Tsunoda: Kinect made for non-gamers

October 23, 2010

We all suspected Kinect was made with casual gamers in mind, but actually, Microsoft wanted to go further than that and attract non-gamers as well.

Kinect creative director Kudo Tsunoda recently spoke to VentureBeat about the new Xbox 360 add-on the creation of which he oversaw from beginning to end. Nothing in the interview (embedded in full below) is that surprising really. But it’s still interesting to hear the thinking behind Microsoft’s new full-body, no-controller-necessary motion control system.

Basically, about three years ago the gaming division at Microsoft had a meeting to discuss ways the Xbox 360 could fight back against the Wii and its phenomenal sales success. “I know,” they thought, “Let’s copy Nintendo’s strategy but take away the controller completely.” And that exactly what they did.

A gamble? Sure. A way of possibly scaring hardcore gamers off? Definitely. But if Kinect truly does entice non-gamers (and their parents) into buying an Xbox 360 then it’ll be a genius move on Microsoft’s part. And if Oprah’s audience is anything to go by they may just pull it off.



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87 Responses to “Tsunoda: Kinect made for non-gamers”

  1. CaptBirdman:

    Ahh bollocks

    Oprah’s audience would eat shit if she told them it was a confection.

  2. Liquid:

    oprah is a stupid fat whore. . .and is tsunoda VP of sunglasses for MS?. . .seriously what an idiot! ha

  3. ncaissie:

    LMAO

    I’m pretty sure ms said it has for hard core gamers when it was fist announced. Now the the tech shows they can’t do any better than the eyetoy it’s for non gamers. So according to that guy it is for people who want the media experience of the 360 but are too stupid to navigate via a controller. Enjoy CAD.
    I guess MS is were HH leaned to back peddle so well.
    More like eyetoy on steroids.

  4. FahKinSuPah:

    @liquid

    “and is tsunoda VP of sunglasses for MS?”

    That is fucking priceless!

    They guy just says some really stupid shit. Its hard to take him seriously at all.

  5. CaptBirdman:

    I wish M$ just says “We’re trying to take the Wii’s demographic.” It’s annoying to hear them skirt the issue… Avatars, Kinect and it’s games– M$ is like the Korea of the game industry– all they know how to do is copy, no innovation.

  6. Rimmer:

    this guy is seriously cringe worthy. has nobody ever bothered to tell him that the unkempt, unshaven I wear sunglasses indoors gives off about as much tech credebility as the local bum on the street? Disclaimer: unless he needs to wear the sunglasses for medical reasons due to light hypersensitivity. I which I take it back, although he could still do with a shave :)

  7. gunstar:

    Sorry Mr. Kunoda VP of douche baggery the Wii had lots of controllers but it still attracted millions of gamers beyond your wild imagination.

    Thousands of Microsoft innovative researchers working on Kinect for ten years?

    really Kinect camera isn’t even developed in M$ but by an Israeli company. How could he blatantly lie in front of the public eye.

    If you really have those thousands researchers why are
    Sony – PlayStation, Eye Toy, Blue Ray Disc,
    Nintendo- Wii,

    are first in all the hardware and software market you are trying to dive in and steal?

    So much for your innovation.

    You can’t even beat RIM, Apple or Google mobile Phone OS’s to it.

  8. FahKinSuPah:

    “I wish M$ just says “We’re trying to take the Wii’s demographic.” It’s annoying to hear them skirt the issue… Avatars, Kinect and it’s games– M$ is like the Korea of the game industry– all they know how to do is copy, no innovation.”

    I’d say that the Avatars are way better than the Miis and show some innovation there. Likewise with Kinect. That’s alot of innovation there.

  9. FahKinSuPah:

    @Rimmer

    “unless he needs to wear the sunglasses for medical reasons due to light hypersensitivity”

    He smokes too much weed and has some serious red eye going on. Sunglass are just easier to use than visene.

  10. twilight:

    Lol. “Oprah is a stupid fat whore” who’s worth billions of dollars so obviously she can’t be that stupid.

  11. ScrewBot:

    A lot of the comments here are so insensitive and cruel.

    Poor Kudo wears sunglasses ‘cos his eyes were burnt out by the Kinect’s scanning lasers.

    Please people, show some sympathy.

  12. twilight:

    Also, you shouldn’t be playing the Kinect with the old Xbox360 because it is going to cause the Xbox360 to overheat and fail. Kinect will be just too much for the system to handle.

  13. Liquid:

    fahkin

    haha i know. . .i dont think there is a bigger idiot in the gaming industry apart from kotick. . .or maybe molyneux

  14. CaptBirdman:

    “improving”I’d say that the Avatars are way better than the Miis and show some innovation there. Likewise with Kinect. That’s alot of innovation there.”

    Well obviously they’ll be KINDA different, but please try not to ignore the blatant attempts to cash in on other’s succeses. They steal ideas, change it slightly, and then boast they’re innovative and original.

    Couple of examples
    -The Xbox 3fixme itself. Why is it able to stand vertically? Cos the PS2 could. Remember, the original Xbox couldn’t, nor had any indication that it was safe to do so, so why did they do hat?
    -The Xbox 3fixme’s Avatars. It is a fully HD capable system, yet they resemble Miis FAR too closely. Again, there was no necessity for Avatars in the first place, yet they happen to create them out of thin air.
    -Xbox Live. No matter how much you want to believe Xbox Live was first, PS2 was the first console that allowed internet play.
    -Kinect. BLATANT rip-off of Eye-Toy and Wii. I don’t have to go in detail, as others have already done this justice.
    -LB and RB. Clear rip-off of L1 and R1, which have been around since PS1.

    I could go on and on

  15. FahKinSuPah:

    @CaptBirdbrain

    What about PS3′s trophis? OF course that is a blatant ripoff of achievements. No innovation there.

    Xbox avatars look way better than miis. Not only do they look way better but you can also add stuff to them. You can’t do that on Wii.

    PS2 was not the first console that allowed internet play. That would be the Dreamcast. While being able to play online on consoles was nothing new the original Xbox had several innovations and the 360 just followed up on that and innovated further. Seriously, a few of us already had this conversation here not long ago.

    LB and RB? Thats just natural evolution of controllers. It’s not like PS1 was the first controller to have shoulder buttons. MS messed up on the original Xbox controler with the White and Black buttons. LB and RB was the solution.

  16. FahKinSuPah:

    CaptBirdshit sounds like a PS3 fagboy

  17. CaptBirdman:

    “CaptBirdshit sounds like a PS3 fagboy”

    Damnit mate, I used to like you.

    I didn’t mean to flame anyone, and I apologise for coming off as such. I simply wanted to talk facts. But I will lose my cool if this is what Xbox blokes want to do. So. Would you like to have a row? Comment on what I said, tit, opposed to what you THINK I am, and stop resulting to terrible primary school insults that took absolutely no thought process whatsoever.

    Or maybe what I said did in fact have integrity, and you could not provide rebuttle.

  18. CaptBirdman:

    @Fah
    Regarding online play

    My mistake, I meant out of Xbox and Sony. I apologise for not making this clear.

    However, I didn’t say only M$ copies things. I said M$ is the only company in the gaming market today that copies ideas and pass them off as innovative and/or original. That’s the truth, and it’s bollocks.

    ” Xbox avatars look way better than miis. Not only do they look way better but you can also add stuff to them. You can’t do that on Wii.”

    I’m not sure if you’re aware, but you’ve just proven my original point. They take ideas, slightly modify them and pass them off as their own originality.

    “LB and RB? Thats just natural evolution of controllers. It’s not like PS1 was the first controller to have shoulder buttons. MS messed up on the original Xbox controler with the White and Black buttons. LB and RB was the solution.”

    Ahh, but playstation added the secondary shoulder buttons, did they not? M$ added shoulders to their admittedly brilliant trigger concept, after examining the Dualshock. Alas, this is M$’s modus operandi. They examine what worked for other companies and slightly modify things.

    Come off it, the reason you had no reason as to why M$ copied PS2′s verticality is because that was too good an example of their monkey see monkey do attitude. Please remove your Green M$ Goggles- they’re blinding you. Not calling you a…..er….”fagboy”, just saying you need to wake-up

  19. FahKinSuPah:

    @CaptBirdman

    Seriously, you seem to have this huge Anti-MS thing going on.

    The video game industry is the same thing across the board, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. People can make claims that one company copied another all they want, but you just seem to be focusing SOLELY on MS.That just screams “fanboy”

    The game industry itself has become a game of “what can I copy from my competitors?” Every game company is doing it. Why just attack MS when they aren’t the only ones doing it?

    Case in point. Kinect. You went directly for Kinect, saying that there is no innovation there and that they are just copying Wii. That is total BS.

    1: Wii is controller based, while Kinect is not.
    2: Controlls with Wii just focus on your hands manipulating a controller, while Kinect uses your body.
    3: You completely forgot to bitch about how Sony copied from Nintendo with the Move.

  20. CaptBirdman:

    What the hell man? You are one of those blokes that skim passages, aren’t you? Reread this

    “However, I didn’t say only M$ copies things. I said M$ is the only company in the gaming market today that copies ideas and pass them off as innovative and/or original.”

    Find a fallacy in my statement. I wager you will not.

    “Case in point. Kinect. You went directly for Kinect, saying that there is no innovation there and that they are just copying Wii. That is total BS.
    1: Wii is controller based, while Kinect is not.
    2: Controlls with Wii just focus on your hands manipulating a controller, while Kinect uses your body.
    3: You completely forgot to bitch about how Sony copied from Nintendo with the Move.”

    *Sigh* 2 things–

    1. I originally said

    “-Kinect. BLATANT rip-off of Eye-Toy and Wii.”

    Operative words here are “Eye-Toy” and “AND”

    2. It is common knowledge Sony had motion gaming in development LONG before the Wii debuted. The Six-Axis attests to this. They were developing the tech to integrate with their motion gaming concept. There is also information that Sony was using a wand-like peripheral in the early 2000s. This information is easily found. You aren’t so thick that you can’t use Google, I’m sure.

    “you just seem to be focusing SOLELY on MS.That just screams “fanboy” ”

    Pardon me for sticking to the topic.

    FYI I happen to have 2 360s (had 3, don’t ask :P ), but yes, I prefer PS. Technically, it is better in pretty much every area from an objective standpoint.

  21. Roca.:

    “I happen to have 2 360s”

    why in hell? are you like one of my friend who has 1 spare 360 “just in case” ;) . I guess he is just ready for the inevitable.

  22. ncaissie:

    “Seriously, you seem to have this huge Anti-MS thing going on”

    So do I. Only it is Anti-360. lol

  23. CaptBirdman:

    Ahh it’s cause I sucked the sack and bought the S model, and I’ll be damned if I sell my white one to gamestop, so I’m trying to sell it to regular people. No buyers yet though…. I wonder why.

    Wait. No I don’t.

    But I actually originally owned a 360 first and I keep it because me grandmum bought me Rock Band 2 two Xmases ago, and I downloaded a lot of songs. But I’m pissed because I bought the $20 transfer cable (that should have bloody well came with the 360 S because you pretty much NEED it. Fucking M$ and their nickel and diming!!) and deleted half my song cache!! I would have physically given the 360 S the RRoD ( which is technically impossible) had it not cost 300 dollars LOL

  24. Roca.:

    I also made the mistake buying a 360 S…It’s been collecting dust for a while now.

    I noticed most of the games, I’ve played or I wanted for it are available on PC as well… I could have easily gone without a 360.

  25. twilight:

    The Xbox three six six six is an evil system run by an evil corporation. I will no longer be supporting this system.
    Roca,
    I’m selling my Xbox360 system.

  26. ncaissie:

    “The Xbox three six six six is an evil system run by an evil corporation. I will no longer be supporting this system.
    Roca,
    I’m selling my Xbox360 system.”

    LMAO Now what is causing you to change sides again?

  27. Roca.:

    “I’m selling my Xbox360 system.”

    I’m too but I don’t want to sell it for nothing less than what I payed for, I’ll be including 6 games tho) and HDMI cable.

  28. ncaissie:

    @Twilight

    It’s like you are Dr Jeckle (PS3) or Mr Hyde (360) every day.

  29. twilight:

    Ncaissie,
    You’re probably going to tease me forever about this but I’ve just have had enough of the Xbox360. I’ve had nothing but bad luck every since I got this system. The extra polygons on multi-platform games are no longer worth it to me anymore. I wanted the Xbox360 to play Halo Reach. I was excited about this game. I played this game for all of a few days and traded it in.

  30. twilight:

    Roca,
    So far, I have an offer of $150 for my 4 gig system.

  31. twilight:

    Ncaissie, I have nothing to say. Why? The Xbox360 has driven me to this… I was once just a happy gamer who just loved playing Ps3 games. Forgive me Ps3 for cheating on you with the Xbox360. I’m so sorry. I got mad because you failed and I opened myself up to getting sucked in by the evil gaming company Microsoft yet again. Of course, my best friend running to the Xbox360 side didn’t help either. He’s wanting to sell his Ps3 but I’m trying to talk him out of making this bad mistake. This will never happen again. I love you so very much Ps3. I will never cheat on you again.

  32. Roca.:

    “I wanted the Xbox360 to play Halo Reach. I was excited about this game. I played this game for all of a few days and traded it in.”

    Totally Understandable, without XBL Halo is just another mediocre shooter with average graphics and a short ass campaign.

    Don’t worry Twilight, the PS3 will keep you busy for years to come and you won’t miss anything on 360 or any of those ‘extra polygons’. Also, you can enjoy a top notch free online experience without any strings attached. You can look forward to:

    Sly Collection, Dead Nation, Gran Turismo 5, Infamous 2, Twisted Metal, Ico Collection, Last Guardian, KZ3 and many more.

  33. ncaissie:

    LOL what kind of bad luck?

  34. Roca.:

    the brick die, that’s what I’ve been hearing on the street.. They called it the RDoD

    Red Dot of Doom
    http://www.pocket-lint.com/images/dynamic/NEWS-33830-12f16ebb1b51090195a95dcceb1dda8d.jpg

  35. Roca.:

    also the brick comes with its own RDoD feature built-in

    http://static.product-reviews.net/wp-content/uploads/xbox-360-slim-rrod1.jpg

  36. twilight:

    Ncaissie,
    First of all, my mom tells me that the Xbox360 is a piece of crap and it is going to cause nothing but trouble. Like an idiot of course, I ignore her. My apartment nearly burns down. I get in a car wreck on Saturday morning while going to buy Xbox360 games and my car gets totaled out. I have a bad dream about Xbox360. I’ve had enough.

  37. ncaissie:

    “the brick die, that’s what I’ve been hearing on the street.. They called it the RDoD

    Red Dot of Doom
    http://www.pocket-lint.com/images/dynamic/NEWS-33830-12f16ebb1b51090195a95dcceb1dda8d.jpg
    LMFAO

  38. ncaissie:

    “also the brick comes with its own RDoD feature built-in”
    LMAO You would think MS would have avoided the color red on the slim.

  39. ncaissie:

    “First of all, my mom tells me that the Xbox360 is a piece of crap and it is going to cause nothing but trouble. ”
    LMAO and of course kids think Mom and Dad know nothing.

  40. Roca.:

    “My apartment nearly burns down”

    better watch out for those RDoD [Red Dot of Doom], I’ve heard similars stories about apartments buring and shit.

    Good thing you decided to act early before it was too late

  41. ncaissie:

    Lets all pray that HH gets a RDoD.

  42. Roca.:

    He will deny it and say he sold it to buy the new Kinect bundle.

  43. ncaissie:

    and for more than he paid.

  44. twilight:

    Ncaissie, my Mom told me twice about the Xbox360 and I ignored her. The day after I got the launch Xbox360 she walked in my room and told me that the Xbox360 was a poorly made piece of hardware. I didn’t want to hear this but she was right. It was revealed later that the Xbox360 had a massive failure rate. I told her that I was going to buy the new Xbox360. She told me to leave the system alone and stick with the Ps3 but I didn’t listen to her again.

  45. ncaissie:

    LOL is she a gamer?

  46. twilight:

    No, she is not at all. My mom knows absolutely nothing about gaming systems or electronics.

  47. Roca.:

    I bet Happy already hates your mom.

    “My mom knows absolutely nothing about gaming systems or electronics”

    well, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know how poorly built the 360 really is.

  48. twilight:

    I had waited in line for hours to get this system. The last thing I wanted to hear was that the system that I stayed out all night getting was a piece of crap but it ended up being true. The Xbox360 has the worse failure rate of any electronic system in history. The system should have been recalled but people let Microsoft skirt around this issue by offering a three year warranty. Any other electronic item would have been recalled by now.

  49. ncaissie:

    But it is a great system and all the Multi plat games look soooo much better on the 360 it makes it worth the extra money and the $60 a year for Live.

  50. ncaissie:

    ;)

  51. ncaissie:

    Anyone else wonder why they made the kinetic camera so long when the cameras are so close to each other and in the middle?

    LOL ugly thing trying to copy the wii sensor bar?

  52. Roca.:

    To charge twice as much for it ;)

  53. twilight:

    Ncaissie,
    Lol. I’m finally off the Microsoft smack. It’s so addictive that even Roca got sucked in for a while. I’m back to my normal Ps3 loving ways and it feels so damn good.

  54. CaptBirdman:

    I will have to dismount my high horse and say I think the 360 S is surprisingly well built. But these things tend to happen when they copy PS. You know, like the Dualshock winning all sorts of rewards and then 3fixme adds RB and LB and it’s hailed as the best controller EVER whilst people shite on the Dualshock despite it pretty much not changing at all.

    But one area they’ve failed– the fan is STILL LOUD. I never hear my PS3 (slim). I usually turn both systems on (doing DVD comparison tests) and the WHOOOOOOOOOSH is definitely noticeable

  55. jojo29:

    ….where to begin…

    @twilight
    Welcome to the great side :)

    @fahkinsupah
    I agree with you on SOME of the ‘innovations’ MS has accomplished…its more evolution than innovation, but I digress:
    Xbox Live Silver: great overall service, achievement system is truly the most innovative feature here
    Xbox Live Gold: complete trash, ripoff

    Copycats: copied Sonys dual triggers, copied Sonys GT franchise with lameo forza, copied sony hdmi standard, copied sonys wifi standard, nintendos miis and motion movement….etc

    That’s about it…let’s check out Sony..

    PSN: great service that started out rough, able to achieve every feature on Silver/Gold…all for free…

    Exclusivity: Sony is number one in terms of quantity, 1st in quality, 2d in caliber to nintendo when it comes to exclusive games….MS can’t touch Sony here…

    Copycats: copied MS’ achievments,I.e trophies, copied but made Gold look stupid in the process, MS ‘tiered’ service, copied Nintendo motion movement

    Seems to me…yes they both copy…but MS copies more than innovates

    Got replies?

  56. ncaissie:

    ” I’m finally off the Microsoft smack.”
    You can call it smak if you like. We all know what it realy is….

    guess you can get smacked with it if you wanted to.

  57. CAD:

    So Birdbrain is another one of those kids who have no clue about what he’s talking about. I’ll destroy this kid, I can’t even bother because I’m so tired of this conversation. Just redo your check list and you find about 90% of the PS3 is a 360/Wii. In fact no one does more copying then Sony and the word innovation belongs no where near the name Sony unless your talking about a disk format or a camera but that’s about it.

  58. CaptBirdman:

    @ CAD

    In the words of MC Hammer

    -You Can’t Touch This

  59. Roca.:

    @Birdman

    Don’t listen to CAD, about a year ago [10/29/2009] (almost exactly one year) CAD made a list about stuff that MS invented/innovated on consoles. Here is the list and you can see the link below:

    1. Hard Drive (Microsoft)
    2. 4 Control ports (Microsoft or Nindendo)
    3. Online (Microsoft Continued from Sega)
    4. Music palyback (Microsoft)
    5. Online store (Microsoft)
    6. Arcade Titles (Microsoft)
    7. Demos (Microsoft)
    8. Online Donwloadable Movies/TV (Microsoft)
    9. Stream content from your computer (Microsoft)
    10. Achievements (Microsoft)
    11. Motion Control (Nindendo)
    12. USB Ports on consoles (Microsoft)
    13. Home is a upgraded knock off of Nintendo’s Mii system (Nintendo)
    14. DIVEX Support (Microsoft)
    15. SD Card slots. OK I really don’t know this one but I’m going to say (Nindendo) Because history only shows that Sony has only thought about the disk drive. And yes I can eloborated if you need it.
    16. Downloadable content for games (Microsoft)
    17. Parental Contorl (Microsoft)
    18. Controller Rumble (Microsoft)

    http://gamer.blorge.com/2009/10/27/is-netflix-on-ps3-using-disc-due-to-xbox-360-exclusivity-contract/

    most of those things came from either Sony, PC (most of them) or Nintendo and some are not even innovation at all.

  60. CaptBirdman:

    @ Roca

    CAD is my entertainment. At least HH makes sense sometimes. CAD on the other hand is about as sensical as a glass door with a peephole.

  61. SW:

    OK, now does anyone else think twilight be trollin’?

    Next we’ll be hearing about how Grandma’ twilight be gettin’ down in the strip club with fiddy…

  62. twilight:

    SW,
    Lol. I do like messin’ with certain people sometimes but I never lie. My mom really did say this, my apartment nearly did burn down, I did get in an accident going to buy a Xbox360 game, and I’m really selling my Xbox360. It’s been nothing but bad Karma every since I got the Xbox360.

  63. CaptBirdman:

    @ SW

    http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/zoom/lmao-new.jpg

  64. phranctoast:

    @ncaissie
    “Lets all pray that HH gets a RDoD.”

    You know damn well, he would never…never tell you if his system RROD. Ever!

  65. phranctoast:

    Geeze.. If Twilight played the lotto she’s end up owing the state millions.

  66. CaptBirdman:

    Twilight is a woman?!! O_O

  67. twilight:

    Phranctoast,
    Lol so loudly…

  68. CaptBirdman:

    I just thought you were a bloke, is all…

  69. twilight:

    CaptBirdman,
    Lol. Yes, I’m a Southern woman who loves to talk.

  70. CaptBirdman:

    Brilliant.

  71. Roca.:

    LOL

    yeah, she’s one of the two woman we have here at blorge…Unfortunately HH is the other one.

  72. ncaissie:

    LOL and CAD

  73. CaptBirdman:

    @Roca

    Well played sir.

    On another note- up for some SSF4?

  74. Roca.:

    sure…
    btw, your Ken is deadly.

  75. ncaissie:

    “btw, your Ken is deadly.”
    You should see his Barbie.

  76. ncaissie:

    Or is it his Ken to your Barbie?

  77. Roca.:

    “btw, your Ken is deadly.”
    You should see his Barbie.

    ^ROFL

  78. CaptBirdman:

    “btw, your Ken is deadly”

    Thanks ^_^

    I just frustrated the hell out of myself on the trails. I forkin hate them.

    “You should see his Barbie.”

    It’s Malibu Stacey!! You wanna get sued for copyright infringement?! o_0

  79. Roca.:

    I fucking hate the trails, I tried them for a few mins on SF4, I got pissed off and haven’t bother with it since then :)

  80. CaptBirdman:

    Yeah mate. When it comes to combos, I will stick with Tekken

  81. jojo29:

    Sounds like I need to bust out ibuki on you guys….and if y’all good enough…maybe my ryu…

  82. CaptBirdman:

    @Jojo

    I eat Ibuki’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

    PSN ID Th3Birdman

  83. Roca.:

    we should create a endless room today or maybe go for 3v3 team battle?

  84. CaptBirdman:

    I’m down. But Roca, you sign in and out in and out in and out LOL

  85. Roca.:

    my account is on auto log-in whenever the PS3 is turned on….so whenever my brother plays it goes right into my account then he log me out and sign in on his account.

  86. Roca.:

    are you going to be on today?

  87. jojo29:

    ^^ Same, ive had some extreme overtime ( 12 hour days NOT including my 1 hour commute each way) but i ll be sure to add you guys soon :)

    Birdman, challenge accepted, tomorrow, after work on thursday, i will be on from 400pm on, and hopefully we cn get a room going on, if my buddies don’t come over, in which case, we’ll be on BC2 for most of the night lol

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