I Kinected!

"Can I play with you? Can I play with you…please?"

So I finally got a Kinect, and as promised here’s my update (Original Article “Should I Kinect with it or not?”):

At first, I was apprehensive about the Kinect.  I had my fears, my confusions, and above all the only information I had came from commercials and what I saw at PAX Prime.  The Kinect offers an array of opportunities making you the controller.  After a massive marketing campaign many of you bought and enjoyed what the Kinect had to offer.

After much deliberation and a sale at Costco, I finally broke down and bought one.  I was very excited to get home but first I had to stop at another store for Dance Central. I knew that any Kinect experience would not be complete without that game.  I hurried home to get everything set up.  It didn’t take a long time to connect and the setup wasn’t as painful as I originally imagined.  I was surprised at how limiting the usability was once I saw the Xbox Kinect menus.  It made me wonder why they made it all look the same?  We could easily have had a separate Kinect experience, I dare say even a unique experience, if the menus were kept different; one that works better while using the controller and one for interfacing with Kinect.  I would have tried using Netflix but at the time it was not available.  I moved on to ESPN, and I could only search highlights.  Otherwise I had to use the controller.  What is the point of that then?  I wish my experience using the Kinect to control the Xbox would have improved after that, but if anything it was more and more limiting.

Space is definitely an issue when using Kinect.  Even though they recommend  distance is 8 feet, my connector was only happy at the 10th to 11 feet mark.  I am one of those lucky people whose living room is large enough, but  still I had to move my couch to achieve the distance it actually required.  Selecting items on the menu was a bit of a problem as I had to train myself to not push for a selection, but instead wait until the Kinect read my selection.  Playing Kinect Adventures was challenging to some of my friends that would jump forward.  The Kinect would simply not see them making them lose much needed points.

After some growing pains I got used to using the Kinect and saw a great opportunity I had with this machine to use it as an exercise equipment.  I use Yourself Fitness in conjunction with Dance Central as a daily workout.  I was surprised to see that I managed to lose, without changing eating habits or doing any other exercise, roughly 3 pounds.  Of course, this is in no way accurate since I wasn’t really tracking my progress conducting a controlled experiment.  All I can say is that it will make you move, and have fun while doing it.

Since I waited so long to get it I was capable of getting most of the Kinect games I was interested in for very cheap.  I quickly amassed a small collection of the most wanted new games for the system and realized that there was not all that much to choose from.  Which brings me back to one of my main concerns about the Kinect: lack of games.  Most games that have come out are either games that have been available for the Wii or games that I would only pay $20.00 or less.  I have yet to hear any big games to be designed for the system.  I am hoping that E3 will bring a much needed secret lineup of games to come for the Kinect.

Children of Eden looks too much like PlayStation 2′s Rez for me to be excited about this title.  Perhaps if you’re a fan of Rez, this might be the title that will change your mind and make you buy a Kinect.  There are other games down the line that sound promising.  Haunt a game created by Parappa The Rapper’s Masaya Matsuura, developed by NanaOn-Sha, and published by Microsoft.  For what I can tell from the teaser trailer it seems to be some sort of haunted house experience that looks more like Psychonauts  in graphics than actual horror.  No strangers to horror, Sega has Rise of Nightmares.  It seems to me like if Silent Hill and House of the Dead had a baby.  If anything it looks promising as the rating for it points more to mature audiences.  Still to make an appearance is Battalion from Capcom.

The future is not completely bleak for the Kinect, yet titles like “Zumba 2″ have been announced for the Wii, but not for the Kinect.  A few new features were released for Netflix and Hulu Plus with the same result that I found on the ESPN app.  It makes me feel that what little development is being done for this part of the Kinect is just enough to be able to say that it’s Kinect compatible, when what I really want is a full Kinect experience.

I still hold hope for this system and wish the my next update will be one where I praise and shower with confetti the achievements Kinect has accomplished.