Jinn

Has anyone been following Kinect, the new motion-control for Xbox360? I've been watching it with meager curiosity since it was "Project Natal" and I'm still not sure it's really going to 'revolutionize' anything like they think it will. I've got a Wii that I played maybe once or twice in the two or three years I've had it, and I just can't get into it.

The release titles include a few sports games and Kinectimals, and a racing game. I have no idea why they bundled a racing game, because that's an example of where I think motion control fails so terribly. Racing requires an incredible degree of precision, something I think waving my hands around in the air isn't particularly good for.

I think they should have gone with games with more slushy controls for starting out. One thing is for sure, I think it will draw more casual players into the 360. The Wii was the 'go to' box for extremely casual players. I've never been one, but I may pick up the Kinect in a year or so after the early-adopter 'fee' on new technology goes down and they release some good titles that use it appropriately.

I believe it came out today - here's Kotaku's review:

Review: Kinect

What say you? Are you going to buy it? Do you think it's the 'wave' of the future' ?

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ironpham

Kinectimals looks like the dumbest game I think I've ever seen. Whoever thought that was a good idea for a GAME should shoot themselves.

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YaWhateva

Joystiq gave it a terrible review. I also really have no interest in it.

Kinect review: The hardware and experience | Joystiq

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ObieX

I'm thinking it's going to be Microsoft's "power glove" and be complete fail. The release games sure don't make it look interesting at all.

I'm not a big fan of motion controls to begin with. I just think this will be something expensive people will buy but never use (like wii fit.)

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Fremen

Mind you, I know nothing about Kinect other than it uses no controls, other than your body's motion in front of the receiver, but I predict it will be a failure and just a part of the passing fad of the sensor-using consoles.
I've played my sister's family Wii a few times and it had a lot of problems with accuracy.

With something as ambiguous and nebulous as the Kinect body controller, it'll be doubly worse.
There's no back or pause button, fer chrisakes!

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Arandrul

I Actually went out to buy Kinect a week ago, and it's been great fun.

I'm not a big fan of childish games like Adventures or Kinectimals but I gave Kinect Sports a try and it's great. I've been playing Table Tennis Online for a few days now. It kicks Wii sports behind.

Now I would not recommend buying Kinect if you already own a Wii, or dont really have to money to spend but I believe it is going to be a hit come the holidays or early next year when more Game titles are added to the list... (I can't wait for the Star Wars game)

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FuriousAvatar

I dunno, the Wii has been doing relatively well with the whole motion-control thing. I have some great fun with Wii titles that are multiplayer, so I imagine the Kinect games would be just as fun in group settings.

I'll wait and see what the reviews say for accuracy, then maybe grab one for game nights with friends.

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Shauk

Move is better, I'm biased, but the reviews are saying the same thing, so take that for whatever it's worth.

Jinn

It seems like a week into the release the biggest complaint, by far, is the space required. Move and the Wiimote both have the advantage there, because you can realistically be almost any distance from your display. They're saying the Kinect requires exactly 6 to 8 feet. Anything short of 5 or greater than 8 won't even register on the sensor. Shame, really; my setup has my 360 hooked to a 26" computer monitor, and I'm sitting right in front of it. There's no way I could sit 6 feet back and still feel comfortable.

It seems like this is essentially locked into people who have their 360 in a 'living room' which is at least 6 feet away (meaning 40+ inch displays). I may still put it on my Christmas list as a maybe, but I don't see any 'release defining' games for it yet.

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Shauk

Yeah where 25" tubes used to be the "Standard" 10 years ago, I think 40-46 is "Standard" now.

I find it hilarious that our tv experience is getting bigger and bigger while living spaces continue to get smaller and smaller (especially as a renter)

Stare At The Sun

Kinect will be so-so and have bugs. But it is tech that advances the industry.

What gets me excited is the idea of a system like this, in 10 years that is perfect, and that is combined with 3d. Now that will be fun

Meier_Link

I played it in Best Buy the other day and it seemed to have about a half to full second lag between what I did and what my avatar did on screen. It seems like the 360 just isn't fast enough to pull off what I had hoped for.

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Vaultboy

I see Microsoft will no loner be taking Kinect Hackers to court. Good decision on their part. They can rather engage the community, see who makes the best mods, and employ them. I think this holds promise for evolving the tech.

Kinect hackers presented with legitimate opportunities in 3D interface design | Software News - Betanews

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xepherys

I love my Kinect. I've never experienced lag with it at all. In fact, the spring or fall update for the 360 is going to add more refined control BECAUSE the 360 is handling it so well. If the one at Best Buy had lag, it's probably because someone licked it, kicked it, or who knows what. Demo stuff in big box stores are notoriously poor representations of actual use in the home.

I'm planning on picking up Kinectimals for my youngest son, who thinks it's awesome. The YourShape fitness game is great, and doesn't require you to look like a DARPA experiment like a lot of the Wii fitness games do, or use some chinsy board.

Hell, even Ubisoft's uPlay interface has some cool Kinect features.

No, there aren't any AAA titles for it yet, but I give it a year before there are. The thing outsold the Move - which doesn't say anything about the quality, but does give developers a reason to design games for it. Just give it another year

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Vaultboy

Won't be that long. HAckers are especially interested in the Kinect because they get 3D imaging hardware for cheap. It's already been hacked to play WoW (providing a workout to WoW nerds in the process).

Sure, the responsiveness required to command a FPS (a la the movie Gamer) won't be there anytime soon, but it isn't even there yet for simpler devices like the Wii and Move - we'll see how Move killzonersfare vs traditional controllers. The lack of "buttons" on a kinect means that gestures would have to be used, and the gesture-recognition induced lag is also a temporary drawback for FPS.

The Kinect is the groundbreaking tech tho, so I expect to see exponential improvements, purely due to the amount of resources that will be thrown at it (or similar tech that may emerge).

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