Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 doesn’t go on sale until tomorrow in the UK, but we gave a group of Electricpig readers the chance to play it today exclusively at our reader meetup to see just what they made of it. Much flailing of limbs commenced, but did our fans come away impressed by the new motion controller or not? Read on and find out in our Microsoft Kinect review: reader inquisition!
First impressions
While we set up our Xbox 360, we polled our readers on what they made of the build of Microsoft Kinect – as we mentioned in our original review, it’s a foot wide and several inches deep, so we thought we’d struggle to sit it on the top of many new tellies.
Joseph and Johnny play table tennis on Kinect Sports
Johnny Daly, a solutions designer for Cartesian, agreed, though thought it was fairly innocuous looking nonetheless. “I’d definitely sit it under the telly as opposed to above it…but you won’t notice it I suppose”. His colleague Joseph Robin, a programs manager, meanwhile was actually surprised at the size, having never seen a Kinect in the flesh before, saying that he expected it to be bigger. No one saw any problem positioning Microsoft Kinect on their own TV stand however – surely a good sign.
More of an issue of course is the amount of space required in front of your TV to use Microsoft Kinect. We had no problems in meeting room we used to host the preview, but people’s own sitting rooms come in all shapes and sizes. Joseph admitted that he’d have to re-arrange the furniture in his living room a shade for multiplayer, something he could see others finding an issue with. “I actually got a tape measure out. For two player I’ll need to move the couch,” he told us. “It’s going to sell a lot but it’s a question of how many return it.”
What’s it like to use?
The staff here at Electricpig and our friends and family who tried out Microsoft Kinect all reacted the same way when standing in front of it for the first time – they picked it up intuitively and immediately, and dived straight into the action. And our readers were no different, grasping how to log on to the Kinect hub straight away. “That’s cool,” remarked Johnny as he waved to take control for the first time, the exact same phrase we uttered the first time we tried out Microsoft Kinect.
All our readers picked up how to control Kinect instantly. Here, Matt and Joseph play Kinect Joy Ride. Look ma, no hands!
Everyone grasped the control concept of Kinect immediately, but like us, Johnny had reservations about how far the Kinect gestures extended on the dashboard – namely, the inability to open your own video files using Kinect, rather than paid for Zune moves. “You can do Sky Player and Last.fm, but I can’t use it on all my DivX files…I think they’re missing out on a huge demographic.”
What about the games?
We kicked things off with a few rounds of Kinect Sports, serving up a few frames of ping pong and bowling. No one saw any lag in any of the controls, and Matthew Lyons, an operations analyst for Debenham’s website and a Wii owner, was impressed. “I thought it was really good actually, much better than the Wii. I have one and it just doesn’t get played…(Kinect) feels quite intuitive.”
Joseph too found it easy to play despite the “lack of tactile feedback…You’ll get used to it. It doesn’t feel any more stupid than using a Wii remote.”
Johnny and Joseph didn't sense any lag in Kinect Sports
Our trio of readers weren’t so taken with Kinect Joy Ride, a simplistic game that sees you simply steering left and right around a course while the cars accelerate automatically. Matthew bemoaned the fact that “You’re semi in control…most of the game is done for you”, while Joseph summed things up bluntly: “I wouldn’t pay £40 for that.”
Johnny is the braver man and busts a move on Dance Central
Dance Central, which we’ve rated as not only the best Kinect game, but one of the best Xbox games period, proved a hit meanwhile, particularly with Johnny, who enjoyed a session of mimicking moves to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face, and saw the potential Kinect has for getting non-gamers involved. “What it would take for me to buy this is my girlfriend seeing this game,” he said.
Is it worth the price?
£129.99 is a lot to ask for a new controller when you need the console already, especially with the Nintendo Wii on sale with one remote for only a tad more. So did our readers think it was worth the cost – and would they be buying it tomorrow?
Check out our best Xbox games Top 5 now
All three said no initially, but no-one objected to the price rather than Kinect’s limitations. Matthew thought it was “reasonable, like buying two Wii remotes”, while Joseph thought it was “more the next software update than the price” that was holding him back. He plans to hold back at least until Microsoft turns on Kinect gestures for all media, as we predicted many existing Xbox owners might. Matthew felt likewise: “It needs to have a killer app…these games are good for 10 minutes but then you’ll never play them again”
Johnny however might still be picking one up . “I might buy it anyway to get the girlfriend playing – that might make me buy it before Christmas…The potential is huge”.
Verdict
So there you have it: like we found in our original Microsoft Kinect review, everyone was wowed by the technology, and saw the potential for pulling in new gamers to the fold. But Microsoft can improve it even further with a few UI and software tweaks – here’s hoping it does.
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