Kinect Hands On Preview – E3 2010

It’s all about the motion sensing technology at E3 this year. Sure, Nintendo has had theirs out for a few years now, but for hardcore gamers, the little family friendly console that could just isn’t an option. Sony introduced us to the Move this year which could have potentially taken the show by storm. The Move controllers might be bulkier than the Wiimote, but the accuracy that was demonstrated in combination with the player’s image on the screen makes the Wii look like an exercise in random flailing. I say potentially taken the show by storm though for one reason: Microsoft Kinect.

Obviously still in its relative infancy, the full body motion sensor for the 360 pushes motion-control baby steps to the wayside and goes for the jugular. And, for the most part, it succeeds.

What You Probably Already Know

The Kinect is an Xbox 360 peripheral that stands about 4 inches tall and about a foot wide on a motorized base. It’s primary functions are three-fold: RGB video input, infrared projection and infrared video input.

The first “eye” is designed like any other webcam, capable of RGB video capture at 30 frames per second with a resolution of 640×480. This typical camera is used to recognize color and shape so that multiple users can be recognized at one time and, potentially, photograph and translate real world objects in the virtual game world.

The second and third “eyes” work firstly with each other and then as a point of reference with the first. One is essentially an infrared light projector. Its job is to invisibly paint the subjects with infrared light so the infrared camera can detect depth at the same speed as the regular video camera. These three working in tandem are the bread and butter of Kinect.

Additionally, a microphone array situated in the base is able to pick up and process voice commands for various functions, not the least of which is a Star Trek-like control over video and audio playback on the console.

What We Found Out

Since Microsoft announced Project Natal back at E3 2009, there’s been truckloads of speculation about its capabilities and limitations, not the least of which has been how responsive it is. After all, we’ve been using game controllers for about 30 years and they are incredibly fast. The human body itself has NO latency and it’s safe to say that if we’re going to use it as a controller to play a game, we’re going to expect a quick response.

So how does it hold up? We and another pair of journalists got a scant 20 minutes with Microsoft and another 10 to ourselves at Ubisoft with their Your Shape fitness title. First up was the 1st party title Kinect Joy Ride, a simple racing title that used your in-console avatar as a driver. With hands at 10 and 2 in mid air, players steer their little cart around a twisty track to outrun both real and virtual opponents. In a way, Joy Ride is an on-rails experience. That is to say that you are alway moving. You can slow down by pulling back on your steering wheel and boost by swiftly pushing forward, but anything in between just isn’t recognized. Steering was actually responsive, but I frequently found myself spinning out and realizing that my hands were next to each other instead of a distance the Kinect could recognize. It doesn’t feel natural to drive without a wheel in our hands. True, having a control pad isn’t exactly natural either, but the limitations are good in this case.

Kinect Adventures was next, including River Rush. Two players find themselves rafting down jungle rapids and collecting tokens as they shift, lean and jump their way over and around obstacles. This was more natural. My photographer and I were able to work pretty well with each other to jump up to alternate paths, high in the trees, to earn more tokens and discover new areas, all the while getting a work out. It wasn’t just about making the boat hit tokens either. Outstretching hands were recognized and helpful in tagging those otherwise just-out-of-reach markers.

These games are pretty straightforward and barely more than glorified tech demos. Ubisoft, on the other hand, presented a much more in-depth demonstration with Your Shape, a fitness title intended to be an exercise regiment and biometrics measurement tool. To start, the system analyzes the player, getting height and overall shape, estimating joint placement and using that to generate an on-screen representation (using the live video) of yourself. Initially, it had a problem with me. I’m 6’6″ and the unit couldn’t see the top 3 inches of my head. This was probably more to the placement of either the Kinect in its cabinet or how far back I was standing.

After the initial calibration, I tried Kickboxing which placed a series of retro-looking 8-bit blocks in front of my digital self and I needed to quickly punch and kick them in 3D space for a score tally based on time. It took a bit to get used to in that I was forced to use my left hand to hit a target on the right and vice versa. It didn’t help that I was basically looking at a mirror image, so my head got a little twisted, particularly when kicking, since I lack coordination to begin with. There was also a bit of lag when punching, where it looked very clearly as if I’d hit the box, but nothing happened and a second attempt resulting in nothing but going onto the next target. Seems to be a problem with hit detection.

If I thought kickboxing made me look awkward, yoga took me completely out of my element. I was tasked with matching the contortions of my digital instructor by bending, squeezing and scrunching in ways you’d never otherwise find from a video game. You likely wouldn’t find me playing the title at home, but that doesn’t make it any less effective. It picked up the angles of my legs and arms and represented them on the screen as jointed bones. There were a few times where the Kinect had my joints flipping around like Pinocchio with epilepsy.

Unfortunately, we weren’t important enough to demo the voice command functions or the hand gesture controlled menus, but even without that experience, I walked away impressed. There’s a lot here to love, for a lot of the same reasons anyone wanted to buy a Wii with the addition of hi-def visuals, online gameplay and a freedom of motion no other console can provide.

Final Verdict

Perfection hasn’t been hit though. Other journalists more observant that we, discovered that, at least for the time being, sitting down and gesturing isn’t an option. That puts a pretty big downer on games where sitting would be natural. Driving for example. Game show buzzer pressing for another (like the videos Microsoft has been using to promote it). I don’t know about you, but if I’m setting up to watch a video, I don’t want to have to stand up to use my hands for flipping through the videos. You’ll see me reaching for my remote a lot quicker.

So there’s still a few kinks to work out with the Kinect. From our time with it, my hopes are high enough to pique my wallet’s interest, at least at the rumored $150 GameStop’s been throwing around.

UPDATE: Microsoft’s own online store has posted the Kinect at $149.99, but still have not announced an official price.