Xbox Kinect Verdict

Xbox Kinect, the revolutionary motion sensing peripheral for the 360 was put on sale for the first time. The release of Kinect and the PS Move mean that the Wii no longer has the motion capture market to itself. The thing that Kinect has over both the Move and the Wii is that no controller is required, instead the body controls what happens on screen.

This opens up the possibilities for a wide range of new gaming opportunities, Kinect sports for example is the answer to Nintendo’s highly successful Wii Sports and will make the motion sensor segment a much more engaging and visceral experience, physically moving your limbs to replicate the analogous action on screen really defines what motion sensing games are all about.

Kinect retails at £130, a lofty price tag for a piece of hardware that is an add on for an already expensive piece of kit. For this reason it probably won’t be on many people’s mind as stocking fillers but Kinect packages it would make great personalised gifts for games fanatics. The games themselves are also fairly expensive, retailing at £40 each, no different to the regulat xbox games.

This will be of little consequence to avid gaming geeks who will happily spend large portions of their income on the latest games and gadgets. Apart from the the revolutionary motion capture technology, Kinect also features voice control which allows users to control their console with their voice as well as navigating the dashboard by moving their hands.

Kinect represents a key evolution in gaming , bring the user and the hardware closer than ever before. Kinect makes the Wii look positively prehistoric, while the Wii thrived on its novelty factor, that is, that waving around a controller made a on-screen lego man play tennis, Kinect takes the concept and builds on it, meaning that the speed, force and direction of your swing will directly and accurately affect how the game plays. Kinect and Kinect games make great Christmas gift ideas