Why you should use Xbox Kinect as an entrepreneur

Kinect as inspiration for entrepreneurs was my point after trying Xbox Kinect in 2011. I was excited about the family’s experience with the games and a way of using technology that felt new to me.

Kinect as inspiration: A different user experience

I hadn’t been much of a gamer, but I was curious to try playing with body movements rather than a normal controller.

I talk about the children playing with an animal on screen and adult guests getting absorbed in dance and sports games. It was their engagement and enjoyment that made a big impression on me.

I also found it easy to get started. That’s my experience with the equipment and games we had back then, not a test of current products.

What did it have to do with business?

The recording was interrupted by a phone call. In the second part of the recording I continue the explanation: As a business owner, I wanted to understand what both children and adults were starting to use.

My thinking wasn’t that every company should use Kinect in its business. But if you never try new technologies, you may miss changes in customers’ expectations and possibilities.

A break with something completely different

I also liked that the games got us out of our chairs and gave us a chance to laugh together. For someone who worked a lot at a computer, it felt like a different kind of break.

The two parts of the review describe my enthusiasm in January 2011. The videos’ technical descriptions and predictions are my statements from back then.

My central encouragement was to be curious and try something that changes your idea of what technology can be used for.

Also read about keeping your creativity going.

I’m not a gamer, but I’m impressed

This is a slightly unconventional review. What the hell does Microsoft Xbox Kinect have to do with business? Not much at first glance, but there’s a point for those of us running businesses.

I’ve rarely been so impressed by something. I’ve played a little before, but I’m not much of a gamer. Once a game grabs me, I can spend loads of time on it and afterwards sit there thinking: What did I actually get out of that? So I’ve kept away from it a little.

I hadn’t had an Xbox before either. But the idea of Kinect fascinated me: A little bar in front of the TV detects you, so you can play without a normal controller. In a driving game, for example, you hold your hands as though holding a steering wheel and steer that way.

I’d tried PlayStation’s camera before. That was fun too, but I found it became inaccurate if the camera moved or the dog walked in front. When Microsoft said Kinect could make it work, I wanted to try it.

So I bought the equipment and five or six different games a couple of weeks before this recording in January 2011. It was easy to install: Put it in front of the TV, connect the cables, press a button and get started.

My daughter, her friend and a tiger cub

I bought one of the games for the children. There was a little tiger cub on an island. My seven-year-old daughter and her friend of the same age stood playing with it, and I thought the graphics on our HD screen looked incredibly good.

The animal needed a name, and when the children called it, it came. They could move a hand over it and see the fur part as though stroking a real animal. They could teach it tricks and watch it develop.

The most impressive thing was almost the children themselves. They smiled and laughed and also got a little angry with the animal. Their reactions made it seem very lifelike. I stood there thinking: I can’t believe playing with something on a screen can feel like that.

I’d also heard about an update where your avatar could reflect facial expressions. That was something I said I’d heard, not something I presented as a documented feature test. What I experienced myself was that neither the dog nor other people walking in front of the screen confused the game noticeably.

Fitness and a New Year’s Eve when everyone got hooked

I’d just bought a fitness game where I stood in front of the screen and saw a representation of my body. The game asked about or used information including height, age and goals and could put together a training programme. I was impressed by how it was made.

In the video, I get enthusiastic and talk loosely about body measurements and body-fat percentages. That’s my experience and description from back then, not a verified measurement of what the equipment could tell you about the body.

We had guests on New Year’s Eve. Bringing out a games console at a party might sound a little dull, but people wanted to see it. Before we knew it, everyone was completely absorbed.

The dance game reminded me of one I’d tried on PlayStation, but I thought it was much better. This involved the whole body: Arms, feet and jumps. People screamed with laughter.

The game took photos along the way, and afterwards showed highlights of the dancing. It almost seemed able to pick the moments when you looked most ridiculous. We finished with an Olympics including javelin throwing and hurdles.

I mentioned you could share the pictures, but I’d spare you the embarrassing ones from our evening for now. Afterwards, though, several guests started telling me they’d bought an Xbox. Now grown-ups aged 30–40 were sending me pictures of their javelin records. They’d gone completely mad.

A good interface and an annoying phone call

At the time of recording, I could barely think of anything negative about my Kinect experience. It had impressed me almost as much as an iPhone, and that takes a lot.

Normally, I can be pretty critical of Microsoft’s interfaces. But here, I actually thought they’d done well. It was easy to get started, and everything felt well thought through.

Ironically, my own iPhone recording was interrupted by a phone call just as I was about to explain the business point. That’s why the video is in two parts. In the continuation, I complain about Apple: I was filming, and then the call stopped the whole recording. Steve Jobs got a few choice words.

I’d also removed a frame from the phone that I’d bought in the Apple store. I suspected it had something to do with the clicking and crackling that had affected previous recordings. That was my suspicion, not something I’d proved.

Kinect as inspiration for understanding where technology is heading

Your business doesn’t necessarily need to become three-dimensional and virtual, and you don’t necessarily need to use Kinect directly in it. But as a business owner, I think it’s important to keep up with what children, young people and adults actually use.

If you don’t understand what people are talking about or where technology is heading, it also becomes harder to position your business. Then new possibilities in an online shop may suddenly catch you off guard while others have already spotted them.

You don’t have to jump on every latest thing all the time. But if something feels as convincing and different as Kinect or the iPhone did to me, I want to try it myself.

I get annoyed by the know-it-all comment: Can your smart phone make calls too? That might get a laugh at the Rotary club, but I think you’re missing the future if that becomes your attitude to new possibilities. Play with the technology before dismissing it. You can find more of my experiences of developing a business in Iværksætter til jeg dør.

Get out of your chair and laugh with your colleagues

There’s another point for those of us who work a lot: It’s great sometimes to do something completely different and switch your brain off. If I’ve been at the computer all day, another game in my chair isn’t necessarily what I need.

With Kinect, I stand up, jump, dance and get my heart rate up. It’s a completely different way to take a break.

If a few of you share an office, you can also play against each other. I mention racing games and Olympics as examples. For me, it’s a great way to move your body and laugh together.

My enthusiasm in early 2011 was so great that I called Kinect one of the most important business tools after Twitter. Of course, that was my very enthusiastic assessment. The point is curiosity, new user experiences and a break that involves your body too.

Best wishes, Martin