The new Kinect system for the Xbox 360 was suspect at first.
There were rumors of third-party developers, such as Netflix, being able to watch users while they used the software. The interactive menus seemed very bulky and well… ugly.
Upon further review, and actual use of Kinect, I see that Microsoft’s first foray into motion gaming is a success.
Besides needing a large room for best use of the Kinect maneuvering, the new Xbox Dashboard and Kinect Hub is very streamlined and surprisingly easy to use.
And the voice controls are very well integrated into the system.
This was perhaps my biggest point of complaint about the Kinect system.
To access the voice controls you simply said “Xbox” out loud.
As techradar.com said in its Kinect review, “As you can imagine, the likelihood of someone saying the word ‘Xbox’ while you’re fiddling with your… Xbox, is quite high.”
While that statement is still true I have not yet encountered this problem while playing Kinect games with my friends.
Kinect is truly fun to have around.
Its $149.99 price tag may cause sticker shock at first but anyone looking for a fun, interactive and easy to use gaming experience will not be let down by the Kinect system.
In theory, I hated the Kinect. In practice, it’s fantastic fun.
