XBox Kinect -- Well Done, Microsoft!

Nintendo's success with the Wii console shocked the video game industry.  Nintendo had been relegated to a second rate also-ran by the time the PS3 and XBox 360 came out.  Their new console, the Wii, was considered a hail Mary.

And then a huge success, one that revolutionized the console industry.  Sony and Microsoft soon found themselves scrambling to imitate the Wii's innovative motion controls.  Being a skeptic, I expected Microsoft and Sony to produce derivative "me too" versions of this technology, Microsoft's effort being dubbed the "Kinect".

This weekend I got my first experience with the Kinect at my brother's house.  Microsoft really knocked this one out of the park.

The Kinect doesn't work by tracking controllers in your hand.  Rather, it takes pictures of the play area and picks out the people, in effect turning YOU into the controller, and your on-screen avatar follows your physical movement -- swat your hand, duck, jump, etc -- virtually any movement you make is mimicked by your avatar. 

So the hardware is great, but what about the games?  Here is where I have to give Microsoft (or more appropriately the software house that designed the game) credit -- "Kinect Adventures" is very analogous to the Wii's bundled "Wii Sports" but in many ways it's a lot more fun and, crucially, the games are focused on teamwork and cooperation rather than competition.  For example, in one of the mini-games the players are, quite literally, stuck on the same boat as it travels down the rapids and both players must cooperate to get the boat downstream and accomplish tasks.  Watching my two young nieces play, I realized how in the video game world, including the Wii they got last Christmas, they are forced into competition with each other -- something that happens all too much in real life too.  But in Kinect Adventures, they were cooperating with each other to accomplish shared goals and it was a treat to watch.

Right now there are only a few games available for the system and I am skeptical about its mass acceptance (while the 360 has a massive installed base, the Kinect is a new peripheral and the market is far smaller, which may discourage game development).  However, by all appearances Microsoft got this one right.

Aside from the bit where it takes pictures of you during gameplay and uploads them to your Facebook page.  That I can do without.