Kinected

Another holiday season is upon us, although we've managed to avoid the white stuff so far. It was another great Thanksgiving... man those four-day weekends are nice. And although their employees may not enjoy it, the nation's largest retailers began rolling out their sales on Turkey Day.


Cassie and I decided to gift ourselves a little early this year and pick up the year-old Xbox Kinect device. While I was wary for a long time about it just being Microsoft's lame attempt at grabbing some of the Wii's action, recent word on the street had been that developers were starting to really take advantage of the hands-free voice-activated opportunities the Kinect provides. Videos are popping up all over for non-gaming uses [although I don't see myself training for surgery anytime soon].


The Kinect was being discounted nearly everywhere for around $99, and we saw that Target was even throwing in a free Wipeout 2 game as well. Who doesn't like Big Balls? However, after we got back from Thanksgiving dinner in Hampshire it was only 8:30. Target only opened at midnight... but we saw that Walmart opened at 10. Game on.


Due to a lethal stampede several years ago, Walmart no longer shuts its doors prior to opening for Black Friday. So when we rolled into the store around 9:30 the main aisles were bustling. Walmart decided to hold off on the larger electronic sales [TVs, game systems, computers] until midnight, so people were gravitating towards the bigger 10pm deals [video games and Blurays for under $20] in bins near the grocery.

We got in a relatively short line near the glass cabinets in electronics, and just people-watched as 10 crept nearer. Around 9:50 people began tearing into the plastic-wrapped endcaps despite Walmart employees being all over the place. The sound of crumpling plastic spread like wildfire, and soon folks were grabbing the liberated cheap-bedsheets by the handful. Classy. Finally the 10pm sales started [only one kid got punched at the previously-mentioned video game/movie bins] and our line began to creep forward, one customer at a time.


We got up front, told the guy what we wanted, and walked away with our Kinect and Wipeout 2 [to be pricematched]! Huzzah! While waiting to check out up front, a lady one line over saw our Kinect, and asked if we would be interested in an extra Dance Central 2 she had grabbed in the rush... heck yes! Cassie wins! When we got up front, we were told that they couldn't pricematch the Target deal until midnight [when Target opened]... so yes we spent an extra hour in Walmart on Thanksgiving. Exciting times, let me tell you.

Kinect v2.0

The Kinect is pretty cool. We do have to move my futon to maximize the playspace, but it's worth it. The "Kinect ID" memorizes your face at different distances/angles to automatically log you in to games [so you can just step-in/step-out]. The sensor also uses infrared light, so it certainly feels as if you're being eyed by a Cylon sometimes.


Cassie is slicing Fruit like a Ninja currently, so I think you could say she enjoys it. There are ways to video chat via Kinect, as well as post in-game action photos, like yours-truly dominating on Kinect Adventures. Good stuff- can't wait to see where the games go from here!

Look ma...