Maybe. Much like Sony’s Move, Microsoft’s Kinect is a mixed bag. The tech is undeniably awesome, and you’re not going to believe some of the things it can do, but it is at the mercy of a lackluster launch lineup that doesn’t truly show exactly what its capable of. The main draw of Kinect is not what it does now, but what developers may be able to do with it in the future.
Kinect is a neat peripheral with some cool tech. It may not revolutionize the gaming industry like Microsoft claims yet, but it shows some great promise. More than anything, we’re excited about what developers will do with it after they really get time to open up the peripheral’s engine and tinker around. How these developers build these experiences will determine whether Kinect is a failure or the next big thing in gaming.
Microsoft promised a lot in the year and a half since they announced Kinect, and while most of the tech is here, some is missing or not working as well as it should. You’ll still be able to control the console without the use of a controller — which is admittedly impressive in most cases. Just wave to engage Kinect and a menu will pop up, hover your hand over what you’re looking for to select it. As of this writing, not all of the Xbox features were controllable via motion, but Microsoft assures us that they will be added shortly after launch. What i really liked was that unlike the Wii, where you could sit and fake many of the movements for games, Kinect almost forces you to be active. It is watching you after all.
Another way to control your system using Kinect is with your voice. As cool as this sounds, it’s very limited and can be quite annoying. Again, as of this writing, you can’t actually power on your system using voice commands, to engage the Xbox, you’ll have to power it on the old fashioned way. Once you actually have the option, you’ll be saying Xbox…a..lot. Say you want to play the disc in drive; you’ll need to say “Xbox” then “Kinect” and then “Play Disc.” Yes, it’s a bit long of a process to do something you could have done by pressing the A button, but it’s cool and friends will love the novelty of it. Much like the motion sensing, it could be more useful if its improved after launch.One of Kinect’s coolest features is the new video chat. While the Xbox 360 has always had a video chat, going from the Xbox Live Vision camera to Kinect is like going from a betamax player to a Blu-ray on an HDTV screen. While the camera can get a bit distorted at times, the image quality is mostly superb and follows you around the room so you never have to worry about adjusting it.
