Xbox Live Video Makes Kinect Sound Like a Pain in the A**

Editors Note:  This is an opinion piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of RipTen.  Enjoy :-)

This morning a new Inside Xbox video was released on everyone’s dashboard. The video has Microsoft’s Major Nelson and a few savvy engineers explain how to set Kinect up in a room and it sounds like a major pain in the ass.

Placement:

The device uses a tech sensitivity map to give a one-size-fits-all setup and scans the distance between you and the TV. Kinect should be placed as close to the top or bottom of the TV as possible, tilting the device higher or lower to adjust. The ideal placement of you, the player, should be at least 6 ft. away from the sensor and 4 ft. to your left and right away from walls or objects. The sensor will tilt itself automatically to then scan the floor to check for distances. Things like clothes, toys, random crap on the floor will hurt the calculations of the device. Now’s a good time to take your Mom’s advice and clean your room.

Ok, so everything is fine so far and expected of the technology. This next part the video the video gets negative towards its own product and explains major annoyances, almost as if they are unsure of their own product.

Lighting:

Even lighting is needed at all times. If you have one lamp on in your room, light calculations will be off and you will look different to the camera when moving. It will then make the camera impossible to keep track of you and have a fluid motion. This may not be an issue if you have a light source from the ceiling, but if you rely on a single lamp or other light source.

Audio:

Kinect has 4 microphones to hear your commands in the dashboard. When other sounds are present, even slight chatter, the microphones will pick it up. If placed near speakers or a subwoofer, audio commands are impossible, so you must mute your TV or make sure nothing is playing while saying commands. I can see this not being an issue when saying commands on the dashboard since it doesn’t make much noise, but what about when playing a game. I have speakers and a subwoofer in that area and usually play games loudly. The device takes an audio sample from your everyday room to make up for noise, but even the engineers have agreed it won’t work well will any other noise.

Now these may seem like minor annoyances, but to play a game it must be quiet, well lit, and you need a lot of space to jump around? Try playing Kinect Adventures at a Party: make sure everybody keeps it down and turn off the strobe light.

I’m still interested in kinect and can’t wait to try it out, but for now I am more than happy with just using a controller.

Check out the captured video below:

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  • http://www.poisonmushroom.org David Oxford

    Forget Kinect; that background is awesome.

  • Benny

    Why don’t we wait until the ******* thing releases? Is that too much to ask for? Article after article about this and that and it isn’t even out yet. My God, is your job that boring where you need to dwell on everything? The Move also suggest many things while playing but I play it with no problem even if I’m not in the 6-8 ft category. They are guidelines, not set in stone. You really think Kinect is going to be that anal about the set-up? Even if it is it can be updated. So sit back and relax. If the system is too loud i’m sure you can wave your hand to pause it.

    Whatever happened to common sense in journalism? It’s now all about trying to get attention.

  • Dave Oshry

    It’s an opinion piece and the man is entitled to his opinion.

  • Gregero

    Yeah I don’t know either. Maybe those are just “for the best results” kinda thing. While I’m not too wow with Kinect, I know that I’m not following the Move guidelines and everything is working out great with it (except for the lack of games lol.) I agree that we should wait and see how it works out. Hope it’s fun!

  • Darren Mauler

    It’s his opinion based on the xbox video. I’ve watched the video and come to similiar conclusions.

    He even says he’s interested in Kinect at the end of the piece.

  • Nick

    I really hope you’re right Greg. I am also looking forward to trying this out, but if these are not “for best results” things, then they have some tweaking to do. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

  • Benny

    I’m sorry but i’ve had enough of this fear-mongering in gaming journalism that is entirely aimed to get hits and reactions out of the fanboys who plague the forums. Yes he is entitled to his opinion as am I. I however will leave my judgement on Kinect when it hits the stores, just like I did with the Move. People crap on the software but I bought it anyways and I don’t regret it. The technology is great and the software will come. Reminds me of how much the Playstation 3 system has evolved and improved over time.

    Why do I keep mentioning the Playstation 3? It’s so that we can have a solid basis of how we perceive things and how products need to be viewed as unbiased as possible. It’s no secret many who are not in favor of Kinect are also not in favor of Microsoft and/or Kinect. Yes there are those who just don’t like Kinect that don’t fit in this category so to those I respect their opinions. However I also want to say let’s wait until it arrives and we actually use it ourselves. Kinect is a device that needs a hands-on experience to enjoy fully. It’s not something we can sit at home and judge for ourselves. That’s why I bought Move, to try it myself. It works great and it too had articles on lighting conditions and calibration issues.

  • http://www.ripten.com Chad Lakkis

    I actually got to see Kinect at E3 and I think it’s pretty cool for the casual aspects – i.e. interaction with movies, televised sporting events, etc. Not sure about the gaming aspect but it’s certainly a cool device to have as a part of your living room collection.

  • David Ernst

    In no way do I give any opinion whether Kinect will be a good or bad technology. I basically reiterated exactly what Microsoft mentioned in their published video. I think Kinect has potential and hope it does well. I admit I have not used Kinect, so I will not come out and say what I fully think of it until I have. Also, there is nothing for me to be biased about. I mainly game on the 360. I do not favor one of the other and believe both are great gaming machines. My opinion will not be swayed by who publishes what technology. It’s just funny how whenever somebody has an opinion, commenters like to call biased.

  • http://videogameblogger.org Cody

    How is it going to be a pain in the ass? Are you lazy beyond belief?

    “The motor in Kinect is designed to fine-tune your placement…”

    Kinect will even adjust automatically for tall and short people!

    However by far my favorite thing about this entire article is the following..

    What you said.
    “so you must mute your TV or make sure nothing is playing while saying commands.”

    What the guy in the video (who I will assume knows more about Kinect than you) said.
    “It has an audio subsystem that can pick out voices in the room and cancel in game noises…”

    So did you even watch this video or did you just pretend to watch it so you can write an article that isn’t truthful and thus isn’t reliable.

    A lot of the writers are very talented here, however I wonder what grade school playground they found you at.

  • wiiboy101

    one joke after another its eyetoy+ and nothing more EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS and move the already released JOKE is a sub wiimote/nunchuck set up pretendinb to be better both are total 2010/11 flops any sane person can see that…..

    aregens qeast reviews banging on about LAGGING SLOW GLITCHY M0VE CONTTOLS,yet tight sweet wii controls and youtuba complaints about move sports god dambed calibration issues BOTH CAMERA TRACK WELL SHOCKS NINTENDO DID DROP CAMERAS FOR A RESSON, BOTH ARE TRYING TO STOP DISRUPTION IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN

    PSP WAS SONYS ANSWER TO GAMEBOY DOMINATION AND IPOD DISRUPTION WHAT HAPPENED AH-HHMMMMMM

    microsoft and sony are so much fail here its shocking and embarrasing…..

    ill be getting a 3DS oh and that comes with free kinect built in THINK ABOUY IT….

  • Dave Oshry

    Haha, the man is entitled to his opinion Cody.

  • david952

    The Kinect is going to be the biggest console add on ever made. Not only a part of historic gamer history, but will revolutionize the world as we know it .. Ms is spending a lot of cash on advertisement if it was a bad product they would not do so….
    MS is directing it’s focus towards new gamers and the casual gamer making it more of a multi media center user friendly for all types of people.
    Also, this is new technology for the most part so don’t expect too much at this given moment. Perfection takes time. Ms is launching at start up 15-20 games (sounds like a plan). Personally, I don’t think Ms forgot about the hard core gamer. Just taking more time for the development of games. I have pre ordered my Kinnect, my advise is pre order as soon as you can. Availability is limited. Remember the last time gaming technology was released? Don’t be left out in the cold!