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How Do I Choose the Best Games for Kinect®?
Kinect® hardware for the Xbox 360® turns the human player into a controller, allowing his or her motion to control the game’s action; with many games out that feature this hardware, it can difficult to choose the best. Motion is such a novelty with this hardware that the user should choose games for Kinect® that meet his or her preferred level of interactivity. There also are many game genres, so choosing games for Kinect® that fall in the user’s preferred genre would likely be more enjoyable. The Kinect® system is able to recognize up to six people at once, making it useful for multiplayer games, but many games are only single player. While most games for Kinect® are for kids, there are some mature games, so the player’s age may be important.
With the Kinect® system, players move around to create action on the screen; some games require full-out sprints and extensive body movements, while others can be played while sitting down. This vast difference in required motion means players should choose games for Kinect® that satisfy their movement expectations. Some players may want to move a lot, as with sports games, or a little, as with mini-game and puzzle games. Players also should check their level of fitness before playing games with extensive movement.
Games for Kinect® fall in many different genres, including sports, horror, shooting, dancing and exercise. Most players have preferred genres and may want to pick games from that genre. Picking games from other genres also may be fun, though, so players should consider renting games or playing demos before buying the full game.
Kinect® is able to recognize up to six people simultaneously, so it can be used for multiplayer games in which all players are moving at once. While this can be done, many games only have one or a few players that can be active at once. If the player has a small gaming area, then having six people moving around at once can be difficult and even dangerous. Before choosing games for Kinect®, the player should check his or her gaming area and choose games that allow the preferred number of players.
Most games for Kinect® are made for children, but there are some teen and mature games that should not be played by younger players. These are mostly the shooting and horror games. For this reason, parents may want to choose Kinect® games based on the player’s age and maturity level.
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![Two young boys]()
Two young boys
Discussion Comments
I have a few friends who say they hate motion capture games because you have to do the opposite of what most people want to do when the play video games. You game because you want to relax, hang out with friends and unwind. You basically want to sit on your couch and get lost in the game. But how can you do that if you are scrambling around the living room out of breath?
I think they might have a point. The Wii and the Kinect are kind of like watching sports while you run on a treadmill. Most people would rather just watch.
I like the Kinect now, but I have high hopes that the technology will improve to feature even more interactivity and responsiveness. And I have every confidence that it will.
We are still basically in the first generation of motion based gaming. Look at how far video games have come since their first generation. In a decade motion capture technology will work better than we could have ever imagined.
I just got the new Star Wars game that came out for the Kinect and I am loving it. It is like being an actual Jedi. The story is cool and the visuals are great and the motion capture technology is really smooth. You actually feel like you are in the middle of an intense light sabre battle.
In my experience with the Kinect and other motion capture games, the simpler the game the better. There have been many big named titles that have come out that have promised to blend popular franchises with motion capture technology to achieve new levels of immersion, but many of these games have been buggy and underwhelming.
Sports and dancing games tend to do pretty well. If the sensor only has to pick up on one or two points of motion it does better.
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