Kinect - Inital Impressions

[Spookie]

i think that one of the mistakes of Natal/Kinect is that it always tries to track your full body with the highest precision

Talking of body tracking...

PrimeSense reps also told me that the camera can "see" any number of people on the screen -- you can fit as many people in that camera as possible, and the computer will see all of them and can even recognize them as human shapes. But it can only run calculations on two people at a time, just because the processing power required to track all of the body's locations and movements is so great.

So only 2 people can play Kinect at once. Hmm. :/

[carmatic]

So only 2 people can play Kinect at once. Hmm. :/

you could sort of justify that by looking at it in terms of people not just sitting right next to each other in couches anymore, but they will be moving around, swinging their arms, kicking their feet, jumping etc... if you need space for more than 2 people to do that, your home would begin to look abit like a sporting hall...

i guess i sounded abit fanboyish by saying that?

[Ironman273]

So only 2 people can play Kinect at once. Hmm. :/

I thought this has been known? I remember when Natal first came out that they were talking about 2 people at once. The nice thing is that people can jump in and out almost immediately. I can't imagine 4 player games being that popular anyways (at least games that require 4 players on screen at once).

[Spookie]

I thought this has been known? I remember when Natal first came out that they were talking about 2 people at once. The nice thing is that people can jump in and out almost immediately. I can't imagine 4 player games being that popular anyways (at least games that require 4 players on screen at once).

I remember seeing the promo for that quiz game (with them all sitting down too :laugh:) which had 4 people. It's news to me though. Seems MS can't catch a break but as they say, you make the bed you sleep in it. :/

[HawkMan]

I remember seeing the promo for that quiz game (with them all sitting down too :laugh:) which had 4 people. It's news to me though. Seems MS can't catch a break but as they say, you make the bed you sleep in it. :/

The quiz game used voice recognition not the visual part though.

[Hedon]

So only 2 people can play Kinect at once. Hmm. :/

Yup. Makes sense.

[Ironman273]

The quiz game used voice recognition not the visual part though.

I think in that video the people were buzzing in using their fists in their hands, if I remember correctly. I guess they did overpromise. From an article about the tech of Kinect there's too much information captured for it to be more than 2 people. Maybe something will change where only heads or arms will be tracked in certain games, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Digitalx]

Since kinect is USB... wonder if can hook it up to PC for mother of all looking HD webcams if it's a megapixel lens...all i think i'd ever use it for lol

[Neo003]

This just craked me up :laugh:

[HawkMan]

Since kinect is USB... wonder if can hook it up to PC for mother of all looking HD webcams if it's a megapixel lens...all i think i'd ever use it for lol

Yes it can, it's been confirmed since the start that it would be pc compatible. the new WLM will even be able to use features of natal

[Spookie]

I'll admit, I giggled. :p

[Hedon]

Not sure I get it.

[Ironman273]

Not sure I get it.

It's a rip from this:

That then became this:

[Hedon]

Ah, ok.

[Hedon]

Kinect not limited to 2-players, Has unlimited possibilites

Late yesterday evening, we reported a rumorthat Microsoft's upcoming Kinect motion-based control system could potentially be limited to the two-player titles due to processing limitations. Based on the concept that all currently announced Kinect titles only support two-players and a demonstration by PrimeSense at E3 last week, it sounded like a possible concept. Earlier today, we got in touch with PrimeSense and got clarification on the situation about their demo and Kinect.

At E3, PrimeSense showed a demonstration to JoyStiq which showed two-players going through a demo, though the camera technology did recognize more. This demonstration was built solely by PrimeSense and in no way has any relation or link to the software and game coding Microsoft has developed for Kinect. PrimeSense is the provider of the hardware chip for Microsoft, but Microsoft handles the rest, so the demo put on by PrimeSense does not reflect what Kintect can do in terms of total players.

The camera technology can detect an unlimited number of people, so if it's programmed in such a way, it can process and render more than two-players at a time. At the current time, Microsoft hasn't revealed how many players Kinect will support, but last year they did mention it could and would allow for 4-player gaming. PrimeSense did state that they do not know how many players Microsoft currently has Kinect setup to handle. With Kinect and the PrimeSense demonstration two completely separate entities, but the camera itself can detect a limitless number of people. It's solely limited based on the software that is implemented to the camera' hardware chip.

Microsoft is set to release Kinect later this year.

[Shadrack]

LOL @ the GIF. The demonstrator should have rehearsed some more, LOL! (That's just bad)

Reminds me of all the marketing hype before the Wii. Watch how the people doing the demo are playing Wii Sport's Tennis and then do it yourself and see if there are any noticeable problems...

Anyway, I'm not buying until I see it and get to use it IRL. Fortunately, a friend of mine is definitely getting it.

[Hedon]

Kinect Games $60?

Xbox 360 titles exclusive to Kinect may cost $59.99 each. So believe retailers Amazon and GameStop who have started listing several of its launch titles ? Kinect Adventures, Kinectimals, Kinect Joy Ride, Kinect Sports, Dance Central ? with that particular price tag.

Microsoft is yet to officially announce the price point for either Kinect or its games, though that hasn?t stopped several retailers from speculating and attaching a $149.99 price to the device anyway. So the $60 may be more guess work.

However, while both Amazon and Gamestop now note that Kinect?s own price is ?an estimate and subject to change?, they say no such thing for the games themselves.

To compare, Sony?s upcoming Move games are priced at $40.

My link

If they are $60, they won't get a SINGLE Kinect game sale from me. Guaranteed.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Yeah I was looking around retailers last night, and although they aren't any real indication of the prices to expect, place holder prices were ?45 (N)

[George P Global Moderator]

Isn't that just the safe bet price to put? Normally new hardcore games go for $60 last I checked, as far as retailers guessing prices goes, guess high and then when it goes official and it's lower it's no big deal. But guess too low, have all these preorders placed and then the real price is higher? The retailer just gets screwed. So everyones playing it safe and going high on the price estimates. It just makes sense to me to do so.

[Hedon]

$149 Kinect place holders and $60 Kinect game place holders isn't doing MS any favors. It's advertising high prices, and scaring away potential customers.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Isn't that just the safe bet price to put? Normally new hardcore games go for $60 last I checked, as far as retailers guessing prices goes, guess high and then when it goes official and it's lower it's no big deal. But guess too low, have all these preorders placed and then the real price is higher? The retailer just gets screwed. So everyones playing it safe and going high on the price estimates. It just makes sense to me to do so.

Currently most PS3/360 games are given the same guestimate for a preorder here in the UK of ?40.

[Hedon]

There are way too many Kinect threads. I had to find a more neutral one for this:

You got Kinect in my TV and PC

I didn't think that it would take long for the technology behind Kinect to be added on to other things, but I never thought it would be this soon. Adi Berenson, vice president of PrimeSense, the company responsible for Kinect's technology, has admitted that gesture controls are already slated to appear within HTPCs by year's end. Not only that, but by this time next year, a major cable company will have set top boxes with gesture controls built in, also using the tech behind Kinect.

While Berenson says that the "end goal is to provide natural human control over TV-based media consumption," voice recognition and motorized tilt will not be available in the TV and PC versions, as those are Microsoft-owned ideas. It's doubtful Microsoft will leave that money on the table though, I fully expect to see them marketing this as a PC and TV add-on later on.

Sweetness! Minority report in every living room!

[Minifig]

I asked one of the two members of Forza development studio Turn 10 if I could play their demo sitting down. They said I could not, that it was "optimized for standing."

When reading this .. I couldn't help but make:

[HawkMan]

There are way too many Kinect threads. I had to find a more neutral one for this:

You got Kinect in my TV and PC

Sweetness! Minority report in every living room!

of course MS is going to cash in on Kinect on PC. however his clairvoyance fails a bit since. it's at least 6 months, possibly a year since MS said Natal/Kinect would work on computers. and they even demonstrated it on WLM at this years E3. MCE is boudn to follow.

what worries me more is that our living rooms will have one kinect built into the cable box(Well that is my HTPC in my case:p) and one for our console and one in the TV. it would be better if they where all networked together with HDMI or that next gen HDMI with ethernet. and shared the same Kinect unit. actually despite no tilt built in. Kinect built into the TV would be rather awesome.