Rumors about Microsoft’s next generation console have been pretty consistent for the past few months. However, there hasn’t been much gossip about the next iteration of the Kinect motion camera peripheral. According to Microsoft’s creative director of Kinect Kudo Tsunoda, it’s because he believes there’s still plenty of innovation to mine from the current Kinect.
Speaking with Venture Beat, Tsunoda discussed the idea that waiting for Kinect 2 wasn’t necessary just yet. "I think that waiting for the next big thing isn't about waiting for the Kinect 2. It's more about all the great invention that can be done in software without having to go out and spend money on a new device," Tsunoda said.
Kudo explained that there was a lot of potential in software that hasn’t yet been developed, and that soon developers will figure out how to get the most from Kinect. "I do think that the next evolution of the experience will come as developers get better and better at working with Kinect,” Tsunoda added. “I think right now we're in an area where you're going to start seeing some amazing Kinect experiences based on things like using voice or using full body or using identity. And then I think going forward you're going to see a lot more people really blending all of the different features of Kinect together to build some really rich and immersive new types of experiences.”
While it’s true more developers are experimenting with potential Kinect integration, it’s interesting to hear that Tsunoda doesn’t believe a Kinect 2 is necessary at his junction. What do you think of his statements? Is there more potential to be discovered by developers?
SOURCE: Kinect’s “next evolution” won’t require Kinect 2, says Kudo Tsunoda [Games Industry]
Jim Fox
May 23, 2012 at 9:23am
I'm disappointed to hear that once again Microsoft is milking old hardware. The Kinnect ver. 1 was a good start, but the first version of anything always shows it's weaknesses. The second or even third version is always much stronger. Think of the Xbox itself as an example of this. The Kinnect needs higher resolution vision and better hearing. These two weaknesses can't be improved much with software. I sit or stand 15-20 feet back from a large screen TV which isn't a rare situation. I find the Kinnect is myopic and hard-of-hearing at that distance. The only way I could get it to hear and respond to my FUS RO DAH was to turn the HT sound down so low that it ruined the playing experience. After a year or more of the Kinnect ver. 1, Microsoft has certainly learned enough to design and build a much more powerful version 2. BRING IT ON!
