So.... Kinect

[edutech4schools]

I have one and it has blown me away. In the store i was only shown the games side but having it at home it does so much more. I really love watching sky and not needing a remote to control it. Also the free game that comes with it is very laggy and not like the games I have purchased which are spot on. I am playing track and field at the moment(sports) and you walk up pick up the javlin run and throw it just as you would if outside. Football is something you cant play on the wii or PS3 unless you tie the controller to your feet.

 

Speech recognition has been 100% so far.

 

Looking forward to mortal combat to come out.

Edited November 22, 2010 by edutech4schools

[edutech4schools]

its reccomended that atleast 6ft from the tv/kinect for single player and 8ft for 2 players, need room behind you to step back etc depending on the game your playing

 

from my tv to back of room is 6ft so I created a shelf above/behind the tv that it sits on.

[MK-2]

i am quite tempted, but just dont know whether to do it. space shouldnt be an issue, we have a (thankfully) large front room so have about 8ft from front of tv to edge of couch in a straight line, angle the tv and its about 13 ft.

i just dont want it to get to about a year in and games makers are releasing the same stuff all the time like the wii.

people initially thought the wii would have all these fantastical uses, and now you end up with games where its a bat, and games where its a sword, and not much in between.

i dont want to get one now and find out in a years time the only games that work half decent are games where you hit something back, or games where you just jump up and down a bit.

[roty80]

Saw this on Youtube. Kinect racing game plays itself, he doesn't move:

 

[CHR1S]

The car does bounce its way round the track for most of it! lol

[roty80]

LOL he finished 3rd out of 8 and didn't do anything!

[kevbaz]

We got ours the otherday, simply brilliant, soo much fun and its damn impressive, weve not noticed any lag what so ever so ive no idea what people are doing to get it? maybe e-honda 1000 hand slap?? Kinect Adventures is really good fun, starts off easy enough and at a good pace, the random photos it takes of you are hilarious! you are soon sweating your ass off though as the difficulty rises so does the room temp!! we didnt have to move any furninture at all but sometimes had a bit of bother for width of the room but thats mainly due to us having our stirs in with us... but a little realignment of the camera and we were soon flapping away happily again. On the disc are three demos, dance central, joy ride and fitness your way, all three are are very impressive, yes even joyride, sure its got a slight auto steer but this is a game for all ages and little johnny may need that bit of help, i never noticed it, it didnt steer me away from crashing into everything or take any fun away. Dance central is gonna be such a laugh if thats your type of thing, the demo has two songs you can play and its works seamlessly, bad dancers beware! every move you make counts! it works flawlessly no lag or anything, perfect! and lastly fitness yourway, starts off with a quick calibration, it works out your height and by the looks of it your build/shape, your only get to try one mini game in the demo which is the wall buster where you have to punch bricks, good little work out and defentinatley shows off the "games" potential.

 

So far we have not seen any of this so called lag, it works perfectly and the quality of the video on it is brilliant, we had our 1st kinect video call to my gf's best mate who now lives in the states and again works great, slight delay on the voice now and again but given she was a few thousand miles away it didnt bother us at all.

 

All in all very impressed, would definately reccomend to those who like the party games like the Wii, it takes it to the next step and more! so much fun

[bondbill2k2]

Microsoft have said they wont rule out games which also use the controler and games which use new controlers such as a nunchuck style device you can easily hold to move around and the other movements with your body.

 

Infact steel battalion is already confirmed for later this year release using a series of their controller systems (as all steel battalion games have) and the kinect letting people look around and use controllers like they would in a real cockpit.

 

I also have a kinect (brought it for £120 in amazon sales, same deal around £160 in game and gamestation now) and ive brought a number of games including kinect sports (so much better then the wii, try out vollyball which you do actually spike the ball by jumping and hitting down and running around the court rather then standing still waving your arm.

 

Your shape (fitness game) is pretty good too, burned around 3,000 cals on it in the last week doing personal trainer workouts and cardio boxing (they will have you sweating!)

 

Oh and yesterday I purchased dance central made by the makers of rock band so they know how to make a rythem based game, its very very accurate and required you to get the moves perfect, im less then 6foot away from the screen and its pretty much fine and take 1-2foot back for easily enough at 2players on kinect sports. I highly recommend them to anyone considering them!

 

Oh and the drivers+key mapping software is fun, had a blast of minecraft using it having to swing my arm to use the pickaxe, they will soon be releasing the mouse binding to movements too.

[X-13]

Urgh... Kinect.

 

I heard bad things pre-release and the price it way too much for what it is.

 

 

But it seems to have a couple of cool games. Like Kinect Star wars.

[MK-2]

got one for my 30th birthday from wifes family. have tried the sports, fighters uncaged (quite fun though i have a broken toe so cant play it as much as id like!) can definitely see the potential in the future, although with 9ft gap between tv and couch and an empty living room it still struggles to see a lot, so going to have to get the tv mount to sit it above the tv instead

[LosOjos]

How does 'looking around' work in games then? If I try looking around while I'm on my Xbox, I can't see the TV any more...

[X-13]

fighters uncaged (quite fun though i have a broken toe so cant play it as much as id like!)

 

That's the first time I've seen a broken toe being blamed for someone inability to play a game.

 

I am disappoint. I didn't know you needed to be in peak physical condition to play games now.

[MK-2]

That's the first time I've seen a broken toe being blamed for someone inability to play a game.

 

I am disappoint. I didn't know you needed to be in peak physical condition to play games now.

 

shut up! i looked like daniel larusso from karate kid, me standing there, one foot hovering off the ground ready for the crane kick.

[X-13]

shut up! i looked like daniel larusso from karate kid, me standing there, one foot hovering off the ground ready for the crane kick.

 

+10 internets to you.

[CHR1S]

Trouble is some games actually recognise this and move the same way, so yes definitely a disadvantage!

[MK-2]

Trouble is some games actually recognise this and move the same way, so yes definitely a disadvantage!

 

nothing like playing table tennis with the characters leg hovering in the air

[bondbill2k2]

Aparntly one of the recent updates changed the main focus point of your body to the head rather then your hips so it would work better when sitting down, most of the tracking is down to developers and no fault of the hardware.

 

Some games like the fighters uncaged arn't great at mapping your body and reconising its moves, others such as mainly the fitness games track several times more points on your body then others and are much more accurate. The biggest loser game actualy has floor exercises such as sit ups, push upts and even a sitting down facing the tv meditation post.

 

For those having issues with room mount the kinect on top of your tv and youll knock a food or so off if its mounted at a decent height as the cam will pretty much get you in the top of its lense and see the floor at a much shorter distance, if your really stuck for space mount it up and behind the tv on the wall so it can see over the tv just right, use the kinect tuner screen when moving it to see where is perfect and use the card to calibrate the cam for better accuracy (you only need do this once and there are offical wall brackets) or make your own, im using blue-tack on top of my tv for mine and its stayed put for the past 4weeks fine.

[SYNACK]

I really wish I had brought one of these while they were on special, even if it got borinf on the Xbox there are some epic cool hacks that use it.

[CHR1S]

I really wish I had brought one of these while they were on special, even if it got borinf on the Xbox there are some epic cool hacks that use it.

 

Care to list them? I know XBMC has one....

[MK-2]

Care to list them? I know XBMC has one....

 

list the hacks? if you google kinect hacks you see some videos. you can also go to the kinect hacks site which has guides on getting the kinect working on a pc using the openkinect drivers. im guessing you still need a fair amount of programming knowledge to be able to use the kinect in a way that would work. i dunno, i haven't tried yet

[bondbill2k2]

list the hacks? if you google kinect hacks you see some videos. you can also go to the kinect hacks site which has guides on getting the kinect working on a pc using the openkinect drivers. im guessing you still need a fair amount of programming knowledge to be able to use the kinect in a way that would work. i dunno, i haven't tried yet

 

there is some tutorials out there and good software which lets you to simply key bind movements so left arm 90degrees to the side == F etc...

Both feet of ground by 1inch == x 5inch ==z .

 

Really easy to use ill post the tutorail link up when im at home, basically install a framework for it and some drivers.

[MK-2]

there is some tutorials out there and good software which lets you to simply key bind movements so left arm 90degrees to the side == F etc...

Both feet of ground by 1inch == x 5inch ==z .

 

Really easy to use ill post the tutorail link up when im at home, basically install a framework for it and some drivers.

 

i saw there were guides, saw the windows 7 guide to getting the framework and drivers installed. looking at the videos its like someone who created a 3d map of their room and could move around it and see themselves, or the person who made himself into like a stone man.....things like that i'd like to mess about with but im guessing its not a case of "install/play"

[bondbill2k2]

but im guessing its not a case of "install/play"

 

It may soon be, according to people at CES Microsoft said they will be bringing support to PC's offically.

Microsoft readies official Kinect support for PCs ? reghardware

[X-13]

It may soon be, according to people at CES Microsoft said they will be bringing support to PC's offically.

Microsoft readies official Kinect support for PCs ? reghardware

 

That's only because smarter people did it before them and made it free.

 

Reverse engineering [with a slight upgrade] is probably easier for them than making something new.

[Alis_Klar]

sorry for Zombie post! but these Kinect hacks are just awsome!

 

I really see many educational possibilities here. Already they are working on automatic sign language recognition!

 

Edited July 5, 2011 by Alis_Klar