I Haven't Played My Kinect Since Launch

When the Microsoft Kinect launched in November, allowing gamers to play video games with only the movement of their bodies, everyone wondered if it would catch on. Now with more than 10 million units sold, it clearly has.

When I first bought the Kinect, I was intrigued. I played Kinect Adventures and Dance Central and thought the peripheral worked extremely well. I showed it off to friends and family and nearly all of them thought it was a really neat way to play a video game.

But then all those friends and family went home. And as I sat there in my living room wondering what I should play next with my Kinect, it was clear that I had no idea. Like the Wii, it seems like a fine party companion, but for individual gaming, I see no reason to break it out.

Realizing that, I haven't played my Kinect since last year. When friends and family come over, we play other games, since I simply don't feel like connecting the Kinect. And even if I did, I'm not even sure that we would want to jump around in front of a television all day.

I guess you could say that the Kinect's appeal wore off quite quickly. And now that it's been sitting in my house for several months without being played, I'm wondering why I didn't spend that cash elsewhere on something that I might have been more apt to use.

Of course, I realize that I might not represent the majority of Xbox 360 gamers out there. I'm sure there are a slew of folks that power on the Kinect every day to enjoy motion gaming. Those people, like Wii lovers, see a lot of value in motion gaming and they're totally confused by the detractors.

Unfortunately, I'm just not a believer in motion gaming. My Wii is collecting dust. My Kinect isn't even connected. And I haven't picked up a PlayStation Move controller in an extremely long time. Perhaps I'm old school or I'm lazy and I simply don't want to move around too much to play a video game. But now that another device has been sacrificed at the hands on my issues with motion gaming, it's clear that jumping around to play a video game just isn't for me.

However, I do think the Kinect has some real potential. Some of the hacks I've seen crop up since November have been nothing short of astounding. And as a basic premise, being able to control something without a controller sounds absolutely fantastic. But I don't like it for gaming. And I'm pretty sure at this point that I never will.

It's unfortunate to say, but I just don't see a reason to break out the Kinect and hook it up.