Xbox+360+and+Kinect+Sensor

=**Xbox 360 Slim**= by SeRonne Anderson

The Xbox 360 gaming console is the successor of the original Xbox manufactured by Microsoft and is in competition with Sony's Playstation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.Some of the major features of the Xbox 360 are Xbox Live which allows you to play online with others from all over the world, download arcade games, game demos, trailers, TV shows, music and movies, and its capability to use multimedia via Windows Media Center.Within recent years, Xbox 360 has offered access to third-party media streaming services such as Netflix and ESPN (streaming services varies region-to-region).

This redesigned Xbox 360S is slimmer than the previous versions of the 360. This model features WiFi (allows for faster media downloads and connectivity to the Xbox live server), the option for a hard-drive space of 4GB ($199.99) or 250GB ($299.99), a AV cable port, 5 USB ports (previous versions only offered 3), special port for the Kinect sensor (which allows you to take control by becoming the controller), a HDMI port (allows for a better picture), a Ethernet port, a SPDIF (TOSLINK) output (allows you to connect your gaming system to your home theatre system), and an improved cooling system that allows for a more silenced gaming experience. Xbox 360 Slim was released in 2010, June 14th in America, June 24th in Japan, and July 16th in Europe. As of May 29, 2009, Xbox 360 sales have reached 30 million units. "We've always been confident that Xbox 360 offers more entertainment value than any other console on the market, and these latest numbers show that consumers agree. We expect our growth to continue to accelerate," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft. =Kinect Sensor=

"You are the controller," promises Microsoft Kinect ads. Simply connect to your Xbox 360 so it can accurately scan your play area, and play games by moving around. With motion sensing capabilities you can also use hand gestures to navigate through the menus and use voice recognition to interact with the systems basic commands.

I thought that the process for the Kinect was going to be a tedious task, but actually, setup was not that bad. The camera in the system requires no special calibration, but it does all of the legwork setup requires. Placing the Kinect sensor above or below the TV and the motors will begin to scan the room to determine its dimensions. After the dimensions are taken, it will tell you whether the play space is suitable for one or two people.

Aside room reasonable room, lighting also plays an important part in creating a play area that works well with Kinect. Similar to shooting a video, the cameras respond best to well-lit environments. Since the sensors can generate shadows, multiple light sources are ideal. I played around with this new device and realized that it also had face recognition. Facial recognition automatically identifies regular users of the system so that anytime the camera "sees" you, it instantly pops your character into the game. This is done by having you pose in several positions in order to build a full image of you.

 Using Kinect as a way to control the Xbox has stirred mix emotions. The standard menus do not support Kinect, but there are distinctive menus built just to be able to use this feature with motion and voice control. The system uses a very basic vocabulary for communicating with it. If you simply hold both hands down and slightly out from your sides so they can easily be spotted by the sensor, a small glow around your hands will appear on the small on-screen window that shows exactly what the sensor sees. If you wave at the screen the sensor enters "wake up" mode; if you wish to pause something you could hold your left hand down and out. To select items in Kinect you hover your hand over an icon and wait for the circular ring to fill up. The sensing system works so well you won't have to worry about mistakenly selecting the wrong option. With the voice control (can be activated by speaking "Xbox" and then the desired command (they will appear on the screen). Personally, I prefer to use the controller to select an option because I felt a little silly talking to the box to do something that could've been done faster by using the controller.

Overall, the new design looks great. Of course, just like any other marketable merchandise, some will love the design, some will hate it, but most should find it to be a much needed change. Looks alone are not enough to sell any console. The key selling features would have to be the inclusion of WiFi, the quiet cooling system, and of course the 350GB hard-drive. These new features might encourage older users to upgrade.

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