Friday, November 19, 2010

The One with the Xbox Kinect

We ordered the Xbox Console with Kinect yesterday. After writing the last post, I did a quick check on Amazon and found that it was sold out and I was told that was the case in other stores. I also read that Microsoft was asking people to order one this week if they wanted to get one for Christmas, I was really down on reading it and I was all set to start blaming S for it (I like to blame him for all my problems in life, isn't that what all wives do?) Then someone told me that Best Buy had got some and I checked the site and viola! I quickly ordered one and we picked it up yesterday.

And the verdict - WOW! It really is amazing. It does a good job of recognizing arm and leg movements and as far as voice commands go, it doesn't seem to have a problem my accent. We didn't buy any game for the Kinect and we just played with the Kinect Adventures game that it came with. The game is very light and is just intended to let people know what the Kinect can do. The games are in 3D and I did face a little problem with mapping co-ordinates, but it's not overly sensitive and I managed to get the hang of it soon. The surprising thing was, I worked up a sweat in the 45 mins I spent playing this game. I am yet to check out the other games on Kinect - I want to buy Dance Central and Joy Ride. I hope the games live upto their hype, because unless there are good games there is precious little that one can do with the console. It was bit of a gamble to buy this new piece of technology so soon (I usually never buy any first generation product) But since the Xbox 360 is something that we can use without the Kinect, I am not very worried. And at the rate at which Kinect seems to be flying off the shelves, I think we will have more games on it soon.

In other news, I got a new pair of glasses and I spent the day thinking that I looked like Tina Fey. Then last evening we were watching The Big Bang Theory and S said "Look, Leonard's glasses look so similar to your new ones" and my bubble burst. However a couple of people at work said my new glasses look really good though. I have a 90 day period to decide if I like the glasses, so we'll see. What I really want is to get Lasik done so that I can be done with glasses, contacts and prescription sunglasses forever! Wonder how much it costs.

4 comments:

Jinguchakka said...

From Tina Fey to Leonard!! Quite a put-down.

Hmmm...Why don't you upload your with-glasses photo on facebook and have people comment on it. That way you'd know whether to return or not. what say?

Sudarsan said...

After a good amount of usage how do you feel about Kinect now? Any new games that you tried?

janani said...

I have 3 games for the Kinect - Kinect Adventures (the one that comes with the Kinect), Joy Ride and Dance Central. Dance Central is the best game of the three - you have to mimic the dancer on the screen. It's a lot of fun. Joy Ride is a racing game. This is one game where not having a controller really sucks. You are supposed to hold your hands like you are holding a steering wheel and sometimes even when you hold it right, the game does not recognize the motions right.

Overall I like the Kinect, since I am more active while using it. However this is not for hardcore gamers. It is meant to capture the Wii market.

Jinguchakka said...

ammmaaaaaaa! thaaaye! post podungamma!