The MS Kinect event I went to was actually a very small gathering ~50-60 people including some semi-famous TV celebs (one guy I recognized but couldn’t remember where he was from til I left, he was from Heroes — not sure if he still is on the show: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0342399/) I have a few videos but they’re from my iPhone as the event was pretty strictly guarded from the use of dSLRs.

They had about 4-5 different games for people to play and the target audience is probably something like anywhere from 5-13 y/o’s. Upon walking into the house, the first game was one we’ve all seen, the raft game where you can have one or two players. It also had another game where it pits two players in an underwater “bubble” and fish come by and poke holes in it. The objective being to plug those holes before it filled up. The movement recognition was pretty darn good in comparison to what I’d been hearing/reading up until that point.

Around the corner was the racing game. It was a split-screen two-player game that reminded me of Cruisin’ USA. Depending on the way you lean your body you could perform tricks like completely spinning the car or flipping it. Again, I’m sure most of you have seen these but the surprising part was how responsive it was to their movements. If you were to pull back with both arms in a quick motion it would engage the car’s turbo feature. Overall the game looked pretty fun but I imagine the arcade-y factor would restrict this to younger crowds.

Across the hallway were the other 3 games. One game is based around an interactive pet. I’d compare this to a more advanced version of those Nintendo DS pet games where you can pet the animal, feed it, take care of it, etc. For the life of me I can’t think of the name of it so I apologize. What’s interesting was at the entrance to the event, they were passing out small, plush toys. It wasn’t until later that I noticed it was actually a part of the game where you would scan the image that was hung around it’s neck. I can look at the thing when i get home and take a photo or scan the card. The basic idea was just about playing games with this “pet” lion, if you could imagine that. I hadn’t seen any coverage on this game online so it was new to me.

The last two games include a Wii-like sports game which included volleyball, basketball and a few other sports. People seemed to really like the volleyball game so I never got to see the other sports games in action but with that said, this was definitely the highlight of the event (aside from the game right across from it — Dance Central, which I’ll cover just a bit since I’m sure you’re all more up to date than I am). The response and detection of this game was impressive. The way it would detect jumping, directional hits and practically all the movements looked promising.

The last game which had just as much appeal as the sports game was called Dance Central. It’s practically Rock Band but involves dancing. It’s a great party game if you get into it and there’s a mode for two players. It basically sets you up to watch the first player make a fool of themselves so by the time player 2 steps up, they can get the moves down right. There are difficulty settings which change the difficulty of the moves. In the basic difficulty, you perform roughly 5-7 different moves. Unfortunately no one ever tried it on hard but according to the Harmonix employee, there are a good number of choreographed moves once you step into the more difficult settings. There are 32 songs included and I’m sure they’ll make DLC for it.

Sorry if this isn’t a hardcore gaming review. I’m more of a casual gamer but the tech seems promising if they really invest in it. I don’t know how it will pan out for more hardcore gamers looking for a more interactive experience. Its definitely a lot of fun to watch and a different experience to not have to hold a physical controller. I’ll try to upload the videos I got including the one of my gf dancing lol if she’ll let me.

One last thing, they didn’t demo any of the voice recognition stuff or video browsing or what have you so I can’t report on that. =\

Bowling was much more fun than on the Wii, and required more precision. The Kinect Joy Ride was fairly fun, and Kinect Adventures was awesome. The track and field game (Kinect Sports) was quite exhausting!

I didn’t notice any lag in the controls, and if there was, I was having so much fun I didn’t even care. Overall, it was a truly magical experience that my whole family enjoyed.

November 4th is coming up soon!!! I can’t wait!

Video and voice chat still sucks! Sounds better now thank God, since using new codec.

Movements have to be very precise. You get owned in FPS.

Most of the stuff in the videos are simulated. Heck even says that a few times.

Lots of marketing BS!