It's as lame as I thought it would be. The facial control is cool though, but I have no idea why I'd want to use this. It's basically just like a live party, but you can't play games while you're in it. You just stare at other people's avatars standing in a circle, from what I can tell.
Avatar Kinect
- Thread starter Scott_Arm
- Start date
Here's video from Joystiq...
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/05/a...-control-facial-expressions-to-xbo/#continued
Tommy McClain
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/05/a...-control-facial-expressions-to-xbo/#continued
Tommy McClain
There is no "resolution upgrade". The depth stream is 640x480, the same as what the folks on the PC are seeing.
Um.. if I want to video chat with my friends, why wouldn't I use the direct camera feed, the one where my emotions and expressions would be shown without an avatar 
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Well, for one it allows for a slightly more controlled chat experience. Parents for example wouldn't have to worry about someone exposing themselves to their children. Language and chat content would obviously still be a problem.
Shy people, handicapped people, or anyone that doesn't want to use their own image would be more at ease. Especially if they're chatting with people they've never met before.
Think of it as combining the anonymity of pure voice chat but adding some key things from video chat such as facial expression, body movements, etc.
Regards,
SB
Shy people, handicapped people, or anyone that doesn't want to use their own image would be more at ease. Especially if they're chatting with people they've never met before.
Think of it as combining the anonymity of pure voice chat but adding some key things from video chat such as facial expression, body movements, etc.
Regards,
SB
Um.. if I want to video chat with my friends, why wouldn't I use the direct camera feed, the one where my emotions and expressions would be shown without an avatar
Well, judging from the video, it can create a virtual environment (such as people sitting around a table), which can't be created with a simple camera feed. Of course, whether a virtual environment is important or not is debatable. However, I think it's quite certain that a camera feed will need much more upload bandwidth than a simple avatar with emotions.
In that CES video where Ballmer demonstrates the function, he's standing and walking. In other videos the Avatars are shown sitting while talking. Will you be able to freely move your Avatar??
What was the Eurogamer report all about then?
Don't think so. Pretty sure you're sitting around in a circle, though one did jump up and do a spin, so there is probably some form of movement.
I guess the anonymity factor is a good thing, but I still can't see why you'd want to do this rather than use party chat, where you can play a different game while you're talking. Watching a bunch of avatars sitting around looks kind of boring. I just hope they put the face stuff into Kinect Sports and other avatar based games.
Also, realize video chatting with more than 2 people is bandwidth intensive. Uno does it with 4, but they are small windows that's really hard to determine facial features, much less expressions. I see Avatar Kinect being good for Xbox Live Parties of 3 or more. Most likely if you just have 2 you'll want to do Video Kinect to chat instead.
Tommy McClain
Tommy McClain
Why would it be better than a regular party? At least in a regular party you can all play a game together, or different games. With this thing you just chat and watch the avatars sit in a circle. The facial control of the avatars is neat, even if primitive, but it would be of better use in a game like Kinect Sports.
If it supports multiple participants (and it looks like it does), it would be difficult to do with a normal video feed.Um.. if I want to video chat with my friends, why wouldn't I use the direct camera feed, the one where my emotions and expressions would be shown without an avatar
I have no idea. I suspect it was taking a single wrong tech spec article, ignoring all the others that contradicted it, making assumptions related to that, and running with it.
The feeds that the experimenters are getting out of the device are identical to the feeds we get out of it. This makes sense, since their driver consists of essentially playing back our USB setup code without really understanding what it does.
Didn't say it would be better than a regular party, just that it would be good for parties. Like you said if you're all playing games it don't make sense, but I've been in a lot of parties where I've never played a game. I would just sit in my recliner & shoot the breeze with Rancid or whoever for hours.
Having it in-game like Kinect Sports would be fine, but then again I don't like the idea of having to get up out of my chair to put a disc in the drive either. Call me lazy. LOLTommy McClain
One cool thing I'd love to do with this is make a podcast. With the ability to upload films to the net, I think it would be cool if it's executed well enough. There are machinimas that act as podcasts already, this could just be something similar yet different enough to maybe stand out from the flood of podcasts out there today.
Too bad anyone I know on Live that would be capable of holding a decent conversation with me regarding video games doesn't have a Kinect =(
Well according to the article at Eurogamer, the tech spec article is from Microsoft:
Too bad anyone I know on Live that would be capable of holding a decent conversation with me regarding video games doesn't have a Kinect =(
Well according to the article at Eurogamer, the tech spec article is from Microsoft:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-kinect-held-back-blog-entry
That's not a particularly fair view. We (everyone not involved in Project Natal) had two conflicting specs published in stores, one saying a 640x480 sensor, and the other saying a 320x240 depth feed. We also have the PrimeSense reference design and tech descriptions that say the depth output is a quarter of the depth camera's resolution. There's also the PrimeSense marketing gumpf that says one of the advantages of their tech is that it uses off the shelf camera components, nothing special, which suggests for economies Kinect could use the same camera for both vision and depth. And given a 640x480 image camera, and therefore a 640x480 depth camera using the same component which is the resolution one lot of retailers specs specified, and given that the depth data is downscaled according to PrimeSense and the other set of specs claimed a 320x240 depth feed, that logically points to a 320x240 depth sensor because that fits all the facts we had available.
It may be wrong, as speculations often are, but it's disingenuous to say DF's viewpoint was probably just picking one bit of info and ignoring the rest. I don't see how anyone of a logical mind could look at the info we had and not see 640x480 video and 320x240 depth streams as the most probable configuration.
It doesnt matter if Kinect Avatar is "great" or if it adds anything we really need. What Microsoft has realized and what Nintendo has proven is that if you come up with the right product and present it in the right way, it will appeal and sell by the bucketloads.
I bought a Kinect recently, which got me excited at the beginning when I tried out its controller free interface and Kinect Adventures with friends.
But after a while it has occurred to me that,damn.....Adventures actually suck big time.....and the kinect interface in the dashboard was atrocious, unnecessary, and slow compared to the controller.....yet....I was using it.
Its kind of sad if you think about it. And crazy
Those feature additions to Kinect work just like the package/presentation of the product. Or just like the visual merchandizing. Only that with Kinect its fused with the product itself. It works. Its constant marketing and a feature simultaneously
I bought a Kinect recently, which got me excited at the beginning when I tried out its controller free interface and Kinect Adventures with friends.
But after a while it has occurred to me that,damn.....Adventures actually suck big time.....and the kinect interface in the dashboard was atrocious, unnecessary, and slow compared to the controller.....yet....I was using it.
Its kind of sad if you think about it. And crazy
Those feature additions to Kinect work just like the package/presentation of the product. Or just like the visual merchandizing. Only that with Kinect its fused with the product itself. It works. Its constant marketing and a feature simultaneously
