So, I was thinking about the Kinect 2.0 on the Xbox One and how it's still essentially non-existent in terms of gaming implementation. Peggle 2 lets you use it, but it's far less usable than the controller. I think Dead Rising 3 lets you shout commands at it, but I never tried it out. Xbox Fitness apparently does a pretty good job tracking your movement and pressure points and stuff during a workout, but we only used it once before I disconnected it for my current setup (which requires an extension cable). Other than that, though? I can't think of anything.

I will say that using Kinect to control the UI (by voice) is good, if not great in some cases. The gesture controls, though, are terrible.

What about the Wii U's gamepad? Or the PS4's touchpad?

I'm curious about:
- Specific games that utilize them at all
- Specific games that utilize them WELL, and make them enjoyable add-ons

There's been a bit of discussion about these things in the respective threads, but I was hoping for this to be kind of a catch-all for impressions on the "New-gen hardware exclusives*" (for lack of a better term) in particular, to see how you guys feel about them.

*and no, I don't mean internal hardware (RAM, Gigawhozits, magical Blu-ray drives that don't play Blu-ray movies, etc.). I'm talking about the I/O devices that come in the box. Let's keep it civil, eh?

Can't believe you've forgotten this system-seller already:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/UiPMIaV_c0U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And don't forget that the Kinect 2.0 is the only way to automatically sign in on the Xbox One (for whatever reason).

As of now, none of the next-gen platforms have a "killer app" to show off hardware exclusive features.

Xbox One:

Outside of the Microsoft-exclusive launch titles, I still haven't really felt a game utilize the XO controller's rumble triggers.

Ryse, like Dead Rising 3, also requires you to shout commands at it. Unlike Dead Rising 3, shouting commands during Ryse is a non-negoitiable making it an unideal game to play while family members are sleeping.

PS4:

Outside of stat screens, I still haven't seen a game utilize the touchpad on the DS4 to an interesting extent. At least Update 1.70 will finally allow users to dim the lightbar (which should be set to default off if you don't own the Eye).

Wii U:

Nintendoland is the only game I've come across that actually utilizes the Gamepad rather than mirroring what's on television.

You're right. I completely forgot that KSR even existed.

I believe the auto sign-in thing will change, but I also believe that Lee Harvey Oswald wasn't working alone, so...

Actually Ryse doesn't force you to shout at it. Holding down the RB button will highlight the command (very slowly, unfortunately), providing you the same result as shouting commands (slowly) at your Kinect.

The Touch pad on the PS4 is really only effectively used in the PS4 version of Escape Plan. In other things, it sort of works like one or two additional buttons. I do like games where the touchpad works as an instant Map button -- saving you from having to shuffle through menus to see an overworld map quickly

I wish the PS4 pad would work to quickly show you the nearest safehouse or repair garage in NFS. I would love to be able to swipe up or down to show me the route to the nearest one of these on the minimap, rather than having to go through the ez drive menu or whatever it is called. I get stressed when my car is about to die and I have a bunch of points built up and I have to fumble through the menu while staying ahead of the cops trying to put me down.

WiiU:
Win: Rayman: Origins - best use of the Gamepad yet.
Place: Pikmin 3 - basically just used for a map, but it works great in a strategy game like that
Show: Sonic Racing Transformed - used as split screen for MP. One player on the pad, one on the tv.

PS4
Win: Infamous: Second Son - creative use of the touchpad, although everything could just have easily been done with analogs and buttons.
Place: ?
Show: ?

I know Kinect Sports Rivals isn't a system seller but the family played it some last night and had a blast. I wish I hadn't paid full price (minus my BB GCU savings) but at $20 this is a no-brainer if you like these type of activities.

The one thing I like about Sony's approach this gen is even though there isn't a ton of use for the actual touch pad, using it as a button has been great.

The touchpad is great for FFXIV. Really helps navigating through menus.

I absolutely hate using the Kinect for any motion input. It never recognizes my hand is up, and only auto-signs me in about 10% of the time.

The voice controls are hit and miss. I would say they are about 50%, and close to 0% if there is any dialogue in the show I'm watching. I literally press mute on my controller so it understands me. It's garbage. I have to take the time to figure out why I can't pause from my Harmony remote like on the 360.

The PS4 touchpad hasn't had any kind of watershed moments that change games, but it has been used in interesting and subtle ways.

Warframe has gotten the most play from me, and it uses gesture controls for casting abilities. The neat thing is that in many cases, your character's animation reflects the direction you swiped for that power, and that makes it feel like a cool sort of direct and more emotive control over casting. Fortunately, the pad is also very sensitive, so you don't have to swipe across the entire thing. Rather, you just make a subtle directional swipe at any place on the pad, and as a practical matter, that means your hand never has to change position on the controller to swipe because your thumb (or at least mine) reaches it naturally. Infamous Second Son had some touch pad use that felt a little more gimmicky to me, unfortunately, and I hope to see less of that. Killzone was somewhere in-between.

Several other games I've played have used the touchpad for maps and menu navigation, and after using smart phones and tablets for so long, that all feels very intuitive. Over all, I find it a welcome addition, and the speaker as well.

Neither Kinect or the Wii U tablet are interesting in any way to me, and in both cases I'd prefer a cheaper version of their respective consoles without their inclusion. With the WiiU, off screen play is at least an interesting possibility, and I could see playing it in bed and such, but the notion of looking back and forth between two screens sounds awful.

I still laugh at the argument that the forced inclusion of the Kinect with every XO sold was going to be a good thing because developers would know everyone already has it and they could therefor easily and comfortably integrate Kinect functionality in all the XO games. How has that worked out so far?

You shut your mouth. Kinect is teh Futur3!!!

But seriously, put the mic in the console or controllers and drop the camera/motion garbage.

On my XB1, I haven't had many major issues with the Kinect. There have been a few things go weird occasionally, but for the most part any time the system is turned on, it signs me on within a minute. If both of us are in front of the xbox, it signs us both in without issue and recognizes that we are both there. I'd say that my success rate for being auto-signed in through Kinect recognition is 100% or at least 95%. The voice commands I'd say I have about 75% success rate. Some of the failure I think is related to background noise or not speaking clearly. But for the most part, when I say a command it is recognized. I have my cable box run through the xbox, so it is always on and I'm signed into live.. that allows me to know when friends sign on or if they want to send me an invite to a game.

The only issue that I really run into is that occasionally one of my three dogs moves and gets picked up and the xbox thinks they are a guest and stated to do motion controls. That usually goes away in a few moments when the dog settles down and isn't moving again. But it isn't something that happens all the tie.... its a more rare occurrence.

There aren't even that many games (that aren't ports) out for the systems yet. But if it weren't bundled it would be dead on arrival like nearly every other peripheral. I certainly wouldn't have bought it separately.

I don't get why they haven't released a Dance Central game yet, you'd think that'd be the easiest thing to do.

Bro, do you even Dance?

I'm not sure how Just Dance and Dance Central compare (nor do I care to find out, at least until my kid is old enough to give a shit), but JD is available.

I agree with Decker, though. I kind of fell for the whole "If every system has one, the developers will make worthwhile implementations of it" thing, but that hasn't panned out yet. I'm still hopeful for D4, which at least made Kinect look kind of interesting... but even with that one, I'll probably just play it with a controller (if it's ever released)

I think it's too early to tell to make that judgement about the Kinect even though I dislike it myself. I don't think there was an assumption that all games would have to have Kinect integration though.

Personally I haven't purchased any of the new generation of consoles (including the Wii U), but it feels like last generation where all these attempts at new methods to play games just end up being gimmicks. Seems like that hasn't changed

The biggest innovation, still are wireless controllers. We've just become so used to them, but just remember back to PS2 days and those tangled wires!

No, thanks to he Wavebird on Gamecube and Logitech on Xbox. I gotta go back to the PS1/N64 Gen for wires.

Wavebird didn't come out until fairly late in the GC's life and there's almost always something off with 3rd party controllers, even Logitech's.

Yeah, Logitech's was decent at the time, but still inferior to a wired controller. Wavebirds were awesome but sucked batteries (though not as badly as the Wii or WiiU controllers). I love this gen's controllers, though.

Also, I'd nominate speakers in the controller as a decent innovation since wireless. When done right it's very effective. Way cooler than rumble ever was.

Nope. It wasn't at launch but it was within 18 months. Wiki lists 2002.

The Logitech had some quirks(black & white button locatio, I want to say) bit nothing detrimental, IMO. Maybe battery life.