Confirmation of Kinect-free Halo 4 experience allows fans to relax

Fans of the Halo franchise can breathe a sigh of relief as developer 343 Industries has confirmed that the upcoming title in the series will not offer any support for Kinect.

The possibility of finding the motion sensing input device shoe-horned in the gameplay of the sci-fi shooter had a lot of fans worried as they expected the core experience on offer to become ruined in the process.

A quick response and consistency are something that gamers just cannot do without while playing a game, especially if it is a shooter.

Unfortunately, Kinect falls short in both departments when compared to the conventional controller, thus putting up an interesting question of why a game would offer support for the technology that is far from perfection.

Halo is a well-established franchise with a huge fan base, majority of who have been hooked to the game since it first appeared on Xbox in 2001. It is remained exclusive to the Microsoft consoles and played a significant role in the sales of the hardware.

The very thought of Kinect being incorporated in the Halo experience had sent shivers down the spines of many fans, who quickly deemed their beloved franchise doomed.

It turns out that the fans are not the only ones who want to see the sci-fi shooter remain what it is, an AAA intellectual property (IP) exclusively for the core gamers.

In a recent interview with CVG, Halo franchise director Frank O’Connor made it clear that while the gamers will find the Kinect support for the Halo Waypoint app, the upcoming Xbox 360 game will continue to have the players control the action through the use of the conventional controller.

“More than most other games, it is directly linked to the muscle memory of holding an Xbox controller, going back as far as the days of the Duke on the first Xbox,” said O’Connor. “Kinect is a logical extension of the UI, and with regards to some of the sci-fi themes we’re actually pretty excited about it, but not for the controls.”

Fans have high hopes from the four instalments in the series and the first of three games in the new Reclaimer Trilogy. The last thing they would want from 343 Industries, the studio which has been entrusted with the Halo project by Microsoft after parting ways with Bungie, is a step backwards in terms of the quality of experience on offer.

According to reports, Halo 4 is 99 percent complete and is scheduled for a worldwide release on November 6. It is coming out at pretty much the same time as Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, thus setting up a stage for the stand-off between two of the best games in the genre.

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Posted by Muhammad Qasim Hassan on Oct 30 2012. Filed under Entertainment, Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.