Posted: 12/29/2014 4:44:32 PM EDT
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So...Over the holidays, I ended up getting a Kinect for my xbone. Outside of a few random issues here and there, I'm really impressed with this piece of technology.
Now I'm well aware that the majority of ARFCOM will likely think it's gay or another government tracker...but for those of you that actually have one and have used it, what do you think of it? |
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I had Kinect on my 360. Found it to be gimmicky and buggy like most innovative psuedo-controllers. Haven't tried the XB1 yet so maybe it's better ...? Quoted:
I had Kinect on my 360. Found it to be gimmicky and buggy like most innovative psuedo-controllers. Haven't tried the XB1 yet so maybe it's better ...? Seems to be much better. I'm pretty amazed at what all it can track. With the ability to track as many as six people and 25 skeletal joints per person—including new joints for hand tips, thumbs, and shoulder center—and improved understanding of the soft connective tissue and body positioning, you get more anatomically correct positions for crisp interactions, more accurate avateering, and avatars that are more lifelike. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/meetkinect/features.aspx |
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It's cool technology but no one has really found a really good way yet to integrate it into a game without it just feeling unnecessary and gimmicky. I wouldn't have gotten it if I had the option back when I bought my xbox one. Yeah...I can see this being the issue. I can say for now, it works really well with the Xbox Fitness app that is free. I can also say that the audio commands and the tv control are pretty nice. Audio commands seem to be about 90% accurate for me when I talk at a normal volume. |
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My XB1 has the kinnect and I have it installed.
The auto-login function was interesting but trigger happy, and if it detected even the hint of another registered user in the room it would automatically log them in (I have since disabled that). Funny but true: mine recognizes toddler and cat faces, but not dog faces. Before we disabled the auto login I created a family account for our cat and every time he would walk into the living room and the kinnect saw his head it would pop up his login. It was funny the first three times then it just got old. I have not used any of the camera games as they are not my cup of tea, but I have tried to use the speech recognition stuff on a few games. The speech recognition works perhaps 50% of the time for me and I have to repeat myself at least twice in a fairly loud voice for it to work. I have tried re-calibrating it twice and it still is very iffy in its function. And many of the functions the speech recognition is used for in games I have just seem to work better when you just press the buttons instead. Case in point, Horizon 2: With Kinnect: Anna. Anna! ANNA! AAAAAANNNAAAAAAAA! (ding, finally recognizes the command). Next event. Next event! NEXT EVENT! (ding) Without Kinnect: Push menu, select next event, done. All of three seconds. |
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The speech recognition works perhaps 50% of the time for me and I have to repeat myself at least twice in a fairly loud voice for it to work. I have tried re-calibrating it twice and it still is very iffy in its function. And many of the functions the speech recognition is used for in games I have just seem to work better when you just press the buttons instead. Case in point, Horizon 2: With Kinnect: Anna. Anna! ANNA! AAAAAANNNAAAAAAAA! (ding, finally recognizes the command). Next event. Next event! NEXT EVENT! (ding) Without Kinnect: Push menu, select next event, done. All of three seconds. Oddly enough, I did have this issue at first. Then I moved my Kinnect lower and actually closer to my tv speakers. Then I ran the calibration again. Ever since then, it's been at least 90% accurate for me. Room size isn't large that it's in. Maybe this plays a factor in it? |
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So...Over the holidays, I ended up getting a Kinect for my xbone. Outside of a few random issues here and there, I'm really impressed with this piece of technology. Now I'm well aware that the majority of ARFCOM will likely think it's gay or another government tracker...but for those of you that actually have one and have used it, what do you think of it? Not worth it. Xbox said running the Kinect didn't use up horsepower from the rest of the system, and promised that every Xbone would ship with it. Then they changed their minds and said they'd ship consoles without it - this fucks over developers and means nobody will develop really meaningful features using it. It's just a gimmick again. They also lied (or are lying) about the technical aspects, because now they're telling people you get better performance without using the Kinect. The only reason I can see to even get an Xbone at all is if you're a hardcore Halo fan. Otherwise, PS4 wins, no contest. Kinect doesn't even factor into it. Xbone just isn't a good value. |
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I got one and removed it. Is a gimmick with no support or software. The auto log in and verbal commands lime XBOX ON! was handy but I don't miss it. I tried using with it BF4 but turned it off as it affected gameplay with unintended leans and commands The lack of software is what bugs me the most about the thing. I really do think that it would be a great device if there were actually things that you can do with it beside exercise. 
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Not worth it. Xbox said running the Kinect didn't use up horsepower from the rest of the system, and promised that every Xbone would ship with it. Then they changed their minds and said they'd ship consoles without it - this fucks over developers and means nobody will develop really meaningful features using it. It's just a gimmick again. They also lied (or are lying) about the technical aspects, because now they're telling people you get better performance without using the Kinect. The only reason I can see to even get an Xbone at all is if you're a hardcore Halo fan. Otherwise, PS4 wins, no contest. Kinect doesn't even factor into it. Xbone just isn't a good value. Quoted:
Quoted:
So...Over the holidays, I ended up getting a Kinect for my xbone. Outside of a few random issues here and there, I'm really impressed with this piece of technology. Now I'm well aware that the majority of ARFCOM will likely think it's gay or another government tracker...but for those of you that actually have one and have used it, what do you think of it? Not worth it. Xbox said running the Kinect didn't use up horsepower from the rest of the system, and promised that every Xbone would ship with it. Then they changed their minds and said they'd ship consoles without it - this fucks over developers and means nobody will develop really meaningful features using it. It's just a gimmick again. They also lied (or are lying) about the technical aspects, because now they're telling people you get better performance without using the Kinect. The only reason I can see to even get an Xbone at all is if you're a hardcore Halo fan. Otherwise, PS4 wins, no contest. Kinect doesn't even factor into it. Xbone just isn't a good value. What did you expect them to do when everyone whined it was $100 more so they were gettign a PS4? 
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Not worth it. Xbox said running the Kinect didn't use up horsepower from the rest of the system, and promised that every Xbone would ship with it. Then they changed their minds and said they'd ship consoles without it - this fucks over developers and means nobody will develop really meaningful features using it. It's just a gimmick again. They also lied (or are lying) about the technical aspects, because now they're telling people you get better performance without using the Kinect. The only reason I can see to even get an Xbone at all is if you're a hardcore Halo fan. Otherwise, PS4 wins, no contest. Kinect doesn't even factor into it. Xbone just isn't a good value. Quoted:
Quoted:
So...Over the holidays, I ended up getting a Kinect for my xbone. Outside of a few random issues here and there, I'm really impressed with this piece of technology. Now I'm well aware that the majority of ARFCOM will likely think it's gay or another government tracker...but for those of you that actually have one and have used it, what do you think of it? Not worth it. Xbox said running the Kinect didn't use up horsepower from the rest of the system, and promised that every Xbone would ship with it. Then they changed their minds and said they'd ship consoles without it - this fucks over developers and means nobody will develop really meaningful features using it. It's just a gimmick again. They also lied (or are lying) about the technical aspects, because now they're telling people you get better performance without using the Kinect. The only reason I can see to even get an Xbone at all is if you're a hardcore Halo fan. Otherwise, PS4 wins, no contest. Kinect doesn't even factor into it. Xbone just isn't a good value. They lied and at the same time they didn't lie. It's a mixed bag on this. Some of the memory is reserved for the OS and some is reserved for gaming. It was like that from day one. The Kinect used some of the memory that the OS used. Without the Kinect, there is memory that is now free that is on the OS side of the system. Xbox is now allowing developers to be able to tap into this "Extra Un-used" memory if the Kinect is disabled or not connected. This gives the gaming side of the system a potential 10% boost. |
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It would be interesting to see what kind of accents people have... for the people who can't get it to work. The main reason I ever saw it not listen to my commands was when i used the wrong phrase or word. If you speak clearly, it works 90% of the time. Same here. Like you said...90% of the time, it works for me. Midwestern accent. |
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Oddly enough, I did have this issue at first. Then I moved my Kinnect lower and actually closer to my tv speakers. Then I ran the calibration again. Ever since then, it's been at least 90% accurate for me. Room size isn't large that it's in. Maybe this plays a factor in it? The way our living room entertainment center is laid out the kinnect can only go in one place, which is on the top shelf of the entertainment center below the TV (which is mounted on the wall). We have a 7.1 system so the center channel speaker is also mounted on the wall almost directly behind the kinnect. The kinnect itself is in a perfect spot for the camera to work as it sees the entire room and even back into the entry hall beyond and it doesn't interfere with the center channel speaker or block the TV at all. When running the calibration or when in a system menu it responds very snappy but when in a game like Horizon 2 it just works sporadically. I think our sound system just overpowers it, even at low volumes. Edit: and I have been told I have a west coast "non regional diction" accent (my family is from California and I grew up there). Unlike my friends here in Saint Louis I don't Minnesota up my ARRs (aarnge faaard taaaaurus on highway faaaarty faaaar). |
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Interesting piece of tech that I always thought would be a gimmick with regard to the main point of a video game console (video gsmes). Because playstation didn't have something as good that shipped in every box, and the PC has never had a similar thing either, even prior to the console launch it was obvious that it didn't have much of a chance for relevance in the world of third party games. At launch you might have been able to say it had a future with first party titles, but ever since they stopped shipping with them in every box that idea has fizzled too.
So now it's a hundred dollar gimmick that you use to talk to your console with outside of games (most of the time, when it works) , but is pretty useless for gaming itself. None of the games that have attempted to shoehorn it in have done it very well. And even if the game implementation is OK, it still doesn't get over the fact that a controller is just more precise, plus a controller works right the first time all the time. 90% accuracy isn't bad though I'd say I'm getting more like 75% personally. But either way, it's still less than perfect. Since my controller can do the same thing often just as fast and with perfect accuracy, the kinect is just a kinda neat but useless appendage. If you use your console for TV it might be different, but for gaming it's pretty useless, IMO. In fairness, I'm more of a PC/PS4 guy, so the xbox isn't used all that often. |
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Interesting piece of tech that I always thought would be a gimmick with regard to the main point of a video game console (video gsmes). Because playstation didn't have something as good that shipped in every box, and the PC has never had a similar thing either, even prior to the console launch it was obvious that it didn't have much of a chance for relevance in the world of third party games. At launch you might have been able to say it had a future with first party titles, but ever since they stopped shipping with them in every box that idea has fizzled too. So now it's a hundred dollar gimmick that you use to talk to your console with outside of games (most of the time, when it works) , but is pretty useless for gaming itself. None of the games that have attempted to shoehorn it in have done it very well. And even if the game implementation is OK, it still doesn't get over the fact that a controller is just more precise, plus a controller works right the first time all the time. 90% accuracy isn't bad though I'd say I'm getting more like 75% personally. But either way, it's still less than perfect. Since my controller can do the same thing often just as fast and with perfect accuracy, the kinect is just a kinda neat but useless appendage. If you use your console for TV it might be different, but for gaming it's pretty useless, IMO. In fairness, I'm more of a PC/PS4 guy, so the xbox isn't used all that often. Thanks for you input. Yes, I actually read all of that. |
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It would be interesting to see what kind of accents people have... for the people who can't get it to work. The main reason I ever saw it not listen to my commands was when i used the wrong phrase or word. If you speak clearly, it works 90% of the time. There are many factors that you are not taking into consideration. Accents have very little to do with it. The biggest factor is the acoustics of the room. Next would be background noise. Accents would be near the bottom. |
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It would be interesting to see what kind of accents people have... for the people who can't get it to work. The main reason I ever saw it not listen to my commands was when i used the wrong phrase or word. If you speak clearly, it works 90% of the time. I speak with a Minnesota accent, ya sure you betcha, but not so heavy that it should be a problem. I'm not even from the northern part of the state where that accent is most pronounced. 75% accurate is about where I am. Speaking slowly and clearly helps for sure, but then what's the point? If the point of the kinect is to speed up and simplify, forcing people to slow down doesn't help. And even then, 90% accuracy isn't as good as my 100% controller. So now I've got e device which is both slower AND less accurate than my controller, and so I don't feel like switching is particularly useful. |
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The kids that play Dance Central along with my kid would tell you the Kinect is worth every dime and that DC is by far the best game on any of the consoles.
Personally Im a COD/FORZA fan and dont use it but for that games and I imagine games like it the new Kinect is much better then the 360's and works great from listening to the kids play. |
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Voice commands are where it's at. No need to sit with a controller and watch Netflix. Need to pause, just say it. Turn it on? Just tell it to. Worth $100. Yeah, I think using the xbox as a media device is where the kinect shines, and would probably be worth picking up. I only use mine for games though, so it's less useful - after all, I will have to pick up the controller eventually anyway. |
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Same here. Like you said...90% of the time, it works for me. Midwestern accent. Quoted:
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It would be interesting to see what kind of accents people have... for the people who can't get it to work. The main reason I ever saw it not listen to my commands was when i used the wrong phrase or word. If you speak clearly, it works 90% of the time. Same here. Like you said...90% of the time, it works for me. Midwestern accent. Midwestern here and I'm North of 90%. The speech recognition is quite nice for short cutting to things like party, friends list, and settings. |
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Yeah, I think using the xbox as a media device is where the kinect shines, and would probably be worth picking up. I only use mine for games though, so it's less useful - after all, I will have to pick up the controller eventually anyway. Quoted:
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Voice commands are where it's at. No need to sit with a controller and watch Netflix. Need to pause, just say it. Turn it on? Just tell it to. Worth $100. Yeah, I think using the xbox as a media device is where the kinect shines, and would probably be worth picking up. I only use mine for games though, so it's less useful - after all, I will have to pick up the controller eventually anyway. Yes, but things like snapping the party out, controlling menus, muting for when you need to loudly request more meatloaf from your mother, etc. are still useful. I bought mine included with it, and am happy about it. |
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The one we have at the office only understands you about 60% of the time (yes, we've calibrated it--multiple times). With a failure rate like that, you eventually give up trying and just use the controller like we have for 30 years. As for gaming with it, I have zero desire to game by waving my arms around and jumping around the room like an idiot.
Also, call me an old fogey if you want, but I've never felt comfortable talking to my electronics. I don't use Siri either. |
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Guy I used to work with attended a developer conference on the new Kinect. He posted images of what the sensor sees - it was eye opening. Even he was a bit freaked out by the resolution on the thing.
YMMV but that's a sensor that can see everything in the room. |
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Guy I used to work with attended a developer conference on the new Kinect. He posted images of what the sensor sees - it was eye opening. Even he was a bit freaked out by the resolution on the thing. YMMV but that's a sensor that can see everything in the room. It's a fascinating and very cool piece of tech, and the amount of work that went into it must have been staggering. It appears that it probably will have some use in a lot of scientific fields and other things. It's usefulness for gaming, however, is suspect. At least, games that aren't dance central/fantasia. |