Kinect compatibility

Solution 1:

Yes, the Kinect will work with every Xbox 360, old or new.

Check the main page:

http://www.xbox.com/en-us/kinect

You are the controller

Kinect brings games and entertainment to life in extraordinary new ways – no controller required. Easy to use and instantly fun, Kinect (formerly known as “Project Natal”) gets everyone off the couch. Want to join a friend in the fun? Simply jump in. And the best part is Kinect works with every Xbox 360®*

...

*Kinect coming November 2010.

Since the Kinect is an totally new concept, old games will not support the Kinect out-of-the-box.

However, the publishers have always had the option to ship updates to games (via an Xbox Live update), and it is completely feasible for developers to retrofit their games with support.

Solution 2:

I just got a Kinect last week and there is one more thing about using it with a pre-Kinect series XBox360 that no one seems to be talking about much.

You have to connect the USB cable from the Kinect to the USB port on the BACK of the XBox console. If you have the wireless networking device for the XBox, you no doubt have it hooked into that port. The Kinect comes with a USB extension cable so you can plug the network card into one of the USB ports on the front of the console and fee up the port on the back. It works, but it is ugly to have a cable wrapped around the XBox to set it up this way.

Solution 3:

Kinect will work with all Xbox 360's but if you have one of the old ones you need an extra power supply. In terms of games supporting Kinect, I would be confident in saying that games will be developed specifically for Kinect (and might have controller support, as a second-best fallback) but there will still be the "hardcore" games that are for controllers only.