Holiday season is fast approaching, and with it comes a seemingly endless stream of gadgets and shiny toys to distract us from our work. For many Microsoft fans, this season is particularly exciting due to the upcoming release of the company’s new console, the Xbox One. The console will host a more powerful processor, advanced graphics, and something that may get gamers moving — the Kinect 2.0.
Microsoft released the original Kinect in November 2010 as a separate peripheral for the console. It sold well but fell short of consumer’s expectations. Many expected the device to forever change the world of motion gaming, and while it did allow for some innovative features in games, the technology was just too basic to make any substantial changes. Three years later, Microsoft plans to make up for those shortcomings with the second iteration of the machine.
To say the Kinect 2.0 is an upgrade from the previous model would be an extreme understatement. Its depth sensor, which controls the detail of the images it captures, is three times as strong as the original Kinect, picking out the wrinkles on your shirt. Rather than depending on light in order to function properly, the Kinect 2.0 uses infrared sensing, allowing players to use the device in a pitch black room. Skeleton mapping has become incredibly accurate, tracking everything down to the smallest hand gesture. Its muscle tracker can tell what parts of your body have pressure on them, where you put your weight when you move, and how much power you put into your movements. It can read your heart rate by looking at you, and its microphone is strong enough to pick up your voice in the middle of a crowded room.
What do all of these upgrades mean for the consumer? Kinect 2.0 gives developers opportunities to do things with games that have never been done before. Do you live an active lifestyle but prefer to work out in your own home? Developers will create in-depth training games, tracking everything from muscle contraction to heart rate to make sure you are exercising properly. Never felt truly involved in Madden football or Tiger Woods golf? Kinect 2.0 will give you the opportunity to immerse yourself in these games, and it’s accurate enough to correct the orientation of your body when you throw a ball or swing a club. Gamers will be able to take things they learn in-game and use it in the real world, an important development in this increasingly sedentary world.
Kinect 2.0 will be released Nov. 22, 2013 along with the Xbox One. Unlike the original Kinect, which had to be bought separately from the Xbox 360, Kinect 2.0 will come with every Xbox One. This allows for uniformity, ensuring that every Xbox owner has a Kinect 2.0 and encouraging game developers to use it in new and inventive ways. It is difficult to predict what all will be done with the technology Microsoft has invested in the new Kinect and whether or not it will fall short like its predecessor
But it very well could revolutionize the video game industry.