Death has been good to Michael Jackson, his songs got back in the charts, he had a film out, everyone seemed to miraculously forget about all of the kiddy fiddling allegations, none of us had to look at that weird face of his anymore and he's even got a new game coming out called Michael Jackson: The Experience!
The new game casts the player as the gloved one and utilises Microsoft?s over-hyped and underwhelming Kinect technology. A camera records the players movements and has der fuhrer von popmusik act them out in real time while a microphone allows the player to sing along and believe that they are, for that moment, Michael Jackson, except without their face melting off, more drugs in their system than every 80s metal band combined, vast collections of Nazi memorabilia and numerous allegations of child molestation (although we can easily imagine that a few people who purchase this game will fit all of these criteria).
The game promises that players will be able to learn the same choreography as MJ and his dancers and be able to sing many of the songs from his back catalogue but fails to mention whether Michael?s appearance will change slowly as the game goes on in some sort of freaky story mode that sees you lose parts of your face in hardcore back-street dance battles.
Seeing as the game is built to make the most of the motion tracking Kinect software, one has to wonder what would happen if a child stepped in front of the camera, especially as in demonstrations of the Kinect hardware (when it was still known as Project Natal) Hecklerspray staff noticed that it took pictures of participants as they were playing, which were then stored and displayed later. Does that not seem slightly sinister to anyone else when it's being combined with a party game that uses bright colours and has the Wacko Jacko moniker on the box?
The game?s bound to be a hit; it's a safe formula that, once again, fails to deliver the magical gaming breakthrough that Kinect is supposed to offer. The songs are popular and the catalogue is huge so downloadable content can be a good revenue source and since his death Jackson has been held on some sort of pedestal that ensures he can do no wrong.
However, this game clearly won't be suitable for anyone under 5.
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