Molyneux: "Kinect has some problems"
"Navigation is a real problem."
Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux has admitted that Xbox 360 motion-sensing add-on Kinect "has got some problems".
Molyneux, who at Microsoft's E3 press conference revealed Kinect game Fable: The Journey, told Gaming Union that most of the controller-free sensor's issues revolve around navigation.
"I'll admit that Kinect has got some problems," he said. "As an input device it has some real problems. Without a thumb stick, navigation is a real problem. You haven't got any buttons, so ordering the player to do something can be somewhat of a problem. But what Kinect does have is a great sense of freedom and emotion. So that's what we've tried to do with Fable: The Journey."
Fable: The Journey's E3 on-stage demo was criticised for suggesting the entire game is an on-rails experience – and accusation Molyneux was keen to deny.
Molyneux said the game came about after Microsoft requested the UK studio create a core Kinect game.
"It started about seven months ago when Microsoft came to us and said, 'Look we want you to do a [Kinect] experience for the core gamers,' he said.
"So we sat down and thought through the problems with that, and the first thing was figuring out how we can make Kinect more engaging, more engrossing, and more emotional than any control-based game or any Fable game has ever been before."