Im barely within the space limitations in my gameroom setup for Move but Ive read a few places that gamers are buying Kinect and having to return it becuase the space limitation are much larger than Move. Anybody actually had this problem?
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I haven't returned anything but I do have an unfortunate space limitation with regards to 2-player. I'm definately going to have to reconfigure my place space. It's most certainly not a deal-breaker for me by any stretch of the imagination as Kinect is pretty darned awesome. If I could just talk the wife into letting me put a TV into the living room...
I wonder how I'm going to cope with my Kinect this week. I don't suppose my wife will want to play with me a great deal but we don't have a lot of space, so we'll soon see! I'll update you guys when I find out (nailbiting, isn't it?)
I sent my 360 down the road after multiple RRODs but I really didnt realize just how much space this needed. I have the room for it in my living room easily, IF I completely rearranged my furniture, which of course I would if necessary. Hopefully we dont have anybody buy it then find out they cant use it, that would be horrible!
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This is actually a pretty big concern for me as I don't have very much space in my home for the Kinect. I still want one though. I don't think that I will be playing 2-player games very often so I'm relieved that I only have to accommodate for single player. I definitely want to get Dance Central and possibly Kinect Sports. Those will definitely require a bit of room. I'm looking forward to the Kinectaku reviews of these two games.
I have to completely move the couch and coffee table to the side of the room if I want to play. Two players is something of a stretch unfortunately, but we juuust manage. If your play space is small, Kinect probably isn't for you unfortunately.
I'm not sure if they can patch for space but I think in future developers will learn how from user feedback how much room they realistically have, so we could see future games needing less room. We'll have to wait and see though!
I'm wondering if there will ever be a upgraded camera set-up that allows for wide angle viewing maybe like the EyeToy does. I haven't seen the Kinect so maybe it does already have this, I don't know why it doesn't.
Is there any apparent reason why exactly it needs this much space? Seems like all it would need is enough of a view to see your full body and movement area.
@Jesse... welcome to the site. As for the lag in Kinect, the hardware isn't designed for 1:1 ratio so developer use of Kinect will be key to success in this aspect. Wii has proven that great games do not need 1:1 and my best guess for the reason it doesn't support it is the price point. $149 at just for the hardware is already expensive and I'm sure an upgrade as that could have easily put the hardware at a $199+ price point. All that is just me guessing of course but I would think it's a pretty accurate assumption.
They _may_ be able to better optimize the calculations for how much space is needed, but I doubt they can do much. What they need is to have the cameras a little further apart, or even on separately rotating bases. That would complicate things, but it would work.
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Just read this on MSN. Maybe it'll provide some useful tips:
Wilson Rothman
When I first unpacked the Kinect, the new controller-free motion-capture system for Xbox 360, I thought how awesome it would be to play with my daughter. She's 2 1/2 (going on 14), so I figured Kinect Sports' rudimentary bowling and ball kicking would be easy. And it was, when it worked. The sad fact was that though my kid was definitely ready for Kinect, Kinect wasn't ready for her.
When I spoke to Josh Hutto, on the Xbox Kinect team, he explained that there is a recommended height minimum of 40 inches, corresponding roughly to kids 4 and a half years old and up.
"The [Kinect] camera needs a field of view, side to side and up and down," Hutto told me. "It's trying to get as many people into that cone as possible. Getting a small person and a tall person in the same space is a technical challenge."
While my kid is probably going to have to sit out a couple of years of Kinecting, there are some good tips for anyone with small kids closer to the 40-inch mark who do want to give it a try.
For starters, you should mount the Kinect camera box above your TV, as high as 6 feet if possible. Since game play has to happen 6 to 8 feet from the camera, raising it up closes the distance required between the TV and the players. At the same time, it makes it easier for the camera to track people of different heights, since it is looking down, and not across.
This is also a good tip for people who find their quarters a little too cramped for Kinect. Even an average sized living room like mine could benefit from the tighter camera space, and for city dwellers, it's a must.
"My sister lives in an apartment in Manhattan," said Hutto. "I told her the same thing. If you get the camera height up to 6 feet, it's going to make the play space as small as possible."
As you might have guessed, there's already a bustling business in Kinect mounts. With Microsoft's blessing, a company called Performance Designed Products (or just PDP) is selling a Kinect wall mount for $15, a floor stand on a tripod for $30, and a special flat-panel TV clamp for $40.
(PDP is also selling a 10-foot-long "officially licensed" USB cable for $50, which sounds awfully steep. If you do need a USB extender, try this one at Monoprice for $1.43 first.)
A colleague of mine decided to skip the fancy rigging and instead screwed an L-shaped bracket to the wall, attaching the Kinect to it with doublesided tape, and securing the cable to prevent accidental yanking. It probably cost all of $2, and did the trick.
Once you've got the Kinect up in place, run the Kinect Tuner with your kid(s) in the play space, and within that tool, manually adjust the camera to tilt down a bit. Don't just tilt the camera down by hand, because the system will just compensate by angling back up.
Mind you, since you basically tweaked it for the smallest members of the household, you may need to re-tune it when the kids go to bed, and the grown-ups queue up to make fools of themselves.
It's important to demarcate the play area somehow. The best advice I've heard is to set a yoga mat or some other floor mat down in the Kinect sweet spot. Everyone can get carried away playing Kinect, but kids especially get over excited and tend to lunge towards the TV, which not only screws up the tracking, but is a tad bit dangerous too. One dad I talked to set out a line of shoes, telling his son not to cross it.
Hutto had one other tip for kids and Kinect: clear enough play space in front and back, and to each side as well, so that everyone stays safe during playtime.
I don't think anyone assumed Kinect would be injury free, but it was a little surprising to see the accident videos hit YouTube so quickly. Maybe I should be glad my kid can't get involved. Aw, who am I kidding? If she doesn't grow into this thing soon, she's getting stilts for Christmas. -Wilson Rothman @ msnbc dot com.
I've rearranged my room to be compatible, moving both my furniture and other items around. I manage to just get into the 2 person radius for Kinect Adventures. Which is good enough for me. Still, I found that the space requirement was a lot larger than I expected.
A table had to be moved and a lamp had to be hung higher, but in the end I managed to get more then enough space for Kinect. Still, sometimes I accidentally hit one of my lamps...
Yeah I play mine by myself anyway, mainly the fitness stuff but you do need a fair bit of room, luckily my bedroom is pretty long. I had to remove some items of furniture from my room just so I could push my bed back easily when i want to use it, but it is worth it. For two people you must need a loads of space. I also positioned the sensor higher up and behind the TV and it works great.
hey all ! When Kinect launched I was concerned our living room would be too small and almost didnt pick it up. Well we got it launch day and our living room with the kinect sensor up on top of out Entertainment center gives a "good" play space and almost lets us into the "best" playspace. We cant do two player games but we can do 1 player games. Im glad we got it because my kids absolutely love playing with Kinect to them its like having magic in your fingertips to control the game or xBox
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