In an official blog post today, Microsoft takes you inside the brains and behind the eyes of the Xbox One Kinect sensor with two new videos and a detailed blog post. Microsoft revealed that they had worked hard to incorporate speed-of-light capabilities so that the Kinect could differentiate light reflecting from objects in a room and the surrounding environment.
“That speed-of-light capability would be a major advancement for the Kinect sensor portion of Xbox One, being released to 13 launch markets next month. The new Kinect, a key differentiator for Xbox One against its competition, needed to capture a larger field of view with greater accuracy and higher resolution. An infrared sensor will enable object identification requiring little to no light, and improved hand-pose recognition, giving gamers and more casual users the ability to control the console with their hands,” Microsoft explained.
Microsoft touted the new infrared sensor that comes with the Xbox One Kinect which can identify objects in a completely darkened room. With this capability, the Kinect can recognize people and track bodies even without any light visible to the naked eye.
“The wider field of view makes it possible for more players to play an Xbox One game at the same time. With the new console, as many as six players can crowd into one scene. A tall adult can play with a small child without either being squeezed out of the picture,” Microsoft explained.
All the Xbox One enhancements required an intensive collaborative effort by several Microsoft individuals and team. Microsoft is proud to be rolling out the Xbox One with the next-gen Kinect on November 22nd. Check out the videos below showcasing the new Kinect’s features and hit the source link for an in-depth look at the effort it took to create the next-gen Kinect.
