Gotta play a Kinect and...

[Video]

Well, I've always been a bit leery of the kinect being an addon and all, well, still a bit due to it being an addon But, I finally got to play one, my friend bought one, and got a couple of games.

 

Let me say, this is a LOT like eyetoy, though many of the games react/play like wiigames, minus the remote. No...let me not say that, I've got a wii, collecting dust in the closet. This thing blows it away, plain and simple.

 

Instead you get the "top of the TV bar thingie" an adapter to plug it into the wall and your Xbox (he still has the older version console, though I hear you don't need said adapter if you got the Sxbox) Yeah, and the thing stares at you, I can feel it. With it's one big red eye, and a green one (I can see the green one, some kind of power indicator, but what's the red one?) It's got two cameras, and, when I say it's staring at you, I mean it, it moves...that's kind of creepy to be scoped out by your Xbox (especially when you look like I do ) Sick pervy bastard...

 

Anyhow. We played two of the games he has, Kinect sports, which is almost exactly like the Wiisports packin for Wii. In fact, some of them, bowling in particular, is exactly alike IMO. There's a neat soccer game on there where you kick the ball down the field, thank god you don't have to run, yeah, that wouldn't happen, kick in different directions and try to block the other team when they get balls. There's a boxing game, you can actually box on there, or just go crazy, once you get a hit in, the "go crazy" method seems to almost instantly knock out the computer, but eh, that could be cheating. Pingpong paddle ball game, that's also pretty cool, at least on the easier settings. There are some other games on there, but those are the ones we played, and like I said, it's a lot like the wii game, minus the controller.

The other game we played was Fighters Unleashed, which I hear has some shitty controls. I didn't notice it being bad myself, though if you get to active, it does seem to drop some of your moves....but IMO, if you're going to flaila around like that, and your in the shape I'm in, you won't do it very long LOL. Mostly this is like like the boxing game in kinect sports, but the eyeball also tracks your feet and you can kick as well as punch. Most of it is straight forward, but there was at least one move that wasn't intuitive IMO, where you kick your leg behind and across your other leg and the onscreen character does a roundhouse type kick. Pretty awesome. Enemies will light up right before attacking, so sometimes you can dodge an attack.

 

Oh, the wii sports game also has an er..."replay" mode, when you finish a game, you get to see your highlights, and this is actual video of yourself doing stuff, looking like a total idiot. that's good for a laugh. The sports game uses your avitar from your dashboard, the fighting game has it's on sprites.

 

Anyhow, after that I was tired, we didn't play is other game, he's got one that was a packed in for the kinect called Kinect Adventure but eh, yeah, didn't mess with that.

 

Over all, I'd say I had a lot more fun in the couple of hours we played with it, than I did the entire time I owned the wii (for motion controll games, for traditional games, I found it to be a bit more fun, but then, what's the point) This thing does a much better job of putting you in the game, especially since it recognizes all of you at once, rather than a single point of motion. Now I'm going to have to shift my room and get me one, hopefully I won't fall through the floor

[cimerians]

I've got a wii, collecting dust in the closet.

 

I'll take that Wii collecting dust!

 

[liveinabin]

I'd quite like to have a go at it, but like the vast majority of UK residents, I don't have anything like the room for it. The Kinect is a US solution for US homes, it just doesn't play in this small island.

[madmax2069]

Yeah, and the thing stares at you, I can feel it. With it's one big red eye, and a green one (I can see the green one, some kind of power indicator, but what's the red one?)

 

it has a camera (like the vision in the center), and it has two sensors for seeing 3d depth (on the sides of the center camera). plus the built in Mic and the motorized base for tracking.

 

better description here

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinect

Edited January 4, 2011 by madmax2069

[S1500]

Let me ask a mondo-stupid question: Is the kinect unit heavy enough to not have the dang USB cable govern the position? That's the big problem with webcams. The webcam's feather-light, so light the stiff USB cable, probably still creased in how it was packaged, truly governs the position.

[Lord Helmet]

Let me ask a mondo-stupid question: Is the kinect unit heavy enough to not have the dang USB cable govern the position? That's the big problem with webcams. The webcam's feather-light, so light the stiff USB cable, probably still creased in how it was packaged, truly governs the position.

 

It's heavy enough to have the cable not mess with its position (it also has a rubber base that it sits on which helps). The sensor is actually pretty hefty.

 

I got one of these for XMas and I have to admit that its pretty cool tech. We have Sports and Adventures and they are both a blast to play, especially as party games. The control is better than the wii in most cases...However, it does feel like the Wii experience all over again. We'll see what kind of games come out for it in the future though.

[Video]

That second frame is about right "what games?" What happened to that godzilla knockoff that they were showing in early concept videos?

 

About a dozen games at walmart, and half of them are "loose some of that fat ass" types of games, rather than "play this because it's fun" type of games. I don't think I'd play the music games (I'm not good at them) or the virtual simon says game (I've got a mirror ) Outside of that, there's a racing game and a skating game, and uh..I didn't particularly like racing on the wii (and would probably like it less on kinect) and my balance is bad enough without having to fake like I'm on a skateboard (never got that tony hawk game with the skateboard either...though I actually like skating games)

 

We'll see how long it lasts.

 

Oh yeah, and the camera is heavy enough the cable won't drag it off your TV, or wherever you put it. My friends room is barely big enough, and mine wouldn't be, I'd have to play with it in the living room, though we'll have move stuff around so I'll have more room (we got one of those long skinny rooms)

[cimerians]

I don't have a lot of room, reasons why I kept posting that I wont get one yet (that and the lack of any significant games). I think I only have about 5 (maybe 6) feet from the TV. I read somewhere you need at least 6. I would like to test it out and see if it works in my smaller area but I dont have any friends of family that owns one yet. I'm pretty much the main video game guy.

[Lord Helmet]

I typically stand about 8 feet from my TV when playing...so yeah...you need room.

[cimerians]

I typically stand about 8 feet from my TV when playing...so yeah...you need room.

 

Hmm, I kind of figured. I may be moving within a year so it shouldnt be and issue eventually....and more games will come out.

[Video]

I typically stand about 8 feet from my TV when playing...so yeah...you need room.

 

Hmm, I kind of figured. I may be moving within a year so it shouldnt be and issue eventually....and more games will come out.

 

My friends room is about 12x12 feet, and minus the 2 feet or so for the TV, yeah, we're just about up against the wall on most of the games.

[Vic George 2K3]

Just what we need...a comic strip about the Kinect that has zero humor in it.

[Video]

Well, this week my grandparents were gone out of town, so he bought hiskinect over to my house, and we got to play on the giant TV in the living room.

 

I gotta say, plugging the thing in, downloading crap for 30 minutes, and setting the system up was annoying as hell, I hope I don't have to do that again when I get me one (yeah, now I want one for me, thanks a lot )

 

We played the kinect sports some more, I got to play all the games on it this time, yeah, even the track and field game. I gotta say after I finished that "I'm alive still" Now grab a shovel and help me dig a hole so I can bury myself.

 

After playing it for several hours a day, two days in a row, I was sore as hell. And you know what? Don't let anybody tell you the kinect is just a "wii knockoff" because I can first hand tell you that there is no way in hell you can put out that much effort to play a wii game (or at least, any of the ones I got) I swear, if I had a body part that wasn't sore, I'd hit the next person that said that with it. It's probably that vollyball game, I don't typically IRL throw my arm over my shoulder, but you do a lot in this game.

 

Oh, got to play kinect adventures for the first time. Bunch of interesting mini games on there, there's a game where you throw a ball against a wall covered in boxes and targets, and when one breaks, you got more balls bouncing back you try to hit back at it....kind of a 3D breakout (or a one playered dodge ball? only hit it rather than dodge it...er...anyhow) A game where you ride a raft down a waterfall and try to grab balls (what is this games obsession with balls anyways) A game where you fly, yeah, by flapping your arms and try to pop bubbles, that's pretty fun, and one more game where you're in a box and it gets holes in it and leaks, you try to fill the holes, that's pretty cool. Over all, that's a pretty cool game, I guess the "non sports" aspect of it may appeal to more people, or maybe that's what microsoft was hoping by including it.

 

Anyways, Now I definitely want to get me a kinect addon for my console (and it does plug in with one wire to the 360S) Now I just wonder if I should try to get kinect sports which I know I'll like, or the other sports game they had. Also there was a game with lots of arcade games on it, that'll probably be one of the first games I get for it too.

 

One thing I did notice, while it takes a large space to set up the whole system, the kinect's play area is relatively small IMO, around 6x6 feet I'd say, something like that. It's actually pretty easy to step to far in a direction and get out of it's play area. A little annoying, as I play the games more, I may mark the floor so I'll have a visual que as to where I actually am...it also makes me wonder, how would you play multiplayered ? That definitely isn't enough room for two people to jump up and down and fling their arms around in. (oh yeah, rich smashed his hand on the ceiling fan, watch for objects above you in addition to furniture kiddies )

 

I do wonder about some of the other games, like some of those "exercise" games...Track and field damn near killed me (well, the first time, the second time wasn't as bad, and the two times the second day weren't nearly as bad, but I did hurt the day after, so...), what would it be like to play a game that actually has an objective of trying to get you in shape, or to loose weight? "You might as well kill yourself now fatty, cause you ain't getting anywhere on this game "

Edited January 16, 2011 by Video