Kinect Message Board older than one year ago

Microsoft quick to replenish any depleting stock.

#xbox360 The Kinect is pretty good, but who is satisfied with "pretty good"? Having spent many days with Kinect, I've got five requests for how Microsoft could improve this thing. More »

It seems we're one step closer to creating that Kinect-headed robot we've been dreaming of, as NUI Group's AlexP has managed to break through at least some of the software tying the device to the Xbox 360. As the videos below the fold show, the peripheral's "NUI motor" (Natural User Interface motor) is handled by a basic Windows 7 application allowing it to nod its head up and down (knowingly, we'd wager). Another video displays how Kinect handles color and depth, while a third shows us how Kinect sees us (thankfully, it doesn't classify what it sees as "edible" or "non-edible"). This comes just days after open-source developer Adafruit offered a cool $2K to the first person to bust through Kinect's locks.

Microsoft has responded accordingly, stating: "Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products. With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant." Now all we have to do is wait for hackers to unlock for Kinect's love core and we've got ourselves an early Wall-E prototype in the making -- the head, anyway.

#clips Microsoft's Kinect launch continues to emulate that of Nintendo's Wii with near Civil-War-reenactment precision. 1) Sports mini-game compilation released. 2) Talk show hosts made giddy. Now: 3) Accidental swattings and injuries immortalized on YouTube and elsewhere. More »

#xbox360 In an effort to give Japanese gamers a hands body-on with Kinect, Xbox Japan set up a demo station at a large electronics store in Tokyo's Shinjuku. Make that, a lonely demo station — for now, at least! More »

#xbox360 Judge for yourself. Someone claims to have written a driver for the Kinect's motor, and he's extracted a Kinect's-eye view of what players look like to the device (above). More »

#kinect Microsoft is spending half a billion dollars to make sure that when you hear the word Kinect you think "the future of video games." But Microsoft believes that the real potential for the voice recognition, motion-based technology is how they plan to use it with cell phones, computers and perhaps in the military and health industries. More »

#kotakureader Welcome to the October 2010 edition of K Monthly, a look back at some of the best original video game coverage, including reviews, previews, features, and weekly columns, from Kotaku—plus an all-new look at the future of Kinect for the Xbox 360. More »

#apple Kinect is the Xbox 360's Great Wavy Hope in the battle for the home entertainment market. Did you know, however, that the device could have easily gone to Apple instead? More »

#xbox360 Kotaku has already put Kinect through its paces, testing its voice and face recognition capabilities and how well it performs under imperfect lighting conditions. We haven't tested it naked (as far as I know...) but other people have. More »

Sorry, "horrifyingly awkward news bloopers," you've been surpassed by our new favorite YouTube search term: "Kinect with night-vision goggles." When viewing your living room through the lens of NVGs (like the ones included in the Prestige Edition of Modern Warfare 2), you can see the beautiful galaxy of pinpoint sensors projected by Kinect's obsidian eyes.

Check out some videos of this phenomenon after the jump, and contemplate the fact that by buying Kinect, you're not only purchasing the controller-free controller of the future -- you're also getting a funky-ass invisible disco ball.

#xbox360 Kinect game reviews, good and bad. Kinect stress tests. Kinect photographed near a can of beans. A video diary of nine days with Kinect. A tale of two re-arranged living rooms It's all here in our definitive Kinect article round-up. More »

#clips Let's say for some odd reason you want to have both your Xbox 360 Kinect on and your Wii? Why? I haven't a clue, but if you did, would the two systems, which both use infrared, interfere with one another? More »

#kinect The Xbox 360 Kinect can be confused by large dogs and wildly flailing small children. Those are the two stress tests that Microsoft's controller-free, motion gaming add-on completely failed in a series of trails involving lighting, human and dog distraction, rubber masks and voice confusion. More »

#kinect Well, the first moron that we've heard of. He's not really a moron, he's Phil Villarreal, author and critic. And he's out a pricey television. You are the controller? No Phil, you are the guy with the broken TV. More »

#xbox360 DIY hardware champions adafruit industries want somebody to come up with a set of open soruce drivers for Microsoft's Kinect, so anyone can run the thing on all kinds of different computer systems. There's a reward. Of $2000. More »

#xbox360 If the sight of bare printed circuit boards, tangles of wires and exposed chips makes you queasy, best look away from iFixit's new Kinect dissection. But if you want to know exactly whats inside that new hands-free controller, read on. More »

Some of us at Joystiq have had Kinect units in our living rooms for a week or so now and, as you read in our review, Kinect can be especially sensitive about your interior decorating. Couch to close to the television? Just move it, the sensor advises. Massive coffee table right where you should be standing? Just slide it out of the way, it suggests. For some of us, this ad-hoc redecorating process is relatively painless.

For others (like this writer!) a massive, solid wood coffee table isn't moved so easily. Just amongst our own relatively small collection of sample data, it's obvious that no two living rooms are alike, so we collected some pictures and simple measurements to illustrate Kinect's not-entirely-unexpected weakness: coffee tables. Join us after the break.

#controversy Yesterday GameSpot set off a minibomb with an anecdote about Kinect not recognizing two dark-skinned users while lighter-skinned gamers had no problems. Consumer Reports has weighed in, saying this sounds like a claim about laptops from last year. More »

So what exactly goes into making a controller-free experience with Kinect? A lot of technology, apparently. The folks at iFixit have broken down a Kinect unit, revealing a bevy of chips and parts inside the new peripheral.

Kinect features not one, but two cameras to capture various information about the user. One camera, combined with an infrared emitter (the third "pinhole" on the front), provide the 3D information necessary to create the "depth map," while an additional camera captures the standard visible spectrum at 1600x1200 resolution. With the proper lighting and space, the combination of these cameras allows Kinect to see you in 3D.

Perhaps more surprising than the number of cameras hidden in the sensor is the number of microphones. In addition to three cameras, the device features four downward-facing microphones, three on the right side and one on the left side, integral to the Kinect's voice recognition capabilities. Considering the sheer quantity of power-hungry parts hidden inside the Kinect, it's no surprise that its power demand (12 watts) is so much greater than what a standard USB port can offer (5 watts) -- that's why you'll need a separate power adapter for using it with original Xbox 360 consoles.

One time, I was pushing a TV around so I could watch He-Man while I ate my Cap'n Crunch in the dining room. I was four years old. I accidentally pushed the TV over, bringing it smashing down on my finger. I had to get eight stitches and I eventually lost the fingernail.
Kinect reviews

• Kinect hardware
• Kinectimals
• Kinect Sports
• Kinect Joy Ride
• Dance Central
• Sonic Free Riders
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

I mention this only so you can fully appreciate the gravity of me saying that the half-hour I spent with Fighters Uncaged was the very worst TV-related thing that has ever happened to me. It's ugly, the fighting moves only work half of the time (except for ones like the straight right leg kick, which work none of the time). The training goes on forever before you get to the first round of actual fighting, which is against ... your trainer. It's terrible. I would erase Kinect from the fabric of time if it meant Fighters Uncaged would similarly be lost to the ether.

I'm not giving it a score because I think scoring a game after a half hour sets a bad precedent, and I'd rather eat a rain-soaked box of poison buttholes than ever play Fighters Uncaged again.

#gameface Peter Gonzales, last seen waiting outside of the Times Square Toys R' Us on Tuesday, celebrates being the first customer to purchase Kinect last night, and the chance to finally take a shower. More »

#askkotaku Brian Crecente and I have each been using Kinect for over a week, playing and reviewing many of the launch games. Are you worried about living room space? Wondering about games or the dashboard? Ask away and we'll answer here. More »

We knew that Dance Central DLC would cost more than the $2 standard charged for Rock Band tracks, but how much more? According to Harmonix, tracks for the game will run at $2.99 (240 MS Points) each. The first three DLC tracks were announced during a Dance Central launch event last night, including Ne-Yo's "Because of You," Lady Sovereign's "I Got You Dancing" and Sean Paul's "Temperature." All three tracks are available now.

#xbox360kinect This is your guide to everything you need to know about Xbox 360 Kinect: how it works, what it costs, and what games you can play on it. More »

#kinect Kinect works by projecting infared light throughout the room it's situated in. Under normal circumstances, it's invisible, but switch to night vision mode and you can actually see the dots floating around your living room. More »

The latest Xbox 360 Dashboard update didn't just make the Avatars taller and give you the ability to navigate its menus with your mind -- it also made the illicit enterprise of pirates just a little bit more difficult. According to Digital Foundry, the hardware now institutes a series of checks, which hackers refer to as "AP 2.5," that work in conjunction with "security sectors" embedded in the disc. If the checks come back negative, the player receives a "dirty disc" error and his or her console is flagged for permaban.

Pirates can hypothetically avoid these checks by not updating to the new firmware, though this will prevent them from playing on Xbox Live ... which kind of defeats the purpose of avoiding the permaban. Man, it's hard out there for a buccaneer.

Microsoft says the future of gaming starts today with Kinect, but this man obviously disagrees. The Time is Fulfilled ... The End is at Hand. After last night's Kinect launch festivities, you might be inclined to agree.

#xbox360 Microsoft's new Kinect device will put an advanced sensor array in the living room of millions of people, an Internet-connected set of machine ears and eyes capable of capturing voice, recognizing faces and tracking body movement. More »