Kinect Discussion

[jayseven]

The Wii was a 'hoot' when that came out. I'm remaining a skeptic until I see the layer of novelty melt away and the skeleton of potential becomes a monster of awesome.

[Llama Juice]

I HAD MY FIRST POOR EXPERIENCE!

 

And it wasn't bad really... just not awesome like everything else.

 

That my friends, was Kinect Joy Ride.

 

I'm not a fan of the controlls at all in the game... it is far too loose and then the fact that the game tries to correct itself for you... I dunno. I felt like I was more along for the ride than I was supposed to be driving the car.

 

That being said, the "race" mode was my least favorite. The stunt and trick modes were pretty neat though. I enjoyed those a fair bit.

 

[Dyson]

Played the demo for Joy Ride - it was dreadful. Like really.

 

Hey jay! I'd say that's probably the best thing to do. I don't regret my purchase one bit but someone who's a bit less thrifty than myself is doing the right thing by holding on. I remember being just as excited for the Wii, and I look at it in disappointment now. I don't think Kinect will go the same way thanks to the general console build (Xbox Live, Achievements, HD etc) which are the reasons I play games on my 360 anyway.

 

If you want to have a good deal of fun, or try something brand new and exciting right now, get Kinect. You won't be disappointed. But know also that it can wait, as further down the line there will be some great stuff for it that makes Sports and Adventures look like early tech demo's.

[Llama Juice]

Yea, I'm agreeing with Dyson. Although I've been having an absolute blast with the Kinect, I really wouldn't recommend buying it just yet. I'd wait for a price drop personally.

 

I say all this, without even having paid for the Kinect I've been playing with. The unit we're using is a borrowed one and we're giving it back on Thursday haha.

[Mundi]

This video showed me everything I needed to know about Kinect Joy Ride.

 

 

I love how the only reason he was not in first place was because he got frozen.

[Dyson]

Originally uploaded this picture for the BISH but thought I'd post it here too:

 

 

My Mum and I share quite different techniques when it comes to jumping

[Llama Juice]

I get to borrow the kinect for like another three weeks apparently. My roommate also brought home Dance Central today.

 

After an awesome thanksgiving dinner with friends, going down and playing some Dance Central with a bunch of people (aka have one person playing and heaps of backup dancers off to the sides) was loads of fun. There is a 2 player "Dance Battle" mode which you still only play one at a time, where it basically cuts the song in half. So the song plays as Dancer 1 part 1, Dancer 2 part 1, Dancer 1 part 2, Dancer 2 part 2. This helps it be playfully competitive and then lets you celebrate a winner at the end of the song.

 

Learning the dance moves to the songs was a lot easier when you had a room full of people. Then everyone is trying it at the same time (only one person is judged...) but everyone still has to learn the moves for their own sake for when it's their turn.

 

Overall, it was my best Kinect experience yet.... but that's probably mostly due to the friends involved and such.... I didn't really expect this game to be a good party game at all... but it really really was haha.

[McPhee]

Originally uploaded this picture for the BISH but thought I'd post it here too:

 

 

My Mum and I share quite different techniques when it comes to jumping

 

Thats... your mum? *says nothing*

[Dyson]

Probably best

[Nintenchris]

got kinect sports for my birthday yesterday.. im sooooo sore from playing

and yet again EVERYONE wants to play!its great to be able to share gaming with people that wouldnt even touch a wii mote

[Llama Juice]

I was playing Dance Central yesterday for like three hours, and in the middle of it all I saw my roommate sign online. After the song finished I went upstairs and saw that he wasn't using his Xbox or anything (there's been times where he'll have his controller synced to my xbox and so it connects to mine on accident)

 

Turns out the Kinect thought that I was my roommate, and signed him in mid dance. Now... that's cool and all, but if he's playing something upstairs on his 360 and it kicks him offline because it thinks he signed in on mine?... that's kinda silly.

 

Other than that, Dance Central has been awesome haha. I'm lovin it

[Llama Juice]

[Cube]

Kinect Sports DLC

 

Free downloadable content! Additional games, mascots and achievements for Kinect Sports at no charge! We're happy to inform you that sponsorship from those fine ladies and gents at Samsung puts us in a position to offer the brand new Kinect Sports Party Pack DLC for 0 MSP. Nothing. Zero. It's released today, so all you need to do is head over to Xbox LIVE Marketplace and grab it.

 

Want to know what's included so that you can prepare yourself emotionally? For a start, no less than six new Mini Games, one per sport:

 

Boxing brings on fast-paced multiple-opponent knockdown fun in King of the Ring. Move from one fallen foe to the next in quick succession!

 

Track & Field tests your stamina and timing in the stop-start Rapid Runner endurance race. Pace yourself to reach checkpoints for a time bonus.

 

Football/Soccer sets you up for a wave of Style Shots, vying to become the Super Striker. Score as many as you can. Is somebody throwing boots?

 

Table Tennis presents a major high score challenge in the numbered tiles of Target Smash. Breaking through to higher point values is the key!

 

Beach Volleyball sees balls replaced by the likes of melons and pineapples for Fruit Splatter. Get splattering and avoid the game-ending bomb.

 

Finally, Bowling tasks you with stopping the conveyor belt advance of the Pinvaders. Use two hands and don't let them reach the hazard zone!

 

Play any of these Mini Games online and you'll be challenged to beat your friends' best performances, starting with the one closest to your own top score and updating as you climb the rankings, always giving you a tantalising target to aim for. Variations on each of the new Mini Games (along with new takes on old favourites) are also pulled into Party Play mode, adding even more spice to the selection.

 

Also for use in Party Play, the three extra mascot characters bundled into the Party Pack are Champion Chicken, Zippy Zombie and Sportastico. And if that's not enough, there are also 10 new achievements based on the new Mini Games included for a total of 250G. Which works out at... 0 MSP per mascot and 0 MSP per achievement. Did we mention it was free?

 

The Kinect Sports Party Pack was in production well before we heard the news that we'd be able to offer it free of charge, so you don't have to worry about it being some kind of hastily thrown-together promotional giveaway. This is full-featured downloadable content created by the Kinect Sports team that infuses the game with even more variety and longevity, so don't miss out.

 

Find it on Xbox LIVE Marketplace right here and read the Microsoft announcement here. You can also see the full set of six new Party Pack promotional screens below. Enjoy!

 

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Kinect-Sports-Party-Pack/cc00b6ea-02d0-4444-92ef-cb437ac31a6f

[Ashley]

Kinect me to some info!

 

(lolpuns)

 

My grandmother wants to get this for my granddad for Christmas because he needs more exercise...but it can't be too strenuous.

 

I played Your Shape at Casa de Bluey and explained it and she said it might be a bit much at times and something in which he "exercises but doesn't realise it" might be better. Kinect Adventures seems kind of like this but they want a second game. Looked at some vids of Kinectimals and there was one in which there was a run around an obstacle course thing but is this just a small section and overall won't be relevant.

 

Does anyone know of any other games that may be of use to him in this regard?

[jayseven]

Is it because your grandad already has an xbox..? I'd've thought wii (and maybe wii fit) offers a better range of games to suit?

[Ashley]

He does already have a 360.

 

Oh that's the other thing. Its the original but the Kinect comes with an adaptor for the original ne?

[Hero-of-Time]

He does already have a 360.

 

Oh that's the other thing. Its the original but the Kinect comes with an adaptor for the original ne?

 

Yeah, you get a power supply if you have the original 360.

[Llama Juice]

Yar^

 

Honestly I'd recommend Kinect Sports as a second game. It's heaps of fun and one of the games that I didn't get bored with haha.

 

The only games that I really played over and over again were Kinect Sports and Dance Central, but I don't think he'd be much into Dance Central.... :P

 

Or he might *shrug* I work up a good sweat playing it.

[Jamba]

This is very interesting.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-12-17-source-ms-quadrupling-kinect-accuracy

 

The 360 limits the bandwidth being used on each USB port to around 15MB/s as multiple ones may need to be used. This is the reason why the Kinect is running at 320x240 rather than the 640x480 that it CAN do as the amount of data that needs to be transferred is about 20MB/s for that.

 

Microsoft have said that they are working hard on compressing the data coming form the Kinect which would be possible with a firmware update and other sources have said that they think this is very possible.

 

Good news for the Kinect! The sooner this comes the better for gamers and devs alike

[jayseven]

Am I right in reading that in order for Kinect to have access to a larger bandwidth USB devises would have be inoperable while kinect is on?

[Shorty]

From the way I read it, the bandwidth of each USB device is being limited regardless of however many are being used at once. So it can handle having five devices or one, but will never transfer more than 15MB/s for each whether there's one or five. And they're hoping to compress the data that Kinect outputs down so that it requires less than 15MB/s instead of 20MB/s.

[Jamba]

Yeah what Shorty said.

 

I hope this happens. I would really increase my hopes for some of the future games if devs could start working on games now, safe in the knowledge that this higher level of detail was possible.

[tapedeck]

My folks picked this up yesterday so had a good day messing about with it.

I was definitely slightly impressed by it. The your shape/biggest loser weight training/health games were very good although the menu designs were horrific and using your hands (even say creating your avatar with your hands) was awkward and actually painful after long periods of times.

 

I played some dance central (very good) and the adventure game. They should have got the sports game as that actually seems lots of fun. The adventure game was ok. Reminded me of eyetoy and the obstacle course level was definitely fun. Very impressive how it registers your hand/feet movements.

 

Although I enjoyed it, it didn't feel as cohesive and as well put together as, say, wii sports/resort. I do think the tech has potential though and would love to see some 'core' games use the tech. (Kinda like the wii remote eventually offered). It will definitely be interesting to see what comes out for the Kinect but I felt like Id seen it before with eyetoy - although it was clearly on another level of interaction.

Edited December 31, 2010 by tapedeck

[Shorty]

I was definitely slightly impressed

 

Definitely slightly? Well, I'm convinced!

[tapedeck]

Definitely slightly? Well, I'm convinced!

 

Haha. That would be the JD I was drinking while posting.

 

I was mildly impressed. ;-)