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Wow! We could end this review here and that would say it all. But because you’re curious about what may well be the next evolution of video gaming, we’ll continue.

The first thing to understand is that Kinect is a whole new technology. Nothing like it has ever existed before. Yes, Wii has motion-detection technology that reads what you do with its extended controllers. But with XBOX 360′s Kinect, your body is the controller. You don’t strap on anything, you don’t hold anything in your hand, you stand at an optimum location before the Kinect device and it reads your movements as controller commands.

It’s a strange but mind-blowing technology, because it is an inkling of the future of videogames.

That said, Kinect is in its infancy. With only a handful of games so far designed for its unique, high-def technology, play is for the fun and curiosity. That said, envisioning the the potential of Kinect’s technology may overwhelm your imagination. If Kinect can translate first-person games such as Call of Duty and Harry Potter, or connect body movements to those of a wide receiver in Madden, it will achieve something close to virtual reality in your living room. That may be a big if-but nobody was expecting body-based controllers in 2010 five years ago.

In the meantime, we can explore the most basic and simple applications of this body-as-controller technology in videogames such as Game Party in Motion, which is included in the Kinect bundle.

Right now, Kinect is really good at some physical activities such as golf, Frisbee tossing, bowling and sword fighting, racketball playing, basketball shooting, shuffleboard playing, etc. In Game Party in Motion, we played endless games of darts and horseshoes that, after we got the feel of it all (which doesn’t come easy), were remarkable virtual contests. We shot hoops, played bocce ball, table hockey, pool and Ping Cup. The more you play, the more you’re drawn into the competition-all because we were tossing the invisible (except on the screen) horseshoes.

Until you try it, you won’t believe it. Move your body and things happen. No more carpal tunnel from thumbing controllers! Throw a punch and you connect on a character’s chin on-screen. Do a yoga pose-yup, there it is.

There are some practical considerations. The Kinect box, which is separate but attached to your Xbox 360, really needs to be directly between you and your screen so that you’re totally facing the screen. And that has caused some logistic issues for some players, including us, who needed an extender cable between their Xbox console and Kinect box (the extenders are available up to 10 feet). Also, the size of the room you’re playing in matters because the Kinect box needs to be able to “see” you.

That said, while you’re jumping, swinging, swatting, punching, yoga posing, Microsoft is working out the kinks. How well Microsoft does that will determine how good Kinect could get-and maybe even the future of video gaming.

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