Kinect launches in less than two weeks and reviews have yet to surface. I wonder why? Well someone seems to have finally got their paws on the device as London evening newspaper, The Evening Standard has just given the system a glowing 5 star review.
Interestingly the online version of the text is marked as a preview and not a review and has no rating.
The reviewer seems to be very impressed by the tech when used to navigate menus. ‘It is the film Minority Report come to life’ enthuses Mark Prigg, Science and Technology Editor for The Evening Standard.
The ‘review’ continues explaining that the games felt ‘totally natural’ when jumping about like a loon but then goes on to say the first titles are ‘disappointing’ and ‘ aimed at the family, rather than the hardcore games fan.’
The confusing article concludes that Kinect is ‘an essential purchase’ and ‘if the games are good enough could help Microsoft steal the lucrative family games market from Nintendo.’
What’s apparent is that Mr. Prigg has not been given Kinect to play with by himself, he seems to have been demoed the system by Microsoft, ‘I was shown several technical demos which reveal the incredibly complex mathematics behind the technology’, he says.
Yesterday the free morning newspaper, Metro, stated they were being shown Kinect that evening and presumably this event was also attended by The Evening Standard.
In other Kinect news, pre-sales of the system have rocketed 42% on Amazon.com since the system was shown on the Oprah Winfrey show.
Also singing the praises of Kinect is Micrsoft-owned studio, Rare. They have recently parachuted in a new boss, Scott Henson, who is an ‘Â experienced company man’Â from Microsoft.
Just look at all the sports Rare has crammed into Kinect Sports. It’s incredible. Look at what Harmonix is doing with Dance Central, look at what Ubisoft is doing with Your-Shape Fitness. They are things we kinda thought might be possible but then you look at what the teams have done with it and they’ve just taken it to a whole new level.
Extrapolate the next couple of years and look out, it’s going to be amazing.
The Evening Standard “review” has since been corrected after a Microsoft spokesperson said that it was mistakenly marked as review instead of preview.
TheSixthAxis doesn’t have access to Kinect just yet but we’ll do a full review of the device and as much of the launch hardware as possible when we have had a chance to look at it.
Source: The Evening Standard / MCV / CVG
ghost5
I have read over on engadget that the review units that have sent out require you to upgrade the xbox software, but that software at the moment will not let you play kinect.
slave_horgan
saw this too. apparently the update required for the kinect includes the new dashboard update and won’t allow for online play until the dashboard update goes live.
paulleeper2430
should be fun for 5 seconds yay money well spent
fatefellshort
Really debating if I want to get this, or wait til the PS3 is fixed and get move… it does look like a pretty sweet bit of kit though.
Also, I live 5 minutes from Rare.
Nauraph
How are people allowed to review or whatever, preview, something like that without actually ‘holding’ it with your own hands?
3shirts
I rate your genitals, a 9
stigdu
LMAO
DJ-Katy
I had a hands-on with them and they were only worth a 3. This just goes to show how misleading a preview based on a tech demo can be.
Amphlett
Mr Prigg made his assessment based upon a demonstration where he could see someone playing with Kinect. Have you based your ‘9’ of Nauraph’s genitals upon a similar demonstration?
djhsecondnature
How was a preview accidently given a score then?
Tuffcub
The “Review” was on a page that also features another article of people gushing about how fab Kinect was and also a huge picture of Kinect in Selfridges. I’m really shocked they got away with it to be honest, it really should of had “This is an advertorial” at the top. Ill check today but I bet there will be nothing in the printed Evening Standard to say the Review was a preview, most readers will still assume its a 5 star review.
A full page of warm bummings for Kinect, on page 5 of the biggest newspaper in London. You couldnt buy that kinda of exposure.
Or maybe you can.
jikomanzoku
a succinct summary and I love “A full page of warm bummings for Kinect” mad me chuckle :D
the Evening Standard never did have any integrity, this is just further evidence.
bunimomike
I was out for a meal with a friend last week and he mentioned that Cardiff had a Kinect in one of the stores to play around with. He’s the most well informed guy I know. Scarily so and unbiased to a platform (he’s bought every console there’s ever been).
He loves his gaming and tries to embrace all aspects of it but realises his Wii is collecting dust.
I asked what he thought of it and he said it was atrocious. Seeing it fail multiple times and the faces of the people using it were similarly unimpressed. His mainstay is FPS titles but he can still love the likes of Flower, Scribblenauts, etc, but when he reviewed it (for me verbally) the tech was the let down. Not the games. It showed the fundamental flaws we’ve been reading about for over a year and obviously the games can only be as good as the hardware it runs on.
I appreciate that the best hardware doesn’t always win but it would be quite bitter-tasting to see Kinect having astronomical sales just because of shameless marketing, smoke and mirrors. There’s massaging the truth and bending things to your will. Then there’s lies and MS seems to be selling Kinect on a lie more so than most hardware I see out there.
3shirts
I agree. The fundamental question is ‘does it work’ and nothing I’ve seen so far (that is reputable) gives a resounding yes. In fact, a worrying amount seems to suggest it is just frustrating and that never makes for a fun experience
cc_star
We do need to see some examples of it working properly and consistently if it is to shake off the air of negativity from the gaming world (although MS aren’t overly bothered by this at launch as their target market is massively removed from the gaming world, but for continued success after launch they ought to be).
There is potentially some amazing stuff in the second wave of games, notably Child Of Eden and the seemingly more ‘core’ experiences that were revealed at TGS
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2010/09/16/suda-51-announces-kinect-exclusive/
But the ‘core’ needs the tech to work consistently… sure we allow the odd crash and spaz-up after all Fallout 3 was huge amongst the ‘core’ and F:NV no doubt will be too, so the odd glitch is largely irrelevant but every time someone who knows what they’re doing gets near a Kinect unit it seems to fail so all we’ve seen so far seems to suggest that glitches are the norm rather than a relatively rare occurrence.
3shirts
I think the price and the mixed preview info that has come out is going to lead to far fewer pre-order/first day purchases than, say, Move. Move publicity felt more positive in general and the hardware was much cheaper so fell into that ‘give it a go’ bracket.
Kinect may sell very well but I think it will be a slower burner. That is, of course, assuming it does actually turn out to be good.
Dan Lee
I just want to test Kinect in a living room environment. so far its all been big events where MS reps basically tell you what to do.
shields_t
Don’t the Metro and Evening Standard share the same editorial articles?
Tuffcub
The middle window in Selfridges Christmas display on Oxford St, London, is Kinect. I’ve just spent 15 minutes watching a guy demo it, as have many other people and three Microsoft reps busy handing out leaflets.
Let’s just say it doesnt work very well.
Amphlett
What seemed to be the problems?
Tuffcub
Well the chap spent 5 minutes trying to select something on a menu and Kinect just didnt recognise where he was pointing, the cursor kept flashing on and off. He gave up in the and and swapped discs to try and get another game to work. It didnt.