Xbox 360 Kinect - Hands on Microsoft's newest Xbox addition - Controller free motion controlled Xbox 360 Module

One of the most popular gifts this Holiday season was the Xbox 360 Slim and Kinect add-on for all Xbox 360 Consoles. The motion controlled, controller free, plugin for the Xbox 360 takes motion controls to a whole new level and directly competes with the Nintendo Wii and Playstation Move.

I got to test the new Kinect device and was amazed with its features. The camera recognizes multiple players at the same time by lifting your arms to sign in. Kinect currently comes with the Kinect Adventures game, which is similar to the Wii sports gamepack. The Kinect Adventure game comes with five different adventure and sports game types that are only playable by the Kinect module. Aside from Kinect adventures, there is a variety of incredible motion controlled Kinect games.

I noticed that the interface of Kinect games is kind of buggy, but controlling screens is fairly easy. To navigate through screens, you simple move your hand around and pause of a button for a few seconds to select something from different screens. When more than one person is signed in while using Kinect, selecting buttons becomes a little confusing and the first player usually has the rights to the main controlling of the interface. Hovering over links is a great way for Microsoft to incorporate the motion controlled interface.

One downside to Kinect is that you can ONLY play Kinect games with Kinect, which means you cant play Kinect games with a controller. You also can't play regular Xbox 360 games by using the motion controlled features. So essentially, Kinect is it's own console with its own types of game formats.

Another downside I noticed while playing is the lack of accuracy. I was playing the boxing game and noticed that blocking your opponent isn't very effective. I also noticed a large amount of delays between motions. Some motions aren't easily recognized with certain games. While boxing, the "uppercut" move rarely works. It seemed like only the basics worked accurately.

Kinect currently only has a few games, which aren't necessarily all that great, but the potential is there. As of right now, I see Kinect as a gaming phase that will soon die out if more appealing games aren't developed. Kinect is fun at first, but easily bores gamers after a few hours of playtime.

For more about Kinect for Microsoft's Xbox 360, Check out our Kinect Hub!