On Thursday of last week, the gaming world got what they had been waiting for. Microsoft lauds Kinect as the next big leap in video game control (Sort of). Formerly referred to as Project Natal, we got our first hands on with the depth sensing motion camera at San Diego Comic Con and the experience left us wanting more. It also left us wondering how the game would play in a real world environment, not just a perfectly set up demo room.

After a surprisingly quick setup right out of the box, Kinect is ready to go. But there few things of note which Microsoft has been fairly up front about. The first is that the Kinect needs room to work. A player must stand about six feet back from the Kinect sensor, preferably eight to ten if multiple players will be gaming together.

Otherwise a player’s full body isn’t recognized and the camera will spend time recalibrating itself. The other is that once you have started playing with a Kinect game, expect to place yourself in front of the screen for a longer period of time.

If you plan on walking back and forth between minigames you will only cause yourself hassle as each time you walk away, the camera will have to reconfigure. Finally, there is a minimum height requirement for Kinect. Players under three feet tall won’t be able to use the system.

Make sure to keep that in mind when it comes to purchasing Kinect for Christmas for smaller kids as it could potentially lead to a horrible Christmas morning when little Johnny finds out he is too short to play with his Kinectimals or there is only a three foot space between the television and the edge of the coach.

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