Kinect: To Buy or Not to Buy

      About a month ago, Microsoft put out two Major updates to the XBOX world. Firstly, they put out the sleek black, XBOX 360 Slim. Secondly, the long awaited Project Natal has finally materialized as XBOX Kinect.
     Project Natal was introduced as a new technology designed for Wii-like gaming without the controller.
     Now, Project Natal has been renamed Kinect and is being sold to use with the XBOX 360.

The Kinect Sensor

     Kinect is a device that you plug into your XBOX and place it near the center of your TV. It uses multiple cameras and sensors and tracks your movement, which then moves the character on the screen, resulting in a more immersive gaming experience.
     The Kinect is available On its own (for hookup with an existing XBOX 360) for $150 or with the new XBOX 360 Slim 4GB for $299, you can also get it with a 250GB XBOX for $399.

Kinect in Use

     The Kinect comes with a game called Kinect Adventures free. Kinect Adventures is the perfect first game for the Kinect. It is basically many fun mini-games that can be played in adventure or free play mode. Kinect Adventures has an obstacle course, a river rafting game, and more, all of which require a lot of movement. Although it's good exercise, may get tiring after a bit.
     Other games, available for about $60 each, include Dance Central , a Dance Dance Revolution type game in which you have to follow dance steps, Kinectimals, in which you have your own pet and interact with it using your body, EA Sports Active 2, a Wii Fit like game, but without the board. Eventually we should see more games like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, which doesn't need the Kinect sensor, but is better with it.

VideoKinect

     Since the Kinect has a camera and microphone, a lot more than just gaming is better with Kinect. With Kinect and XBOX Live, you can control movies just by talking, you can video chat with  VideoKinect, and more.
     Also, since all the Kinect uses to connect is a USB port, people have released the drivers for using it with Linux.
     Sounds really cool, but is it worth the at least $150 you need to get it? If you have young kids, it is a fun device, but for the Call of Duty lover, they'll have to stick with the controller. If you have an XBOX 360 and young kids, you might want to buy the device. If you plan on getting the XBOX 360 slim anyway, I would recommend, bundling th Kinect with it. But if all you want is the motion controlled gaming, you might want to either go with the current Wii, or wait until something similar comes out.

Watch the 6 minute video below for more info.