Microsoft says Kinect won't support sign language, downgraded cameras likely to blame

By Donald Melanson

It was mentioned in the patent application, but it looks like Microsoft's Kinect won't be offering support for sign language after all. That's now been confirmed by Microsoft itself, which told Kotaku that it "files lots of patent applications to protect our intellectual property, not all of which are brought to market right away," before flatly stating that "Kinect that is shipping this holiday will not support sign language." The reason? It seems to be the result of Kinect's cameras, which Kotaku says were originally supposed to have a "much higher resolution," but were eventually downgraded to 320 x 240 in an apparent cost-saving move. If you parse Microsoft's, however, you'll noticed that it doesn't exactly rule out the possibility of Kinect ever support sign language, it simply says that the version launching this holiday season won't support it.

it's a shame, i guess they may also change 1.3mpx CMOS sensor to 1m or VGA one,

the sign language would have been great feature for people can't heard.

would have been even better for games as it would open up a wide range of input commands.  without it...it just seems so limited.

It's still the start. Microsoft has to worry about being sued for the slightest thing they might include on the Kinect. I bet they will include more stuff through updates. And about the resolution, I thought it was always 320x240. I don't think it has been downgraded. It's always been like that as far as I know. Having a higher resolution means the device costs more than 150$.

It hasn't been downgraded.  They used Kotaku as a source, and Kotaku had no source.  Every retailer I have found with specs, says that it is 640x480 except play.com.

reasonable just posted a digital foundry article that talks about the specs of the unit and it says microsoft just cut the depth camera down to 320 x 240 to save cost.  It is a recent spec change though, so retailers probably won't catch up for a couple months.  

Oups, wrong thread. Sorry!

I read it, they have no source either.

whats next now we will lose the ability to sit again

And you want to know why I think it is still 640x480?  Because there is a process called registration that can be done that matches each depth pixel to an RGB pixel.

I can dance with 320x240.. so no worries from me..