Kinect Can Now Recognize Sitting Gamers

The fact that our title for this thread reads like this, is proof that Microsoft’s Kinect needs to do a lot more if wants to capture at least a fragment of the hardcore market.

It’s true, until recently, Kinect couldn’t recognizes a gamer if said gamer decided to sit down and play a game; but apparently, according to a report from Eurogamer, Microsoft’s engineers have fixed the problem, giving the motion control device the knowledge to recognize the necessary body parts in order for it to function correctly.

According to the report, the problem stemmed from the method Microsoft used to create the skeletal models within the software. Kinect would set the base node for the skeletal model at the bottom of the spine, hence confusing the system when players were in a seating position with their knees in front of their pelvis. Thankfully, Microsoft recently changed the base node from its previous position to the back of the neck, a solution that alleviates the problem.

The changes were explained by Blitz Games Studios, a developer that’s well acquainted with the accessory. Its CTO, Andrew Oliver, was on hand to make plain the situation.

“It means that should the bottom of your torso get confused with the sofa, because your bum and your legs are enveloped inside the sofa, it doesn’t matter because your hands and arms are still working,” he said. “A few months ago they changed stuff around. A lot of developers were like, ‘Oh my God! Everything’s broken,’ because all the nodes were moved. But then it was like, ‘Oh, actually, this is more logical.’”

Before this implementation, however, developers had to write codes specifically for sitting gamers, but now devs won’t have to worry about it.

According to Oliver, Blitz Games Studios had to do a lot of coding to fit specific positions for its own games, the most notable being the developer’s Biggest Loser, which required players to do push-ups and sit-ups.

“We were talking to them last February saying, ‘Are you ever going to fix the libraries so it will work on the floor?’ And they went, ‘Oh come on, that’s lying on the floor,” he continued. “That’s so rare. We’ve got other issues we’re dealing with.’ We said, ‘Okay, we’ll go write it ourselves.’”

Thanks, Industry Gamers.