Kinect (Natal), headed in the right direction. (Gaming scenarios interview)

[RedRedSuit]

It's means do you think Microsoft can provide this tech and all the work done/created in Natal (the device) without affecting any system resources on the 360 itself? Another words it wouldn't make the hardware more limited by using Natal Vs not using Natal. This seems to be a big debate around here, some can beleive Microsoft's statement of "no hardware hits". Afterall, limiting hardware resources is something no one wants including developers and software programmers alike.

I don't really know. If Microsoft says the hardware does all the face recognition, speech recognition, and motion recognition itself, and does it well, then I have no reason to disbelieve them.

[Wulf]

Thanks guys for you honest input and I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[Pyrochaos]

I don't really know. If Microsoft says the hardware does all the face recognition, speech recognition, and motion recognition itself, and does it well, then I have no reason to disbelieve them.

I don't see why the voice recognition would be too hard for them. They've had it for a while with the Sync in Fords.

[Wulf]

More questions answered this time from Kotaku.

Earlier this week Microsoft let me try Project Natal in a hotel suite where test-versions of the new gaming sensor array was set up. Three times, I thought I found a flaw in the systems.

I thought the system, as impressive as it was in letting me play kickball with virtual balls on a TV and no controllers on my body, might not be able to handle multi-player gaming.

Wrong, the project's director, Kudo Tsunoda told me. He had me look at a special display set up as part of the ball-ricocheting demo. What I saw proved how clearly Natal was easily reading both my body and his as we both stood in front of the sensors. We appeared on screen as simplified, mutli-jointed stick figure skeletons within silhouettes of our bodies. It clearly saw us as separate people. There would be no problem, he said, for the system to support a game that let us play at the same time and track our movements separately.

I thought Project Natal might be good for reading big body movements but not for finer finger movements.

Theoretically, I got that wrong too, Tsunoda told me, though he didn't have a way to prove it to me there. The stick-figure skeletons that Natal recognize us as did not have fingers. Each one had a short stick for each hand. I saw no fingers, so I assumed it could not see my fingers. There seemed to be no way for Natal to know, say, how many fingers I was holding up. If it could, then it could maybe read hand signs issued to squadmates in military first-person shooters. I questioned Natal's ability to detect those finer movements. Tsunoda said that such detection was possible, though the sensitivity would be different at different distances. He thought my fingers idea was do-able.

I thought that the Natal could be fooled to let me drive Burnout Paradise one-handed.

Wrong, for sure. Microsoft had EA's Burnout Paradise programed to work with Natal. As I stood in front of the sensors, I moved my right foot forward to accelerate, and moved it back to decelerate and reverse. I held my hands in front of me, pretending to turn a steering wheel. The Natal had registered me in under a second and was letting me control Burnout smoothly. I saw, in another monitor, how it read my stick-figure skeleton. I guessed that it was reading my hands as a single unit moving in space and that it wouldn't be programmed to know or care if I put one hand behind my back. It did. When I put my hand behind my back and just waved one hand in front of the TV, the Burnout car failed to steer. The Natal needed to see two hands. Maybe it's cooler to drive one-handed, but Natal not letting me do it was impressive in its own way.

I thought Natal had to be used in bright light.

Wrong? The demos I played of Natal were set up in dimly-lit hotel rooms, except for Peter Molyneux's Milo demo which was set in a bright room. Tsunoda said lighting was a non-issue for Natal. Maybe so, maybe not. But if it works in a dim room, that's not bad.

With Project Natal not due for release at least until next year, we'll all have plenty of time to question every aspect of Natal. The strong showing the system had in its first week in public suggests that it may withstand the skepticism. So far, it's fun. And it works.

http://kotaku.com/5279531/microsoft-...rs-see-fingers

Nice fingers and hand motions are detected. Also, we found out lighting is not a issue.

[RedRedSuit]

I don't see why the voice recognition would be too hard for them. They've had it for a while with the Sync in Fords.

It's not a question of difficulty. It's a question of cost. Every feature it can do will add some number of dollars to the cost to make it.

[RedRedSuit]

Nice fingers and hand motions are detected.

No, there is no proof of that. He said it's doable, but it was not proven, and he said it may only work adequately at certain distances.

[Wulf]

No, there is no proof of that. He said it's doable, but it was not proven, and he said it may only work adequately at certain distances.

Also, he said it can work and it's not finished code.

[RedRedSuit]

Also, he said it can work and it's not finished code.

Here is what he said:

Tsunoda said that such detection was possible, though the sensitivity would be different at different distances. He thought my fingers idea was do-able.

That means he thought it was doable, and that it may or may not work depending on the distance.

[Pyrochaos]

It's not a question of difficulty. It's a question of cost. Every feature it can do will add some number of dollars to the cost to make it.

Yeah, but it they end up making a profit on the 360, and most of the accessories, they might be willing to take a hit on NATALie.

[capnmonkey]

Also, he said it can work and it's not finished code.

Natal has development kits in developers hands right now. If fingers don't track now, fingers won't track. But, I find it hilarious that the kotaku guys call it "their idea" of tracking fingers and mention how the demo guy said it was "doable".

[Wulf]

He should know he's the designer. I guess he'll be out to prove this ability next time they're ready to show updated code abilities. Hardware is ready it's the software that continues to evolve. SDK's can still ship with software updates sent to the developers as it improves. SDK's are all about the hardware so, games can be added to Natal's current state of design correct software guys?

[capnmonkey]

He should know he's the designer. I guess he'll be out to prove this ability next time they're ready to show updated code abilities.

Do you believe that at no point during Natals development process did they think about tracking fingers at all, until the Kotaku guys mentioned it?

[Wulf]

Do you believe that at no point during Natals development process did they think about tracking fingers at all, until the Kotaku guys mentioned it?

I don't know, what we do know is the developer beleives it is/can be done. Until he proven wrong I'll stick with his opinion on matter since, he's the designer. You do have a point Cap. why was finger tracking not added to the 48 points of interest? I don't know maybe they're working on that area in software now before release.

[Elee s]

There was a picture somewhere that showed the information that natal tracks(silhouettes and scan information) and the hands showed up as spheres. That could have been an older model but if we go by that it wont be able to track finger movements.

[capnmonkey]

I don't know, what do know is the developer beleives it is/can be done. Until he proven wrong I'll stick with his opinion on matter since, he's the designer. You do have a point Cap. why was finger tracking not added to the 48 points of interest? I don't know maybe they're working on that area in software now before release.

Sure his opinion is more valuable than anyones here. He's saying it "could be done".

I'm relying more on reading between the lines here. Projects in general, and software projects specifically have very well laid out requirements and goals when the launch. If fingers aren't there currently, there's a reason for it.

On the other hand, it may be that they are already working on it and just don't want to reveal anything now.