Is it worth it to buy a kinect?

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jman2avatar

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I was thinking of buying a used kinect from Game Stop, but I'm not sure if there are enough games for the device. What do you guys think?
 
[quote name='jman2avatar']I was thinking of buying a used kinect from Game Stop, but I'm not sure if there are enough games for the device. What do you guys think?[/QUOTE]


I think if you go used, you'll have 7 days to check it out... that's what I was thinking about doing... just not sure how much it would be used...
 
If you like dancing, or you are to lazy to reach over and grab a controller when watching Netflix, then it is worth it. (Sarcasm)
 
Honestly, the question is--are you going to use it?

I went through the same thing with Wii Motion Plus. I bought that so I could play Skyward Sword and nothing else. Of course that was only a $20 investment to play one game I had already spent $50 on.
 
I hate the device with a passion. The only game that works well is Dance Central. Everything else is janky and a lesson in frustration to play.
 
If dancing/fitness games interest you, the Kinect is awesome. If you're not interested in dancing in front of your TV, probably not.
 
I'll start with the positives. Child of Eden is really good and Kinect Sports is good, but if you have Wii Sports you aren't missing much. I also really like the head tracking in Forza 4. Me and my friends have also made fools of ourselves in front of the various dancing games like Dance Central and Just Dance. Gunstringer and Fruit Ninja Kinect are supposed to be good games. I've heard good things about Double Fine's Happy Action Theater and Once Upon a Monster (but you will be playing a Sesame Street game). Some sports games are also starting to make decent use of Kinect, although its no substitute for a controller. I got a Kinect in a 4gb bundle for $125 after trading in my old Xbox. It definitely think it's better than the other choice of the 250gb console if you already a decent sized hdd. As for the negatives, you need 7-8 feet for the sensor to work well. If you want to play in a small bedroom or apartment it will not work. I can only play Child of Eden and Forza in my dorm. Besides the games that I mentioned there is little else for Kinect and I don't know of much coming up. Kinect Adventures which comes with Kinect is average at best (although there is some fun to be had). The controls are also very unresponsive in certain games.
Here's my advice, if you have friends that you get together with often that won't mind looking like idiots in front of a TV, Kinect is a good investment. If you are solely a hardcore gamer you will get little out of Kinect unless you are really into Forza. I am personally not wowed by kinect, but I will certainly forget about the small selection or quality software, large spaces required to play and the various other issue when I go home for the holidays and look like a complete idiot while having a great time with friends and family.
 
[quote name='antlp89']I know that I will probably never pick one up because it doesn't have any games I am interested.

Imo, it's a gimmick.[/QUOTE]

I totally agree, but MS seems intent on turining the 360 into a kinect-centered device...and I can't ever use one because of my home setup, just no room to use it.
 
It's got a certain novelty, that's likely to wear off pretty quickly. But there's some fun to be had.

Kinect Sports and Dance Central were a blast when they first came out, and it's one thing I could actually get my ex to play, as well as my parents - shocking in itself. Child of Eden is also pretty sweet.

Support for Mass Effect 3 was pretty darned good. Played exclusively with voice commands and it was nice to be untied from the controller. Same situation if I turn on the Xbox and I'm doing stuff, I can still control the system without having to track down a controller, which is, for me, a bonus.

That said, worth testing it out for sure. Whether you'll enjoy it or keep it is another story.
 
Depends on how you plan to use it. I have kids, they love the games. And when we have family get togethers, its great fun. But, if none of the games look fun to you, might not be worth your $.
 
Personally i have one & it's fun on rare ocasions but i think there gonna announce the new xbox this coming year & rumor is that it will come with kinect 2.0. I would wait. all the decent games for kinect will be cheaper & the 2.0 is rumored to have better tracking.
If it's under $60 & you have the space & dont wanna wait then it is fun. just know it is a gimmick that is limited.
 
I got my wife one for Christmas last year because she said she wanted it. Since then, the most use it's gotten has been us yelling at Netflix.

...so no, it's not worth it. ;)
 
I'd watch Craigslist. I've had the opportunity to pick up Kinect's for around $30...usually with a game or two.

I kinda want one, but, they do not work in my apartment living room. It'd mainly be for taking to family gatherings and whatnot.

I have Child of Eden...is it better with Kinect? Or, should I just play with the controller? I haven't opened it yet because I wanted to play it on the "preferred" method.
 
child of eden is fun. never played w/controller though. imagine it may be easier w/controller... i like having my kinect. using voice controls on the menu and apps. but its hardly worth the price. most the games are wack. i do like child of eden, gunstringer, and wreakateer. all good fun
 
It's not worth it, coming from someone who bought it for $70. The games for it mostly suck, and I can't even control dvd functions with it.
 
I think it's worth it personally. There is so much rage over the device, mainly from people who have either never used it, don't like gesture games, or think it's cool to bash it, that I think many things get skewed. I actually work in the professional mocap world, like the big camera systems with dudes covered in ping pong balls, and the quality of tracking, and technology in it, is effectively what a company in the industry sells for $50k. MS got the launch price down to $150, which was insane to me. You see it in the Kinect Hacks that are out there.

So the tech is unbelieavable, how does it work? That's up to the devs. There are some very clever ways to design around it (Child of Eden, Gunstringer, Haunt) then there are some really bad ways (Rise of Nightmares, to a degree Kinect Disneyland). My first "oh shit" moment was watching my kid play Kinectimals. He was playing, sneezed, then a second later his tiger sneezed. Wha? The interactivity for it is exceptional, it's more accessible (why do people bash this aspect...if it's not for you, great, but why pretend like there isn't a market for it), the audio component is very impressive, and for those who want to have an active experience while playing games, it's an astounding device.

Check out some games, if you have kids I consider it a must-buy, but if you couldn't tell yet by my long post, I think Kinect is very much worth it. I bought in at $100 at launch and haven't regretted it for a second.

Edit: Oh, and the games I have:
Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster (very good, 6yr old loves it)
Rayman Raving Rabbids (got it really cheap, just OK. 3yr old likes some minigames, doesn't like others)
Happy Action Theater (tons of fun)
Kinect Sports Season 1 (most sports are really, really well done)
Dance Central (I don't like it, but my wife did)
Kinectimals (very cute, fun to watch my kids play)
Child of Eden (hard, but tons of fun, immersive, good game)
Kinect Disneyland (minigames were fun, walking around the park, not so much)
UFC Trainer (mostly good, but incredibly frustrating when trying to do pushups and not have them registered)
Kinect Adventures (the pack in game-not terrible really)
Haunt (XBLA game that is lots of fun, funny. Nice surprise)
 
I'm not certain about a standard Kinect. But I'm seriously considering buying a Kinect for Windows SDK kit.

I spend a fair amount of my time playing around with game development. One of the more costly aspects of digital game and video production is animation. With the Kinect for Windows SDK, it's possible to acquire basic bipedal animation for game production purposes. It is, essentially, one of the cheapest motion-capture setups available. (since it doesn't require special suits, green screens, or multiple cameras)

The problem for me is that the thing costs as much as a 360 does. (around $230 on sale) This is twice as much as a standard Kinect, so its a bit steep. I'll probably wait a little longer. I don't need that much animation just yet.
 
[quote name='Richard Kain']I'm not certain about a standard Kinect. But I'm seriously considering buying a Kinect for Windows SDK kit.

I spend a fair amount of my time playing around with game development. One of the more costly aspects of digital game and video production is animation. With the Kinect for Windows SDK, it's possible to acquire basic bipedal animation for game production purposes. It is, essentially, one of the cheapest motion-capture setups available. (since it doesn't require special suits, green screens, or multiple cameras)QUOTE]

While it's definite a pipeline, if you're hoping to use a Kinect for any sort of professional game or video production, you're going to be hardpressed to get meaningful data in formats you care about, just an FIY. Even if you did get the Windows SDK kit, you're probably in it another $500 if you went with a fairly crappy "mocap" software that supports Kinect. I'm not sure if you're talking like, hobbyist mocap or a formally released product, but if you are, you can't really get a professional mocap setup for under $7k.

Full disclosure, I work for the cheapest professional mocap company out there, so I've put in a lot of time testing or reviewing other solutions. You might also have success with companies that sell canned animation. If you care to discuss on the side, feel free to PM me and I can send you my work email. Can also get you some sample body mocap and facial data. Not to hijack the thread, but the topic is something I know quite a bit about. Anyhoo, back to the thread.

I love Kinect! :P
 
Noticed a couple of people that said it's good for kids. My 3 yr old daughter loves playing the kinect when we're at Best Buy, but are there enough games available for her age? I know she'd probably like Disneyland but the appeal of it may wear off in just a few playthroughs. Any other games good for toddlers?
 
No, it's a piece of crap imo.

I won 1 at launch so I been using it on and off for almost 2 years mainly for achievement purposes so I have played a ton of games with it thinking it was for easy points but it has been a frustration endeavor.

The biggest problem is that it doesn't accurately track your movements if it's life depended on it. The games that you need it to, makes it frustrating to play. It works for games that doesn't rely on it so much like Kinectimals, Dance Central (to a degree), Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures, etc. For every other game trying to move the pointer to one place or doing certain gestures is throwing controller at TV madness. Having button presses would make the game much easier to play.

I remember a time when my niece and nephews were playing Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster. They got to like Ch 2 or 3 where you have to pick a costume for your character but they couldn't get the clothing to stop spinning. Then the problem of flipping pages got more and more frustrating. It was to the point after 10 or so mins the whole family got involved and could not turn the page at all. It was pretty much the same for every other family game like Hasbro and Family Feud. It takes so much effort to get the pointer to track your movement correctly and when you do, you have to hold it in position for like 5 secs as well increasing the tedium.

I tried to make more room and let more light into the room to solve some of the problems. Even went so far to buy the Nyko Zoom Lens as it claimed to improve and enhanced the tracking and such and it still did a poor job. In the end if it doesn't track your movements in real time it going to be a frustrating experience. Every action you do feels like it's being done in slow motion for the Kinect. Because of this it's not worth buying ATM and more so because the games are just not enough to keep you interested even with more well known titles Fable The Journey and DBZ Kinect being release (haven't played them but reviews & videos saying as usual Kinect games are terrible).
 
I love the Dance Central series, but that's basically it. Child of Eden and Gunstringer are good, sure, but Dance Central is what makes it worth it or not worth it. For me, worth it.
 
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