Motion controlled gaming without a handset in Microsoft Kinect

[JadenS]

During the E3 trade show, Microsoft announced the Xbox 360 Kinect controller system. Last year, Microsoft announced project Natal, which has officially been renamed the Kinect – maybe as a cross-marketing effort with the Kin phone. The Xbox Kinect uses full-body motion capture to control games. The Kinect will release in October or November as an add-on to Xbox 360.


Source for this article: Microsoft Xbox Kinect - Motion-controlled gaming goes hands free by Personal Money Store



How the Kinect works



In order to capture your motion, the Kinect uses a two camera system. One RGB camera will recognize your face and joints, when another will be programmed specifically to recognize depth. This system tracks full-body motion and movements by combining input from these two cameras.This user interface system will eliminate the need for a hand-held controller.



Playing on the Kinect



The Microsoft Kinect, as an add-on to the Microsoft XBox, is slated to debut with a fairly wide range of games. LucasArts is partnering with the Microsoft Kinect application designers to create a Star Wars game that can be a heavily-scripted, light-saber smash-em-up game. You will find also six “base” games the Kinect can be released with. The most exciting thing, for many gamers, is the possibility that Xbox games like Halo Reach may migrate over to the Kinect as well.


Is the Xbox Kinect your only option?


Hands-free or controller-free control systems for games have been under development since the Nintendo Wii. If you're willing to wait, the Microsoft Kinect won’t be your only choice for this kind of gaming. Sony’s Move system will sell for about half the price of the Kinect. The Nintendo Wii did something that other game console makers had assumed would not be possible – sell games to a very wide audience. Though the Xbox proved very popular when it was first released, it commercially lost over $ 1 billion - - proving that games have to be sold to more than just hard-core game enthusiasts.



Get a lot more information:



Engadget.com

edition.cnn.com

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