There are a lot of futuristic things we're still waiting on: jet packs for the entire family, self-driving cars and time-travel, to name a few. But one new, pretty darn amazing bit of technology has finally come to fruition, thanks to the folks at Microsoft.
The Kinect system, on sale beginning Thursday for the Xbox 360 game console, offers controller-free control of living room entertainment and aptly delivers a groundbreaking piece of technology.
It's part game controller, part fitness guru and part "Minority Report," the movie where Tom Cruise famously interacts with a multi-touch interface by making rapid motions with his hands. Instead of gripping a physical controller to play games and movies on your Xbox 360, Kinect allows you to simply move your body — hands, feet, hips — to do everything.
Kinect is a hybrid video camera and motion sensor that sits just above or below your television display. It looks like an extra wide webcam and connects to the Xbox 360 — even older models — through the USB port. Kinect sells for $150 and comes with one game; you can buy it bundled with a low-end Xbox 360 for $300, saving $50 on the package.
Activating and configuring Kinect was easy enough, though it does require a system update.Kinect calibrated itself by testing the ambient light in my room, the background noise and my own voice. Kinect then asked me to get used to performing my moves in a fairly large rectangular space about 8 feet in front of the television.
The 46-inch LCD display from Sceptre I used for my tests delivered the Kinect experience in tack-sharp high-definition. A larger-than-average display is ideal because it'll help you see the various digital versions of yourself more clearly, as captured by Kinect's camera and motion-sensing voodoo.
At the Xbox 360 main menu screen, a small dark box appeared at the lower right corner. Inside was a live view of my body, with my hands glowing at my sides. A quick wave of my right hand told Kinect I was ready to interact.
(source:abcnews.go.com)
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