The company's motion-based controller has the goods to revolutionize traditional console gaming. But will Kinect take off or collect dust?
When Microsoft announced plans for a motion-based controller 13 months ago, many gamers -- myself, included -- rolled their collective eyes. Sure, it could change the way more than 40 million Xbox 360 owners around the world interact with their consoles, but it seemed much more likely that Kinect, then dubbed "Project Natal," would backfire, joining the ranks of ill-received videogame add-ons like Nintendo's Power Glove, Sega's 32X, and the Atari Jaguar CD.
Well, I was wrong. FULL ARTICLE HERE
He does a good job at describing the features, including voice recognition dashboard controls and the launch games and takes some shots at the competition.
Microsoft will launch Kinect on November 4, but earlier this week I got my own hands-on -- or should I say, hands-off -- demo, and was impressed. Moving from menu panel to menu panel is as easy as waving and swiping your hand; selecting an item just involves letting your hand (and the onscreen cursor) linger for several moments over it.
Many of the games -- Microsoft says 15 will be available come launch -- proved more intuitive than many of the Wii games I've spent time with. With Wii games, controls are oftentimes hit-or-miss. While an A-list first-party product like Super Mario Galaxy 2 will have you running, lunging and spinning around space in no time, other products like say, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast are case studies in control schemes gone horribly wrong.
Put side-by side, Dance Central, from MTV Games, pretty much schools Dance Dance Revolution in nearly every respect. The inherent limitations of DDR's dance pad means the games only recognize if your feet keep up. In Dance Central though, you're seriously hoofing it.
Strong words.
PS: Sorry if already posted. Nothing came up using the search feature.
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