Kinect 2-Way TV

[FamilyFriendlyGaming]

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Cordova, TN February 22, in the year of our Lord 2013 -- For many years those of us in the video game industry have known video games are interactive television. We are interacting (albeit at a rudimentary level) with what is going on – on the television set. Our controllers move objects on the screen. Buttons we press directly impact the outcome on the television set. Compare that to television where you sit there and watch it. Now maybe you get mad at a bad call or a bad play, and scream at the television. Or maybe something else gets you on your feet in an inspirational way.

Late 2012 Microsoft introduced Kinect 2-Way TV. Nat Geo America The Wild and Kinect Sesame Street TV are the first two game/television shows to incorporate this concept. What is it exactly? Well it is an attempt to merge a television show with a video game. We play episodes of these shows in around thirty minute blocks. The shows have a specific format. There is information imparted, some interaction from the family member, more information, a game, and so on. Is Kinect 2-Way TV perfect? No it is not, but it is a step in merging video games and television shows.

Will it become a new trend? Maybe even a new standard? I do not know. What I do know is Kinect 2-Way TV has tremendous potential. Right now it is just in a couple of kids games. These two kids games have reached Season Two. So it is continuing. Think about your favorite television show, and now imagine interacting with it. Let me throw out some ideas I came up recently. A cooking show, a sermon, an exercise show, and a police drama.

Imagine a cooking show that showed you what to do, and then could see you doing it. The game could offer helpful advice on how to stir, or slice. Think about a sermon where you interact with the pastor while learning about the Holy Bible. Nike+ Kinect Training has already shown what can be done with an exercise show. Think about different episodes working different body parts, and different trainers with different styles. Imagine being able to participate at the crime scene, or during the autopsy. There are plenty of applications for Kinect 2-Way TV, and I hope to see some of them explored in the near future.

[ccgr]

hmm interesting concept but I doubt I'd use it. We don't really watch much TV and when we do it's pre-recorded so we skip commercials.

[FamilyFriendlyGaming]

I am totally with you on commercials. The good news is these game/TV show hybrids have no commercials.

It may not be for everybody.

With the National Geographic shows it has information on an animal, and then you get to play as that animal. So it puts up to two people on the screen and puts an animal head on them, and paws. Take one of the bear episodes for example. We splash the water (ooh yeah it puts us in a nature environment) to knock fish up. Then we move our big bear heads to where the fish are for the bear head to eat them. Points are scored for each fish that is eaten.

What impresses me if the merging of a television show (with no commercials) and gaming. Part of the episode we sit and watch, part of it we speak to the TV, and part we get up and move around. It flows from part to part.

I got thinking about how this idea could be applied to other television show styles. Let me throw out a new one - Dancing with the Stars where you compete from your own living room. Kinect puts you on the TV screen, and puts attire around you. Dance around as part of the show. I know that may be a bit silly. Doing an autopsy in a crime show is more realistic.

Apologies if I did not explain the Kinect 2-Way TV properly.

[ccgr]

Sounds rather fun but we don't have an xbox

[FamilyFriendlyGaming]

Sounds rather fun but we don't have an xbox

Sorry.