The Xbox 360 Kinect Reviews Are Out

[Roto13]

Apparently recessions don't affect entertainment things like video games, movies, music, etc. too much. :P People need their fun time to get over the stress of being poor, I guess.

[Meat Puppet]

I thought that's what alcohol was for

[KentaRawr!]

I'm not surprised. Motion control is unraveling even for Nintendo (I don't remember the last Wii game which was talked about because of motion control, only the revivals of core Nintendo franchises). Which is as I predicted because soccer moms and old people don't buy consoles and games during a recession. If MS had got this out of the door a couple of years ago there might have been some mileage for them, as it stands I reckon this is going to tank pretty hard, just like all motion control ultimately will until it can give meaningful physical feedback.

The Nintendo thing actually makes me pretty sad. Warioware: Smooth Moves was basically this big pile of ideas on how games could use the Wii Remote, and no one seems to be using them. Then again, the use of waggle is also dying down, which is good, and if the controller's unique functions are used, it seems like people aim for either the tilt sensor or the wii pointer, and that makes me happy. :3

Edit:

Meh, both the move and kinect seem like glorious wastes of money to me. I doubt there's going to be any game released for motion control that will rival games like God of War III and such, and I'd wager that even the best games that use motion control would/could be better with a regular pad (eg. Killzone 3).

Pointing to aim is superior to using a control stick to aim.

Not when you have to move a character as well.

Moving and aiming seemed to work perfectly well in Metroid Prime 3, but that's actually the only game with FPS controls I've played on the Wii.

[Yeargdribble]

What's wrong with Marcus

He just rubs me the wrong way. He's not snarky and witty like Butler. He's just plain obnoxious. Do you know anyone who watches him and thinks, "That kid is cool. He makes me want to be cool like him and own a PSP."? The way Kevin Butler makes fun of stuff like Kinect is almost tongue-in-cheek. The way Marcus puts down things like the iPhone is childish and silly on the face of it.

Is there a specific demographic he's trying to appeal to by being extra "black?"

I think if Microsoft really wants to target the casual Wii audience, they need to sell the 360 Kinect bundle for less than the $300 they're asking now. A Wii is only $200.

$300 isn't significantly more than people paid for their Wiis at launch. That was then and this is now. If it's like one of my hypotheses... the target audience of the Wii might be looking for something new and fresh 5 years later. The price probably isn't that much of a killer.... except for...

My second reason is because of the current economic state of the country. I just don't see too many buying it because of that reason.

I could almost see this being a problem, but I'm sure there are plenty enough people in the soccer mom Wii demographic where economic hardship isn't a big enough factor.

Hell, I the school where I teach is 90% impoverished and damn near everyone has an Xbox and a PSP even if they don't have nice clothes and are on reduced lunches. That's probably because...

Apparently recessions don't affect entertainment things like video games, movies, music, etc. too much. :P People need their fun time to get over the stress of being poor, I guess.

Moving and aiming seemed to work perfectly well in Metroid Prime 3, but that's actually the only game with FPS controls I've played on the Wii.

Yeah, I was thinking this too. I don't like pushing at the edges of the screen, but with a few better uses of a D-pad in conjunction with an analog stick (both available together on Move I think) one should be able to move pretty easily and still get the drastically improved precision of aiming from something like Move over straight analog stick aiming. Of course I still can't imagine it being better than M&KB as far as accuracy goes just because of the smaller motion needed to get that accuracy. I could be wrong though depending on how good the tech is (I've not tried Move).

[DMKA]

From the first time I heard about Kinect I knew it would bomb and I can't say I'm sorry that it has. I have more control over the game with a controller than I do with my own hands or a wand.

Sony isn't aiming at those people really. Sony is trying to be serious about Move and I think it's going to hurt them (just like it hurt PSP). They are trying to be more adult and make broader claims about the broader uses of their device rather than going for the low hanging fruit of marketing it at gullible people who don't know the difference between an NES and toaster the way Xbox is. I think the Wii stumbled on this and was being earnest about wanting to get everyone involved. MS is just being pragmatic and lying to people to an extent.

Actually the Move is doing quite well. Of course it helps that it actually works, you don't need an auditorium to play with it in, it's not $150.00, and it's entire marketing campaign hasn't been based on lies (Kevin Butler would never lie to me).

Not that I'll be buying it either.

[Roto13]

I might get a Move. Maybe. If there's a bundle that catches my eye.

I want to play Echochrome 2, dammit.

[Yeargdribble]

Actually the Move is doing quite well. Of course it helps that it actually works, you don't need an auditorium to play with it in, it's not $150.00, and it's entire marketing campaign hasn't been based on lies (Kevin Butler would never lie to me).

Not that I'll be buying it either.

Oh, no doubt the Move is doing reasonably well. I also agree that the marketing campaign is less shady than that of the Kinect. I just think that as the numbers come out the Kinect is going to be in the lead for the long haul (much like the Wii) because of the way it has chosen to market. I seems to be marketed more at serious gamers than the Kinect, but most serious gamers have an aversion to motion controls, so it's an uphill battle.

Also, to be fair, $150 is for a single person. You'll have to drop quite a bit more to get a second person playing with you. Still, at this point I'm more likely to get a Move than a Kinect. It appeals a good deal to my wife, but I'm just not sold yet because the games aren't out there.

However, some places seem to really like the Kinect. While I'm definitely more interested in something like the Move at this point, it's really going to be an issue of who comes out with the games that make me really want to play with the motion controls.

[Depression Moon]

What's wrong with Marcus

He just rubs me the wrong way. He's not snarky and witty like Butler. He's just plain obnoxious. Do you know anyone who watches him and thinks, "That kid is cool. He makes me want to be cool like him and own a PSP."?

Is there a specific demographic he's trying to appeal to by being extra "black?"

My little brother and what do you mean by him acting extra black?

[Yeargdribble]

What's wrong with Marcus

He just rubs me the wrong way. He's not snarky and witty like Butler. He's just plain obnoxious. Do you know anyone who watches him and thinks, "That kid is cool. He makes me want to be cool like him and own a PSP."?

Is there a specific demographic he's trying to appeal to by being extra "black?"

My little brother and what do you mean by him acting extra black?

He is a caricatured stereotype of a black youth.

Of course, something I've noticed is that in the school where I work (90% black), almost every kid that has a portable has a PSP and almost nobody has a DS. But I think that was the case before the Marcus add campaign, so I'm not sure if they are related or not.

I just find him to be an obnoxious twit and I don't think I'm alone. I'm bothered by his 2-dimensional stereotyping the same way John Hodgman plays an obnoxious, nerdy, pudgy, cubicle-working, stiff, boring white guy in the "I'm a Mac; I'm a PC" adds.

[Iceglow]

To be fair here guys I'm going to have to say try Kinect out for yourselves then comment on how good or it is because until you've actually been on it you simply don't know. I have the ability to comment from actual user experience of the games on Kinect especially considering for over 3 hours yesterday my job consisted of playing on it with one of my colleagues demonstrating the tech and the various features we had a lot of fun on it and initially he was very negative about Kinect said it was going to bomb, be and not do well, when he left work yesterday evening he was liking it and really enjoying himself when playing and had even changed his opinion on how well the sensor would do as a product, to give you an idea of how much this is a big deal, he got offered the chance to stop playing after a couple of hours, he spent his full 8 hour shift doing nothing but play Kinect with customers and me to demonstrate it, he's also the type of guy who once he's made his mind up about something just simply doesn't change it without damn good reason he owns every console out there even if he doesn't like it when it comes to gaming knowlege I think Lil' Dan at work probably knows more than Trix or WK possibly more than both combined.

The technology involved is really very, very good. It is well beyond the tech involved in the Playstation Move or the Wii. The way it manages to track the body is impressive. For example on the Kinect Adventures game is 3 demo's for other games, 1 for the Kinect driving game comming out (actually can get really competitive when theres two people driving it with deliberate boosting in to each other, side swiping and putting each other off) 1 for the Kinect fitness game comming out on launch and also Dance Central. In the fitness game demo theres one challenge available where you have to punch across your body to hit a target and the more targets you hit the more points. You really have to punch across the body or it doesn't even count the hit it tracks the punch across giving you a proper cardio workout. Dance Central I am going to be forced to confess a guilty love of this game already. I don't like dancing games, I'm not a fan but this game is really without a doubt the best dance game out there and probably the most fun because you're not just stomping on a giant d-pad or moving your arms around like in Dancing Stage or Just Dance but you're actually doing proper dance routines and moves theres only 2 songs in the demo but it's great and imho will sell crap tons come the 10th when we are selling the Kinect sensor.

I also spoke to someone who works at microsoft (thinking about it, she looks a lot like the girl who plays with Milo in the Natal trailers) yesterday during our demonstration session she was just in because she'd been shopping on oxford street and noticed us playing and having a laugh. She's not at liberty to say much for obvious reasons but the Kinect we see now at launch has basically due to legal reasons been at this stage for almost 2 years now so if you think, Microsoft have had this ready to go for 2 years and has since it's been ready has had 2 years to develop it further Kinect really could become something very interesting. I hope it does, I don't think the space requirements (and guys it really is 6ft not 8ft for reference we measured our "demonstration zone" and we have a box 7ft by 8ft roped off and in that zone we also have large piles of Kinect "chocolate boxes" on display we do a 2 player session in that easily) are great, the system for example would require in my bedroom at the moment for example me to have my tv on the door and absoloutely nothing, not even a bed in the room but if you have it set up in most living rooms theres enough space for it for sure. For those like Psy and Quin who visited my old flat for my birthday know that I'm not kidding when I say simply pushing the armchairs out the way would generate enough space for a good 4 player Kinect session in there and my flat wasn't particulary big really.

[DK]

[G13]

[Madame Adequate]

Steve = Steve
Unimpressed guy = Everyone else

[NorthernChaosGod]

tl ; dr

[Depression Moon]

He is a caricatured stereotype of a black youth.

Of course, something I've noticed is that in the school where I work (90% black), almost every kid that has a portable has a PSP and almost nobody has a DS. But I think that was the case before the Marcus add campaign, so I'm not sure if they are related or not.

As I black man, I don't see it.