I got one for Christmas. I live under a rock, so I’d never even heard of the thing. It turns out that it is a lot of fun. I played all night, and I’m tired and sore today…in a good way.
Kinect Adventures (comes bundled) was actually pretty fun for what is basically a tech demo. I stayed engaged for quite a while, and my mom had a lot of fun jumping into the games and helping. The game is essentially four mini-games that show off the Kinect sensor. A few of the games had me jumping all over the living room. It’s not a great game or anything, but I can see pulling it out at parties.
My beloved Uncle, who sometimes defies reason, got me Kinectimals…it’s a sort of pet sim/kid’s adventure game involving cats. You get a virtual cub to take care of and train to do tricks as you wander around an island. I must admit that it is really, really cute when you pet the virtual cubs. The game itself, however, is pretty slow paced. It’s probably not something I’ll play too often, but it was cool to have a chance to play with it. I can see how kids could get really into it.
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is pretty interesting. It’s a workout game that offers a mix of strength and cardio. I feel like I did get a pretty meaningful workout from it. It won’t replace the gym or anything, but it can help mix things up. It includes a yoga/tai chi section that uses the Kinect technology in a really interesting way. I’d love to see a dedicated yoga Kinect game in the future.
For me, the real winner was Dance Central. I love dancing and I love cheesy pop music. I was surprised at how good the music is (remember I love cheesy pop music) and how good the dance moves are. The game has a really good system for teaching you the moves, and I think I’m going to end up in front of this one for hours on those weeknights when I can’t be out dancing at clubs. I can even see incorporating some of the moves from the game into my real-life dancing. Overall, it’s just a whole lot of fun.
I’m really excited to see what they come up with next. The technology is by no means perfect, but it’s already a lot of fun at launch and it shows so much potential. The only downside (or maybe it’s an upside) is that it really is really active, and eventually you get tired and have to sit down for a bit. Good times!
My wife and I got one for Christmas. I agree that Adventures is a nice little diversion, and a useful way to get familiar with the system.
Dance Central is ridiculously fun, if you don’t mind feeling like a dork more than occasionally. I’ve got about 8 left feet, dancing is not my forte, but they introduce the moves very well. No doubt this is the killer app right now.
I need to do some research into the various exercise games to see which is best. Just like the Wii fitness game, you’re not going to become an Adonis in front of your TV, but it’s not a bad bet for some day-to-day exercise.
I just bought it to a party, and it’s been a huge hit. People can’t stay away from it, and they are genuinely having a lot of fun. The living room looks like a game commercial.
The Kinect is awesome. We also have a lot of fun with Kinect Sports. I find the soccer and volleyball to be the most fun. Adventures is pretty fun too. Your Shape is cool because it gives feedback on the moves so a person knows you’re doing it right.
What is the most fun is playing with someone at the same time. My wife and I enjoy playing beach volleyball on the same team. Some games it is more fun to compete against each other but sometimes it is really fun to have the team spirit thing going on too.
My wife is loving the Kinect dance game, much more so than she did similar games on the Wii. It’s also been really nice being able to video chat with our friends all the way across the country (although making the connection can be overly difficult at times, and I wish the framerate was higher. It’d also be nice if it was possible to do a three-way call.)
I’m just waiting for Microsoft to come to its senses and let people go all Minority Report on their PCs. If, like me, you have to give all manner of boring presentations on how to more efficiently use Excel or the like, it would really help to not have to stop, click buttons, and start again, when one could just wave one’s hand to go to the next slide…
I know it’s been jailbroken for PCs. I’m just waiting for some official capacity, mainly because the jailbreakers understandably are not looking to make Excel and PowerPoint more exciting. But for those of us who have to use those programs constantly, it’s water in the desert.
The Kinect has amazing potential and it will be great to see what developers can create for it. Hopefully Microsoft will support it extensively for the PC and make it easy for developers to create apps and downloadable content in addition to full-fledged games.
For example take a look at the Milo demothat was shown some time back. It’s not clear whether this is going to be developed and in reality it may not justify a full-priced game but it could be perfect for a $10 DLC. I think the real innovation for Kinect may come in creating rich interactive worlds which the technology allows us to immerse ourselves in (check out the bit where Kate swishes her hands in the water). 3D would make it even more amazing. Imagine exploring a coral reef or Pandora from Avatar.
