One of the most asked question about XBox Kinect is Do I need to buy new XBox console?. Well, there seems to be some fuzziness about this topic. Let's start with answering very basic question about Kinect.

As I mentioned in my previous post What is XBox Kinect, this is a separate hardware device that you will need to connect to XBox 360. So first answer is that you will need to buy this new XBox Kinect device. So there is going to be a new hardware purchase on your part.

Now the next part of the puzzle. Microsoft site says Kinect works with every Xbox 360®*. The big question mark everybody has in their mind at this time is EVERY XBox 360. Does this mean that it will work with all existing XBox 360 consoles or do I need to buy the new model. The confusion comes from one line on Microsoft site .. Oh, and don’t forget it comes ready for Kinect right out of the box* .. about the latest model of XBox 360 console. Does this mean that older models of XBox 360 consoles are not ready for Kinect. For now, the word is that Kinect works with all XBox 360 consoles. And lets hope that it stays that way.

As I mentioned in earlier post, Kinect is a sensor that recognizes motions and voice pattern changes around it with the help of cameras and microphones in it. Lets start with a simple example of playing Netflix movies on XBox. If you have XBox Kinect attached to your XBox 360 console, you can come into the room and say XBox Play and your movie starts playing or you can say XBox Pause and your movie pauses or you can say XBox Stop and your movie stops. So you can see how XBox Kinect reacts to voice commands. It works on some pre-defined commands that your XBox 360 console can act on. No, you can't say, XBox Clean my room. Well, may be in few years XBox Kinect will help you do that, till then you are stuck with picking up after you.

Now its move on to how XBox Kinect helps in playing games. If you have Nintendo Wii console, then you are very familiar with how movement of Wii controller do all the actions in the game. For example if you are playing Wii Sports, then moving of your arms with Wii controller in your hand, helps you perform actions like bowling, play tennis, play baseball and things like that. XBox Kinect is very much the same prinipal but the difference is that there is no controller. When you want to play Kinect game like Kinect Sprots, you will simply jump in front of Kinect device or sensor, it will recognize you as a player. And then you will perform the game actions like swinging your arms, kicking your feet etc. and Kinect will send the signals to your XBox Console and you are on roll and being next Wimbeldon champion. How does that sound?

Now I do not have to worry about kids having to forget about putting on strap for Wii controller and smashing windows or TV monitors etc. while trying to throw that perfect knuckle ball while playing Wii Sports. No, I have nothing against Wii. I like it. I was just trying to tell what this contoller free expereince could mean to you.

There are advantages to this whole controller free expereince. But there are some downsides to it as well. As I mentioned about voice recognition to control playing of movies. Well we all know power of remote controll in our hands. Now imagine, two siblings in same room watching movies with Kinect attached to XBox console. One wants to pause and other one wants to continue. Well, currently there is no locking mechanism to prevent Kinect from obeying voice commands based on certain person's voice. So the actions based on voice could be a little problem with whole bunch of kids and people in same room. Hopefully by the time XBox Kinect hits the stores, Microsoft will make some improvments and make the expereince more interesting.

Other day I was talking to friends and family about XBox Kinect. All of a sudden I got circled with questions like,

• What is XBox Kinect?
• How does XBox Kinect work?
• Do I need to buy new XBox for XBox Kinect to work?
• Do I need to buy new games for XBox Kinect?

and there were more questions. So I thought of writing little series of posts on this new phneomenon known as XBox Kinect.

What is XBox Kinect?

In simple terms, XBox Kinect is a new piece of hardware that has motion and voice recognition sensors. In layman terms, XBox Kinect has set of digital cameras and highly sensitive microphones that track motion and voice patterns around it. Based on the changes in motion and voice, Kinect sends signals to your XBox 360 console to take actions. You can think of XBox Kinect as a controller that you do not have to hold in your hand and press buttons to play your XBox games. XBox Kinect translates your physical motion changes, facial expression changes and voice commans into actions for XBox console.

I hope this simple explanation of XBox Kinect answers some of the very basic questions everybody might have about this new technology.

Microsoft has been working on Project Natal for quite some time now. Finally it is being delivered as XBox Kinect. I can't wait to get a hand on this device. Finally no controllers required. From the list of list of games that are being offered at the start, it seems that it is more on the lines of Wii games. Games that all members of the family will like. Microsoft XBox games have targeted teens and older audience for a long time. And people always complained about lack of games for children. Finally this gap is going to be filled. With Kinect it is going to be a fun ride for all. I am not sure how first person shooter games or games like Halo are going to work with Kinect. I am definitely going to be the first ones to give this technology a try.