When the Wii came out, there were all kinds of stories of TVs being broken by flying controllers, from overly excited players. Well, Kinect doesn’t have that problem because it does not use a controller, but that hasn’t kept people from hurting innocent items or themselves or their family or their friends. ...

The Kinect seems aimed at the casual gamer rather than the hardcore enthusiast and from the titles being mentioned for next year, expect more of the same. While Microsoft would love to get Kinect into the homes for games like Halo and Crysis, there doesn’t seem to be much support for making a first or third person shooter. What has been announced for 2011 is a wide assortment of new genres and fun ideas, as well as more of the Kinect staples like dancing and exercise. But with the exception of three particular titles, the hardcore immersion game has a very weak stance in the new year. ...

When any consumer electronic device comes out, there are always people who like to see what else it can do besides what it was designed for. The Kinect is no exception. Already it has been used for other than a game controller for the Xbox 360 via open source software. Now normally you would think that Microsoft would have a problem with this, but in an odd position for them, it seems they have changed their mind about the applications for their newest device. Apparently it has helped sales quite a bit that it can be used for other things. So while they aren’t particularly encouraging it, they are okay with it. Here is just a few of the hacks that have been created so far. Most of them are really in the proof of concept stage rather than useful application, but it shows just how versatile the Kinect can be. ...

One thing that people found sorely lacking in the Xbox 360 was that it did not have the new technology that Playstation Move and Wii had. But leave it to Microsoft to come into the game with a new level of motion control, the whole body. Unlike its predecessors, it uses no controller whatsoever. A camera analyzes your body movements and can pinpoint your arms, legs and torso in 3D space and transmits that to the game. This gives you unprecedented control over your characters and opens up the console to many exercise type workout tools. ...