Kinect Impressions

[MizzouRah]

Had my brother, sister, and my neighbors over last night.. two more kinects are being picked up today, they are sold on it.

Again, I'm really surprised at how good each of these games are, sports, dance central, adventures, kinectamals..

My wife bought Just Dance 2 for the family on the Wii and after we tried to have fun with it.. we both said, this is lame let's put Dance Central back in and play the kinect.

There is something about playing games without any controllers that really ups the fun factor!

[Aristo]

Had my brother, sister, and my neighbors over last night.. two more kinects are being picked up today, they are sold on it.

Again, I'm really surprised at how good each of these games are, sports, dance central, adventures, kinectamals..

My wife bought Just Dance 2 for the family on the Wii and after we tried to have fun with it.. we both said, this is lame let's put Dance Central back in and play the kinect.

There is something about playing games without any controllers that really ups the fun factor!

Yep. I'm really looking forward to a solid boxing simulator, as well as picking up some other solo type sports games. We just have Adventures and Dance Central right now. And I'm just not a Dance Central kind of guy. But the wife and daughter had insane amounts of fun playing it.

I still suspect that golf and bowling will be more suited to motion controllers. I have to believe the slight twists the produce the spin in bowling and slices and hooks in golf will be better simulated with that controller in hand.

Big picture, I still wonder if the Kinect can generate the same kind of revenue was the Wii as a peripheral. If it lags much at all, it will affect future development. They can still only sell games to a % of 360 owners ( the move has the same limitation). But a Wii game goes to 100% of Wii owners. It will be interesting to see how software sales start to stack up.

But for me personally, having it as a peripheral is perfect. Instead of having every 360 game forced into Kinect, I get the best of both worlds. So while the Kinect got a lot of love this weekend, so did Assassin's Creed and Rock Band 3. The 360 has really become an amazing hub of great ways to consume media. I watched basketball on ESPN via the 360. I watched some TV via Netflix and Zune. We played Kinect and regular video games.

Other than some core franchises, the Wii just became irrelevant in our house. I'd say the lackluster epic Mickey just highlighted just how out of tune the Wii is.

[pigpen81]

Our Kinect at school is used almost daily by our 18 different physical education classes.

Between Your Shape, Dance Central and Zumba, we are super happy with it.

I really hope they continue to expand the fitness/dance offerings and judging by the sales they will. As long as they make them where 40 kids can follow along

Also, I LOVE Kinect Sports. My 4 year old and I had a blast with it.

It would be a dream if they could expand on the Kinect soccer. A backyard sports soccer style game would be off the charts cool if they made it similar to Kinect Sports soccer.


FWIW, we also use the Wii at school, (I love system selectors), in the same manner as Kinect for Just Dance 2 and it is super fun.

[MizzouRah]

I believe the kinect will only get better with updates and the games should flow now that it's sold many more than I think they were expecting this early.

[Aristo]

So we just haqve Kinect Adventures and Dance central. I want to pick up one of the sports games, but there seems to be three choices.

Any opinions between Kinect Sports, Motion Sports, and Deca Sports?

[sportdan30]

Kinect Sports...the others are shovelware crap!

[10spro]

We like Kinect Sports. With the exception of Soccer which seems to be oriented more towards the kids, beach V-ball, bowling and Track are a lot of fun. Ditto for Ping-Pong although I had my share of frustrations with it as the camera seems to hit and miss quite a bit. Overall, you'll enjoy KS more than the other games mentioned and they also added some cool mini-games in their latest update.

[Spooky]

Okay Kinect guys...sell me on why I should get this over the Move...! I am torn between both. (FYI...I am going to post the opposite in the PS3 Move thread rather than starting a big debate in an entirely new thread).

I have no kids and am not overly social (my GF likes gaming but we both sold our Wii's in the last 6 months and have no regrets). I have enough space for a Kinect but not sure if I want to be moving around all the time. Killzone 3 and Socom 4 look pretty awesome and even something as simple as that Top Darts game looks great to me. I primarily sold my Wii not because of the motion control aspect, but because of the 3rd wheel feeling and the non-HD graphics. I have no idea about the upcoming Kinect library and am not sure I am interested in fitness games/software.

[Rodster]

Spooky it sounds like the Move is a better fit for you right now since you want those games. The bigger question is how will the Move translate to those games? I've seen too many games use a new tech and were poorly implemented.

Personally if I were choosing between the two i'd go with Kinect because it's the cooler tech, it's outselling the Move i.e. Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD. So likely Kinect will see more support, who knows for sure. Also Kinect is well integrated with the Xbox 360 menu system along with voice commands.

[Danimal]

Okay Kinect guys...sell me on why I should get this over the Move...!

With all due respect, why should I sell you on anything? Go try both the proof is in the pudding as they say.

As Rod said I'm not even sure you need an answer, you like 2 games coming out for the PS3 with Move support and you don't want to (excuse the pun) move around. Sounds like a pretty clear case that you know what you should get. The Kinect is not the Wi Mote 2.0, then Move is with HD graphics which is pretty much what you said you wanted.

[MizzouRah]

Pretty much what Danimal said.. if you don't want to move around, don't get the kinect.

[Spooky]

Okay Kinect guys...sell me on why I should get this over the Move...!

With all due respect, why should I sell you on anything? Go try both the proof is in the pudding as they say.

As Rod said I'm not even sure you need an answer, you like 2 games coming out for the PS3 with Move support and you don't want to (excuse the pun) move around. Sounds like a pretty clear case that you know what you should get. The Kinect is not the Wi Mote 2.0, then Move is with HD graphics which is pretty much what you said you wanted.

Thanks for the input. I was just asking for advice. I'm not really sure how to just 'try both'. Demo'ing at Best Buy is not what I'd call trying them out.

My apologies if my wording was a bit strong.

I know it sounds like I've sold myself on the Move but that's not entirely true. I woke up today convinced I was going to get the Kinect.

[Spooky]

Thanks guys. The reason I mentioned those two games is because they look pretty badass and I truly don't know about any new games coming out for the Kinect. I was hoping some of you could perhaps educate me on stuff I was missing regarding the Kinect.

[Danimal]

Thanks guys. The reason I mentioned those two games is because they look pretty badass and I truly don't know about any new games coming out for the Kinect. I was hoping some of you could perhaps educate me on stuff I was missing regarding the Kinect.

I honestly don't know of any Kinect games on the horizon, I expect to see a lot of shovelware crap now that devs see it sold a ton. But real great games worth getting, idk of any which is why I can't give any better input.

[Rodster]

Thanks guys. The reason I mentioned those two games is because they look pretty badass and I truly don't know about any new games coming out for the Kinect. I was hoping some of you could perhaps educate me on stuff I was missing regarding the Kinect.

I honestly don't know of any Kinect games on the horizon, I expect to see a lot of shovelware crap now that devs see it sold a ton. But real great games worth getting, idk of any which is why I can't give any better input.

IIRC Forza 4 is built around Kinect and that's it's biggest selling point as it's basically Forza 3.

Impressions: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/driving ... 3Bpreviews

"The most delightful surprise of the driving experience was seeing the way the game tracks the movement of your head and shoulders. Leaning side to side twists the interior cockpit view to get a better perspective of your periphery, while moving toward and away from the camera allows you to zoom your view in and out--something that might prove useful when trying to make out a distant turn on an unfamiliar track. Turn 10 seemed proud of the visual improvements they've made to the cockpit view thus far, with a number of shaders added to better reflect the way light and shadows dance around the interior of the car.

After this race, it was on to the car experience. You got the gist of what this mode is all about in our initial update--it's basically a tool to let you use Kinect to walk around a car, look at it from different angles, and basically just use technology to ogle a beautiful car like you'd never be able to in real life. Kinect tracks your movements, including crouching to stare at the headlights, and tiliting your head to quickly pan around to the other side. Raising up your hand produces a number of highlight points to interact with the car. Doing so on the door allows you to open the car up and take a look inside, while highlighting the paintbrush icon lets you paint the car on the fly.

This car-viewing mode definitely strikes us as something that existing Forza fans are going to gobble up, while the controller-free driving seems like another gesture to welcome in casual fans of the racing genre."

[Danimal]

Ok so I Googled because it got me curious.

http://123kinect.com/kinect-games/

That a list of games, no idea what some of them are.

[ScoopBrady]

Well, Spooky, all I can offer is that I don't know of a single person who tried the Move and went out and got one and I also don't know a single person who tried the Kinect and didn't. Honestly though, you really should try them both out.

[Rodster]

Well, Spooky, all I can offer is that I don't know of a single person who tried the Move and went out and got one and I also don't know a single person who tried the Kinect and didn't. Honestly though, you really should try them both out.

That right there sums it up best, Spooky. Everyone who's tried Kinect has been impressed whereas most who try the Move compare it to the WiiMote with better graphics.

[Aristo]

Yeah, so far I would say the key with Kinect is that it is just an option for some games. There will be no need to be jumping around all of the time. But really, the move is n the same boat.

But this is what has soured me on the Wii the most. Every game uses the darn waggle, and most don't really need it. I like that I can use the Kinect stuff when I want, but I can also play most games that way I enjoy playing them.

I will say the the interface stuff is neat. But really, it is way less convenient than using a controller. I may pick-up a 360 remote, because I have been watching a ton of movies lately, and have even taken to using the 360 to watch DVDs. but I have no real interest in using the voice and motion commands to play videos.

Overall, I'd say Spooky should just get the Move. It's not a bad deal for a single user household, and it has the games you want. If you had a need for multiple controllers, the Kinect is cheaper.

But right now, all I am really hankering for is a good boxing sim. I will pick-up Kinect Sports at some point, which will leave me with Dance central, Kinect Adventures, and Kinect Sports. Other than that, I may pick-up a fitness game at some point, but I am in full wait and see mode on that. My daughter wants Kinectimals, but she will be using her own cash for that. She is flush from Christmas, and I have doubts that at 13 she will really spend enough time with it to be worth it. So I will see how much she really wants it.

[Spooky]

Thanks everyone. See...I have these glorified images of getting together with a bunch of people and having SO much fun with Kinect only to come back to reality and know that it's pretty much just my GF and I. I truly wonder if it's the family/social aspect that has the Kinect edging out the Move for most people.

All I know is that my GF will give me SOOOO much sh*t if I buy this thing and it ends up sitting there collecting dust in a month or two.

[pigpen81]

Okay Kinect guys...sell me on why I should get this over the Move...! I am torn between both. (FYI...I am going to post the opposite in the PS3 Move thread rather than starting a big debate in an entirely new thread).

I have no kids and am not overly social (my GF likes gaming but we both sold our Wii's in the last 6 months and have no regrets). I have enough space for a Kinect but not sure if I want to be moving around all the time. Killzone 3 and Socom 4 look pretty awesome and even something as simple as that Top Darts game looks great to me. I primarily sold my Wii not because of the motion control aspect, but because of the 3rd wheel feeling and the non-HD graphics. I have no idea about the upcoming Kinect library and am not sure I am interested in fitness games/software.

I agree with Rodster.....for a single player gamer, the Move may be the way to go for you Spooky.

[Danimal]

This is how I look at it. I own both, my Move hasn't been touched since the day after AI bought it. The Kinect has gotten a lot of use but through just 4 games, and 80% of that use is with Dance Central an EASA2. I play the Kinect (DC to be exact) when I am alone but I really don't play much else at this point. I'm excluding EASA 2 as something I play if that makes sense.

If anyone tells you Kinect isn't impressive piece of technology they are IMO either full of s*** or have never used it for more then a few minutes. The Kinect is a new piece of Technology, the Move is the evolution of the Wimote, with some upgrades and HD graphics. Whether that new tech appeals to you or not is another matter, but as a piece of technology it blows other motion controllers away, period.

All of that means dick when it comes to where these thing will be at in a year. New Technology doesn't mean success in the long term. That list of Kinnect games leaves me wanting, however I also have no desire to play a shooter with the Move. The games I would want to play, fighting games, role playing games etc I would want to play without holding a controller, it certainly doesn't mean it will happen however.

As someone said in one of these threads it really comes down to the games you want to play, but I would add the games you want to play with a motion controller. Will you play SOCOM 4 of KZ3 or MLB the Show for more then a few minutes with the Move? If the answer is yes the problem solved. However if you want a motion controller to play motion games then you've already played the Move, it's called the Wi. So if you want a new motion gaming experience then the Kinect is a great choice.

I don't think you can look at either the Move or Kinect as a replacement for regular controllers and games. You need to look at them for what they are, a new way to play some specially made games. I think the big misconception is people think these will replace controllers and they won't.

Anyway my final 2 cents.

[sportdan30]

My two cents. If you have kids and/or host a lot of parties, get the Kinect. If 90 percent of the time it's just going to be you and your girlfriend, do not get it. The newness will wear out sooner than you think. This is an add-on that brings families and friends together, but will not necessarily hold up well alone or with just one other person.

As far as the Move, I would sit on your hands and wait before purchasing. See how the reviews shake out on the two games that interest you the most. You'll get a good sense from other gamers and media reviews.

There is a lot of potential for both systems, but IMO the games are limited at this time.

[MizzouRah]

My two daughters have played the kinect non-stop since we got it, they absolutely love it.

Funny too as my brother just showed up a few minutes ago to see if he could "dance".

I had to kick them off to watch the Mizzou game tonight. My youngest just took her Christmas $$$ and bought Kinect joy ride tonight too.

[webdanzer]

Is anyone else's 360 having a hard time recognizing the Kinect Adventures disk? Mine is, on two different copies, now, and other accounts of it seem to be popping up a bit online.

Other games (Kinect and otherwise) working okay.