Xbox 360 Exclusive: Skyrim Kinect support announced

[Soldier 95B]

Gargantuan role-playing game The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim will get Kinect support, Bethesda has announced. Support for Microsoft's motion-sensing device will come via a free title update due out this month. A video showcasing how it works is below.

Over 200 voice commands are added, including for Dragon Shouts, Hotkey Equipping, Follower Commands, and all Menus (Items, Magic, Map, Barter, Container, Favorites, and Skills).
You can also use voice commands to order your companions about, to create and load saves during gameplay and access menus and inventories.

The video shows how you're able to quickly switch weapon load-outs, from dual spells, for example, to axe and shield.

New functionality has been added, including special map functions, additional hotkey options and the ability to sort inventory items by name, weight, and value. Bethesda will release a full list of voice commands in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Bethesda revealed tentative details on the first Skyrim DLC add-on, due out as a timed Xbox 360 exclusive.

"Bethesda Game Studios has been hard at work on creating the first set of game add-ons that will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft," it said. "This additional content will add new quests, locations, features, and much more to the world of Skyrim. "Stay tuned, we hope to officially announce what it is soon."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...video-released

Video at link.

Devs are really eating up this hybrid Kinect support. The dust is finally clearing off of my Kinect

[Soldier 95B]

Here is some additional details:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/12/tech/g...skyrim-kinect/

Game developer Bethesda Softworks is ready to take role playing to the next level by adding voice commands via the Kinect controller to its wildly popular video game, "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim".
Skyrim, the second highest grossing game of 2011, takes players on an epic campaign as a warrior born with the blood and soul of a dragon. The game offers many adventures and quests, and players are free to roam and accept challenges as they wish.
The Kinect functionality in Skyrim will be available in five languages -- English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. The English version is expected to be released during the week of April 23 with the other versions following close behind.
Called "Project Adam," Bethesda began formulating the idea of merging Kinect's voice capabilities to "Skyrim" shortly after the game's release in November.

Pete Hines, vice president of marketing and public relations for Bethesda, told CNN.com in an exclusive interview before the official announcement that the developer wanted to add functionality that didn't exist in the original release.

"When you do things, like when you are on the map, you uncover a lot of map markers and quests to go to a particular place. [With Kineck] you can use voice commands to do things very easily, to jump to different cities on the map," Hines said. "Even doing things in inventory like sorting by weight, by value -- that functionality doesn't exist in 'Skyrim' as it is. With Kinect, it unlocks a lot of new options."

Hines said the development team also wanted to enhance gameplay. Voice control naturally leant itself to "Shouts," special vocal powers that the players have access to in the game.

"You have your full arsenal of Shouts available using Kinect without having to stop, go to a menu, pick the one you want to use, and go back in the game and use it," he said. "You just say the Shout, and as long as you have the ability, your character will just use it on the fly."

Kinect will also let players use voice commands to arm weapons, activate spells and tell your companions what to do. The commands are designed to be intuitive, and Matt Barlow, general manager of Xbox Marketing, said Kinect support will add more than 200 voice commands to the game, providing a new level of access for fans that goes beyond the controller.

"Working closely with the talented team at Bethesda, they have done an amazing job of honoring the core gameplay functionality fans of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" know and love and using Kinect for Xbox 360 voice control integration to complement and strengthen the core experience without changing the fundamental game mechanics," Barlow said.

While two other games ("Mass Effect 3" and "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13") also use the Kinect for voice control, Barlow said allowing players easy access to menus and inventories, and to quickly create and load saves during gameplay is unique to "Skyrim."
However, don't get the idea you'll be waving your arms around in front of Kinect as you fight a dragon. Combat and casting magic will still be done through the handheld Xbox 360 controller. But simple actions that could be done through menus will be available easier with the Kinect.

"(Totally replacing the handheld controller) would be a whole other can of worms," Hines said. "Doing combat and swinging your sword and all that stuff without a controller would dramatically change the game. We're trying to enhance the experience as we designed it with some additional functionality."

Hines said the Kinect functionality will be an update to the existing game that will automatically download when Bethesda is ready to release it sometime later this month. Players won't have to do anything to enable the voice commands and will have the option to turn the Kinect functionality off if they choose.

The idea to merge Kinect with Skyrim came from one of the game's designers after the its release last year. During a "game jam," where game designers are given a week to work on whatever they want as long as it is related to the title, Ricky Gonzales, a programmer on "Skyrim," came up with the idea of using voice commands to do things within the game.
"He deserves a lot of the credit for putting the time in to get it to work and then working with Microsoft on some of the extra bits that they helped us out with," Hines said.

[Lethal_NFS]

This would have been great if the game released with this feature. For me, this is too little, too late. The game is just too massive for me to play again using Kinect. I am jealous of those who have not played the game yet.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Wow they are starting to bring the things they showed in their dev jam thing they did. Kill cams for melee, arrows and spells, Kinect support...I guess they will give some of it for free and dlc others. This is pretty cool, and makes things very convenient. I'm not sure if I want to learn all the dragon shouts by heart though lol.

I'm holding off on Skyrim until all this "current content enhancing DLC" is released. I have crafted 3 very nice characters and have them in their seats of power, and I'll wait until I can ride dragons and shoot water arrows at torches etc.

[Minnzy]

-derailing post removed - CUGUY

I still stand by what I said but I will agree as far as not contribing to this particular thread.

One of my dislikes of Skyrim was just how slow the menu system could be, doing a lot of things were slow and dull (Although better then Oblivion and Fallout3) so this makes things MUCH faster. Sadly my version is of the PC and despite better technical performance I'd say being able to not take 50 hours to sort through items makes this Kinect add on fucking brilliant

[Nitey]

That's fucking sick! Some of those commands streamline the game so much (for me). I find changing weapons and shit so long sometimes, even with the quick menu

[radgamer420]

That's fucking sick! Some of those commands streamline the game so much (for me). I find changing weapons and shit so long sometimes, even with the quick menu

I agree. Those command features are awesome.

[Soldier 95B]

That's fucking sick! Some of those commands streamline the game so much (for me). I find changing weapons and shit so long sometimes, even with the quick menu

Exactly. I am so pumped for this, it's not even funny. I hope they do this with more games.

[Minnzy]

Just realised one potential issue!

"Ok I'm probably going to regret this so I'll say quick save and then do it"

*Goes and does something silly*

"Oh shit I knew I'd regret this! Oh well" *Prepares to say quick load*

*Friend walks in*

"Wow man, hope you said quick save before doing this"

*Game quick saves*

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"

[Sub-stance1]

That sounds cool. I wonder if this will be for the PC also.

[Fijiandoce]

why not just set these for the xbox headphones???

few major problem i see;
-EPIC MUSIC TRACK IS EPIC!
-user voice.....not so much.
-volume cant go too high
-you must sit relatively close to it
and best of all
-if you love the aforementioned epic music, your surround sound is for moot

meh! someone had to play devils advocate

seriously though, i have this for ps3 and am quite envious now. especially of the quickslot voice commands and follower commands. (not so much the shouting, people gunna think im mental) those things streamline the experience majorly. i hate stopping to select stuff.

[Jack_DRAWN]

Cant wait, will make the gameplay more immersive than going through menus

[F34R]

Isn't it a little redundant to say Xbox Exclusive? lol

My son was pretty pumped after watching that video.

[Vulgotha]

Yea, the PC guys will have this hacked and set up on the PC version of Skyrim with the Xbox Kinect jacked into their computer within... Like, maybe a week. If they don't have it already.

The PC uses of Kinect>>> Xbox 360. It's all unofficial mods and such, but some cool stuff is being done on the PC scene.

[Sub-stance1]

Yea, the PC guys will have this hacked and set up on the PC version of Skyrim with the Xbox Kinect jacked into their computer within... Like, maybe a week. If they don't have it already.

The PC uses of Kinect>>> Xbox 360. It's all unofficial mods and such, but some cool stuff is being done on the PC scene.

Easier said than done. And if that were true why wasn't it done before the console version? There will probably be no need to because the update will probably come to the PC as well.

[Vulgotha]

Easier said than done. And if that were true why wasn't it done before the console version? There will probably be no need to because the update will probably come to the PC as well.

Well they already have this:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/04/12/sk...res-right-now/

I'm not sure what the fuss is all about with Kinect 'interpreting your voice and making commands'- this is not a magical kinect feature. This is crap that has been done with a mic for years now. Not really a "Kinect" experience if you ask me.

As for the other stuff, well:

http://www.gamefrontpage.com/static/...re-being-lazy/


To be frank this entire thing is stupid. The majority of the Kinect features plugged into mainstream non-kinect games are generally voice recognition stuff. I have absolutely no idea why people are buying into the nonsense that this is a Kinect-thing.

Or have people forgotten this age old PS2 classic with the same basic features lol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOCOM:_U.S._Navy_SEALs

Offline voice commands for AI teammates.

[Rekmon]

Well they already have this:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/04/12/sk...res-right-now/

I'm not sure what the fuss is all about with Kinect 'interpreting your voice and making commands'- this is not a magical kinect feature. This is crap that has been done with a mic for years now. Not really a "Kinect" experience if you ask me.

As for the other stuff, well:

http://www.gamefrontpage.com/static/...re-being-lazy/


To be frank this entire thing is stupid. The majority of the Kinect features plugged into mainstream non-kinect games are generally voice recognition stuff. I have absolutely no idea why people are buying into the nonsense that this is a Kinect-thing.

Or have people forgotten this age old PS2 classic with the same basic features lol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOCOM:_U.S._Navy_SEALs

Offline voice commands for AI teammates.

I'm with Vulgotha on this one, Kinect really isn't necessary for this though it's being pushed as otherwise.

[Sub-stance1]

Well they already have this:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/04/12/sk...res-right-now/

I'm not sure what the fuss is all about with Kinect 'interpreting your voice and making commands'- this is not a magical kinect feature. This is crap that has been done with a mic for years now. Not really a "Kinect" experience if you ask me.

As for the other stuff, well:

http://www.gamefrontpage.com/static/...re-being-lazy/


To be frank this entire thing is stupid. The majority of the Kinect features plugged into mainstream non-kinect games are generally voice recognition stuff. I have absolutely no idea why people are buying into the nonsense that this is a Kinect-thing.

Or have people forgotten this age old PS2 classic with the same basic features lol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOCOM:_U.S._Navy_SEALs

Offline voice commands for AI teammates.

lol..What fuss? People are only voicing their opinion on the integration with Skyrim. I think most people are aware of the many kinect mods that exist. The point of the Op's post was to show how kinect support was coming to Skyrim and nothing more. I don't own Skyrim yet but it seems to be something that will be welcomed by some.

I'm with Vulgotha on this one, Kinect really isn't necessary for this though it's being pushed as otherwise.

if you want theses features with the 360 version then kinect is necessary. And who is pushing it? Its optional.

[BoyBettaKnow]

Looked pretty good for all you Skyrim/Kinect fans!

Afaik there are a handful of Skyrim PC mods for Kinect one of the 'best' I know of is being able to play the whole game, shouts, browsing menus, walking around and combat with kinect. I believe this update is heading to PC a week or so after, think I read that on EG.


BBK. Tapatalking.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Is the tech exclusive to Kinect? No, is it fucking badass? Yes. I had a thought today...wait for Skyrim GOTY edition to release with ALL dlc and pick up a cheap ass 360+Kinect. Skyrim is a game that I will pour hundreds more hours into and the streamlined approach that VR offers to this game is amazing. It's only as I am playing with my mage at the moment that I realise how awesome it would be to be able to change my spell set up on the fly. It's so fucking clumsy at the moment with the current menu, especially when I'm wanting to dual cast fire, then switch to healing and ward etc, then back to fire once im healed if there is easy commands to change left and right sides independently (which of course there will be). It would mean starting again, but doing that after all the expansion packs is no biggie for me, it will be well worth it for the benefits that this offers to me.

[Vulgotha]

Except it is 'exclusive' to Kinect on the Xbox 360. You can't just plug in a mic and use your voice to do dragon shouts, even though it's entirely possible.

So if you want this "awesome game changing feature" you need to buy that really expensive motion sensing device.... For a function that a 10 dollar headset plugged into your controller could do.

Point I'm making here is that consumers are complete idiots with alot of this 'kinect' stuff.

[Sub-stance1]

Except it is 'exclusive' to Kinect on the Xbox 360. You can't just plug in a mic and use your voice to do dragon shouts, even though it's entirely possible.

So if you want this "awesome game changing feature" you need to buy that really expensive motion sensing device.... For a function that a 10 dollar headset plugged into your controller could do.

Point I'm making here is that consumers are complete idiots with alot of this 'kinect' stuff.

I still don't see your point. You can still play the game without it. What angers you the most?..Is it that the feature itself exists or that its exclusive to kinect owners? Either way its still Skyrim with voice commands.

[Vulgotha]

I still don't see your point. You can still play the game without it. What angers you the most?..Is it that the feature itself exists or that its exclusive to kinect owners? Either way its still Skyrim with voice commands.

Ok, I'll make it clearer:

This 'option' is only available if your purchased the very expensive Kinect. Regular 360 owners can't use this, even though merely having a mic would make it possible.

[Sub-stance1]

Ok, I'll make it clearer:

This 'option' is only available if your purchased the very expensive Kinect. Regular 360 owners can't use this, even though merely having a mic would make it possible.

Then regular 360 owners can go get a cheap mic and have at it. It shouldn't be too hard to pull off since its "nothing special".

[Vulgotha]

Then regular 360 owners can go get a cheap mic and have at it. It shouldn't be too hard to pull off since its "nothing special".

Ok, this statement is nonsensical. How would this not be hard to pull off on an Xbox? You do realize it's a closed box system right? And all that it entails?

It's not like you could use your mic and scream incoherently into it while playing Skyrim on the 360 and expect something to happen. This voice system is locked to the Kinect only by the developers. Thus tempting you to go buy an expensive peripheral for a technology that has been used in gaming for well over a decade.

It isn't new, it isn't amazing. Microsoft is now trying to push Kinect integration (through unknown incentives to the devs) by rebranding this common technology as a "Kinect feature" and only allowing it through use with Kinect on select Xbox 360 titles like Skryim.