Psychotext
Supreme [H]ardness
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Sadly I don't think it's going to work out for you.
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KiNeCt!!! Who picked one up!?
- Thread starter b1m2x3
- Start date
This is me:
I can't move my arms very high or out to the side.
I believe some of the games may be difficult to play without full 'range' mobility. However I can say that the software for Kinect feel very robust, enough so that I think you may find it playable on some of the modes. Kinect Sports for insance is hard as hell on higher difficulties but its a blast on lower ones, and one nice bonus is that easier/fun difficulties do not require you to be 'all over' the place. The device in theory should be able to track you fine, I believe its simply a matter of the game you're playing and movement required for actions. The devil is in the details though.
I even think there is a possibility that it may even prove easier for you, but like with anything else.. you simply wont' know until you try. I would keep an eye/ear out for a place you can demo the technology at. Also, keep in mind you can calibrate Kinect to recognize you better, so that may help.
I would give it a try before ruling it out. I'm sort of conflicted about whether it may work, or if it actually might even be amazing for you! This type of technology (and its successors) I think are going to really benefit someone with limited mobility like yourself. The best part is the technology is only going to get better, and the launch capabilities are pretty impressive.
Got one today. So far all I've played is Kinect Adventures since it came packed in. OMG does this thing require a ton of room for 2 people to play. I live in a townhouse currently, and it basically required me to clear out half of the basement to get enough room. There is a very small amount of input lag, but after a while you adjust to it and you don't really even notice it anymore. The tech is very impressive, and I can't wait to see what developers can do with this thing. I'm also really interested to see if we will start seeing "hybrid" games that require a controller and Kinect (maybe a FPS that lets you lean, speak commands, and even take your hands off the controller to interact with objects in the game). Here's to hoping Kinect doesn't get buried under the mountains of cheap shovelware like the Wii....it would be an absolute shame to waste this tech on that crap.
edit: bad grammer is bad
edit: bad grammer is bad
Corban227
Gawd
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i also got one today with dance central.
all i have to say is frekin awesome. we have about 6 feet of room wit hthe couch still where it normally is but one person is able to play comfortably. we had a party and just moved somethings around and had the perfect play space for kinect with about 9 feet from the tv. (live in an apartment)
o i highly recomend putting it above your tv.
also the gf loves it
all i have to say is frekin awesome. we have about 6 feet of room wit hthe couch still where it normally is but one person is able to play comfortably. we had a party and just moved somethings around and had the perfect play space for kinect with about 9 feet from the tv. (live in an apartment)
o i highly recomend putting it above your tv.
also the gf loves it
Zinn
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I picked one up yesterday on a whim. I've been too sick to actually play it, but my boyfriend really likes that Your Shape Fitness game. It actually gave him a decent workout (he was whining about being sore all day from it).
You definitely need a considerable amount of space.
Initially, we had the sensor underneath the TV on top of the center channel, and the camera could barely catch the tops of our heads unless we were sitting down. We had to move the couch about 10 feet back from the TV and buy one of those mounts to put the Kinect on top of the TV. Now, there's enough room to play the fitness game (barely) and my 46" TV looks a bit smaller since the couch is now farther away.
That's actually potentially a problem for people with smaller TVs. You'll want at minimum a 46" TV if you plan on having enough space between you and the TV to play your Kinect games and still have a comfortable viewing experience when you sit on the couch.
That said, we both liked the Kinect enough to rearrange our room a bit to make for a better experience. It's really very cool, and there's nothing quite like it. The voice commands work very well. The gesture navigation is a little half baked, but still pretty cool. The games I've seen are totally first generation-type games that will be forgotten as soon as the next batch of cooler games come out. On the other hand, the level of polish that went into integrating the Kinect hardware into the Xbox dashboard is pretty awesome. There are a few rough edges, but it's still a very cool, cohesive experience.
Is it worth $200 for the hardware and one game? I don't know. I had money to burn, so why not. If you're actually concerned about value for the money, then wait. It's a little half baked, but the potential is seriously there.
You definitely need a considerable amount of space.
Initially, we had the sensor underneath the TV on top of the center channel, and the camera could barely catch the tops of our heads unless we were sitting down. We had to move the couch about 10 feet back from the TV and buy one of those mounts to put the Kinect on top of the TV. Now, there's enough room to play the fitness game (barely) and my 46" TV looks a bit smaller since the couch is now farther away.
That's actually potentially a problem for people with smaller TVs. You'll want at minimum a 46" TV if you plan on having enough space between you and the TV to play your Kinect games and still have a comfortable viewing experience when you sit on the couch.
That said, we both liked the Kinect enough to rearrange our room a bit to make for a better experience. It's really very cool, and there's nothing quite like it. The voice commands work very well. The gesture navigation is a little half baked, but still pretty cool. The games I've seen are totally first generation-type games that will be forgotten as soon as the next batch of cooler games come out. On the other hand, the level of polish that went into integrating the Kinect hardware into the Xbox dashboard is pretty awesome. There are a few rough edges, but it's still a very cool, cohesive experience.
Is it worth $200 for the hardware and one game? I don't know. I had money to burn, so why not. If you're actually concerned about value for the money, then wait. It's a little half baked, but the potential is seriously there.
Corban227
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i have a 40" and its fine. i would say no lower than a 36 inch or so.
just out of curiosity are you over exaggerating on the 10 feet? we only have 6 feet of space when the couch is in its normal position and there is plenty of room to play dance central. when we move the couch there is about 8-10 feet of space which is enough room to have one dancer and one backup dancer. just wondering what is making ur situation more difficult.
we have the sensor on top of the center channel which is on top of the tv.
just out of curiosity are you over exaggerating on the 10 feet? we only have 6 feet of space when the couch is in its normal position and there is plenty of room to play dance central. when we move the couch there is about 8-10 feet of space which is enough room to have one dancer and one backup dancer. just wondering what is making ur situation more difficult.
we have the sensor on top of the center channel which is on top of the tv.
Zinn
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Corban, it sounds like you're running into the same space issue if you have to move your couch back to have two people in-field for the camera. Depending on the game, you may need more or less space. For that Your Shape Fitness game, you definitely need at least 10 feet.
It's hard to get a sense of depth from this, but there's 10 feet of space between the TV and the couch (measured with a tape measure)
Here is a photo of me taking a photo of me standing in the virtual "box" the game sets up for me to work out in. You can see I'm not even all the way back in the box in this picture. At this point in time my calves were pressed firmly against the couch (you can kind of see it behind my pajama bottoms). I'm pretty sure the game will be playable, but it's a close fit.
The Kinect ID app has the same sort of "box" it draws for your avatar to move around in, and when I move to the far end of the box, again, my legs are pushing up against my couch.
So we have the Kinect positioned on top of the TV as Microsoft recommends and way more than the 6 feet of space they want, and it's still kind of cutting close. I feel like Microsoft is providing a very optimistic view of how much room is needed for a Kinect in order to sell more units, and this will lead to a disappointing experience for people with less space. Right now with moving my couch back so far, it's kind of making me itch for a bigger TV...
Like Zinn, I found that the 6-ish feet that I had between the tv and the couch originally was probably just enough for one person to play. Had to move the couch back a good 3 or so feet to even have a minimal amount for 2 players to play comfortably...and I definitely think it could go back another foot or two to make it even better.
Corban227
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zinn
ic from the pics what you mean. i bet if i had the fitness game i would have the same issue.
lol and to the bigger tv: black friday is right around the corner
ic from the pics what you mean. i bet if i had the fitness game i would have the same issue.
lol and to the bigger tv: black friday is right around the corner
I bought it out of general interest and picked up the Fitness and Dance games. I have only tinkered with it for an hour or so and haven't tried the dance thing yet. I do have a lot of space in front of the telly, which is handy as the fitness game requires you to be pretty far away.
I was surprised with how good it was and really liked the voice navigation of the XBOX UI. There is support for voice and Kinect in Zune, SKY, LastFM menus. I found pausing and restarting a movie by saying, "xbox pause, xbox play" delightfully lazy!
It all boils down to the software at the end of the day. I don't have a Wii any more so this has filled the family entertainment gap without taking up too much space.
I was surprised with how good it was and really liked the voice navigation of the XBOX UI. There is support for voice and Kinect in Zune, SKY, LastFM menus. I found pausing and restarting a movie by saying, "xbox pause, xbox play" delightfully lazy!
It all boils down to the software at the end of the day. I don't have a Wii any more so this has filled the family entertainment gap without taking up too much space.
I just played Dance Central today (slow on opening the box heh) Game is awesome! I laughed so much playing it and the response was really good. I like they way they handled the menus more than MS traditional "hold up your hand, wait 2 seconds" It's more of a "swipe activate" motion that's a lot faster. Nothing wrong with either, but a little better.
Corban227
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lol let me clarify
when we move teh couch, teh 10 foot point is when my back is against the wall. we are about 8 feet from the sensor when we have 2 people playing and we are 5-6 feet from the sensor with 1 person frequencies and the couch in place
o and a funny thing ive found about the voice activation is it response much better to my voice than my gf's. when she speaks in a lower voice it response more readily. kinda funny how the frequencie of voice affected the responsiveness (i have no issues using it)
So I had an after party at my place last night following a surprise bday party for a friends girlfriend. It seems through the power of Facebook a few people knew I had picked up a Kinect. Then I was shocked, I suppose the $500 million marketing campaign is working because 3 or 4 girlfriends of my friends started asking if we could go back to my place to play Dance Central. They knew the game by name and when I asked how? They said they've seen tons of TV ads and it seemed totally awesome.
So we go back to my place and fire it up (drunk as piss I should add). Girls were instantly glued, and boyfriends sort of chuckling. Many of these guys are the Madden or COD guys if even gamers at all. A few songs later, the guys jumped in and I think I experienced the best party game atmophere for video games, at least in my silly life. This outweighed the allure of Rockband in its hayday.
Anyways night ended and I said farewell. Today, in 2 separate text messages, 2 of my guy buddies asked the name of the game we were playing. When I asked why, they both told me that they were ordering Kinect/360 bundles online and wanted to get the game with it. It was mainly for thier gf's, neither of who had ever cared about gaming or the Wii.
So I'm seeing the hype and marketing starting to work even in my inner circle of friends. Kind of weird actually.
So we go back to my place and fire it up (drunk as piss I should add). Girls were instantly glued, and boyfriends sort of chuckling. Many of these guys are the Madden or COD guys if even gamers at all. A few songs later, the guys jumped in and I think I experienced the best party game atmophere for video games, at least in my silly life. This outweighed the allure of Rockband in its hayday.
Anyways night ended and I said farewell. Today, in 2 separate text messages, 2 of my guy buddies asked the name of the game we were playing. When I asked why, they both told me that they were ordering Kinect/360 bundles online and wanted to get the game with it. It was mainly for thier gf's, neither of who had ever cared about gaming or the Wii.
So I'm seeing the hype and marketing starting to work even in my inner circle of friends. Kind of weird actually.
Psychotext
Supreme [H]ardness
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This could significantly upgrade a single man's pulling capacity.
Agreed. I got to give it a try today and the menu navigation was a lot slicker than Microsoft's, or the Fitness game from Ubisoft.
We've been really impressed now that we've had a chance to explore more of the fitness and dancing games. There will be some fantastic software out for this over the next couple of years.
This could significantly upgrade a single man's pulling capacity.
Could
I'm married already so I dont have to worry about that though. Also my wife games to so yay! But I recall when I was single, Rockband was a great party game, even non gamers would enjoy sitting and watching others jam. DC is the same, except it seems that females feel compelled to play. Who needs a Ferrari when you have video games?
lol
Rash
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Well im moving house next week and my new living room wont support the Kinect (its wierd saying my room wont support Kinect like my house is a pc or something lol!) Its a real shame as i really like the device and i cant justify getting it just for speech and navigation. Not Happy!
Can you elaborate? How much room will you have? I'm playing with about 6'.
Rash
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I'll post some pics when I'm next there in a few days, its actually a big room but the sofa is edging massive but I'm not getting rid of that! My old living room was 20ft x 20ft and I think the new one is 18x12 ft....I think
Does anyone know what screws (type and size) fit in the VESA mount inserts on the back of televisions? I'm planning to build something like this to place the Kinect above the screen.
EDIT: Nevermind. Did some searching and figured it out. Just in case someone needs the info... The Samsung PN58C550 uses 15mm deep M8 thead-type.
EDIT: Nevermind. Did some searching and figured it out. Just in case someone needs the info... The Samsung PN58C550 uses 15mm deep M8 thead-type.
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Corban227
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look up your model tv on google. i build a stand for mine and had to look up the crews online. i just cant remeber what they were cause it was about 3 months ago
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Zinn
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well me and a buddy went to a store that just opened up in our small city called play n trade, they let us play the kinect for a full hour before we tired out lol. Worked though as we both bought a unit, Im savng my copy as a christmas gift to my wife and son but he's single so he's already playing his lol.
The official MS TV mount is a little sketchy; does not work on all flat panel televisions. I don't really want to be a test subject for it, nor wait until someone with my television buys one. I think in terms of cost I would be better off with the shelf, plus I like the utilitarian look and it'll be a short, fun project.
I no longer living in earthquake territory
But I do plan on using industrial grade velcro or build some sort of holder for the device.guitarguy316
Limp Gawd
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i get the two elbow brackets, but what did you use for the top piece?
I just bought a $10 floating shelf from Target and mounted my Kinect even higher and further back, giving me more space to play in my living room. I bought a wire housing cover for $3 so it covers the wire coming down from the shelf, looks good.
I'll take a picture today.
I'll take a picture today.
guitarguy316
Limp Gawd
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yeah, but that's to mount on your wall behind the tv right?
Right. I have a newer Samsung 6000 LED Series 1.2" thick and the offical license mount for TV is rumored to not work. That and by buying a wall shelf I saved $30, and was able to move the Kinect back another 8 inches, and up anoher 6 or so. Doing so allowed me to play closer to the tv.
Overall it was a win win.
guitarguy316
Limp Gawd
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my tv is about 1ft from the wall and i was concerned about wall mounting it up 6ft if it would be able to see over the tv (52in) to see my feet.
Zinn
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As long as the camera isn't blocked by the lip of your TV's bezel, it should be able to see the floor. The camera will physically look down until it finds your floor.
same but it worked perfect
Corban227
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i used 2 l brackets and a metal sheet i got from lowes. i just gorilla glued the sheet to the l brackets in the correct position and then painted it black .
here are some pics
Front
side
Top (sorry bout blur)
Back
Room
In the room pic you can see the couch is moved. i just had a party last night and we haven't put the living room back together yet. with the chair and coffee table gone there is plenty of room for 2 people. bout 9-10 feet from the tv to the back wall.
o yea also i put a rubber mat on top of hte metal sheet between the speaker and the shelf to reduce vibration
here are some pics
Front
side
Top (sorry bout blur)
Back
Room
In the room pic you can see the couch is moved. i just had a party last night and we haven't put the living room back together yet. with the chair and coffee table gone there is plenty of room for 2 people. bout 9-10 feet from the tv to the back wall.
o yea also i put a rubber mat on top of hte metal sheet between the speaker and the shelf to reduce vibration
Ended up getting this instead
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_769CSB...t-CSB-1210-BLK.html?tp=36255&id=detailed_info
Little pricey, but I'll be moving my center channel speaker to above my TV since my stand sits a little low.
Crutchfield carries a smaller version (built for satellite speakers) for $30, which would be ideal for the Kinect.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_769CSB...t-CSB-1210-BLK.html?tp=36255&id=detailed_info
Little pricey, but I'll be moving my center channel speaker to above my TV since my stand sits a little low.
Crutchfield carries a smaller version (built for satellite speakers) for $30, which would be ideal for the Kinect.
Aaight so here’s my little story:
- Wasn’t too interested in Kinect games, but in the tech instead (Minority Report menu interface, voice commands)
- Was a little scared after hearing about the space requirement, so bought one with the option of being able to return it if it doesn’t work as expected
- Space was no prob
- Tech is great, if only all of the Xbox could be controlled with Kinect (DVD playback, media streaming, Netflix, etc...)
- Tried Kinect Adventures, thought it was just ok
Over the past week end, things evolved quite a bit:
Buddy offered Kinect Sports as gift...
- Sick party game! We laughed so hard, played till 2 am
- Was a great work out (we all broke a sweat, we were all sore the day after)
- Was planning on buying Dance Central for my gf for Xmas, went to Costco and found Kinect games for $39.
- I bought Dance Central and Kinectimals (as I thought my gf would love it)
- GF loved Kinectimals (not a surprise) and really liked the potential of Dance Central (we haven’t played it in a live environment yet, just practice here and there)
- I personally loved Kinect Sports: Mini games are fun, sports are pretty well done (except for boxing maybe)...Volley Ball is where it’s at, Soccer is tons of mindless fun
- I’m eagerly waiting for some software updates so that Kinect interface can be used on the entirety of the Xbox Dashboard...
That’s my story!
- Wasn’t too interested in Kinect games, but in the tech instead (Minority Report menu interface, voice commands)
- Was a little scared after hearing about the space requirement, so bought one with the option of being able to return it if it doesn’t work as expected
- Space was no prob
- Tech is great, if only all of the Xbox could be controlled with Kinect (DVD playback, media streaming, Netflix, etc...)
- Tried Kinect Adventures, thought it was just ok
Over the past week end, things evolved quite a bit:
Buddy offered Kinect Sports as gift...
- Sick party game! We laughed so hard, played till 2 am
- Was a great work out (we all broke a sweat, we were all sore the day after)
- Was planning on buying Dance Central for my gf for Xmas, went to Costco and found Kinect games for $39.
- I bought Dance Central and Kinectimals (as I thought my gf would love it)
- GF loved Kinectimals (not a surprise) and really liked the potential of Dance Central (we haven’t played it in a live environment yet, just practice here and there)
- I personally loved Kinect Sports: Mini games are fun, sports are pretty well done (except for boxing maybe)...Volley Ball is where it’s at, Soccer is tons of mindless fun
- I’m eagerly waiting for some software updates so that Kinect interface can be used on the entirety of the Xbox Dashboard...
That’s my story!
Psychotext
Supreme [H]ardness
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Cool story bro.
So after hosting a party last week and showing off Kinect, 2 of my friends (who only play games like COD and Madden) bought new bundles (including Kinect and for Kinect). Yesterday by buddy was hosting a 'guy' day (no gf's/wives), football day so to speak. Drink beers, eat like shit and watch football all day. He asked me to bring over a couple of Kinect games since he only got his unit and no games yet.
Turns out that we watched 1/2 of 1 game, and played Kinect Sports for (no joke) 6 hours straight. 6 guys just playing different sports titles, local competitive games were a hit. I swear my one friend who was 100% against Kinect was converted to a believer lol.
As awesome as Dance Central is, I"m beginning to believe that Kinect Sports really is the hit, killer app here (for launch). Its everything Wii Sports was, but somehow has more charm, better polish, graphics, response and online play. From what I've seen its even more inviting in that you dont need any kind of controller to play. It feels like a next next gen Nintendo game, I suppose a lot of that is due to Rare.
To each his own, but I haven't met someone yet who hasn't had fun with Kinect *shrug*
Turns out that we watched 1/2 of 1 game, and played Kinect Sports for (no joke) 6 hours straight. 6 guys just playing different sports titles, local competitive games were a hit. I swear my one friend who was 100% against Kinect was converted to a believer lol.
As awesome as Dance Central is, I"m beginning to believe that Kinect Sports really is the hit, killer app here (for launch). Its everything Wii Sports was, but somehow has more charm, better polish, graphics, response and online play. From what I've seen its even more inviting in that you dont need any kind of controller to play. It feels like a next next gen Nintendo game, I suppose a lot of that is due to Rare.
To each his own, but I haven't met someone yet who hasn't had fun with Kinect *shrug*
Yup, a lot of the people bashing or writting off the kinect haven't played it. I converted a friend completely, when I first told him about it he though it sounded so retarded, till I convinced him to come to the game store and try it out. After an hour of playing it he walked out of the store with a kinect in hand happy as could be. That was a week ago and now I have to listen to him whine about how sore he is because he's playing the kinect to much