There’s a nice story about Kinect doing the rounds this morning, what really surprised me though is that I found it via a tweet from Major Nelson and the first line of the article states
“There’s almost nothing I’ve seen before I picked up Kinect that really interested me. Many of the games looked OK, and the ones I played with before the launch didn’t really make me want to jump out and buy the thing.â€
The article carries on in that vein basically saying that Kinect works but it’s not anything he would generally invest in… so why are Microsoft linking to this?
Well the article is actually about the game journalists autistic son who is generally not able to play console games as he can’t handle the controller and keeps on getting stuck on stages… which sort of reminds me of my wife getting stuck behind a non existent boat (or was it a truck) in Gears of War.
Anyway the point is that his son wanted to try Kinect and once Rally Ball was loaded his son stood in front of the TV and flailed away like mad thoroughly enjoying himself. Then the game ended and his dad gave him some quick instructions on how the menu system operated and he picked it up instantly and managed to get himself a new game going.
The basis of the story is that Kinect really does allow anyone to jump in and enjoy and while the core gamers aren’t going to stop complaining anytime soon even they will have to admit at some point that there is a market for the device and it doesn’t ruin the core gaming experience for anyone.
I recommend reading the article for yourself over at GamingNexus
Last Updated: November 11, 2010
Fox1
November 11, 2010 at 09:19
The local guys that are buying Kinect already know that their wifes and kids are going to enjoy it.
I think more people can connect with a Natural UI rather than the common GUI.
Christo Le Grange
November 11, 2010 at 09:22
Always cool to hear stories like these..
Now, Here’s another feel good story for you guys…I bought a new console and kinect yesterday. I was up till 1am jolling and flailing my arms about…true story.
ok, everything was true accept the first part, its a ‘feel good story’, where I’m the only 1 feeling good…
GougedEye
November 11, 2010 at 09:25
Bring on a whole plethora of jokes about X-Box users being retards. Not from me of course. But they will come. :whistle:
Fox1
November 11, 2010 at 09:26
That’s low :getlost:
Lefornicator
November 11, 2010 at 09:36
Thats nice… basically the whole of the Xbox 360 users are in this story :whistle:
GougedEye
November 11, 2010 at 09:45
Thats why it would never, ever even occur to me. :angel:
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
November 11, 2010 at 09:51
Achievement Unlocked: You are trolling!
:ninja:
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
November 11, 2010 at 09:53
It’s strange that guys are always saying that they’re buying kinect for their wives and kids. It reminds me of this guy who has all the Sims 3 games, but insists it’s for his wife (sure dude…)
(and there’s nothing wrong with playing with the sims.. I do it too).
Point is, why can’t they just admit that they bought kinect for themselves and that they were marginally interested in the product (but it’s hardly FOR THE KIDS AND MISSUS).
:happy:
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
November 11, 2010 at 09:54
Lol, post pictures or it didn’t happen!
JediKnight
November 11, 2010 at 10:04
I’ve been waiting for Kinect since i saw the first Natal video and finally picked it up yesterday and it didn’t disappoint.It’s great and works well, the voice recognition (just change Locale setting to US or UK)works brilliantly, you dont have to shout even with the sound on your tv turned up and the motion tracking is amazing in games like dance central.I aint no fanboy and i am a hardcore gamer but this technology is amazing.If you like cool tech then this is a must
christo le grange
November 11, 2010 at 10:12
It really is!..and i’m not trying to convince myself that R4299 was a ‘good buy’, i’m really impressed, I think we’ve reached an amazing and awesome era in gaming.
Without getting cathartic about it, but I’m very glad that i’m around to see this type of technology take shape around us.
Lefornicator
November 11, 2010 at 10:15
I would say the same thing after paying R2000.
That shit better be smokingly good or im gonna pitch everyone else to say its good and get them ripped off as well.
C’MON ill be honest i have teh move. Its good for the 1st week after that the lack of games and quirkiness gets to you.
JediKnight
November 11, 2010 at 10:26
@Lefornicator Trust me, im not trying to get Bill Gates anymore richer than he already is. If it didn’t perform, i’d say it was a piece of crap and return it for my money back but it really is great.The only problem i have is that there’s not that much to do if you’re offline, with regards to menu’s and video navigation but im hoping and so are lots of people that future updates will add more offline features to the Kinect Hub.
christo le grange
November 11, 2010 at 10:36
I agree, and it really messes with my ‘feng Shui’ of my living room, I will need to rearrange my whole living room in the near future for a more permanent setting.
Aussious Diss-Kinect
November 11, 2010 at 11:15
Well according to VGChartz the initial sales for the first week are in just over 475 000… Not very impressive if you ask me but then again Greenberg mocked these numbers as inaccurate on his twitter update this morning. As crappy as VGC is they never too far off.
Sylar za
November 11, 2010 at 11:25
shame dude didnt know your wife is autistic …
Gavin Mannion
November 11, 2010 at 11:29
zzzziiin… no wait that’s actually not very good at all…
I’m going to mark that one down as “Sylar za can do better”…
Sylar za
November 11, 2010 at 11:39
you have high hopes for me
Nick de Bruyne
November 11, 2010 at 11:44
Changing the locale works for the voice you say?
Gavin Mannion
November 11, 2010 at 11:48
I do… you are reading Lazygamer so you must be of above average intelligence… you just need to apply yourself more
JediKnight
November 11, 2010 at 12:24
Yeah Nick, i was bummed at first cos it said Voice Recognition is not supported in your locale with your Settings. While not connected to live, i changed my locale in Console Settings, restarted the console and “Voila” I dont even need to mimic an American accent 🙂 True Story!!!!
Kinecy beats down Aussious
November 11, 2010 at 13:19
Perhaps you should put that into perspective.
The Nintendo Wii sold 476,000 in the USA and the PS3 sold
197,000.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16115967/
Kinect is doing very well…
Big Dob
November 11, 2010 at 13:22
Uh huh and that is US sales only.
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
November 11, 2010 at 13:29
You raise with VGChartz, I call your bet with even Aaron Greenberg laughing at VGChartz sales.
http://twitter.com/aarongreenberg/statuses/2537491877863424
Although Greenberg is also a highly suspect source when it comes to sales figures after he had to backtrack from his latest comments on sales, when his boss agreed with Major Nelson’s sales figures.
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
November 11, 2010 at 13:31
I’ve said it before: VGCHARTZ IS NOT RELIABLE regardless if you’re an Xbro, an XBot, a PSlayer, A Pissant, A Willy, a Wiier, etc.!
Wiggins
November 11, 2010 at 13:52
475,000 is very good numbers just for the USA week 1 even if vgchartz are probably wrong.
Look at the price of Kinect and compare it to the PS3 Move numbers USA week 1
Move sold 60,000 in the USA week 1
With a worldwide total of 140,000
Aussious XBot Leader
November 11, 2010 at 14:00
Considering all the woo ha and the marketing efforts spent on this I am not impressed, I was expecting at least over a Million the first week…MS could have used that money to make actual games such as Lost Odyssey 2,PGR5, Killer Instinct 3, Perfect Dark 2, Kameo 2, Too Human 2 and even bought some other 3rd party exclusives and still got good returns on their investments :angry: …
Syth
November 11, 2010 at 14:14
Killer Instinct 3, oooo, I’m up for that!
Well, all in all, I’d say it was a successful launch so far.
ewie
November 11, 2010 at 14:17
Its for the kids promise,
It is as I am on crutches so won’t be able to use it
anyway.
Aussious XBox Defector
November 11, 2010 at 14:20
If your go checkout MS Game Studios page on wiki and check how many brilliant IP’s they own you’le be amazed.So many potential triple A IP’s just rotting away…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Game_Studios
Aussious XBox Defector
November 11, 2010 at 14:49
Yeah imagine Killer Instinct running on the Unreal 3 engine! Or Perfect Dark using a supped up Halo Reach engine!! But what I pray for day and night is Lost odyssey 2!!!
M@GE
November 11, 2010 at 15:49
I’ve ordered my Kinect. Can’t wait! :kissing:
BigBird
November 11, 2010 at 22:57
Sorry to be a pedantic dick here, but autistics aren’t retarded (nevermind that retarded is offensive and mentally challenged is a better term). Despite their varying degrees of functionality in society, they are generally as intelligent or significantly more so than the general population. But yes, you are correct in that the jokes will come because the majority of people are ignorant and think autistic = retarded.
Gavin Mannion
November 11, 2010 at 23:43
Really? You would make other people buy something you knew was crap because you did? That makes absolutely no sense
Ndibu
November 12, 2010 at 04:28
Can’t any of you geniuses read? That estimate was for just 3 days, not a week. 475k in 3 days in 1 region. And thats just the standalone kinect.