20 minutes with the Kinect demo unit W/Video.

A buddy of mine recently got some hands on experience with Microsoft's new motion sensing technology, Kinect, at the Macy's store in downtown Chicago and wanted to share his thoughts. After reading his review, this is pretty much what I was expecting from this device/technology. So check it out below and if you've had a chance to try it out let us know what you thought in the comments.

Personal background:

I’ve been playing video games since the late 80’s. I’d like to think of myself as a gaming everyman. I’ve owned the NES, Gameboy Color, Sega Genesis, 32X (not proud of that), Game Gear, SNES, Playstation 1 & 2, Dreamcast, PSP, iPod Touch, various PC setups, and the Xbox360. No Playstation 3 or Wii. I didn’t realize how much of a gaming dork I was until I just re-read how many systems I’ve owned. Anyways, I’ve just about tried them all out so I’m fairly well versed in video game controls (from controllers to super scopes to DDR dance pads). The video games currently making their rotation in the Xbox are Read Dead Redemption, MW2, Forza 3, Mega Man 10, and Trials HD. I’ve got plenty of other games of various genres, but these are the ones I’m playing at this time. Most of my multiplayer gaming is done via Xbox Live or Steam. I haven’t done much local multiplayer since Halo (1-3). I’m a 26 years old mechanical engineer who makes my money by designing and construction rail road signal, traction power, and communication systems for a large Midwest specialty electrical contractor. Now you have a baseline to compare yourself to.

Judging a book by its cover:

I will admit that prior to trying the Kinect that I thought it was pretty stupid looking from the games that were demoed to the wacky wavy-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-man like motions that players had to do. The games didn’t really cater to my personal gaming style. I will never buy a game where I stroke the air to pet a virtual animal. Everything else just seemed to be mini-games rather than complete story driven games. When I saw the alleged $150 price tag for the unit and $60 for the games I pretty much decided then and there that this was not for me unless this was something really special.

Macy’s Chicago 7/17/10

I was back in Chicago for a company charity event (recently moved to NJ for a multi-year project). This trip also coincided with a 21st birthday party my sister was having down town. After the charity event, I made my way home, cleaned up, met with my brother (Kevin [not much of a gamer, keep in mind for later]) and headed to the party. Bought my sister a drink that she couldn’t finish (Irish Car Bomb), had a couple of my own then took off so the kids could play. Kevin and I wandered the streets a bit to check out some of the Transformers 3 cars and props that were littering the Chicago streets. Knowing that MS had their demo unit up at Macy’s, I convinced Kevin that we should make the pilgrimage to the store since we were in the vicinity. When we made it there I went up to a cashier to see if they could point me in the direction of the Kinect since there were no signs or indications that it was anywhere in the building. They had no idea what I was talking about so they sent me down to customer service. Luckily customer service was aware of it and sent me in the right direction which just so happened to be in the vicinity of the first guy whom I asked where it was. On display was the Kinect and the new Xbox, a 52” (estimated) Samsung LCD TV, a couch for spectators and a big purple MS Kinect rug. The Kinect looked larger in person that I thought it would be. Like the pics show, it is the same glossy black plastic that the new Xbox sports. It has the two cameras to the center and to the left is another sensor the same size as the cameras. It puts off a faint series of red lights that reminded me of the scanners at retail checkouts. It wasn’t distracting while playing, but when looking directly at the unit, you can’t help but notice it. When I walked up some guy was playing the track and field game. He was having a difficult time jumping over the hurdles in the race and came in last place three tries in a row. After a few minutes he walked away with a fairly indifferent look on his face. Since there was no one else waiting to try, I jumped right in.

Impressions of each of the games after the jump.

(more...)

Gears of War 3 Coming April 5, 2011

Those of you that are fans of the Epic series Gears of War will be happy to know that Gears of War 3 will be released for the Xbox 360 on April 5th, 2011. Cliffy B (as he hates to be called) made the announcement and debuted the first trailer on Jimmy Fallon's show last night. As he mentioned though, this is probably one of the worst kept secrets in the gaming industry, especially since Cliff was supposed to make the announcement last Thursday on the show, but got bumped because Justin Beiber made an appearance, and because Microsoft apparently forgot that they had some dashboard ads setup to show Friday morning (after the announcement was supposed to be made), everyone got an early glimpse when they turned on their Xbox. Now, they didn't get the trailer though, just an ad, so the trailer was premiered last night and I will post it up later today (currently blocked from streaming video). But in the meantime I figured I'd give you the latest on the release date, April 5th, 2011 for the US and April 7th for Japan with Europe getting it on April 8th.

So are you guys excited for another installment in the series? Personally I'm a little on the fence. I liked the first one and played a lot of multiplayer, but then when GoW2 came out I couldn't get back into the multiplayer because I was too obsessed with CoD4: Modern Warfare. So with Gears 3 coming out next year, I'm sure I'll pick it up for at least the single player, but may not get back into the multiplayer unless there's something groundbreaking that really keeps me hooked. Horde mode was a nice addition in part 2 that kept me playing for a little longer than I would have, but I'm going to need a little more if it's going to take over Modern Warfare 2...

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Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package Launch Experiencing Problems

It only seems fitting that after all of the controversy and backlash regarding the pricing of the new Modern Warfare 2 DLC, there would be issues with the download this morning. I also find it very amusing that almost everyone immediately pointed the finger at Infinity Ward. The fact of the matter is that the problem you guys are experiencing this morning is a MICROSOFT issue, it has nothing to do with Infinity Ward. Microsoft was supposed to push out a title update to Modern Warfare 2 this morning to coincide with the release of the Map Pack, but they some how messed it up. Something didn't get pushed out the way it was supposed to and since the title update added support for the new maps to MW2, you can't play it.

So in actuality all the fingers people are pointing at Infinity Ward regarding the Stimulus Pack should be pointed elsewhere. The price point that everyone has been bitching about is most likely Activision's call, not Infinity Ward and the botched launch this morning is a Microsoft issue. Now those of you that have a problem with glitches, balancing and whatever other problems with the actual gameplay itself, that is Infinity Ward, but don't be so quick to point fingers on everything MW2 related when you're not aware of the circumstances behind them. If you want constant updates on the status of this issue follow @MajorNelson on Twitter.

Either way I will still be downloading the map pack when I get home today and will continue to support Infinity Ward.

Update: The title update issues are now fixed and it is now rolling out to everyone. If you can't get it yet, Major Nelson says it will be available in all areas shortly.

Update 2: It appears that there are now some issues in the Xbox Live Matchmaking which is causing it to be nearly impossible to get into a game... strike 2 for MS and Xbox Live? At this rate the Stimulus Pack will come out on PS3 and PC before anyone on Xbox gets the "exclusive".

Update 3: Everything is back to normal.

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Playstation Move…And Other Motion Sensing Gaming

Yesterday at the GDC Sony gave a more in depth demo of their motion sensing controller dubbed Playstation Move. Basically it's a rip off of the Wii controllers with large glowing balls on top. Now I don't really care for this type of gaming, sure the Wii was kind of cool when it first came out, but how many of you actually still play your wii? *chirp* *chirp*... Count me amongst those that bought a Wii when it first came out, played it for a month and then went back to real gaming on my Xbox 360, PS3 or PC. As much as I feel there needs to be some sort of new breakthrough as far as how we control and interact with game systems these days, I don't think that these motion sensing controller wands are the way to go. And honestly I don't think Microsoft's Project Natal is necessarily the way to go either. I just don't think motion sensing controllers of any sort, whether it has a wand or not, is going to get the hardcore gamers to put down the normal controllers that they are used to.

For one, based on demos of the Playstation Move and my experience with the Wii, there's not the same sense of accuracy with a motion sensing wand that there is with a controller. I tried to play Call of Duty 3 on the Wii and just found myself getting a wicked headache due to the fact that my screen was constantly flashing red from getting shot at. Maybe I'm just bad at utilizing this type of input controller for a first person shooter, but it seems more of a distraction and annoyance to have to point and aim a controller at the screen to get your gun to aim... not to mention way too tiring. There's no way I could sit there for hours and play a Wii game like I can with a normal Xbox controller, and this is going to be the same for Sony's Playstation Move.

Didn't Sony revamp their Dual Shock controller with motion sensing capabilities (or at least accelerometers) once they realized what Nintendo was doing with the Wii? How well did that work out? How many games out there actually utilize the accelerometers in the six axis controllers? I can think of one, Lair, and from what a co-worker has told me, it's a little hard to control and there's no way to turn off the movement control and just use the thumb sticks.

There's also a problem with lag in these games, the Wii seems to handle it pretty well and is actually fairly responsive, but it's still there. And now from what I'm reading and what I caught on G4 yesterday regarding Playstation Move, there is quite a bit of lag between when you perform the actions and when your character on screen reacts. This would totally kill the immersion into the game for me. The brief demo I caught on G4 yesterday, before going to dinner, was some fighting game that resembled something like Final Fight (I don't know any recent fighting games, not a fan), but obviously a bit more updated. The movements that the guy demoing the game did were fairly accurately performed by the character on the screen, but about 1/2 second after the guy did them himself. That seems like a whole lot of lag, and while it could have just been lag from the fact that it was a camera recording a TV I still feel like there is going to be some lag in games like that.

I don't know, overall I'm not a huge fan of this "motion sensing" gaming revolution that Nintendo started, but I am kind of curious to see where it will lead. I know there's got to be a different way for people to interact with gaming systems, but I don't think this is the way to do it. Maybe Microsoft's Project Natal will come out and blow everyone away, but again from the articles I've been reading lag seems to be a bit of a problem, so we'll see.

What are your thoughts on all of this motion sensing that is making it's way into modern gaming? Do you feel like these companies are abandoning their roots and their original fanbase to try to cater to the more casual gamer? Obviously it's a business so if they can round those people up and get them to buy a PS3 or Xbox 360 they are going to, but do you really see this as the next revolution in gaming? I mean the Wii has been out for years now and most people that I talk to don't even play theirs anymore unless they are having a party or something, otherwise it sits and collects dust.... like mine.

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Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 Patch For Care Package Glitch

The Xbox 360 patch for Modern Warfare 2 rolled out this morning to the cheers of many. Finally after weeks of having to deal with idiots who don't know how to play the game, we get a fix for the unlimited care package glitches that have been plaguing the online system. The reason the patch took longer on the 360 is because while the initial patch was waiting for Microsoft approval, another version of the care package glitch was discovered so Infinity Ward pulled the patch back and updated it to include a fix for that latest glitch. So hopefully this will no longer be an issue, but you never know what people with too much time on their hands will find.

Here's everything that the patch fixes:

  • Care Package, Emergency Airdrop, and Sentry Gun marker grenades sprint speed normalized.
  • Fix for "infinite care package" exploit.
  • Sentry Guns: Improved placement detection, preventing cases of Sentry Guns inside geometry.
  • Model 1887: Bling using Akimbo and FMJ combination now has same range and damage as non-Bling Model 1887's.
  • Fixes to prevent various XP hacks (including the prevention of negative XP)

So there you have it. Hopefully this will fix a good amount of the complaints for a while and lead to more balanced games again.

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