Kinect Impressions

[Danimal]

I don't know why but I bought one at lunch with Dance Central.

Tonight is board game night but I may not go and go home and try this out.

Post more later..

[Rodster]

Not to pee on anyone's parade but apparently Kinect has trouble recognizing certain skin tones.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6283514.ht ... Btitle%3B1

[fsquid]

Not to pee on anyone's parade but apparently Kinect has trouble recognizing certain skin tones.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6283514.ht ... Btitle%3B1

so it is racist?

[Danimal]

Won't effect me.

[Rodster]

so it is racist?

Some tried to make it that way.

Won't effect me.

Doesn't affect me either.

[ScoopBrady]

Giant Bomb is doing a live stream all day of the Kinect. If they are not live check back.

http://www.giantbomb.com/chat/

[Teal]

so it is racist?

Some tried to make it that way.

Won't effect me.

Doesn't affect me either.

Seriously? Sheesh, some people...

[greggsand]

if it doesn't recognize you, you can just sign in with a controller. gamespot reported some people with darker skin had recog problems, where others with dark skin did not. Regardless, calling kinect racist is a pretty irresistible 'line' posting around the web. I laughed when I read it.

I'll prob buy one once a more demanding workout 'game' hits the market. I've read the current one is more of a beginner's game.

[JackB1]

Is the Kinect MS's answer to the Wi motion controller?

[Rodster]

Is the Kinect MS's answer to the Wi motion controller?

No, Kinect is a camera that uses natural body motion. In certain games like bowling if you shake your tush you'll see your character on screen do the same.

[pk500]

If Vivid releases a Kinect porn game, then I'll consider it. Otherwise, I'll pass.

[Diablo25]

LOL, I Preordered one a while ago and it arrived about an hour ago. I must say, it's pretty cool. I haven't played Kinect Adventures (bundled game) yet but just setting the damn thing up was fun. It was kinda creepy in a fun way. I'm messing with all the gestures and audio commands right now. It's a whole new way to get around the dashboard. All you do is precede every audio command with "Xbox" and you are on your way. I was just in the Kinect hub and I said, "Xbox Dashboard". Damned if the thing didn't go right back to the dashboard It also signs you in by facial recognition..hehe. I'm waiting for George Jetson to walk in the room with Astro! More impressions later.

[Rodster]

[RobVarak]

I'd be tempted just for the cool factor of manipulating the menus etc., but reviewers are almost unanimously saying that doing so is slower and less effective than using the controller. Think I'll wait until there's actually a game for it that interests me.

[Danimal]

Well my initial impressions are very positive.

While the Move had a "been there, done that" feel to it. The Kinect is totally new experience (duh!) first I had to put this on one of my secondary Xboxes because my main slim is in the Theatre room and there is not enough room down there for the girls to go crazy.

Setup was easy, for once the cord from the Kinect and the ac adapter (needed if you have an old xbox) are really long. So I didn't read any instructions or mess with voice commands I just got in to the games.

Kinect Adventures was a lot of fun. Rallyball is an easy to play game that will definitely get you moving. I also did the raft thing which I found a little less responsive (i didn't watch the instruction might be the reason) seeing the goofy pictures after the games was making me laugh. Once the girls got going on it they were laughing non-stop.

I put in Dance Central and that game is a blast. I'm not a good dancer but i could hang with the first dance anyway. My girls loved this game and it had that addictive Rockband feel to it.

I'm actually quite blown away by how well this thing works, YMMV of course but I was skeptical based on all the naysayers but it is a lot of fun. I couldn't see myself playing an rpg on this but it has a lot of potential for different type of games.

I recorded some videos I'll try to get them online over the weekend.

[sportdan30]

Nice impressions. How is the voice command feature which I hear is really responsive?

Also in your opinion which is the better kid oriented system, Move or Kinect? Move while seemingly responsive and accurate seems a little more daunting with the number of controls. Does that sound valid? I do like that you don't have to buy extra controllers with Kinect.

[Rodster]

Nice impressions. How is the voice command feature which I hear is really responsive?

Also in your opinion which is the better kid oriented system, Move or Kinect? Move while seemingly responsive and accurate seems a little more daunting with the number of controls. Does that sound valid? I do like that you don't have to buy extra controllers with Kinect.

Dan I don't have either but check this out. It's from the Kinectimals review:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010- ... als-review

"Here's the thing: Kinectimals actually does pretty much everything that the other launch titles do (alright, except Dance Central), and in a much more adorable way. Want to race a car with an imaginary steering wheel, like in Joy Ride? You can drive a remote control car around a track with a tiny tiger balancing on top of it. Want to flail your limbs at balls, like in Adventures' Rallyball? You can do that, too, playing kickball with a prancing baby cheetah."

"Kids will absolutely love Kinectimals, although very small ones will probably have trouble with the disciplined positioning that Kinect needs to work properly. I'd have gone completely mental over this when I was eight and owned a menagerie of stuffed lions and tigers. Kinectimals is actually releasing alongside a series of plush toys, with tags that you can scan to bring them to life in the game as well. Maybe children aren't so easily impressed by technology nowadays, but I'd have thought that was just magical.

Where some Kinect launch titles consist of one or two decent ideas stretched painfully thin, Kinectimals has plenty of different challenges in a lovely, adorable framework. And it really is irresistibly cute. But it's also limited, and repetitive, and overly prescriptive, scared of letting you just play around and experiment without giving you constant, intrusive goals.

Children won't care as much about the hand-holding, though, and people with a sensitive cuteness reflex will be willing to forgive everything that's wrong with Kinectimals every time their panther cub rolls over and bats the air with those big furry paws. Of all the Kinect launch titles, this is perhaps the one with the most actual substance. Hopefully it's but a hint of things to come."

[sportdan30]

I was curious because my six year old has trouble with the Wii controller and I'm thinking this would be a lot more accessible than the Move possibly. Not to mention she loves to dance.

[Diablo25]

Nice impressions. How is the voice command feature which I hear is really responsive?

Also in your opinion which is the better kid oriented system, Move or Kinect? Move while seemingly responsive and accurate seems a little more daunting with the number of controls. Does that sound valid? I do like that you don't have to buy extra controllers with Kinect.

I found the audio controls to be very responsive. You can navigate the new ESPN thing totally with the audio controls. The audio controls only work with Zune videos...not videos from a Media Center connected PC, etc. I'm hoping that can be enhanced with future software updates. I think there is a lot of potential for growth with this thing.

As far as Move vs. Kinect and kids, I would have to say Kinect. I have limited play time with any games (only Adventures and the other demos on the disc) but they are fun. There are more dimensions to the Kinect games. Kids, IMO, will be more enthralled with Kinect.

[Danimal]

Nice impressions. How is the voice command feature which I hear is really responsive?

Also in your opinion which is the better kid oriented system, Move or Kinect? Move while seemingly responsive and accurate seems a little more daunting with the number of controls. Does that sound valid? I do like that you don't have to buy extra controllers with Kinect.

I haven't tried the voice controls and for whatever reason I can't get my Live account to work on this secondary xbox. Has something changed can you only use your gold account from one machine now?

As far as kids this is all i can tell you. I have a 7 year old and soon to be 6 year old girl. I got the Move and Eye Pet and while there were a lot of "aww" moments the kids had trouble with the controller (my 7 year old is very video game savy) for whatever reason it's didn't seem to work well with Eye Pet.

Kinect got my 5 year old to say she wanted to play and she never has done that with the Wi or anything else. The games are so intuitive to what you do, kicking and hitting balls, dancing which they love. They were really laughing and having fun. My wife was even eager to try it which is an amazing feat.

It's a small sample size but they went to bed asking to play again tomorrow, they have yet to ask to play Eye Pet again.

I think what surprised me was how much fun I had. I certainly don't want to stand up and play every video game I own. But playing 60 minutes of Dance central and Kincet Adventures and i was sweating.

[Macca00]

Not to pee on anyone's parade but apparently Kinect has trouble recognizing certain skin tones.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6283514.ht ... Btitle%3B1

Consumer Reports has already debunked this;

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electr ... video.html

[greggsand]

I was curious because my six year old has trouble with the Wii controller and I'm thinking this would be a lot more accessible than the Move possibly. Not to mention she loves to dance.

when i watch my nephew rock the wii controller, i'm constantly flinching thinking that thing will go flying across the room sooner or later. kinect could save you from a broken tv screen (though your coffee table could be at risk).

[Rodster]

I'm now seriously thinking of picking up one of these things. Did MS release a Arcade Kinect bundle? I also read that Microsoft is bringing Kinect to the PC at a later date, maybe around the time of Windows 8. Would be cool to have my PC do things similar like in the Minority Report.

[Naples39]

I was curious because my six year old has trouble with the Wii controller and I'm thinking this would be a lot more accessible than the Move possibly. Not to mention she loves to dance.

when i watch my nephew rock the wii controller, i'm constantly flinching thinking that thing will go flying across the room sooner or later. kinect could save you from a broken tv screen (though your coffee table could be at risk).

http://becauseitoldyouso.blogspot.com/2 ... is-tv.html

[Danimal]

You have to be all kinds of stupid to break your TV while using any motion devices.

My neighbors kid wasn't wearing the strap on a wimote and threw it through a 60 inch plasma tv. His Dad was not happy.