Downloadable Game of the Week:
> Kinect Fun Labs
Xbox 360 (Kinect required)
• From: Good Science/Microsoft
• Rating: Everyone (comic mischief)
• Price: Free
When Microsoft first unveiled Kinect in 2009, it hinted at the possibility of some wild tricks that went well beyond simple motion control.
By itself, Kinect Fun Labs isn't a complete validation of that promise: As a collection of experimental gadgets, it isn't really a complete anything. But Labs provides the first opportunity consumers have to go hands on with some of the ideas it teased two years ago.
In "Kinect Build a Buddy", for instance, you can scan a real-world object (i.e. a toy) with the Kinect's camera and bring that object to life as a laughing, dancing, jumping being. "Bobblehead" and "Kinect Me", meanwhile, allow you to scan yourself and let the software transform your face, body and clothing into a bobblehead doll or video game avatar, respectively.
The software is far from foolproof - expect some surprising results in the hair department, especially if your lighting isn't ideal - but it works, and some of the surprising detail the camera picks up (including detailed facsimiles of your clothing's colour, patterns and images) is really cool.
Labs doesn't have any functionality beyond general amusement and the ability to download and share pictures and videos of your experiments online. But for the price of zero dollars, the simple thrill of putting your hands on the future is enough.
Considering how expandable Labs is - additional gadgets are marked as coming soon, with more almost certainly on the way - there's no telling how interesting this could get.
