Kinect (or Move) won't fail, but they won't do much to kill the Wii train.

True. They'll be more successful than either system's previous camera efforts, but they won't dethrone the Wii either. Can't fault them for trying though. And Microsoft does seem generally excited about it, which in turn keeps me interested, albeit only slightly.

Yes, as an app interface, it's great. As a gaming interface, it's a joke.

How much am I going to have to pay to point around the dashboard before I pick up the controller to play an actual game?

It's sad how all Nintendo had to do was announce a Wii HD and all this stuff would have been scrapped. Move, Kineckital, whatever... Wii HD announcement = none of this stuff being relevant.

Why? If Sony and MS feel that the biggest reason for the Wii's success is the motion control, why wouldn't they want to get in on it at some point? Console manufacturers copy from each other all the time. I believe they were just waiting to see if the Wii was a fad that would eventually go away.

Anyway, I don't think I would like this. Frankly, I like having a controller to interact with and push buttons. Without it, there's no connection (kinection?) to the game. Think about playing Rock Band. With this system, there would be no guitar at all, like air guitar. Wouldn't the game be missing something without the "guitar" to hold in your hands, with no strum bar or buttons? Is an imaginary steering wheel anywhere near as immersive as a real one? I don't think so.

Exactly. As it stands, you boot to dash and press up once on the digital pad to start your game. As cool as Minority Report controls sound, it seems pretty pointless unless your 360 is your ultimate media hub.

MS handed out "interactive ponchos" to the attendees of tonight's Kinect event:

Yfrog Image : yfrog.com/58wojwj - Uploaded by crecenteb
Yfrog Image : yfrog.com/emdr9j - Uploaded by taswell
Yfrog Image : yfrog.com/0j3vjdj - Uploaded by CheapyD
Yfrog Image : yfrog.com/6fopcj - Uploaded by IGN

What the fudge?

Maybe Gallagher is there.

More importantly,
Uploaded by Felicia Day

Twitter comments from those who attended the event seem...less than positive. Despite all of the hype, it sounds like most of what was shown was on the level of what we saw in Wii launch games.

First game for the Microsoft Kinect is already listed on Amazon

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JOKCjFyDTq8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JOKCjFyDTq8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

So, it's the Power Pad without the floor-pounding cheat?

To be fair...I do imagine that place was filled to the brim with jaded masses.

Are families really this dorky? When I was a kid, and if that was me and my mother playing she probably would have knocked me out with her shoe to get the win.

I think the real takeaway from all of this is something that I saw posted by a journalist on Twitter: Kinect is not for us. It's for non-gamers. So, while I have no interest in it, I won't argue that it's worthless - we're just not the target audience for this thing.

Hopefully MS will have plenty more to show at today's press conference other than Kinect.

Yeah I mean it's a smart move, bold too. Bring the "Wii audience" over to the 360 with tech that's supposedly better but still accessible. I don't fault them for trying this. We're still going to get our RB3, Mass Effect 3, Kameo 2, etc.

If they really want this to sell, they'll need a pack-in game IMHO.

They sure are white...

they should just include Wii Sports with it, and call it a day.

Apparently, there's murmers that there will be two versions of the Kinect and the pricier one will be $189? That can't really be right, can it? A peripheral that costs as much as a Wii with Motion plus and two games? Good luck MS.

Right because the way to entice the casual gamer is to make them purchase a system, plus a peripheral before they even get started.

The Wii was ready to go right out the box, at a relatively cheap price, especially at release.

I think the Wii may have already taken most of the casual market as it is. People constantly say "the Wii collects dust." Well, if that's the case, what makes people think that those "casual gamers" who bought the Wii, are going to go out and buy another dust collector?

Exactly. Pretty much how I reasoned it when it was announced last year. People just love to hate. The above is key though and I honestly can't understand how so many gaming journalists can't fucking get it. (Of course maybe because it's easier and more fun to just rip shit apart.)

Will Kinect do anything for me? Probably not, but I certainly see what MS is trying to do and you can't blame them at all. This thing is tailor made for the mass media outlets and will be completely eaten up by them. You know...the place where NONE of US go for our gaming news.

You mean like Parade and USA Today?

Right on. If I'm a casual gamer am I going to spend:

$200+$150 for Kinect (total: $350)
$200 for Wii