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[Ihya]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/04/kinect-for-xbox-360-review/ - skip to 6 minutes into the video.

Kinda reminds me of the Alex Navarro Big Rigs review.

Seems like MS's plan is to throw shovelware out the door on launch and in the fullness of time they will figure out what the hell they are doing. Sell it on concept and hype and then, when it should die a natural death, someone will figure something cool out and make some good games.

Kinda the Wii model of console launches.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Kinda the Wii model of console launches.

The Wii had Twilight Princess, ExciteTruck, Trauma Center, and Wii Sports day one. So I'm guessing the Wii didn't follow the Wii model of console launches.

 

[Technosteve]

I see interactive porn games in Kinect's future, which i mean Love Plus Kinect! 360

 

[Why For?]

Dear lord...

Oh relax.

Like Wii Sports/Resort doesn't have 'tricks' like that to beat the game easily.

Wii Tennis works BETTER if you don't swing the remote and just give it a little 'flick'. Joust in Resort has a similar trick to the Kinect Boxing. Just shake the remote like crazy and it will knock the opponent off the edge in no time.

Drama much?

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Oh relax.

Like Wii Sports/Resort doesn't have 'tricks' like that to beat the game easily.

Wii Tennis works BETTER if you don't swing the remote and just give it a little 'flick'. Joust in Resort has a similar trick to the Kinect Boxing. Just shake the remote like crazy and it will knock the opponent off the edge in no time.

Drama much?

You misunderstand me. I don't understand why anyone would waste their time or money on either product considering how poorly constructed they are.

 

[DangerousDave]

The Wii had Twilight Princess, ExciteTruck, Trauma Center, and Wii Sports day one. So I'm guessing the Wii didn't follow the Wii model of console launches.

And CoD3, SuperMonkeyBall and Red Steel (that were the ones that I bought on launch, in Europe).

Even NfS Carbon, that was an awful game, but allow you to accelerate and brake.

 

[Why For?]

You misunderstand me. I don't understand why anyone would waste their time or money on either product considering how poorly constructed they are.

That's a different ball game.

I don't mind any of the 3. I have a Wii, and will be picking up Move when I find a nice bundle down here (which I think I just did), and am planning on Kinect for Dance Central.

But things like that (speed bag style boxing) are far from a deal breaker to me.

 

[InaudibleWhispa]

That's a different ball game.

I don't mind any of the 3. I have a Wii, and will be picking up Move when I find a nice bundle down here (which I think I just did), and am planning on Kinect for Dance Central.

But things like that (speed bag style boxing) are far from a deal breaker to me.

Same here. I already own Sports Champion and Wii Sports Resort, and my family choose Wii Sports every time because it's "fun" and "easy". Sports Champion is undoubtedly the more accurate, precise representation of the sports, but coupled with the bland art style it's not hard to see why it doesn't appeal to casuals. Sports Champion when I'm by myself, Wii Sports and Kinect Sports with family and friends. There's no reason to not enjoy both (unless you're just against the genre in general).

 

[Najaf]

Sonic Free Riders is the most broken of the Kinect games I've played and that includes a half-dozen titles.

Sonic Free Riders is, ultimately, a fairly standard racer that works well for Kinect....It's not amazing, but it's definitely one of the games you should get to round out your Kinect collection.

[face_confused]

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

[face_confused]

Why? Its IGN.

 

[Zachack]

Why? Its IGN.

But it's also Kotaku. Can they both be wrong?

 

[riceandbeans]

But it's also Kotaku. Can they both be wrong?

They might both be right. I think the experience is going to vary for everyone just because of the sensor, the person, and where they're playing it.

 

[chubigans]

They might both be right. I think the experience is going to vary for everyone just because of the sensor, the person, and where they're playing it.

I really wish every review would show a picture of their setup where they're playing it.

 

[starsky]

I really wish every review would show a picture of their setup where they're playing it.

I agree completely.

 

[SpacLock]

I see interactive porn games in Kinect's future, which i mean Love Plus Kinect! 360

Use your arms to block the tentacles.

 

[Neuromancer]

But it's also Kotaku. Can they both be wrong?

Oh yes, they can

 

[Stumpokapow]

I really wish every review would show a picture of their setup where they're playing it.

I agree. I also wish every review would post the reviewer's gamertag and achievements list.

Kotaku, despite the fact that I'm not fond of their reviews, does one good thing by mentioning the play circumstances at the bottom of the review ("Played through on normal [the second difficulty of three] once to completion, spent about three hours playing online, played the first three campaign missions on hard to compare difficulties, all on a review copy provided for free by Publisher X").

In the case of Sonic Free Riders, it doesn't look like they played much:
Sonic Free Riders was developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Xbox 360 Kinect, released on Nov. 4. Retails for $49.99. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through more than a dozen races and modes. Tried single and multiplayer races. Struggled mightily with the menu. Attempted several recalibrations to improve the control issues.

I mean, I'm sure the game is an enormous pile of shit, but "played through more than a dozen races" suggests a relatively low amount of playtime.

cf Dance Central's Kotaku review
Dance Central was developed by Harmonix and published by MTV Games for the Xbox 360 Kinect, released on Nov. 4. Retails for $49.99. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Danced through all 32 songs, some multiple times and on multiple difficulties. Danced about 8 feet from the camera. Had dance battles, snapped fingers at appropriate times.

 

[Community Forum]

Joystiq's un-review of Fighters Uncaged is so damn funny.

One time, I was pushing a TV around so I could watch He-Man while I ate my Cap'n Crunch in the dining room. I was four years old. I accidentally pushed the TV over, bringing it smashing down on my finger. I had to get eight stitches and I eventually lost the fingernail.

I mention this only so you can fully appreciate the gravity of me saying that the half-hour I spent with Fighters Uncaged was the very worst TV-related thing that has ever happened to me. It's ugly, the fighting moves only work half of the time (except for ones like the straight right leg kick, which work none of the time). The training goes on forever before you get to the first round of actual fighting, which is against ... your trainer. It's terrible. I would erase Kinect from the fabric of time if it meant Fighters Uncaged would similarly be lost to the ether.

I'm not giving it a score because I think scoring a game after a half hour sets a bad precedent, and I'd rather eat a rain-soaked box of poison buttholes than ever play Fighters Uncaged again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/04/fighters-uncaged-review/

 

[PetriP-TNT]

Judging from the Giant Bomb live material, anyone who gave Sonic Riders more than 5.0 is bribed and shouldn't be trusted in future

 

[op_ivy]

Judging from the Giant Bomb live material, anyone who gave Sonic Riders more than 5.0 is bribed and shouldn't be trusted in future

i'm sure sonic riders IS shit, but to be fair, in IGNs review they said that it did have a fairly steep learning curve for the controls. not something a first play through on giant bomb would be able to fairly assess

 

[seady]

There's a reason why IGN is the only site that had Sonic review up way before the embargo.

 

[SonOfABeep]

Rain-Soaked Box of Poisoned Buttholes, eh?

Delicious, Mr McElroy.

 

[Najaf]

Joystiq's un-review of Fighters Uncaged is so damn funny.



http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/04/fighters-uncaged-review/

... I'd rather eat a rain-soaked box of poison buttholes than ever play Fighters Uncaged again.

:lol Tell me how you really feel Justin.

 

[Karish]

have there been any reviews of Motionsports by Ubi?

 

[OneMoreQuestion]

Use your arms to block the tentacles.

Are you kidding? You use your arms to control the tentacles...

 

[Leon S. Kennedy]

So it's a decent mat-less DDR machine?

Best description of Kinect yet. Very succinct as well

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Are you kidding? You use your arms to control the tentacles...

Or even better, YOU are the tentacle!

 

[Foxix Von]

Are you kidding? You use your arms to control the tentacles...

I now expect record breaking sales in Japan.

Spoiler

I'd import a copy day one.

 

[Caddle]

Here are my brief impression of kinetic. Everyone should do themselves a favor and calibrate the damn thing properly. After the initial setup I went back into the kinetic tune up menu and calibrated the camera some more. This process took about 2 minutes and yielded better result than the automatic setup. My fears about responsiveness were alleviated after doing this process. Before I made the purchase at Best buy, I tried the demo unit on hand, and came away a bit disappointed, not to be deterred I made the purchase anyway. Another thing, there is a sleeve included with kinetic adventures to help adjust the line of sight for the camera. All the reviews I've read never mentioned this fact, make you wonder if these so call reviewers really spent any good amount of time with this.

 

[Ryu]

I now expect record breaking sales in Japan.

Spoiler

I'd import a copy day one.

Spoiler

Damn your randomizing avatar.

 

[Foxix Von]

Spoiler

Damn your randomizing avatar.

They fall for the trap every time.

 

[Struct09]

Major Nelson compiled a list of a bunch of reviews (and he doesn't' exclude the negative ones): http://majornelson.com/archive/2010/11/04/kinect-review-mega-round-up.aspx

 

[DJ Lushious]

I gotta laugh at the fact that 100% of the JoyRide reviews say "What a great polished game with lots of cool ideas and good tracks and it looks fun.. pity the controls are garbage, what the hell were they thinking?"

Microsoft's equivalent to Lair :lol

I definitely wished I had passed on JoyRide. I was always in 7th or 8th place, only because I would be turning the "wheel" and my car would just run into and hug the wall. Though my friends who I played with beat the pants outta me, even scoring first place a few times. The general consensus, though, was that this game was not very good. With a controller, this game would be a lot more fun. Not likely to happen, though.

Though, in the game's defense, the stunt mode is awesome.

 

[ghst]

Is it true that there is lag, and are the Sports games as accurate as Sports Champion or Wii Sport Resort

maybe if you tape the wiimote to your forearm.

so this isn't just a hit-and-run troll: i firmly believe that this is kinect's biggest and most overlooked failing, even more than the lag and space requirements. it's camera resolution is too low and software too primitive to fully recognize any movement below the wrist. we are human beings, almost all of our dexterity and craft is enabled through our hands, and kinect is incompatible with them.

 

[Foxix Von]

maybe if you tape the wiimote to your forearm.

so this isn't just a hit-and-run troll: i firmly believe that this is kinect's biggest and most overlooked failing, even more than the lag and space requirements. it's camera resolution is too low and software too primitive to fully recognize any movement below the wrist. we are human beings, almost all of our dexterity and craft is enabled through our hands, and kinect is incompatible with them.

Actually speaking of the camera, does anyone know why it only captures at 30fps? For some reason in my mind, it just makes more sense to ship something like this out that records at at least 60.

 

[Psychotext]

Actually speaking of the camera, does anyone know why it only captures at 30fps? For some reason in my mind, it just makes more sense to ship something like this out that records at at least 60.

Processing requirements at a guess.

 

[DJ Lushious]

Actually speaking of the camera, does anyone know why it only captures at 30fps? For some reason in my mind, it just makes more sense to ship something like this out that records at at least 60.

I don't know the answer, but my educated guess is simply processing power. Since the Kinect relies on the Three-Sexy to be its workhorse, I'd imagine every processing cycle is going to be sacred.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

maybe if you tape the wiimote to your forearm.

so this isn't just a hit-and-run troll: i firmly believe that this is kinect's biggest and most overlooked failing, even more than the lag and space requirements. it's camera resolution is too low and software too primitive to fully recognize any movement below the wrist. we are human beings, almost all of our dexterity and craft is enabled through our hands, and kinect is incompatible with them.

Head of nail, meet hammer.

 

[Foxix Von]

I don't know the answer, but my educated guess is simply processing power. Since the Kinect relies on the Three-Sexy to be its workhorse, I'd imagine every processing cycle is going to be sacred.

That's what I was sort of thinking. I wonder how much more it would have cost them to put the processor in there. I think the decision to leave it out is going to sort of cap the device's effectiveness later down the line.

 

[DJ Lushious]

I think the decision to leave it out is going to sort of cap the device's effectiveness later down the line.

I don't necessarily agree with that statement. Since a lot of the Kinect seems to be dependent upon a software layer, who's to say that MicroSauce's Kinect API can't improve over time, same as the system tools? MicroSauce's developer tools have, from what I understand, been a major reason for their software success this gen.

This current run of Kinect titles also seem to shout "Look! Here's the Kinect doing motion controls, as you've come to expect from this Wii dominated world." I hope we'll see developers doing some interesting things with the tech that just may challenge how we've approached the wiimote + nunchuck way of thinking.

After reading the Wired article, the creative buzz at MicroSoft has me excited on its own merits. Now just imagine what the most creative minds in the videogame industry have stewing in their heads (or in game code)!

 

[riceandbeans]

That's what I was sort of thinking. I wonder how much more it would have cost them to put the processor in there. I think the decision to leave it out is going to sort of cap the device's effectiveness later down the line.

The thing is already pretty jam packed. You've got 4 microphones, an accelerometer, a motor, 64mb of SDRAM2, a fan to cool it... My guess is that processor might've sent it over the edge and they'd be taking a hit while trying to introduce at an affordable cost.

Lag should get better over time. The GiantBomb video of MyShape had almost lag-free, 1:1 movement and other games like Kinect Sports showed a good amount lag. Probably because one is less intensive, but theres room for optimization. But it does suck. Early reports like the Burnout tech demo mentioned lag free gameplay and full throttle control and that was probably with processor inside.

 

[riceandbeans]

Double post.

Stupid mouse double clicks with a single click. Thanks Microsoft!

 

[djtortilla]

this is Zune 1.0 all over again.

Microsoft promised they could keep that piece of hardware fresh with firmware updates...

that didn't result in much

I think this Kinect will see some software improvements only to quickly arrive at the
limitations of the hardware

 

[Alx]

Early reports like the Burnout tech demo mentioned lag free gameplay and full throttle control and that was probably with processor inside.

The early Burnout demo was lag free because it was doing basic processing of the depth map : it detected hands as the two closest points in the image, and didn't really use skeleton tracking (it was obvious in the cases when players crossed their arms, left became right and vice versa).
At this time all the processing was done in an external PC, which concerning lag would have increased it if anything. We never heard of the specs of this famous embedded processor that was taken out of the device, but you can't expect it to be ultimate nasa technology that would have solved any problem and limitation. Actually Primesense does offer an additional chip in its product, and it's just as limited (maybe more) than the current version of kinect.

Having most of the intelligence done by software is the best way to be confident that it will evolve for the better, through possible updates. In general embedded computing is good for cost reduction (when you don't have a powerful CPU at your disposal), but more than often it downgrades performances rather than enhance them.

 

[ShapeGSX]

this is Zune 1.0 all over again.

Microsoft promised they could keep that piece of hardware fresh with firmware updates...

that didn't result in much

Yeah, same with that XBox 360 thing. That never got any firmware updates to keep the hardware fresh, either. I wish I could get rid of these blades.

 

[Karish]

Yeah, same with that XBox 360 thing. That never got any firmware updates to keep the hardware fresh, either. I wish I could get rid of these blades.

:lol

 

[djtortilla]

those are superficial "upgrades"


I think the Kinect hardware is already too limited

 

[Psychotext]

those are superficial "upgrades"

1080p and cross game party chat were massively superficial... yes.

 

[plagiarize]

those are superficial "upgrades"


I think the Kinect hardware is already too limited

so why the hell are you talking about software upgrades if you think no software upgrade will help with anything?

the original Zunes got a BUNCH of functionality and improvements before they stopped supporting them.

 

[dark10x]

Actually speaking of the camera, does anyone know why it only captures at 30fps? For some reason in my mind, it just makes more sense to ship something like this out that records at at least 60.

So, wait, do things animated by Kinect move at 30 fps then? Like the virtual cursor you drag around in the Kinect dashboard. Is that 30 fps?

I know the camera capture 640x480 at 30 fps. It can only do 60 fps at 320x240 resolution, which is insanely low.