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Kinect for XBOX 360

Thursday, December 16 2010

It's been over a month now since I unboxed Kinect and brought it into my life.  Now I was a bit skeptical as to how good it would be, you know what some of these super-hyped items are like these days... Anyway, I have to admit I do like this device and the games that make use of the sensor.

Bundled with the Kinect device is a game entitled Kinect Adventures, now this is more of an introduction to the world of motion based gaming as opposed to a full blown title as the game is quite short to complete.  I have had a lot of fun with this game though especially on the river rapids levels - they are fun.  What is not to love about a game that makes you feel like a giggling child again as you splash up and down the rivers collecting items are you go - the experience is engaging for kids and adults alike.

The sensor itself consists of three main components:

-  An RGB camera

-  A depth sensor

-  And a multi-array microphone

Coupled with the proprietary software on the XBOX itself, these come together to form the controller-less gaming experience which uses body and hand movements as well as voice recognition to control the games and the console OS itself.

The game library is limited at the moment to a handful of Kinect enabled games, there are many party-inspired titles such as dance and group activity games.

A downside to this experience is the amount of space required to play though, it requires between 6 and 8 feet of space in front of your tv with quite a wide angle to the sidesfor latteral movement too.  You may find yourself having to do the "furniture dance" each time you are having a Kinect session.  This is minor problem though and I wouldn't let this put you off.

Overall, I think this launch has been a great success, it is selling fast and demand is high - just make sure you have enough space in your chosen room to make the most of it!

XBOX 360 Kinect Senor pack with Kinect Adventures costs £129.99