E3 2011

Kinect Sports Hands-On

Tom Mc Shea
By Tom Mc Shea, Editor

We run, jump, and bowl in our first hands-on with Kinect Sports.

During Monday's press conference, Microsoft showed off the first footage of its family sports game for the Kinect, the Xbox 360 motion-sensing camera due out this November. But it can be pretty difficult to get a handle on how well the Kinect registers your running and leaping ability just by watching footage of Kinect Sports on a big screen. Luckily, we got a chance to try out the game for ourselves at a special pre-E3 event, and though we came away a little bit winded, we were also impressed with how accurately it picked up our motions.

Running is the most natural thing in the world, so it seemed like as good a place as any to start things off. The included hurdle event requires you to run down an orange track as well as leap over hurdles during various points in the race. We started out slowly, getting a feel for running in place in a public area, but after slipping to fourth place, we picked things up in a hurry. With the perfect form even professional runners would envy, we moved our arms and legs so quickly that our onscreen avatar burst past the other racers. Taking no chances at the hurdles, we leaped high into the air, both legs dangling, to make sure we cleared them. In three separate races, we crashed into only one hurdle, so Kinect seems to register even crazy leaps accurately. After raising our arms in victory all three races, it was time to move on to the next event.

Bowling was the only other sport on offer, which was probably good considering the physical effort required to finish running. It's a little strange to throw an imaginary ball at pins, but your motion is reflected accurately. Putting English on the ball is certainly something that must be learned, but just throwing it straight and true down the middle works well, as long as your aim is true. Like in real life, our ball frequently skirted the edges, though it never dipped into the dreaded gutter. The lack of a weighted object takes away a bit of the realism, but this seems like a safe indoor rendition of the popular pastime.

The five other announced events were not playable in our demonstration, but the two included sports do a good job of mimicking the real thing. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more coverage of this game. You can expect to see Kinect Sports on store shelves at the same time as the Kinect this November.

Tom Mc Shea
By Tom Mc Shea, Editor

Tom Mc Shea loves platformers and weighty moral decisions almost as much as he likes vaseline on toast. Some call him a T-Rex with bigger arms, some call him a gorilla with smaller arms -- you can just call him the jerk who hates all the things you love and loves all the things you hate.

13 Comments

  • weisguy119

    Posted Jul 13, 2010 1:45 pm GMT

    "...but this seems like a safe indoor rendition of the popular pastime."

    Who bowls outdoors and where?

  • kaychun88

    Posted Jun 25, 2010 1:03 am GMT

    With all these new games lining up for Kinect ready to make you put down your controllers and do some jumping and running, not sure whether I will be hearing more people getting healthier or will I be hearing more cases of heart attack in the near future?

  • FraserAlexander

    Posted Jun 20, 2010 1:10 pm GMT

    I wonder what happens if you were holding something? .... Like a beer bottle

  • Kos1c

    Posted Jun 16, 2010 7:18 am GMT

    I'm a classic gamer, i like using my controller, and these new gimmics aren't really for me. It's why i don't play my Nintendo Wii at all.
    This is a new tech for companies to play around with, but i'm hoping they don't decide to give up on the classic controller in a years to come. Honestly, i play games to chill out while competing with other players or scaring myself with horror games. I don't play games to jump around the front room.
    I'm doubting i'd ever get a Kinect or any other motion sensor based addon for any console. It's a nice idea but it wont appeal to everyone.

  • Darth_Tigris

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 10:03 pm GMT

    Again, something gets ripped in the press conference but commended when they finally get hands on with it.
    That's the big problem with Kinect: you need to physically play it to find out if you really like it. Stores need demos and that going to take up a lot of real estate. Wonder if/how they'll do it . . .

  • renigade16

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 2:50 pm GMT

    This will be great for party games and for little kids. MS knows this and thats who their selling it to. For us Hardcore gamers we get to keep our controllers and our Halo and COD. I dont see what the problem is. Everyone wins with this its not like the wii where they took away your controller.

  • A4cToBeReckoned

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 2:24 pm GMT

    I can't believe microsoft created bowling for this - and then chose it to show off at e3! I just don't get it... what game was probably played the most on the wii for the past 2 years (considering the entire spectrum of gamers from families with young kids to seniors in rest homes)? Bowling! And so when MS decides to showcase their new ground breaking hardware, what do they show? A slightly better looking version of bowling. Really? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for gaming innovation, and I'd like to see kinect suceed. But bowling???

  • soulcold

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 11:56 am GMT

    This IS AWESOME
    Go suck up to Vindiesel Mr.VixDiesel

  • vix

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 11:35 am GMT

    not gonna do it. stop with gimmicks and just make better games to keep gamers interested.

  • Dmitheon

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 10:33 am GMT

    I take it they cleared up the lag that some developers were complaining about a couple of months ago?

  • Angelspit_CH

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 10:25 am GMT

    It looks so much better than the Wii equivalent in any case.

  • Dualmask

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 9:59 am GMT

    I dunno...I like the idea of having something in my hand, but I won't knock it until I have a shot at trying it myself.

  • blackace

    Posted Jun 15, 2010 9:22 am GMT

    Should be interesting. I liked Wii Sports, so I'll probably give this game a try.