Per the OXM article:
Xbox One Kinect title The Fighter Within will need approximately five feet of play space
"This improvement in hardware allows us to do things we could not have done before"
I bet you had forgotten all about The Fighter Within, hadn't you? I know I did. Ubisoft's motion-controlled brawler is a launch title for the Xbox One, which promises to utilise the full power of the next gen Kinect to produce a "skill-based game that can rival any modern brawler."Luc Verdier, a producer from Daoka, recently spoke to Xbox Wire about the game's development process and how the next generation Kinect has improved the motion-controlled gameplay experience from current gen iterations. The interview is a little press-releasy in tone, and I've cut around some of the more flowery, hyberbole-laden sentences, but it's still an interesting insight into the new Kinect's capabilities.
"Obviously, the technological gap is huge between the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One," Verdier said. "This improvement in hardware allows us to do things we could not have done before -- from shading, lighting, and shadowing to anti-aliasing and post-processing. The new generation Kinect is also a masterpiece of technology. It allows us to realize our vision of intuitive and more immersive controls.
"There are multiple benefits offered by the new Kinect," he continued. "First of all, the recognition is way more precise. The sensor can actually track each of your fingers, and even your eyes. The good news is that the exclusion of objects has also been greatly improved so this great recognition is not disturbed by all the items around you, or people passing behind you while you're playing.
The local multiplayer has also been drastically improved, and you can now play 1 versus 1 in small apartments without breaking anything or kicking your friends (at least unintentionally). And of course, the responsiveness is way better thanks to the Xbox One's power.
"We used all that to respond to critiques that were made from players and journalists about the first Kinect fighting games, and we think we now can deliver on the long-awaited motion-fighting promise that was made to players a few years ago. Playing 'Fighter Within' is fun, responsive, and physical: the perfect way to fight with your friends without hurting anything else other than their pride!
"There are many other improvements offered by the new Kinect, like the muscle tracker, but we chose to only use the technologies we needed to offer a fun, immersive and straightforward fighting experience. I hope that we, and some other developers, will continue to explore the possibilities offered by this device to create new gameplay mechanics to enhance the motion-fighting experience in the coming months and years."
One of the major problems with current gen Kinect technology, which Verdier already mentioned, was the amount of space needed for people to actually play the game effectively - space that people with smaller living spaces may not have. How much space do we need in order to play The Fighter Within?
"You actually do not need much distance to play. A few feet is enough to play, though I'd recommend about 5 feet, as I have a large TV screen, like most gamers I guess. And to play 1 versus 1 safely, you'll probably want to leave a couple feet between you and your friend too!"
If The Fighter Within doesn't take your fancy, you should probably have a skim over our list of all the Xbox One launch titles to get the full rundown of everything else on offer from day one.
