Check out our new Kinect hub!
By Laura June 
posted June 15th 2010 7:56PM
posted June 15th 2010 7:56PM
posted June 15th 2010 7:56PM
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So, have we all officially gotten over the name?
I actually almost like the name. Shrug. Natal was only ever a placeholder.
@Colours I wonder if the name has anything to do with the Kin since it is called KINect. Although I liked the Natal better, I'll be buying this for my son and quite possibly use it more than he will.
@SomePerson well Kinect kinda taken from Kinetic
Not gonna lie, Natal was a much more appealing name to me. Sadface.
Don't really care for the games, but the voice commands and interface are appealing (to me anyway)
Probably the only reason I'll get one.
@PBB, yea hoping one for HTPC setups sneaks out. Would love to have this same movement features available inside of WMC.
@PBB It was interesting but not THAT compelling for me. I HATED the fact you have to hover over what you want & wait for the itunes-preview-lookalike circle to fill. Which is why I'm not too excited about Kinect. It can't decipher small gestures like a small push of the icon or a clasp of a hand to verify your choice, that would've made a difference. Just a hand clasp recognition & you wouldn't NEED the special Kinect screen. You'd be able to go back & forth & up & down on the dashboard a'la Minority Report... I was disappointed. But that's just me.
@PBB
Agreed. Despite the fact that the games thus far are too kiddy and casual oriented I'm still planning to buy two. Kinect is the most amazing technology I have ever seen in my life. Just the voice command and motion control UI is amazing enough to justify the price. I use my Xbox more for watching video and communication with friends than games anyway. I also have family members who struggle with the Xbox dashboard and controllers when they want to play games or watch movies. Kinect will make the Xbox a device they can finally use without having to call me to set it up for them.
I still can't believe what Kinect does is even possible. Just holding your hands out and pretending to drive actually steers a car with the precision of an actual steering wheel. Even a year later that is still mind blowing to me. My mind refuses to accept that technology is capable of doing this. Kinect feels like science fiction. It should not be possible. The last time I felt that way about a new technology was probably the microwave oven.
So Move doesn't get a hub? QQ
LoL are you joking? This is engadget. They hate Sony. This site may as well be the official apple blog. @Unverified User
@forzanerazzurri2 We'll get there.
And lolface at the idea that we have a hub for a Microsoft product because we're Apple fanboys who hate Sony. I should start a tinfoil business on the side, damn.
@forzanerazzurri2 why bother looking at the website when you're just going to hate on the creators.
Engadget informs on everything.
@Hexa Actually, the Move does get a hub, I just haven't gotten there yet. We have a threshold of information we wait for before building one, including official photos and pricing / availability details. That just happened today. I'm also building one for the Nintendo 3DS -- just in case you were wondering why we hate Nintendo -- you have your answer. I'm just not fast enough!
@forzanerazzurri2 , so engadget loves apple but hates sony and that's why they have a new section for msft?
@forzanerazzurri2
Either that was sarcasm, in which case props, or what Nilay sad.
@Laura June: Did you actually make a Kin hub?
For shame!
@Hexa also: Booya.
http://www.engadget.com/product/playstation-move
I have never been more disappointed by a major E3 announcement than this.
I've watched a lot of the videos, but I'm still not clear on what Kinect is capable of tracking. Can it track arm/leg rotations and individual finger motions? If not, that really limits what you can do.
Controller-free input is the future, but Kinect seems half-baked.
@dsg
It tracks skeletal structures and has depth perception, so the device itself seems capable of tracking rotation (taking multiple things into account), I think its more a matter of are there any games that take advantage of it yet and I don't think there are any.
@dsg
Did you watch some of the E3 videos closely? Seems Kinect can even read your mind and perform your actions before you even make them, lol
http://i48.tinypic.com/epk4fa.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/i1d1y1.gif
There's more *cough* anomalies like this throughout the presentation :)
@hemmy
I took a look at those so called "anomalies" and they are not. In the second one the car is going right and the guy playing has his left hand on top which means he is turning right. It is supposed to look like it’s backwards because the guy and the screen are facing different directions. So I would pay closer attention before I make those kinds of accusations.
@Officer John117
No, you are not. There isn't a question of direction and I never indicated as much. The wheel STARTS TURNING well BEFORE the human does. The first animation is plagued with an onscreen cursor that moves by itself well before the human follows suit.
@dsg
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/comment/9/2010/06/6db9eddafa5ee84849d020538f1008d5/340x.gif
lol. Just lol.
This thing is pretty cool! Just I don't think fps's will work that well :/ but controlling the menu by hand sounds awesome!
Looks a little better then ps3 move but we will see :)
It will work at least as well as their voice recognition:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1123221217782777472#
@Ed T How old is that vid? stop trolling dork.
so im assuming this isnt compatible with older 360's?
@omgitzjose: You are assuming wrong.
Fully compatible. Its just that this requires 2 cables to hook up (one for the power) instead of one for the new 360.
It gives you Jedi powers for just 150$!! :)
@BHFoster No self-respecting Jedi would play any of these launch titles. Give me a freaking break. This is useless until actual... you know... games come out for it.
@nbolmer Except for the fact that some of the coolest implementations of Kinect are for non-gaming purposes (ie. UI control). The main reason I want Kinect is so that I can control my Xbox and all of my music/movies/TV/community apps with voice commands and motion control. There will eventually be cool games, but for now the technology and UI control is enough to justify purchasing it.
@cool8man
Completely agree. The main reason for many people will be the ability to control with a handswipe and voice..
I like the name Kinect, its a lot more meaningful that Natal.
I think its what your use to and in 6 months from now people will be wondering why they liked Natal.
i wonder when the first KINECT porn shows up.????