14 DAY TRIAL // One of the biggest announcements to come at the 2011 edition of the E3 trade show was that Mass Effect 3, the action and role playing game that BioWare is aiming to launch during 2012, was set to get support for the Kinect motion tracking when played on the Xbox 360 home console from Microsoft.
Ray Muzyka, who is one of the leaders and co founders of developer BioWare, has told the company created Pulse that, “The Mass Effect franchise has always been about intense action and choice with consequence. The Kinect experience we’re bringing to bear in Mass Effect 3 augments that experience.”
He added his own impressions about the combination between the leading video game franchise and the motion tracking controller, saying, “It feels very personalized, very customized. The experience is different – and yet you have the controller in your hands at the same time. Any time you choose to use the controller you can do so. There’s no gesturing, it’s all very seamless.”
The main use for Kinect in the Mass Effect 3, according to the Microsoft E3 press presentation, will be to control squad members in battle with voice commands.
Players also have the option to choose their dialogue exchanges using motion tracking and they will be able to instantaneously switch between Kinect and their traditional controller.
Kinect was launched during the month of November last year and until know the device has managed to sell more than 10 million hardware kits and the same amount of enabled video games.
Still the device is lacking traction with more traditional gamers, who lack a line up of more traditional gaming experiences tailored for the Kinect.
The move to link the device to Mass Effect 3 is a good one and might lead to bigger sales, as long as Sony does not persuade BioWare and Electronic Arts to also make a Move version for the game.