Product Review | December 16, 2010 11:38 am
The Wii made huge strides in the gaming world, most notably introducing motion sensing technology in a fun, practical way, as well as appealing to a largely untapped customer base; the casual gamer. Selling out for close to a year after launch, it took this generation of consoles by storm and quickly rose above Sony and Microsoft as number one console. Fast forward three years, and the two Nintendo competitors, neither of which were too happy with the results, have devised their own motion sensing technology to appeal to core and casual gamers alike.
The first, Sony's Playstation Move, will...not be reviewed here, for...obvious reasons, number one being I don't own a PS3. Regardless, I will say that Sony's answer was quite similar to the Wii; a two-piece controller involving a remote in one hand and a secondary piece in the other. Microsoft took quite a more literal approach to the words "motion sensing" with the Kinect; a large camera connected to the console is the only peripheral needed, as the players entire body is the controller. This concept could be another amazing advancement in the gaming world, or a huge disaster the likes of the Nintendo Power Glove and Sega Activator.
The Kinect comes up as the most costly of all motion-sensing technologies this generation, at first glance, anyway. Coming at at $150 for the stand-alone unit, or $299 and $399 when bundled with the 4GB and 250GB 360 Slim, respectively. I did not realize it when I first picked it up, but the unit does come bundled with Kinect Adventures, a fun collection of mini-games to get you acquainted with your new Kinect.
Finally getting home and unboxing the unit, I found it very sleek looking; a sleek glossy black finish didn't accompany my 360 Elite as nice as it would the new slim units, but it still looks quite nice with the rest of my home theater equipment. There is a single cable running from the Kinect that can connect either directly to a dedicated port in the back of the new 360 slims; if you are like me and own an "older" unit, then the accompanied splitter will need to be connected to the cable, which runs to a power connection, and a USB connection.
In the box is also a USB extension cable; the instructions states that this is meant to be used if you have Microsoft's wireless adapter. The extension cable is meant to connect to the the wireless adapter's very short USB connection so that you could plug it in to a front USB port, reserving the single port in the back for the Kinect. I actually just plugged the Kinect into the front of the console; it doesn't matter what port you use. Now that its all connected, lets set it up!
I actually expected setup to be a little involved, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I was up in running in the lesser part of five minutes. The camera itself does not require any special type of calibration. It can be placed above or below the screen, much like the Wii's sensor bar, and then the motors in its base take over, scanning the room to determine where the floor is and how much space there is to play. This is great, however keep in mind that because of this tracking function, the Kinect sensor needs to be placed fairly securely; I originally had the unit on top of my plasma TV by way of electrical tape, and while that held, I didn't feel comfortable with it, and it did cause some issues with shaking while playing a game that involved jumping; it works much better in front of the TV on the stand itself.
Micrsoft does offer three mounting options of you are so interested, all of which are sold separately, including a wall mount, a brace that connects to the wall mount screw holes in the back of flat panel tvs, and a floor pedestal. I did pick up the brace a few days ago, however it did not cross my mind that my TV is plasma, and as such has no mounting holes on the back, so it needed to be returned. Keep this in mind if you are using a plasma or DLP tv.
Next up, microphone calibration; for those of you unaware, the sensor also features a built-in microphone for use with voice commands and chatting. This, again, was all fairly automated: The sensor asks you to be very quiet as it measures the room for background noise and plays sounds through the speakers to establish a baseline. Once it completes, you are ready to go. The box also includes a calibration card for fine tuning the camera sensors, but I found it unnecessary and have just kept it aside.
The largest complaint of the Kinect, no doubt, is space; space requirements read as 6 Ft for one player and 8 Ft for two, but I've found that it works best at about 8 Ft when by yourself, and as much as 10 Ft when with another. Even with my fairly spacious living room, the coffee table needs to be moved to the side in order to play in optimal conditions. The space also needs to be a few feet wide so as not to interfere with the sensor picking up motions and giving yourself room to be free. This is definitely something to keep in mind if your 360 is in an environment cramped for space.
Lighting is also fairly important; a single lamp in my living room lights the room fine, and is good enough to play with, but in order to take nice, focused pictures in game and picking up on finer body movements the much brighter, ceiling light is needed. In an event, setting the unit up is much less involving than this sounds, and the end result is rather worth it.
Running "Kinect ID" sets up facial recognition; running through the setup has the sensor take pictures of a regular user as you pose in different positions around the room; once that is done, the camera will pick up on your face whenever you step in front of the camera and it automatically signs you in and drops your avatar into the current game, if possible.
Now, I don't know about any of you, but managing profiles and multiple players in a game like Rock Band gets to be quite a pain for me; thankfully, the Kinect is quite the opposite. All that is needed is for the second player to stand up and step into the camera's view. Playing Dance Central the other night with about five other people, we swapped in and out with no break to bring up the guide and sign in/out what so ever. And for you achievement-goers, as long as your profile is signed in, you will gain achievements, regardless of who is playing at the moment.
The Kinect is also very sensitive in all the right ways; playing Kinectimals I can pet my Panther cub with both hands, and the sensor even picks up on my subtle finger movements to scratch him in just the right spot! Likewise, even a game as demanding as Dance Central can keep up; if you don't perform a dance move completely, or miss a subtle movement with your hand, arms, or legs, you will not get the full amount of points for passing the dance move. Movements can be a little awkward at times; throwing the javelin or discus in Kinect Sports will have you aiming your arm in all sorts of directions to get just the right amount of lift, speed, and distance, but it is an overall pleasant experience.
Aside from the gaming aspect, the Kinect also allows you to manage your Xbox controller free, to a certain extent. The standard dashboard, though upgraded specifically for the product, does not support the Kinect at this moment: There is now a new set of menus specifically for use with motion and voice controls, known as the "Kinect Hub". The hub allows you to do most of the things the normal dashboard allows, but by simply moving your hands a la Minority Report. It also supports a limited number of voice commands; saying the word "Xbox" brings up the voice command menu at the bottom of the screen, which gives you several phrases you can say, along with being able to say anything on the screen. Voice command doesn't begin without first saying the word "Xbox", so don't be afraid you will accidentally start up a game when you really wanted to watch a Netflix movie.
Another interesting feature is the use of a universal pause, performed by holding your left hand out and to the side while your right hand is at your side. This pauses the game your playing and/or brings up the guide, similar to hitting the Guide button on a controller. Conversely, games like Kinectimals use the opposite motion, right hand out to the side and left hand down, to bring up the "Toy Box" for your pet. Just something I thought was quite neat, as I was unsure how a pause system was going to be implemented before I bought it.
I will be honest, and say that I didn't once say "this would just be easier with a real controller". Holding your hand and hovering over items to select them, navigating through screens with a swiping motion, or simply bowling and playing volleyball, I never desired having a controller in my hands. That being said, with the exception of Kinectimals, which is similar to something like a Sims Pets with the cuteness factor at 1000, I haven't found a Kinect game available currently that I could play every single day. Kinect Sports, Dance Central, Kinect Adventures, and such are all great party games, but lack any single player focus. Plus, some of them are downright exhausting.
Well, the technology is there, and works surprisingly well. Through a facelift, a hardware revision or two, and a renaming from its inception as Project Natal to the now dubbed Kinect, it is a fun piece of hardware that is no doubt worth the $150 price tag. I've covered only a few of the impressive launch lineup of games available with full Kinect support, with some games such as the new Harry Potter including limited Kinect-supported levels. What's even more interesting than what is out there now, is what the future will hold for Kinect: LucasArts has already announced Star Wars: Kinect coming out soon, and I've heard rumors of an impressive looking, fully Kinect supported RPG in the works.
If you're interested, have a little extra cash to spend and looking for a great time, then I would invest in the Kinect. On the other hand, you yourself know what type of gamer you are; the Kinect can easily become a $150 dust collector that only gets used during parties or when company is over (much like my Wii). And, for you achievement collectors, every Kinect game includes the standard 1000 GS obtainable, and Kinect Sports has even increased to 250 with some free DlC. Of course, keep in mind that some of them may be an achievement in real life as well, such as burning 10,000 calories in Your Shape D:
Rating: 8.0 of 10
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