Xbox Kinect

side note: I just signed up for the second 5k of my whole entire "running career". I ran my first (and most recent) 5k back in March, 2010--it was cold and snowy/rainy. I did fairly well considering my prior training and the weather. With 5 months of training and 10 lbs lighter, I'm positive I can better this time.


This review is going focus on the "fun" parts of the Xbox Kinect. I am sure there's tons of "room for improvement" concerning the technical bits. But for me, I bought the Kinect for fun...so that's what I'm going to be reviewing.

The best deal I could find was Amazon.com for $99. I purchased it the day before Christmas (Day).  The package came with three full games.

Fruit Ninja
If you have an Android, you might know this game...well. It's the same as the app, only you use your body to slice the fruit. You can play side-by-side with a friend/family for a little competition. (Whoever slices the most fruit, wins) Me and Andrew broke out in a sweat, so it's a pretty fun game.
Gunslinger (that's the game of it, right?)
The file was too big for our Xbox. Andrew tried to run it off (?) of memory sticks...with no such luck. He downloaded the trial version. From watching Andrew play the trial, the game seems a little boring. But that's just me.
Kinect Adventures 
My favorite! The game has "freeplay", adventure and some else that I've yet to experience. The game has things like Reflex Ridge--basically, given an obstacle course where you jump over hurdles and duck under bars--if you jump over the hurdle and actually don't run into the hurdle, you score points. There's more "games" ie Roaring Rapids and other fun stuff.
In adventure mode, you have the same games as described above but score points to move on to the next level of the adventure. Without Adventure mode, the game would get a little old.

The night we got the Kinect, I played Adventures for maybe one game and I thought my heart was going to beat outta my chest.

We plan on getting Fitness Evolved 2012--which has things like jump roping in place expect you are given a series of steps...jump with feet together, one foot, other foot etc. There's also "traditional" sports games (tennis, basketball etc) for the Kinect. Down the line, we might purchase something like tennis (or something).

As always, Amazon did a fantastic job of shipping and handling and packaging. No complaints there.

As far as set-up? No idea. Andrew did that one. But I can say there's a little problem with drag/jerkiness. You control everything with your hands/voice...can be hard for the Kinect to follow your hand, but I think once we play around with the settings...

Not sure how the Kinect compares to the Wii, but if you have an Xbox and looking for something out-of-the ordinary, I'd recommend the Kinect. Hence it's name, don't expect to be sitting on the coach all night.