I really like it actually. Less clutter, and the whole thing has a techie feel to it and less of a Alien Toy feel. I think the Indie people are being ridiculous, as it was easy to find the indie section. The new Avatars look legions better than the abominations of the past. I say A+. I don't mind the white at all, but I would change it, given the option.

The bandwith definitely helps, because talking on the 360 was worse than my AT&T line when standing in a parking garage.

 

can you while in the instant queue hit the left stick at the beginning of the queue and go to the end of it? i HATE that you couldn't do that in the xbox 360 netflix

 

After having little to no expectations for it, I was surprised with Kinect. I'm pretty sure I still won't get it due to financial limitations, but it was a lot better than I expected.

 

Cons: Update was a pain in the ass and all my bought/avatar award items have a ! mark on them.

Only Pro: Netflix. Big Improvement!

As for Kinect: Sorry, nothing to see there, move along!

 

New Zune marketplace as well, for those of us who use it.

 

I know this thread has been mostly bitching, lol. But if anyone gets the kinect, post some reactions to it. I'm still curious about it. It's a phoking gadget, and that's enough to get me curious.

 

I won't get mine for another week probably, and then I'll need to track down the stupid and over priced TV Mount ($40) before I can even use it. The wall mount is $15 but the wall the TV is against has a massive window so I wouldn't even be able to use the wall mount.

Anyone in the New York area can get a good deal if they make it to the Launch Event at a decent time (like now).
Free Kinect Sports, Joy Ride for first 3,000 Kinect buyers at NYC launch | Joystiq

The early beta for the update had the marketplace much better. It defaulted you to new releases with the box shot windows. You just had to scroll up and down (like before) between the various sections (Arcade, Demos, Add-Ons etc).

They really need to box Music games into one option per game, they increased the total shown Add-Ons to 50 but it still gets dominated by Music releases. They've even started showing Rock Band Network (the indie made/releases for RB) in the game add-ons to add even more clutter. Its constantly in the requests forum at Xbox.com but they seem to be ignoring it.

 

Does anyone know the exact dimensions for the Kinect?
I'm trying to figure out where I can put the thing and I can't find a spec sheet anywhere on the interwebs.

 

Or even how it connects to the 360.

Is it USB? Does it have a USB feedthrough? Cuz my rear USB is used for my wireless adapter, and the front 2 are used for sticks/charging etc.

I wouldn't want to have another of my 360's USB slots permanently taken up.

 

I dunno man, but if I ever did decide to buy this, I have the Wii Sensor, the PSEye, and a center speaker already sitting in the center of the base of my TV. That shit's gonna start stackin, lol. I'm glad I bought a Samsung 3D TV, because if I had gone with Sony, then the damn TV would also have had a testicle-like sensor hanging from the bottom of it.

 

USB and wall adaptor for original 360s, Dedicated and powered Kinect port on S models.

 

Found a guesstimate.

width ~9.1″ (23.1 cm) ~12.1″ (30.7 cm)
depth (front to back) ~2.1″ (5.3 cm) ~2.5″ (6.4 cm)


There are a few licensed third party solutions for placement.

A TV Mount. $40
Amazon.com: Xbox 360 Kinect TV Mount: Video Games: Reviews, Prices & more

A floor stand. $30
Amazon.com: Xbox 360 Kinect Floor Stand: Video Games

And a wall mount. $15
Amazon.com: Xbox 360 Kinect Wall Mount: Video Games: Reviews, Prices & more

 

Looking at that shot from the back -I don't think I have enough space between the top of my TV and the ceiling -so to speak.

The bottom is similar to Prowl's layout: center channel speaker, Wii sensor, etc.

 

I'm actually really liking the new design for the dashboard, but i also agree its annoying that indie games isn't in a better section, should be with demos and arcade.

 

I tried it in a "party" atmosphere, and it was a lot of fun. More fun than I expected for sure. The sports games felt really good to me, and it felt a lot more responsive than the wii stuff. I didn't try the Dancing game (too bashful), but from watching others, it looked like it tracked everything really well.

 

I went to the midnight launch at Best Buy.
I was in and out in about 20 minutes.

I bought the TV stand, but I don't think I'll need it.
There's enough of a flat surface on top of my TV.
I may just use some two sided tape or something like that to be certain.

Everything is still wrapped because I'm gonna wait and do a proper unboxing with the kids this weekend.

 

The camera needs to be secure as it has a motor in it...

 

Lol, I didn't even know it launched last night. I thought it was on the 15th or something. You're waiting to undress it this weekend?

But the thing is, how do you know it's tracking well in this game, if the onscreen character isn't you? I mean, can you grab your balls and the character will do it to, or does he loosely follow your movements if you don't do well?

 

Thanks, Twist.
I’ll make sure it is fastened in some way –it’s just that I was surprised to see that I have about a quarter of an inch in front and behind the camera when it sits on top of the TV.
It’s not nearly as big as I thought it would be.
The old Velcro tape might be enough secure it, I’m not sure what I’ll use at this point, but I’m pretty sure I don’t need the $40 stand.

I’m just excited about two things.
A. My wife might actually play games with us.
2. I just went from 1.2 GB free on a 20 GB shack to a 250 GB mansion!

Maybe tonight –it depends what time I get off work and also what order the kid’s school work is in when I get there.

 

So any hands on opinions? Nearly every site review I checked out was mentioning the space needed to use it. Some basically couldn't use it at all due to space limitations. Some also say they are having a hard time getting the facial recognition to recognize people with very dark skin. However, the games seem to be getting above average (not great, not terrible) reviews all around, which is usually a big positive for launch software. So I'm curious how everyday users are enjoying it.