gzsfrk
11-04-2010, 01:04 PM
<table width="100%" style="padding:2px; background-color: black"><tr><td>Kinect - First Impressions [360]
Developed by: Microsoft (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect)
Published by: Microsoft Game Studios (http://www.microsoft.com/games/)
You pay: $149.99</td><td align="right"><img style="border:1px solid red;" src="http://evavhost.com/i/press/gzsfrk_head.jpg"></td></tr><tr><td>Release Date: November 4, 2010</td><td align=right>Matt 'gzsfrk' Williams</td></tr></table>
Like an evil, peeping E.T.
So I had a $100 windfall yesterday; I was invited to participate in a health care focus group where a research company essentially paid us to tell them that we didn’t like their Live Nurse hotline mailer for 2 hours. I did think it was a bit odd that, prior to a health care panel, they fed us hoagies, chips, and cola, but I digress. The end result was that I had a $100 pre-loaded Visa burning a hole in my pocket late last night. And what better way to spend it than to make a midnight Wal-mart run and pick up a shiny new Kinect? Well, there were probably several better, more responsible ways. But as a bona fide (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16-AK3wQaTQ#t=1m20s) game reviewer, it can be argued that I have a responsibility--nay, duty--to familiarize myself with the latest gaming trends and technology. So despite my indignation at the hardware’s high price, I proceeded to Wally world where I ended up being the third person in line behind the electronics counter.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/kinect_unit.jpg
As midnight approached and the woman behind the register began unboxing Microsoft’s delivery, I saw that they had 4 Kinect Arcade bundles at a price of $299 each (2 of which were bought by the mother and her sons at the front of the line) and 8 stand-alone Kinect units. The clock struck 12, the mouse ran down, and the line started to move. Strangely, while the Kinect Arcade bundles scanned just fine, Wal-mart’s POS system wouldn’t recognize the serial number data for the individual Kinect units and required a manager to force through each purchase. That wrinkle aside, I waited my turn, paid my $150+tax, and headed for home.
The first thing I noticed about Kinect, even as I was walking out of the store, was that the thing is heavy. Heft is typically equated with quality when it comes to electronics, and that was certainly the initial impression I received. This is no flimsy webcam--there’s some serious hardware packed into the weird, E.T. like frame of the Kinect. Unboxing the package, another feature that becomes immediately noticeable is that Kinect thankfully comes with a LONG cable--a solid 10 feet at least. While this won’t be useful for everyone, it’s essential for our home theater as we use a projector setup with the “media cabinet” which holds all our components hugging a side wall, which means any device that has to be in the middle of the floor is going to need a pretty long leash. You’ll also figure out pretty quick that the hookup for the classic 360 is a good deal uglier and more complex than the nice, neat single orange plug that goes straight into the Kinect port on a 360 S. If you’re using a non-slim 360, you HAVE to plug the Kinect to the rear USB port. That can be problematic if you’ve got a wifi adapter attached. But with that possibility in mind, the Kinect package also includes a USB extension cable so that users can plug their wifi adapter into one of the 360’s front USB ports. Ugly, but functional. In addition to tapping into the rear USB port, you ALSO have to plug in an AC adapter. Again, if you’re hooking up a 360 S, you only have one port to hook up. But if you’re using a non-slim, that’s up to three hook-ups/changes you have to make in your 360’s configuration. (I won’t even go into the fact that I have an HD-DVD drive thrown into the mix.)
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/ka_smash_gameplay.jpg
The setup for Kinect was really streamlined and effective. You plug in the Kinect and then the 360 prompts you that it needs to download an update for the device. Once the download is complete, the system restarts and you go straight into the Kinect setup, calibration, and tutorial. I was actually a bit taken aback by the way the Kinect, when it first came on, seemed to raise its head, scan the area, and then lock onto my face and, as far as I could tell, make eye contact with me. Creepy. The setup and calibration were easy and actually pretty fun once I first got to start waving my arms around while my on-screen avatar mirrored my movements. Once setup is complete, you’re given a brief lesson on how to use the device for basic system functions. This includes not only the gesture controls, but also the vocal commands which work surprisingly well. In order to go to the Kinect Hub--a special menu within the 360 designed to let your interact with your 360 using gestures or vocal commands, you can choose to either wave your hand while looking at the camera OR you can say “Xbox.... Kinect”. And yes, I’m sure that I’m not the only one who, upon issuing the command for the first time, had a giddy flashback to my childhood when I would watch Star Trek: The Next Generation and dream about the day when I could stand in a large, projected room and authoritatively state, “Computer... Arch.” I’m actually still smiling a bit just thinking about it. On the downside, when you go to set up a Kinect ID (where it takes various scans of you from different angles so that it can “recognize” you and load your avatar when a Kinect game is loaded and you walk in front of the camera) takes a crazy-long time to complete. Altogether, I was doing various poses and walking to different positions in front of the camera for about 5 minutes. That’s not so bad just for me, as it’s a one time thing. But if you have 8 or 10 regulars who come over to play, each of whom have their own Avatars on your console, it’s a significant chunk of time devoted just to getting set up.
Once you’re in the Kinect Hub, you can select from a variety of Kinect-enabled menus and applications including the new ESPN channel, the Avatar editor and marketplace, Kinect Video Chat, Zune Marketplace, last.FM, and others. Unfortunately, there’s no Kinect-enabled Netflix yet, which is surprising since they just released the new Netflix interface with the Fall update. Another nice feature of the Kinect Hub is that all options on that screen can by activated either by holding your hand briefly over the item you want to select, or by voice commands. To use the voice commands on the Kinect Hub, you again start off by saying “Xbox”. A menu pops up at the bottom of the screen with various options like “Dashboard”, “Next” (to view the next page of items on the Hub), and “Cancel”. Additionally, a black text box pops up underneath each item with a word or phrase you can say to select and execute that action, whether it’s a trailer, a game, or application. A very nice touch that works even when you’re laying well back in your recliner--a position from which the gesture controls typically do not work well, if at all. And despite concerns over the system being laggy, I could barely notice it, even when I was deliberately looking for it, and didn’t notice it at all when either playing a game or navigating the Kinect Hub.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/dance_central_gameplay.jpg
The only Kinect titles available at Wal-mart were Konami’s Dance Masters (http://konami.com/games/dancemasters) and a game I somehow hadn’t heard of called Adrenaline Misfits (http://konami.com/games/adrenalinmisfits). So the only Kinect-enabled title I came home with was the bundled title Kinect Adventures. I tried the dodgeball/breakout game briefly, and it was OK--pretty much exactly what you saw on all the late night Jimmy Fallon previews. But I was far more interested to try the three demos that came with it: Dance Central, Joyride, and Your Shape Fitness Evolved. The following are my impressions of each:
Dance Central: I’m already going to call it: this is the first must have title for Kinect. Unless you’re the hyper self-conscious type, you just can’t help but have fun playing this game. Now granted, I’ve long been a fan of DDR and more recently have had fun with Just Dance on the Wii, so my enthusiasm for Dance Central may in part be due to my predilection for dancing and rhythm games. Even so, you have to admire DC as being the obvious “next step” for the genre. You are really dancing, and it can be really hard depending on how high you want to set the difficulty. For a chronic white boy like me, I left it set to Easy (at least until I get my feet a little wetand have access to something besides the “Poker Face” track that was included in the demo). But if you are given to having friends over for game night, you can expect Dance Central to get a LOT of play time, especially in the near term as the “wow” factor of Kinect (and motion controls in general) still has an impact on those trying it for the first time. Get ready to blush, though--there’s nothing more humbling than watching a sped-up version of yourself attempting to freestyle. My suggestion is that you at least dress nice. It’s better to look a fool wearing a nice club shirt and slacks than a wife-beater and boxer shorts. (PLEASE dear Lord in heaven don’t let Microsoft have surreptitiously recorded last night’s performance.)
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/JoyRide_gameplay.jpg
Joyride: Well, there’s not much to say, really. For those that don’t know, Joyride was originally announced (http://www.teamteabag.com/2009/06/04/e3-ms-press-conference-free-xbla-game-joy-ride-on-the-way/) at E3’09 as an avatar-enabled kart racer that was going to be released for free through XBLA and be supported by microtransactions. That sounded like a great idea and was something that I was really looking forward to. Then, as it missed its initial Winter’09 release date, it faded from my mind until I saw earlier this year that it was re-announced as a $50 Kinect launch title. And now that I’ve played the demo, I have to say that it... plays like a low-end XBLA game with kludgy motion controls forced onto it. Seriously--the game is garbage, and I’m not even going to waste that much time telling you why. It controls terribly, looks bland, and has a tiring mechanic of having to hold your arms out in front of you for 2-4 minutes at a time. If it at least had the option of playing using the standard controller, I might give it a second look. But as it is, I’ll probably never touch it again, barring a major update and some heavily positive word of mouth.
Your Shape Fitness Evolved: This title more than any other from the E3’10 presentation was the one that really kept my cynicism at bay regarding what could be done with the watered-down (http://www.myce.com/news/microsoft-downgrades-xbox-360-kinect-hardware-to-lower-costs-33064/) Kinect technology. My wife is a big fan of fitness games (I bought her Just Dance and EA Sports Active on the Wii for her birthday), so Your Shape seemed like one that I could possibly use to sell her on the idea of getting a Kinect if I decided to pick one up. Having now played the demo, I have to admit that as a tech demo it’s very cool. The part where it scans your body, analyzing your height, identifying muscle groups, and showing various measurements is a cool (if not akwardly eye-opening) effect. The only activity included in the demo is the Smash workout where you punch at various boxes which light up in front of you. It was good fun, very responsive, and bodes well for the rest of the game.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/your_shape_gameplay.jpg
So that’s my two-hours-in impression of Kinect. Yes, some of the games (such as Joyride and Kinect Adventures) are obviously going to be gimmicky, motion-control shovelware. But the technology holds some real potential. The Kinect Hub is a cool way to navigate your 360, and surprisingly practical. The voice controls have likewise worked great, and there’s at least a few solid games either available or on the horizon (http://child-of-eden.us.ubi.com/). Maybe it’s just my rationalization kicking in to counteract the buyers’ remorse, but I’m actually pretty happy with the purchase so far. It’s by no means a perfect device and those who rarely or never have need of a good party game platform can certainly skip it until more compelling single-player content arrives. But for those who either never picked up a Wii and need some entertainment to pad out your next party or who want an easy, accessible gaming experience that non-gamers can slip right into, then Kinect may be worth your cash sooner rather than later. Now to go find a copy of Kinectimals so I can play with my own fuzzy tig--I mean..analyze my little girl’s reactions as she adopts and cares for a virtual predatory cat..
<table width="100%" style="padding:2px"><tr><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_good.jpg The gesture controls in the Kinect Hub actually work really well and will give you a few “Ooh! This is just like in Minority Report!” moments The facial recognition for hot swapping players is perfect for the kinds of party game that are apparently going to be the norm for the first wave of Kinect titles The voice recognition controls also work surprisingly well, even when doing a bad Patrick Stewart impression while pretending you’re talking to the computer on the holodeck. The way the Kinect automatically looks up and down tracking your face is both cool and scary-in-a-HAL-9000-way all at once</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_bad.jpg While the initial device setup and calibration is simple, setting up a Kinect ID takes FOR-EVER Despite the fact that the IR camera can track your body position even in pitch dark, the facial recognition needs at least a moderately well-lit room to work; so those who use projectors (like me) may run into a little frustration on this front Had Your Shape crash on me once when I stepped away to get a quick drink. (It apparently has abandonment issues.)</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_ugly.jpg An overweight 34-year-old white boy dancing alone in his home theater to Lada Gaga’s Poker Face at 2 in the morning</td></tr></table>
<table width="50%" style="border:1px solid red;padding:2px"><tr><td width=50% valign=top>The Rundown
Time Spent Playing: ~2 hours
Favorite Feature: Kinect Hub
Least-liked Feature Needing a LOT of open room to play
Favorite Demo: Dance Central
Worst Demo: Joyride
Most Embarassing Moment: Video playback in Dance Central is not always a good thing<br></td></tr></table>
Developed by: Microsoft (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect)
Published by: Microsoft Game Studios (http://www.microsoft.com/games/)
You pay: $149.99</td><td align="right"><img style="border:1px solid red;" src="http://evavhost.com/i/press/gzsfrk_head.jpg"></td></tr><tr><td>Release Date: November 4, 2010</td><td align=right>Matt 'gzsfrk' Williams</td></tr></table>
Like an evil, peeping E.T.
So I had a $100 windfall yesterday; I was invited to participate in a health care focus group where a research company essentially paid us to tell them that we didn’t like their Live Nurse hotline mailer for 2 hours. I did think it was a bit odd that, prior to a health care panel, they fed us hoagies, chips, and cola, but I digress. The end result was that I had a $100 pre-loaded Visa burning a hole in my pocket late last night. And what better way to spend it than to make a midnight Wal-mart run and pick up a shiny new Kinect? Well, there were probably several better, more responsible ways. But as a bona fide (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16-AK3wQaTQ#t=1m20s) game reviewer, it can be argued that I have a responsibility--nay, duty--to familiarize myself with the latest gaming trends and technology. So despite my indignation at the hardware’s high price, I proceeded to Wally world where I ended up being the third person in line behind the electronics counter.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/kinect_unit.jpg
As midnight approached and the woman behind the register began unboxing Microsoft’s delivery, I saw that they had 4 Kinect Arcade bundles at a price of $299 each (2 of which were bought by the mother and her sons at the front of the line) and 8 stand-alone Kinect units. The clock struck 12, the mouse ran down, and the line started to move. Strangely, while the Kinect Arcade bundles scanned just fine, Wal-mart’s POS system wouldn’t recognize the serial number data for the individual Kinect units and required a manager to force through each purchase. That wrinkle aside, I waited my turn, paid my $150+tax, and headed for home.
The first thing I noticed about Kinect, even as I was walking out of the store, was that the thing is heavy. Heft is typically equated with quality when it comes to electronics, and that was certainly the initial impression I received. This is no flimsy webcam--there’s some serious hardware packed into the weird, E.T. like frame of the Kinect. Unboxing the package, another feature that becomes immediately noticeable is that Kinect thankfully comes with a LONG cable--a solid 10 feet at least. While this won’t be useful for everyone, it’s essential for our home theater as we use a projector setup with the “media cabinet” which holds all our components hugging a side wall, which means any device that has to be in the middle of the floor is going to need a pretty long leash. You’ll also figure out pretty quick that the hookup for the classic 360 is a good deal uglier and more complex than the nice, neat single orange plug that goes straight into the Kinect port on a 360 S. If you’re using a non-slim 360, you HAVE to plug the Kinect to the rear USB port. That can be problematic if you’ve got a wifi adapter attached. But with that possibility in mind, the Kinect package also includes a USB extension cable so that users can plug their wifi adapter into one of the 360’s front USB ports. Ugly, but functional. In addition to tapping into the rear USB port, you ALSO have to plug in an AC adapter. Again, if you’re hooking up a 360 S, you only have one port to hook up. But if you’re using a non-slim, that’s up to three hook-ups/changes you have to make in your 360’s configuration. (I won’t even go into the fact that I have an HD-DVD drive thrown into the mix.)
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/ka_smash_gameplay.jpg
The setup for Kinect was really streamlined and effective. You plug in the Kinect and then the 360 prompts you that it needs to download an update for the device. Once the download is complete, the system restarts and you go straight into the Kinect setup, calibration, and tutorial. I was actually a bit taken aback by the way the Kinect, when it first came on, seemed to raise its head, scan the area, and then lock onto my face and, as far as I could tell, make eye contact with me. Creepy. The setup and calibration were easy and actually pretty fun once I first got to start waving my arms around while my on-screen avatar mirrored my movements. Once setup is complete, you’re given a brief lesson on how to use the device for basic system functions. This includes not only the gesture controls, but also the vocal commands which work surprisingly well. In order to go to the Kinect Hub--a special menu within the 360 designed to let your interact with your 360 using gestures or vocal commands, you can choose to either wave your hand while looking at the camera OR you can say “Xbox.... Kinect”. And yes, I’m sure that I’m not the only one who, upon issuing the command for the first time, had a giddy flashback to my childhood when I would watch Star Trek: The Next Generation and dream about the day when I could stand in a large, projected room and authoritatively state, “Computer... Arch.” I’m actually still smiling a bit just thinking about it. On the downside, when you go to set up a Kinect ID (where it takes various scans of you from different angles so that it can “recognize” you and load your avatar when a Kinect game is loaded and you walk in front of the camera) takes a crazy-long time to complete. Altogether, I was doing various poses and walking to different positions in front of the camera for about 5 minutes. That’s not so bad just for me, as it’s a one time thing. But if you have 8 or 10 regulars who come over to play, each of whom have their own Avatars on your console, it’s a significant chunk of time devoted just to getting set up.
Once you’re in the Kinect Hub, you can select from a variety of Kinect-enabled menus and applications including the new ESPN channel, the Avatar editor and marketplace, Kinect Video Chat, Zune Marketplace, last.FM, and others. Unfortunately, there’s no Kinect-enabled Netflix yet, which is surprising since they just released the new Netflix interface with the Fall update. Another nice feature of the Kinect Hub is that all options on that screen can by activated either by holding your hand briefly over the item you want to select, or by voice commands. To use the voice commands on the Kinect Hub, you again start off by saying “Xbox”. A menu pops up at the bottom of the screen with various options like “Dashboard”, “Next” (to view the next page of items on the Hub), and “Cancel”. Additionally, a black text box pops up underneath each item with a word or phrase you can say to select and execute that action, whether it’s a trailer, a game, or application. A very nice touch that works even when you’re laying well back in your recliner--a position from which the gesture controls typically do not work well, if at all. And despite concerns over the system being laggy, I could barely notice it, even when I was deliberately looking for it, and didn’t notice it at all when either playing a game or navigating the Kinect Hub.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/dance_central_gameplay.jpg
The only Kinect titles available at Wal-mart were Konami’s Dance Masters (http://konami.com/games/dancemasters) and a game I somehow hadn’t heard of called Adrenaline Misfits (http://konami.com/games/adrenalinmisfits). So the only Kinect-enabled title I came home with was the bundled title Kinect Adventures. I tried the dodgeball/breakout game briefly, and it was OK--pretty much exactly what you saw on all the late night Jimmy Fallon previews. But I was far more interested to try the three demos that came with it: Dance Central, Joyride, and Your Shape Fitness Evolved. The following are my impressions of each:
Dance Central: I’m already going to call it: this is the first must have title for Kinect. Unless you’re the hyper self-conscious type, you just can’t help but have fun playing this game. Now granted, I’ve long been a fan of DDR and more recently have had fun with Just Dance on the Wii, so my enthusiasm for Dance Central may in part be due to my predilection for dancing and rhythm games. Even so, you have to admire DC as being the obvious “next step” for the genre. You are really dancing, and it can be really hard depending on how high you want to set the difficulty. For a chronic white boy like me, I left it set to Easy (at least until I get my feet a little wetand have access to something besides the “Poker Face” track that was included in the demo). But if you are given to having friends over for game night, you can expect Dance Central to get a LOT of play time, especially in the near term as the “wow” factor of Kinect (and motion controls in general) still has an impact on those trying it for the first time. Get ready to blush, though--there’s nothing more humbling than watching a sped-up version of yourself attempting to freestyle. My suggestion is that you at least dress nice. It’s better to look a fool wearing a nice club shirt and slacks than a wife-beater and boxer shorts. (PLEASE dear Lord in heaven don’t let Microsoft have surreptitiously recorded last night’s performance.)
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/JoyRide_gameplay.jpg
Joyride: Well, there’s not much to say, really. For those that don’t know, Joyride was originally announced (http://www.teamteabag.com/2009/06/04/e3-ms-press-conference-free-xbla-game-joy-ride-on-the-way/) at E3’09 as an avatar-enabled kart racer that was going to be released for free through XBLA and be supported by microtransactions. That sounded like a great idea and was something that I was really looking forward to. Then, as it missed its initial Winter’09 release date, it faded from my mind until I saw earlier this year that it was re-announced as a $50 Kinect launch title. And now that I’ve played the demo, I have to say that it... plays like a low-end XBLA game with kludgy motion controls forced onto it. Seriously--the game is garbage, and I’m not even going to waste that much time telling you why. It controls terribly, looks bland, and has a tiring mechanic of having to hold your arms out in front of you for 2-4 minutes at a time. If it at least had the option of playing using the standard controller, I might give it a second look. But as it is, I’ll probably never touch it again, barring a major update and some heavily positive word of mouth.
Your Shape Fitness Evolved: This title more than any other from the E3’10 presentation was the one that really kept my cynicism at bay regarding what could be done with the watered-down (http://www.myce.com/news/microsoft-downgrades-xbox-360-kinect-hardware-to-lower-costs-33064/) Kinect technology. My wife is a big fan of fitness games (I bought her Just Dance and EA Sports Active on the Wii for her birthday), so Your Shape seemed like one that I could possibly use to sell her on the idea of getting a Kinect if I decided to pick one up. Having now played the demo, I have to admit that as a tech demo it’s very cool. The part where it scans your body, analyzing your height, identifying muscle groups, and showing various measurements is a cool (if not akwardly eye-opening) effect. The only activity included in the demo is the Smash workout where you punch at various boxes which light up in front of you. It was good fun, very responsive, and bodes well for the rest of the game.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/your_shape_gameplay.jpg
So that’s my two-hours-in impression of Kinect. Yes, some of the games (such as Joyride and Kinect Adventures) are obviously going to be gimmicky, motion-control shovelware. But the technology holds some real potential. The Kinect Hub is a cool way to navigate your 360, and surprisingly practical. The voice controls have likewise worked great, and there’s at least a few solid games either available or on the horizon (http://child-of-eden.us.ubi.com/). Maybe it’s just my rationalization kicking in to counteract the buyers’ remorse, but I’m actually pretty happy with the purchase so far. It’s by no means a perfect device and those who rarely or never have need of a good party game platform can certainly skip it until more compelling single-player content arrives. But for those who either never picked up a Wii and need some entertainment to pad out your next party or who want an easy, accessible gaming experience that non-gamers can slip right into, then Kinect may be worth your cash sooner rather than later. Now to go find a copy of Kinectimals so I can play with my own fuzzy tig--I mean..analyze my little girl’s reactions as she adopts and cares for a virtual predatory cat..
<table width="100%" style="padding:2px"><tr><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_good.jpg The gesture controls in the Kinect Hub actually work really well and will give you a few “Ooh! This is just like in Minority Report!” moments The facial recognition for hot swapping players is perfect for the kinds of party game that are apparently going to be the norm for the first wave of Kinect titles The voice recognition controls also work surprisingly well, even when doing a bad Patrick Stewart impression while pretending you’re talking to the computer on the holodeck. The way the Kinect automatically looks up and down tracking your face is both cool and scary-in-a-HAL-9000-way all at once</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_bad.jpg While the initial device setup and calibration is simple, setting up a Kinect ID takes FOR-EVER Despite the fact that the IR camera can track your body position even in pitch dark, the facial recognition needs at least a moderately well-lit room to work; so those who use projectors (like me) may run into a little frustration on this front Had Your Shape crash on me once when I stepped away to get a quick drink. (It apparently has abandonment issues.)</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_ugly.jpg An overweight 34-year-old white boy dancing alone in his home theater to Lada Gaga’s Poker Face at 2 in the morning</td></tr></table>
<table width="50%" style="border:1px solid red;padding:2px"><tr><td width=50% valign=top>The Rundown
Time Spent Playing: ~2 hours
Favorite Feature: Kinect Hub
Least-liked Feature Needing a LOT of open room to play
Favorite Demo: Dance Central
Worst Demo: Joyride
Most Embarassing Moment: Video playback in Dance Central is not always a good thing<br></td></tr></table>