Personally, I'm a big fan of “active gaming”, i.e. forcing players to get up from their chairs, couches and beds and start actively making things happen on the screen by waving their arms and legs, move, jump and whatnot, in order to improve their health, even if not achieve the best possible score in the end. I first tried out Eyetoy, now already obsolete and utterly rudimentary movement detection software, which used a camera to detect environment changes and transfer them to the screen. The problem of this system was that the movement could be of any sort, as the only thing that mattered was that the camera detects change in the assigned key pixel. Although rather basic, Eyetoy did open a new chapter, that was consequently taken over and dominated ever since by Nintendo and their Wii. I first tasted the addiction of Wii a few years ago, at the CeBIT fair, months before the official launch. My impressions were such that I took my care on a ride over a thousand kilometres long just to get my sample of Wii. That was shortly followed by damaging the furniture, ceiling, even other people by Wiimote. All this considered, you can imagine my joy when I was notified that I'd have the chance to test Microsoft's Kinect (once known as Project Natal).

Nintendo Wii cradled itself where it remains to this day, improved its Wiimote with Wii motion Plus, after which Sony and Microsoft presented their own products - Sony has, we're free to say, completely copied the Wii, although not before putting a coloured knob on top of it, making the controller look like an ice cream. Microsoft, on the other hand, presented their own vision of active gaming, but - without a controller! An advanced version of Eyetoy, one could say - a camera set on a plasma or LCD screen, recording your moves and interpreting them in-game. A good concept. However, what's it like in practice...?

If you take a look at Microsoft's promotional video, you'll see that Kinect is “a source of fun for the entire family and something that everyone was anxious to get to use” - the things you do in front of the screen are perfectly registered by Kinect and transferred to the screen instantaneously. This is the prejudice that I took with myself to the Xbox stand. Once there, of course, I was only able to try and take a glance at Kinect, surrounded by a sizeable group of people. All cutting-edge and remotely interesting titles were already occupied, a queue had already taken shape (although it was only the press day), and I was looking for an alternative route to get to try out Kinect. And so it happened that I noticed a lone and remote part of the stand with a Kinect, but with no people around it - only staff. I pounced upon the opportunity, making haste to the place without even thinking what the particular game being presented may be. After proudly saying “I'd like to try out Kinect”, the staff kindly responded “Of course, no problem”, followed by “Step on this X here, please”. Slightly unwilling to stop onto the X itself, knowing full well what happens to Wile E. Coyote in such situations, I stopped briefly, turning around to see which game I was testing at all, only to see the words: “Yoga and Fitness”. “Nooooo...” was the first thing to come to mind, but what must be done... The displayed character, standing in some sort of Japanese garden, kindly informed me that I'll “be much more relaxed and at ease after this twenty-minute training” (I was already scared to death at this point). And we're off... The character does a squat, I follow swiftly, but not my on-screen alter ego. I take a look at the staff, they return the kindness, let's have another go. Another squat, another nothing. “Let's reset!” “I couldn't have expected any better from Microsoft, now could I?”, I'm thinking to myself. After the reset, things are starting to move along - the on-screen character does a squat, I follow, a second later - so does my alter ego. The same move for the second time, the same reaction. I can see the staff smiling contentedly. Confused, I ask “But shouldn't the reaction be instantaneous?” “No, this is how it's supposed to be”, they say. OK, I continue with my fitness exercises and relaxation, exercises change, but the lag remains. It becomes  clear that things aren't exactly the way the promotional video presented them, and that commands are everything but instantaneous. Yoga may be the least of Microsoft's problems in this regard, but in games that require reflexes and any sort of swift reaction, and I'll not even mention fighting games, this one second will be of huge importance. Maybe this is the reason that all promotional games are the likes of bowling, petting animals etc.