Playing games on Microsoft’s Kinect is a blast (hands-on videos)

I got a chance to play hands-on — or maybe I should say hands-free — with the new Kinect motion-sensing accessory for Microsoft‘s Xbox 360 video game console.

And the games are remarkably fun. They get your heart beating and get you off the couch in the same way that some of the best Nintendo Wii games do. I watched the faces of the journalists and others playing the games. They lit up with laughter. They get lost in the moment, not caring that they look absolutely ridiculous as they wave their arms around or jump up and down to make things happen in the game.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":191105,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,games,","session":"C"}']

The new Kinect device, unveiled on Sunday, can recognize your face, respond to voice commands, and its camera detects the motion of your entire body. Your entire body thus replaces the controller, allowing for a more accessible user interface for games. Nintendo may say it’s about time that Microsoft showed up to the motion-sensing party that the Wii started. But I give Microsoft’s efforts so far two thumbs up.

Since Microsoft showed it off a year ago, a lot of questions have been dogging what was once code-named Project Natal. Would it be too slow? The answer to that is no. It can accurately detect your motion without a lot of annoying delays. What kinds of games would be made for it? Microsoft partially answered that question by showing off a handful of games in the past couple of days.

There’s a lot at stake with Kinect. Microsoft hopes it will be a mid-life kicker for the Xbox 360. If it sells well enough, it can postpone the introduction of a next-generation video game console. And the company really wants to avoid introducing a new console because it involves billions of dollars in costs.

There are both hardcore and mass market games in the works. I drove the Forza Motorsport racing game (pictured top), as you can see in the first video below. In that game, the only thing you control is the steering wheel. The developers at Turn 10 decided that it was just too hard to pay attention to the gas pedal and brakes as well. It’s also pretty hard to do footwork when you’re standing. The steering wheel was pretty responsive to what I was doing. And for the short 2-minute race that I did, my arms didn’t get tired. The Forza game isn’t coming out until next year. But it’s a prime example of how you can make a game of mass market audiences and still satisfy hardcore gamers. It’s easy to learn, which is a must for the mass market.

At the same time, there is some depth to the game. You can go up to a car in a showcase mode and study every piece of it. You can walk around the car by leaning to one side. If you hold your hand out on a spot, you can make an information bubble pop out. You could thus use motion controls to learn everything there is to know about the car.

Kinectimals scored highest on the cute factor. In this game, you can play with more than 40 jungle animals, including fuzzy lion, tiger, or leopard cubs. You talk to them and call them by name. They recognize you and learn from you. You can pet them and they will come over to you and lick you (licking the camera face, that is). There are a bunch of activities you can do, like walk your pet through an obstacle course. To get your cub to walk over a balance beam, you have to hold your arms out and balance. It’s a very physical game and you can bond with your animal, as in Nintendogs for the DS.

Kinect Sports was more than a pure copy of Wii Sports or Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics on the Wii. I got very tired trying to run the hurdles and jump on cue. It wasn’t particularly difficult; but you definitely get tired and need breaks on that game. And yes, that’s the whole point. Couch potatoes have to get into shape.

A good game to play with someone by your side is Kinect Adventures. I teamed up with Kotaku’s Brian Crecente to play a few of the mini-games within this title. We jumped up and ducked or slid from side to side in one part. In a river-rafting adventure, we had to jump at the same time to make the raft go flying into the air. It’s hard to get the timing right on some of those jumps. But you get used to it.

[aditude-amp id="medium1" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":191105,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,games,","session":"C"}']

I watched others play Dance Central, a dancing game where you mimic what the dancers on screen do. That game, being made by MTV’s Harmonix division, is a load of fun and it looks like it could be a pretty good way to learn how to dance. See the video at the bottom for a demo.

Ubisoft’s Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, also uses the same style where you mimic the moves that a trainer is making on the screen. You can do cardio or you can do different kinds of stretches. The more accurately you mimic the poses, the better your score. You can do everything from pilates to martial arts. See the second video below for a demo of it.

There will be 15 game available at launch when Kinect goes on sale on Nov. 4. Of course, Microsoft didn’t tell people what they really wanted to know about Kinect: its price. Presumably, Microsoft doesn’t want to tip its hand to competitors Sony and Nintendo.