Here’s some potentially alarming news for those of you interested in Kinect for Xbox 360: according to a UK retailer, the camera is limited to a resolution of 640×480 at 30 frames per second and only supports two “active” players at a time. The 30 fps claim is the most damning, since it means there will usually be some sort of lag. Support for two active players means that those of you with giant living rooms will not be able to have wild Kinect party sessions. Here’s the full list of specs:
Sensor
Colour and depth-sensing lenses
Voice microphone array
Tilt motor for sensor adjustment
Fully compatible with existing Xbox 360 consoles
Field of View
Horizontal field of view: 57 degrees
Vertical field of view: 43 degrees
Physical tilt range: ± 27 degrees
Depth sensor range: 1.2m – 3.5m
Data Streams
320×240 16-bit depth @ 30 frames/sec
640×480 32-bit colour@ 30 frames/sec
16-bit audio @ 16 kHz
Skeletal Tracking System
Tracks up to 6 people, including 2 active players
Tracks 20 joints per active player
Ability to map active players to Live Avatars
Audio System
Live party chat and in-game voice chat (requires Xbox Live Gold Membership)
Echo cancellation system enhances voice input
Speech recognition in multiple
If these specs are accurate then Microsoft’s motion-control device is less impressive than some experts thought . When you have a moment, please let me know what you think of these purported Kinect specs.
Source via CrunchGear
I think my Iphone 4 is more advanced.
That's a dealbreaker.
After having seen it in action for myself yesterday, none of this really surprises me.
@Nightshade386 I thought you wrote that it had no lag.
Didn't you get to try out Kinect at E3, Mr. Padilla? Did you notice any lag?
-M
Honestly Ray, it didn't seem to have any noticeable lag.
But there was certainly a lot of interference from people passing by, light streaming in through the windows, etc.
A bigger tech concern for me is that players need to be careful to stay clear of the other person in multi-player mode. Right now, the software has a very hard time keeping the body maps straight when the overlap.
But I think this whole thing is likely doomed because Kinect is a complete mismatch for the 360 customer base (like EyeToy was for PS2). Nintendo has the soccer moms and Microsoft has the core and hardcore gamers.
Serious gamers like to go deep and play several hours of a game in one sitting. I have designed motion control (EyeToy) games in the past and lemme tell ya, people get TIRED very quickly. I find it highly unlikely that core and hardcore gamers are going to brush off the Cheeto debris, toss the controller on the couch, and actually find mild perspiration fun for very long. Short bursts of motion control gameplay while being able to stay on the couch is the best bet for the 360 crowd and those who take that approach might have a shot at a successful Kinect game.
Another pitfall is the Kinect install base will be somewhat slow going, and as a result, third party publishers will need to wait until there are enough Kinect users to justify a multi-million dollar product to be green-lighted. So, in the meantime, first party titles will be the only decent Kinect games but from what I've seen so far, Microsoft's approach is simply to beat Nintendo with living room/family titles.
PS3 and 360 motion based games will need to dramatically distance themselves from the conventional EyeToy / Wii formatted gameplay to have a shot at success.
wait, wasn't there a video that rpad posted, under the heading dad slaps kid while playing natal or something like that, where the mom and dad are playing then the kids join? if so why can the prototype handle 4 players and the finished one only handles 2?
I don't know a lot about cameras. But I know iPhone 4's camera records at 720 @30fps which is supposed to be a good thing. So is this really that bad? I know a good game should run at 60 but isn't this different? Enlighten me
Didn't they advertise it as a four player device? These low tech specs make the rumored $150 price tag look even more over priced.
@Shockwave
I don't think the casuals care about the tech stuff, they play the Wii for Pete's sake. However, I also don't think that they will be willing to pay for XBL to have access to all of Kinect's advertised features.
@Iceman Yes, there was usually lag, but playing at E3 is almost surely a different experience than playing at home. I'm sure most of you don't have a fraction of the interference that E3 2010 had.
@Jason Thanks for a great comment!
@tokz_21 Here's the video you mentioned. At one point, four people were playing but I only saw two characters on the TV.
https://rpad.tv/2010/06/04/project-natal-leads-to-…
@Shockwave562 That's not really comparable because the iPhone camera isn't being used as an input device. The one thing that a lot of enthusiast gamers were worried about is lag, which can detract from the interactive entertainment experience.
damn it, i was gonna yell "fore!!"
@jasonist…welcome dude
@rpad
you're right there is only two people playing. It's an illusion. They have the kids "join" to help them but they aren't really helping. kind of reminds me of when i was growing and my lil sisters would ask to play but i didn't want them to or it was one player so i would hand them the wireless controller.
ray used the fore joke already in the previous story…..i read articles top to bottom
on a related note…i really couldnt give a f*ck about the twilight saga, although i am firmly entrenched on team jacob…he won me a whopper
@shockwave
30fps and lower than 720 res will always look good on a small screen though. I think 30fps is fine for a reg game on let's say a 42inch tv or smaller though. The res however will be noticeable.
It is like I have said before, Natal sounded like an awesome thing, and then as time went on and it turned into Kinect it just seems less and less appealing to me. I liked it better when it was open to some cool possibilities, not so much when it has limitations.