I work in the same complex as our Macy's, so after work on Saturday I decided to stop in and check it out. I walked in and the first question I had was, “Where on earth would you put a video game in a Macy's?” After a few minutes of looking around I managed to hear a few people laughing. Right in front of the women’s fitting room was a small roped off area with a table housing a big HDTV, the new Xbox 360, and Kinect. There was an Xbox branded couch off to the side with matching throw pillows. They also had room for a line but there was only a few people around the system.
As I approached the demo, there was a kid standing in front talking to the Microsoft girl that was in charge of it all. A second guy walked in front and it immediately recognized a second person and asked him to sign in. They didn't have any real accounts due to it being a demo, but all the guy had to do was swipe his hand across and then “unzip” the avatar he wanted. The game shortly started up and it was the river rafting level of Kinect Adventures. Lag was definitely not an issue with controlling this game. When they leaned the raft steered and their jumping caused the on screen avatars to jump as well. After watching a few people play a few rounds the girl in charge asked if anyone wanted to play Kinect Joyride. I said that I would just as another guy asked if it was two player. The girl stated that in Joyride the two player didn't work.
In order for her to change the game, she stated that Microsoft trained her to eject the empty disc tray and then close it again. There was no dashboard and I was surprised to see that it was a debug machine. She started up Joyride and I stepped in front of the camera. The title screen had a square that I had to “click” by holding my hand over it. Let me just say that it was very hard to start the game up. After the title screen was the main menu and same issue trying to get started. After my issues getting started the game started. Steering felt real natural and to drift I had to do some leaning. I'm a big fan of racing games, both simulation and arcade, and the steering wasn't as tight as I would have liked in a racing game. I managed to finish in third place out of eight, so I can't complain too much.
After my race no one else wanted to have a go, so the girl switched it back to Kinect Adventures. This time instead of the river rafting game, she put in the ball bouncing game that was one of the first games they demoed called Ricochet. The game seemed like it would be fun but not for people that don't like to move or get up at all. After a round of Ricochet, she then did the second strange thing of the day. She turned off the system and removed the hard drive and then put in a different one. This second hard drive was home to the other game that I saw, Kinect Sports. The main menu of Kinect Sports had four options; Single Player Track, Track Versus, Single Player Bowling, and Conduct Crowd. The guy in front of the camera chose bowling and it was bowling. The demo was limited to 6 frames and it seemed a little difficult to hook your ball. Bowling was very similar to Wii Sports Bowling, to where once you master it, you'll be unstoppable. A few more people bowled a few rounds and then they started Track Versus. A family walked up at this point, the only other people after me to stop and watch the demo, and they watched a few races. The people that had been playing offered the kids a chance to race, so they did. One of the kids was rather small and it had a hard time recognizing him. Kinect Sports was the only game that had glitches, hopefully that is not because Rare developed it.
After an hour of watching I decided that it was time for me to head home. Kinect is a strong competitor to the Wii, but getting it into homes will be the hard part. The people that tried it seemed to be actual gamers, and the more experienced gamers seemed to have a harder time than the more inexperienced players. If the price is right and Microsoft can get this device into homes, then the Wii will have some major competition in the casual market. If Kinect gains some ground, I could see some core games utilizing its tech as well. I plan on heading over there again later this week to give it another go and witness other people play it, but as of now, I am getting one when it comes out.
-Ryan
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