Microsoft Kinect

Alan Barthelmess
      Well, the Xbox 360’s answer to the Wii has finally arrived, but does it match up to the hype and is it an upgrade or downgrade from the Wii? I will tell you my personal opinion that should be more than helpful. After messing around and playing a few games on my new Kinect attachment, it was immediately decided that the Wii had become obsolete. The triple motion sensor camera with voice activation was even more impressive then I had originally expected. My expectations were that the Kinect system would blow the Wii out of the water; it did that and then some.

The Kinect system is a three camera attachment that hooks into the Xbox 360 and should sit above or below your TV, much like the motion sensor of the Wii. However, unlike the Wii, the Kinect sensor can be voice activated. While it is still in its early stages and will most likely be updated, you can already access the Kinect hub and make a few voice commands to play movies, games and other entertainment. Kinect also has facial recognition software and will sign into your account after standing in front of it for just a few seconds.
One thing that makes the voice recognition handy is that you don’t have to yell or speak out of tone to access it. When setting up Kinect, it will automatically adjust to your room and its surroundings. If you believe it is not set up right then you can have it readjust to your settings again in the Kinect tuning menu.
A few of Kinect’s launch games are; Kinect adventures (which comes with Kinect), Kinect sports, Dance central, and Sonic Air Riders, to name a few. After playing each of these games for a little while and learning to get the hang of my new Kinect system, I had noticed that I was getting more of a workout then I ever had on the Wii. The games for Kinect help you to be active and experience the game physically. A lot of the games will also take pictures at certain moments in the game, and show you later what you look like when you are playing; this allows you to relive the moment over and over again.
The Kinect system is amazing, and I am very pleased with my purchase. I encourage anyone that has the means to obtain one themselves, and has been thinking about it, to go buy one. Its hours of endless fun for everyone, pretty much replace the Wii.