Kinect sounds like some impressive tech, but it doesn't really sound fun 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?
The dance game is a pretty ridiculous amount of fun, assuming you like these sorts of things at all. The casual gamer appeal that made the Wii a success is pretty immediately obvious when you see it in action, and they definitely nailed the technology.
That said, the $150 price tag seems a bit steep ($400 with a console). Early sales do look pretty strong, but I'm not entirely convinced this will get more people to buy a 360, especially if they already have a Wii gathering dust.
Personally I'm most interested in the hacks people will inevitably come up with that take advantage of the technology in different contexts.
Every major advancement in gaming is bound to leave some people behind. The good thing is at least Microsoft is recognizing there are different types of gamers out there and trying to offering it all on one platform.
I think plenty of people said the same thing about the Wii. It is fun so long as games use the interaction as a constructive part of the game. There are plenty of fun multiplayer games on the Wii that just wouldn't work with traditional controllers.
I had a Wii for a while, and the motion control thing was fun at first, but it wore itself out pretty quickly. I think the thing I appreciated most was the ease of aiming when playing Metroid.
I will probably purchase one simply for the navigation capabilities within the XBox's menu system.
I occasionally play games with the 360, but it is mostly used to play media and stream Netflix in HD. (It is connected to an HD projector - 12' diagonal view). Unfortunately, waiving hands in the air while jumping around will block a portion of the projector's path. Sitting on the couch is fine, though.
Comments
Kinect sounds like some impressive tech, but it doesn't really sound fun 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?
The dance game is a pretty ridiculous amount of fun, assuming you like these sorts of things at all. The casual gamer appeal that made the Wii a success is pretty immediately obvious when you see it in action, and they definitely nailed the technology.
That said, the $150 price tag seems a bit steep ($400 with a console). Early sales do look pretty strong, but I'm not entirely convinced this will get more people to buy a 360, especially if they already have a Wii gathering dust.
Personally I'm most interested in the hacks people will inevitably come up with that take advantage of the technology in different contexts.
Every major advancement in gaming is bound to leave some people behind. The good thing is at least Microsoft is recognizing there are different types of gamers out there and trying to offering it all on one platform.
I think plenty of people said the same thing about the Wii. It is fun so long as games use the interaction as a constructive part of the game. There are plenty of fun multiplayer games on the Wii that just wouldn't work with traditional controllers.
I had a Wii for a while, and the motion control thing was fun at first, but it wore itself out pretty quickly. I think the thing I appreciated most was the ease of aiming when playing Metroid.
I will probably purchase one simply for the navigation capabilities within the XBox's menu system.
I occasionally play games with the 360, but it is mostly used to play media and stream Netflix in HD. (It is connected to an HD projector - 12' diagonal view). Unfortunately, waiving hands in the air while jumping around will block a portion of the projector's path. Sitting on the couch is fine, though.
Can anybody confirm this works with Netflix?
Im sure it will be. the most important ingredient there is the developer/publisher commitment (its strong)