Kinect technology thread

[BadTB25]

For the ones interested in Natal or Kinect or whatsoever and living near Sacramento...

In Sacramento, there is this State Fair (which I just visited) where you can check Kinect out in person!!

Your impressions?

 

[Mr Deap]

In this video a guy tries to show how you could play shooters using Kinect, he also tries to demonstrate how you can combine a regular controller with the camera.

He uses CamSpace, a very good free webcam based program that can track movement of any object and emulate that to a gamepad, keyboard or mouse movement.

His webcam only runs at 320x240 and 15 frames per second, but you can get the idea.

He explains how he did this (2 minutes 20 seconds after the beginning of the video)

The most interesting thing is how he uses the controller to track movement. It doesn't seem laggy.

Interesting video. I can see that doing 360's will be problematic.

 

[Alucardx23]

15 fps seems a little low but i believe natal has same double the res and twice the framerate so a 360 implementation should be more responsive. I like how he demonstrates how kinect can follow it in the dark by using 6~8 points that are mapped to his arms.

I like this head tracking demonstration a lot it was made in the source engine.

Really nice video, here is another one from the same guy showing fast and accurate face tracking, makes me think if Kinect could track specific parts of the body or at least use the face as reference to track only the upper body instead of tracking the hole skeleton.​

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phcdp7AjhBg&feature=player_embedded​

 

[patsu]

Yap, you can always use a different tracking algorithm with the Kinect hardware. Using the traditional controller for core gaming is also proven and well-tested. I suspect MS will eventually introduce a split controller to better integration with Kinect.

I can't see Cyan's video clearly. Is it on PC also ? 320x240 may be sufficient for PC gaming, but they may need higher res for couch gaming.

 

[catisfit]

In this video a guy tries to show how you could play shooters using Kinect, he also tries to demonstrate how you can combine a regular controller with the camera.

He uses CamSpace, a very good free webcam based program that can track movement of any object and emulate that to a gamepad, keyboard or mouse movement.

His webcam only runs at 320x240 and 15 frames per second, but you can get the idea.

He explains how he did this (2 minutes 20 seconds after the beginning of the video)

The most interesting thing is how he uses the controller to track movement. It doesn't seem laggy.

If only they could make the controller easier to track in all lighting conditions, by perhaps adding a glowing sphere on the top... then it's only a matter of adding accelerometers and they could do pointer functionality too

Sorry, it just struck me that this could easily have been one of the first PoCs for what eventually became Move. Kinect is being heavily sold as "Controller Free Gaming" so I don't see MS doing this sort of thing until they do built-in Kinect 2 for the next gen Xbox.

 

[Arwin]

Sorry, it just struck me that this could easily have been one of the first PoCs for what eventually became Move. Kinect is being heavily sold as "Controller Free Gaming" so I don't see MS doing this sort of thing until they do built-in Kinect 2 for the next gen Xbox.

If you really want to go down that route, it is possible already with the sixaxis right now. Some games even used it a little here and there (Ghost Recon 2 for instance had elements of this, Warhawk for controlling rockets, etc.). I've personally thought that it would be interesting to have this at least as an optional configuration, but I think either useabilty and/or multi-platform elements prevented this from really taking off. It will be interesting to see how this changes in the future, but again Microsoft seems to be holding things up a little by not having any combination of controller and Kinect ready yet. We'll probably see some demoes for this next year at GDC and/or E3 though I expect.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Kinect is being heavily sold as "Controller Free Gaming" so I don't see MS doing this sort of thing until they do built-in Kinect 2 for the next gen Xbox.

Yes, that's the message that MS wants for the launch of Kinect. But while they have tried to avoid commenting much on Kinect + controller, as they want an undiluted message for Kinect launch, they have already stated that Kinect will work fine with controllers and dropped hints of future games featuring Kinect + controllers. I'd suspect next year with the first of the probable core games featuring Kinect, is when we'll we'll possibly see more of this.

However, I doubt there'll be a "motion pointing device" similar to Wand until the launch of the next Xbox, and any Kinect + controller will be limited to the standard X360 controller or possibly something created by one of the developers/publishers.

Regards,
SB

 

[Mindfury]

"Okay, so one big thing that people were asking was whether you could sit on the sofa. The new libraries work, but there are certain things, like in our fitness game, where you sit on the floor and it gets confused."

"So they've given [studios] a generic piece, which is actually pretty impressive and covers most cases - certainly all the standing up, and now sitting down," he said. "[If developers] want to go further than that, then do it yourself in software."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=258173

 

[dragonelite]

XNA api for kinect confirmed

http://www.gamerzines.com/xbox-360/news/indie-games-kinect-confirmed.html

 

[Graham]

XNA api for kinect confirmed

http://www.gamerzines.com/xbox-360/news/indie-games-kinect-confirmed.html

GOOOD.

This will be very important for rapidly iterating mechanics for the system.
Of course, there will be a boat load of complete garbage, but it's the best way for people to take risks and make some new things.

 

[dragonelite]

GOOOD.

This will be very important for rapidly iterating mechanics for the system.
Of course, there will be a boat load of complete garbage, but it's the best way for people to take risks and make some new things.

Yep and now i have a nice reason to get kinect when uni(HBO in holland) starts again fresh year computer science and C# is the language we need to learn.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Yes, I can see that boosting sales quite well for geeks wanting to play!

 

[AzBat]

The original source is an interview with Edge Magazine...

http://www.next-gen.biz/features/interview-kudo-tsunoda?page=0,0

What about smaller developers – are they going to be able to afford to develop Kinect games?
Whether you're building an indie, XBLA game or retail packaged console game, very little of the time, energy and cost that you spend on the title comes down to the controls. There's a direct translation of the user input into an on-screen action that you spend time tuning and crafting, but it's not particularly asset based - you don't need a team of 50 artists building a high fidelity world. With the Kinect platform you get the full body tracking, you're getting all the great voice stuff, the human identification stuff. Kinect is no more cost prohibitive than developing on anything else.

The Community Manager for XNA had this to say about his comments...

Hello, Creators!

I know everyone is by Kudo's statements. However, at this time only developers with established contracts with Microsoft have the ability to create Kinect games. Like full retail Xbox 360 games and Xbox LIVE Arcade games, Kinect games will be created by a select group of publishers that Microsoft has partnered with for the launch. Opening up Kinect development to XNA Creators Club members is something we may consider in the future, but no plans can be confirmed right now.

xxoo
~kathleen sanders
XNA Community Manager

http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/58202.aspx

Doesn't deny or confirm. I'm sure we'll get XNA support for Indie Games sooner or later. Maybe they will announce it at next year's GDC, then release for summer/autumn.

Tommy McClain

 

[AzBat]

From the same Edge magazine is their interview with Rare...

http://www.next-gen.biz/features/interview-kinect-sports

Kinect is their cover story...

Man, what a compare that is.

Tommy McClain

 

[Billy Idol]

Your impressions?

Well...it was embarrassing as hell!
Let me explain: there was a line where you had to wait...I decided to wait (it took like forever or so as you could play for minutes), but it was ultra embarrassing: my height is about 190cm, which is kind of the double of the average other person in the line (there where only kids, sometimes with their mom's...sometimes looking at me like I am a freak...which I actually am!)

They featured two games: one rafting type game and one dancing game (both featured in the E3 MS conference), I choosed the line for the rafting game as it seemed to be more action related.

So I played the rafting game...and actually it was an ok experience. Keeping in mind that this is absolutely not my cup of tea...the game and the type of controlls (jumping around like a big mutant ape infront of kids and their moms...) I tried to figure out the lag, but at the end I did not come to a conclusion to be honest (and I was only brave enough to play some short minutes...and it was hot as hell in there too).

It did not felt too responsive to be honest, but I bet that this was due to the nature of the game and somehow intended, as it would be weird when your tyre-tube would react perfectly precise on the water, and of course I think that you first have to adjust to the game mechanics (for instance for the jumps and so on) and need some slight learning...so maybe I choose the wrong game to give an intelligent opinion - but I watched the kids while waiting in the line and they had ultimate fun and nearly all of them did used the full time limit until end!

Then I decided to watched people playing the dance game, and the motion tracking seemed decent enough...although it was really hard for me again to judge lag by just watching other people playing...but again, there was a lot of fun around and big laughter!

My impressions: interesting for the people into party games and all, seems to be a lot of fun, but as I thought...at the end not my cup of tea!
I wonder if MS even intends to target some 'hardcore' audience and if they are planning some serious games...this could well made me check it out again.

 

[BadTB25]

Thanks,

most of the games shown so far are not for me either although the wife is very interested in Dance Central. The vid chat and voice controlled UI is what has grabbed my attention so far.

Unless the wife really wants it, I probably will not be a launch adopter. I will probably wait to see how it is integrated into the core games that I play.

 

[scently]

Apparently kinect uses less than 1% of the 360's cpu

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=258340

 

[Trejser]

Maybe Kinect have internal CPU again? Otherwise it's hard to belive.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

My impressions: interesting for the people into party games and all, seems to be a lot of fun, but as I thought...at the end not my cup of tea!
I wonder if MS even intends to target some 'hardcore' audience and if they are planning some serious games...this could well made me check it out again.

That's going to be pretty spot on for most PS3/X360 users that are hardcore enough to frequent gaming news sites and forums.

But, from what I've seen and heard. Kids absolutely go gonzo over it and think it's worlds better than a "boring old Wii" as one kid put it. And that sentiment doesn't seem to be that rare with a lot of kids thinking it's a lot better than using the Wii Mote. Now it's in MS's ballpark to translate that into compelling games for their intended launch audience.

As for the second part about core games. That'll be next year most likely. I would expect next years E3 to be more focused (or equally focused) on Kinect integration with core game types.

Regards,
SB

 

[bkilian]

That's going to be pretty spot on for most PS3/X360 users that are hardcore enough to frequent gaming news sites and forums.

But, from what I've seen and heard. Kids absolutely go gonzo over it and think it's worlds better than a "boring old Wii" as one kid put it. And that sentiment doesn't seem to be that rare with a lot of kids thinking it's a lot better than using the Wii Mote. Now it's in MS's ballpark to translate that into compelling games for their intended launch audience.

As for the second part about core games. That'll be next year most likely. I would expect next years E3 to be more focused (or equally focused) on Kinect integration with core game types.

Regards,
SB

Pretty much all the feedback I've seen from people is that when you're playing, any lag or other issues become secondary, because it's just fun. I've seen guys who wouldn't be caught dead on a dance floor jumping around like idiots with Dance Central. For some reason, it's ok to make a fool of yourself when it's a game.
I have not seen the same sense of "wonder" with people using the Wii controller.