Just a small reminder that the latest expansion to CCP Games’ Eve Online, Lifeblood was released yesterday. With this latest expansion Capsuleers living in high-security space receive two brand new forms of PVE content with the release of Resource Wars and Forward Operating Bases. Alongside the release of these new modes, CCP has also made a balance pass to the post of the ships Free To Play Alpha Clones can fly, with most ships except the Vexor receiving a damage buff.
Previously I covered all of the big announcements made at the EVE VEGAS convention a few weeks ago. The primary focus of that event was to promote and announce the then-upcoming changes from Lifeblood. It was also announced that in December free to play players will receive a bump in the number of skill points that they can use, provided that they subscribe for at least a month to train them. This means that players who subscribe for only 30 days can fly up to Battleships for free – unlike the current Alpha Clone restrictions that limit them to Cruisers or below.
Users on Steam can create an Alpha Clone account for free, the EVE client is only about 4. 5GB and will run on most modern computers with no problems, given that the game is 14 years old.
Here is how CCP summarizes the brand new Resource Wars co-operative gameplay mode:
“Tensions are escalating in New Eden, and the battle for resources opens up new gameplay options! The Resource Wars offer tiered, short session co-op gameplay, as well as multiple player roles and strategy.
Find the Mining Expedition sites and fill your Empire’s haulers with as much mined ore as possible in the time allowed, while staving off any hostile attacks. Certain rare asteroids can increase the rewards available for these sites.
Join the Resource Wars and fuel your Empire’s ambition!”
A shot of my Venture mining frigate before entering Resource Wars.
A shot of my Venture mining frigate being shot at during a Resource Wars match.
Here is how CCP describes the brand new pirate faction Forward Operating Bases that are hidden throughout high-security Space:
Blood Raider and Guristas pirate bases have been spotted in High-Sec Empire space! Assemble formidable fleets with other players and go in for the kill. Be wary though, as the pirates will launch their own fleets in defense of their structures.
Rewards include ISK shared out among victorious attacking forces, as well as blueprints for faction structure modules.
Kinect version 1.0 arrived hot off the heels of the motion control craze sparked by the Nintendo Wii with the marketing tagline “You Are The Controller”. Promising players a mixture of easy to understand motion based controls using their own bodies and a dash of science fiction, with almost Minority Report-like gesture control – it seemed like Microsoft had stumbled upon an easily understandable control scheme for those with the mobility to enjoy it. As Kinect is thrown into the technology wastebasket of products past their prime, where did things go wrong? This is a Eulogy for the future that Kinect promised but never delivered upon.
A Less Than Spectacular Launch Line-Up
On November 4th, 2010 Microsoft released the Kinect Sensor add-on for the Xbox 360 for $149.99 USD alongside 15 launch titles not only from first party studios like Rare but also major 3rd parties like Harmonix, Konami and SEGA. Smaller publishers & developers were also included in the opening volley for the motion-sensing technology with names like Hudson and Majesco rounding out the pack.
With both large and small publishers on board in addition to Microsoft’s own efforts what could possibly go wrong with the launch line-up? Well, none of the 3rd party stuff really pushed the envelope in terms of using this newly released technical wonder. Instead of inventive games that used the strength of Kinect to deliver gameplay experiences built around the device players were greeted a number of “me too” cash-in Sports compilations, mini-game collections, fitness games and DDR knockoffs.
Tell me do you remember any of these masterpieces?
Motion Sports (Ubisoft)
Zumba Fitness (Majesco)
Game Party: In Motion (Warner Bros)
Adrenalin Misfits (Konami)
Quality software would be few and far between for Kinect during its 7 years of life but even on day one, there were red flags that 3rd party offerings would be hit or miss. At this time Sonic was still a name no one really uttered with excitement and his Kinect game (Sonic Free Riders) was so unplayable that some reviewers attempted to return it after eviscerating it or poor player detection and an unworkable control scheme.
Dance Central and Microsoft’s Own “Wii Sports”
Kinect did shine thanks to the release of Rare’s Kinect Sports and Harmonix’s Dance Central. Both games provided players with easy to understand concepts that for the most part worked given the technical limitations of the first generation of Kinect Sensors.
Taking a page from Nintendo’s 2006 playbook, Bowling allowed players to throw their arm forward and strike virtual pins. Boxing would let contenders weave left and right in physical space, something that couldn’t be replicated with Nintendo’s Wii Remote at the time. Featuring compatibility with Rare’s New Xbox Experience (NXE) dashboard avatars, comparisons to Wii Sports were inevitable but Kinect Sports delivered on the promise of an easy to understand and immersive sports experience in the living room.
Harmonix’s Dance Central also lured players to Kinect with an easy to understand concept that most folks can get behind: dance to catchy pop songs to flashy and colorful visuals. Featuring gameplay that tracks the player’s movements that challenge players to perform a number of different dance moves based on 90 different dance routines. It had robust offerings (for a Kinect title) such as a single player mode, 2 player head to head mode and an extensive training mode. Dance Central was the essential Xbox 360 party game and it was so successful that it spawned a number of add-on DLC tracks and two retail sequels (Dance Central 2 & Dance Central 3)
Accessibility Concerns That Went Unaddressed
With motion being so prevalent to the use of Microsoft Kinect, accessibility concerns should have been on the forefront of the engineers, programmers, and designers who would build the large glossy sensor. After launch it became apparent that potential players with mobility concerns or certain physical disabilities may have trouble with some Kinect games. Unless the game was specifically designed for a seated experience users could have trouble with body tracking in some circumstances if:
They had an amputation above the elbow and didn’t wear a realistic prosthesis.
Used an arm or leg prosthesis that was made of reflective metal – this could cause the Kinect to consider the limb part of the background (e.g. the furniture) and not register it as part of the user’s body.
Reflective surfaces on larger wheelchairs and armrests on larger wheelchairs also caused detection issues.
The biggest potential problem with the Kinect arose just days before launch – it was widely reported by the press who had access to review units that Kinect may have problems detecting people of color. Several tech publications at the time reported varying degrees of failure and success with Kinect V.1 recognizing the faces of people of color.
This particular detection problem, and the use of IR sensors, in particular, isn’t limited to the Kinect. Two years ago a soap dispenser manufacturer faced criticism after it was found the sensors in their product also had problems detecting people of color. Clearly, these are representations of a systemic problem within Tech, where engineers and other designers fail to test their designs and prototypes for different user experiences. When is the majority of your development staff made out of white folks, does this lead to a lack of diversity in user testing?
Goodbye Kinect
Today Microsoft announced that the Xbox One version of the Kinect will no longer be manufactured. It is a long time coming for a piece of hardware that never really found its footing either in this console generation or the last. After the initial rush of “holy crap it tracks how I move!” Nothing particularly noteworthy came exclusively to the Kinect although a number of large RPGS like Skyrim & Mass Effect 3 did support voice commands when making important choices which is a bit of a cool inclusions, but probably not worth $150 USD.
When the Xbox One’s initial vision of a constantly connected entertainment hub that would also replace your cable box imploded in on itself all hope that was left for the Kinect was lost. As soon as Microsoft unbundled the once absolutely required Kinect from the console’s retail package, the writing was on the wall.
I also want to clarify that when I say that accessibility concerns were “unaddressed”, I do not mean that Microsoft didn’t put up a exhuastive accessibility FAQ on their site because it exists right here. What I mean is that it feels like a lot of the stuff in this FAQ and issues that arose during the Kinect’s life could have been addressed during the initial product development rather than afterward.
This is my eulogy to the full body motion control future that the Kinect never fully delivered on. What are your memories of the Microsoft Kinect? Let me know in the comments!
User reports from launch day suggest that PC players of Bungie’s Destiny 2 may find themselves with a permanent ban if they are using common PC benchmarking tools like FRAPS and MSI AfterBurner or chat programs like Discord with the overlay functionality enabled.
Over on /r/DestinyTheGame several users have reported that their accounts or friends accounts have been banned without explanation for running common PC programs in the background while playing Destiny 2.
Here is a short (and at all definitive) list of programs that MAY cause interference with Destiny 2. This list is based upon user reports and has not been confirmed by the game’s publisher or developer as of press time:
Open Broadcasting Software (OBS) in “Game Capture” mode.
Windows 10 Game DVR (with background recording enabled).
MSI Afterburner’s Performance Overlay
FRAPS
Discord’s Chat Overlay
Running either the Battle.net or Destiny 2 as a “Non-Steam Game” through Steam. Doing this enables the Steam Overlay by default.
Destiny 2’s official support page lists several cases where streaming software such as XSplit or OBS is “not supported” when using “Game Capture Mode”. Similarly, performance tools with overlays such as FRAPS and MSI Afterburner are also listed as not supported.
The Game Capture mode of applications such as OBS and XSplit is not supported. The following methods are supported for capturing video of Destiny 2 on PC:
To capture while playing in Exclusive Fullscreen:
Hardware capture through methods such as Elgato, AVerMedia, or a dedicated streaming PC is supported.
NVIDIA Shadowplay and AMD ReLive are supported.
To capture while playing in Windowed Mode (including Borderless Fullscreen):
OBS and XSplitScreen Capture mode is supported.
OBS and XSplitWindow Capture mode is supported.
PLEASE NOTE: Other recording applications, such as Dxtory, Razer Cortex, Fraps have similar restrictions to those outlined above. “
In regards to Hardware Monitoring and Overlays this is what Destiny 2’s support page recommends:
“Overlays Some features from third-party applications which rely on the use of screen overlays are generally not compatible with Destiny 2. The following are examples of features which may not be compatible with Destiny 2 on PC.
Voice Communications
“Who’s talking” and visual notification features, such as those provided by Discord or Mumble, are not compatible with Destiny 2. Notification features may still be provided through the third-party application.
Hardware Monitoring
Framerate and statistics overlays, such as those provided by EVGA Precision XOC, MSi Afterburner, and Fraps, are not compatible with Destiny 2.”
I’ve reached out to Activision Publishing for an official response to this story as well as clarification on whether or not apps like Windows Game DVR which are built into the OS and enabled by default can cause an issue with Destiny 2’s anti-code injection system. I’ve also asked if Destiny 2’s anti-code injection system doesn’t play nice with apps like Discord which detect games running on your system. This whole thing could be the result of a launch day hiccup or bug in the game’s code. We won’t know for sure until we hear back.
Activision Publishing previously provided Broken Joysticks with a review code for a single copy of Destiny 2 for consideration. We have not personally experienced issues with third-party applications & Destiny 2.
