[quote name='dirtyvu']is it easy to find a broken kinect?
pure conjecture on my part... as long as the kinect can pass the accelerometer test, I would think you're good to go. but if it can't, i think your SOL. if the kinect fails the test, you'll see a red light instead of green.
for normal situations, what the kinect tries to do is detect if it's on a level plane. if it detects that the plane is uneven, it will turn red and not function. so I assume will lock out all functions.
a way to test the hypothesis is to hold the kinect in your hand and tilt it sideways. see the light turn red. and then try an audio test in a voice enabled game.[/QUOTE]
Sorry, meant to respond to this yesterday. Well, with the internet/ebay, finding a "broken" anything is fairly easy. A Kinect with a busted lens just seemed like an easy target for someone who only wanted the voice command functionality of it.
I know what you're talking about though, as I remember a few times when I was setting my Kinect up, and if I picked it up and tilted it, it would give me error messages. I haven't had a chance to test anything (though I'm not even sure how well I could replicate a "broken" unit), but based on that theory, as long as the Kinect could be held straight long enough to pass that initial test, then yeah, it should be fine. I don't know if that speaks well for one with a broken lens (ie. does it actually need to see anything), but the ones with broken hinges (which there are a good amount of) could probably just be taped in place to pass the test.
I'll look into it a bit further. Watch. By the time I get it all figured out and set up, MS will announce a Kinect Microphone accessory, haha. I always thought it was stupid that you couldn't just use your headset for these voice commands to begin with, but I understand their claim is that it uses the Kinect's voice recognition software, so that's why you need the Kinect. Just gotta wonder how many people would jump onboard for a special microphone at a lower cost.