Kinect can be a very restrictive peripheral. Having a hands-free gaming experience is great and all, but the distance requirements to make Kinect work properly aren’t for everyone. Microsoft recommends players to stand a good six to eight feet away from the camera for an optimal performance. The problem is that a lot of people don’t have extremely spacious living rooms like the people we see in Kinect advertisements. Real consumers live in apartments or dorm rooms where that much space isn’t available. Nyko believes it has just the solution to Kinect’s spacing problem.

Last week, a report from Eurogamer said Microsoft was in the process of quadrupling Kinect’s accuracy. It would achieve this by increasing Kinect’s resolution to 640×480. The report also said Microsoft was experimenting with a type of compression technology that would increase Kinect’s data output to the Xbox 360. It would be great if this were true, but unfortunately Microsoft has dispelled this rumor.

The last time we wrote about snakebyte, the company was selling a Final Fantasy themed PC controller to be used in Final Fantasy XIV. The controller was modeled after snakebyte’s line of PS3 with a few changes. Today (November 18, 2010) snakebyte announced it will start selling PlayStation Move accessories based on its own design.

Kinect is a success. Some retailers have been constantly selling out of Kinect while we are bombarded by advertisements galore. It all paid off in the end as Microsoft is no doubt proud to announce Kinect has sold 1 million Kinect units in 10 days. For those playing along, Kinect has been available in North America for 11 days. At this rate, Microsoft is poised to reach 5 million Kinect units sold by the end of 2010.

How many times have you gone through everyday life and saw something awesome? Imagine how many great moments are going un-photographed. Carrying a digital camera in plain view into a store or other public areas can make you look like a creeper. But now there’s a way for you to capture what’s going on around you without suspicion. Today (November 4, 2010) ThinkGeek announced the Electronic Spy Camera Shirt, the shirt for James Bond in you.

Kinect was released today in the United States. Times Square was jam- packed with people waiting in line to get their hands on Microsoft’s controller-less peripheral. Once set-up in the home, Kinect has eyes and ears on everything within range. Since Kinect is attached to a console connected to the internet, it’s understandable if people are concerned with what Kinect is doing behind the scenes. No one wants Kinect taking photos or audio of them when they aren’t aware. Microsoft says this will never happen.

Kinect is expected to be a major addition to every family’s living room. But just like any piece of technology, Kinect can be a little touchy. That’s why Microsoft produced a video explaining how to properly set up Kinect in your home. It’s a little daunting the number of things Microsoft recommends you don’t do. Kinect’s complexity could be more than what the average consumer is expecting. Let’s go through Microsoft’s sound advice for setting up Kinect.

PlayStation Move was released yesterday (September 17, 2010) in retail stores around the United States. I’ve been waiting to get some uninterrupted personal time with the controller for a while now. At around 8am Friday morning I headed out to the store to pick up Move. After some digging through the back room, the sales associate brought out the Move and the Navigation Controller. Not really seeing a need for the Navigation Controller right now, I opted for just Move. After some employee comments about how Move is just a Wii ripoff, I started on my way back home.

Microsoft has pulled the curtain back on its latest Xbox 360 Kinect bundle. This bundle will be available for a limited time on November 4, 2010 for $399. There are now a couple Kinect bundles to satisfy the hard drive needs of just about every new Xbox 360 owner.

This past Labor Day weekend the Kinect Tour visited Indianapolis, IN for Ribfest 2010. As the name suggests, there were a lot of juicy ribs being consumed at the festival. Kinect was a great fit for Ribfest because no one had to worry about wiping sticky barbecue sauce off a controller. I guess you could say Kinect is the only way to eat ribs and play videogames at the same time.