After the lambasting I gave the Xbox Kinect system in my last review (read all about it here) I thought it only fair to give it another shot and try not to be such a judgemental prick about it just because I was finding it near impossible to get the pics the Kinect had taken off the bladdy thing.
The good news is I finally figured out how to do it, the bad news is I spent about 30 mins painstakingly uploading at least 15 hilarious photos the Kinect Adventures game had taken of us (One. By. One), but when I hit kinectshare.com to get the pics there were only 3 (?).
So yeah. Here they are.
There were much. much better ones of people of all races jumping, ducking and generally making complete asses out of themselves I could have used but it’s too late now.
See, I’ve been connecting to X-Box Live using a 3G card which is a bit of a mission so to go back and do it all again (I’ve already assumed the SlickTiger horizontal blogging-in-bed position) is just plain not gonna happen.
For those of you wanting to connect using a 3G card, here’s how:
1. Get an ETHERNET CABLE
2. Connect the Xbox to your PC using the ETHERNET CABLE
3. Turn the Xbox on
4. Put your 3G modem into your laptop
5. Go to Control Panel and dig around for “View Network Connectionsâ€
6. Right-click on your 3G connection and check out “Propertiesâ€
7. In “Properties†click the “Sharing†tab
8. Tick the box that reads “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection
9. In the drop down menu under that option select “LAN Connectionâ€
10. Connect to the internet like you normally would with your 3G modem
11. Dig around for “Network Settings†in the menu on your Xbox
12. Select “Test Connection†(I’m not actually at the Xbox so you’ll have to figure this part out yourself, but just make sure the Xbox is set to automatically detect the IP address and all that stuffs)
13. Hey presto! The Xbox should automatically configure all the settings it needs and badda bing badda bang you should connect to Xbox Live
Now you see why I’m not getting up to go and try get better pics of us making tits of ourselves. AFTER that you still need to fire up the game itself (in this case, Kinect Adventures) go to “Showoff and Shareâ€, select your pics and upload them to kinectshare.com.
Then you have to visit kinectshare.com to download or share them with Facebook. Easy as pie if you have the patience of a monk and an hour to kill.
In fairness, the whole process would have been a LOT easier if I just had a fixed ADSL line into our flat, but I’m so dirt broke I’m eating stray cats these days. “Installing an ADSL line†is right below “selling a kidney†on my to do list at the moment.
Anyway, after some careful thought I figured out why I got bored with the Kinect system so quickly and it has to do with the games.
Once you’ve played them once the only challenge left is to try and beat your personal bests and because of this they start to feel a little repetitive after awhile.
They’re brilliant fun if you have people over and make awesome party games but I’d be really interested to see how they use the Kinect in games that actually change and evolve as you play them, like the new Harry Potter game for example.
My final verdict is I think the Kinect has HUGE potential as a gaming system that game developers haven’t even begun to unlock yet. Keep in mind that the first generation of games that were released for the Kinect were developed in roughly 6 months to be ready for its launch.
Given a bit more time I think we’ll see some killer titles coming out for the Kinect that will immerse gamers in a way they couldn’t even dream of right now.
If you’ve got a little money to burn and are looking for an awesome way to have some fun with your mates that doesn’t involve pure cane spirit, midgets, inhuman amounts of mescaline, phallic vegetables and a nervous ferret, the Xbox Kinect system is totally worth it.
-ST
