A Dad’s Eye View of Kinect

This is a timelapse of the first one hour and thirty-nine minutes of the life of my Xbox 360 Kinect system.

I am not a hardcore gamer. In fact, I haven’t owned a video game console in over ten years. As  a dad of two young kids (6 and 4.5), I haven’t had the time or the inspiration to dive into some of the newer gaming systems. I goofed around with my brother-in-law’s Wii, but my youngest was too young to have a video game system be part of our entertainment diet.

So, when the Kinect hit the market, I was curious, but skeptical.  Generally speaking, the greater the hype, the bigger the letdown. And half a billion dollars of marketing dollars buys you a lot of hype. So, I bought the Kinect and Xbox 360 with quite a bit of trepidation.

But after our first test drive with the system, we’re pretty blown away. My first video game system was an Atari. My kid’s is the Kinect – a system that recognizes movement and voice. It’s exciting to see what is going to happen with gaming in the years to come.

The Set Up: From package to play was only 27 minutes and that was with lots of questions and distractions from the kids and signing up for Xbox live. (And I’m still not happy with my Gamertag and Avatar.) We played Kinect Adventures, Kinectimals, and Kinect Sports.

The Kids: Both my kids are entranced by the system. My six-year-old had an easier time figuring out how to navigate the controls with her body. My 4.5 year-old had a blast, but was also easily frustrated when it didn’t react the way he expected it to to his flailing arms.

Dad: After the kids went to sleep, I spent another hour exploring Kinect Sports. I got a bit overly competitive with the AI (the computer) in table tennis and volleyball and have a sore shoulder to show for it.  I loved the option of saving your game “highlights” (the view from the Kinect camera) to Kinectshare. But they should let you embed these videos. If so, you could have been treated to some serious Kinect table tennis action.

Mom: Mom had a good time playing table tennis and watching me make an idiot out of myself with the javelin toss. Let’s just say, its a good thing that we’re past the dating stage.

The Games (so far):

Kinect Adventures: This was a fun one and easy to get a couple of players involved immediately into the game play. I spent the least amount of time playing this game, so are planning on diving in more for our next rainy day session.

Kinectimals: This is basically an interactive story punctuated by some fun, full-bodied gaming action.  The animals are amazingly cute and life-like. At one point, when our cheetah cub breathed and caused some “fogginess” on the glass, my daughter asked why the TV was wet.

Kinect Sports: The kids seemed to like speed bowl, which offered just enough instant gratification and results to keep them sending balls down the lane. All of the sports had some kind of unique movement associated with the sport that kept my moving, jumping, throwing, and running in place enough to break a sweat.

The long and the short: If you are really hardcore about gaming, it seems like the catalog for the Kinect isn’t quite there yet. It will be interesting to see the more adult oriented titles that are released in the coming months. I’m hearing interesting things about the Star Wars game. It’s an amazing starter system for a a first-time gaming family and would be a worthwhile upgrade to anyone who already has the Wii (Sorry, Nintendo). Looking forward to seeing all the hacks and new inventive games that fully leverage this incredible new sensor.

Amazon: Xbox 360 250GB Console with Kinect

November 22, 2010 - 10:12 pm

Tags: gaming, kinect, kinect adventure, kinect sports, kinectimals, xbox

Click through for a funny time lapse.

The Greenest Rocking Horse Ever

For now, just a concept, but what a great way to harness your kid’s energy while they play. Rocco the Energy Pal is an entry in the Greener Gadgets design competition. Rocco teaches children about energy generation and conservation by converting kinetic energy created through rocking into electricity. The removable handles are a flashlight or a nightlight to stay up extra late – except, with all that rocking, they won’t be able to. Rocco 2.0 should include an iPod/phone charging adaptor under the mane.

They have a lot of votes, but need more to get to the top. You can see some other cool entries and vote for Rocco here.

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February 7, 2010 - 6:05 pm

Tags: Design, eco, horse

Very funny take on M.C. Escher's Relativity. Click on link for the full .gif animation. 

iPhone Photobooth Fun

One of my first memories of being photographed was when my sister and I were crammed into a booth by our dad and blinded by four bright consecutive flashes. Ten minutes later when I regained my sense of sight, I realized that we were standing outside of a strange booth with a curtain. We waited for what seemed like an hour, but was probably just ten minutes for a small and slightly damp strip of photos to be spat from the machine. I remember seeing my older sister smiling brightly above just the top of my head. Dad said I looked great. Sadly, those photobooths are thing of the past (minus the Gallery Bar on the Lower East Side and a few other hipster holdouts). Enter the “Original Mobile Photobooth iPhone App” (v 2.0). It takes four quick pictures and puts them into a classic four panel strip that is easy to share on FB/Twitter/email. You also have the option to make it b/w or color.  Here’s the Mobile Photobooth Website and here’s the iTunes App Store link.

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December 4, 2009 - 9:08 pm

Tags: Fun, iPhone, photos, Retro

Handy hands-free iPhoning with the Gorillamobile

I like this handy iPhone grip from Joby. I have been a fan of the Gorillapod for a while. My son loved to play with mine until he broke it with brute force. This seems like a clever way to use your phone while keeping both hands free. Just don’t let anyone see that you needed the GPS to make your way home from the playground. Because that would be embarrassing. Now, how about one for the Kindle guys?

Gorillamobile for 3G/3GS – Joby.

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December 3, 2009 - 10:23 pm

Tags: handy, joby, Tech

Long And Short Plaster » Yanko Design

For booboos short and long. This is a cool concept.

Long And Short Plaster by Miyeon Kim & Hoyoung Lee » Yanko Design.

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December 1, 2009 - 7:19 pm

Tags: band aids

This is such a great idea. Rise and shine to the smell of a pancake and egg breakfast without any effort at all. Too bad its fake. The folks over at Prankpack.com have ideas that are simply too good for this world. We're just not ready for the Beer Beard or the BirdieBelt or Coffee Talkies. For now, these ideas are only good enough to be printed on empty boxes to fool your friends. Someday, though, I will wake up to the smell of perfectly and automatically made pancakes and eggs. If I just keep believing...

Colorforms are a classic modern toy. Plenty of shapes and colors to make just about any set of patterns/designs that you want on windows. Just don't make the same mistake I made and confuse some other sticker set with the Colorforms. Needless to say, the stickers don't peel off quite as easily. I'm still working on removing some of those stickers.

Appaman – Quilted Vest, Vintage Black – MilkShop

Sometimes, you wished that they made it in adult sizes too. Not saying that I would wear it at the same time as my kid (the father-son matching outfit thing is strongly discouraged). But this vest is great. I’m slightly embarrased to say that I saw this in People Magazine. Yes, the one with Oprah on the cover.  Aye.

Appaman – Quilted Vest, Vintage Black – MilkShop.com.

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November 27, 2009 - 8:54 pm

Tags: milkshop, vest, vintage

Remote Control Tissue Box

How many times have you wanted to get a tissue, but that box is on the other end of the room but you are oh so tired and can’t quite get up so you decide to just use your sleeve? Well, if you’re me, then lots. But imagine a technology that could bring you that tissue through minimal physical exertion. Well, with the RC tissue box, imagine no more. Handy. So the next time your germ infested spouse asks you to pass them a tissue, you can just send her the whole box from the safety of the other side of the living room.

Rc tissue box – Gizmodo

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October 29, 2009 - 9:06 pm

Tags: kleenex, remote control, tissue

Anything that combines retro-toys with tech gets my stamp of approval. And - especially because the Etch-A-Sketch hasn't change the main font of their name since forever ago - I have a soft spot for that analog wonder. Arduino + Etch-A-Sketch makes me wish that I completed more than three of the 160-in-1 electrontic projects in that kit my parents gave me in the 80's with the hopes that I'd understand all this "computer stuff" and take care of them in their old age. But I digress. Techno-mashups like this are simply inspiring.

Because I do have a thing for these little Italian scooters. This way, you don't even have to wear a helmet. Ciao!