I know most, perhaps all of you wanted for this: the ability to play Crimson Dragon with a regular Xbox control pad. Today, that wish has come true. Joystiq reports:
Crimson Dragon, originally designed as a showpiece for Kinect, is now controlled primarily with a controller. The once Xbox 360 and now Xbox One exclusive abandoned full Kinect control after feedback was received from “passionate fans” – possibly from an accidentally released demo – Microsoft Studios lead producer Yutaka Noma tells Joystiq. The game will still feature Kinect support alongside the traditional control, though it will be used for “intuitive” gestures.
It remains to be seen what these gestures will be. Hopefully they’ll be kept to minimum so that players can experience Crimson Dragon in a relaxed position. The problem with motion controls is that the added interaction often breaks immersion because of the increased gap between the player’s thoughts and what’s happening on the screen.
It’s also nice to know that feedback from “passionate fans” like ourselves was taken into consideration. Although the cynic in me also believes that Microsoft no longer required Crimson Dragon to be controlled with only the Kinect because they no longer need core games to sell the Kinect on its own; the Xbox One will come bundled with the new Kinect.
In any case, this can only be good news. As Richard Mitchell at Joystiq writes:
The game is being developed by Yukio Futatsugi and Grounding Inc, and it shares a great deal visually and mechanically with Panzer Dragoon, Futatsugi’s most well-known series. Now that it’s primarily controlled with a standard controller, it shares considerably more.
I cannot agree more.