Kinect Impressions

[vader29]

So after all the positive impressions I'm now interested in getting one and all of the local stores are sold out, f***in Oprah!

[fsquid]

we can blame it on Oprah? Very nice.

[Naples39]

we can blame it on Oprah? Very nice.

A rather inexplicable moment.

[Danimal]

I'm pretty sure if she told her f***in lemming audience they were going home with a free pile of s***, courtesy of her ass they would still scream.

[dbdynsty25]

I'm pretty sure if she told her f***in lemming audience they were going home with a free pile of s***, courtesy of her ass they would still scream.

I would...you know how much that would bring in on eBay or craigslist?

[Naples39]

I'm pretty sure if she told her f***in lemming audience they were going home with a free pile of s***, courtesy of her ass they would still scream.

You're probably right---there were reports of near riots at KFC's of people trying to redeem free chicken coupons from Oprah's website last year. LOL

[greggsand]

I had a kinect under my arm at Best Buy & actually put it back down and walked out. No idea why. I did think about how COD comes out next week, and the kinect is likely to just sit there for a couple weeks while I geek out on COD.

[Danimal]

Me dancing tonight to Poison was worth the price of the thing by itself. I think my wife laughed so hard she peed herself.

[10spro]

Definitely got a good sweat out of 'Reflex Ridge'.

[ScoopBrady]

Me dancing tonight to Poison was worth the price of the thing by itself. I think my wife laughed so hard she peed herself.

Same thing happened at my house except substitute Poison with Poker Face.

[Diablo25]

I'm interested in how good some of the fitness games are. Ubisoft's Fitness Evolved game looked pretty good. I trid the demo but it was very limited. I'm not sure on the other games (EA Sports Active 2.0, etc.). Anyone heard anything on these?

[sportdan30]

I'm interested in how good some of the fitness games are. Ubisoft's Fitness Evolved game looked pretty good. I trid the demo but it was very limited. I'm not sure on the other games (EA Sports Active 2.0, etc.). Anyone heard anything on these?

I've only read positive impressions about the fitness game. One review said it's far superior to anything the Wii has put out.

[sportdan30]

On a whim, I went out and purchased the 4GB Xbox 360 bundle with Kinect. It's been over three years since I've owned a 360, and a lot has changed with regards to the dashboard. Still adjusting to that at this time.

With regards to Kinect, I'm pleasantly surprised. I do think the packed in game is rather bare bones even compared to Wii Sports. I believe there are five mini games, two of which I have played thus far. All the while I was playing the rafting game and the rally ball game, I kept thinking how much fun my kids will have with this. My 8 year old son will obviously thoroughly enjoy it, but I was thinking about how my my six year old daughter would as well. She never could grasp the Wii remote and center it very well. Without a controller, I think she will be more comfortable. I never did purchase one of those charging stations for the Wii, so going through batteries won't be a problem any longer.

I guess you could call me somewhat of a graphics whore as I never could quite allow myself to enjoy the Wii games because they seemed too babyish or blurry in terms of graphics. What I like about Kinect is that you feel you are playing a next gen style motion control game. I'm amazed that your whole body is involved in the game. A prime example is the rally ball game. I had to keep reminding myself to move my body to the left or to the right to kick the balls, or reach for a ball that was far to the right or left of me. Lag is somewhat noticeable, but it's not significant whatsoever. I definitely was tired after one game of rally ball (doesn't say much for my stamina). The rafting game was also pretty fun to play. You move your body to the left and right to steer, and jump to get air on the raft. At the end the race, you see a picture of yourself which is quite embarrassing, but humorous none the less. It's really a cool addition that I wasn't expecting.

I played the demo of Dance Central, and indeed that's a must have title for this system. The freestyle mode is cool, and watching it play your video back at 10 times the speed is hilarious. I just know the kids will get a kick out of that.

I will go as far to say that this could make the Wii collect even more dust than it already has on it. This is definitely a get up and move type add-on, and does it very well. Being able to control the menus with your hand is also obviously very cool. It's rather nice not having to worry about having a strapped on controller. Additionally, the voice recognition is excellent. It'll recognize your voice even if speaking at a normal tone.

All in all, color me impressed. I have a 90 day return policy on the system as I bought it from Wal-Mart. That should allow the family enough time to see if it's going to be a huge hit in the house. At this early juncture, I definitely believe it will.

[MizzouRah]

Will Dan keep it or take it back?

I can't wait to get this for Christmas, it's going to be hard for me to read these impressions!

[sportdan30]

Will Dan keep it or take it back?

I can't wait to get this for Christmas, it's going to be hard for me to read these impressions!

Well, funny you should mention it.......

I'm having a little buyer's remorse, but not because of Kinect. I think it's very impressive and if the 360 was my only console in the house, I would for sure keep it. However, as I finished writing my impressions, my wife and son came home from the eye doctor. It seems my son's eyes have grown progressively worse over the last six months. So bad in fact that he needs new glasses now. Not next month or the beginning of the year. I wasn't expecting one of these "life happens" problems. Here I spent $325 for the Xbox 360 along with Kinect, and now I'm looking to pay right around that for glasses. I think what I plan on doing is seeing how well the Move plays, and determine if spending $100 makes more sense than having an additional system in the house. Plus, I'm very excited to see how that ping pong game plays on Sports Champion.

Stay tuned.....

[Rodster]

Will Dan keep it or take it back?

I can't wait to get this for Christmas, it's going to be hard for me to read these impressions!

My vote says it's going back.

[10spro]

Will Dan keep it or take it back?

I can't wait to get this for Christmas, it's going to be hard for me to read these impressions!

My vote says it's going back.

Shouldn't be a tough one Dan. Your son's eye health or gaming on another console.

[vader29]

Was able to find one today and after only an hour of play with Kinect Sports I've come to these conclusions, it works really well and is very fun and I am really out of shape.

[Diablo25]

Was able to find one today and after only an hour of play with Kinect Sports I've come to these conclusions, it works really well and is very fun and I am really out of shape.

I'm gonna pick up Kinect Sports eventually. Ping Pong looks very fun.

[greggsand]

Will Dan keep it or take it back?

I can't wait to get this for Christmas, it's going to be hard for me to read these impressions!

My vote says it's going back.

Shouldn't be a tough one Dan. Your son's eye health or gaming on another console.

I don't know. How big is the hard drive??

[Sport73]

I'll add to the many positive impressions already posted.

I picked up the Kinect on launch day, but didn't get any other games because I wasn't sure it was a keeper.

Upon setting it up, I knew there was no way it was going back; the simple act of navigating menus with your bare hands is cool enough for a tech geek like me to 'need' to have. Threw in Kinect Adventures, and it proved that the controls worked for games as well, and that it was an entirely different experience than the Wii (dust) or PS3 Move (really like it - ping-pong = crack).

The next day, I traded in some games and decided to get Kinectimals for my daughter. She loves animals and especially those in the cat family. She's loving Kinectimals and I find it fun watch her and see how seamless the Kinect makes machine-person interaction.

The real selling point is in the next chapter of the story. My neighbors popped by last night while my daughter was playing Kinectimals. They're not gamers, but enjoy cool stuff, so I showed off a bit of what Kinect can do and played Adventures with them. After working a sweat, everyone was impressed, but we wanted more. So at 8:59 I sprinted to the nearby Best Buy and bought Dance Central based on the recommendations from DSP. Got it back, and the girls were quickly in on the action. Throw in some wine, and the laughs were constant. Everyone had a lot of fun; they we're quick to comment when I saw them this morning how much fun they had.

So. What all that means is that if you have (besides the space, an XBox, and the $) kids (especially in the 6-12 range), or neighbors that you hang home with a bit, then Kinect is a no-brained worthwhile purchase. If your sans-kids and generally play alone, then there is no rush, because while it's cool technologies the games are not for the hardcore (yet, hopefully).

[Feanor]

Have you guys had any trouble organizing enough space to use your Kinect without issues?

Joystiq had a good write up about how Kinect works with different living rooms/gaming rooms.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/04/kinec ... -a-survey/

[Danimal]

Not really, I keep hearing about issues and what not and I don't understand the thing works flawlessly for me so far. We're constantly switching up who is playing on the fly and it never has an issue. In terms of space we're about 6-8 feet back from the unit and having no issues. My 5 year old gets a little too close to the TV when she gets into it but the Kinect has a seamless way of letting you know when you're too close, too far etc.

I'm just happy my 5 year old can now play games with me, she never got into the Wi. My family and i played Dance Central for about 2 hours tonight, then went and watched Toy Story 3 on the PS3. Really great family night and I'm just glad I own both consoles.

[10spro]

My kid is almost 5 and while kids tend to get too close to the tube, the kinect is great at finding you should you step out offline. Of course you may lose a step or two if you're too close to the TV but overall I had no problems with my reception. Our set up is about 7' from the TV but if you got the room I suggest 9'-10 feet away from the main screen to get the most of it.

Enjoyed the adventures and Kinect Sports and based from this thread, I'll be trying my dancing moves with 'Dance Central'.

I still have John Daly under wraps for the move, but playing without a controller is pretty cool.

[sportdan30]

Since there are no ladies on this board....drum roll please....gentlemen, I kept it! Seems the wife had some money she's been saving for the holidays, and was really impressed with Kinect. She thinks the kids are going to love it which I of course agree. However, I want to show them this cool new toy NOW. But she's steadfast that we need to wait until December 1st (first night of Chanukah). Hey, it's better than waiting all the way to the 25th!

Anyways, I did pick up the Move earlier this evening and just couldn't see myself enjoying or playing this long term. As Danimal has commented on, it felt too similar to the Wii, but with better graphics. Yes, the ping pong game was very good, but I just couldn't shake my excitement for Kinect. It didn't help when my son kept hitting the PS button on the Move controller and going to the XMB dashboard. Plus the fact, the control layout and buttons seemed awfully confusing for my six year old daughter. I played a little more Kinect Adventures (that plug the hole game, and the obstacle course....great fun). I then proceeded to check out the fitness demo which was really something! It only allows you to play the punching the blocks gym game, but even that was fun. I could see these fitness games really being a good workout. And I even tried out Joyride which was pretty enjoyable as well. Not necessarily a purchase, but I'd love to rent it and see all what it has to offer.