Kinect (previously Natal)

[Daragon]

I'd expect HD quality video from Kinect, not some blurry, ****ty mess like you get with most webcams of under the 50 quid mark.

[EvilBoris]

Well I'm sorry to burst your hate filled bubble (shields eyes and mouth) but the 'RGB' sensor part is just 640x480 just as the Old cam and pseye are.

Anybody buying kinect to use as a webcam is surely missing the point, it's just a bonus of how it works.

[Daragon]

Hate filled bubble eh? K

It's too much money for what it does. I'd rather control my dashboard with my pad as well, if it means sparing the stupid hand gestures.

Will I have to perform the Macarena on it to start a game in future? It's more trouble than it's worth.

[EvilBoris]

Can I have your one then? That one you've been forced to buy at gunpoint?

[Daragon]

I'm not trying to discourage others from buying it, but do you have an issue with shooting down opinions which don't match your own? If you're happy to spend almost the price of a console on a gadget which has limited uses for the moment, just so you can look like a performing chimp infront of all your friends then be my guest.

That said, I'd have no qualms with owning one if I could get it for nowt, which seems to be what you're gunning for.

[Sketcz]

Is this thread discussing the privacy issues yet? Like the fact it can record what you do and say and send it via the internet to the CIA MS?

Also, it needs about 7 or 8ft distance from the TV, right? I sit about 4ft from the TV because I literally have no other space.

I can foresee this bombing in an epic, megaton fashion over in Japan, seeing as so many people live in tiny accommodation (I know, I've been there twice).

So it spies on you and requires you to buy a new, bigger house to use? Well done Microsoft.

[Daragon]

I think the 360 itself has bombed in Japan hasn't it?

[ItsThere]

Is this thread discussing the privacy issues yet? Like the fact it can record what you do and say and send it via the internet to the CIA MS?

Also, it needs about 7 or 8ft distance from the TV, right? I sit about 4ft from the TV because I literally have no other space.

I can foresee this bombing in an epic, megaton fashion over in Japan, seeing as so many people live in tiny accommodation (I know, I've been there twice).

So it spies on you and requires you to buy a new, bigger house to use? Well done Microsoft.

Don't worry. We can all just move to America and buy big houses made of wood all arranged in easy to navigate grid rows.

Then we can all play Kinect together and provide a Live feed to Billy G. So he can watch us dance for his own amusement.

[Sketcz]

Don't worry. We can all just move to America and buy big houses made of wood all arranged in easy to navigate grid rows.

You joke, but American hardware developers have serious size issues. Everything is made bigger and expected to take up more physical space. Look at the US Saturn pads, original Xbox pads and now Kinect spacing requirements.

Over compensation, or a nation that just loves to supersize?

I think the 360 itself has bombed in Japan hasn't it?

Yes, but there's been a lot of hot Japanese games announced, all of which MS has demanded be Kinect based. Steel Battalion and the new Panzer Dragoon game come to mind.

The mere existence of this travesty is ruining the potential of future release. It's like a genetic pre-disposition to cancer - I don't know what games might be released in 5 years time, but the existence of Kinect (and Move), likely means they'll be spoiled by the inclusion of such nonsense.

[Daragon]

Move actually works well for it's purpose. Why M$ didn't opt for similar motion controlling hardware I don't know - if Sony can pull it off without Nintendo wanting their day in court then where's the problem?

Would have certainly done away with the spacing problem and most likely carve a chunk out of that unsightly price tag too.

[Flabio]

Bombed in Japan is stretching it. They've sold a couple of million, which is about what they expected to do.

As for why MS didn't go for a similar motion control tech? Patents. It's always down to the bloody patents.

[sj33]

Depends what you mean by 'bombed'. They've got a substantial niche following in Japan, enough to see 360 games chart highly, enough to justify a significant presence in all electronic stores, and an audience to which they can sell certain types of game. What they haven't done is broken past the niche and appealed to the wider audience.

Kinect could actually do that if they gave it enough of a push, but I've not actually seen a Kinect advert here yet. I've seen plenty of Move ones. Hell, I saw plenty of Halo Reach ones.

[Team Andromeda]

What they haven't done is broken past the niche and appealed to the wider audience.

I think sequels to Blue Dragon, LO and getting Square and Enix to support or in Square Case (offer more) would be better for the 360 sales, rather than Natal myself.

[sj33]

But the 360 has had plenty of exclusive JRPGs in the past, all of which have been outsold in Japan by the likes of Gears of War, Halo 3 and Modern Warfare 2. I think that audience is a lost cause, they're 'core' enough to know where their 'allegences' lie.

Kinect on the other hand have everything that could appeal to the kind of 'larger' Japanese audience that bought the DS and Wii. People here will buy whatever people are talking about, and is splashed all over their variety shows. Remember, Microsoft is targeting the non-gamer here.

[Flabio]

Not out till the end of the month in Japan, so probably a little early for an advertising blitz.