Adding Kinect support to Skyrim might be the best idea ever.
The motion control of Kinect might not revolutionize the industry the way Microsoft hoped; there’s just too many instances of waving your hands around like you just don’t care. Integrating voice commands into traditionally contolled games might justify the $150 investment alone, however, like the revelation today that Bethesda will patch Skyrim to not only access menus and saves, but to actually use dragon shouts. Conceivably, you can say Fus Ro Dah and the enemy will be pushed off the cliff to his death. I don’t think I’m going to hear cooler news today.
No word on a release date other than “soon”. Bethesda does mention the list of voice commands will number more than 200, and will allow the player to tell followers what to do, change equipped weapons with hotkey swapping and access special map commands. “Where am I?” you will ask and the map will center on your location. But the answer will be, “In the future.”
The quick navigation of menus looks especially convenient for my console brethren. You’ll be able to say “Loot Items” and take everything from a container, as well as sort your inventory based on weight, value and name. And finally Lydia will stop getting in the way of my fireballs with a simple, “Lydia! Duck!” (At least, I hope she will.)
That all sounds great, but everyone with a Kinect and Skyrim will likely just scare the crap out of their dog with a few “in character” shouts.
Expect a rash of new Fus Ro Dah videos. Also, expect a list of all voice commands and a street date for Kinect integration of Skyrim. I wonder if they will charge a price for something like this, seems a bit much but then again this is the company that charged $2.50 for non-functioning horse armor.
Bethesda also mentioned new exclusive Xbox 360 content like quests and locations coming down the pipe for Skyrim, of which Kinect support is only a small part. Sorry, PS3 players of Skyrim, not only do your dragons fly backwards, but you are stuck in the ghetto of the PlayStation Eye.
Published: Apr 12, 2012 03:20 pm