Two Videos Show The Power and Fidelity of Xbox One’s New Kinect

Microsoft Research just released two new videos, and if you’re excited for the upcoming Xbox One and its Kinect appendage, you’ll love them.

The videos star Microsoft’s Scott Evans and Kareem Choudhry as they show off the power of the new Kinect in all its increased resolution and enhanced capabilities.

[sigfredod]

lame video

[ape007]

of course it's lame because your pic is kratos :)

LoL

[sigfredod]

Sorry but when i read a title that says Show The Power and Fidelity of Xbox One’s New Kinect, i was expecting actual videos of the suppose power and fidelity ok kinect in actual gameplay, a practical showcase, so i not entitled to say it was lame tech video? its my opinion

[Lalanana]

Indies are going to have some fun with Kinect 2.0.

I am curious to see what kind of games they will do with it.

Nice

[Prototype_79L]

Well, for example how is it a 3d camera with one lens?

[nypifisel]

IR blasting can calculate the different distances so it can see in 3D, stupidly expensive solution to something 2 cameras can do.

[ShinMaster]

@ Lalanana

The same kind of games you saw with the first Kinect.

You people don't seem to realize that even if the new Kinect is more accurate, the games are still very much limited by human movement itself.

Great for dancing and fitness games, though.

[Gekko36]

@ All Here we go again, nitpicking on something thats not even out yet.

I seems to be handy in the dark and very arrurate. It'll knock the socks of the competition since they really can't compete.

All we need now is for developers to look at this as not JUST a controller but as a supporting peripheral, the like of monitoring your stress, using your head movements in fps, or even using your own anger and frustration as a que for your character to go nuts.

There is so muich that can be done. Think about it and stop being OLD!!!

Shit moves on, keep up and bugger off!

[tigertom53]

@ nypifisel Two lenses are cheap option, but you but is very sensitive to light conditions of the room, and is not as accurate at picking up on small movements and the IR blaster is also used to control all of your home entertainment device which a couple of lenses cant do...

[LackTrue4K]

The tech is there, but your right.
It's kind of lame it would help if it's on some gameplay football/racing/FPS games, any thing other then a dancing/fitness game

[GrandpaSnake]

the fidelity still seems low, higher than before... but still a long road ahead.

[christocolus]

i cant wait for the likes of hideo and shinji to utilise the features of the new kinect...glad ms included it in the box and incorporated it into their dev tools too....rare, swervy, turn10 ,343, good science and other great 1st,2nd and 3rd party devs will definitly integrate it into their games too...great job ms research...kinect2 will definitly proove itself.

[GiggMan]

Honestly what are they going to do with it though? Cool camera and better than the last kinect but pretty useless for games. Unless you're making a game about waving your hands.

[christocolus]

read up d3 previews.dead rising3 and also shinji mikamis take on the tech....its not always about waving your arms....just give ms and these devs some time...you will be impressed in the long run.

[Gridloc]

You forgot about jumping up and down too...

[DoubleM70]

You need to open up your mind some. I herd in Dead rising 3 if you are making noise in you actual living room the Zombies will here you. You can also scream at them and they will turn around and chase you. I also herd from Major Nelson that some of the Devs are developing games that you play completely in the dark. Oh Yeah! the new kinect also is designed to be played while your sitting down also. OPEN YOUR MIND!

[GryestOfBluSkies]

about the dead rising replies... i dont want to scream at my tv. its silly. and about other noise in the room triggering zombie response: if my dog barks it could mess up my game? no thanks.

anyway, I've always been anti kinect, but i admit that IF these videos are real time, its pretty impressive tech. certainly an improvement from the first one

[2cents]

Let me see...

1. Heart rate monitor could be used in horror games where the soundtrack and sound effects could be ramped up based on you pulse. When the game knows your scared it could throw more at you to really put the heebie jeebies up you.

2. Heart Rate could be used in exercise games to gauge if your pushing yourself too little or too much.

3. Eye tracking could be used to trigger specific dialogue, such as if a master villain is talking to you in the game and you look away for whatever reason it could trigger a line like: "look at me when im talking to you".

4. Reading of expressions could be used in the same way as above, (smiling)"oh you think that’s funny" (angry)"I see ive hit a nerve" etc.

5. Body tracking for leaning left or right to lean in game to shoot around corners which was mentioned by either BF4 devs or COD devs, cant remember which off the top of my head.

6. Voice recognition obviously for calling out commands or choosing dialogue on screen to reply to the in-game character conversations.

7. Loads of silly little things as we have heard from D4, such as pointing your fingers to your temple to go into detective / scan mode, gimmicky yes, but still immersive and fun for the less cynical person.

These are just some ideas that spring to mind, the possibilities are immense and the implementation can be subtle or full on. The Kinect adds a completely new layer of immersion to games.

I for one am very optimistic as to what we are going to be able to do with the future of Kinect and gaming.

@GiggMan
Not many of these features existed for the first Kinect, as the fidelity just isn’t there.
No eye tracking, no facial expression scanning, not heart rate monitor, skeletal tracking was almost always hit or miss. No scanning of fingers or thumbs so no pointing to your head.

Only the lean function and speech would work on the existing Kinect, and that also not that well.

I cant deny that what little we have seen of Kinect 2.0 has impressed me way more than what we saw of the first one. It was so easy to tell that the first one was dodgy, based of all those dodge ball videos where it was so easy to tell that the response time and fidelity was all over the place, with arm and legs seemingly breaking and twisting in weird angles. These tech demos essentially show how the Kinect is far more stable when it comes to recreating the scanned person into its software. So this should be a good representation of how the games would actually look.

I guess we will know for sure very soon.

[GiggMan]

@above.

I guess that's why they make the big bucks to come up with these imaginative ideas. Although all of the ideas mentioned could have been done on the current Kinect and didn't work.

I have the current gen Kinect and it just didn't do it for me gaming. The kids loved it for awhile but grew tired of it. This looks like a better version but MS is bundling it with every console and charging a premium price without showing anything gaming related.

I haven't seen any videos of it being used in a game (just talk), if someone has a link let me know.

[pwnsause_returns]

" I herd in Dead rising 3 if you are making noise in you actual living room the Zombies will here you."

do you really need a camera for that?

you can just do that with an xbox headset

[GiggMan]

@2cents well said (except I believe Kinect being able to tell if you're scared is a bit science fiction lol)

The only issue I have with your statement is this part "I for one am very optimistic as to what we are going to be able to do with the future of Kinect and gaming."

That was the exact same thing people said about the original Kinect, almost word for word.

[GiggMan]

Nice piece of tech.

Still don't know how it's going to benefit gaming though.

[Convas]

This is how you post legitimate opinions people, take note.

I, for one, agree. I think Kinect is impressive technology, but honestly ... if Kinect Sports was a controller based party game, I'd still buy it.

I don't really think Kinect will be able to provide seriously meaningful gameplay experiences on its own. I think that it will be able to assist however, and I think MS knows that as well.

[Abriael]

"This is how you post legitimate opinions people, take note. "

I agree.

I'm not and I've never been a proponent of Kinect, but it's hard not to be impressed by these videos.

It's gaming applications are all to be demonstrated, but the tech is good tech.

[JackStraw]

"legitimate opinions"?

do you know the definition of either of those words?

[Eonjay]

Thats my major complaint. I think it should be an accessory. Lower the price and ditch the camera. Otherwise be prepared to lose market share.

[Death]

Make it an accessory and it will be useless. Make it part of the system and the attach rate is 100% which means it has a great chance of being supported. If sales are less than expected, they can easily lower the price and still leave it in the box. Most of the people that I see demanding it be removed are Playstation supporters. The Xbox fans I run into are looking forward to what Kinect 2 brings to the system.

[from the beach]

Awesome stuff!

Wonder if we'll see gifs from this video..

[Niv]

I won't get back that 2 minutes of my life I just lost!

[jgrigs09]

clearly your fault.

[Blachek]

Watch it again, it gets better!

[Jreca]

The interesting one is the one not showed here. Even then, there's an evolution but I still don't see many applications for it. Out of cheap and effective motion capture 8D.

[StifflerK]

Looks good, looking forward to trying out myself.

[Kayant]

Impressive but i don't see it helping motion gaming with kinect and its lack of buttons IMO... It will be great for natural interaction with XB1's UI as said in the video and video chat/streaming and dance and fitness stuff... But it's still and will always be a hard sell for gaming to me.

[tigertom53]

Kinect does a lot for the system their might be a few people that will never use it, but for me I will want it for controlling my TV, Audio System and cable box because Kinect is also and IR blaster. I'm sure my kids will want it for the games and me for the fitness titles. Their will be a few games that might add some benefits for menu navigation, Maps. It can also track the controller and body for some cool in game features.

[GmIsOnPt360]

They did these same videos with other people previously

[Goose99]

This is a very big improvement from the last Kinect sensor. Anyone who says otherwise and thinks its lame does not know what they are talking about and/or are hating on the XBOX one when it comes to the new future of technology and gaming. This will totally change the way we play next generation games and will only get better as time goes on. I bet you even the hardcore gamers will adapt to this new way of interacting while playing games. It will all come together and if you dont want to play that way then dont use the kinect sensor...im sure you wont be required to use it in the game if you dont want.

[cell989]

I guess if youre like super exited for Kinect, then this is good news? what about all of those that dont want it, stop being so selfish, always thinking about #1...... you always want everyone to like what you like

[Death]

I guess if youre like not super excited for Kinect, then this is bad news? what about all of those that want it, stop being so selfish, always thinking about #1......you always want everyone to like what you like.

[cell989]

well played Death..... well played..

[JuniorCE]

Real hardcore gamers don't really jump like kids... Kinect fails... Meh...

[Redgehammer]

Thinking you speak for anyone other than yourself could be considered a fail.

[jgrigs09]

Yea, your comment is an utter fail. You can't speak for everyone, but yourself.

[CrossingEden]

"Real hardcore gamers don't really jump like kids"
"Jump like kids"
Wow, these men must all be kids because they are doing an awful lot of jumping."
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
BTW, Project spark would like a word with you. Because you can motion capture unique animations using kinect.

[thrust]

I like the fact you think there is real hardcore gamers hahahahaha

I bet you call yourself a hardcore gamer hahahahahaaaaa (good luck with that in life) it's a great chat up line try it out, if you go out because you know your a hardcore gamer!

[cell989]

lame, MS just scrap the whole Kinect project already and let the xbone have 10% more power, it needs it real bad

[spaceg0st]

These are cool videos, but old demos.

[staticdash22]

Cool? Still won't consider an Xbox One until the Kinect is gone, out of the box, not offered.

[Axonometri]

I was hoping to see something new. This is no different than what they showed at E3. Granted not everyone saw these demo's then, but MS is not releasing the flood gates and we are so close to launch.

Unless they actually don't have anything else s show us. I thought for sure by this time they would have a bunch of Kinect based games showing off the new abilities.

[DigitalRaptor]

I'm not denying it's a more advanced version, it clearly looks like it is, but I still haven't seen the games to demonstrate this suggested raise in fidelity and power.

I could understand Microsoft's delay in making Kinect seem worthy the first time around, but this is their second effort, and I want to see games that prove that Kinect hasn't been all hot air. The Kinect seems more "essential" to the Xbone for multimedia than it does for providing game experiences, at least that's what Microsoft has demonstrated thus far.

Can anyone point me towards something worthy of the continual hype?

[Axonometri]

Well said...

Look out for the Opinion and Post Edit police though...

[tigertom53]

well it is more then just a game machine if you don't like that it controls the interface and is a multifucntion Kinect remote, go with PS4. Kinect Rivals is one Kinect Game that works great in, might not be your cup of tea. Assassins Creed 4 will be using for map navigation and their will be plenty of other titles that will have some great features when the developers are ready to show it off when it's completed.

[DigitalRaptor]

So, my comment is nothing to do with it being a multimedia device as well as a game device. Microsoft's whole focus this gen with Kinect was games. Pretty awful games, but games.

The multimedia/TV focus is something that has encompassed Microsoft's marketing of the Xbone, and we've seen tumbleweeds fly by as far as games for the new Kinect goes. I mean actual dedicated games.

That's why I said "can anyone point me towards something worthy?". You pointed me towards Kinect Sports Rivals that isn't even a launch game and has been shown to sport issues, with more advanced tech. http://kotaku.com/why-im-a-...

FYI, i'm getting a PS4 and ironically, its camera does EXACTLY what you said about Kinect - voice navigation control, face recognition, multimedia control, games. So really, PS4 is more than a game machine, just like PS3 was more than a games machine. But Sony hasn't been pushing their camera tech as something supposedly integral to the experience, despite the PS4 camera being able to do much of what Kinect can in terms of multimedia. It an option that's there, and most people appreciate the options, rather Microsoft's required non-requirement.

And finally, these developers have had years to make Kinect 2.0 games, the least Microsoft could do is show their consumers what all the hype is about, as many of us are left wondering.

[tigertom53]

My Opinion was Kinect was a focus on family and casual games with some adoption to hardcore. Gunstringer, fruit ninja, dance games, fitness, Disney land adventures, and Kinect sports,and NBA Ballers, these where all great games.... yes their might not be a any games on release date but their will be plenty down the road..

Kinect Rivals was a release title but the wanted a polished game am sure if their was some lag or issues that it will be solved by release date. that was like one bad article vs many other reviewers said that it was a lot better then previous Kinect and was very playable, and this is beta game and will be polished before release.

PS4 camera can voice navigation control, face recognition, multimedia control, games, am sure it will be at level of the first Kinect but worse because technology behind it is pretty crappy and many of these feature wont be on release day and am sure will feel tacked on compared to Kinect 2 on Xbox One..

[SkippyPaccino]

@tigertom53

What gives you the impression that ps4 eye will only be as responsive as the original kinect? With the specs of the ps4 eye, my own conclusion is that there isn't much difference between kinect 2 and it...

3rd party developers will have the same camera gimmicks in both versions of their games. If you say the ps4 eye is the weaker of the two cameras, then that's as good as the features can be even with the kinect 2.0 being supposedly more powerful , because they won't want to alienate one over the other...

We won't even know how good the new kinect Is till sometime in 2014...

[_cyrax]

The new kinect is a nice tech buut I prefer my buttons

[xKugo]

Where is the fidelity in this?
Doesn't render at 720p/30fps? Yea..soooo next gen.

[Yo Mama]

Jesus Christ. Giuseppe, would you please get off Microsoft's nuts? It's so obvious you and Dualshockers are now in their pocket because all you post now is positive news about them. It's very apparent when you're the only site that has positive things to say about them. No one is impressed with any thing Kinect is offering. No one asked for Kinect. No one wants Kinect. They don't have any games that even use Kinect. As a matter of fact, they have been taking Kinect games that were in development and jerry-rigging controller support. Yet, you still find great things to say about it.

[AD705]

Agreed. Maybe if they had some games like fps, rts, fighters, racers, platformers, and games from other genres that actually work well with kinect in every aspect of the game than maybe we will be talking. Yet all we see are voice commands in games we already play.

They need to show us that kinect has great games that can work well with kinect. Not voice commands and generic wii sports knock offs and dance games.

[DoubleM70]

What's wrong with posting positive news? We than herd all the negative stuff sense May.

[Yo Mama]

EXACTLY! Why do you think that is? There is no positive. Only positive spin. Which is why this is infuriating that dualshockers keeps posting this trash.

[Death]

No one wants it? That's kinda weird. I want it. I want to see gaming evolve. I like the ability to give my tv voice commands and I really like the ability to skype over my tv. My Samsung has these features, but they are not done well. I'm looking forward to using them the way they should be. I also realize that jumping up and down waving your arms isn't what Kinect 2 is about.

If both consoles were $399 and the Xbox One came with Kinect, would you still demand it removed and the price even lower? If sales are low, Microsoft will lower the price. If they are serious about supporting Kinect properly, it will still be in the box. What is the downside to this? If you absolutely feel the Xbox One with Kinect isn't worth the current price, wait for a price drop.

[ArmrdChaos]

Maybe you should worry less about what is being said and concentrate on why it infuriates as such. Sounds like it's time for some help.

[TechMech2]

You sir, are a fanboy

[Yo Mama]

Negative. I'm just not easily fooled by companies that try to F me in the A, then say they're sorry by telling me they're "all for the gamer".

[XboxFun]

Positive news about MS and Xbox now means they must be in MS's pocket.

Do people even realize how absurd they sound when they type this stuff out?

"No one asked for Kinect. No one wants Kinect. They don't have any games that even use Kinect."

Really? So more than half of the Xbox One's games use some form of Kinect. Kinect Adventures was one of the highest selling games for 360. And yet according to you no one wants Kinect?

Another bleeding heart sony fanboy pretending to look out for the welfare of his fellow gamers. Seems a lot of N4G posters have this insane mentality.

[GiggMan]

Kinect Adventures was a bundle (at least mine was). That's like saying Wii Sports is the best selling Wii title.

[tigertom53]

Kinect sports sold 5.6 million which is not to bad at all.

[kennyg3739]

I want kinect, but I guess im nobody

[TechMech2]

No corporation is all for the gamer. All corporations want their profits, and don't create games because they care for the gamer. It's sad, but it's true.

[GABRIEL1030]

An interesting article about kinect, source Kotaku:

http://kotaku.com/why-im-a-...

[BadlyPackedKeebab]

Random through. It would be interesting if someone could implement voice and facial tracking though Kinect to test of dishonesty. There is maybe some weird game in there somewhere such as where you need to lie your way through things.

[DoubleM70]

Let your imagination run wild sometimes. How many years do you think games are going to be just played with a standard controller. You got to start somewhere to be fully immersed into a game. It's just a part of the evolution of Video games.

[DJMarty]

30 fps say no more......I'm SOLD(not)LOL

[TechMech2]

I never had the original Kinect and never wanted it on Xbox one. I'm buying an Xbox one, but I plan on keeping my Kinect unplugged and out of the way of my tv at all times.

[whitesoxfalife1976]

Yes we didn't do that with the first kinect, I remember as a beta tester for the first one the main problem was able to see in the dark. But of course if you have very bright screen display it wud work.....

[gdguide]

Tech looks wayyyy better than Kinect 1, but noticed that the fingers/face get lost when he heads back to the couch area. That's about where I would be sitting with my setup, so would it be able to track me back there as well as if I was closer? I'm not convinced it has enough fidelity to track the smaller details unless you're closer to the TV than I would want to be.

The 3d representation is very cool though. They upgraded the depth resolution from 320x240 to 512x424, but I'm thinking for 3d tracking like this, they could have used say 800x600 to track things further away.

[filchron]

it would be really awesome if the new kinect integrated 3D headtracking for ALL games. It would be a HUGE advantage for shooter fans and would make games more involving in general. you could even have an autostereoscopic(glasses free 3D)display that works in tandem with the kinect to deliver a different viewpoint everytime the viewer moves their head and there would no loss of 3D image continuity like there is on the 3DS. microsoft could really reel in gamers who are hungry for innovative full 1080p glasses free 3D gaming experiences but instead im sure theyll just use it to make fitness games and scream for grenade switching commands. all this could be possible with the PS4 eye as well but i think kinect might have a slight advantage, too bad they wont play off it.

[strickers]

Fidelity may be better but my question is still the same. Does better ( or even perfect ) fidelity , make waving arms ,hands, fingers or any other body part, any more engaging. I believe that most Human interaction that succeeds in moving us , involves touch. The ones that don't are usually non interactive and watching others interact.
I'm not slagging off the tech. I'm not convinced by the concept itself.

[WeAreLegion]

I was hoping for game play. I'm sure a big developer will do something awesome with it at some point. Milo is a possibility. I think it could sell systems, too. Well, something like it.

[Trekster_Gamer]

Awesome tech. I want to see this in practical use now.
Show it being used how gamers will use it.

[Deltaguy]

why was i expecting something cool....

[SaulGoodman]

Smoke and mirrors to sell, sell, sell!

[SaulGoodman]

Supah crepay!

[Drewminati]

dope tech

[denawayne]

Xbox One is going to be awesome.

[jhoward585]

here the thing, MS says that the 10% of x1's GPU power was reserved for the kinect right??

Now MS is now stated that Devs can now tap in to the reserved 10% GPU power and add use it for their game development. But still the Kinect can function even with out the 10% GPU power.

So, the NSA rumor was true all along.

That 10% power was needed to spy on you during game play.

[Kidmyst]

Interesting to see what the camera sees. Waiting for shows like Ghost Hunters to use these.