Kinset, The Virtual Shopping Mall

The Scoop on Kinset

Kinset transcends the traditional online shopping website to become a virtual shopping mall. This is accomplished by having you download a small application that acts as a 'client' for the shopping mall application. Anyone that has played an online game like World of Warcraft or Second Life will be familiar with the process of entering a virtual world.

And the overall experience really is like browsing through stores at a mall, only you didn't have to fight traffic, find a parking spot, or smell the guy next to you who seemingly forgot to take a shower that morning.

Pros

• Successfully simulates the shopping experience by letting you browse through products
• Search feature populates shelves with your results
• Quickly downloads products, so there isn't much waiting around for shelves to fill up

Cons

• The controls are a little awkward
• The auto-zoom could be distracting at times
• The graphics seem like something out of 1999.

Features

• A virtual world with an outdoor shopping mall setting
• Browse products in stores like you were really there
• Put items from multiple stores into your shopping cart and buy them all at once

The virtual shopping experience bears a striking resemblance to browsing at an outdoor mall. You can enter different stores and look through their merchandise just like you were really there. About the only thing you can't do is pick up the product and hold it in your hands.

The search feature is neat in that it will take you to a shelf and line it with your search results. This allows you to view the products just as if you had found them while browsing. It's almost better than being in the actual store!

Kinset works by having you download a thin client that you use to browse the stores. This client is a quick download and is very easy to install. Best of all, it downloads products very fast, so you don't spend a lot of time waiting for merchandise to fill up the shelves when you enter a store.

The graphics could be a lot better. For those familiar with massively multiplayer online roleplaying games like World of Warcraft, it really does feel like you are stepping into a time machine and going back to 1999. It's great that the client is so fast, but I could have taken a longer initial download for a prettier experience.

The controls were awkward. It uses game-like movement controls with the keys W,A,S and D directing where you walk in the virtual world. However, the left and right keys do not let you turn, as you might expect, but rather direct you to do a sidestep. However, if you use the arrow keys to direct your movement, left and right will let you actually turn left or right. While sidestepping (or 'strafing' as it is called in video games) are standard controls, it is usual to have turn left and turn right keys mapped on or near the WASD keys.

I also hated seeing the same tip pop up every time I went into a store. Yes, I could check the place where it said not to see the tip again, but I would have hoped that the client would learn that I had seen the tip just a couple of minutes ago and not shown it to me again.

I few things I'd like to see added: The ability to turn off the head bobbing up and down while walking, and a run button so I can get to stores quicker without teleporting by clicking the mouse.

Kinset is probably not the best choice if you know exactly what you want to purchase since going directly to a site like Amazon would let you find the item much quicker, but if you want the same feeling you get when you are browsing through stores at the mall, then Kinset is for you.