Kinect - You're the controller

[NiX]

Not a soul here has talked about Kinect or Move. Maybe cause you're all so old and don't want to stand up

My roommate, Phire, picked this up with Dance Central and so far we've been enjoying every minute of it. There are some quirks to the system, but overall it's a nice change of pace to the whole "motion" control scene. It does tend to require a lot of space, especially if you want to play with more than 1 person at a time (Kinect Adventures.) I think currently, with our couch moved, we have about 7 feet between us and the sensor and it does a good job of tracking.

Our first weekend was a Kinect fest with different groups of friends coming over every day from Friday to Sunday. As each day went by my body would start to hurt in new places, so it definitely works in terms of making you do things you wouldn't normally do.

For health nuts: It's a cardio workout you can enjoy and it usually doesn't take more than a couple songs in Dance Central or 2-3 rounds of Kinect Adventures. It also managed to stretch out my obliques and lower back pretty damn well.

Anyone else end up picking it up? Or are you all too Danny Glover about it?

[01101010]

PC or DIE!! 

I am not too into consoles anymore so my 360 sits there as a netflix machine for the time being. I have literally no interest in Natal.

I do however see an explosion in sports medicine jobs to deal with all the injuries coming down the road.

[Paelos]

I like the idea of it in sports games. The idea of dancing around to a game in my house, not so much.

[NiX]

I like the idea of it in sports games. The idea of dancing around to a game in my house, not so much.

I can see this working for everything except baseball, which would take a very creative team to get working. Currently it focuses a lot on front/back facing movements. Baseball would require you spend at least half your time standing sideways, which would remove 1 leg and some of your swinging arm.

It'll be interesting to see which genres actually take this up and try to make it work or at least attempt it. It definitely trumps Wii in party games, but it does have the downside of not being able to track more than 2 people at a time.

[Paelos]

I also like the idea of it in hack'n'slash RPGs on the console

[MrHat]

Dance Central was the only game that sounded any fun and was making good use of the controller.

That and the dashboard UI controls sound cool.

But not $200 cool.

[Cyrrex]

I don't think the motion control war will be settled until one of these companies combines the best of these technologies.  E.g. Kinect should have incorporated a Move-esque wand controller.  I think we're only seeing the beginning of this.

Aside from the dance game (which I would never do anyway), none of this looks terribly fun.

[Rasix]

I think traditional controllers do an adequate job of translating what I want my character to do through their various doohickies. My flailing appendages sure aren't going to be as accurate.
 

[Hawkbit]

I also like the idea of it in hack'n'slash RPGs on the console

Pretty much this. 

I was sold on motion control on the Wii from description.  In practice, it wasn't fun and I didn't feel as accurate as I could be with a PS3 controller.  When a Move game comes out that lets me sword/board and use my controller as a real wand while running around a game like Oblivion, then I'll buy into it. 

[Cyrrex]

I also like the idea of it in hack'n'slash RPGs on the console

Pretty much this. 

I was sold on motion control on the Wii from description.  In practice, it wasn't fun and I didn't feel as accurate as I could be with a PS3 controller.  When a Move game comes out that lets me sword/board and use my controller as a real wand while running around a game like Oblivion, then I'll buy into it. 

Exactly this.  It's beyond me why nobody's really trying this yet.

[rattran]

We also discussed it to death when they were announced, general consensus at the time seemed to be 'meh' And I've seen nothing to really change that. I was looking forward to the Creepy Kid Milo game/remake of SeaMan to come out of Lionhead. I think more horrifying games are needed.

[WayAbvPar]

I will be more interested when A) there are more games out for it, B) when it has been sufficiently bugfixed and tweaked, and C) when my son is old enough to play it with me. I see it along the same lines as I do the Rock Band stuff- fun socially, but not something I would spend a lot of time playing alone. As Rasix said, the basic controllers do a much better job of accurately inputting my intentions most of the time.

[Morfiend]

I have been debating getting one of these mostly because my girlfriend wanted a Wii Fit, but I thought the Kinect might be better for fitness games. Anyone tried one yet?

[ffc]

I have been debating getting one of these mostly because my girlfriend wanted a Wii Fit, but I thought the Kinect might be better for fitness games. Anyone tried one yet?

I've been following the fitness games. The EA fitness game (next week?) comes with a heart rate monitor and is $100.  It also has workout groups online (accessed by PC, don't think it's in-game) with sync'd stats so you can compare stats with friends.  Not sure if it's Serious Business. The Your Shape game has a nice presentation but it's difficult to navigate, and I think workout regiments are titled "perfect butt" without giving details or customization which is good or bad depending on what you're looking for. The Biggest Loser game generally has better user feedback than Your Shape.

Right now all the games are shallow minis which is fine for parties but they go stale. I was close to buying Kinect just for Thanksgiving since it would be a riot (DanceMasters > Dance Central, DanceMasters has more hectic DDR music and you are inserted onto the stage, straight lulz) but then it goes into a closet.  Decisions, decisions.

[Stormwaltz]

I already own a Wii.

The last time I turned it on, I still had a BioWare paycheck..

[Mrbloodworth]

I like the idea of the whole "camera is sending images form your game while you are naked to a public space". Thing.

[Cyrrex]

I like the idea of the whole "camera is sending images form your game while you are naked to a public space". Thing.

There are games that require nudity?  Because then I definitely have to get a Kinect.

[Mrbloodworth]

[veredus]

I've been enjoying mine. It's something my wife will play with me and the kids really like it. My daughter loves the Kinectimals and it is actually decently fun in small doses. I actually like the Your Shape, since I mainly got it to work cardio stuff and it does a great job of that. I personally like it better then a Wii but I can see where it isn't for everyone.

[Azazel]

Dance Central was the only game that sounded any fun and was making good use of the controller.

That and the dashboard UI controls sound cool.

But not $200 cool.

I might get this for my wife for Christmas, who enjoys dancing much more than I do. Is there a game where you punch things and pretend to fight/box flail your limbs wildly as though you're an idiot who is also having some kind of fit?

[Xuri]

Damn it! The future wasn't supposed to look like this! Instead of dancing in front of a camera on top of our TV-screens we should by now have injected spikes into the back of our heads and lived out our fantasies (flying, killing monsters in dungeons, chaining one another up in dungeons with leather straps, whatever floats your boat) in proper Virtual Reality.

*mumble grumble*

[Merusk]

Wii is as far as I'm willing to go with motion control. There's no way in hell I'm hooking a webcam up to an unsecured internet device, so the 360 and PS3 versions are right out.    Even if you put that paranoid bit aside, MS itself has commented how they're looking at possible uses of the facial recognition software to stream targeted ads to not only you, but the people sitting behind you on the couch.

So, yeah. No thanks.

[DLRiley]

I think traditional controllers do an adequate job of translating what I want my character to do through their various doohickies. My flailing appendages sure aren't going to be as accurate.
 

+1. You know Microsoft would have made more money being the first system with true voice command.  But meh, I bet you Nintendo will do that first as well.

[Kail]

+1. You know Microsoft would have made more money being the first system with true voice command.  But meh, I bet you Nintendo will do that first as well.

[veredus]

Dance Central was the only game that sounded any fun and was making good use of the controller.

That and the dashboard UI controls sound cool.

But not $200 cool.

I might get this for my wife for Christmas, who enjoys dancing much more than I do. Is there a game where you punch things and pretend to fight/box flail your limbs wildly as though you're an idiot who is also having some kind of fit?

There is boxing for Kinect sports which is decent enough and some fighting game called Fighters Uncaged but I don't know a whole lot about it other then it's some type of street brawler type game. Link for Fighters Uncaged http://fighters-uncaged.uk.ubi.com/

[Hawkbit]

Rockstar needs to make a Manhunt game for Kinect.  I see only good things happening there...

[Azazel]

I did some looking about today. The fighters uncaged game is apparently garbage, and wii kinect boxing is as bad as wii boxing.

I did, however, just order a Kinect since I found an offer where they were basically giving the Your Shape fitness game away for free with it, and also ordered Dance Central. I'm assuming that the Zumba game will be shitty shovelware, but if it gets decent reviews once it's out in a couple weeks I'll buy that as well. I needed to find something interesting to give my wife for Christmas, so that pile of stuff will help. She likes dancing, and while I don't, I'm happy to watch her. I'll punch blocks in the fitness game for a week or so before losing interest, but if it gets her motivated to dance more (which is something she has said she'd like to do) then it's all good.  Mostly I'm amazed that the Aussie price is competitive with the overseas prices for once.

Apparently Dance Central does take your photo during the game, as well. So looks like VGCats nailed it! I wonder if you can disable that setting?

[Koyasha]

Although I have tried, I can't really think of any situation in which I might want to use a "controller" like this - except perhaps for game types I have no interest in regardless (rhythm games, dance games, "fitness" games) - so it really holds little to no interest to me.  I understand it has some voice command ability, and that is interesting, but I don't know how robust it is.

But as for games, here's what I want out of control mechanisms: More options, less movement and time to activate them.  This is why I buy perhiperals like mice with loads of additional buttons, or the G15 or G13 - because I want more buttons that I can press instantly.  Having to flail around is always going to be slower than pressing a button.

The only point where these systems are going to be a good idea to me are when the game is able to actually take into account our exact motions.  So it's not 'attack' or even 'low attack' but 'the exact movement you just did, directly translated to the character in-game, with all the appropriate effects according to physics'.  Because if I swing my hand like I'm swinging a sword, and all that translates to in-game is 'high attack' or 'mid attack' or whatever, then I could have accomplished the same thing much faster by pressing a button.  But translating my exact movements in-game actually would give me more options, at which point I'm down with it, because the increased difficulty of communicating those options (by actually having to do the motions) is offset by the fact that I now have vastly more options of what to do.

Someday we will have the programming and processing power to do that, but that day is not today.

[Salamok]

I agree when a kinect type controller comes out that can closely monitor your form, something like the tennis trainer scene at the beginning of total recall.  Once that happens I'll be looking for tai chi motion fitness that actually corrects my form and such.

[DLRiley]

Although I have tried, I can't really think of any situation in which I might want to use a "controller" like this - except perhaps for game types I have no interest in regardless (rhythm games, dance games, "fitness" games) - so it really holds little to no interest to me.  I understand it has some voice command ability, and that is interesting, but I don't know how robust it is.

But as for games, here's what I want out of control mechanisms: More options, less movement and time to activate them.  This is why I buy perhiperals like mice with loads of additional buttons, or the G15 or G13 - because I want more buttons that I can press instantly.  Having to flail around is always going to be slower than pressing a button.

The only point where these systems are going to be a good idea to me are when the game is able to actually take into account our exact motions.  So it's not 'attack' or even 'low attack' but 'the exact movement you just did, directly translated to the character in-game, with all the appropriate effects according to physics'.  Because if I swing my hand like I'm swinging a sword, and all that translates to in-game is 'high attack' or 'mid attack' or whatever, then I could have accomplished the same thing much faster by pressing a button.  But translating my exact movements in-game actually would give me more options, at which point I'm down with it, because the increased difficulty of communicating those options (by actually having to do the motions) is offset by the fact that I now have vastly more options of what to do.

Someday we will have the programming and processing power to do that, but that day is not today.

We can do 1 to 1 movement but why for games that are dance games. People wanna be jedi and dragonball z warriors or kratos, not middle aged man who hasn't gotten in a fight since pre-k or doesn't know how to make a sword swing look threatening. Dance, fitness, how to learn mma, fine for 1:1 trackng. Actual fantasy based video games, not so sure.

[Azazel]

Nod, I didn't buy it expecting it to be more than Wii 1.5. I'm sure I'll buy fewer Kinect titles than I have even on the Wii. But you know, I didn't buy it for myself.

[Sir T]

+1. You know Microsoft would have made more money being the first system with true voice command.  But meh, I bet you Nintendo will do that first as well.

My one experience of voice command was Tom Clancys Endwar, and I found it worked really well in addition to the other forms of control I had. Pity the game wasn't that great.

I found Playing on my sisters Wii a lot of fun, but there no way I'd try this, if only for the unsecured internet aspect. The games look like crap as well, and really it looks like they are playing catchup with Wii fitness. I can't see how the motion sensor would not get confused in a party situation as well.

[Phire]

I have been having a blast with it despite my somewhat 'average' dance skills. I cannot wait to see what they do with the normal game genres and also how they incorporate it into games that use the 360 controller as well. I am really hoping for an experience similar to Track IR for FPS, racing and simulation games.

Oh and whoever said Dance Masters is better than Dance Central clearly does not know what they are talking about. Dance Masters just has you moving a limb, and any limb really it doesn't matter to a certain part on the screen. That game is more about memorizing positions than it actually dancing and learning the moves. In Dance Central you are actually performing real moves for each song and they will talk you through each step if you require it.

And why are you people paranoid about MS capturing video of you playing Kinect? For one I can't imagine them ever doing that as the uproar would be enormous and two you are captured on camera all the time; at work, at the mall, in parking lots, everywhere. Just put on your tin foil hats and stay in your rooms.

[Margalis]

And why are you people paranoid about MS capturing video of you playing Kinect? For one I can't imagine them ever doing that as the uproar would be enormous and two you are captured on camera all the time; at work, at the mall, in parking lots, everywhere. Just put on your tin foil hats and stay in your rooms.

MS has been caught several times sending back info on what's on your computer to home without permission.

[NiX]

MS has been caught several times sending back info on what's on your computer to home without permission.

There's a huge difference between farming data regarding computer usage and actually recording you (video/voice) without your consent. Which violates actual human rights laws (at least in Canada.)