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Kinect to get enhanced functionality?

by on29 November 2011


 
Only for second generation of Kinect


Sources claim that Microsoft is planning a number of enhancements to Kinect that will be featured in the company’s second generation Kinect device. It is now rumored that this second generation Kinect will be bundled with future Xbox 360 consoles; these will feature a specialized port allowing for higher levels of data transfer than can be achieved with the current USB interface used by the current generation of Kinect.

The enhanced data transfer is said to be necessary to allow for some of the improvements that Microsoft is planning. New features are said to include the ability to read lips and detect emotion in players' voices. Improvements in motion sensing, voice recognition, and voice direction detection are said to be on tap.

The higher resolution of data that can be provided by the device will enable a much larger range of functionality that can offer a much larger array of things programmers can do with the device. While support for the current Kinect technology will not be coming to an end, sources say that titles will have the ability to support the older Kinect technology, while offering support for the enhanced Kinect technology if the user has the newer Kinect device.

Expect to hear more about the enhanced Kinect technology soon, and we would not be surprised if Microsoft takes the wraps off officially at CES, where it is also expected that they will announce licensing agreements that will see the Kinect technology directly integrated into TVs, as we told you about yesterday.

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