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[EBE]

I cant be the only one who think this. i remember being super excited for Project Natal back when it was first shown. the Milo demo always seemed like a bit of a stretch so i guess i was never misled about the capabilities of the hardware. i bought mine shortly after it came out and remember having a lot of fun with the pack in game Kinect Adventures.

i had never owned Wii - motion gaming was new and exciting for me at the time. Kinect Adventures served as a fine introduction into the space with a mostly enjoyable collection of minigames, Rally Ball and Reflex Ridge being the best (Rally Ball being a 3D Breakout type game and Reflex Ridge being a sort of on rails obstacle course, literally)

then there was Dance Central and Kinect Sports

these games were and still are incredibly fun to play. they sold a crap ton of copies each and went on to become two of the biggest franchises not only for the Kinect but for the Xbox in general. they had fluid controls that responded well to your input and were all around great games. Kinect Sports and its sequel in particular got the most play out of me with some really excellent sports

Kinect Sports' Bowling, Soccer, Beach Volleyball, and Table Tennis. I have omitted Track and Field and Boxing as i feel they werent as fun. Table Tennis is the best sport. Good times.

Spoiler

as a quick aside, Soccer and Table Tennis in this game are better than soccer and tennis in Kinect Sports Rivals, the latest entry into the series. theyre that good.

Kinect Sports: Season 2's Football, Golf, Darts, and Baseball. Skiing is garbage and Tennis isnt fun if it isnt table tennis. Darts is where its at in this game. Controls wonderfully.

then there was:
Double Fine Happy Action Theater
Fruit Ninja Kinect
Haunt
Wreckateer
Child of Eden
The Gunstringer
Just Dance
Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Kinectimals
Your Shape Fitness Evolved
and my favorite Kinect game, Fable: The Journey - but thats for another thread (seriously, the game is amazing and is easily on my top ten list of favorite games that gen)

im almost tempted to go back and buy a kinect on the cheap to play a few of these games again. does anyone else have any fond memories of the Kinect, or am i really the only one?

and before you guys even think about it:

 

[Majine]

From a functionality standpoint, it was garbage. Too premature. The XBO Kinect is what the first one should've been.

 

[Acti]

It was the best thing ever on the video ads. Worst thing ever when you actually played it. (The dance games were OK... I guess)

 

[topplehat]

That Star Wars gif really sums it up, Kinect was just a lot of false promises.

 

[McHuj]

No.

Despite selling well and extending the life of the 360, it did more harm than good to the Xbox brand.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

I played it 3 times at 3 separate houses and it was awful every time.

Still haven't tried the One version.

 

[blast processed]

From a functionality standpoint, it was garbage. Too premature. The XBO Kinect is what the first one should've been.

Same could be said for the wiimote and wiimote plus. You have to start somewhere.

 

[Metalingus5150]

I remember when I thought Star Wars kinect would be the most badass thing ever.

 

[JamesSaysRelax]

It was always fun with people over and just goofing around. Never really found it enjoyable by myself

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Nah.

 

[JetBlackPanda]

is this a Kinect bullshot thread? those screens look really good compared to the actual games.

oh and just so we are clear. I fucking hated every second I ever put into my Kinect.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Dance Central was the only thing that saved the kinect from being outright terrible in my book. All of them were fun.

 

[endresults]

My daughters spent the morning playing Kinect Sports, so they're fans.

I tried it once with Child of Eden, lawled, and never used any optional Kinect mode again after that.

 

[Majine]

Same could be said for the wiimote and wiimote plus. You have to start somewhere.

I wouldn't say so. Sure, the Wiimote was dumbed down compared to its promises, but atleast it worked.

 

[-MD-]

I won it in a contest when it came out, luckily they gave me a receipt cause 2 hours with the thing was more than enough.

Returned it the same day I got it.

 

[Cess007]

How come i've never seen this gif before? It's fantastic!!

Anyway, OT. I tried Kinect a couple of times with friends and the Just Dance game. It was silly fun, but never found that those 3 hours of fun justified to get one for me.

 

[sixteen-bit]

dance central was tight

 

[bitesnintendog]

I kinda liked Kinect. Adventure, Sports 1 & 2, and The Gunstringer were all enjoyable games but I never found anything past those that I would want to play again. I seemed to have less problems with the device than many others did but still wouldn't recommend it. Kinect 2.0 is pretty cool, too bad people seem to be so weary of it though.

 

[JetBlackPanda]

Did anyone try that Kinect Diseyland game? WTF WHY the controls were so messed up. Put hands together in front of you to walk??? oh gawd nightmare.

the only motion game that really controlled naturally and fluid 1 to 1 was Sports Champions on the Move. Ping pong on that was fucking good and so was disk golf.

 

[BlackBuzzard]

I remember when I thought Star Wars kinect would be the most badass thing ever.

It was

 

[Sutton Dagger]

There are no other circumstances in which a product that works 80% of the time would be praised, it blows my mind that people actually defend this garbage product. The whole thing was a bait and switch, it could never do the things they promised.

 

[BeforeU]

Its still pretty awesome. At least for me.

 

[endre]

I like the Kinect tech a lot. But who is controlling who on that last gif in OP?

 

[Devilgunman]

I drilled my apt wall just to hang that fcking thing above TV then learned that it's a piece of garbage. The worst $150 I ever spent.

 

[Bessy67]

I enjoyed Gunstringer, Child of Eden, Fruit Ninja (make this for X1 please!) and the Kinect Sports games. Kinect Adventures was fun to play a couple times with friends, and I never really got into Dance Central. Honestly IMO the best in-game use of kinect was in Skyrim, and I really hope they add functionality like that to some X1 games as well.

 

[PAULINK]

Dance Central is the reason to own a kinect. You can shit on all the other games (kinect adventures was ok) But dance central is the epitome of dancing rhythm games. Hamronix was really the only company that could really compensate for the kinect's input lag and really harness the sensors to make something really meaningful, plus they gave you the option to control menus with the controller (even though their own menu was intuitive enough).

So basically, Dance central is not a game for the kinect, the kinect is an accessory for dance central.

 

[DarthWalden]

I actually wish they would remake some of these games... There were some really fun and creative games that were ultimately frustrating due to the kinect.

I woukd buy a remake of any of these
Kinect disneyland
Pixars rush
Once upon a monster
Kinect adventures
Kinect sports 1 and 2
Gunstringer

I feel like kinect sports rivals was such a great idea but ultimately a lost opportunity as they tried to make it to competitive and forgot people just play these games for fun and not really to win.

 

[Johnohno]

and my favorite Kinect game, Fable: The Journey - but thats for another thread (seriously, the game is amazing and is easily on my top ten list of favorite games that gen)

My man!

The hate that game got was unreal. It was a very enjoyable experience I thought.

 

[AlcazarDisco]

that futurama kinect gif is still so good

 

[RedNumberFive]

I still play Kinect Sports soccer and golf on a pretty regular basis. That series is way more fun than gamers give it credit for.

 

[Rollo Tomasi]

Being on GAF for E3 2010 was awesome.

"For me, the highlight of the evening was watching Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki walk into the event in his white robe, taking in the scene behind his traditional sunglasses. He looked around a few times, stood quietly for a few moments and then turned around and left."

 

[malfcn]

I had fun with Sports and Adventures.
For the fiancee it was all the dance games.

 

[MonkeyPhobia]

After seeing the E3 concept videos (skateboard scanning, Milo, etc.), playing Kinect was one of the more disappointing video game experiences I've ever had.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

You can totally scan in your skateboard or golf clubs in and play! Might as well throw that shit in the trash because Kinect will make it obsolete!

 

[Camjo-Z]

I never had Kinect for 360 and probably would have never bought one at all if it wasn't packaged with my Xbox One, but after giving it a fair shake I have to admit... that it sucks. Every time I've used it for a game I end up thinking "why would I ever use this over a controller?" I sorta had fun with the Kinect Sports Rivals demo, but it still just made me want to play Wave Race instead. The only thing I find myself using it for these days is to turn the TV volume up or down when I can't find the remote.

I will say though, the "record an animation" feature Project Spark uses it for is pretty damn hilarious. Not "worth an extra $100 bucks on top of the console price" hilarious, but still hilarious.

 

[BlackBuzzard]

Being on GAF for E3 2010 was awesome.

"For me, the highlight of the evening was watching Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki walk into the event in his white robe, taking in the scene behind his traditional sunglasses. He looked around a few times, stood quietly for a few moments and then turned around and left."

Not the same without the photo

 

[captmcblack]

Kinect is trash.

I hate it because at the very least, it (along with any other me-too motion devices post-Wii) poisoned the well for motion control and pointer input in games, particularly for Nintendo.

Maybe in a gen or two, the device and software will be up-to-par, and we'll see a revival in viability for alternative input methods/devices on consoles. At least now the voice command stuff isn't totally janky on XB1/PS4.

 

[Marco1]

I personally think it's worse than the megadrive 32X add-on.
It ruined xbox360 and it's last few E3 shows and it's with-held what the xbone should have really been about.
MS should just dump the thing entirely, admit that xbone is less powerful than PS4 BUT also price-drop to at least £249 and push everything towards a viable app-store and exclusive games.

 

[Azure Dream]

It blows my mind that they packed it in with the One, and they hardly did anything with it, until Kinect Sports Rivals hobbled in too late. They should've been ready at launch with Kinect-proving software, and instead they were too busy promoting it as an awkward TV remote and overpriced mic.

There were plenty of interesting things they could've done with it, many of which we saw glimmers of when people were tinkering with the 360 add-on. They hardly delivered on any of that, they get one game out that doesn't do well, then they throw it under the bus. It's amazing.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

From a functionality standpoint, it was garbage. Too premature. The XBO Kinect is what the first one should've been.

I agree here, and I enjoy Kinect. Though to be fair, the XBO Kinect I use mostly for voice commands, auto-sign in and fitness. But those all work great.

If they could just build a mic and basic cam into the actual box next console cycle they wouldn't need a big kinect.

 

[darthvargi]

I never had the issues people claim. I always defend the device but I'm puzzled on why so many people hate it. I know I've seen Angry Joe struggle with games but to be honest he wasn't playing them correctly. It would be like me moving the right joystick when I'm supposed to move the left and then say the game is broken. In one of the Kinect Star Wars videos he is actually driving incorrectly and then blames the game. He also is incorrect when he said pod racing didn't support two players. There is definitely a bias against the device and I don't get it.

My favorite Kinect games (in order) are:
Kinect Sports 1
Steel Battalion Heavy Armor
Rise of Nightmares
Fable the Journey
Rabbids Kinect
Kung Fu High Impact
Kinect Star Wars
Fruit Ninja
Kinect Adventures
Happy Action Theater
Kinect Sports Season 2
Kinect Sports Rivals (Xbox One)
DisneyLand Adventures
Sonic Free Riders

Pretty much anything else either I didn't play or thought it was just so bad I didn't enjoy anything about it (Motion Sports etc)

 

[moozoom]

I honestly never had a good gaming experience with it.

I love REZ and so the game I really waited for was Child of Eden. Sadly I really didn't like the motion controls : too much lag and too much effort to do simple things. I reverted to the controller quickly.

I had some fun by connecting Kinect to my mac and use it for motion capture and various little graphic applications, but for motion-gaming I liked the wiimote better.

 

[EBE]

That Star Wars gif really sums it up, Kinect was just a lot of false promises.

From a functionality standpoint, it was garbage. Too premature. The XBO Kinect is what the first one should've been.

i think both of these posts are on to the same thing, which is that the kinect just couldnt deliver on what we were told it could do prior to release. im not defending that it couldnt.

but i do think that if you can seperate the promises from the reality you can find a few good games hidden under a fair bit of jank. my experiences with 360 kinect were mostly positive, and i dont have a particularly large play area (certainly nothing like the spacious living rooms shown in most of the promotional material).

as PAULINK put it:

Dance Central is the reason to own a kinect. You can shit on all the other games (kinect adventures was ok) But dance central is the epitome of dancing rhythm games. Hamronix was really the only company that could really compensate for the kinect's input lag and really harness the sensors to make something really meaningful, plus they gave you the option to control menus with the controller (even though their own menu was intuitive enough).

could you scan in your own clothes into the game and have your dancer wear them? no. could the game still provide you a reasonably fun time with a minimum of hassle on your part? yes.

It blows my mind that they packed it in with the One, and they hardly did anything with it, until Kinect Sports Rivals hobbled in too late. They should've been ready at launch with Kinect-proving software, and instead they were too busy promoting it as an awkward TV remote and overpriced mic.

There were plenty of interesting things they could've done with it, many of which we saw glimmers of when people were tinkering with the 360 add-on. They hardly delivered on any of that, they get one game out that doesn't do well, then they throw it under the bus. It's amazing.

which is why this quote hurts. its so true. so very little has been done with Kinect on the One that its really disheartening. for me, Kinect on 360 was a breath of fresh air into the system. games came out pretty regularly that supported it in some fashion or another that always kept me interesting with the hardware. i played through the entirety of Halo Anniversary with voice commands for flashlight and yes, reload.

 

[Shalashaska161]

I always thought launching it too early. The idea behind Kinect is great, and it was obviously popular as MS sold a ton of the things on the 360. But the original Kinect being a piece of shit has totally killed the hype for it. Nobody cares about it anymore on XB1, even if it does actually almost work now. It's just a known quantity.

Had they waited and launched with XB1, I'd be willing to bet that this new console race would be much, much closer. It's too bad MS felt they needed to jump the gun last gen, because they could of really used that ace in the hole this gen.

All that being said, I did like the Dance Central games. Playing those with my sister was a blast.

 

[Twin Tails]

what could of been if it was not garbage

 

[darthvargi]

what could of been if it was not garbage

It wasn't that bad. I really liked it. I have videos of me playing it correctly on my darthvargi16 channel (I didn't have a capture device so forgive the quality but some are even picture in picture lol with two cameras, how bad but still you get the idea).

It had a lot of flaws with poor design in terms of missions and the control to actually wipe your viewport when snow and frost got on it was unreliable but every other gesture worked great for me. It was incredibly immersive. I watched others play it and those that had troubles didn't do the gestures correctly. In defense of them though, the game didn't do a good job explaining the gestures. It was very picky on where your hands were in the z axis and the angle that you reached since the controls were all too close to each other in the cockpit. I played the demo for about an hour and got the controls down then ran to gamestop to buy it (despite the horrible reviews) and loved it. I loved it so much I paid for the originals on Amazon (can't believe I missed them back in the early 2000's) and man was that a treat. So while I would have rather used the controller, the Kinect version was actually really decent.

 

[Thrax]

Screw the haters:
I enjoyed the hell out of Fable: Journey. Very few issues. Was a fun ride.

Also enjoyed Fitness Evolved.

 

[GeneralArrow]

The Xbox One kinect s much better, but whenever my buddies and I are all over trying to watch a movie on it some prick is going to say xbox pause, or xbox go back or talk over you while you're talking. Even with calibration it only does so well. So everybody has to let one person speak while giving it a command.

 

[endresults]

My favorite Kinect games (in order) are:
Kinect Sports 1
Steel Battalion Heavy Armor

Stopped reading there.

 

[Majine]

If they could just build a mic and basic cam into the actual box next console cycle they wouldn't need a big kinect.

They probably can, but problem is that alot of people place the console in places that are not suitable for a camera, like horizontally down from the TV.