Kinect is all the rage right now.  Every website is posting how you can use Kinect to draw in 3D, operate your pc, and learn to fly – ok, maybe not that one.  But how does the Kinect fair in the game accessibility department?  The AbleGamers Foundation took the Kinect into our lab last week for some stress tests and to see if they followed up on any of the suggestions made at the accessibility Roundtable we attended earlier this year.  We wanted to give you our impressions of the much-hyped device as it is now, as well as some insight and predictions to what it might look like in the future.

Let’s get it out of the way right up front, for almost all gamers in a wheelchair; do not waste your money on a Kinect right now, because for the most part it is NOT going to work for you. Not because of the Kinect itself, but because of the games that are out for it.  The only title you'll be able to play completely from the wheelchair is called Kinect Joy Ride, which is definitely a step forward but only if you can easily control your upper body.

Now let’s take a deep-dive into the marketing minds at almost every company in the world shall we.

When you release a new product you want to present that product in the best possible way as you can, and you want to show off the new products capabilities. That is why BMW shows the new 7 Series flying down a winding road, not stuck in traffic on I-95. You and I both know that the future owner of that car will spend a lot more time doing the latter and dreaming about the former, but what company in their right mind would present a new car sitting in traffic?

Microsoft is no different.

Yes, the Kinect is amazing, we have had one in the lab for 2 weeks now, and while I cannot play long due to my disability, the play time I have had has been really cool. Unfortunately, all of the games that have come out so far have all been designed to show off those great capabilities, which is why they all require you to stand up and jump around like you’re on fire. They want the player made videos on YouTube and the photos they are looking for on Facebook to be “active,” as opposed to their new cutting edge technology being used sitting on the couch.

But they forgot the disabled gamer!

No, they did not. The folks at Microsoft absolutely did not FORGET us. In fact AbleGamers was invited, and attended an “Accessibility Roundtable” in Redmond WA in September.  Myself, and a few other members of the AbleGamers community, along with a few other organizations, were given a tour of the new technology.

To the surprise of many of us, while we were going through the morning agenda, a team of people setup no less than 10 FULL Kinect stations in the room next door.  We were invited to go and play many of the games that are on the market for Kinect right now.

Each station had a Microsoft person who was asking us questions about how you and I would approach this game. They took notes about our concerns on each title, and what we liked or didn’t like.

I didn’t do so well at the Kinect Adventure game, obviously enough that the Microsoft team member asked me why I was having such a problem.  I explained that for me, jumping is really hard, I do not have a lot of feeling in my left leg, and so the landing is always dicey. To go “faster” on the game we were playing within Kinect Adventure you needed to jump, needless to say my cart was not racing down the track at breakneck speed.

She asked what I would like to see as an alternative to jumping… Wait, what? Did Microsoft just ask me what I thought?  I did have a thought, I wanted to see a hand movement like is you were moving yourself forward with your hands in a boat. She wrote that down.

After we were done with our play time, they herded us back into the room in which we came, and there before us was every note that was taken in the play room laid out on white boards under categories they best fit. We then broke down into groups and discussed all the findings and what Microsoft needs to do next to improve Kinect for everyone.

What did I learn from the whole event? In short I learned this, Microsoft wanted to show off their new BMW on an open road, not stuck in traffic, but knew doing so would leave out our community.

Stay tuned tomorrow for “Why we should not worry”

Click here to read part II