TGS: How Dragon Ball Z for Kinect Misses the Point

The entire appeal of motion gaming is immersion -- ideally, Kinect would amplify player agency by more actively involving you in a given experience. Dance Central excels here, in particular. Using your body rather than thumb flicks and trigger pulls to control a character should make you feel as though you've become someone else.

The potential to empower players in Dragon Ball Z for Kinect is enormous, but actually playing it is a constant reminder of how much fun you should be having.

The first-person combat works like you'd expect: Punching the air fires projectiles or smacks your up-close enemy, crouching dodges incoming attacks and powers up your hero, and familiar poses unleash special attacks when you've filled your power meter. That's pretty much the extent of how Dragon Ball Z for Kinect functions, and that simplicity in itself would be a considerable issue, never mind that it doesn't work well.

Gestures are so similar, and player input is so frantic, that Kinect can't actually register the moves properly. I tried to boost my power, but it misread the crouched position as a dodge. In putting my fingers on my forehead to let loose Picollo's Beam Cannon, the game thought I was trying to punch. Arm movements are sensitive and the speed of the fight is chaotic, which is a disastrous recipe. I watched multiple players fail a fight because their Kamehamehas weren't getting picked up, or their dodges registered as power charging, before becoming a victim of the incompetence myself.

The other problem is that it's just not terribly entertaining to play. Your actions don't really interact with the world or characters, so you spend a lot of time watching. Did you punch the air fast enough to trigger the win or lose animation? Great job, take a break and watch Goku throw Vegeta through a mountain for the next 20 seconds. Repeat. What could possibly be interesting about this as someone putting their entire body into the equation?

It's difficult to get excited, or remain optimistic, about a game in such poor shape as Dragon Ball Z for Kinect. It's a conceptual misfire with the kind of poor execution that's become unfortunately commonplace in Kinect games. And if it's no fun to play in the first 10 minutes, why should you pay $60 to experience it for hours longer?

Use caution with this one.

Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor for IGN's Xbox 360 team. He’s also quite Canadian. Read his ramblings on Twitter and follow him on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Just Dance 4 Track List Revealed, Exclusive Songs for Wii U

Ubisoft has revealed the full list of tracks in Just Dance 4. The game features more than 40 songs, ranging from classic artists like Elvis and The B-52s to contemporary acts like Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen.

The full list of songs is below:

1. Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes – “(I've Had) The Time of My Life”
2. Las Ketchup – “Asereje (The Ketchup Song)”
3. Justin Bieber featuring Nicki Minaj – “Beauty and a Beat”
4. Panjabi MC – “Beware Of The Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)”
5. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
6. Boys Town Gang – “Can't Take My Eyes Off You”
7. Emma– “Cercavo Amore”
8. Army of Lovers – “Crucified”
9. Rihanna – “Disturbia”
10. Dancing Bros. – “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”
11. Flo Rida – “Good Feeling”
12. Blu Cantrell – “Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)”
13. A.K.A – “Hot For Me”
14. The Blackout Allstars – “I Like It”
15. They Might Be Giants – “Istanbul”
16. Elvis Presley – “Jailhouse Rock”
17. Ricky Martin – “Livin' la Vida Loca”
18. Selena Gomez and the Scene – “Love You Like A Love Song”
19. Nelly Furtado – “Maneater”
20. Sergio Mendes featuring The Black Eyed Peas – “Mas Que Nada”
21. Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera – “Moves Like Jagger”
22. Alexandra Stan – “Mr. Saxobeat”
23. Rick Astley – “Never Gonna Give You Up”
24. Marina and The Diamonds – “Oh No!”
25. Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull – “On The Floor”
26. The Girly Team – “Oops!... I Did It Again”
27. The B-52's – “Rock Lobster”
28. Skrillex – “Rock N’Roll (Will Take You To The Mountain)”
29. Kat DeLuna featuring Busta Rhymes – “Run The Show”
30. Anja – “Crazy Little Thing”
31. P!nk – “So What”
32. Sammy - “Some Catchin' Up To Do”
33. Nicki Minaj – “Super Bass”
34. Stevie Wonder – “Superstition”
35. Europe – “The Final Countdown”
36. Halloween Thrills – “Time Warp”
37. 2 Unlimited – “Tribal Dance”
38. Rihanna featuring Jay-Z – “Umbrella”
39. Hit The Electro Beat – “We No Speak Americano”
40. One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful”
41. Will Smith – “Wild Wild West”
42. Barry White – “You're The First, The Last, My Everything”
43. Carrie Underwood – “Good Girl” (U.S. exclusive)
44. Bunny Beatz – “Make The Party (Don't Stop)” (Wii U, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Move only)

In addition, the Wii U version will include the following three exclusive tracks:

• The Girly Team – “Ain't No Other Man”
• Cher Lloyd featuring Astro – “Want U Back”
• Jessie J – “Domino”

Just Dance 4 is set to hit Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii on October 9th. A Wii U version will follow, but since Nintendo still hasn’t revealed that system’s launch date, no release date has been announced just yet.

As previously announced, the game will include a new Battle Mode for going head-to-head with friends, as well as alternate choreographies and an expanded Just Sweat mode. Just Dance 4 will also feature exclusive Wii U features such as Puppet Master Mode, which allows one player to create choreography on the fly, write on-screen dedications and take pictures and videos of friends while they dance.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Dance Central 3 Release Date Announced

Harmonix has announced that Dance Central 3 will hit stores on October 16th in North America and October 19th in Europe, Australia and Japan. Dance Central 3 will include 40 songs total, and Harmonix revealed 11 new songs today. Combined with the ten songs announced at E3, we know 21 songs so far:

• 2NE1 – “I Am The Best (Original Version)”


• 50 Cent – “In Da Club”


• Alice Deejay – “Better Off Alone”


• Backstreet Boys – “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”


• Cali Swag District – “Teach Me How to Dougie”


• Cobra Starship ft. Sabi – “You Make Me Feel…”


• E.U. – “Da’ Butt”


• Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina – “Stereo Love”


• Gloria Gaynor – “I Will Survive”


• J.J. Fad – “Supersonic”


• Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz ft. Ying Yang Twins – “Get Low”


• LMFAO – “Sexy And I Know It”


• Los Del Rio – “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)”


• Marcia Griffiths – “Electric Boogie”


• Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera – “Moves Like Jagger”


• Usher ft. Will.I.Am – “OMG”


• Usher – “Scream”


• Van McCoy – “The Hustle”


• Vanilla Ice – “Ice Ice Baby”


• Vicki Sue Robinson – “Turn The Beat Around”


• Village People – “Y.M.C.A.”

Dance Central 3 will include a story mode that has players interacting with crews to learn dance moves from various decades. Fan favorite crew Flash4ward will return, and plenty of other crews are expected to be announced later.

Dance Central 3 will be released exclusively on Xbox 360. For a guided tour of what’s new, check out our Dance Central 3 IGN Live demo from E3.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com