Late yesterday evening, we reported a rumor that 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 and if the software is designed to do so, process them all. So, in theory, if Microsoft developed the software of Kinect to process 4-8 players, it could feasible do so.
Microsoft is set to release Kinect later this year.
Comments
stunning.. value for money really vs sonys lill cute addon project lol
Good luck getting more than two people comfortably on screen. Hope everyone who buys Kinect has a huge living room.
Wait... No I don't...I hope no one buys that casual garbage and that it is a total failure. People need to learn to not always ride the Microsoft hype train.
You failed miserably :)) MS sold alot
What this stupid talk about can detect limitless number of people? Are you a 3rd grade? Of course it can detect limitless number of people even the old black and white cameras can detect limitless number of people.
What you should be talking about is FOCUS. How many people can Kinect focus and process on? The machine can Focus and process only 2 people. That's the limit. The rest of the people around them would just be ignored. Remember they took out the processor out of the Kinect where the processor can FOCUS and process more than 2 people and put processing on the Xbox's own processor. So the old article of having 4 players at the same time is already null. M$ limited the Kinect themselves so don't expect much.
yea im gonna hav 2 agree wit Falcon i dont see 4 ppl playin side by side neways in most of the games, but thats not 2 say in a later on game lik bowlin where u hav 4 ppl waitin there turn 2 bowl so games hav more than 4 players...but i buy all video game garbage casual or not so toot toot hype train here i come.lol
I'll make a few points, skip them as you please.
1) Jonah states "Good luck getting more than two people comfortably on screen. Hope everyone who buys Kinect has a huge living room." It has already been confirmed that you can use Kinect while sitting (MS has confirmed this for the dashboard at the very least). I could easily fit four people on my couches if they were all sitting. Sitting is certainly applicable to many games, including trivia-based games or racing. I think the main application I would use this for would be watching movies (I use Netflix on both the Wii and the Xbox).
2) I don't understand why anyone is a MS/Nintendo/Sony/PC fanboy at all. Why not encourage the entire gaming industry to do well? The better the entire industry does, the better the games will be. Competition is definitely healthy. "People need to learn to not always ride the Microsoft hype train." And what hype train should we ride? Nintendo's? Sony's? Apple's? They all have their own
(Continued from last post)
3) Microsoft's market strategy was certainly to appeal to the casual gamers (to steal some of Nintendo's market). This definitely alienates Microsoft's core market (the gamers) While the software is currently lacking (ie, the games suck), the hardware potential is there. Look out for more games like Mile And Kate, which will better immerse gamers into their games. Actually reaching out or actually talking to their games will change the way the games "feel." Not all Kinect titles will require you not to use a controller, as well. Look out for info on Fable III, which will use Kinect optional features.
There are endless possibilities for Kinect. Imagine a Mass Effect where instead of "roleplaying" by selecting an answer on screen, you say it out-loud. Or imagine being able to navigate GUI's in sci-fi games, like Tom Cruz in Minority Report. The potential for the hardware is there, whether or not the 3rd party developers deliver on this is the ques
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!