The old Kinect was more gimmicky but this new one has IR blasters in so it can control your other components. My daughter can say watch nikolodeon and it will turn the tv on and put that channel on. You can also tell it to record, and it will record the last 30 seconds of the game you are playing. For me I'm envisioning a combination of oculus rift and a Kinect for the perfect combo. Look up oculus rift.