Kinect Reviews

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Can you give us more details about the voice controls in this case? I really wonder what stops someone else in the room from just yelling out a command in the middle of something like a movie and screwing things. It'd be cool if it did some fancy voice printing for the profile that's in use.

I think all he's going to say is you have to say Xbox... Stop.... or Xbox.... Play, just shouting play/stop/pause doesn't work. Pretty sure there is no user specific voice recognition blocking/association.

[Ironman273]

What I don't get is if you have such a problem with a**hole friends what stops them from coming over and knocking the controller out of your hand when you're playing, or getting the remote control and pressing stop? And why are these people in your house anyways?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

What I don't get is if you have such a problem with a**hole friends what stops them from coming over and knocking the controller out of your hand when you're playing, or getting the remote control and pressing stop? And why are these people in your house anyways?

I keep my remotes in a reinforced steel lockbox when not being used.

[HawkMan]

Can you give us more details about the voice controls in this case? I really wonder what stops someone else in the room from just yelling out a command in the middle of something like a movie and screwing things. It'd be cool if it did some fancy voice printing for the profile that's in use.

Being in Norway, I don't have access to voice controls yet.

but yeah, you need to preface everything with xbox. or something. and you pretty much need to be int he room.

[George P Global Moderator]

Being in Norway, I don't have access to voice controls yet.

but yeah, you need to preface everything with xbox. or something. and you pretty much need to be int he room.

I guess it's a combo of the directional mics and the camera knowing that the voice is coming from one of the people actually infront of the camera so that helps I'm sure. MS could be working on some sort of voice pattern tech, I figure it's more of a software issue and not something hardware related. Maybe in a future update you'll be able to tie your voice as the "master" so then regardless of who's in the room they can't do anything.

[User6060]

i tried kinectanimal bs...honestly i was so unimpressed, awkward and slow to use and not fun to play, timing for hitting things is weird because when the object reaches the end of the screen its not anywhere close to the end of your body. you have to imagine there isn't 10' inbetween you and the tv

[Hedon]

What is the problem with voice recognition now? You have to say XBOX before you can issue any commands. If you have a friend or relative screaming Xbox - pause, how is that Microsoft's problem. Go punch your mom in the mouth for screwing up your movie.

[bob_c_b]

Maybe hang around with people who are not trying to be annoying? Voice command issues solved.

[BajiRav]

Except if you have brothers/sisters/family members who want to **** with you and shout commands at your Xbox when you're watching something

nothing stops those/such people from blinding eyetoy with flashlight or switch off your TV or pouring water over your PS3/Xbox360/Wii/TV or take a baseball bat and beat the crap out of your TV either.

[Hedon]

I was going to get an Xbox 360 the other day, but I was worried about the design decision that Microsoft made putting the power button on the front where my friends and family could easily press the button while I was playing a game. I taught Microsoft a lesson and just bought a poster of an Xbox 360 instead. No way anyone can ruin my gaming experience now.

[bob_c_b]

Dude, bad news, your mom just lit your Xbox poster on fire..

Foiled again!

[Hedon]

Dude, bad news, your mom just lit your Xbox poster on fire..

Foiled again!

[Rudy]

Dude, bad news, your mom just lit your Xbox poster on fire..

Foiled again!

:rofl:

[GayWolf]

I've tried this kinetic at a friend's, absolute crap. Cannot recognize me (I'm dark skinned), racist POS. I know now what I won't be getting for Christmas... Plus, all the games for this are not worth playing. Will keep my PS3.

This is my review, thanks for sharing yours.

[Hedon]

[spenser.d]

Troll says what?

OT: I'm getting more and more interested in Kinect and will hopefully pick one up for the holiday. I'm mostly just waiting to get a better idea what games I want with it.

[bob_c_b]

Troll fail

[Evolution]

I've tried this kinetic at a friend's, absolute crap. Cannot recognize me (I'm dark skinned), racist POS. I know now what I won't be getting for Christmas... Plus, all the games for this are not worth playing. Will keep my PS3.

This is my review, thanks for sharing yours.

So it recognized everyone who wasn't dark skinned in your room? I'm assuming that you had more than 6 feet of space and were using artificial lighting instead of natural light.

[BajiRav]

I've tried this kinetic at a friend's, absolute crap. Cannot recognize me (I'm dark skinned), racist POS. I know now what I won't be getting for Christmas... Plus, all the games for this are not worth playing. Will keep my PS3.

This is my review, thanks for sharing yours.

Aah, the front page article must have been handy. btw, how difficult is it to differentiate Kinect from Kinetic?

[Massiveterra]

[LingeringSoul]

That Ars Technica review that Ben wrote was certainly critical. It seems like his biggest problem with Kinect is the lack of buttons. He even went as far as to predict that Microsoft will release a Move-style controller within a year.

I guess the biggest problem I have with that review is that Ben treats Kinect like it's suppose to be a replacement for a traditional gaming experience, when in reality, it's a gateway to different varieties of games (at least that's the way that I think of it). Core games like first person shooters probably aren't going to work on something like this, but perhaps that's not the point.

I also agree with what Hellacool said - the more casual gamers among us can potentially have a lot of fun with this, since they're not a critical as we are (generally speaking). It will also be great for party games, since the games themselves often become secondary when everybody is enjoying themselves in a group setting. Ultimately I suppose the onus is on developers now, since like all platforms, this will sink or swim based on what's available for it.

And before anybody asks, no I haven't tried it ;). I think my local Future Shop has one on display, but I'll wait for the hype to die down so I don't embarrass myself in front of too many people.

[Ironman273]

I've tried this kinetic at a friend's, absolute crap. Cannot recognize me (I'm dark skinned), racist POS. I know now what I won't be getting for Christmas... Plus, all the games for this are not worth playing. Will keep my PS3.

This is my review, thanks for sharing yours.

Consumer Reports Knocks Down Kinect Skin-Color Claim

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.

In a post yesterday evening, since updated, GameSpot mentioned that of three employees of color, Kinect's facial recognition features had trouble with two of them, and none with white employees. This doesn't affect gameplay, where skin color has no bearing on skeletal recognition. Facial recognition is used in features like automatically logging in and drop-in multiplayer with Xbox Live avatars.

Consumer Reports said it smelled like a rumor about "racist" HP laptops whose facial recognition features also had trouble with darker-skinned individuals. Consumer Reports debunked this claim then, and put Kinect to a similar test now. The magazine says it is "related to low-level lighting and not directly to players' skin color.

"Like the HP webcam, the Kinect camera needs enough light and contrast to determine features in a person's face before it can perform software recognition and log someone into the game console automatically," Consumer Reports writes. "Essentially, the Kinect recognized both players at light levels typically used in living rooms at night and failed to recognize both players when the lights were turned down lower. So far, we did not experience any instance where one player was recognized and the other wasn't under the same lighting conditions."

It would seem obvious that lighting is the issue here - not skin color. Earlier this week I tried using a PlayStation Eye to capture my face for use in EA Sports MMA. I was in a poorly lit living room, and the result was ghastly. The fact I ended up in blackface was my fault, not the game's. But headlines like"Kinect has problems recognizing dark-skinned users?" don't exactly fix attention on the more likely cause of trouble.

Consumer Reports Debunks The 'Racist' Kinect [Consumer Reports]

Source: Kotaku

[freak180]

Does Kinnect work with netflix like going through the menus and using voice recognitions such like pause, and play?

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Does Kinnect work with netflix like going through the menus and using voice recognitions such like pause, and play?

Nope. Not right now. Just Zune and ESPN apps right now, and the default video player as well.

[habnad]

I was hoping it would work with Media Center, as I dont remember seeing anything about that mentioned anywhere, but it doesnt far as I can tell.