Kinect by Microsoft Keeps You Entertained Hands Free

I'm a MSFT employee but you guys have to take my word that this is a purely unbiased review. :)<p>I just played the Kinect all evening for the first time. And I'm still in shock - that thing is magical, like the first time I played with the Wii, flicked on an iPhone or got search results instantly from Google.<p>Few things blew me away<p>- How intuitive the controls (or lack of thereof) are. You just 'do'. The Wii was like this too but this felt more natural<p>- Being able to talk to my Xbox. I've never felt voice recognition was ready for mainstream. I was wrong - talking to my TV felt a bit like Star Trek modulo the computer voice.<p>- How much fun it was. My wife and I had as fun much goofing off by dancing around and playing around as much as competing.<p>I can't wait to see more games for it.

I want to see this hacked and be able to connected to my laptop so I can write programs using the Kinect sensor as an input. Think about how wild it would be to write software using a Kinect input as a sensor. For example, you could sit there and wave your hand to move through your email or music or something.<p>I'm not the only one; Adafruit Industries has a $2,000 bounty for the first Github repo submission that can grab input from the Kinect device and output depth. <a href="http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/11/04/the-open-kinect-project-the-ok-prize-get-1000-bounty-for-kinect-for-xbox-360-open-source-drivers/" rel="nofollow">http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/11/04/the-open-kinect-proj...</a>

I am hopeful that Kinect is a successful product for Microsoft, but I have some questions.<p>The Nintendo Wii found success in the market, not solely because of its simple, easy to use controls. In addition to the innovative Wii UI, Nintendo launched a variety of family oriented games that took advantage of the Wii controllers, it had a brand and bevy of characters that it could leverage that resonated with families and kids (e.g., Mario), the Wii console was small and quiet, and the Wii was priced well below the competition.<p>For Kinect to succeed in the market, Microsoft must introduce a variety of complementary (and compelling) games, it needs to develop a collection of characters and stories that resonate with target customers of the Kinect, and it needs to carefully consider pricing, given that the price of the Xbox 360 plus Kinect (+ additional accessories) could overshoot the comfort level of a majority of consumers, especially in view of the economic recession.<p>Ultimately, the success of Kinect hinges not only on the Kinect hardware but also on Microsoft's ability to develop a coherent "Kinect strategy" that includes games, characters/stories, branding and marketing, pricing, and so forth. And a key issue is developing a "Kinect strategy" that does not alienate Xbox 360's most important customers, which at present are hardcore gamers. These are the gamers paying for Live and providing the Xbox 360 with the highest (game) attach rate among 7th generation consoles.

I've actually had the chance to play with one of these firsthand, and I must say, I'm quite impressed. The only basis for comparison I have is the wii.<p>Initially, there is some confusion as to what it is you're supposed to do but after a minute of awkward movement you get the hang of it. This feels much more natural than the wii, and the lack of controller is freeing. The full body movement detection is fun and really encourages you to move around. On the other hand, the sensitivity is not that high. It's okay with the casual games it comes with, but I'd like to see some more examples of, say, shooters.

For dissenting opinions, check out Ars Technica's [1] and Engadget's [2] reviews. Both are less enthusiastic, with Ars complaining that the lack of buttons (compared to the Wiimote or Sony's Move) greatly limits gameplay potential.<p>[1] <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2010/11/buy-a-house-clean-your-floor-move-your-butt-ars-reviews-kinect.ars" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2010/11/buy-a-house-cl...</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/04/kinect-for-xbox-360-review/" rel="nofollow">http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/04/kinect-for-xbox-360-revie...</a>

Apparently if you try to create an open-source driver for this, Microsoft thinks that it's a safety hazard....<p><pre><code> &#62; But Microsoft isn't taking kindly to the bounty offer. "Microsoft does not &#62; condone the modification of its products," a company spokesperson told &#62; CNET. "With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software &#62; safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft &#62; will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work &#62; closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect &#62; tamper-resistant." </code></pre> 'product safety groups?'<p>1: <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/04/2k-bounty-for-freeop.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/04/2k-bounty-for-freeop.ht...</a><p>2: <a href="http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/11/04/the-open-kinect-project-the-ok-prize-get-1000-bounty-for-kinect-for-xbox-360-open-source-drivers/" rel="nofollow">http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/11/04/the-open-kinect-proj...</a><p>3: <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20021836-52.html" rel="nofollow">http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20021836-52.html</a>

My roommate bought it and invited a bunch of people over. It's actually a lot of fun. More than I thought it would be. Most people seemed hesitant to play... probably because the majority of the games involve waving your arms around like an idiot. It's not quite as bad as that infamous video suggests, but it's still pretty bad.<p>The motion detection technology is really good. You walk around the room and your avatar moves along with you. You scratch your cheek with your right hand and the character on the screen makes the same general motion.<p>Voice recognition was mediocre. Had to repeat ourselves a few times, and background noises seemed to screw it up.<p>Thumbs up, overall.

Kinect sounds like some impressive tech, but it doesn't really sound <i>fun</i> to me. Obviously I'm not the target audience, but I wonder how many people out there want to play games in this manner. It might be a cool novelty, but is it a lasting interaction paradigm?

Kinect suffers from the same problem that all motion controls do: the technology isn't there to make it really precise and low latency, and that's a big problem for people who have been playing games for a long time and who have come to expect that precision, even for casual games.<p>It doesn't matter if the games are casual or not - the games aren't fun to me if I feel like I have to devote even a modicum of thought to compensating for the control scheme, or if I feel like there's even a little bit of "luck" involved. It's like how people complain that Mario Party isn't fun because you don't really feel like your skill has much of a bearing on what's going on - I doubt that most people care about being masters of Mario Party, but with even a little bit of luck, it invalidates the experience. It's not about being competitive, it's about the satisfaction of improving and applying a skill. Sure, if I'm drunk and just waving my arms around and my avatar is doing the same, of course it's fun, but without that precision, it's not a "game," it's a "toy." Toys are fine, but I prefer games.<p>It's crazy to think that we've got these awesome ideas for motion controls and some fairly impressive implementations that were unimaginable even a few years ago, but no way to make them even as close as precise as the control pads, buttons and joysticks that we've had for decades simply by virtue of the fact that they rely on simple digital technology.<p>EDIT/ADD: What I'm excited for is when the year-long honeymoon period is over and developers start moving beyond the obvious applications. I want to see stuff like two player games where one player has a controller and the other is using their arms to tilt the playfield or control something else, or a game where you have to stand in front of the camera with a controller in your left and and use your body and the stick at the same time.

Specs of interest from <a href="http://www.primesense.com/?p=514" rel="nofollow">http://www.primesense.com/?p=514</a><p>Field of View (Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal): 58° H, 45° V, 70° D<p>Depth image size: VGA (640x480)<p>Spatial x/y resolution (@ 2m distance from sensor): 3mm<p>Depth z resolution (@ 2m distance from sensor): 1cm<p>Maximum image throughput (frame rate): 60fps<p>Operation range: 0.8m - 3.5m<p>Color image size: UXGA (1600x1200)<p>Data interface: USB 2.0<p>Power supply: USB 2.0<p>Power consumption: 2.25W<p>Dimensions (Width x Height x Depth): 14cm x 3.5cm x 5cm

My wife and I got this today and it's lots of fun. The motion sensing is really incredible technology, and there could be lots of uses in the future.

So I guess if you combine Kinect with iOS touch/swipe gestures, you can get the Minority Report interface (without the gloves)!<p>Not to mention that if Kinect can recognize your face well enough to log you into Xbox Live, then those customized interactive wall adverts from Minority Report can't be too far away either.

I have been playing with one for the past 2-3 hours and one thing I am REALLY impressed with is the level at which they have the voice recog. It may just be lots of data they have analyzed from their car kits, but the voice recognition is amazing (no training, multiple people, etc) and much better than I have been witness to inside other auto systems and with Goog411.. As for the visual component, the sensor is already able to pick up minor movements of the hands, if they can get down to finger movements etc I could see this being a huge helper in their auto realm (small distinct finger movement on the steering wheel for channel changing/navigation, etc) . It is an amazing piece of hardware.

Turns out the technology is not developed at Microsoft. They are using the PrimeSense chip, which gives the 3D sense to Xbox. Details here: <a href="http://eceplayground.com/2010/09/18/how-xbox-kinetic-works" rel="nofollow">http://eceplayground.com/2010/09/18/how-xbox-kinetic-works</a>

Will they be relaesing 3rd person shooter/rpg games where your character makes whatever movements you do? You could even walk in place to make him move. Actually pick things up etc.<p>I think that would be amazing.

Kinect is definitely disruptive. Which is all the more impressive considering the Wii has been on the market for some time, yet Kinect is not just a Wii motion control imitation (as the Playstation Move is), it's something similar but very different.<p>It's probably too soon to tell how significant Kinect will end up being, it'll probably be follow-on generations of Kinect games which will prove whether it'll be a game changer or a dud.

I almost thought this was going to be about Office 2011.