With the somewhat recent release of the Playstation Move, is the Xbox 360’s Kinect a competitor or a paper weight? Is it just a copy of the Playstation 2’s Eyetoy? Our review is just after the jump.
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Score:
8.9 / 10
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The Good:
Makes you feel like you are in the game as well as moving around.
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The Bad:
The odd moment when the Kinect takes photos of you. The Kinect microphone is not available in Australia at the moment
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Bottom Line:
Great accessory for the Xbox 360 but the cost is much as a old Xbox 360 Arcade console.
Hardware
The Xbox 360 Kinect features a single front view RGB camera with two 3D sensors. With the RGB capturing the player’s movement and facial expression, the images are projected onto the scene and are recorded and stored onto the Xbox 360 hard disk. The 3D sensors allows the camera to sense the amount of space within a given space to allow maximum space for playing. Other features that Kinect boasts are the motorised tilting stand and the microphone. The stand allows the player to remotely control the angle of the camera for optimum image capturing, or allows the Kinect to automatically to re-angle itself via the ‘Kinect Tuner’. The microphone allows the user to verbal access the Xbox 360 and the User Interface.
Gaming Experience
On the User Interface of the Xbox 360, the Kinect allows access to the ‘Kinect Hub’. The ‘Kinect Hub’ allow the user to control the menus of the Xbox 360′ User Interface with the touch of a hand. The ‘Kinect Hub’ is a simplified User Interface, yet the presentation is pleasant to look at.
Despite the Xbox 360 is a hardcore gaming console the Kinect adds games for casual gamers and non-gamers. The games that companies the Xbox 360 Kinect includes many genres, ranging from simulation games, such as Kinectnimals, to sport-type games, such as Kinect Sport. Each game available for the Kinect have one common theme: to make the player immerse themselves into the game via movement. For example, the game Dance Central shows dance movements that the player can imitate; or Kinect Joy Ride simulates a steering wheel in front of the player which the player steer the car.
Conclusion
With this latest accessory for the Xbox 360 the Xbox 360 Kinect adds a new perspective to games for the future. From many genres for games Microsoft have made the Xbox 360 a causal gaming console, similar to the Nintendo Wii.
The Xbox 360 Kinect is available at major retailers as a standalone accessory or bundled with a 4GB or 250GB Xbox 360 console. Each Kinect unit is available with the game, ‘Kinect Adventure’.