I have owned numerous xbox 360's since they came out. I Started with the original 20 gig, and after having some issues with some accessories with it (the intercooler i bought literally melted into the back of my 360) so i upgraded to the Elite. I loved the console, and never once had an issue with it. but there were always some negative things about it, including the noise, the size of the power brick, and how hot the games would get at times while playing. I only bought this at midnight but I can say its great so far, and you save 50 bucks by getting this bundle.
What i love so far:
- love the new look. my elite was black, but the console was bulky. the new one has a sleek design and is more compact.
- The touch sensitive buttons are cool, you don't even have to press.
- The power brick is much smaller, and leaves way more room.
- The xbox is much more quiet
- 3 USB hookups is great
- 250 gig hard drive is all i will ever need.
- The kinect is just amazing. works extremely well, recognized my every movement and voice command. the is definitely next gen gaming. Its just awesome. already used video chat, and the camera actually follows you around, whether you go up or down or anywhere. i cannot wait to use it more
Xbox 360 250GB Console with KinectI got the Kinect today along with 2 additional games, Dance Central and Your Shape Fitness Evolved. I was a little skeptical about the interface but after using it for a couple of hours I am convinced. Being a fit person I did not expect the physical aspect to be that challenging but I was wrong. Everything you do in the games involves movement, even making menu selections consumes calories.
I was surprised by how well the Kinect tracked my movements but I'm guessing it varies from game to game. One workout with Your Shape Fitness had my legs burning and that is without using weights.
Honestly, even though I was having fun, I had to stop playing because I was too tuckered out. This is definitely an incentive to get in shape.
I purchased this system to replace my ailing XBOX 360 Premium and to get the Kinect along with it. I was skeptical of the Kinect technology at first, but after using it I can safely say that it's fun to use, but it has a few downsides which I'll explain below. Now, I'm going to talk about the three different parts of this bundle separately.
1) The XBox 360 S
Nothing much new here--it's an XBox 360, but smaller. Still, I should mention that, in the short time that I've owned the system, I haven't yet experienced any of the issues that plagued my previous 360 systems, such as lockups and the dreaded red ring of death (which is now a Red Eye of Doom on the XBox 360 S). There are also a few minor differences. The air vent is located on the side (or the top, if you mount it horizontally), the buttons are touch-sensitive and don't have to be pressed in, the system makes pleasant ringtone-like sounds when you turn it on and off or you eject discs, there's no faceplate to change out, the hard drive has plenty of room, and the system has a spiffy, shiny black finish. And of course, it has a specialized port in the back reserved exclusively for the Kinect sensor. There's really not much else to say, and certainly nothing to complain about.
2) The Kinect Sensor
This is probably the most significant part of the review, and for obvious reasons. Microsoft is betting a ton of money that Kinect will take off like a rocket and be supremely popular on the marketplace, but how good is it really? Well, it's a fairly large device for starters, and it's strongly suggested that you not mess with it very much whether it's on or off. The reason for this is that the Kinect has a little motor in it that gives it the ability to tilt and up down, and if the user attempts to tilt it himself he might damage that motor. You should also place it in a stable location, and I certainly wouldn't recommend mounting it on top of your TV unless you have a special mount for it. Finally, make sure your playing area has plenty of space because you're going to need it.
Anyhow, enough of the safety PSA's. How well does it work? Well, the Kinect, from what I've read, basically projects thousands of little infrared dots all over your room, and uses their points of impact along with the camera to determine your position in the room and what you're doing. It usually works fairly well, I found. Characters would follow my own movements (at least to the degree allowed by the game), which was neat to watch, and despite my concerns about the Kinect lagging behind my movements it wasn't really noticeable. There are issues, though. The tracking was not as accurate as it could have been, and with some games I've been having trouble getting the Kinect to accurately interpret my movements. For instance, sometimes on Dance Central I could swear I'm doing a dance move in exactly the same way as the onscreen character, but for some reason the game just doesn't recognize it. Another example would be on Sonic Free Riders, where a certain move called a "Kick-Off," which gives you a temporary boost of speed, seems to go off on its own whether or not I actually wanted it to. It's not as bad as I might be making it sound, though. Most games should work really well with the Kinect.
The Kinect can also be used to navigate the XBox Live menu, but personally, I preferred to just use the controller because it's quicker and easier. Manipulating the menu by gesture is slow, owing to the fact that your hand must hover over your selections for about a second, and even with voice commands you may find that the Kinect doesn't always interpret what you say correctly.
Finally, you might be wondering what kinds of games you can play on this. Well, thus far there's racing games, pet-raising games, exercise games, and mini-game collections (like Kinect Adventures, see below). At this time, however, I'm really wondering if that's all the Kinect is capable of doing. I mean, you stand in front of the sensor, you move your arms and legs around, and that's it. It's not very complicated, but there also isn't a lot you can do with it. Would a hardcore game like God of War or Halo, which require complex commands and a high degree of precision, even be possible with the Kinect? If that doesn't bother you and you aren't interested in those kinds of games anyway, more power to you. You'll likely have a lot of fun with the system in spite of everything, it's great for motivating yourself to exercise.
Oh, and before I end this part of the review, I'll just mention that some future Kinect games may use the Xbox 360 controller, though at this time I have no idea how well that will work.
3) Kinect Adventures
I have to wonder why they didn't pack Kinect Sports in with the Kinect rather than this game. I thought including a sports mini-game compilation was a motion control tradition or something! But seriously, Kinect Adventures is a fun game and it makes for a pretty good tech demo for the Kinect, which is the most you could ask for when it comes to a game like this. Most of the issues with the Kinect that I mentioned earlier don't have much impact on this game, as the body-tracking seems accurate enough to play all of the mini-games without any issues--well, except for one particular game, where I had trouble using my hands to reach out to block some water leaks appearing to either side of me. That's it, though. Aside from that, the biggest problem with Kinect Adventures is probably that it doesn't have very many mini-games on it, and there's only so many times you can play them before you get bored. So, just as a suggestion, if you go to pick up the Kinect or a 360 bundle with the Kinect in it, go pick up at least one other game for the system so that you have more variety.
To wrap things up, if all you want is to play some casual games and you don't want to worry about complex controls, the Kinect is a good choice. The Kinect sensor's pretty intuitive and easy to use and the launch line-up is pretty strong. While it's not anywhere near as accurate as Sony's Move controller, it does do full-body motion control much better and it's probably a better choice for the casual gamer. Now let's just hope Microsoft can follow through on this strong debut and keep putting out quality titles for the Kinect! - Xbox - Natal - 250gb - Xbox 360 Kinect'
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