Kinect beta: Camera spotted in the wild

A few lucky folks are participating in the Kinect beta, and while last week some shots of the Kinect Dashboard surfaced, today there's pictures of the camera itself.

They're posted over on Kotaku.

Granted, the device looks the same as in the lovely press pictures MS sent out ages ago, but it's nice to see it hooked up to an actual user's television.

According to the tester, the kit showed up today and contains not only the camera, but a "small collection of games" including Kinect Sports and Kinect Joyride.

When Kinect is hooked up for the first time, a mandatory software install called the Kinect Hub starts, allowing the user to download other betas and start calibration.

Voice commands are also working for the beta, and when issuing a command to 360, a menu appears and provides a list of available voice commands, such as back, forward, and Dashboard.

Kotaku's beta sources claim there's a bit of lag in some of the games they've played, but "it's not that noticeable".

Kinect hits retail November 4 in the US and across Europe on November 10.