Xbox kinect...

[Queen Aurora]

Seriously most useless thing I have ever wasted my money on.

I am not a gamer nor do I really play many games.

But we do have a console for the kids and I use all the fitness games.

For ages we had a Wii and I loved it. It was so user friendly, even for someone with very little console or computer experience. The only downside was when my youngest through the controller in a temper at the TV.... no more TV. The Wii was sold.

The Kinect for Xbox seemed like the perfect solution to our problem...If it wasn't so useless.

Now I don't know correct terms etc but I will explain it as best as possible. It's pretty glitchy and will freeze up or pick up something else pretty easily. It is really hard to do anything cvonsidering you have to press buttons on the screen by moving your hand to the right place...
None of the games so far have been very simple or user friendly like the Wii.

I bought Your shape fitness evolved. It appears to be similar to the Wii fit but it is so much harder to use.

If you make a mistake you can't go back you have to turn off the console.
If you don't like a game you have to turn off the console to get out of it.
If you create your profile and make a mistake you have to go online to a website to correct it (I made loads of mistakes) you cannot just correct it within the settings.
You can't skip past the annoying tutorials..

Kinectimals is boring and hard to get the animal to do what you want and the Sonic freeriders is soooo hard. My mum, stepdad, sister and bro-in-law and me struggled to use it, the kids couldn't keep up with it.

The kinect likes to pick up imaginary people that aren't there which when you are on your own it is pretty freaking seeing someone stood behind you on screen esp when I swear our house is haunted anyway!
It's a good idea but has so many flaws.

All in all Xbox is great for normal gameplay and my son loves it for that but the Kinect is pretty useless...

So how to tell a 6yr old I am going to trade it all in for a Wii?? :)

[Loerwyn]

You did read the instructions, right? You need at least 6 feet of open space, and I believe that space has to be kept fairly clear.

You're the first person I've known to have that many issues with it, so I'm suspecting your Kinect unit might actually be faulty rather than 'useless'.

How did your kid manage to throw the Wii remote at the TV, anyway? The thing has wrist straps to stop that!

[Queen Aurora]

You did read the instructions, right? You need at least 6 feet of open space, and I believe that space has to be kept fairly clear.

You're the first person I've known to have that many issues with it, so I'm suspecting your Kinect unit might actually be faulty rather than 'useless'.

How did your kid manage to throw the Wii remote at the TV, anyway? The thing has wrist straps to stop that!

I have 6 foot of open space and no I didn't read the instructions...they are still in the box...I never read the instructions for the Wii...Every kinect game we have bough it messes up and we have to turn it off. It is getting close to spending some time with my hammer...I am going to return it I think and pick up another Wii...


She lost her temper with it and threw it straight at the TV..Wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't a new TV and a wedding present. It's amazing how easy new TV's break too. So we are back to a massive, ugly CRT...

And it was my bad I never put the wriststraps onto the controllers...:o

[Cephalik]

I haven't had any problems with mine, really fun so far, and your shape is really addiciting. Had lots of fun with family coming over and playing adventures.

Did you know if you hold your right arm to your side with your left on a 45 degree angle it will go back to the menu?

[Queen Aurora]

I haven't had any problems with mine, really fun so far, and your shape is really addiciting. Had lots of fun with family coming over and playing adventures.

Did you know if you hold your right arm to your side with your left on a 45 degree angle it will go back to the menu?


Uh- huh, been trying...If I try anymore I will lose my temper...

It is going back to game on Monday, he can keep his Xbox, I am just gonna take back the Kinect and go back to a Wii...Kinect is not for me..

[Loerwyn]

Why don't you try to find out if it's broken, or if you're doing it wrong? You've said you've not read the instructions, so read them and follow them - They're there for a reason.

It's clearly not functioning correctly - either via technical issues or via human input, and if you trade it in then some other kid's gonna get it and potentially have the same issues.

Edit: This page should be of use - Especially the 'Troubleshoot Body Tracking' section (http://support.xbox.com/en-gb/pages/kinect/default.aspx).

[Queen Aurora]

Why don't you try to find out if it's broken, or if you're doing it wrong? You've said you've not read the instructions, so read them and follow them - They're there for a reason.

It's clearly not functioning correctly - either via technical issues or via human input, and if you trade it in then some other kid's gonna get it and potentially have the same issues.


I know I am doing it right had a full few days of practice on my mum's one and it didn't play up like this. I am going to take it back to game for a refund, not a trade in. And I have never been refused a refund before so we shall see what they say.... I do have a problem with processing instructions, I have to be shown, reading instructions is like reading gibberish.

[Loerwyn]

Look at the link I provided in that post you quoted, and throw the manual at your husband if you can't do it.

Just because your mum's Kinect is fine, it doesn't mean yours is. It migth not be set up properly - There could be a hundred different reasons as to why it's not functioning as it should.

[MattNY]

Even when functioning properly, as mine is, I have to agree that the Kinect is useless. The software out is terrible, there is no standards set by MS. I shouldn't have to stick my left arm out for 10 seconds to pause a game (I am looking at you Kinectimals).

The idea behind the technology is impressive, but it still just isn't functional to the level where either myself, or my son, have a strong interest in using it. Kinect Adventures was quite boring and didn't hook anyone. Kinect Sports was alright, but was set aside quickly with no strong desire to go back to it. The Your Shape Fitness software is hit and miss and has by no means replaced any of my normal routine.

Then, on top of it, there are no actual games on it. It is all tech demo type material. I have no problems getting up and movinng on my own. When I want to game, I want to play entertaining games, not something that is gimmicky.

[MattNY]

Did you know if you hold your right arm to your side with your left on a 45 degree angle it will go back to the menu?

See, that is ridiculous. Every game should have a standard 'Xbox: Main Menu' voice command. The thing recognizes voice, so why aren't the games utilizing this. One of MS' strengths this generation is this requiring devs to some universal standards out of the shoot, but they seem to have forgotten that with the Kinect. The Kinect could be a cool piece of hardware, if there were standards set. People don't want to remember how to hold their arm in this game, and then remember to have to hold it differently in another game. The demo videos they show have people walking up, saying 'XBox: Play' and playing, with no issues. This should be what they are delivering.