my second reply I said it's not just Kinect but motion controls in general. Anyways, I'm pretty sure the next Xbox will have Kinect built in (and an improved one at that), so perhaps this will encourage developers to utilize it more aggressively for core games since everyone will own one.

[donofman]

I am only comparing my findings against theirs, whether they like something or not is an opinion but to say something doesnt work when it does is different.

As for appeal you are on the right track but you cherry pick many factors. One motion gaming was getting a bad rep well before kinect, the Wii and the Move received it too. Marketing to casuals was the clear path to success when seeing how the core market reacted to motion games. All the Kinect games that have been promoted have seen success

[Daemonocracy]

That's one hell of a conspiracy theory there, I'm not buying into it. The reason Kinect has had a bad rap is because of Microsoft. MS pushed Kinect as the answer to the Wii, they targeted the casual gamer displaying nerds dancing to Bel Biv Devoe, little asian girls playing with pedo bear in Kinectimals, and all sorts of super casual fluff that did not appeal to the core gamer. That's why the gaming media was/is harsh on Kinect, MS wasn't catering to them.

[donofman]

You doubt everyone is lying and spreading mis information... and that why they do it, becuz they know they will get away with it

I have played these games an own them when they say the controls dont work and i put in a solid 3-4 hour gaming session with not a single issue I have a real disconnect.

Kinect works great its just very advanced. 95% of the reviews for the games are so botched I know what they are saying and know where they get stuck and the solutions to their problems but no 1 cares

[Daemonocracy]

It's not just Kinect, it's motion controls in general. Kinect stands out because it requires a particular set up and positioning to work properly, most gamers enjoy a pick up and play experience and not something they have to fiddle with. Same thing with the Virtual Boy all those years ago.

I doubt everyone is lying or spreading disinformation on how this game controls, I just don't think Kinect was ready for mass production just yet. I like the technology, we'll see what happens next gen.

[donofman]

The issue is that it uses kinect and the core community has been poisoned against kinect. Gamers have been told its OK to completely hate kinect so when you get people half assing through games and reviews the people that this game was made for dont care. This is one of the 5 toughest games this gen.

If you saw someone play it that can really play it you would be impressed. For those that struggled its because they didnt really try. This is not rocket science but it aint pick up and play either

[Daemonocracy]

The original Steel Battalion used its own controller which took gamers out of their comfort zone and forced you to play it the way it wanted you to, yet it still received critical acclaim despite the steep learning curve and asking price. Most of the reviews and impressions I have read and heard do in fact applaud this game for trying something different with Kinect even if they struggled with the controls.

[darthvargi16]

The game is playable. Why wouldn't you reset to neutral positions? Who plays with the controller shoulder high or something? I found what they wanted us to do in terms of sitting with posture and holding the controller in our laps to be natural. I do that anyway.

I have two videos of me playing the game fine. Nothing is special about my setup.

/watch?v=z7BfiI3-Gfg

and

/watch?v=hifFOnjoBHk