http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-11-25-kinect-2-so-accurate-it-can-lip-read
Microsoft plans to release a next-generation Kinect device so accurate it can lip read, sources have told Eurogamer.
Kinect 2 will come bundled with future Xbox consoles, we understand.
The intention is that Kinect 2 will offer improved motion sensing and voice recognition.
One development source told Eurogamer that Kinect 2 will be so powerful it will enable games to lip read, detect when players are angry, and determine in which direction they are facing.
Kinect 2 can track the pitch and volume of player voices and facial characteristics to measure different emotional states.
The current Kinect is hamstrung by having to pass data to the Xbox 360 through ageing USB technology - an issue discussed by Eurogamer last year.
When Kinect launched in November 2010 the depth sensor was set at a 30 frames per second limit and a 320x240 resolution limit. The issue relates to the USB controller interface, which is capable of around 35MB/s, but it only uses around 15/16MB/s. This artificial limit is in place because multiple USB devices can be used at once on an Xbox 360.
Kinect 2, however, can feed the next Xbox more information, and thus a higher resolution CCD [charge-coupled device].
"It can be cabled straight through on any number of technologies that just take phenomenally high res data straight to the main processor and straight to the main RAM and ask, what do you want to do with it?" our source said.
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I hope that's true, that would make the Kinect much more versatile and usable! ^_^
