Xbox 360 Kinect Demo Review

On August 7th, my idea of how videogames could be played had changed. There was no more need for a controller, let alone a couch. I was able to interact with the game by simply moving a part of my body, and that notion gave me an exhilarating thrill.

Want to know my story? Read on!

The Atmosphere

When my friend and I arrived at the “Bite of Oregon Food Festival” (where the Kinect demo was located), we searched for the Kinect set up and found it to be right in the middle of the other tents. Thinking that there would be a long wait, we sped past the crowd and took our place in line. To our amazement, there weren’t many people waiting in the line, maybe 11 or 12 at most. Furthermore, I noticed that the line was filled with boys and girls of all ages. Even moms and dads were waiting to go in with their children, and that isn’t something you’ll see everyday. As I began to talk to some individuals I learned that there was a range of gamers here, from casual to hardcore. There were even a few folks who came for Kinect, that didn’t own a game system in their house. This made me realize how the Kinect camera was attracting people of all kinds.

My Kinect Experiences

As we were getting closer to the top of the line, we were able to watch others in front of us through the trailer’s sliding glass door. People seemed to be enjoying themselves, as every person was smiling and laughing with one another. Once our turn had come we walked inside to see a small living room set up, without a couch. I guess they wanted to give you a look of how this would work in a normal household setting. As I handed the staff assistant my Kinect badge, I noticed that we were going to play the Kinect Adventures obstacle course mini game. The opening menu was a set in a jungle venue, with a zipper at the bottom that you unzipped to start. First the assistant told us to stand so that one person was in front of the other, so that the camera would know who the first player was. I gladly chose to be in front, so that I could go through the menus. I must say that the Kinect camera detected who was where in a matter of seconds. Once recognized, a white glove popped on the screen that followed my hand as I moved it around. Once we were set to go, I simply hovered my hand over the zipper’s handle and waved it to the side to unzip. Everything worked smoothly and as we waited for the game to load, we were shown instructions on how to play the game.

When the game had loaded, we were given the instruction to the grab the handle bars on each side of us, and thrust our arms back. Right then my partner and I looked at each other, grabbed the handles and started the race. Soon enough I was dodging every obstacle that came at me. Watching my avatar on the screen follow my movements was amazing. It followed little moves, such as arm shifts and leg steps. Although some arm motions didn’t match completely, it didn’t affect my game. And soon enough I understood the game and I began to focus on beating my opponent. So I started to jump, in order to gain speed and my board rolled faster.

Unfortunately my bursts ran me straight into the obstacles, so I slowed down to get myself back in the game. Both of us were laughing and taunting each other all throughout the race. At the finish line we jumped through the last grid of coins and then waited for it to add up everything. It turns out that I won by a long shot (because I am the greatest ), and I then proceeded to poke fun at my friend. After it declared the winner, it presented us with the photos it took during the game. All of them were very funny to see and I wish I had them to show other people as well.

To Kinect or not to Kinect?

As we left the Kinect trailer, I began to anticipate the November 4th release date and setting the camera up in my living room. After that demo, I was 110% sold on buying the device. There weren’t any major problems with it that I could find. There was no substantial lag that I have heard people talk about, and it was really simple to use. I believe that this camera has more potential in the future than we can think of right now. The games that will come out for it will be of various genres and it will create new ones that we never thought of. I can’t wait to see how great this device will be in a year from now.

Here is the video that they recorded of me during my time, I hope you enjoy seeing this as I had playing:

Want to know other experiences with Kinect? Our Kinect Games roundup can be found here.