I have kinected. Have you?

     This is part one of two blogs I will be writing about my review of the Kinect system and a few games. This particular blog will be about the system itself. I was one of the many people who got the Kinect at launch. The entire time I had the Kinect on pre-order I was a little skeptic about it. I had a Wii (which I just sold about two weeks ago) that didn't get much use at all. It actually was in the original box for almost seven months! So I was a little afraid of plunging into another motion control system. I haven't purchased the Playstation Move because of this fact and I don't know if I ever will. So the weeks rolled by and finally the day came when I could pick up my Kinect.

     Even as I stood at the register with the Kinect sitting in front of me I still had some doubts about it. I took my new peripheral home and began setting it up. Let me first say that the set up was a breeze. All I had to do was place the motion camera under my television on the entertainment center. Then just plug in the power cord into the surge protector, and then plug the usb cord into an available slot on my Xbox 360 (slim model no less). I booted up the system and was prompted to calibrate and set up the Kinect's options and settings. This was ll very straight forward and easy to do.

     Within a short amount of time my Kinect was set up and ready to play. The first thing I did was open up the Kinect hub (or dashboard) by waving my hand. With a slight swiping motion I was sorting through different "channels." The comparison to 'Minority Report' is spot on...move over Tom Cruise! I had a blast selecting things just by moving my hand around. A nice option is you have to hold your hand over the thing you want to select for a few seconds. This eliminates the problem of accidentally selecting something and having to go back and forth.

     I also tried the voice command option. During the setup you're asked to speak at your normal volume and it records you counting a set of numbers. The system also detects the level of background noise so it can tell how loud the setting you play games is. This worked very well. I didn't have to raise my voice at all and it recognized me just fine. The one thing I find a little "cheesy" is you have to say the word "xbox" for it to open up the command list. Microsoft did this so that while watching a movie or video people won't be able to just shout "stop, pause, rewind" or other phrases and interrupt the playback. I guess I just feel a little silly saying "xbox" out loud. The whole idea behind "if you can see it, say it" works well. If I wanted to watch a trailer I just said the word trailer and it began to play. While watching a movie I could say the word pause, then rewind or fast forward by sliding my hand either left or right.

     By the end of my time navigating the Kinect hub, selecting different channels, and using the voice commands I have to say I was pretty impressed. I am very interested to see what they will add and create for the Kinect in the future. I do not regret purchasing it. Do I think it's for everyone? No. Do I think it's an innovative, cool, and creative addition to the Xbox 360? Absolutely. I think that Microsoft has created a very unique and interesting addition to the motion control gaming family.

Final Verdict: 9/10

Written by: Alter Ego 83