Being Played By The Game

 

 
What scares me is the look of this unit with two lenses close together that peer at you like eyes;  ominous and all seeing.  Please tell me it isn't so…Here's yet another way that retailers can peep into your keyhole. Microsoft's concept for X-box called Kinect where an individual is the remote rather than holding a remote is a real privacy whore that advertisers can use to spam you even more by being able to "demograph" (my word) you.

Ironically, the ad campaign's slogan for Microsoft's Kinect is "you are the controller". But I think that they forgot to mention the rest of it: "while we watch and are controlling you!"

It's bad enough our information has been sold through Facebook and we've been bamboozled by fake apps and games that find an open space in our world and invade it. In the world of "Life as We No Longer Know It" it's about you and the privacy you're not entitled to.

So when of the  Microsoft foo foo who probably makes a fabulous salary at Microsoft presented the idea at an investment meeting,  he must have forgotten that what he spewed forth was against the privacy policy for Kinect users. Oops! While it has been denied that your data will be used for anything heinous,  I'm just questioning the method behind this madness.  You can't help but wonder about the Kinect's camera peripheral and who's on the other end. Does it disconnect when you turn off the gaming console? All I have to say is, don't smoke a joint and play this game!

I'm sure if Rod Serling were still alive there would definitely be an episode on Twilight Zone poking fun at this new reality. The reality is in living, moving color: your data being targeted, your friends, your kids and anyone who plays the game at your house.

Direct quote from Microsoft's Dennis Durkin:
"Over time, the Kinect camera's ability to distinguish between different users, and therefore tailor content to each user, will "help us be more targeted about what content choices we present; what advertising we present; how we get better feedback and data; about how many people are in a room when an advertisement is shown; how many people are in a room when a game is being played." Theoretically, the camera could also be able to measure the level of interest in a particular game or program, based on factors like which jerseys viewers are wearing (in the case of a sporting event)."

Did that statement make you feel like a test mouse in a maze? Not to mention, I seem to be finding more info on the Kinect system being hacked! Is nothing sacred for the unsacred? I think the more and more I'm finding out about this truth, the more the old board games like Monopoly and checkers sound infinitely more fun and private.

I have to find some interesting levity in the truth about "the eye". Rockwell, you may be on to something here! This song may be the next national anthem…

Or maybe the next Kinect commercial will feature the song by Sting and the Police.

 

There are probably millions of people clamoring to buy this product...It didn't do well with me at the live demo I checked out. It seemed that the camera wasn't working and the guy doing the demo had to resort to using a remote. (I know, a remote. That's soooo yesterday.)

All in all, I don't like the reality based look of the people one these games. The detail is too real especially interesting on the new dance game, Dance Central. The detail is so refined, you can see the wrinkles on the clothing, realistic belly-buttons and breasts...Just wait until the porn industry gets into gaming! I shudder to think what peripheral accessories will come with their games.