Kinect me up, baby

Recently, I decided to treat myself to the technological wonder that is the Xbox Kinect. But, before we crack on, let me make one thing absolutely clear –

The Xbox Kinect is, without doubt, the most exciting piece of technology I have ever brought into my house (by a clear country mile) and, quite possibly, the most amazing thing I have ever bought. Ever. Full stop.

It really is that good.

What’s worrying, however, is that for a short while I didn’t even realise it.

Xbox Kinect

Returning from my parents this past Christmas (I believe it was Dec 27th), I stopped off in town to pick up the Johnny-5 head-shaped bad boy and left him by the TV for a couple of days, before breaking it open just before New Year and cracking on.

“This’ll be fun” I thought “I’ll give it a whirl”

See, as you may know, I am a gaming geek (some would argue more so than a mobile geek), and so getting my hands on the latest awesome periphery for my current console of choice was fairly high up on my list of priorities.

“Gaming is going be awesome with this…”

Honestly? It’s been over a month now and I’ve hardly played the games at all. Don’t get me wrong, Kinect Adventures IS fun and I’m informed that the yet-to-be-opened Dance Central is pretty damn good also. However, the Kinect has changed something so significant, so utterly mind-blowing that most of the time, I switch it on just so I can play with IT.

Why?

It’s all about the interface. Things that live on my Xbox (aside from the games) include (but are not exclusive to) Last.fm, Sky TV, Twitter, Facebook and – thanks to a handy piece of software called Connect360 (no relation) – my entire music, photo and video collection that resides on my Mac.

[Nearly] everything is available to Kinect with… and it rocks.

Introducing such a fundamental step-change into the way I interact with my main media channel has, perhaps unsurprisingly to some, drastically shifted my usage patterns along with it. Last.fm, formally an Xbox Gold ‘nice to have’ extra that I only used on occasion is now the main reason for switching the Xbox on in the morning/afternoon/evening…

Forget the wavey-roundy, gesture sensitive motion capture stuff (although that’s quite cool also) the Kinect, for me at least, is all about the voice activation.

Let me show you:
.

I can be in the shower in the next room and be yelling out my instructions AND IT STILL HEARS ME! Music, is everything…

In the same way that nobody knew they needed an iPad (and yet now suddenly they now wonder how they ever did without them), the Xbox Kinect slips into your day to day life like the smoothest of gloves onto a well-worn hand. Within a couple of days you catch yourself wondering why on Earth everything in your household doesn’t run in the same way.

“Kettle? Boil.” or “Shower? On.” and of course, Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. are suddenly so desperately close to hand but also, in the same breath, achingly far away. The Xbox Kinect really is the technology of the future boys and girls and believe it when I tell you; we’ve not even scratched the surface.

Microsoft have already said that they expect to double the resolution of the on-board camera within the next 6-12mths and the face tracking technology they demo’d at CES recently was again, an equally fascinating glimpse into the very near future.

Maybe it’s the hours upon hours that we spent back in my SpinVox days talking about the future of speech technologies that has got me so excited about all this, maybe it’s because at heart, I’m a massive Star Trek fan and being able to talk to my computer is a pipe dream I’ve lusted after ever since I first saw Jean-Luc do the exact same thing all those years ago… or maybe, just maybe it’s just because that deep down, I am a geek – through and through – and I just love new technology.

In closing:

Got an Xbox? Get a Kinect. It’s that simple.

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Author: James Whatley

Chief Strategy Officer in adland. I got ❤️ for writing, gaming, and figuring stuff out. I'm @whatleydude pretty much everywhere that matters. Nice to meet you x

10 thoughts on “Kinect me up, baby”

  1. I could not agree more. Honestly, and I know this will sound absurd to many, I think that when the dust settles Kinect (current and future versions) will be Microsoft’s greatest contribution to computing.

    And yes, Dance Central is amazing. ^_^

  2. I’ll get one when it accepts the command “Badgers ASSEMBLE” and not before 😉

    whatleydude Reply:

    Nik keeps talking about a potential hack where you’re able to change the command line as it were. So instead of ‘Xbox, Last.fm!’ You could say ‘Yo, music!’

    That’d be cool.

  3. Don’t forget the connectivity to the WP7 phones 😉

    But yeah, “XBox suggest a Movie” feature on Zune sorted out the “what to watch next?” question on New Years day…

    O and I see you late at night getting a game of Adventures :p

    whatleydude Reply:

    I trialled a WP7 phone a little while ago and actually, I think I Microsoft do a REALLY BAD JOB of selling the Xbox compatibility element. To my mind, it’s one of the most attractive features!

    I haven’t tried Zune yet, is it really that good?

    Keni Reply:

    It is good, though I’m not sure it’s worth the monthly fee without adding movies or at least tv for £8 a month…

    Otherwise I’d stick to Last.FM

  4. It’s worth noting that the London Hackspace have done/are doing some nifty stuff with Kinect. You should pop along to the space expansion party and see what’s the happity haps!

    A

  5. I’ve been putting off a major gaming system for a while now, as well as any entertainment production devices (blu-ray, dvd player, etc). I have an old CPU in my livingroom with Win7 and Boxee installed that gets me nearly anything I could want. Unfortunately, it’s missing quite a bit, mainly because of what it is – an old CPU that I tossed a new video card into.

    My dad bought a PS3 over Christmas (he specifically wanted Blu-ray capabilities), and I’ve been going back and forth for a while between that and the Xbox. If the Xbox had Blu-ray, I’d be all over it.

    The other problem for me is that I’m not a gamer, really. Sure, I’ll play here and there, but it’s not often that I have time to sit down and really play something – with a kid on the way, that’s going to be even more true soon.

    However, when I look at these things as multimedia hubs, the entire dynamic changes. That’s why the PS3 edges out the Xbox, for me, currently. I *do* think that Kinect has better possibilities, though, specifically because it is truly controller-free.

    It reminds me of the scene in Back to the Future II when Marty shows the kids how to play the arcade game in the diner, and one remarks, ‘you have to use your hands? That’s like a baby’s game!’

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