Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360
Microsoft's revolutionary motion gaming add-on not only meets expectations, but shatters them.
Kinect Bundles and Games
Kinect comes available as a $149.99 standalone device, but should you want to purchase it along with an Xbox 360, there are two additional options. Microsoft sells a $299 bundle that pairs Kinect with a 4GB Xbox 360, as well as a $399 bundle that packages Kinect with a 250GB system. I like the flexibility here, as it gives gamers many options for getting in on Microsoft's motion action. You won't need an Xbox Live subscription to use Kinect, but you can use Kinect's motion navigation with several of Xbox Live Gold features, such as ESPN.
Kinect Adventures is Kinect's pack-in game, but there will be several other titles on store shelves at or near its launch including Dance Central (a pad-free take on Dance Dance Revolution), Kinectimals (an advanced spin on Nintendogs), Kinect Joy Riders (racing), Kinect Sports (the Microsoft equivalent of Wii Sports), Sonic Free Riders (racing), and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved (exercise). Granted, not many of these titles will appeal to the hardcore gamer, but Microsoft has marketed it toward families, so the titles' casual nature isn't very surprising.
Kinect Design, Setup, and Tutorial
The 1.3-pound Kinect is an all-black 2.8-by-11.1-by-2.8-inch (HWD) horizontal bar positioned on top of a motorized pivot that's designed to blend inconspicuously into your entertainment setup. Its face houses three sensors that are used to track players' movements and voice commands: a 640-by-480 RGB camera, a monochrome depth sensor, and a multi-array microphone. The back houses the lone connection cable, and air vents are built into the sides and bottom of the device to keep it cool during long play sessions. A power/USB cable is included for connecting Kinect to older Xbox 360 models.
Setting up Kinect is a simple affair: If you have the new ($299.99, 4 stars), simply plug the device's sensor cable into the Aux port, which is easily identified by the orange stripe positioned above it. If you own an older Xbox 360, plug the sensor cable into the included Power/USB cable, and then plug one end of that cable into a USB port and the other into an outlet. When we connected Kinect to the new Xbox 360, it was instantly recognized and powered on without the need for AC power—the new Xbox 360 supplies enough juice to power the device. Note: Microsoft recommends positioning Kinect between 2 and 6 feet above the ground, and centered just above or below your television or monitor.
After powering on, the Kinect sensor came alive and immediately began scanning the environment,then locking the camera into a prime position. The Kinect then ran through a series of required tests, in which it checked the background noise level, speaker volume, and microphone calibration, the three components that power its voice command feature (more on that later).
A brief tutorial then showed me important gestures all users need to know to operate Kinect. First off, moving your hand so that the floating cursor is positioned over a game option makes a selection ring appear that assists in the confirmation process. Also, raising your right hand and waving it back and forth, for example, causes Kinect to recognize you, while positioning your right arm next to your body while holding your left arm at a 45-degree angle away from your body pauses games. These three gestures are universal, and work in any gaming scenario. Kinect's facial recognition can be used to log you into your Xbox account.
Stellar Motion Control (When You're Within Range)
Kinect comes packaged with Kinect Adventures, a collection of athletic titles that serve as a fun tech demo, like a more thematic version of Nintendo's Wii Sports. The most interesting of these six games is "Reflex Ridge," a two-player split-screen (player versus player or player versus Xbox) racing/obstacle title that has gamers speeding down a river on a raft. As your on-screen avatar moves forward, obstacles appear to slow your progress, so you have to leap, side-step, and duck objects. The motion tracking was surprisingly accurate in my tests; the instant I leapt, my avatar leapt. When I leaned left or right, my character leaned left or right in step. In fact, the only time I felt a disconnect between myself and my on-screen persona is when I had to jump up and down rapidly to increase the speed of the raft—occasionally a jump wouldn't register. Still, the overall experience was extremely impressive.
Even better, a second player can jump into the game at any time without the need for calibration or having to pause the game and dig through menus. When another person walked into Kinect's field of vision, "Reflex Ridge" automatically detected the new challenger and split the screen. I was floored by this, as it allowed a second player to jump in without breaking the flow of the game.
Kinect Sports, one of the launch titles, further demonstrated the device's incredible motion sensing. The Bowling game mode showed that Kinect can detect speed variations, as slow arm motions produced slow rolling balls, while quick arm motions produced balls that blazed down the lane. This attention to detail made the game feel much more like a true game of bowling than Wii Sports, and I could easily see those that excel in the real life sport finding greater success in the game than those who don't. Kinect Sports contained two other addictive games that nearly shut down the PCMag lab one Friday afternoon with their excellent recreations of the actual sports: Table Tennis and Volleyball. As we served, leapt, delivered backhands, and spiked balls, everyone marveled at Kinetic's ability to encourage everyone to get up and play, and work without the physical controllers that non-gamers can find daunting. Kinect would occasionally miss a motion input, but it was surprisingly rare.
In order to enjoy Kinect, you have to be positioned in a sweet spot about 6 to 8 feet away from the sensor. This means that you might run into trouble if your forced to set it up in a cramped space. It also means that even if you have the proper amount of floor space, you can easily step out of the play field. Kinect, however, even senses when you do that; when I moved out of position while playing Boxing, the game instructed me to step back, forward, left, or right, so that I was back into the play zone. Once you get a hang of the play areas, staying within it becomes second nature. Marking the sweet spot on the floor can be very helpful, though.
Voice Command and Video Connect
Microsoft has done itself a bit of a disservice by not promoting Kinect's voice command capabilities as highly as it has the system's motion control. Kinect functions on the "If you see it, you can say it" principle, which means that onscreen actions can also be performed by speaking them instead of using arm movements. For example, saying the word "Xbox" causes the Kinect's ear to perk up and await your command. Following that with "Open Tray" causes the disc tray to pop open. You can also use it to launch any of non-gaming services like ESPN and the Zune Marketplace. Kinect's voice recognition worked well in my tests, but it did occasionally miss a command. Minimal background noise and speaking clearly definitely helped.
Microsoft also includes a Video Kinect mode, which lets you use Kinect as a webcam to chat with others—even those that don't have Kinect.The camera will also track you around a room as you move, so the person or people on the other end of the video stream has you in view. Unfortunately, it was unavailable for use during out test period, but we able to confirm that only those with Microsoft messaging accounts (Windows Live, MSN, Hotmail) will be able to use the service. Still, we had a chance to experience Video Kinect in a demo set up the week before today's launch. The 640-by-480 camera accurately tracked a colleague when he moved from the left side of a sofa to the right, and the people on the other end of the stream reported that the camera kept him within their field of vision.
Should You Connect with Kinect?
Kinect is a great leap forward in motion gaming. If you already own an Xbox 360, the $149 is fairly reasonable—after all, when you consider a game title like Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will cost you $169 after you buy all the necessary accessories. If you don't own a Xbox 360, you're going to have to shell out at least $299 for the entry level Xbox 360 Kinect bundle. Still, that's more affordable than the $399 PlayStation 320GB Move Bundle, which comes with the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Eye camera, a single Move controller, and a game. And your $149 for Kinect gets you groundbreaking technology that tracks your full body lets you use your voice to control your Xbox, and opens doors for new, exciting gameplay experiences. If you have an Xbox, Kinect is a must-have add-on that's more than worthy of our Editors' Choice Award.
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