Xbox 360 Kinect – First Impressions

From the Vault — originally published December 20, 2010. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.

It came as a surprise to me today that whilst I was working I got a text message from a friend asking me to go and check out the new Kinect for Xbox 360 that he had just recently purchased. Being that I am probably the biggest Skeptic about this hardware on GameManx i jumped at the chance to finally get some time with it.

As I arrived my friend was already deep into the action. The only game I was able to check out was Kinect Sports, which is what he was playing and seemed to be having alot of fun and was telling me just how good it was.

It finally came my turn. I wanted to just check out the actual cursor control first, so I quit out the game and went straight to the Kinect Menu.

You are asked to wave at Kinect in order for the cursor to show up. Navigating the menus were easy and I only noticed a slight delay from my movement and what was actually being shown on-screen. To choose an option you simply move the cursor over the icon and hold still for a couple of seconds.

I did notice in the bottom right corner that there was a Microphone symbol, but I did not try out any of the voice features.

After toying with the menus for a few minutes I started up Kinect Sports. Again the menus were very easy to navigate using Kinect, and I liked how at the start of each game it asks you to raise you hand so that the Kinect knows which person is actually playing. I was testing the hardware even whilst my friend was playing too, without him knowing it, so whilst he was mid-game I would stand right next to him to see if that would interupt the sensor and get confused about who was taking part. It didn’t which was nice to see.

As you can see from the screen above, I am stood next to him but the sensor is not interupted, even in a one-player game. I also liked in the particular game how it records you in your game then plays back tiny snippets to you after each game.

Kinect didn’t work perfectly with this game. I did not notice that in the football game in particular my movements didn’t always register properly, and the ball would fly off in the total opposite direction to where i kicked it.

After playing through some more of the Sports included i finally had to stop as all the moving definately makes you build up a sweat. So yes, my first time with Kinect was short and brief, but more impressions are soon to follow over the Christmas period.

What I do need to stress though is that I came away from the experience with a smile on my face. The Kinect Sports, which again, is the only game I tried was alot of fun to play, although I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was only so much fun because I was playing with someone else.
That’s where I think both the pros and cons with Kinect lie. It’s definately going to be alot of fun to be used in a family environment and games like Kinect Sports are really going to thrive because they promote that family-friendly party scenario. Unfortunately I still don’t see how Kinect is going to work for the Hardcore gamer. Even though there are rumours circulating that the big announcement regarding Gears of War is going to be Kinect related, it doesn’t appear that it can offer up anymore than an on-rails type of game which we were able to see with the latest Harry Potter game.

These are however just my thoughts and opinions.

I am not sold on Kinect yet, not in the slightest. It’s missing that killer must have title that caters to the hardcore crowd. That’s why I am sticking with the Playstation Move for the time being. With Killzone 3 and Socom 4 on the horizon and both implementing Move controls, my motion controlled hardcore gaming needs are being taken cared of.

*I apoligise for the quality of the pics and the fact I am still wearing my work uniform lol*