
Could Kinect be Microsoft's iPod? - rkwz
http://www.betanews.com/article/Could-Kinect-be-Microsofts-iPod/1294033521
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igravious
My nephew got it for Christmas. I was bowled over by it. Surprised at how
unfit I am, my arms hurt for two days after the Boxing game in the Sports
bundle!

I heard that were issues with it but it worked fine for us, in a couple of
different rooms with adults and kids of 6 and 7 :)

Very very cool to be able to manipulate an interface at a distance and
considering that this is v1.0 then I think it is safe to assume that Microsoft
will iron out any glitches and improve it as the iterate through the versions.

I'm a Linux and Mac guy but I gotta say that Kinect is superb and they deserve
every credit for being innovative here.

~~~
redthrowaway
Boxing _killed_ me, but I also destroyed my entire family, included my cousins
for whom it was bought. I too was incredibly impressed, and found it to be one
of the best gaming experiences I've had in a long time. Now they just have to
do something with it that Nintendo _didn't_ do four years ago.

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eru
Historically Microsoft has also been quite successful mostly copying
competitors' ideas.

If they just make a better Wii, that would be fine with me.

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jamie
I actually think there's quite a bit of potential for the Kinect, but it's
really hampered by one giant bug:

It's an xbox.

The whole experience still screams "I'm a hardcore game device". Hell, it's
called an "XBOX" for crying out loud. That doesn't sound warm and fuzzy. When
you unbox it, you still need to use the xbox controller with it's intimidating
array of input buttons, pads, triggers, and sticks. Most people are going to
be scared and intimidated by that.

If you power it up, you're going to be confused by xbox live. You're going to
be confused by how many accounts you need to create. You're going to be
confused by the number of options.

You're going to be intimidated by ads for Call Of Duty.

You're going to be confused what is an arcade game and what is a demo.

In short, as much polish there is on the Kinect, it can't overcome the fact
that it's a bolt-on product for an Xbox. If it was a brand-new, $199 device it
would fly off the shelves. What it needs is a 60 second demo: when you have a
friend over, you need to be able to turn on the device and be playing Kinect
60 seconds later without ever seeing the xbox controller.

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zyb09
You really think people are stupid and everything should be sold in heart
shaped plush pillows, right?

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mixmax
People aren't stupid, they're lazy. They expect things to just work out of the
box. They don't want to create online accounts,they don't look through the
setup menus and they certainly don't read the manual.

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wiseleo
Yep. Very excited for the platform.

Microsoft is finally succeeding in its quest to dominate the living room.
Remember the pre-launch buzz of Project Natal? With this controller, they made
all consoles of this generation obsolete.

With future software updates, we will likely see the gaming functionality
become less prominent. The box may default to Media Center experience based on
user identity.

Microsoft knows what works for Apple and how intuitive UX is essential to its
success.

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jamesaguilar
Seems really unlikely since the problems it solves are not nearly so universal
as those of the iPod, iPhone, or Mac.

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piotrSikora
What problem does Mac exactly solve?

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jamesaguilar
The lack of high quality, attractive, easy to use computers made by anyone
else.

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latch
I'm skeptical of any complicated human interface device that doesn't provide
feedback / resistance. For me, the lack of feedback is what made the Wiimote
feel like a gimmick and I think it'll limit how game developers are able to
succeed with Kinect.

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hessenwolf
The wiimote did alright. You may be an anomaly.

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christophe971
Unless people are able to walk around the city to show friends (or anyone who
would listen) how cool they are with their Kinect, it won't be Microsoft's
iPod.

Or the XBox was already Microsoft's iPod.

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dejb
For MS to capitalise on the Kinetic's success they need to start releasing
good official drivers for Windows soon so they can channel the wave of
developer activity onto their main platform. At the moment it seems like you
are better off using Linux or Mac with the hacked drivers. I don't think there
is time to wait for some 'kinect integrated' version of windows but they could
also start working on that. It will be interesting to see if they are if they
are nimble enough to react to an unexpected level of success like this.

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izendejas
FWIW, my girlfriend doesn't like playing Wii and absolutely dislikes hardcore
games, but she was blown away by kinect's demo videos--especially the dancing
ones and said she'd definitely get a kinect if within her budget at some
point.

Anecdote aside, Microsoft really has to open up the platform as much as
possible and embrace developer inovations. If they do this, they'll finally
take over the living room. I have a feeling the media center division needs to
get out of the way almost entirely for this to happen, also.

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RK
Asus is coming out with their own version of the Kinect made by the same
people who engineered part of the Kinect for Microsoft. So Kinect won't be the
only game in town.

[http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/03/primesense-and-asus-
team-...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/03/primesense-and-asus-team-bring-
kinect-like-wavi-xtion-to-your-h/)

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Strunk
I do INDEED think Kinect could be Microsoft's iPod. I tried the kinect at my
friends house the other day, and it already kicks nintendo's Wii ass totally.
And Microsoft's choice to leave it open for 3rd party hacking, I think, is
going to get a bigger crowd by letting people make more use of it.

~~~
napierzaza
They didn't leave it open on purpose? Why do you think so? They even
threatened legal action when the Kinect first came out and a company offered a
bounty for OSS drivers. They'll likely never do anything about it, but they're
not opening it up.

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bitwize
No. Kinect is Microsoft's :Cue:Cat.

A nifty-looking gadget that's perfectly useless in its manufacturer's intended
use, but gained new life once the hackers tore it apart and started doing
stuff with it.

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drivebyacct2
My parents like the Kinect. They bought an Xbox just to play the Kinect. They
like Kinect to play racing games on the Xbox. I use a controller to play Halo.
Different audiences, different appeal.

I don't see the UX-potential of the Kinect porting to the PC anytime soon.
Call me stuck in my ways but I think the mouse and keyboard is pretty
effective. Maybe focus-follows-eyeball would be cool, and Compiz's head
tracking plugin gives windows some floating perspective, but I don't know if
these things are major shifts in the Desktop paradigm or big enough to be
iPod-cool.

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aberkowitz
Kinect is part of an imaginary market along with its brethren the Wiimote and
PlayStation Move.

Hardcore gamers soon realize that jumping up and down is nowhere near as fun
as sitting on a couch and pushing buttons. Casual users, while initially sold
on the health benefits, soon lose interest as well.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Hardcore gamers play games a lot more frequently than casual gamers.

Casual gamers still _spend money on games_ though. And there are a lot of
them. Almost as many Wiis have been sold as _the population of Germany_.
Nobody in the game console business would be sane to write off such a large
market.

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aberkowitz
Once the devices are purchased, there is no market. While purely anecdotal, I
have not seen any friends or family actually using a Wii in a long time.

If anybody has marketing data to the contrary, I would be interested in seeing
it.

~~~
whiletruefork
What you are looking for is called the attach-rate. Basically how much other
stuff in the ecosystem are people buying once they have the console. I believe
the XBOX is leading the pack for attach rate with both games and accessories,
which is huge as that's where the big money is.

