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I am normally not a early adopter until recently. I ordered the Kinect when I saw it go on presale as I was very curious how it would work and how the tech would develop. I got the device in hand on Nov 4th and my wife and I have been using it since. (for almost a month now)
To give you some demographic and environment info: I am ~30, I am not in any kind of shape (chubby, lazy, IT guy), the room we have Kinect in is our apartment living room with a space of ~ 8x7' in front of the TV when we move the coffee table out of the way, lighting is pretty dim in the room, and the Kinect is about 2.5 - 3ft above the floor under our center speaker under our TV mounted on the wall. TV is a 52" LCD that is wall mounted as well.
Kinect iself-
being the first itteration of the tech, I can see lots of room for improvement and can see where limitations to keep the price point where it is were placed. (like low res 3D camera, low res color camera, no CPU offloading of the processing, etc...) But... as we have seen with the Xbox 360 itself, development and advancement is impressive just in software. I expect developers, and MS to exploit this to full effect!
Pros:
Currently, it works well. The menus are great, the hand and voice movement detection works very well, and the facial recognition is also very accurate even in dim lighting.
The potential for integration into other parts of the system is epic.
Video Kinect's integration with Windows Live Messenger, and soon Lync will be also a great way to reduce the footprint of another web cam, or chat component in your life.
Cons:
Limited menus or navigation in Kinect for the rest of the Xbox. From what I understand this will be changing in the coming months. It would be great to have the same hand and voice controls through the entire Xbox UI
The ability to customize the hover time to select something should be offered, or allow wrist movement or hand movement detection to clock on something.
Confusion in some games if you leave the play area, or dont, or switch with someone else and sometimes it doesnt notice.
Inconsistencies in the game UI's... some are awesome, some are crap, and some leverage full facial recognition to log you into a game session (if you switch players), others don't... A standardization of this would be great and is an easy software fix.
About the price-
$150 isn't that bad for what you get. You get a game that would retail for ~ $49.00 + a controller that can support 2 players. Compare that to the price of other controllers for two people + a game and you are at the same price or close to it. Given that this is also a web cam, and gives more functionality than any controller package around... I think this is not bad.
In reality you'll spend more on games than the Kinect which is the story with any console.
Gaming with Kinect -
Kinect Games we have:
Joy Ride
Kinect Sports
Kinect Adventures
EA Sports Active 2
and Your Fitness Evolved
Initial game impressions:
FUN - every game we fire up is entertaining in its own way. Joy Ride was a blast to just dork around with and the interface is pretty smooth and easy to use. Its not a racing game as you would expect, and I would like more actual driving interface (control acceleration and braking), but still quite fun.
A great workout - Just playing table tennis in Kinect Sports can break quite a sweat and get the blood pumping. The boxing is quite a workout in Kinect Sports itself. EA Sports Active 2, and Your Shape fitness evolved are both serious and quite intense workouts. Those both make the Wii Fit seem like a toy as this isn't using some abstract movement data from a single point to think you are doing something right... These are critical of your position, posture, movements to ensure you are getting the most out of it. I would recommend being a bit careful if you are heavier (like me), the jumping in some of the games can be quite hard on the joints.
A refreshing way to get everyone playing - Before the Xbox was mainly my toy, my wife had little interest in it. Now we play games together actively, and have a blast doing it. It is quite a refreshing take on console games and is making it more of an inclusive event to get family and friends engaged with.
Loaded with black mail ready pictures - While doing many of these games, video and pictures are taken... so it is wise to do these in proper attire ;) Most of these pics are purged from the machine, and you need to choose to upload them to KinectShare.com which from there you can choose to upload to your favorite social network or download them. We find most of the pics and vid to be funny as hell, but also quite embarrassing at times, now seeing how foolish we look ducking-dodging-jumping in Kinect Adventures :)
Overall, and relevance compared to other motion tracking products-
I dont think you can go wrong with Kinect. Out of the box its 4 of 5 stars, still has some development do to, but is far above my expectations, and any issue I have or concern I have can be resolved with simple code changes. This is the future of gaming in its G1 stage. I think in the end a hybrid of what Sonys Move is, and Kinect is how we will see gaming evolve. Full 3D mapping and hand held controls. But if I have to choose one over the other, I think Kinect is a far better purchase at this time as it has far more of a future for it than just the "Wii with a light" - MOVE system. The Kinect seems far more easy to get into than the Move from what I have seen... people are far more willing to give Kinect a chance than Move if placed in front of one or the other.
For serious gaming, I use product specific tools - For Forza, or PC based racing, I have Fanatec Turbo S Clubsport wheel setup, for FPS I use the hand held controllers... Each thing has its own benefits. Just as Kinect does, it's not good for everything, but the stuff it is good for, it rocks at.
Kinect is revolutionary for gaming much as the Wii was a few years ago. The Move system is evolutionary off the Wii concept and is definitely a great refinement on what was started by Nintendo. Kinect will be evolved from this point via software and presumably in the next gen of consoles becomes the center stage of the controller system, or a core augmentation of any controller interface.
And the price point is reasonable for a two person controller with game. Price out any other combo out there with two physical controllers and a game and you are nearly to the same price.
Can't go wrong!
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Downright Amazing!!!
Let me first say I never was a fan of motion controls, never got into the Wii, or the recently released PS Move. I've played both but neither interested me much...not enough to warrant a purchase at least.I should probably also mention I purchased Kinect strictly for the voice commands, and navigating with gestures.The above statement was short lived after receiving the unit today. After I took the sensor out and set it up (it was bigger and heavier than I thought, not a bad thing just a pleasant surprise) I mounted it under my LED TV, with the Xbox 360 Kinect Wall Mount.Installation and setup is a breeze, I'm using an Xbox 360 S, so one single cable is all you need. I mounted the sensor, plugged it in and powered up the console. Long story short a few screens with tips and positioning graphics, a quick little tutorial and you're on the way.My very favorite feature, the one that blew me away is the voice recognition. I cant wait to see what Microsoft does with this down the road, after seeing it in action...it can only get better and better.Next up was a few games of Kinect Adventures, online with a friend. I must say I have never been so impressed with motion control gaming until today! The obstacle course levels and rafting are simple concepts that turn out to be just an absolute blast! When you get a couple 27 year old men laughing and giggling like school girls, that's a good time!A side note, this is one heck of a workout, absolutely hard to believe you can feel the burn and excitement of a workout with a video game, and alot of laughs!Not holding a controller is hands down the main selling point for Kinect, and Microsoft has marketed it that way (You are the controller) The way the camera reads and displays your every move is something out of a sci-fi film. Ducking, jumping, dodging, striking poses to collect coins, everything is fluid and responsive. Alot of people ask about lag, but surprisingly the two games I've played (Kinect Adventures & Kinect Sports, more on that later) show minimal to no lag whatsoever. You duck, your avatar ducks, you throw your hands up in celebration, your avatar reflects it perfectly...amazing.Now onto Kinect Sports, this game is a down right good time, bowling, boxing, table tennis, track and field, all just so much fun! All in all, I'm just downright blown away. The lack of controllers to charge, store, wave around, etc, makes Kinect the absolute best motion controller(free) experience around.I have nothing against Move or Wii, I own a PS3, and enjoy it the alot, however when it comes down to motion games Xbox wins my praises.I cant explain the fun to be had with a Kinect with just words, you literally just have to hook one up in your home and have a blast. Kids and adults alike will enjoy hours of fun and entertainment, just be ready for a good workout!*One more thing, Netflix voice/motion controls are not available yet, but it should be coming soon, that should really take Kinect over the top.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2010
- Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2010
Let me first say I never was a fan of motion controls, never got into the Wii, or the recently released PS Move. I've played both but neither interested me much...not enough to warrant a purchase at least.
I should probably also mention I purchased Kinect strictly for the voice commands, and navigating with gestures.
The above statement was short lived after receiving the unit today. After I took the sensor out and set it up (it was bigger and heavier than I thought, not a bad thing just a pleasant surprise) I mounted it under my LED TV, with the Xbox 360 Kinect Wall Mount.
Installation and setup is a breeze, I'm using an Xbox 360 S, so one single cable is all you need. I mounted the sensor, plugged it in and powered up the console. Long story short a few screens with tips and positioning graphics, a quick little tutorial and you're on the way.
My very favorite feature, the one that blew me away is the voice recognition. I cant wait to see what Microsoft does with this down the road, after seeing it in action...it can only get better and better.
Next up was a few games of Kinect Adventures, online with a friend. I must say I have never been so impressed with motion control gaming until today! The obstacle course levels and rafting are simple concepts that turn out to be just an absolute blast! When you get a couple 27 year old men laughing and giggling like school girls, that's a good time!
A side note, this is one heck of a workout, absolutely hard to believe you can feel the burn and excitement of a workout with a video game, and alot of laughs!
Not holding a controller is hands down the main selling point for Kinect, and Microsoft has marketed it that way (You are the controller) The way the camera reads and displays your every move is something out of a sci-fi film. Ducking, jumping, dodging, striking poses to collect coins, everything is fluid and responsive. Alot of people ask about lag, but surprisingly the two games I've played (Kinect Adventures & Kinect Sports, more on that later) show minimal to no lag whatsoever. You duck, your avatar ducks, you throw your hands up in celebration, your avatar reflects it perfectly...amazing.
Now onto Kinect Sports, this game is a down right good time, bowling, boxing, table tennis, track and field, all just so much fun! All in all, I'm just downright blown away. The lack of controllers to charge, store, wave around, etc, makes Kinect the absolute best motion controller(free) experience around.
I have nothing against Move or Wii, I own a PS3, and enjoy it the alot, however when it comes down to motion games Xbox wins my praises.
I cant explain the fun to be had with a Kinect with just words, you literally just have to hook one up in your home and have a blast. Kids and adults alike will enjoy hours of fun and entertainment, just be ready for a good workout!
*One more thing, Netflix voice/motion controls are not available yet, but it should be coming soon, that should really take Kinect over the top.
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