4 ms·

I just bought one a couple of weeks ago, and I think it's a revolution in computer human interaction. After the first few times you play with the Kinect, you s

I just bought one a couple of weeks ago, and I think it's a revolution in computer human interaction. After the first few times you play with the Kinect, you stop thinking "Holy crap, I'm waving my hands, and the computer responds", and you simply start playing the games. On Dance Central, the interface is quite seamless. I'm eagerly looking forward to thinks like fightings games, although I'm going to have to get in much better shape. That is, in fact, my only hesitation that I have with the device: I get tired a lot faster playing games on the device. I've heard rumors that they are going to be releasing an SDK for Win7, and the Win8 is going to have drivers built in. I'll be first in line to buy an extra Kinect per PC if that happens. There's still a ton of room for refinement, and the UI/UX designers are going to have a lot of room to learn, grow and play with a new interface, but as version 1.0 of a new way to interact with a computer, I think it kicks ass.

bruceboughton 16y ago
As a Kinect owner, the one thing that bugs me about it at the moment is the inconsistency of the menu UX between games. Kinect Adventures has the best menu interactions (you hold your hand out, palm towards the TV, to select menu items and hold to confirm, a.k.a. using the force). Kinect Sports's menu UX is not quite as good and Dance Central is so-so. Sonic Freeriders, however, has one of the most appalling menu systems ever to be invented by mankind, to the extent that it takes minutes to navigate the menu. This, coupled with its poor body tracking, makes the game frustrating and unplayable. Obviously, this is a completely new era of menu design, and it will probably settle down soon to a standard-ish menu design, but I wish the game publishers would resist the temptation to come up with whacky UI metaphors just because they can.
- mortehu 16y ago
  > palm towards the TV This sort of wording was what lead me to believe the Kinect could actually track hands. I tried three games, and none of them tracked my fingers or the rotation of my hands at all.
  - bruceboughton 16y ago
    Kinect loves hands. It seeks out hands in everything it sees. If you look at the greyscale video box, the moment a hand is in view it will glow white. It might not be down to the finger level yet (I don't know) but it can certainly recognise hands to a great level of precision. The Kinect Sports bowling game, for example, is very accurate at tracking the path of your hand.
    - mortehu 16y ago
      Are you talking about the orientation of the hand relative to your lower arm, or the position of your hand in space? An easy test is to twist your hand while moving no other part of your body. If the Kinect game tracks your hand, this should be reflected in your avatar. I suspect many games fake it in this fashion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWbLOFGSEDo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWbLOFGSEDo edited to add: quote from someone on the Kinect Sports team: And while designers admit that, unlike Wii MotionPlus bowling, the game can't track spin based upon a twist of my wrist—instead you exaggerate the motion within the entire scope of your swing—the flexibility keeps me immersed. http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-xbox-360-kinetic-is-wonderful-2010-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-xbox-360-kinetic-is...
      - theBobMcCormick 16y ago
        This was a huge disappointment to me when trying out Kinect Sports bowling. Wii bowling's ability to accurately track wrist twists made if feel a lot like real bowling. Kinect bowling doesn't feel like bowling at all. :-(
      - firemanx 16y ago
        I've noticed several games that can at least track the plane of your hand. My wife and I were playing some volleyball in Kinect Sports the other night, and it definitely was mimic-ing the movements of how we held our hands (ie, palm down, palm up, etc).
elai 16y ago
The tiredness is great news. Wii fit was a workout at first, but after a week i got good at the controls and realized low energy techniques to do most things and wii fit was just a fancy tracking weight scale that had a pushup game. It poops out kids faster and makes video gamers less sedentary. I wonder after you get good at them if they would ever really tire you out?
stcredzero 16y ago
I'm going to have to get in much better shape. That is, in fact, my only hesitation that I have with the device: I get tired a lot faster playing games on the device. Well, some fitness focused developer might read this and think "mission accomplished." I think there's tremendous potential for a combination of real-time strategy and fighting games with this interface. Already, fighting games are about deploying "moves" which play out in a certain time frame. Fighting games which deploy moves based on forms from martial arts are an obvious first step. Increasing strategy elements and departing from close correspondence to hand-to-hand combat would open up an entire new genre of games. Perhaps adapt the rules of Magic the Gathering to real-time play and parameterize the strength of cards according to the correct execution of forms from martial arts? I think the result could look like the magic battles from "Big Trouble in Little China."

bruceboughton 16y ago

As a Kinect owner, the one thing that bugs me about it at the moment is the inconsistency of the menu UX between games. Kinect Adventures has the best menu interactions (you hold your hand out, palm towards the TV, to select menu items and hold to confirm, a.k.a. using the force). Kinect Sports's menu UX is not quite as good and Dance Central is so-so. Sonic Freeriders, however, has one of the most appalling menu systems ever to be invented by mankind, to the extent that it takes minutes to navigate the menu. This, coupled with its poor body tracking, makes the game frustrating and unplayable. Obviously, this is a completely new era of menu design, and it will probably settle down soon to a standard-ish menu design, but I wish the game publishers would resist the temptation to come up with whacky UI metaphors just because they can.

mortehu 16y ago
> palm towards the TV This sort of wording was what lead me to believe the Kinect could actually track hands. I tried three games, and none of them tracked my fingers or the rotation of my hands at all.
- bruceboughton 16y ago
  Kinect loves hands. It seeks out hands in everything it sees. If you look at the greyscale video box, the moment a hand is in view it will glow white. It might not be down to the finger level yet (I don't know) but it can certainly recognise hands to a great level of precision. The Kinect Sports bowling game, for example, is very accurate at tracking the path of your hand.
  - mortehu 16y ago
    Are you talking about the orientation of the hand relative to your lower arm, or the position of your hand in space? An easy test is to twist your hand while moving no other part of your body. If the Kinect game tracks your hand, this should be reflected in your avatar. I suspect many games fake it in this fashion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWbLOFGSEDo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWbLOFGSEDo edited to add: quote from someone on the Kinect Sports team: And while designers admit that, unlike Wii MotionPlus bowling, the game can't track spin based upon a twist of my wrist—instead you exaggerate the motion within the entire scope of your swing—the flexibility keeps me immersed. http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-xbox-360-kinetic-is-wonderful-2010-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-xbox-360-kinetic-is...
    - theBobMcCormick 16y ago
      This was a huge disappointment to me when trying out Kinect Sports bowling. Wii bowling's ability to accurately track wrist twists made if feel a lot like real bowling. Kinect bowling doesn't feel like bowling at all. :-(
    - firemanx 16y ago
      I've noticed several games that can at least track the plane of your hand. My wife and I were playing some volleyball in Kinect Sports the other night, and it definitely was mimic-ing the movements of how we held our hands (ie, palm down, palm up, etc).

elai 16y ago

The tiredness is great news. Wii fit was a workout at first, but after a week i got good at the controls and realized low energy techniques to do most things and wii fit was just a fancy tracking weight scale that had a pushup game. It poops out kids faster and makes video gamers less sedentary. I wonder after you get good at them if they would ever really tire you out?

stcredzero 16y ago

I'm going to have to get in much better shape. That is, in fact, my only hesitation that I have with the device: I get tired a lot faster playing games on the device. Well, some fitness focused developer might read this and think "mission accomplished." I think there's tremendous potential for a combination of real-time strategy and fighting games with this interface. Already, fighting games are about deploying "moves" which play out in a certain time frame. Fighting games which deploy moves based on forms from martial arts are an obvious first step. Increasing strategy elements and departing from close correspondence to hand-to-hand combat would open up an entire new genre of games. Perhaps adapt the rules of Magic the Gathering to real-time play and parameterize the strength of cards according to the correct execution of forms from martial arts? I think the result could look like the magic battles from "Big Trouble in Little China."