230°

Kinect Controls Work Great... in a Bubble

The idea of controlling your console with gestures in a neat concept, but it also comes with a slew of technical challenges.

At the top of the list of issues that Microsoft's Kinect controller for the Xbox 360 faces is the problem of interference from people not in the virtual driver's seat of the console.

What happens when you're trying to control the Xbox 360 with gestures and someone walks in front of you or behind you? Right now? Things go haywire, but the person demonstrating the technology to me at last week's GamesCom said that they are still tweaking the interface.

Omega45032d ago

Luckily when you're at home you won't have crowds of people constantly walking behind you.

Nike5032d ago

If they're marketing the device at families, then I think you will.

captain-obvious5031d ago (Edited 5031d ago )

thats a nice spin you got in there omega

but since MS market this thing as a casual/family/party peripheral
so yes you well have things going on in the same spot
and you'll have people walking behind you

KingME5031d ago (Edited 5031d ago )

What happens when you are driving your favorite driving game going around a hairpin turn and your cousin walks directly in front of the TV?

What happens when you are going for that head shot in MW2 and your sister bumps your shoulder when she sits next to you?

What happens when you are using PS Move and someone stands between you and the camera?

I mean, really?

Some of you people act like because it is marketed to families that it is suppose to compensate for total craziness within the household.

We play the wii all the time, but we don't walk in front of each other while someone is playing, And I'm sure that if you did, there would be some sore of gaming backlash to it.

Godmars2905032d ago (Edited 5032d ago )

Not including roommates, parents, kids, friends, pets and assorted furnisher...

5032d ago
jack_burt0n5032d ago (Edited 5032d ago )

yeah but you need so much space like 14ft of open terrain.

edit:
listen all power to omega he tried it, he wants to buy it thats all fine, unless his alt account is mandatory install ppl need to give him a break.

Baka-akaB5032d ago (Edited 5032d ago )

well to be fair in his parents' basement surrounded by MS posters and ads material , he wont have that issue indeed

niceguywii605032d ago (Edited 5032d ago )

Yes families have dozens or hundreds of people around the TV LOL With unnatural lighting and cameras

I feel sorry for PS3 fanboys. Does anybody find it strange PS3 fanboys have this mentally ill obsession with Kinect? It's not normal and proves they're very worried about it.

twoface5032d ago (Edited 5032d ago )

Do you need a dozen to affect the controls?

How about ps move? Does it get affected by people moving around in the background, or does its algorithm recognize the balls of light as first priority?

Nike5032d ago

Apparently (in it's current stage - I don't know how much tweaking they can do since it's only 3 months from release), it only takes one person. Read the description again:

"What happens when you're trying to control the Xbox 360 with gestures and someONE walks in front of you or behind you? Right now? Things go haywire..."

Bellcross5032d ago

Kinect is perfect for you, you got no friends or family.

Milo and Skittles will keep you company at night.

pathetic troll.

Qui-Gon Jim5032d ago

The article mentions that all the demos units are located in areas enclosed by clear plastic. Plastic is opaque (not transparent) to infra-red. The Kinect system uses infra-red light for the 3D imaging. The camera cannot, therefore, see the crowds. Besides that, the software ignores anything beyond a certain distance, anyway.

The demo was being thrown off by the camera operator standing behind the couch. If you are playing at home, there very well may be people standing behind the couch watching. There's a simple enough fix, just make sure people aren't standing behind you, but it may cause problems for people, especially if people can't figure out what's wrong.

btk5031d ago

But Omega4 - I thought it could track 6 players... Seems like with only one a background person is going to be a problem.

And no - in my house there is a lot of people moving around. With four kids - if one is shouting at anyone who as much as cast a shadow in the living room because his Kinect is diskinecting... well - lets just say I am happy that I will be getting Move.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 5031d ago
jrbeerman115032d ago

Sounds like this tech may be a lil ahead of its time, hope it works out for em.

zootang5032d ago

Maybe you're behind the times?

jneul5032d ago

its ten whole years behind, it's already been done and proved not to work, controler-less gaming is not new and eyetoy did it first

badkolo5032d ago Show
divideby05032d ago

when are we going to read something positive about Kinetic
I aint buying one since there is no killer app, its over priced and it dont play any REAL games.
I just am tired of reading all the negative press about it and waiting to read something that would remotely think about buying one

Pennywise5032d ago

The two people still defending this product are getting to look pretty sad. MS will never learn about taking shortcuts and rushing products.

Show all comments (31)
150°

10 Biggest Xbox Mistakes of All Time (So Far)

The Xbox brand has done a lot of good over the years, but their various blunders are pretty wild to look back on in their magnitude.

Read Full Story >>
culturedvultures.com
piroh9d ago (Edited 9d ago )

Ironically number 9 can save them at this point (releasing games on multiple platforms)

ChasterMies8d ago

By “save them” you mean make more profit for Microsoft. Xbox will still be a dying hardware platform.

OtterX9d ago

You could add the naming scheme for the consoles, it just confuses customers. I know they wanted to avoid traditional numbering bc it would always be lower than their competitor, but this whole 360 then One then Series thing is confusing af. Imagine a Soccer Mom trying to figure this stuff out. I still mistakenly call the Series X the One from time to time on accident.

RNTody9d ago

Don't forget about the Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X! Good luck to Soccer moms around the world.

S2Killinit8d ago (Edited 8d ago )

They did that on purpose to confuse and direct attention away from the generational numbering.

MS doesn’t like reminding people that they joined the industry after others had already been involved in gaming.

For instance, they called the xbox “360” to combat PlayStation “3” because they wanted to seem like “more” than “3”, so instead of xbox 2, they opted for xbox 360. Also this had the additional benefit of selling consoles to uninformed parents who might purchase a “360” instead of a “3” by mistake, or because they thought 360 was more than 3. Kind of a disingenuous move.

They have been continuing with their confusing naming patterns for pretty much the same reasons. Frankly, it fits with who and what they are as a brand.

FinalFantasyFanatic8d ago

I can understand their reasoning, but whoever came up with that naming scheme should be fired, bad naming schemes have killed consoles (I'm pretty sure it was the major reason for the downfall of the WiiU). They should have had unqiue names like Nintendo and Sega have had for their consoles, far less confusing for the consumer.

rob-GP4d ago

@FinalFantasyFanatic "They should have had unqiue names like Nintendo..."

lol, you mean:

NES, SNES
GameBoy, GameBoy Advanced, GameBoy Colour, GameBoy SP
DS, DSi, DSXL
3DS, 3DS XL, New 3DS, New 3DS XL
Wii, Wii U
Switch, Switch OLED

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4d ago
Cacabunga9d ago (Edited 9d ago )

Phil Spencer is the worst that has happened to Xbox.
They built a respectable brand up to Xbox one. Then this guy took over and things became a joke

Reaper22_8d ago

He still has his job. Something you can't say about Jim Ryan.

Cacabunga8d ago

Both bad execs. One is on job and one thankfully retired.

FinalFantasyFanatic8d ago (Edited 8d ago )

I didn't like either person, both people damaged their respective brands and produced worse outcomes, but Phil did save the Xbox brand from being retired by Microsoft. Although in hindsight, he should have just let it die, rather than languish in limbo like it is now.

Rainbowcookie7d ago

Yeah but the one that was "bad" didn't even affect sales.

bunt-custardly8d ago

Phil Spencer was also on the team back when 360 was around, alongside Shane Kim, Peter Moore etc. I think the damage that did the most harm was the Don Mattrick "Always Online" console (ahead of its time basically). They handed Sony and Nintendo a free-pass when that was revealed. It went downhill from there. Then the corporate machine went into full swing to try and recover. They have to a degree as a games company for the masses, and less so for the core gamer. Outside USA, the Xbox brand does not sell as well as Japanese based consoles (citation needed).

Cacabunga8d ago

Want a decision maker. The always online and TV plans was a disaster yes, but they caught up by announcing 1st party games that gamers actually kept the hype going.. until this moron took over and introduced the PC day one release.. e all know where that ended..

S2Killinit8d ago

I dont think they were ever a respectable brand, not since the beginning, when their goal was never to be involved and share in the gaming space. I think the OG xbox was an exception because MS as a brand was still getting its foot in and so the people behind that were people of the gaming industry.

FinalFantasyFanatic8d ago

The 360 was the brand in its prime though, everything went downhill towards the end of that generation. Its staple games like Halo, Forza and Gears are what kept the console relevant and afloat for so long.

MaximusPrime_9d ago

Really good video.

I remember the days with RRoD was big news on here, N4G.

Microsoft had it turbulence number of years.

Looking at the success of Sea of Thieves despite being 6 years old, time to release Halo, Forza horizon 4 & 5 on PS5. It'll help their revenue

shinoff21838d ago (Edited 8d ago )

2 of the 4 games they did already sold really well. So it's definitely going down. Idk about halo or forza but I feel those studios they've bought in the last 5 years, their coming

ChasterMies8d ago

I found this video painful to watch. Can someone list them out?

Top 10 for me from are:
1. 2013 reveal presentation
2. Bundling Kinect 2 with Xbox One
3. RRoD or why rushing to market with hardware is always a bad idea.
4. Buying studios only to close them.
5. Ads on the Home Screen
6. Letting Halo die.
7. Letting Geard of War die.
8. Every console name
9. Charging for Xbox Live on Xbox 360 when Sony let PS3 players play online for free.
10. Cancelling release of OG Xbox games after the Xbox 360 launched.

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150°

Microsoft to Add Copilot AI to Video Games

Microsoft recently revealed its plans to incorporate Copilot directly into video games, with Minecraft being the first showcased example.

Read Full Story >>
xpgained.co.uk
Fishy Fingers13d ago (Edited 13d ago )

F*** AI

"Hey Copilot, what's a good meme to prove I dislike AI".... https://giphy.com/clips/sou...

Einhander197213d ago

Two trillion dollar company that just can't wait to put as many people possible out of work as fast as possible.

It feels like every single thing they do is making gaming worse and destroying the industry.

13d ago
13d ago
13d ago
darthv7212d ago

....you know it takes people to program the AI.... right? It isnt like it is sentient. We haven't reach skynet level of situation or anywhere close to the matrix just yet.

That's next Thursday.

Einhander197212d ago (Edited 12d ago )

It takes a people to program the AI then that AI is used for who knows how many games eliminating countless jobs which only grows as AI is used for more and more game creation functions.

What you're saying is so ridiculously short sighted and truly larking any kind of understanding and foresight.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 12d ago
CaptainFaisal13d ago

Why all the hate? Im actually excited about this! Always wanted this kind of immersion, and an AI companion with me all the time helping me out knowing the status of my skills/inventory/progress and giving me tips on the best approach or how to craft something specific is game changing for the industry.

Hate all you want about AI, but this is just the start and I can see the potential already. You wont be complaining in the next 5-10 years about this, but rather complain if a game hasn’t implemented it.

MrDead13d ago

Yes we can't wait for the work of others to be used without the need to pay them so that MS can profit even more from the people they fire.

I_am_Batman13d ago (Edited 13d ago )

There is no chance I'd ever use something like this, especially if it's not part of the core game design, but a layer on top of it. It's way too much handholding. Many games already feel like busy work, because they don't let the player figure things out on their own. Having a real-time interactive guide defeats the purpose of playing the game in the first place in my opinion.

If this were to become the standard like you predict, we'll see more and more video games get away with bad design, because people will just be used to ask for help from the AI companion anyway.

Number1TailzFan13d ago

Well Nintendo don't need this with some of their games these days, with invincible characters, items, easy bosses etc.. they do the hand holding built in

helicoptergirl13d ago

Takes "hand holding" in games to a whole new level.

BlackDoomAx11d ago

Because human nature xD Almost every new technology had these kind of comments.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 11d ago
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70°

Activision team is opening a new game studio in Poland 'Elsewhere Entertainment' to build new AAA IP

Microsoft's Activision subsidiary announced today that it is opening a new game development studio to take advantage of the huge talent pool growing in Poland. It'll be the second Activision studio based in the region, joining Infinity Ward Krakow, although this studio is, in fact, not working on Call of Duty.

Read Full Story >>
windowscentral.com
Psychonaut8516d ago

They’re not working on Call of Duty? Give it time.