For those of you who have been looking at the Xbox One, you’ve seen Microsoft’s newest console will come with a Kinect 2. The camera must be connected to the console at all times in order to function.
If you don’t know what the Kinect is, I will fill you in. It’s basically a camera connected to the system, and communicates back and forth with it to track your body movements and voice, and that information executes commands during games, or allows the player to move an avatar on screen. This allows a gamer to play a game without using a physical controller. Or to use Kinect’s catch phrase, you are the controller.
Some gamers were disappointed with the original Kinect. The camera didn’t catch a lot of detail, and it occasionally mixed up voice commands. Now Microsoft is unveiling a new Xbox, and they have made a new Kinect to go along with it, thus the Kinect 2.
This camera has proven to do much more than gamers expected. Not only did they improve the camera to capture up to 10 times more detail, it can also track 20 points on the human body, and up to 6 people.
What kinds of things will you be able to do with this? The Kinect 2 can see if a controller is passed from player to player, depending on who the new player is, the Kinect can change the controller settings personalized for that player.
It can also tell your fingers from each other from a distance as close as 3 meters. Do you want to play a workout game, but you like to cheat? Not anymore. The new camera can estimate your heart rate by looking at the color of your face. This means the game can tell you to work harder, so you can get into the shape you were hoping for.
Some developers have made a target shooting game for the Kinect 2 where the camera can use hand and eye movements to tell where and when the player wants to shoot.
One of the most exciting new features is the camera’s ability to make a digital mask of the player’s face and place it onto the avatar. Playing as an unknown character in a game may become a thing of the past. Now instead of making a character that looks somewhat like yourself, the Kinect can see how you really look, and you can play games as yourself.
Now it really will be you as the assassin from the middle ages, or your child can play next to their favorite cartoon characters. You can even see what you look like when you play dance games! Your avatar can smile, frown, and grin just like you do, thanks to the Kinect 2.
This camera is the start to a new revolution of gaming. More features will come when people can get their hands on Microsoft’s new gaming system in November of this year.
