Motion Control Comparisson (Part 3 Kinect)

Xbox 360 Kinect: The Controller Free Experience

Though the Xbox 360 Kinect isn't necessarily innovative in many ways, its found a few additional area's to be innovative in with modern technology and has taken controller free gaming and taken it a step further using the Xbox 360 as a hub for all your control free entertainment. We came out of the room pleasantly surprised. These a are a few things we'd noticed during our time with the device.

What We Liked:

-Similarly to the PlayStation Move, your gaming experience doesn't feel so two-dimensional. There's depth in your gameplay, and that adds realism to the games you're playing. For example, a game we were playing in 'Kinect Adventures' you're inside what looked like the Chinese Water Torture Chamber that Houdini was dunked in the last night of his existence. Sea creatures beginning attacking you. (Even gutsy little trout that think they can take on the world having some Napoleonic complex) and the glass that's keeping you alive is cracking. The only way to remain alive is to put your hands or feet over the holes to seal them up. This requires you to step all over the place and have your hands in the right places to stop the leak. Similarly was the same setting except you're in space and you're to pop bubbles. This is particularly fun if a buddy is playing for the first time and you're watching. To move up in the air, you have to flap your arms like a crazed lunatic. The game is snapping photo's of you the whole time you're playing the game. These games require you to move around.

-I was also very impressed with what little integration the Kinect had on Menu Navigation. Upon booting up the console, it takes you to your standard Xbox Dashboard. You simply call out "Xbox" and then "Kinect." This alerts the Kinect to take you to the specialized screen for the Kinect device. There are six different tabs to select from. You simply move your hand over that one, hold it in place and its selects it. You can even say "Xbox" and then give it the command be it to play a game, open the disc tray, go to the Xbox LIVE! Video Marketplace to view a movie, or go to Zune Marketplace to check out some music.

- The Kinect has found ways for you to interact with movies and music. Again, these can work by voice command or hand gestures. Simply tell it to play a movie, rewind or pause, or use hand gestures to control the functions of where exactly in music or a film you'd like to be.

-Well, you don't have to buy a bunch of controllers. You are the controller. Right now, the Kinect can detect two players in game on one screen at the same time. Can cut out the cost of extra devices and batteries. 

What We Didn't Like:

- Where's the software? The game selection is very limited and even moreso limited to hardcore gamer. Everything feels very casual-type and honestly, for me, I was able to play a game for about thirty minutes and then was ready to move on to something else. Sony has opted to integrate the PlayStation Move in titles previously released such as Heavy Rain, MAG, LittleBIGPlanet and a few others. Microsoft seems far too casual about this hoping to capture the Wii owners. I've also come to find that Kinect, so far, isn't getting a lot of support from developers. Take the newly released tennis game from 2K. It supports the Nintendo Wii, it supports the PlayStation Move, but where's the Kinect integration? This isn't the only game this has happened with. Perhaps development on the Kinect is much more difficult or consumes more hardware resources than other devices.

- Kinect is a space hog. I was able to get the game to work pretty well at about seven feet. (In my video comparison you hear me say six.) But the Kinect would easily lose track of me. Also, I'm a taller person and the Kinect sensor can only angle up to high. My head was cut off and found it was difficult for the Kinect to find my avatar so I would manually have to select it from the screen.

- Lighting is everything. Similarly to the PlayStation Move, you need the right lighting and you're also constantly calibrating to get into a game. Sometimes your legs get twisted up and end up in funny places so it feels like (for lack of better explanation) the camera is refreshing itself fast enough to keep up sometimes.

- Not entirely full integration. In the specified Kinect menu, the ratio is 5:6. One tab still requires you to use a controller. This left me scratching my head thinking, this is supposed to be a controller free experience. Why am I having to use a controller still? I also found that to get out of a game, I had to pick up a controller to exit that way. The same was so for ejecting a game disc and even to start up a game demo. I would also have to go through a difficult process to make the 360 forget the controller and remember that I was using the Kinect. It felt like a hassle to put it down and pick it up. Also, the hands free control with movies and music only applies to downloaded content. I couldn't get the Kinect to work with DVD's, CD's or even Netflix.

- Something still needs to be in the hand. Sony was definitely right in their campaign for the need for buttons. Its fun to put the controller down sometimes and just let yourself go, and for some games, its necessary. But in other games, its important to have those buttons, to have some weight in your hands or even to have some force feedback. The gaming world went into conniption fits when the Dualshock 3 was once the SIXAXIS with not vibration functions. The truth be told, it takes away from the experience. It's part of the experience so much, that the 'Child of Eden' developer came out and said in order to achieve this, they'd made it possible to USE A CONTROLLER in your pocket to feel that force feedback.

- Its pretty pricey. Microsoft spends $50/device they manufacturer and they sell them $150. I think Microsoft can afford to drop the cost.

At the end of the day, I feel this device has a place in the future for home theater entertainment such as movies and for women who want to exercise and get fit in a more entertaining way. However, I'm not convinced that this is the gaming device it was hyped up to be. What games it uses the device with work, and work well with the proper calibrations and lighting settings, but there's only so much you can do. Its caught the world on fire, but that flame will slowly dwindle and fade. There's not a particularly large install base for games that support the market that Xbox is all about and that's the hardcore gamer looking for more than casual dance, exercise or sports games.