Today I stumbled onto XBOX building for a meeting, and they have their monthly party. Everyone is playing Dance Masters, one of the Kinect game. It is really mind blowing when you see in-person. It is beyond “it just works.” It is really beyond the technology. It is the fun and happiness.
I observed the crowd playing and having fun. A group of people are standing in front, dancing and really enjoying it. Then, after the song ends, another ‘dance lead’ went forward. Without any controllers, he chose the song he wants. Then, the group of 10 people were formed. Every danced to the song. No controllers. People were just immersed in the game. No teaching involved. We are not talking about teenagers. We are also talking about some ‘more elder’ people enjoying it, dancing to the game.
Its so easy, its amazing. You stand in front of the Kinect, it recognize you. You use your hands to choose a song. You dance, your character follows. It is really mind blowing. I know there are people who are not as impressed or excited. They are the so-called ‘hardcore’ gamers who would never see Kinect useful in their Halo games. However, games are meant to be fun and exciting. And Kinect, I see it as a technology that can bring in natural, fun, excitement into casual and family gamers, and even hardcore gamers, who just want to immerse in some physical actions in games.
Unfortunately I cannot post the party photos with drinks, food, huge projectors, etc. But you can see some ‘real life’ Kinect actions beyond the E3 demo in YouTube:
Oh, nevermind. When I search for Kinect in YouTube, someone uploaded the party video:
Oh, and we were given a special email address to email her if we are interested to help her. Too bad she only stayed for about 5 min and I couldn’t get a photo with her.
