When the Xbox 360 Kinect first came out, users were blown away by its incredible motion tracking technology that had never been seen before. Unlike the Wii, the Kinect was completely remote free and even utilized amazing voice recognition technology so that users could command the Xbox to do certain things. Despite how amazing the new technology was for the Kinect, many knew that Microsoft would be working on a Kinect 2 that would be infinitely better.
Shortly after the first Kinect device was released by Microsoft, rumors began spreading about what the next generation Kinect device would be like and how the advanced motion sensor technology would be taken to the next level. However there has been more buzz about Kinect 2 rumors lately and with speculations flying around the web we decided to check them out for ourselves.
So what exactly is the new Kinect 2 device going to be like? Everything you imagined and more!
First off the Kinect 2 will utilize a completely overhauled motion sensor and voice recognition unit that will be strong enough to lip read and even know which way the users are facing. Not powerful enough for you? What about a Kinect 2 sensor that will be able to read the users emotions? Now that’s amazing!
The camera on the first Kinect unit has been improved multiple times and will track eyebrow and mouth movements which will work for emotion recognition. On top of that the new Kinect is expected to be able to track the pitch and even the volume of gamer’s voices. If a gamer gets frustrated or mad the sensor will be able to recognize this through the facial and voice recognition. Now what will come of this enhanced sensor, we have yet to find out.
So what else is the new Kinect 2 rumored to do? Well on top of the increased voice recognition and facial recognition it is rumored that Microsoft is working on making sure that the new Kinect 2 will be powerful enough to be able to track finger movements. As Eurogamer stated, the current Kinect console is not able to support finger tracking due to the fact that it uses USB technology – so that’s why it is believed MS will optimize the performance of the Kinect and make use of all hand movements.
One of the biggest concerns about the first Kinect device is the amount of space needed to play it. People with smaller rooms or furniture in the way will have a terrible time trying to play the Kinect and may even be unable to. This limitation has been one of the biggest problems with the first Kinect and this is why Microsoft has been working on the ‘near mode’. Near mode will enable users to be as close as 50 centimeters and it won’t affect the reliability or precision that you lose when doing so with the first Kinect device.
Despite all of the rumors about what new features will be seen with the new Kinect 2, there are no rumors on when it will be released.
