Being the avid tech-news collector I am, I streamed the Microsoft E3 event as they officially launched the controller-free motion sensor Kinect. The future of video-games is here, but you still look like an idiot using it.
The controller and voice control working with the Xbox 360 dashboard were demoed, then it was straight into some pretty awful Kinect-title demos played by prozac-enhanced Microsoft drones who repeatedly shouted overzealous catch phrases such as "awesome!" and "good job!". People that happy should be lined up and tasered, then forced to see themselves doing a full-body muscle spasm as the current rages through them until they see the error of their ways.
There was a demo of a children's game in which a child used gestures to control an on-screen animal. It was quite a cool demo until I realized that the child was just talking to a screen. No human or animal interaction, just cogs and gears. It scared me.
They also demoed a Skype-like online video chat in which a Microsoft engineer chatted with her sister over Xbox live using Kinect, which sounded so scripted I began to start doubting whether this entire release was just an elaborate drama inside my head. It sadly wasn't, and I was left cringing behind my hands for the remainder of the demo.
From what I've seen though, I think it's cool, and I want one. Fun like the Wii, but it won't have many of the patronising elements the Wii games have that I utterly despise. And, as a bonus, you get a camera, microphone, voice recognition and controller-less play. A win for Microsoft in this respect — they won't be suffering from lawsuits like Nintendo did regarding smashed windows and pets. Unless those same people decide that Kinect is a free pass to have-at the furniture with no further repercussions, I think Microsoft are fairly safe on the legal side of things.
Ultimately though, whatever features Kinect it toots, it won't beat the Wii on price. That's still one area that Microsoft can't easily gain market share; not if their product doesn't enable you to piss the money back that you could've saved buying a Wii.
