Xboxist

Is Microsoft Kinect a Gimmick or the Real Deal?

Our new writer Coty Biggs takes a look at Microsoft's Kinect following yesterday's E3 presentation. How does it differ from competing products by Nintendo and Sony? Will it be worth the price tag when it launches this November? Read on to find out.

Microsoft is at it again: gallantly entering the marketplace with their new pet project, out to prove once more that anything Sony and Nintendo can do, they can do better. Kinect is the newly changed name of a seemingly revolutionary motion capture device that boldly "makes you the controller" (hey did they just call me a tool?).

Several things stand in Microsoft's way before they can dominate the market with this ambitious peripheral, with public opinion in a post Wii society being one of those things. Unfortunately coming from behind is not one of their strong suits, and this time they're getting sloppy seconds. First, everyone is guaranteed to have taken a single glance at this...thing...and remarked almost unanimously: "haven't we already seen cameras like this already?" The short answer is: well no not really.

Kinect appears to be the dirty lovechild of the marketing department and a bunch of techies from within the bowels of the technology giant. What Microsoft sought to initially accomplish was the fierce tackling of yet another "urgent" issue that Gates and the rest of the company were eager to solve. Natal was initially conceived as a platform to research ways that computers could make sense of real-world environments. Interesting right?...

How we can differentiate it from a Wiimote

Hardware wise, Kinect is a slim piece of cheap plastic whose innards just so happen to be jam packed with lots of silicon goodies, making it an inexpensive alternative to what you really wanted to buy your girlfriend this Christmas. On the front of this black bar o' motion capture are two fairly obvious recesses containing cameras, one black and white and the other capable of seeing in color.

Next, the device sports an infrared sensor that paints its unsuspecting subjects with invisible light radiation. Instead of executing Microsoft's plan of writing code on the back of your eyeballs and turning you slowly into loyal minions, the infrared sensor is dialed down and put to the rather ingenious use of helping the cameras see in low light conditions; which makes it one of few things you wont worry about getting caught playing with in the dark.

Apart from seeing well, your new toy will also hear you clearly with an array of microphones that are given the duty of sifting through all of that ambient ruckus inside your home, better discerning your voice over the hanky panky upstairs or the psychotic neighbors next door. What's neat about the plural hearing device is its striking similarity to your own ears in its capability of locating a sound's source. This means that you and your family will be able to line up on the couch like you never do on that game night you don't have and play the electronic version of those board games currently collecting dust in your closet! Better yet you only have to yell your name and flail wildly to buzz in! Super! I'll take "Things I'll wait on buying for $400" Alex.

Regardless of how immersive and interactive Kinect is, one fact still remains: you are the controller, and that's as limiting as it is liberating. Yes games will be fun to play with your body, but to what end? Does this toy on steroids offer incentive enough to spark a paradigm shift in gaming? What implications does Kinect have for Xbox live and multiplayer games such as Call of Duty? It would seem that those who are noticing a faithful imprint in the side of their skull made from their permanently affixed headset, and have never seen their friends outside of their clan have little drive to change their ways for a seemingly interim device.

After all is said and done we can only speculate about what Kinect really is. Most won't be able to capitalize on a rare chance to try it out before it's release, and will therefore draw their opinion in response to fellow skeptics and fans alike. Debates about the prospective blood spattered satisfaction in Gears of War 3, the interactivity offered from alien environments in the Mass Effect finale, or even if there will be games worth a damn are all arguments that remain heated among the internet community. Whether its a step in the right direction or not, Kinect will urge other developers to respond with their own version of next generation gaming. Luckily gamers will always have companies buying for their attention and most importantly their dollar.

One trend of which we can all be certain is that pithy project names for future devices whose real names are too cool for the general public will definitely abound. Don't worry, you wont be rubbing sticks together for fire by this fall.

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Post Author: Coty Biggs