According to Eurogamer, sources have claimed that Microsoft is working on a new version of Kinect so accurate that it will be able to lip read, read various emotions and detect which direction the player is facing.
The original Kinect was limited in the amount of information it could send to the Xbox 360 through USB, which is part of the reason why the resolution and the frame rate was lowered. By having the new Kinect directly built into the machine itself, the potential for the device in increased multifold.
Some rumours are stating that a next generation Xbox 360 will be launched next year, others give the more realistic date of 2013. Regardless, we expect that we’ll most likely see something at E3 2012 this year.
But lip reading? That’s pie in the sky talk! That said, as the bearer of a broad Scottish accent, it may be the only way Kinect will be able to understand a single word I say!
Kinect 2 so accurate it can lip read [Eurogamer]
Sar Selack
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 9:34 AMI can’t help but think that when our machines can accurately read our emotions, the first thing we’ll do is figure out how to successfully lie to it.
Cale
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 1:10 PMthat sounds like a great game premise…think LA Noire or Ace Attorney
Glenn
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 9:34 AMI would believe Kinect 2 COULD be accurate enough to read lips, if the hardware is designed correctly…. but it could be expensive.
MrBS
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 9:37 AMFor shame for not using a pic from 2001!
Effluvium Boy
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:45 AMI know right!?
Thorbjørn
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 11:39 AMI watched that last night. Coincidence? I think not.
Bryce
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 9:53 AMOh, sure…. if you move your lips correctly and in pantomime of each word exactly.
Sam
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:09 AMI think we’re forgetting that us Aussies don’t move our lips at all when we speak! :)
D.C.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:11 AMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWePWdF0tXk — I’m looking forward to the Kinect instructing us to RELAX.
Stevorooni
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:19 AMAustralian Lip Reading will probably arrive 18 months after launch.
Fenix
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:24 AMCan the current Kinect even do what was originally advertised?
Everyone who I know who has one just reckons its a massive hassle and its pretty much on par with waggle wear games
yrrnn
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:29 AMSounds like Peter Molyneux’s wet dream.
Thom
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:30 AMDo you mean it will be able to recognise a smile/frown or to actually lip read?
I assume the former, because the latter really doubtful. Lip-reading isn’t one to one. It actually involves a huge amount of guess work and filling the blanks. It would require a capacity for language processing most adults don’t possess, let alone our rudimentary computing systems.
Effluvium Boy
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:44 AMFirst thought:
http://bit.ly/s6Lf03
Choc
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:50 AMprobably won’t be accurate enough to read Australian lips @ first
sigh
Senor Freebie
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:51 AMI doubt even if they set all the programmers at Microsoft onto lip reading they could pull it off. As for emotions, maybe roughly, maybe more advanced if they apply some real biological theory to it and have mm perfect 3d cameras but then they would be using it at a poker table, not on an xbox.
NegativeZero
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 11:31 AMLip reading? Hell no. That requires natural language processing and no computers can do that well yet, let alone handle the guesswork necessary for reading your lip movements and turning that into speech.
I could absolutely believe finger tracking and expression reading though. I wish the Kinect was more accurate than it is, I really struggled with it not picking up the more subtle actions I was doing when I tried to play Child of Eden. Killed the game for me, felt like I was constantly fighting with the system, plus it requires an enormous amount of space to work.
mobo
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 11:31 AM…. god i hate my Kinect. Useless, clunky and boring.
James Mac
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 11:34 AMI’m holding out for the moustache dlc.
Benny
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 12:23 PMOpen the pod bay doors, Hal.
Ynefel
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 12:39 PMThen we’ll have to wait over a year for an update that will let it cope with Australian pronunciation. YE GODS WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?!?!? *explodes*
os42
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 1:42 PMI don’t understand why they’re saying it will be able to see which way the player is facing – maybe more accuracy and detail? The tech is good enough already to determine the direction the player’s body is facing, if not the head (although the data it provides makes it possible to estimate). Here’s hoping for at least joint orientations!
As for lip-reading, I doubt it. Emotion detection – maybe basic facial expression detection…
Diddemz
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 3:19 PMThat’s nice Microsoft, how about utilizing this new technology in a long overdue new console. Or are you just going to keep releasing 360 consoles until 2014?
the cake
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 7:24 PM$10 says we’ll get lip reading a year or two after the yanks.
Kah
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 11:28 PMIf its built into the xbox, that would make it far less attractive than the original kinect to modders.