NYCC10: Look Ma, No Controller! Our Kinect Adventures
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 8:43PM 
Standing off to the side, we watched a couple play Kinect Adventures' River Rush while the possibly coked out Microsoft PR guy barked out commands and directed traffic with an unstable energy. He was a cool dude.
After almost being bored to death watching the team in front of us jump in place for the duration of the River Rush gameplay, without the very important peripheral mind you, it was our turn. I asked Honkey (this was the emcee's name, no lie) to let us get a crack at something a little more exciting. Unfortunately, Microsoft was limited to what they could let us play due to sponsoring (go figure) so we were stuck with Kinect Adventures, Kinect's very own Wii Sports. Like Wii Sports, there is nothing special to be seen, but it gives you the gist of how the system works.
Team OBG had it's go at Rally Ball, a type of brick-breaker and soccer mash-up, that was a decidedly more exciting mini-game than River Rush. After a crash course in the controls, wait, what controls? Keeping 6-8 feet in front of the screen, leave the space of about one person between each other, and getting more points for using your head (such is life), we were ready to Rally Ball!
My reflexes were as responsive as a cat's, my movements as calculated as a ninja's, my strikes as precise as a surgeon's. If only the Kinect were able to detect them that way. Unfortunately, every move we made was a split second or more delayed on the screen. So while I was reacting to the ball at just the right time, my avatar was swinging and missing, badly. That ain't good.
Once we took the lag into account, we got ourselves into a groove, albeit it a silly looking one. We were using our arms, legs, and yes, even our heads for extra points. I'll admit it was fun, but that's it. Kinect Adventures, like Wii Sports before it, is the girl (or guy) you hook up with for a night of anonymous fun. No long term potential at all, sorry. And that kind of sums up how I feel about Kinect in general. Milo looked awesome, until they dragged the poor kid into a back alley and offed him. Though even if Milo persisted, how long would you see yourself playing it? Me, not long at all. You gotta impress us, Kinect. Make believers of us, don't expect us to drink the Kool Aid.
Here's a protip, start off by making a zombie Milo game. I'm with that.
Reader Comments (1)
Ha! I guess I should have read this post (and watched the video) before I asked about the rafting game. Kinect does not raise my eyebrows...