Xbox 360 250GB Console with Kinect Sensor: Includes Kinect Adventures

Kinect is a great invention and very useful product. I was not expecting it to be very responsive on movements, but believe me its very responsive and never fails if you setup it correctly. The camera in Kinect does not capture very good quality of images while you're playing game... For XBOX 360 console, as i did not buy any other game yet, i had to download demos, using XBOX Live Services.. and i am very impressed with graphics and quality of the games.I did not have 3.5mm jack converters so i had to play the xbox games without sound. but have ordered them online and will receive soon. I will recommend if you are planning to use your stereo speakers which has no RCA support, buy RCA to 3.5mm Jack converter and a socket to socket coupler for 3.5mm jack to enable sound with XBOX.It also includes a wireless controller. Which was a surprise for me. Will definitely recommend to others and specially PS3 and Nintendo developers/engineers to go on this path... :)And its hard to play long with Kinect, as yesterday i played it first time, and could not play more than 30/45 minutes... you will also be tired if you will have to jump 30 times and sit down and stand up again 30 times .. you will definitely be tired. I am not saying all games are like this, but the game i liked in Adventures DVD requires you to do such thing.

I heard about this coming out last year and was excited it really was real!We bought this for the whole family - 4 kids under 11yrs and us two (Mum and Dad)for this Christmas coming. Having pre-ordered it September and watched everywhere for the price to go up and down, which it did, we still got a bargain. this and 3 more kinects game separate, AND on top Amazon gave us refunds after buying for price changes???! not complaining thou :)Anyway.... when it came (in the evening and we at last put all the kids to bed) we opened it and had to 'make sure it was in good working order' the only confusion (as I am more of a 'plug and play' instead of read the instructions first, person) was to set it up and start you have to install the disk to (I cant remember the words exactly) initiate the Xbox and Kinect, only to find out its the Adventures game disk too!!I set it up with profiles so the family can get a quick start on Christmas day, and then me and the husband had a razz on Adventures. WOW it was fun (now I myself and not a terribly active person, and found it boringly easy to cheat with the Wii control), we were jumping and kicking and embarrassing ourselves. It took pictures of us (we were umm, in a slight state of undress LOL) in mid-air!MAJOR GLITCH is we have had to rearrange the furniture in the living room so we can actually play it, as the picture on the instructions say sofa-to-tv 6ft but in reality, you have to be behind the sofa WITHOUT the sofa!!! :( bit of a shame, I liked the furniture where it was!I can not wait till Xmas to see ALL of their faces when we open it. My 3 and 6 yr old daughters are just going to love the animal kinect game (which I have been reading will be fantastic for them).BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT

As an existing owner of an older xbox 360 I wanted the new slim one anyway since it's meant to be "whisper quiet" instead of the hoover like properties of the old one that negated ever using it as any kind of media centre as MS would like you to believe.Review of Xbox Slim (250GB):-----------------------Overall, I really like the new version - it's definitely quieter but NOT whisper quiet - especially when turning a disc. Install the game to the Hard drive (hence why I got the 250gb one) and it's a lot lot better. You can still hear it though when playing you don't notice. When playing a DVD and there is a quiet moment I do notice it - though barely - more than my old Sony DVD player this xbox is also replacing!I like the new front panel touch sensitive areas though when messing around with the cables at the back I have turned it on and open the tray by accident - it's that sensitive.Since my old DVD player what an cheap upscaling one with a HDMI connection and because I already had an Apple TV using the other HDMI I have always used the XBOX with component outputs - good enough but not quite as good as HDMI I am led to believe. So, with getting rid of the DVD player and using the xbox instead (as it's just about quiet enough now) I can use the HDMI and that is better. OVerall, it's a lot better connected at the back and also includes an internal wireless N network adaptor which is better than spending £50 on the peripheral for the old one - though I had it wired to the router anyway myselfOverall 8/10 for the new XBOX thoughKinect Sensor:-----------Firstly should you believe the hype and the TV adverts aimed at mums etc? Well, kind of is the best answer I can give:The Yes's:1 - yes, your body is the controller2 - yes, voice commands work in the hub - quite cool actually3 - yes, you can swipe through menus in a futuristic manner though I hope they adopt the Dance Central "swipe" method rather than hold you hand until the timer completes option employed in the console right now4 - yes - it DOES work5 - yes, it is great fun and, in my opinion, better than the Wii already - the Sports one is great6 - yes we had a great laugh and the buzz was BETTER than the Wii when we first got that7 - irrespective of room size requirements it is quite forgiving in that even if you "only" have 6 feet we still managed to have 2 players compete in Sports without a problem though my 10 year old kept moving totally out of the space through being a dufus!I don't think you can under estimate how great not requiring a controller at all really is until you've tried it.The No's:1 - No, you can't use the Kinect in a small room - you really do need the 6 feet it suggests - we even used 9 feet by pushing furniture back and it still asked for more in the Kinect Sports (it said we were "good" but if we could make more room it would be "better")2 - No, it's not as easy as they make out at first - it takes some getting used to - especially the Kinect Wave to get it's attention - we all struggled to get that right and still can't half the time! Once we have it's attention though it's fairly easy to use3 - Launch titles are weak on the whole. Dance Central is good but it does NOT have side-by-side 2 player competitions which is a shame - you take turns. Kinectimals my kids love but I just wanted to throw up it was so Disney/cutesy - there again - the Kinect is aimed at "family fun" - within 2 hours I was yearning to get back to a controller with Fable III and COD though! The Sports title is my favourite so far though.As for longevity - who knows? THe Wii gathered dust for weeks at a time before being "let out" - will the Kinect be the same? I don't think so - firstly I play Xbox several times a week for Battlefield/COD/Fable (ie proper gaming) so it's more in view so to speak. Secondly I think the games out now and being developed will have more longevity than the standard party play Wii ones - the graphics are a world apart, as is the sound - I just think the overall look and feel is much more polished.However, since we have a wall mounted TV and I don't want the Kinect cable trailing down the wall we store the Kinect next to the xbox and then pull it out to play games - out of sight out of mind etc - will this reduce the amount of time we use it? Maybe.Overally, I do think that the Kinect will get used once or twice a week at most - and for drunken fun with friends of course!Value For Money - if you have an XBOX already then yes, it's value for money. If you don't? Ask yourself this - will you be playing OTHER games or do you just want family fun? If it's the latter then I would personally go for a 2nd hand Wii off the usual auction site! It's a lot cheaper.If you intend to play proper games (ie controller ones) then yes, get yourself and Xbox, Kinect and away you go.Finally - as for using the whole thing as a media centre - hmmm - not impressed primarily because there is no easy off the shelf solution to iTunes. Many people have music and films etc on itunes and the XBOX requires a Windows Media Centre set up - still - if you have that then this is great too.Zune downloads for films is about the same as itunes - stupidly expensive - grab your DVD's off Amazon and copy them to your PC and then stream them - far better solution and cheaper!Kinect Score - 7.5/10 - should do better if they bring out more immersive, grown up games - some are supposedly coming out in 2011Final Note On Amazon-------------------Over the course of the last 12 months I have become decidedly concerned about the Amazon's policy to small businesses. Both those that sell on their Amazon Market Place and those that try and compete with them. Amazon have become the new Walmart in my opinion and show very little respect for small businesses in this country. They constantly sell products at a loss to compete - as soon as the competition is gone (usual bankrupt) they put their prices up. I have also seen them expand into so many different markets you have to ask yourself when will they actually stop, if ever?In regards to the "market place" they actively encourage businesses to sell on their site, charge upwards of 18% commissions, and then, amazingly, Amazon themselves start to sell these businesses best selling products - usually a lot cheaper (read at a loss!) than the business they invited into their marketplace in the first place.Finally, I now understand that Amazon are actually not registered in the UK as a UK business so avoid paying the usual corporation taxes that all UK businesses must pay on their profits. They are registered in Luxembourg where taxes are a lot lower. Don't get me wrong, they are not alone in this tax avoidance scheme - you can add Apple and Google into that little mix too. I believe the G paid only around £1m in corp taxes last year - if they were "based" in the UK properly they would have paid 100 times more than that based on their profits.So - why am I using my review to state these opinions? Simple - I suggest you support your LOCAL store more - visit stores like Game**ation, Blockbusters or others that have stuck to the market they excel in - rather than support what was ONCE an amazing book store that has now become, in my opinion, way too big for it's boots!

First of all, this XBOX with Kinect reached me in India in great condition thanks for solid packaging.. I ordered it from Amazon UK especially to test the shipment and to cut the cost. We see same Xbox 250 kinect sold at more than 550 USD here in India. This is the first time i have played XBOX... and my kid really enjoyed it.. We hope it will account for my weight loss in few months too. This is simply the best console because you PLAY really...Not through any machine controllers...... As everybody knows, we need to purchase kinect games separately which is bit off a pain but free Demos came in to save me.. Thrill..Genuine..Perfect Packaging.. Perfect Shipping...Complete Satisfaction..... This will help me buy more from Amazon UK. Anybody who can ship laptops to India at reasonable shipping rates, please contact us at info@hiyatechsolutions.com