Ok so I really wanted to run some MW2 online so I did the unthinkable and and updated my dashboard. Just then I heard a voice thru my 360 something about "roger roger target is locked on coming in for a bombing run" upon hearing that I immediately ran outside only to see a stealth bomber(the bastard was flying low example of said bomber can be seen in the above post) coming close to my house, instantly I did a back flip and ended up on my roof. The bomb bays opened what did I see a freaking big ass hammer it fell quick and I didnt know what to do, no time to think I lined it up perfectly and broke that shit with my pinkie... toe thought it was my pinkie finger right. I let out a sigh of relief as Jackie Chan and Jet Li patted me on the back they said my technique got better all I could say after was "thanks guys."TRUE STORY
It's finally here. After three years of development, evolving from a rumor to a product that's made headlines with high-profile appearances on Oprah, Ellen, and The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, Kinect for Microsoft Xbox 360 (formerly Project Natal) is a reality. Microsoft has touted Kinect ($149.99 direct) as the next level of motion control, one that eschews physical, hands-on controllers by using the human body itself for input. It's a lofty task to undertake, certainly one far riskier than what Sony has done with the PlayStation Move ($99.99, 4 stars), which uses Nintendo Wii-like remotes (albeit, ones that are far more accurate). Microsoft has succeeded in making its spin on motion gaming not only a reality, but an insanely fun Xbox add-on that uses Kinect's depth-sensing camera and microphone in a revolutionary way that kills any accusations of it being a Wii-inspired gimmick.Kinect Bundles and GamesKinect comes available as a $149.99 standalone device, but should you want to purchase it along with an Xbox 360, there are two additional options. Microsoft sells a $299 bundle that pairs Kinect with a 4GB Xbox 360, as well as a $399 bundle that packages Kinect with a 250GB system. I like the flexibility here, as it gives gamers many options for getting in on Microsoft's motion action. You won't need an Xbox Live subscription to use Kinect, but you can use Kinect's motion navigation with several of Xbox Live Gold features, such as ESPN.Kinect Adventures is Kinect's pack-in game, but there will be several other titles on store shelves at or near its launch including Dance Central (a pad-free take on Dance Dance Revolution), Kinectimals (an advanced spin on Nintendogs), Kinect Joy Riders (racing), Kinect Sports (the Microsoft equivalent of Wii Sports), Sonic Free Riders (racing), and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved (exercise). Granted, not many of these titles will appeal to the hardcore gamer, but Microsoft has marketed it toward families, so the titles' casual nature isn't very surprising.Kinect Design, Setup, and TutorialThe 1.3-pound Kinect is an all-black 2.8-by-11.1-by-2.8-inch (HWD) horizontal bar positioned on top of a motorized pivot that's designed to blend inconspicuously into your entertainment setup. Its face houses three sensors that are used to track players' movements and voice commands: a 640-by-480 RGB camera, a monochrome depth sensor, and a multi-array microphone. The back houses the lone connection cable, and air vents are built into the sides and bottom of the device to keep it cool during long play sessions. A power/USB cable is included for connecting Kinect to older Xbox 360 models.Setting up Kinect is a simple affair: If you have the new Xbox 360 ($299.99, 4 stars), simply plug the device's sensor cable into the Aux port, which is easily identified by the orange stripe positioned above it. If you own an older Xbox 360, plug the sensor cable into the included Power/USB cable, and then plug one end of that cable into a USB port and the other into an outlet. When we connected Kinect to the new Xbox 360, it was instantly recognized and powered on without the need for AC power—the new Xbox 360 supplies enough juice to power the device. Note: Microsoft recommends positioning Kinect between 2 and 6 feet above the ground, and centered just above or below your television or monitor.After powering on, the Kinect sensor came alive and immediately began scanning the environment,then locking the camera into a prime position. The Kinect then ran through a series of required tests, in which it checked the background noise level, speaker volume, and microphone calibration, the three components that power its voice command feature (more on that later).A brief tutorial then showed me important gestures all users need to know to operate Kinect. First off, moving your hand so that the floating cursor is positioned over a game option makes a selection ring appear that assists in the confirmation process. Also, raising your right hand and waving it back and forth, for example, causes Kinect to recognize you, while positioning your right arm next to your body while holding your left arm at a 45-degree angle away from your body pauses games. These three gestures are universal, and work in any gaming scenario. Kinect's facial recognition can be used to log you into your Xbox account.Stellar Motion Control (When You're Within Range)Kinect comes packaged with Kinect Adventures, a collection of athletic titles that serve as a fun tech demo, like a more thematic version of Nintendo's Wii Sports. The most interesting of these six games is "Reflex Ridge," a two-player split-screen (player versus player or player versus Xbox) racing/obstacle title that has gamers speeding down a river on a raft. As your on-screen avatar moves forward, obstacles appear to slow your progress, so you have to leap, side-step, and duck objects. The motion tracking was surprisingly accurate in my tests; the instant I leapt, my avatar leapt. When I leaned left or right, my character leaned left or right in step. In fact, the only time I felt a disconnect between myself and my on-screen persona is when I had to jump up and down rapidly to increase the speed of the raft—occasionally a jump wouldn't register. Still, the overall experience was extremely impressive.Even better, a second player can jump into the game at any time without the need for calibration or having to pause the game and dig through menus. When another person walked into Kinect's field of vision, "Reflex Ridge" automatically detected the new challenger and split the screen. I was floored by this, as it allowed a second player to jump in without breaking the flow of the game.Kinect Sports, one of the launch titles, further demonstrated the device's incredible motion sensing. The Bowling game mode showed that Kinect can detect speed variations, as slow arm motions produced slow rolling balls, while quick arm motions produced balls that blazed down the lane. This attention to detail made the game feel much more like a true game of bowling than Wii Sports, and I could easily see those that excel in the real life sport finding greater success in the game than those who don't. Kinect Sports contained two other addictive games that nearly shut down the PCMag lab one Friday afternoon with their excellent recreations of the actual sports: Table Tennis and Volleyball. As we served, leapt, delivered backhands, and spiked balls, everyone marveled at Kinetic's ability to encourage everyone to get up and play, and work without the physical controllers that non-gamers can find daunting. Kinect would occasionally miss a motion input, but it was surprisingly rare.In order to enjoy Kinect, you have to be positioned in a sweet spot about 6 to 8 feet away from the sensor. This means that you might run into trouble if your forced to set it up in a cramped space. It also means that even if you have the proper amount of floor space, you can easily step out of the play field. Kinect, however, even senses when you do that; when I moved out of position while playing Boxing, the game instructed me to step back, forward, left, or right, so that I was back into the play zone. Once you get a hang of the play areas, staying within it becomes second nature. Marking the sweet spot on the floor can be very helpful, though.Voice Command and Video ConnectMicrosoft has done itself a bit of a disservice by not promoting Kinect's voice command capabilities as highly as it has the system's motion control. Kinect functions on the "If you see it, you can say it" principle, which means that onscreen actions can also be performed by speaking them instead of using arm movements. For example, saying the word "Xbox" causes the Kinect's ear to perk up and await your command. Following that with "Open Tray" causes the disc tray to pop open. You can also use it to launch any of Xbox Live's non-gaming services like ESPN and the Zune Marketplace. Kinect's voice recognition worked well in my tests, but it did occasionally miss a command. Minimal background noise and speaking clearly definitely helped.Microsoft also includes a Video Kinect mode, which lets you use Kinect as a webcam to chat with others—even those that don't have Kinect.The camera will also track you around a room as you move, so the person or people on the other end of the video stream has you in view. Unfortunately, it was unavailable for use during out test period, but we able to confirm that only those with Microsoft messaging accounts (Windows Live, MSN, Hotmail) will be able to use the service. Still, we had a chance to experience Video Kinect in a demo set up the week before today's launch. The 640-by-480 camera accurately tracked a colleague when he moved from the left side of a sofa to the right, and the people on the other end of the stream reported that the camera kept him within their field of vision.Should You Connect with Kinect?Kinect is a great leap forward in motion gaming. If you already own an Xbox 360, the $149 is fairly reasonable—after all, when you consider a game title like Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will cost you $169 after you buy all the necessary accessories. If you don't own a Xbox 360, you're going to have to shell out at least $299 for the entry level Xbox 360 Kinect bundle. Still, that's more affordable than the $399 PlayStation 320GB Move Bundle, which comes with the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Eye camera, a single Move controller, and a game. And your $149 for Kinect gets you groundbreaking technology that tracks your full body lets you use your voice to control your Xbox, and opens doors for new, exciting gameplay experiences. If you have an Xbox, Kinect is a must-have add-on that's more than worthy of our Editors' Choice Award.
Can't wait for 2010.
Is it that time of the decade already? Yup, it is, and it couldn’t have come soon enough.The next generation of video game consoles is coming up like all generational leaps tend to; in a clandestine fashion. Despite the incredibly high quality of titles that have come from the past year, (Super Mario Galaxy 2, Halo: Reach, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, and God of War 3 on the short list) video game sales are down across the board. With advancements in 3D technology, the dawn of social networking, and motion controls appealing to our species’ growing mass of idiocy, the pieces are all in place for the big three to start all over yet again. Gaming is in need of a reason to get excited, and this is exemplified by severe stagnation of the system that shook the industry four year ago. My friends, the reign of the Nintendo Wii is at its ending. And yes, the doors are locked permanently.The Wii’s sales are down by 45% on a year-by-year basis. This week last year, the Wii doubled the sales of the Xbox 360. Doubled. This year? The Wii is trailing the 360 by over thirty thousand units. The Wii is in fourth place, behind the DS, the Xbox 360, and even the Playstation 3 (which is kind of like trailing a runner that keeps punching himself in the balls). The Wii’s game library isn’t doing much better. Software sales can be kindly described as “continually lagging,” and accurately described as “laughably terrible.” The console is in a downward spiral, and interest in the system has tumbled from its peak. Now that the Nintendo 3DS is coming out with visuals that can rival the Wii’s, Nintendo must make a change in how they view their system’s hardware. Simply adding the power necessary to keep the Wii afloat via a peripheral would be unbelievably stupid and costly, especially since Nintendo already tried that before with hilarious results
So what would lead someone to jump to a sensational conclusion like that? In this case a report from Gamespot that essentially states the following: “In testing the Kinect, two dark-skinned GameSpot employees had problems getting the system’s facial recognition features to work.” Here’s why they’re making too much out of nothing.While the story is being pitched in the news cycle as a “Microsoft’s technology is racist” because that’s what grabs headlines and generates pageviews, the reality is much tamer. Gamespot was given a demo unit (most likely) of Kinect to test out and review ahead of the official launch, and while testing, they noticed that the unit had problems detecting facial features on dark-skinned users. The problem occurred with two of the three dark-skinned employees that tested the units (I guess Gamespot is using ‘dark-skinned’ instead of black to appear balanced?) and did not surface with any light-skinned employees. So in essence, the camera on Kinect (and that’s what it really is, a webcam within the unit, as you can see above) is hit or miss when trying to detect facial features on dark-skinned individuals. Oh my god, racism?!Not really. As Crunchgear points out in an equally sensationally-titled post, the issue is similar to an issue HP’s webcams encountered last year to which the company responded by saying that it was a problem with the “standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose,” and that the cameras exhibited the problem seeing this contrast without sufficient lighting (a problem that wouldn’t be as apparent for lighter-skinned individuals).
.........As much as I liked it, however, I have no idea how I could justify having Kinect in my living room as a permanent fixture. To conduct the Dance Central review, I had to slide my coffee table under my dining table, push my couch against my bookshelves, and stack all my dining chairs in the kitchen just to get the six-to-eight feet of space needed for the device to work. My roommates were not pleased.Even if I could somehow buy the perfect IKEA showroom setup for the Kinect to live in, I’m not sure the launch games are good enough to sell the device to Wii diehards and fresh PlayStation Move adopters. I mean the sports game and the adventures game are kind of old hat for motion controls; the fitness game and the dancing game have been done before in different ways on other consoles; and even if Kinectimals is a fresh idea, it’s got limited appeal (and to me it’s just plain creepy). That’s not to say the games aren’t fun – I loved Dance Central – but nothing in the lineup is stand out enough to make me say, “Wow – I’ve got to have that right now.” If only that Star Wars game were coming out this year…....
Not too sure what you mean, Xbox 360 along with Live works fine here in Trinidad. The only thing is the region blocking which prevents you from buying certain content such as movies, music etc. If you are referring to the zune music store, http://social.zune.net/music/ I'm not too sure. Perhaps someone on the forum has used it before?
