Quote :

"Kinect is not going to ever be integrated into a console itself. All you tards saying that just show how little you actually understand how it works. The damn thing is motorized."

Because packaging a peripheral with a console at retail is... you know... totally unheard of and impossible.


Also, just a quick overview of how immersion works in games:

You do not feel more immersed in the gaming experience by having to move your arms in a manner similar to that of the character you play as. Immersion is created by minimizing the response time between your decision to take an action and that action taking place on-screen. This is best done through the use of small movements that compliment the user's twitch reflexes, such as near-instant button presses, not more drawn-out and deliberate motions.

That said, head tracking and potentially eye-tracking (I don't know if they're trying to add eye-tracking or not, but it'd be amazing if they did) are the good sorts of motion tracking because they do have the potential to reduce the response time between brain and screen. If these things are implemented, and implemented well, I don't doubt it could be the future standard of gaming... but hand-wave motions and "realistic"-looking actions are just a good gimmick to draw in the non-gamers and wii users.

[Edited on July 14, 2010 at 7:02 PM. Reason : .]

7/14/2010 6:50:52 PM

Kinect officially priced at 150, and comes with kinect adventures.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1106913p1.html

Quote :

"For those new to Xbox 360, Microsoft will have a special Kinect console bundle available at the November 4 launch of the sensor. For $299 (or £249.99/€299.99 in Europe), the bundle will include an Xbox 360 console, the Kinect sensor and Kinect Adventures. The Xbox 360 will be the previously confirmed $199 redesigned Xbox 360, not the 250 GB model that has spurred sales in the past month. "

That's a pretty good deal and will definitely drive sales. The $199 xbox will only have 4gb of flash memory but probably enough for people who would buy it for kinect.

[Edited on July 22, 2010 at 2:55 AM. Reason : Also games will be $10 cheaper to compete directly with wii]

7/22/2010 2:48:55 AM

Kinect available for preorder at toys r us or $90

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/37028/xbox-360-kinect-sensor-(preorder)

That's already 33% off msrp and cheaper than the bundle price. I bet 99 is closer to the actual price this thin gets sold at, with a bundle price closer to 49

7/22/2010 3:21:12 AM

Quote :

"What critics are saying Although the Kinect technology is generally impressing most critics, and the system’s control scheme possesses a definite wow factor (at least in the short term), a number of complaints are appearing in multiple reviews. Among them: * Space. Unless you don’t have a coffee table or much furniture in your Xbox room (and you do have an Xbox room, don’t you?), you are probably going to need to rearrange most of your furnishings in order to clear space to play. Microsoft recommends at least 6 feet of unobstructed space, but reviewers are finding that 8-10 feet is better, especially for multi-player games. If your room isn’t that big to begin with, you might be out of luck. Mounting your sensor bar high up seems to improve matters a bit, but you’ll have to pay extra for a stand or mount. * Time. The use of the Kinect seems to slow down the boot process and can make navigating through menus a bit slower than when using a regular controller (though the voice commands do seem to work well for most people). But even though it is sometimes noticeable, lag does not seem to be a factor when playing games. * Recognition. After an initial setup, the Kinect is supposed to recognize your face on later visits, automatically signing you into the system. The accuracy of that Kinect ID feature has been spotty at best for most reviewers, with anything from wearing glasses to ambient lighting to skin color seemingly throwing off the sensor. * Interface. Want to use the Kinect to navigate through the console’s menu system? You can, but only using a separate, more minimal Kinect Hub, which critics found too limited and Kinect controls too inconsistently implemented from application to application. On the other hand, using voice commands to control the applications? That seems to be a hit (when they work). * Physicality. Though this could be a benefit rather than a complaint, prolonged Kinect-ing is a real workout (even if you aren’t playing one of the several games actually designed for exercise), and many reviewers reported being sore the next day. (Having to move all your furniture around probably won’t help matters.) * Games. Much as when the PlayStation Move launched, critics are complaining about a lack of solid launch titles for the new control system; only Dance Central seems to have anything to recommend it. If there is a consensus, it is as expected: the Kinect is a piece of cool technology that certainly has potential to be a game-changer down the line, but at launch, it is an expensive novelty that will be of little interest to hardcore gamers. Below is a publication-by-publication sampling of the critical response to Microsoft’s new controller. We have grouped the reviews based on the general level of enthusiasm for the product, from most to least positive. If a publication assigned a score to the review, it is listed below (converted to a 100-point scale if necessary for purposes of comparison); otherwise, we did not attempt to assign scores to reviews that did not have them. Click on any publication name to read the full review."

http://features.metacritic.com/features/2010/microsoft-xbox-kinect-review-roundup/

11/5/2010 2:27:45 PM

Fuck dropping $150 on this thing on top of $50-60 for each game.

11/5/2010 2:31:45 PM

will it report you if you play naked?

11/5/2010 4:13:04 PM

i tried playing naked, but it thought i was playing with a small child in the room. GET IT, IM HUGE.

11/5/2010 5:22:30 PM

Anyone have any thoughts to share with us on it?

11/9/2010 10:43:23 AM

I've posted in a few threads. Here's my summary:

Great piece of tech, hit-or-miss implementation, not enough interface usage/standardization. Will probably be extremely awesome after several software updates and a developer that really takes advantage of the voice+motion control.

Dance Central is pure fun and works perfectly. You dance, it notices when you mess up, it even helps you nail the moves before doing the whole routine. The moves are full body (though I have yet to been asked to spin around). This is what DDR wishes it was (with American songs, too!)

Kinect Adventures is extremely fun with another person. The timing takes getting used to (it's slightly laggy with jumping).

Your Shape works great and is a pretty good interactive virtual trainer. I find myself playing this a bit less just because Dance Central is so much more fun and feels like just as good of a workout. I am trying to stick with the toning/yoga courses though because DC is just a shit ton of cardio.

Controlling the interface with voice/motion is sweet, but you're pigeonholed into a small subset of the interface. Facial recognition has worked flawlessly with myself, my wife, and my friend. We're all white, though.

Overall, I find it worth the price of admission because it's really cool tech, I'm genuinely interested in losing some weight, and I really enjoyed DDR.

11/9/2010 10:58:02 AM

Quote :

"This is what DDR wishes it was (with American songs, too!)"

But is it 'dancing' in the DDR 'I would never do this outside my living room' sense, or does the game actually have/recognize legitimate dance moves, i.e. would you ever see someone in an actual club dancing like that?

11/13/2010 2:49:10 PM

It is actual, proper, real dance moves.

11/13/2010 3:21:42 PM

dude in the demo video was throwin dem bows

11/13/2010 4:18:21 PM

amazon has a 360, kinect w/adventures, and a $40 game credit for $300

I'm seriously considering it, it's past the time to abandon pc gaming anyway

11/13/2010 5:03:28 PM

So this is fairly awesome.

11/14/2010 1:47:58 PM

Here's what I can say about it so far.

I've spent the most time playing Fighters Uncaged. If you think of it as an evolution of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! it's pretty impressive. You have to dodge certain ways and then counter, and it recognizes a ton of moves with a high level of accuracy. Elbows, knees, kicks, punches (jabs, hooks, & uppercuts), and headbutts and at different levels.

Dance Central is probably the most impressive. I'm horrible at dancing and it picked up on that immediately. With some work on a few of the songs I saw my score go from a 3 to a 5 (on easy) in a short amount of time. Definitely not my favorite kind of game, but I have been impressed.

Kinect Sports is pretty fun, although some of the sports are kinda limited. It's neat to put soccer and beach volleyball into a sports game as Wii hasn't really tackled those (or can't), but the Kinect Sports versions don't require much strategy to be successful. The boxing is better than Wii, but I'm not convinced that the bowling or table tennis is. Being able to move around the lane or table is a nice touch that Wii can't do though. Track and Field is what I expected and somewhat basic, but a new version of the classic Track and Field series could be a great expansion on what Kinect Sports has started.

Kinect Adventures got boring kinda fast for me. I really like Rallyball and how it's kinda like Arkanoid, but the other adventure games didn't hold my interest.

Motion Sports was not good. The boxing wasn't very responsive, and the other sports seemed like really basic and uninteresting mini games. If anyone plays though all of it and finds something redeeming let me know.

I need to throw in a few other titles and see how they stack up. I'll post after I try out some of the fitness games Joy Ride, or the other dance game I've seen.

11/15/2010 1:16:55 AM

Quote :

"But is it 'dancing' in the DDR 'I would never do this outside my living room' sense, or does the game actually have/recognize legitimate dance moves, i.e. would you ever see someone in an actual club dancing like that?"

For a lot of songs they ripped the moves right out of the damned music video. I can't actually see a lot of people dancing like this in a club but then I don't dance so maybe clubs look like music videos.

For a few songs there are some moves that I could see using, like meringue steps and shuffles. The game is pretty accurate at picking up if you try to flub it to, especially with your feet.

The dance moves in Jungle Boogie were fucking awesome. I would totally do them in public with a lot of practice and alcohol. The disco moves in Funkytown were stupid, but Jungle Boogie was cool as shit.

11/15/2010 9:03:53 AM

Quote :

"I don't dance"

Quote :

"disco_stu"

11/15/2010 10:07:52 AM

Which is meant to say "I don't dance in clubs." Disco Stu was a character on the Simpsons who was introduced at one of Homer's yard sales where he was selling his rhinestone jacket. He meant to put "Disco Stud" but ran out of room.

11/15/2010 10:39:42 AM

Yeah I know the character, just thought it was funny.

11/15/2010 10:43:17 AM

[Edited on November 17, 2010 at 1:07 PM. Reason : SPAMALAMADINGDONG]

11/17/2010 12:43:42 AM

^Keep posting spam like that and you are going to get suspended.

11/17/2010 9:08:14 AM

http://www.thecreatorsproject.com/blog/the-greatest-kinect-hacks-weve-seen-thus-far

11/19/2010 10:11:33 AM

The dance game is actually pretty damn entertaining.

I completed "Poker Face" on hard last night.

11/29/2010 11:30:11 AM

All you Kinect guys add me on LIVE, I'm Wo1fAce (yes a 1, some poser took the original) it lists scores on Dance Central of your friends on a song result

[Edited on December 4, 2010 at 6:31 PM. Reason : ]

12/4/2010 6:30:57 PM

I have yet to even try Dance Central on hard. I can't get past Crank Dat Soulja Boy on easy.

12/4/2010 6:37:49 PM

what is a good kid friendly kinect game? my nephews are getting a one for christmas but i doubt my sister would be too thrilled about her 3 and 5 year olds rocking out to lady gaga and soulja boy.

12/4/2010 8:59:21 PM

Kinect Sports or Kinectimals. I haven't tried Kinectimals yet.

I was disappointed with Joy Ride, so I don't suggest that one.

[Edited on December 4, 2010 at 10:13 PM. Reason : Kinect Sports is some good shit.]

12/4/2010 10:13:35 PM

Holy balls this thing is awesome

12/11/2010 4:09:25 PM

^ what games did you go with?

anyone else on Dance Central?

12/11/2010 5:30:00 PM

Well it was my friend who has it, and I tried it out. We played whatever comes with it and then a little bit of 'Kinect Fitness' or w/e. Dance Central demo seemed real fun.

Too bad these things are absolutely impossible to find right now. Fucking Wii-style release

12/11/2010 11:10:06 PM

i have the adventures (obviously came with it), kinect sports, dance central, and your shape

KS and DC get the most playing although i'm about to start playing your shape this week...the gf loves it

12/12/2010 7:58:54 PM

Please don't construe this as a troll, I'm just not informed. So far all I've heard about is the dance game and all I've seen is a game where you control a baby tiger. Dancing doesn't appeal to me at all and I'm pretty sure the tiger game is just a tech demo for children.

Are there any compelling games on the horizon worth reading up on?

12/13/2010 10:03:15 AM

Project Draco. Child of Eden.

12/13/2010 11:09:39 AM

they are making a steel batallion for it, what is not to love? there looks to be a few horror games coming as well.

12/13/2010 3:58:16 PM

^That could be damn epic

12/13/2010 5:04:11 PM

Quote :

"anyone else on Dance Central?"

hell yeah, posted my gamertag a a bit back if you want to let it auto-compare scores

12/15/2010 9:54:01 PM

Just got surprised by the in-laws with one of these for Christmas. Pretty cool. I only have the kinect adventures game so far, but the concept and functionality are surprising. I also didn't know that the sensor had an actuator to let it move to achieve the best angle, so it kinda freaked me out when it started looking around like Johnny-5 upon setup.

12/20/2010 9:33:54 AM

I got two today, played a little your shape so far it's been fun. Pretty skeptical that any serious fps can come out of this tech. I hope they start integrating kinect and controller rather than just kinect, then shit can get real.

12/26/2010 12:57:21 AM

The cool part is your Xbox360 doesn't cease to be able to play FPS games the instant you plug in Kinect.

I wonder if people complained that the balance board couldn't do particular types of games when it came out.

12/28/2010 9:16:57 AM

^yeah, that's what's so enticing, you get the enjoyment and versatility of motion gaming, without being married to it or sacrificing real gaming. One of the major advantages Kinect has over the PS3 Move and especially the Wii is that no damn accessories are required. Sure Wii is cheap, but extra controllers, nunchucks, steering wheels, fit mats, etc. add up really fast.

I think that the Kinect and the PS3 Move are going to take SERIOUS market share away from Nintendo.

12/28/2010 9:32:19 AM

I honestly don't see the Playstation Move dildo thing doing anything to the console wars or otherwise influencing the gaming landscape. It is absolutely nothing new that the Wii can't match or beat since its been in the motion control business for all these years. The 360-PS3 battle has been won with the Kinect.

I'm just really excited to see not only what games come out for it, but what hacks for PCs come out using the Kinect.

I've seen people go out and buy Wii systems for its motion gaming at a cheap price, and people buy 360/Kinect bundles for the motion sensor awesomeness right after testing a friends. I have heard of no one buying a PS3 for anything but Japanese RPGs and Blu-Ray.


[Edited on December 28, 2010 at 10:20 AM. Reason : lkj]

12/28/2010 10:18:38 AM

Got my sister and nephew one for christmas. Played dance central and the sports game. Holy hell is Dance Central hard (and incredibly fun). My sister danced for like 10 years and she was getting like 90+% on Hard within a half hour.

My redneck monstrous ass was stumbling through easy in the learning mode still.

Sports was pretty good. Table tennis is by far the coolest demonstration of the technology that I've seen. We were all really surprised how damn responsive and fun it was. Boxing was also pretty badass. Soccer was a huge letdown as was bowling and track & field.

The whole thing is worth buying for the Dance Central game alone. Avoid Joyride, it's not worth the plastic it's printed on.

12/28/2010 10:41:31 AM

I thought bowling was pretty fun. I like it better than wii bowling after getting used to it.

12/28/2010 10:57:48 AM

Being able to literally tell my xbox to play the next song on Last.fm is fucking awesome. Yay for being too lazy to pick up a remote

Any good titles on the horizon?

[Edited on January 1, 2011 at 9:15 PM. Reason : if only i could adjust the volume wtihout the remote]

1/1/2011 8:58:28 PM

double post suspend

Quote :

"The Child of Eden Kinect game is due for release March 29 2011. It promises to be one of the top kinect games with its stunning graphics, with visual and sound entertainment. Child of Eden is the “multi-sensory shooter” that will send players diving into a kaleidoscopic matrix of synchronized music and mind-blowing visuals that will usher forth yet another landmark game experience from the mind of renowned game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi, its creator. Child of Eden thrusts you in the center of a battle to save Project Lumi, a mission to reproduce a human personality inside Eden, the archive of all human memories. As the project nears completion, the archive is invaded by an unknown virus. The Player’s mission is to save Eden from the virus to restore hope and peace. Features A visionary entertainment experience that synchronizes stunning graphics and innovative sound design to electrify the senses; by bringing physics in synergy with spectacular visuals and audio, Child of Eden is creating the next-generation sensory experience The world of Eden is a unique, surprising, rich and beautiful world The controls are simple and natural; designed for standard controllers and Kinect for Xbox 360; with no controller required, Kinect for Xbox 360 adds an extra dimension to the experience as the player truly merges into the game; the sensor will detect your body movements, allowing for a completely new multi-sensory shooting game experience."

Doesn't look like much else interesting in the near future.

1/1/2011 9:32:04 PM

I'm surprised they haven't come up with beer pong for kinect.

1/1/2011 11:57:23 PM

So for those of you who have played it, is Your Shape:Fitness Evolved worth the money for getting a good workout? I like being able to see myself onscreen in the demos I've played because it helps a lot in maintaining good form but from the review it seems like 2/3 of it is Yoga/TaiChi, which i dont have much interest in.

Does it even do basic stuff like squats, pushups, situps? And how good is the custom routine/physical trainer stuff for mainly cardio and muscle endurance?

Oh yeah and ThePeter, I dont know if it's you or your girlfriend, but I'm blowin up your highscores in DC

[Edited on January 14, 2011 at 7:15 PM. Reason : ]

1/14/2011 7:12:49 PM

from the BODY CHALLENGE thread, but thought it would be relevant in the Kinect thread as a review for anyone interested:

Quote :

"Well done two workouts with EA Sports Active 2 with Kinect. The amount of stats is tremendous with online tracking and interactive graphs, heart rate, calories, exercises, 'distance,' etc. It also counts reps gives you a lot of motivation/instruction with the one on one trainer. It does have detection issues with floor exercises so it needs a lot of space, and the 'medium' intensity level does a decent job on my cardio, which is my weak point, but it doesn't really push me hard enough in the chest/core muscle groups. It's strong point is definitely cardio and the leg muscle groups. I'm going to try high intensity next workout. However, it is the only fitness game on Kinect that has any floor exercises (pushups, plank variations, abs/leg work) and truly works every muscle group, with a tremendous variety of exercises and games to track and take you through one on one."

It's also selling for half the normal price, now at a reasonable $50 with the included wireless xbox heart rate monitor. If anybody else does it we can make a TWW group in the game and compare stats.

1/18/2011 9:56:27 PM

Since I know nobody gives a shit this'll be my last post about it, but if anybody uses EA Sports Active 2, I made a TWW workout group

1/24/2011 9:23:10 PM

I'm thinking about getting a kinect for the cardio shit. seems more fun than actually running.

have you tried the NFL training one?

1/24/2011 9:51:09 PM