After a long time, here comes another review from my end. I thought it is worth writing about. I was debating on XBOX 360 with Kinect vs. Playstation 3 Move bundle just as anyone would while going for a console for the first time. Am not counting in Wii, though they have maximum motion based games available, for similar reasons as anyone who chose for PS3 or XBOX 360 over Wii. My intention was to use the console for more than gaming. Well one would say PS3 would have been better for being online as there is no subscription charge unlike XBOX LIVE. But still my requirements led me to go for XBOX 360 with Kinect.
The major plus for XBOX is full body motion control feature over controller based motion control for either PS3 or Wii. Think of a jump sequence in a motion game where you have to literally jump in case of XBOX 360 Kinect whereas press jump button on Move controller in PS3 Move. Further, you need 2 Move controllers for use of both hands or 4 Move controllers for 4 gamers to play on PS3 simultaneously. XBOX 360 needs 1 Kinect sensor and a decent sized room to handle 4 gamers simultaneously.
Inbuilt WiFi is a plus in XBOX 360, which apart from internet browsing, also allows streaming of media files including videos, from computer to XBOX 360, provided you have a wireless router. XBOX 360 Kinect supports video chat(Skype integration is not done yet I think).
Lately, Dollar value increase against Rupee has led to hike in XBOX prices. Microsoft is running a promo to compensate for this price increase in India, which is valid till 30th Sept. 2012. The price difference between XBOX 360 250GB Kinect against PS3 320GB Move starter bundle is about 13k considering the discounts a retailer would give. If you consider 4GB console instead of 250GB, then the difference comes down to 4.5k. Games do not load on HDD to play.
So XBOX 360 Kinect is costlier investment initially. In case of PS3, each extra Move controller will set you back by 2500/-, which further may need a charging dock for another 2000/-. If you add up all these expenses, I think prices of the two are not much different.
The other thing we have to note is, XBOX games are usually few 100/- costlier than the PS3 games. If you join any forum like the one at "IndianVideoGamer, com", you will see that there are more players trading/exchanging PS3 games. Even the shops also keep more of PS3 games. So popularity of PS3 is more among gamers.
Considering every aspect I could perceive, I picked XBOX 360 250GB console and got the Kinect Sensor separately on the same day. I did not pick the XBOX bundle since I got a good deal on the 250GB console, i.e 18, 691/- and Kinect at 9, 100/-(and a nice looking FOCE wrist watch free). The bundle was available at new/revised price of~36k. Interestingly the set I bought and the revised price sets were manufactured in Sept 2011. I did not go for PS3 since I don’t want my son or his friends or even me dropping/throwing/crashing the Move controllers around! The controllers come with a sling to avoid dropping, but that won’t stop two players from crashing the controllers against each other(am being extra imaginative!) Also, I want my son to jump!
I got this set as a gift for my son’s 6th Birthday, which is coming up. So I haven’t got a chance to explore the console fully just to keep it a secret till THE DAY. I got the set installed. Opened a hotmail account as is it required and mapped my profile. It was a breeze to hook onto internet on WiFi. The set downloaded few updates which took about 10mins on my 2Mbps internet connection. Getting familiar with the gesture controls was not a problem at all. When the Kinect was calibrating, my 16 x 14 ft drawing room with a sofa set and a TV table was considered to be good enough for half of Kinect’s capabilities. So a bigger room will be even better to utilize Kinect’s full strength. Well smaller room may not be much problem for a single player but when two people are playing then the room should be big enough such that two players do not touch each other with their arms stretched sideways. That’s what is recommended.
After all the installations were done. I played a couple of games from Kinect Adventures, which came free with the Sensor. 15mins of playing Reflex Ridge was enough to make me sweat at 20C room temperature to get Gold! The Sensor was pretty responsive to every move I made. Fun part was, at the end of each game it was showing few snaps that the Kinect took of me, in my best athletic postures! These pictures may be posted if I want, but I chose otherwise to save a few gasps.
Here I should mention that XBOX do not play Blue Ray Disks unlike PS3. But having a Blue Ray player is not a big plus in my opinion as most of us who have Blue Ray players in home-theater do not watch more than a movie on Blue Ray Disk in two months! Further a movie on DVD is good enough for 50inch 1080p plasma screen.
What I liked about the hardware is its classy look. Black matte finish console with touch sensitive buttons for switching on and DVD tray eject. The glossy black Kinect has a motor which allows it to move itself up and down to adjust its view. The wireless game-pad controller feels solid and classy too with a glowing X button. The console can be switched on or off using the game-pad. DVD tray can be operated by gesture control or game-pad. Once the console is switched on, everything can be controlled using simple gestures. Also, the console has speech recognition and you may interact with it by talking to it.
There are ample number of things to try out on the console. I will update my review as and when I try them out.
I registered the console and the Sensor on XBOX LIVE and interestingly it showed remaining warranty of 4 months for console and 6 months for sensor. I went on online chat support and mentioned about my concern. Instantly I was sent 2 emails to reply to with the bill scan as a proof of purchase and date. About a day later I received email indicating that the warranty information on the support site has been updated and now it is 1 year warranty. I was pretty impressed by the prompt support. My friend mentioned that his RROD console was replaced with a new one, though it was more than one year old. RROD was a serious issue with XBOX 360 earlier and therefore a legitimate purchase within the country is important to get the console replaced in case of any problem.
I logged onto https://microsoft.com/india/Xbox360offers/ and fed the required info, and as per Aug-Sept 2012 offer, I received 2 game DVDs. Street Fighter IV and NFS Hot Pursuit. Both games are rated high at IGN.com. Also picked up Kung Fu Panda 2 from a seller on indianvideogamer.com forum. Picked up a second wireless controller and a media center remote from another seller on the same site. Ordered Kinect Sports online.
One more thing. The console needs 15Amp(big) socket and ample ventilation.
Now all the wait to get the console rolling is my son’s Birthday.
Cheers and Happy Gaming
Indrajit
P.S.: Here is a link to a site for DVD compatibility. This matters for those who plan to buy NTSC game DVDs from abroad or an online seller. Indian XBOX 360 is PAL system and will run PAL DVDs. There are few exceptions, in which case it can run NTSC DVDs too. Please follow the chart. I can not vouch for authenticity of this chart. But I believe it myself.
https://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/Region_Free_Xbox_360_Games