Best Xbox 360 250GB Console with Kinect Deals

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List Price: $399.99
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I purchased this system to replace my ailing XBOX 360 Premium and to get the Kinect along with it. I was skeptical of the Kinect technology at first, but after using it I can safely say that it's fun to use, but it has a few downsides which I'll explain below. Now, I'm going to talk about the three different parts of this bundle separately.

1) The XBox 360 S

Nothing much new here--it's an XBox 360, but smaller. Still, I should mention that, in the short time that I've owned the system, I haven't yet experienced any of the issues that plagued my previous 360 systems, such as lockups and the dreaded red ring of death (which is now a Red Eye of Doom on the XBox 360 S). There are also a few minor differences. The air vent is located on the side (or the top, if you mount it horizontally), the buttons are touch-sensitive and don't have to be pressed in, the system makes pleasant ringtone-like sounds when you turn it on and off or you eject discs, there's no faceplate to change out, the hard drive has plenty of room, and the system has a spiffy, shiny black finish. And of course, it has a specialized port in the back reserved exclusively for the Kinect sensor. There's really not much else to say, and certainly nothing to complain about.

2) The Kinect Sensor

This is probably the most significant part of the review, and for obvious reasons. Microsoft is betting a ton of money that Kinect will take off like a rocket and be supremely popular on the marketplace, but how good is it really? Well, it's a fairly large device for starters, and it's strongly suggested that you not mess with it very much whether it's on or off. The reason for this is that the Kinect has a little motor in it that gives it the ability to tilt and up down, and if the user attempts to tilt it himself he might damage that motor. You should also place it in a stable location, and I certainly wouldn't recommend mounting it on top of your TV unless you have a special mount for it. Finally, make sure your playing area has plenty of space because you're going to need it.

Anyhow, enough of the safety PSA's. How well does it work? Well, the Kinect, from what I've read, basically projects thousands of little infrared dots all over your room, and uses their points of impact along with the camera to determine your position in the room and what you're doing. It usually works fairly well, I found. Characters would follow my own movements (at least to the degree allowed by the game), which was neat to watch, and despite my concerns about the Kinect lagging behind my movements it wasn't really noticeable. There are issues, though. The tracking was not as accurate as it could have been, and with some games I've been having trouble getting the Kinect to accurately interpret my movements. For instance, sometimes on Dance Central I could swear I'm doing a dance move in exactly the same way as the onscreen character, but for some reason the game just doesn't recognize it. Another example would be on Sonic Free Riders, where a certain move called a "Kick-Off," which gives you a temporary boost of speed, seems to go off on its own whether or not I actually wanted it to. It's not as bad as I might be making it sound, though. Most games should work really well with the Kinect.

The Kinect can also be used to navigate the XBox Live menu, but personally, I preferred to just use the controller because it's quicker and easier. Manipulating the menu by gesture is slow, owing to the fact that your hand must hover over your selections for about a second, and even with voice commands you may find that the Kinect doesn't always interpret what you say correctly.

Finally, you might be wondering what kinds of games you can play on this. Well, thus far there's racing games, pet-raising games, exercise games, and mini-game collections (like Kinect Adventures, see below). At this time, however, I'm really wondering if that's all the Kinect is capable of doing. I mean, you stand in front of the sensor, you move your arms and legs around, and that's it. It's not very complicated, but there also isn't a lot you can do with it. Would a hardcore game like God of War or Halo, which require complex commands and a high degree of precision, even be possible with the Kinect? If that doesn't bother you and you aren't interested in those kinds of games anyway, more power to you. You'll likely have a lot of fun with the system in spite of everything, it's great for motivating yourself to exercise.

Oh, and before I end this part of the review, I'll just mention that some future Kinect games may use the Xbox 360 controller, though at this time I have no idea how well that will work.

3) Kinect Adventures

I have to wonder why they didn't pack Kinect Sports in with the Kinect rather than this game. I thought including a sports mini-game compilation was a motion control tradition or something! But seriously, Kinect Adventures is a fun game and it makes for a pretty good tech demo for the Kinect, which is the most you could ask for when it comes to a game like this. Most of the issues with the Kinect that I mentioned earlier don't have much impact on this game, as the body-tracking seems accurate enough to play all of the mini-games without any issues--well, except for one particular game, where I had trouble using my hands to reach out to block some water leaks appearing to either side of me. That's it, though. Aside from that, the biggest problem with Kinect Adventures is probably that it doesn't have very many mini-games on it, and there's only so many times you can play them before you get bored. So, just as a suggestion, if you go to pick up the Kinect or a 360 bundle with the Kinect in it, go pick up at least one other game for the system so that you have more variety.

To wrap things up, if all you want is to play some casual games and you don't want to worry about complex controls, the Kinect is a good choice. The Kinect sensor's pretty intuitive and easy to use and the launch line-up is pretty strong. While it's not anywhere near as accurate as Sony's Move controller, it does do full-body motion control much better and it's probably a better choice for the casual gamer. Now let's just hope Microsoft can follow through on this strong debut and keep putting out quality titles for the Kinect!

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I have owned numerous xbox 360's since they came out. I Started with the original 20 gig, and after having some issues with some accessories with it (the intercooler i bought literally melted into the back of my 360) so i upgraded to the Elite. I loved the console, and never once had an issue with it. but there were always some negative things about it, including the noise, the size of the power brick, and how hot the games would get at times while playing. I only bought this at midnight but I can say its great so far, and you save 50 bucks by getting this bundle.

What i love so far:

love the new look. my elite was black, but the console was bulky. the new one has a sleek design and is more compact.

The touch sensitive buttons are cool, you don't even have to press.

The power brick is much smaller, and leaves way more room.

The xbox is much more quiet

3 USB hookups is great

250 gig hard drive is all i will ever need.

The kinect is just amazing. works extremely well, recognized my every movement and voice command. the is definitely next gen gaming. Its just awesome. already used video chat, and the camera actually follows you around, whether you go up or down or anywhere. i cannot wait to use it more

Best Deals for Xbox 360 250GB Console with Kinect

I got the Kinect today along with 2 additional games, Dance Central and Your Shape Fitness Evolved. I was a little skeptical about the interface but after using it for a couple of hours I am convinced. Being a fit person I did not expect the physical aspect to be that challenging but I was wrong. Everything you do in the games involves movement, even making menu selections consumes calories.

I was surprised by how well the Kinect tracked my movements but I'm guessing it varies from game to game. One workout with Your Shape Fitness had my legs burning and that is without using weights.

Honestly, even though I was having fun, I had to stop playing because I was too tuckered out. This is definitely an incentive to get in shape.

Honest reviews on Xbox 360 250GB Console with Kinect

Having been gaming since the days of the Atari 2600, the Xbox with the Xbox Kinect are without a doubt the coolest advancement in video games ever. My whole family, from kids to grandparents, are able to play the games and enjoy them, being able to play and watch movies without digging for the remote is awesome and we really like the playing together. Setup was really simple and straight-forward and we were playing games in just a few minutes.

We own a Wii, and while it is okay, the level of involvement and engagement just can't compare to the Xbox Kinect. Since there is no remote for Kinect you never have to worry about whether or not the batteries are charged. More importantly the games are definitely more fun and addictive. Get the Xbox and Kinect you'll be glad you did.

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I only found out about Kinect a couple of weeks ago. After reading some of the preliminary reviews, I was intrigued enough that I pre-ordered it almost immediately. Being a gadget nerd, I ordered this bundle despite already having an Xbox360, because I wanted the larger hard drive, the quietness of the new console (whisper quiet!!!!!), and the built-in wireless. The new design is pretty sweet too. Overall a fantastic console. I'd recommend upgrading.

Kinect? ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!!! I have read countless reviews on Kinect. And the more I read the more leery I was getting about my pre-order. Most of the reviews complained about lag, or the space requirement, or that the games were nothing more than regurgitated Wii games, and how every game title ever developed wasn't re-developed for Kinect on launch day. WTF?

Unplugged the old Xbox360, plugged in the power supply to the new 360, plugged in the HDMI cable (no more adapter required), plugged in the digital audio cable, set the Kinect under my tv, plugged it into the Xbox, turned it on and it's go time. A few minutes of setup was all it took, setting up the wireless connection, entering your Xbox Live info, and a few update downloads. Very painless process.

We moved the coffee table out of the way and moved the couch back a couple of feet. Sorry, if you're living in a $2,000 a month, 400 sq. ft. NY studio, this isn't the game for you. But fortunately for Microsoft, most people think having to use your kitchen sink as your nightstand isn't acceptable living conditions, so I completely dismiss the space requirement "problem". The front of the couch is normally right at 8 feet from the TV, but because two of us were going to be playing, we moved it back a couple of more feet so that we would be standing at the 8 foot mark. It worked perfectly, and actually for some of the games we played we moved as close as maybe 3-4 feet from the TV. So I think you could easily cut the 8 feet down to 6. 6-8 feet is recommended in the documentation.

We played Kinect Adventures first, the game that comes in the box. Wii-like? Yes. Fun? Soooooo much more fun than any Wii game I've played. That Kinect can track your every move -your hands, head, arms, feet, hips, EVERYTHING -is just amazing. No controller can detect whether you're moving side-to-side, or backwards and forwards, or squatting or jumping while at the same time moving your arms. It's just brilliant how well Kinect works.

One game in particular really shows the potential of this thing. You're in an underwater tank and crazy fish keep poking holes in the glass. You have to plug these holes to keep the water from coming in. In some cases I had to use both hands, both feet, and my head to plug all of the holes...yes, all at the same time. The girlfriend and I had a blast with it. The other games were just as fun.

I think Your Shape best highlighted what Kinect is capable of. You are an infrared replication of yourself on the screen. The shape of my body was precise (unfortunately) and it even picked up the logo on the t-shirt I was wearing. There are numerous exercises you can do and you follow along with an instructor. You have to stay in sync with the intructor to earn points and advance to higher levels and the Kinect does an amazing job of following your every movement and comparing it to the instructor. Not spreading your feet far enough apart? It'll tell you. Not keeping the right rhythm? It'll tell you. It is so much more immersive than anything I've played on the Wii and I can now actually see myself doing Your Shape instead of going to the gym. It's really fantastic.

A lot of the reviews complained about lag, meaning it takes a bit for the Kinect to detect your movements and get them on the screen. Is there lag? Yes, as measured in fractions of a second. Is it noticeable? Only if you're specifically focusing on it. But it's not noticeable during actual game play because you're focusing on the game. And just like with the Wii, you quickly learn to compensate for that fraction of a second difference. It's an absolute non-issue!!!!!

All-in-all, having played three titles (Kinect Adventures, Kinect Sports, and Your Shape) over a span of a couple of hours, the girlfriend and I were exhausted, exhillarated, and amazed at the experience. My girlfriend, being a typical girl, whose life isn't defined by gadgets, even posted on FB that the Kinect really is AMAZING! It more than exceeded our expectations and I couldn't be happier with the purchase. And I am absolutely ecstatic about what Kinect means for the future of gaming. Fully immersive Call of Duty? Yeah, it's coming!