Kinect Impressions

[Rodster]

Congrats on the decision Dan. I did not pickup the Move for the same reason as both you and Danimal stated, been there done that. If the Wii had never existed I would have been all over the Move Day 1.

I'm going to wait on Kinect until there IS a game that makes me want to buy it like...Grand Slam Tennis 2 !

[MizzouRah]

Maybe I can my Christmas present early?

[GTHobbes]

Thanks everyone for the impressions. Not sure I want to buy a 360 again just for Kinect, at least not before more games are released, but I'm glad to hear initial impressions are all positive. Look forward to keeping up with this thread down the road.

[Feanor]

Giant Bomb have done Quick Looks of almost every Kinect game if you want to see it in action.

[sportdan30]

Has anyone played kinect sports? Curious how it compares to Wii Sports in terms of enjoyment.

[Lancer]

Local Store had Kinect on display and some in stock.

Not really excited about it coming in but after witnessing it it really is impressive.

Lot of kids playing and they seemed to really enjoy it, especially when you don't need a controller.

They had it side by side by Wii and PS3 move and it wasn't even a race, everyone was trying Kinect.

Got to say that PS3 Move looks like a joke compared to Kinect. It's comes of as a gimmick move to compete with Wii and Kinect. The weak color scheme on the ball portion of the controller make it even look more gimmicky. I didnt try it so I know it's an unfair impression but it did not look inviting to play.

Saw the bundle for XB+Kinect for $300 looked good. You also get a game with it which is nice. I'm not sure if I want to buy the thing yet, but with more games coming out, I may consider it. But the sports game look great.

[ScoopBrady]

Has anyone played kinect sports? Curious how it compares to Wii Sports in terms of enjoyment.

Kinect Sports makes Wii Sports completely obsolete IMO. It was a big hit this weekend with myself, my daughter, and my niece, nephew, and my niece's boyfriend.

[Teal]

Damn you people...I don't have the cheddar for this! Stop LIKING IT!!!

[10spro]

Has anyone played kinect sports? Curious how it compares to Wii Sports in terms of enjoyment.

You get a good sweat out of it for sure. Wii who? Really enjoyed volleyball, ping-pong, boxing and bowling. Tried to like soccer, but once you change your settings to PRO, the CPU tends to have a comeback tendency no matter how hard you try to defend. Playing with a teammate helped things a bit.

Need to calibrate the Kinect better for Track & Field as I didn't get good results on the long jump and javelin events.

Worth the $50 bucks IMO.

[sportdan30]

Looks like I'll keep Kinect Sports and pick up Dance Central as those two seem to be the most popular. The fitness game along with Kinectimals are intriguing as well. Even Joy Ride impressed me in the short time I played the demo. I'm actually fairly impressed with the launch lineup compared to the Move. It seems like both launches have gotten fairly luke warm reviews from the media. Cnet reiterated that Kinect has slow load times, which is a little concerning.

I'm contemplating selling the Wii as we have barely played it over the last three or four months. I looked on Craigslist over the last two days, and it seems like there's been a lot more people selling them recently. I wonder if that's due to the Kinect and Move.

[pk500]

I'm contemplating selling the Wii as we have barely played it over the last three or four months.

You're not alone. I haven't touched our Wii in more than six months. My 9-year-old son plays one game on it -- MotoGP 08. And we just got a new family laptop as our old war horse finally died, and I installed the PC version of MotoGP 08 on it. He loves it: Better graphics, more riders in the field, modding might be possible.

So there's another strike against the Wii. My 5-year-old son only plays MotoGP 08 and a bit of Lego Batman, and my 12-year-old daughter plays a bit of Rock Band, and that's it on the Wii.

We only allow very limited Wii time for our kids, but they don't reach for it -- or the former wide variety of games -- nearly as much as they used to. Both my 12-year-old and 5-year-old spend a hell of a lot more time playing games on her iPod Touch than they do the Wii, and my 5-year-old is thrilled to bits by playing Flash games on the PC. He's also a big fan of Battlefield offline on the PC, in a sterling example of parenting by me. The original Call of Duty is next!

The thrill of the Wii definitely has worn off for my three kids. They're all active as hell, both just playing in the yard and in skiing and organized soccer, lacrosse and hockey almost year-round. They don't need the thing to stay fit, so the bloom is definitely off the Wii rose in our household.

[sportdan30]

I understand that completely Paul. My 8 year old son was heavy in to Mario Kart for a good three months. Hasn't touched it in about that long. His friends still come over and beg to play the Wii, but I can tell my son has no desire to really play it except to make his friends happy. Then, they only play it for less than a half hour. There are still some really good games on it, but they just don't interest him (I'm talking the Nintendo made AAA titles).

He toys around on the Ipod a whole lot more now. He loves to download free games and just mess around on there. Plus, he'll stream netflix movies on there as well. But I don't push him to play video games as much as I used to. Finally, he's going off in to his room and reading which surprised and made me smile. He's big in to the Diary of the Wimpy Kid series of books.

With the Kinect, it's a similar but new experience in terms of motion controls. My son and for that matter my daughter are very active children. They both love to be outside when the weather is nice like it has been for the past month. Unfortunately, there's not always kids around for them to play with. I'm not complaining. I love throwing the football or kicking the soccer ball with them, but they need to burn off that extra energy when Dad is tired, they don't have activities going on that particular day, or the weather is too cold. So, Kinect offers a new and innovative way (using your whole body) to work off that excessive energy. We'll see in time if it indeed has staying power. I love the potential, and honestly am not too concerned about it catering to the hard core audience. I don't think it necessarily has to.

[pk500]

That's cool, Dan. My kids just beat the sh*t out of each other indoors to burn off energy when it's raining. I'm only half-kidding ...

And when it's snowy and cold, the little bastards are heading out the door, either skiing or just dicking around out in the snow. I never need to say one word of encouragement for them to do that. They have the winter DNA, just like my wife and me.

[greggsand]

bought one on amazon saturday. they are on back-up but should be here by the 12th.

[Lancer]

Does anyone have the MotionSports game? Only reason I ask is it has Football.

[dbdynsty25]

Does anyone have the MotionSports game? Only reason I ask is it has Football.

Here ya go Lancer...

http://www.pastapadre.com/2010/11/08/ki ... mpressions

[TrojanMan]

Where are you guys getting these demos? Are they on the disc for Kinect Adventures?

[sportdan30]

Where are you guys getting these demos? Are they on the disc for Kinect Adventures?

Yep, they're on the first screen of Kinectic Adventures in the bottom left hand of the screen. It's kind of hard to find if you are too far in to Kinectic Adventures. The best bet is to restart the game and you'll see them (Dance Central, Joyride, and Fitness).

[sportdan30]

Does anyone have the MotionSports game? Only reason I ask is it has Football.

From what I have read thus far, Motion Sports does is pretty bad.

[greggsand]

if anyone is looking for a kinect, I ordered on amazon this weekend. they said it was on back-order until the nov 17th. Anyway, it just shipped & will be here tomorrow. Not too shabby. Beats scouting the local best buys.

[sportdan30]

Just got done playing Kinetc Sports. Holy crap do I need a shower. Not to mention I'm in lousy shape. That track and field wore me out like nobody's business.

Ping Pong - Dare I say I like it better than Sports Champion. It has a bit more lag, but it works and plays very well.

Soccer - My favorite possibly. My son is going to love this one I have a feeling. It's pretty relaxed but fun as well. Playing defense is even fun. I can see a full game of soccer on Kinect!

Bowling - Not as precise as Wii bowling, which is actually good in a way. It's much more challenging and less forgiving. Love how you can reach for a bowling ball and you're good to go! No pressing buttons or releasing a button to throw.

Track and Field - Can't play this one every night. It's tiring! The 100 meters is more enjoyable than I expected, as it the hurdles.

Boxing - I was looking forward to this one the most, and so far it's just alright. I can see the little ones getting discouraged as you really have to block and time your spots. It's pretty exhausting as well. My main concern is that it's not quick enough to recognize your combos.

I haven't even played the mini games yet......and they're supposed to be a blast. So far, this puts Wii Sports to shame. Still, it should have been included with the system. It's definitely better than Kinect Adventures.

[10spro]

Kinect on a Mac?

http://gizmodo.com/5687874/microsoft-ki ... n-mac-os-x

[greggsand]

Got mine via amazon the other day. Very cool technology. I wasn't expecting much from the Adventures game that came with it, but it's a blast. The River Rafting mode with 2 people is pretty hilarious. Haven't picked up anything else yet, but will prob grab Kinnect Sports this weekend.

[sportdan30]

Got mine via amazon the other day. Very cool technology. I wasn't expecting much from the Adventures game that came with it, but it's a blast. The River Rafting mode with 2 people is pretty hilarious. Haven't picked up anything else yet, but will prob grab Kinnect Sports this weekend.

Adventures is fun, but it feels more like a tech demo compared to Sports. I failed to mention in my brief review of Sports is that it's got pretty decent presentation. There's some humorous commentary along with quick snippits of modern day and classic rock. It's definitely a work out.

That Dance Central game seems to be the most popular right now. That and Sports should hold me over quite a while I'm thinking. Definitely want to try the fitness game that's out now (Your Shape). I can't believe that EA Sports Active 2 is going to cost so much!

[ScoopBrady]

I think that EA Sports Active 2 costs that much because of the heart rate monitor included.