so the big question is :

Are Dance Central, voice recognition and "minority report" navigation sufficient to define an "unique experience" for the consumers ?

Because those 3 things cant be found on the Wii/PS3 right now ...

You have a real point there, is it setting itself apart enough, is it appealing enough to the crowd they're marketing to, lots of the ideas technophiles will cream over but don't always have the average joe in mind if you ask me, for that matter look at Nintendo's philosophy with the Wii remote, they said they wanted to design a product the average user would feel natural using, pointing a remote at the TV is a normal and natural thing and its menu system is designed around that.  

Probably what will appeal to the non gamers the most is the controlling things with your voice, I could see that as being natural and with the non gamer in mind, using your hands, not so much.

Well I don't know what Guitar Hero has do with anything. I mean the Kinect is a perhiperal that can enjoyed with a lot of genres. Guitar Hero's plastic guitar was only useful for Guitar Hero games. They released additional perhipals that were expensive and once again only good for music games. I just don't understand what Guitar Hero has to do with anything or why you would even compare it to Kinect.

Hmmm... well it takes hours to complete a game like NSMBW. Does that means its not a casual game? I mean you gotta sit there for hours using that Wiimote like a joystick to complete it. Most games are pick up and play thanks to something called save points. I hate discussions about core and casual.

Anyhow, I'm just saying lets not pretend you save a $100 and get the same experience on the Wii. The 360 has different motion technology and a very different library of games.

Then how about stating that with 100% less attitude  

Though the technology is different they're making really similar games, I mean exactly the same in many cases and they try to control them the same way you play them on Wii especially boxing and bowling on Kinect.  

And its not just about checkpoints its about the game itself being simple and easy to get into you seemed to skip right over the question of good quality non Kinect games on the 360 that are pick up and play casual friendly, checkpoints doesn't make controls and game complexities any less difficult for non gamers.  Example since you want to bring up Mario.

NSMB Wii - D pad - movement - 1 - run/action 2- jump, Halo - left joystick - movement - right joystick - aim - right trigger shoot... well I'm not going to spell it out theres a lot for Halo, Super Mario Galaxy - joystick - movement - d-pad camera - A - jump - B - Crouch  - movement - spin.

Which one sells the best and easiest for the non gamer to get into? Why New Super Mario Brothers of course! 

The interface elements have been mentioned in a few reviews, and based on experience with the PS3 Eye I worry that it's a case of something that feels cool at first that's actually the less efficient way to do something.

My issue with most gesture based interfaces - and I've experienced them in business settings, too - is that they tend to actually be slower.  This means at first it seems novel and fun, but then it starts to dawn on you that you're actually not using the best tool for the job.

I really like the concepts in Kinect, but I am of a mind that from a gameplay perspective they may turn out to be a little more limiting than Move/Wii while as an interface, until the get voice recognition working everywhere properly rather than a few select places (I don't mean geographically I mean all menu levels) I think the reality is that in many cases you'd actually be quicker with a gamepad.

For example the whole wait a second or two for your selection to be recognized is slow.  The Eye on PS3 has the same issues in a few games I've tried.  1 second or more to make this selection, then another second here, then another then I'm playing, whereas is I navigate with the controller I can make all the selections in 1 second or less.

Still, it's early days and both Kinect and - perhaps more importantly the SW behind it - is version 1.0 so I was expecting some form of teething issues.

It's interesting how Fox, plus some newspaper reviews I've read are so clearly not critical reviews and come close to simply being adverts for the system.  Not saying they are bought, but It's interesting, playing devil's advocate, to note more technical reviews for Kinect tend towards mixed/good whereas less technical reviews are gushing.  So perhaps we're wrong and the gushing reviews are more how an average joe will react to Kinect.

Unfortunately I'm far to technically aware, as an ex-programmer, so see it that way.  I see both the promise and the warts - just as I do with Move and do with Wii.

Eh I don't trust many of the reviews for any hardware, I mean it's obvious product placement, Wii was placed on Oprah and talk shows for a reason, same goes for Move and Kinect.  It's hard enough to trust a lot of gaming reviews now, but with so much money being thrown around by all companies it's hard to tell which are bought ads and what are legit opinions of those playing.  

For me it comes down to what I experienced and what I get from the people I talk to, I don't work at Gamestop anymore but I still talk to a lot of my old customers, many of them come and hunt me down lol but many of them you could classify as that mainstream market everyone is targeting now and I feel their opinions are far more valid. 

Interesting review MGT2000. If they want the casual audience with Kinect (which is necessary to drive higher 360 sales) then the the lag issues either need to be rendered irrelevant (Dance Central) or made easy for the player to compensate.

There's lag with Move, but in Sports Champs it's short enough or it's managed by the game such that I subconsciously compensated immediately on first playing the game to the point that I basically don't perceive any lag, despite it definitely being there. One way to aid player compensation while creating the perception that there's no/little lag is to provide visual cues to the player about when an action (jumping/ducking) should be taken. E.g. in Sports Champions in volley ball the game puts a green halo around the ball indicating the optimum time to take your action (dig/set/smash). The green halo appears slightly before you'd naturally take a swing at the ball, hence the game is getting you to compensate for the lag, but your perception in the moment is that there's no lag because you've never missed the ball from timing it wrongly because of the lag.

If Kinect games trigger you to take those actions a split second before you'd take them in a real world setting then lag won't cause any frustration. If those cues aren't given then some people might get frustrated with getting the timing right.

Are non gamers buying games and consoles? That would make them gamers I think. Once again, I hate casual and core discussions.

Told my sister about it yesterday.  I'm getting it for her for Christmas.  I don't have the room for Kinect in my man room but I still want to give it a try.  I doubt she will mind the lag and she loves stuff like Dance Dance Revolution (360) and Mario Party (Wii).  Hopefully, she will get Xbox Live and we can talk with her using Kinect and me using my Live Vision Camera.

You have a "man" room.  Zap let's me down.

Also, please stick up some impressions if you do get Kinect, particularly on space.  I have 2 rooms I could maybe get it working in but it would be very tight so I'm curious just how forgiving it is in real life.