With the amount of annoying precisions required to get the Xbox 360's Kinect working at its best, people are being put off by the November-bound motion-controller from Microsoft. However, it seems one of the more lazy problems of having to stand up while playing has been solved by Microsoft in a software update.
Previously the Kinect software used to create its skeletal models of players based off the bottom of the spine, meaning that raised knees or feet from sitting down would obstruct the process, confusing the sensor. The update however, creates the skeleton from the base of the neck, clearing these obstructions and making seated gameplay possible.
Unfortunately, the update has come a little too late for many of the Kinect launch titles, so expect mandatory standing gameplay at first, but future games will be able to be played sitting down. The only exception to this from the launch titles are the Blitz Game Studios games; The Biggest Loser and Yoostar 2. The game company went to the trouble of creating their own software to allow seated games, due to The Biggest Loser requiring actions which make the player get down low such as push-ups and sit-ups.
So expect seated gameplay as a possibility not too long after the launch of the Kinect, and maybe this will give you an excuse to postpone getting the device straight away (assuming you weren't already put off by the release games).
2 thoughts on “Microsoft Kinect Will Work For Seated Players”
Article is wrong about YooStar and The Biggest Loser being the only launch games that don’t require standing. EA Sports Active 2 also allows you do do various exercises like push-ups and tracks you 1:1 while you are on the ground. EA has not been as open about their development process as Blitz, but presumably they wrote their own code to achieve this.
“amount of annoying precisions required”
Eh what!, they are exactly the same as PS3 Move, you only have to look at the Q and A page of Move to see that.
Why some people make out it is a big deal on one console but not the other is alarming.
Good to see the sitting down issue is now confirmed though that will upset some fanboys I am sure.
And why would you “Assume” anybody be “Put off” by the release games they are as good if not better than the oppositions.
I also didn’t notice Move release titles where you would want to sit down and play either so I don’t see what the problem was.