Thoughts from the Xbox Kinect Sneak Peek in Denver

When I was working on the Brasstacks project for the Kappa Alpha Order, I got the chance to sit in a focus group of teenage boys discussing morals, college and media usage. We were running low-budget, so when I say "sit in," I don't mean I was behind one-way glass. I mean Dennis and I were moderating the group.

Me: So I know you guys text each other all day at school. But when you're at home and you want to have a conversation, do you use you cell phones or your landlines?

Boys: [Stunned silence]

Me: Oh, come on. You must have conversations sometimes.

Alpha Boy: Yeah, over our video game systems.

Me: You can talk over a video game system?

Boys: You are very old, extremely feeble and hopelessly out of touch. Yes, we use our video game systems to talk to one another. Geezer.

A few days later I dragged my ancient ass into Best Buy and demanded that someone school me on how the game systems worked. After 30 minutes of trying, the salesperson gave up. I half-considered buying a system so I could play Weapons of Fate. But the last thing I need is another hobby.

Fast forward to 2010. Someone from Xbox's public relations company found my blog and decided I was one of a couple dozen people who deserved an invite to a VIP sneak preview of Kinect for Xbox 360. I agreed with him. More people play video games than watch movies. It is my job to understand people. Yes, I absolutely had to go to this party.

So I did. It was last Thursday night at Fat Tail Gallery. Xbox had six big flat screens set up, each playing a different Kinect game. I made my way around, playing each one in turn. I trained a lion cub and drove a car. I scored not one, but two soccer goals. All without a controller. Kinect uses a Minority report interface. Your body - hands, feet, legs - becomes the controller. And while I felt a bit silly, it was hard to play anything without smiling.

Here's what I think about the system.

For kids, Kinect pretty much kicks Wii's ass: Young kids have problems moving the Wii controller while manipulating its buttons. Kinect fixes that, because there is no controller. You just run around like crazy and wave your arms.

For adults, Kinect is a bit better than Wii: If you play Wii for any length of time, you'll figure out that moving your body along with the controller is just for giggles. You can sit on the couch, flick the controller back and forth, and get the same effect. But you can't cheat Kinect. You actually have to get your knees kicking and in some cases dive for the floor. I have to assume that'll make Kinect a winner over PlayStation Move, too.

For gamers, Kinect is only fun after the fourth or fifth beer: I can't imagine Call of Duty: Black Ops on the Kinect. Maybe they'll figure it out. But all the games they had set up for us Thursday were totally games for kids 'n parties, and they were all designed specifically for Kinect. On the other hand, if I was a dad planning to buy a gaming station, I may choose Xbox with the Kinect add-on instead of Playstation. Then I could justify it to my wife by saying I got it for the kids. Just sayin'.

Xbox says that Kinect is a revolution "not just for your games, but for all of your entertainment." I am not sure that the ability to scroll through films or music using hand gestures justifies that claim. But Kinect is pretty damn fun.

What to read when you're not reading the One Show Annual

Tom Morello once said that his musical inspiration was a horse. Not sure what that means. My inspiration is Wonderpets. But I digress.

Seeking influences from outside your industry is a good thing. It prevents reflexivity and tunnel vision. It's not that you shouldn't be reading The Denver Egotist and AdFreak. You should. And here are a few other publications that might influence your work in ways you can't predict:

infosthetics.com: In modern communication, Information design is as creative and important as graphic design or art direction. This blog highlights some of the coolest and most creative ways to visualize the data points that make up our world.

Various style blogs: Working on American Crew, most of us at Karsh\Hagan try to keep up with fashion. The Sartorialist, Streetpeeper, Selectism and Street Etiquette are a few blogs that have developed a following. Trendsetters reveal themselves through their clothing, and seeing their styles gives us insight on how to speak their language.

wired.com/underwire: According to Gareth, more Americans played a video game in the last six month than went to the movies. The Underwire is Wired's blog about both games and movies, plus everything else that influences geek-pop culture.

creativesocialblog.com: Increasingly, and especially in digital, the power of an idea isn't defined by how many consumers might see it, but by how many consumers pass it around, mash it up, and make it their own. Creative Social is a survey of that type of work.

wallpaper.com: Architecture one of the loudest and most lasting expressions of culture. This blog puts it in the context of design and fashion, linking humanity with the spaces we build ourselves.

[Ed. - Matt Ingwalson wrote this post for Karsh Connect and cross-posted it to his blog.

Gareth Kay will be in Denver tomorrow and at Goodby shortly thereafter

This Thursday Gareth Kay, best known as head of planning at Modernista!, comes to Denver as a featured speaker in the New Denver Ad Club's Outside Voices series. In very related news, today Gareth announced on Twitter that he is moving to San Francisco to become director of digital strategy at Goodby Silverstein.

Courage

When Nike named it's new spot Courage, the brand had no idea that it would soon need some of its own.

A few months ago, Speedo built a better swimsuit. A seamless, pricey, high-tech marvel named the Lzr. Nike swimmers put up a brave front. But as world records fell, it became pretty clear that any athlete not wearing Speedo or Tyr will be at a major disadvantage in Beijing.

So Nike finally did what it had to do. It told its swimmers they could switch suits for the Olympics.

It wasn't a move Nike had to make. Few would have noticed if Nike's swimmers had failed to medal. (It's not like they sponsor Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin or Ryan Lochte.) But Nike had the courage to admit it was marketing an inferior product. And the beneficiary is the USA and our Olympic team.

It's not the sort of courage showed by, say, a firefighter. But for a brand that makes a living selling stuff to athletes, Nike showed some guts.

Cross-posted at 300 Spartans Gym.

Ty Montague and Adam Owett join TD50 judging panel

If you're in the New Denver Ad Club's TD50 Facebook group, you already know that JWT New York CCO and co-president Ty Montague has agreed to join StrawberryFrog CEO and founder Scott Goodson and Modernista! head of planning Gareth Kay on the 2008 TD50 judging panel.

I recently got confirmation from a fourth judge. Adam Owett is currently the Executive Vice President of the Creative Group at SONY BMG Music Entertainment. Before that, he was the Global Creative Director at Grey Worldwide. His job description at Sony reads like this:

Head "everything creative except the music" for all Sony BMG labels... [Including] videos, viral, packaging, online, mobile, in-store, all advertising, some merchandise and media buying/planning.

In other words, he is creating big ideas for a big brand on the biggest stage you can imagine. We're honored to have him join the judging panel.

Scott Goodson and Gareth Kay to judge 2008 Denver 50

A few days after the 2007 Denver 50, I got a call from Kevin Roddy's assistant. She wanted to confirm that I was still on for drinks with Kevin that night.

In Manhattan.

The clicking sound she heard was me jumping to my laptop to see if it was possible to get an immediate flight from Denver to LaGuardia. It wasn't, and I reluctantly informed her that she'd gotten me confused with someone else.

Ninety-eight percent of the people in America don't understand why that story is funny. For the two percent that do, I have news.

Scott Goodson and Gareth Kay have given an early thumbs-up to the idea of judging the 2008 Denver 50.

Scott Goodson is the founder and CEO of StrawberryFrog. He's only judging The Denver 50 and D&AD this year. His blog is scott goodson's writings. He was profiled in USA Today. And here's a link to all of Agency Spy's articles about StrawberryFrog.

Gareth Kay is the head of planning at Modernista!. His blog is brand new. He's joined the Denver 50 Facebook group. And here's a link to all of Agency Spy's articles about Modernista!.

We're chasing two more judges whose names will make ad geeks get all wobbly.

The 2008 deadline will be in August, so we're still a good six months out. But it looks like the Denver 50 will again have a judging panel that'd make the One Club jealous.

"I'm not going to get too deep into who I am. That's what Google is for."

David Armano speaking on design and integration, via Gareth Kay:

TD50 2008 judges I'd like to see: Gareth Kay

The Denver 50 2007 judging panel was maybe the greatest ever assembled for a local show. Mike Lescarbeau, Mike Byrne, Rob Rasmussen and Kevin Roddy. I defy you to name four more influential creatives in America. I'd love to keep the bar high for 2008. One person I'd like to see is Modernista! planner Gareth Kay. This presentation from his Slideshare page explains why:

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