How To Confuse Kinect

The simple answer is to sit down on the floor but that little needs a bit of explanation. You see, Microsoft’s Kinect was developed with the misconception that players would be willing to stand in front of their TV’s the entire time.

Initially it was found that the software could not interpret actions correctly if users sat on their couches even though it works off reading body heat as a marker but anyway, the problem was fixed, it is marketed at Americans after all. One standing issue (did you get the irony) that still remains is that of players sitting down on the floor while playing a Kinect game.

Apparently, there is some difference between the way the software reads things when you’re sitting on a sofa when compared to sitting on the floor.

This is what Blitz Games head Andrew Oliver has to say on Kinect’s issues as part of Edge Magazine’s massive exclusive on Kinect in its latest issue:

“It’s a very clever system [Microsoft has] got,” he said. “They look at the depth data, they work out fairly quickly if it’s a human, and then they apply the algorithms to give you all the bones or whatever.

He added: “Okay, so one big thing that people were asking was whether you could sit on the sofa. The new libraries work, but there are certain things, like in our fitness game, where you sit on the floor and it gets confused.”

However, Oliver suggested that most reading issues with Kinect can be fixed with “just a bit of image processing” on the development side.

“So they’ve given [studios] a generic piece, which is actually pretty impressive and covers most cases – certainly all the standing up, and now sitting down,” he said. “[If developers] want to go further than that, then do it yourself in software.”

There you have it. Wanna cause sh*t with Kinect? Take a seat, sit back and relax. Just not on your couch.

[Source: CVG]